13 | How to Successfully Pivot into Your Second Act featuring Shannon Russell

Feeling stuck in your career but scared to make a change?

In this episode, I sit down with Shannon Russell, Career Transition and Business Coach, and founder of Second Act Success Coaching. Shannon shares how she left her successful career as a TV producer to create a second act filled with freedom, flexibility, and purpose.

If you’re wondering:
👉 Is it too late to start over?
👉 How do I know if I’m ready for a career change?
👉 What if my family depends on my paycheck?

This conversation will inspire you to take action—even if fear is holding you back.

🎯 What You'll Learn:
✔️ How to recognize the signs it’s time for a career change
✔️ Why career pivots don’t have to mean “starting over”
✔️ How to reframe your identity and transfer your skills into something new
✔️ Practical steps to start planning your second act while still employed

🎁 Grab Shannon Russell’s Free Second Act Journal & Resources

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Transcript

Intro:
Welcome to the Shannon Fox Show, the podcast where we empower career moms to thrive. I'm your host, Shannon Fox, a career advancement coach dedicated to helping moms like you leverage your strengths to land your dream job, secure that well-deserved raise, or finally get that promotion—all without sacrificing time with your family.

Each week, I'll bring you actionable strategies, inspiring stories, and strength-based tools to help you align your career with your natural gifts and step into your full potential.

So if you're ready to stop feeling stuck and start building the career and life you deserve, you're in the right place. Let's get started.

Shannon Fox:
Hello and welcome! I'm so excited to have Shannon Russell with me today. Shannon is a career transition and business coach, exit strategy expert, and the CEO of Second Act Success Coaching.

After spending 16 years as a television producer, she made the bold decision to stop producing shows for others and start producing her own life. Now she helps women pivot from unfulfilling careers into joyful, purpose-driven businesses or second act careers that give them the freedom and fulfillment they crave.

She’s also the author of Start Your Second Act: How to Change Careers, Launch a Business, and Create Your Best Life, and the host of the Second Act Success Career Podcast. Welcome, Shannon! I can’t wait to dive into today’s conversation.

Shannon Russell:
Well, thank you for having me, Shannon. I love your name, and I’m so excited to chat.

Shannon Fox:
Yes! So you spent 16 years as a successful TV producer. What made you realize it was time to pivot and start your own second act?

Shannon Russell:
It was my kids. It was my dream job since I was little, so I loved everything about what I did. It was so exciting and high-paced. But by the time I was pregnant with my second son, I had a three-year-old and a soon-to-be newborn. I realized that the hours—it was just too stressful. I had about a two-hour commute from Manhattan door-to-door to the suburbs, and it was just too much.

So I realized I needed to figure out my second act pretty quickly after that.

Shannon Fox:
Right, that makes sense. There are people who feel stuck in careers they don’t love—so what advice can you give to career moms listening on how to truly know when it’s time for a change?

Shannon Russell:
Yeah. I always say, if you’re feeling stuck, if you’re feeling misaligned or unhappy, then the first thing you should do is stop and check in with yourself. Because I think as moms, we’re so busy doing everything, worried about everybody else, and we come last all the time.

So just take a couple of minutes—even if it’s while you’re waiting at pickup or driving—to ask yourself, “Hey, am I okay? Am I happy? What would make me happier?”

When you allow yourself to check in and do that little soul searching, you might realize, yeah, this really isn’t a good situation. I want to think about what else is out there. And that’s when you can start asking, “What else could I do with the skills and experience I have?” Then start making baby steps to really make that leap—if that’s what you want to do.

Shannon Fox:
Okay, but what happens if they have fear? I mean, we can all say yes, but to actually sit there and say, “Okay, now I’m going to do this”—there’s probably a lot of fear that holds listeners back. How do you advise them to overcome that fear?

Shannon Russell:
The fear is there—and it’s permanent, right? You’re always going to be scared when anything is uncertain and there’s change involved. I think the best thing to do—I always say—is to learn before you leap.

