The Career-Integrated Entrepreneur™ Podcast

Ep31. Who Are You Beyond Your Job Title? Reinventing Your Identity Beyond the Corporate Ladder

• Cindy Excell

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What happens when the job title is gone?


Not the shiny LinkedIn headline. Not the six-figure salary. Not the identity you've spent years building your reputation around.


In this episode, I'm talking about the moment I realised how tightly my self-worth was tied to my corporate title, and what it looked like to start peeling that identity away. Not in theory, but in real time - messy, emotional, and honest.


I share:

  • What no one tells you about identity loss after redundancy or career change
  • How to start seeing yourself as more than a title or a resume
  • The turning point that helped me fully own the role of business coach, even before I left corporate
  • Four powerful tips to step into your next identity while staying grounded in who you're becoming


You don’t need to quit your job tomorrow, but you can start recognising that you’re allowed to evolve - and you don’t need anyone else’s permission to begin.


Resource: 

>> Free eBook: $5K/Month Side Coaching Business Blueprint

>> Connect with me on LinkedIn 

>> Follow me on Instagram 

 If you stripped away your job title, would you still know who you are? In this episode, I'm sharing what no one talks about the identity crisis that hits when your career shifts, and how to start redefining yourself from the inside out. Welcome to The Hustle With Heels podcast, the show for high achieving corporate women who want more than just a paycheck.

I'm your host, Cindy Excell financial advisor. Attend business coach and I help high achieving corporate women Turn your expertise into an online coaching business that brings freedom, income, and impact without quitting your nine to five job or burning out. On this podcast, I'll share everything you need to redefine your career success, create your financial runway, and build your site coaching business on your terms.

Now, let's get started. Hey, friend. Welcome back to a new episode of Hustle With Heels podcast. Now I've got question for you. If someone asks you to introduce yourself without mentioning your job title, what would you say? Would you hesitate and maybe you stumble a little? Or maybe feel that awkward silence creeping in.

Like, wait, who am I without that title? Myself wise, for a long time I couldn't answer that question either, and I can tell you it hits different when your job title is suddenly gone. I still remember the first time I took a redundancy in 2018, even though on the same day in the afternoon, I already had a calls from multiple recruiters and the wealth management firms offering me other job opportunities.

So getting another job was never an issue for me, but still the next morning when I woke up without a job title, it rattled me. Lately, I've had so many conversations with some incredible women with successful careers who've gone through the redundancy at some stage in their careers. Some of them had literally written their own roles out of existence.

Like part of the strategy team. They mapped out the restructure and then they were out too. And here's the thing, it wasn't just about the job itself. It was this identity crisis that came after because for years we've been conditioned to believe that our worth is tied to our output, to our job title. To our LinkedIn headline, to how quickly we climb the corporate ladder to the brand and the company we work for.

When that is gone, or even sometimes when we choose to pivot and do something of our own, it can be messy, it can be emotional. It brings up questions we didn't expect to face. Today's episode is going to be a little bit heart to heart. We are going to talk about what happens while your identity has been deeply tied to your corporate career and to your job title.

What happens when that career suddenly shifts or ends? And I'm going to share with you my own experience, and most importantly, how you can start rewriting that identity on your terms. Now let's get into it. Now I want to start with talking about something that most of us. Probably never really question, which is how tightly our identity is wrapped around what we do for a living.

From such an early age, we were taught to lead with our achievements. Hi, I'm a lawyer. I'm in finance. I'm a doctor. I work for, you know, some, you know, big company. We are praised for promotions, applauded for working long hours, and slowly without even realizing that somehow our job titles become our value.

It's not just what we do, it actually becomes who we are. I used to wear my job title like a badge of owner, senior financial advisor, private wealth manager, working in the private bank or investments bank, working with some really high profile clients, et cetera. It sounded impressive. It felt secure. It made people's eyes light up when I told them.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing because that's the experience I was and still am proud of. If you have any impressive experience, you should be proud of too, because you worked hard to get there. Right. But in saying that, underneath those impressive experience and the job titles, I think at some point I started to believe that without those I wasn't as valuable.

I wasn't as seeing I wasn't enough, and I didn't realize just how deeply that belief had the root itself until I took my first redundancy in 2018. When my email were cut off, when I wasn't getting those, you know, Monday morning sales meetings anymore, when I wasn't someone's go-to person anymore. That was this weird silence.

And in that silence, this thought crept in. If I'm not that anymore, that who am I? It shook me, not because I didn't have other passions or skills or dreams, but because I had never really separated my identity from my corporate career before. I know that I'm not alone in that. I've spoken to so many women lately, especially women who worked hard and spent years building their corporate career who felt the same way.

This woman, they are smart, capable, well-educated, accomplished. I. But when their titles change or disappeared, it's like the grant underneath them shifts. There is this strange mix of emotions, confusion, grave, even shame sometimes. Like, how could this happen to me? How did I let this define me for so long?

And also now that this is gone, where do I even begin? I truly feel that we don't talk about this enough. We celebrate new roles and the fleshy promotions, but we don't talk about those quiet identity laws. That happens when your title no longer matches your email signature, or when we choose to walk away from a fancy job title and build something of our own, but secretly wonder if people will take us seriously without those big company names behind us.

So if you are in that place, if you've been wondering, who am I without the job title, without the multiple six fig salary, without those social status, you are not alone. You are just waking up to a truth that most people avoid their entire lives. That is what it actually looks like to rebuild your identity beyond the, the badge, beyond the copy title, to redefine your worth on your terms.

Here's something I want you to really stick with. What do you want to be known for? Not what have you been known for? Not what's on your resume, but moving forward, who do you want to be? That question alone can change everything because stepping into that new version of you, it's not just about building something new.

It is also about letting go. Letting go of the identity that's being wrapped up in a title or a company or a version of success that maybe no longer fits. And that part is not easy, especially if you've been in the corporate world for years or even decades. You've been built a name for yourself. You've earned respect, you've all the boxes.

So to say, actually, I want something different now, or I want something for myself. Now can feel like you are starting from zero. But the reality is you are not starting from scratch. You are starting from the experience, from intention, from alignment. You have to get really honest with yourself and ask if that old job title no longer defines me, what do I want to be known for now and in the future?

Because once you can answer that, that's where you can take a real action from a place of purpose, fulfillment, and alignment. About 10 months ago, I made a decision that felt small at the time, but actually changed everything for me. I decided to stop calling my sad hustle, a sad hustle. I said to myself, my coaching business is not just something I said as a sad hustle anymore.

I simply have two roles at this stage. One is my daytime job as a financial advisor. The other is a business coach for cop women and a business owner. Both roles define who I am and one is not less than the other. That is what I want to be known for. And I began to own the identity of a business coach, even though I was still working in my full-time job as a senior financial advisor.

I hadn't walked away from that title, but I started saying out loud, I updated my bias. I created content as a full-time business owner. I had a conversations with people, not about what I was, but about who I was becoming. It wasn't always easy. I've been working for over 19 years in financial services. I was known, I was respected by my peers and I was highly sought after by headhunters, but in a coaching place.

I was starting from fresh, not enough tracking record, at least in my view. Not much industry credibility, yet just a strong belief that I was meant for this, and that had to be enough. This is the part I want you to hear clearly. If you are trying to step into a new identity, whether it's business coaching, health coaching, fitness coaching, nutrition coaching, or if you want to become a speaker, a thought leader, a creator, it has to start from you.

We are so used to waiting for the world to validate us. We wait for other people to see us in the new light. But the truth is, you have to see yourself that way First. You have to claim that if you don't see yourself that way, no one else will. Not after you get results, not after you've earned it, but right now.

Because when you truly see yourself as a version of you, you take action differently. You speak differently. You show up from a place of power because you're no longer performing for validation. You are embodying what's already true for you. That takes practice and it's not always comfortable. That's how identity shifts happen, not from any external levels, not from what people think you are, but from your internal decisions.

So if you want to be known for something new, start being that new identity today. When you show up as your new identity and take action in your new identity, the world will start catching up to that version of you that you've already decided to become. The process from discovering your new identity to embodying it, it's not always streamlined.

It also important to stay grounded while other people still see you as the old version. So here are four tips I want to share that has helped me through this process. Tip number one is to be crystal clear on what you want to be known for and the type of career and the lifestyle that you desire. For me, I want a career auction and I want to build an online business on my terms.