If you’re considering a change to another career, opening a business, whatever it might be—do the research. You’re allowed to just get onto Google or listen to podcasts or books and see what a day in the life of someone in that role is like.

As you start researching, you might say, “You know what? That’s really not for me. Now that I’ve learned more, I can check that off the list.” But I think learning is key—and it’s free. You’re not committing to anything.

As you learn, you might say, “That could be something. Let me dig a little deeper.” And if you do feel like you want to make a change—it’s still going to be scary. You don’t want to wreak havoc among your family and cause chaos. So you can start putting a roadmap in place, and really make that plan, timeline, and next steps very methodically.

I’m not someone who says put a date on the calendar and just quit and make the change. Do it in a way that doesn’t cause chaos—because at this point in our lives, we have a lot of people who depend on us. So we want to try to take that fear out as best we can by learning as much as we can. And I think that leads to confidence.

Shannon Fox:
Yes. And then—if you’ve been in a career for a long time, that almost becomes your identity. Like, “I’m the director of this at this place.” What advice can you give to the women who are learning and preparing, but worried about how this transition will affect their identity?

Shannon Russell:
Yes. I like to say that you’re still that same person. I always say, “I’m still a television producer.” And if Oprah called tomorrow, I would go work with her!

Shannon Fox:
Yes! I would too—and I don’t even know how to produce!

Shannon Russell:
Exactly—you’d make it work! But we’re always that same person. You just bring that into something new—those skills, that experience. Now you’re just developing your lifelong resume and bringing on something else.

You can use those skills and experience to make you a better person in your next role. I try to teach my clients to do a little mindset shift of, “I’m not just this title.”

When you sit down and write all the titles that you have—mom, sister, daughter, whatever it might be—you realize you’re a lot of things. That brings you back to YOU.

Then it’s about how you portray that to others—on LinkedIn, social media, or even just in conversation with friends and family. When you say, “Hey, I’m no longer the director of XYZ. I’m now going to be an accountant,” for example—it’s getting them to understand why you’ll be great at that. You’re using skills from your first act to bring to your second.

And it takes some work. It’s definitely a mindset shift—for you, and also for the people who know and love you.

Shannon Fox:
Right. I like that because you're saying you're still the same—you have your skills, and no matter where you are, they're transferable. Like, in this job or that job, it doesn’t matter. You’re taking those skills and the knowledge you have into the next role, and it can make you that much better of a person in that next role.

At the end of the day, you're still the same person. You’ve just added something new to your resume.

Shannon Russell:
Yes, I love that. Because it’s just your experience—you bring that no matter what. The experiences that you have are yours. They don’t belong to a title or to a company—they belong to you as a person. And I think we sometimes forget that. Sometimes it’s good to just talk about that.

Shannon Fox:
So what happens for those that are listening and saying, “Okay, I am ready for that transition. I am ready for my second act”? What do you think—are there career ideas they may not have considered as they begin this transition?

Shannon Russell:
Yeah. I think a great way to learn about what it is you do want to do is to look at your skills. Make a simple list—not just of things you can do, but things you want to keep doing.

You might be really good at numbers, but maybe you don’t want to work in numbers going forward. So make that list of things that bring you joy and make you want to get out of bed in the morning. Then start thinking about what career paths correlate with those skills and experiences.

Also—what are you passionate about? Do you want to create a business or start a job that leans on your creative passions?

You can even take a course or a certification—it could be something online—to learn a little bit more about that field to see if you really want to move forward.

There are so many roles nowadays. We’re very lucky to have so many companies hiring remote workers. So if you're a mom, and being home or being available during after-school hours is important—like it is for me—you can search and find things you can do online.

Or you can do things like you and I do, Shannon—start a podcast, a blog, write a book. You can figure out things that bring in different revenue streams. So it’s really about looking at your situation, your skills, and what will bring you joy and fulfillment in this next chapter.

Shannon Fox:
Yes. So where does the financial aspect come in? Maybe you have a great job, but you're ready—like you said—to embrace the second act and want to be at home with your kids. Especially right now, finance is a big factor. So what would you advise for the career moms listening around that money mindset?