And only earlier this year in 2025, I wanted to turn my side hustle to my main hustle one day. Because I want a business that can give me time, freedom, location freedom, and financial freedom. I want to be known as the entrepreneur that set examples for my two girls and create a legacy for my family. I have a big dream, which does not involve someone else, write my paycheck.

So ask yourself, what do you want to be known for moving forward in your career, and what kind of lifestyle do you want to create for you and your loved ones? Tip number two, take one small step at a time. When I started shifting into coaching, I didn't know what kind of coach I want to become. I didn't have a.

Full blown brand or business plan, but I gave myself permission to experiment and take small step. I started having casual conversations with people who were curious about the side hustles. I tested content online even when it felt awkward. I started sharing what I believe boldly to see how people respond.

I offer the free coaching just to see if I can help people to get a quick win. And I treated every step like a trial, and I give myself permission to pivot and adjust. This is such an important mindset shift. You don't have to be the thing right away, but you have to try it on to see what kind of response you get from others and get feedback and adjust as you go.

Because confidence doesn't come before clarity. It actually comes through movement and actions. Tip number three is to find your community. In the early stages of redefining myself, I was still surrounded by people who only saw me as Cindy, the senior financial advisor, or the wealth manager, and they want trying to hold me back.

They just hadn't caught up to the new version of me that I was trying to build. So I had to start funding people who got it. People like other coaches, creators, women who were building something of their own as well. People who saw me, not just my resume. Because when you are around the people who see your value beyond your job title, it actually reminds yourself to say that too.

Tip number four, stay close to someone who's already leaving it. This one helps me a lot to stay grounded and stay in the game. For the last five years, since the start of my business journey, I always had a business coach or a mentor. These are people who not only give me the guidance and the strategy, they're also people who embodied the thing.

I was stepping into myself. A good mentor or coach as someone who can hold a space for your warbles while also reminding you what's possible. Because entrepreneurial journey truly is a rollercoaster. It's full of ups and downs. When your self-belief is shaky, sometimes the most powerful thing is to have someone at your corner holding the space for you and reminding you of why you do what you do, and seeing the next version of you even before you do.

That's what helped me stick around in the early days. Not a perfect mapped out plan, but being in the energy of someone who had done it and was willing to walk beside me when I found my footing. Now, shifting your identity beyond your copy job title, one type overnight. It happens moment by moment, so you take one brief step, then another.

Now let's bring all home in the final part because if this episode is hitting home for you, there is something I want you to hear before you go. If no one has said this to you yet, know this, you have permission to evolve. You are allowed to change. You are allowed to outgrow things. You are allowed to outgrow your current job title.

Even things that once felt like your whole world, and you are absolutely allowed to want more. Even if what you had looked successful from the outside, your identity is not fixed. It's not locked in by a job title, not locked in by your LinkedIn profile, and certainly not locked in by the opinions of people who knew an old version of you.

And if you are feeling that poor, like you've outgrown your old role, but if you are not sure what the new version looks like yet, just know that you are not alone. Celebrate this awareness and give yourself the permission to explore what's possible and take one step at a time. If this episode is stirred something in you, and if you are ready to start to start stepping into your next chapter, but you're not sure where to start, I have created something that will help.

It's called 5K per Month Start Coaching Business Blueprint. And it gives you simple and a practical roadmap to help you take the skills, knowledge, and experience you already have and turn that into a coaching business that actually aligns with who you are becoming. Even if you're still in your nine to five job, even if you don't have a niche yet, you can download that for free.

Just go to the should note below. Because you are more than your job title. You are more than your corporate title. You are ready for your next evolution and it can start now. Alright my friend, that is all for today's episode. I would love to hear what you think. So you can DM me on LinkedIn or Instagram at Cindy Excell with a double L and I would love to hear from you and I'll catch you next week.

Bye for now. Thank you so much for listening to the Hustle with Heels podcast. I hope this episode has inspired you to take action towards your sad hustle dream. If you en enjoyed this episode, please take a second to rate and review it. Each review helps me help more corporate women, and early stage entrepreneurs just like you.

Don't forget to take a screenshot, share it in your Instagram stories, all on LinkedIn, and check me at Cindy Excell. I will see you next week.