Shannon Russell:
I think it’s what no one wants to do—but you have to dive in and look at your finances. It’s the thing I dread! I know a lot of us don’t want to look at the bank statement or anything else.

But it is important to look at where you are and be honest with yourself. Only you know what you can do in your second act and what you can afford. So be honest. If this is what you want to move toward, maybe it’s going to take time.

If you’re starting a business, maybe it’ll take a year or two to really bring in revenue you can rely on. Or if you’re transitioning to a new field, maybe you’ll need to accept a lower salary or different title.

So look and see—how long might it take? How much of a nest egg do you need to build? Maybe your transition isn’t this year—maybe it’s next year so you can save in the interim. That’s actually the number one thing—after research—really dive into those numbers.

And it doesn’t have to be discouraging. You can say, “I’ll keep earning my paycheck for 12 more months, and then I’ll feel better about making that leap.” Or if you’re going to make the leap sooner, maybe you take a part-time job or start a side hustle.

You want to be honest—especially in our positions, with people depending on us. You never want a partner or someone to say, “You changed everything, and it ruined everything we had going on.”

Shannon Fox:
Right. That communication is so important because I do see that—child care is incredibly expensive these days. So even taking that into consideration is huge.

If you could get a part-time job and work during school hours—if your kids are old enough—and then be home with them in the afternoons and evenings, that’s still part of the financial equation. It’s not just, “What are my bills?”—there’s a lot more to factor in.

Shannon Russell:
Yes. The first business I started when I left television was a franchise business working with children. I was able to do it out of my home and bring my kids with me to the classes I taught. So I saved on daycare—I brought them along with me.

It was tricky and a lot to juggle—nothing’s ever easy—but just like you said, looking at all those aspects of what you can make work and finding what fits perfectly.

Shannon Fox:
I love that. So looking back, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from leaving a successful career and starting over?

Shannon Russell:
That resilience. That you really can start over—and it can be fantastic. I look at it like I’ve been able to have two dream jobs—maybe three at this point! I started one business, sold it, and now I’m coaching.

So I think it’s exciting to look at life as full of adventures. And I’m most proud of that.

Shannon Fox:
I love that. Because we are moms—and moms, we are resilient. We deal with life every day with kids. You’re stronger than you think you are. I love that.

I’ve really enjoyed this conversation. Where can our listeners connect with you?

Shannon Russell:
Yes! I have a book coming out that’s all about what I teach. It’s called Start Your Second Act and it’s available this May. You can go to secondactsuccess.co to learn all about it.

Shannon Fox:
Awesome! And you have a free resource for our listeners as well, right?

Shannon Russell:
Yes! If you go to that website and look under the Resources section, there are a ton of free tools there. One that’s been a big hit lately is my Second Act Journal. It helps you get your ideas down and work through them—so go grab that over there.

Shannon Fox:
Great! Okay, Shannon, I love to leave my listeners with one action step. So—what’s one small but powerful thing they can do today to move toward their second act career?

Shannon Russell:
Think about one thing—if nothing was in your way—what would you want to do in your life, in this next step in your career? Write it down on a piece of paper and look at it. Think about it. Really put yourself in that situation.

Then see where you are tomorrow. If you’re still thinking about it, start doing the research and see what you discover.

Shannon Fox:
I love that. I love that. So everybody—make sure you do that today!

Thank you so much, Shannon, for being here. I really appreciate it.

Shannon Russell:
This was so much fun. Thank you!

Outro:
Thanks so much for tuning into the Shannon Fox Show! If you found value in today’s episode, I’d love for you to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with another career mom who’s ready to thrive.

Don’t forget to grab your free Mastery Zone Discovery Quiz where you’ll uncover your strengths and take the first step toward aligning your career with your superpowers.

You can also connect with me on Instagram at @the.shannon.fox for more tips and inspiration.

Until next time—remember: You're not just building a career. You're creating a life you love. Let’s make this happen.