Starting a New Career in Mid-Life

An attorney husband and wife opt to become high school teachers. A government worker leaves her pension behind to be a life coach. A marketing executive exits her corporate job to found an inspirational media start-up. Why would they give up their steady paychecks and benefits? And more importantly, did they make the right choice?

The world has never seemed more uncertain—national unemployment is still hovering higher than 8 percent and the housing market has yet to fully recover. Having a successful (if demanding) career with a stable income—not to mention benefits—seems like the American Dream in action. So why would four professionals decide to give it all up and start over again from scratch?

Goodbye Safety Net

After graduating from college, Celia Ward-Wallace sought out “a safe and secure job,” and found one as a Community Center Director for the City of Los Angeles. “The job paid well, and had great medical benefits and a good pension package.” But despite her life looking great on paper, she began to feel that something was missing.

“Within a year or two, I maxed out my potential and my passion and should have moved on,” she remembers. “But like many people, I became complacent and was comfortable, so I didn’t move on, and instead stayed for safety for more than 10 years.”

After several personal and financial setbacks, Ward-Wallace came to the realization that, “I worked a job that wasn’t my true calling,” and embarked on a journey of self-discovery. “I began to write more in my journals, pray, meditate, practice yoga, hike, say affirmations, find beauty everywhere, and have faith in myself and something greater than myself.” This process gave her the courage to change her life.

Not only did Ward-Wallace write and publish a book (A Woman’s Guide to Having It All, Life Lessons to Live By), but she embraced what’s called a slash career and also became a Certified Life Coach Practitioner/inspirational speaker. No longer lacking passion, she now uses her personal experiences to inspire other people to transform their lives, too.

From Corporation to Creation

Kate Neligan held a successful job as the Vice President of Digital Marketing and Distribution at Lionsgate, but she also began to sense that it wasn’t her true calling. “I loved working on all of the films at Lionsgate that had charity components,” she says. “I did six charity campaigns there. It just felt like a natural fit for me.”

While pursuing a master’s degree in spiritual psychology at the University of Santa Monica, Neligan hatched the idea of founding Mindful Media Entertainment, “a conscious media studio” and parent company to Synergy TV, an online and on-demand inspirational and uplifting content platform.

“It’s my calling and it’s my mission—it’s not just a career,” she says. “I feel that I was put on earth to do this.”

At first Neligan built her new company on the side, keeping her stable marketing job (a smart strategy that Ward-Wallace also recommends). But soon she felt torn. “I was working 80-hour weeks between the two jobs, and I was exhausted and burning out. And my heart was not in my corporate job anymore. It was fully in this start-up.”

So she finally took the plunge and began working full-time on Synergy TV. In August they hosted their first Mindful Media Visionary Series, featuring movie director Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura, Bruce Almighty), with more events planned in the near future.

Breaking from the Law

Stephen and Nicole Soltanzadeh met at a top-tier law school, passed the famously difficult California Bar Exam together, and then got married and started a family. From the outside, their lives looked picture perfect. However, despite their stable, well-paying jobs, both soon found themselves questioning their choice of career.

“I don’t remember there being a moment when we said: Okay, we’re done with law, let’s be teachers. For me, a lot of it started when Owen, our first child, was born,” Stephen explains. “For the first time, I felt like I had to really make conscious decisions about how to divide my time among work, family, friends and hobbies.”

“I got increasingly frustrated with the legal profession and the law generally,” Nicole adds. It bothered her that in order for her to win a case, somebody had to lose. “With litigation, I found that the services I offered came at a great financial (and often emotional) cost.”

Inspiration struck for Nicole while visiting schools for her oldest son. “I started thinking about education [as a career path] more and more,” she explains. Her husband sparked to the idea, and they both enrolled in graduate teaching programs at Northwestern University. Nicole will start teaching high school this fall.

“Changing careers can feel like this monumental thing,” Stephen Soltanzadeh points out. “You’ve invested lots of time and money into one career (law for us), and it is hard to put that all aside to do something else. I was very concerned about leaving a good job that helped take care of our family to start from scratch in another field.”

But Stephen and his wife Nicole believe that the pros of teaching will outweigh the cons. One big plus of their new career choice is the schedule. “I can spend summers with my family and go on long family vacations,” Nicole says. Another benefit involves personal fulfillment. “I just find working with kids and helping them navigate what can be a difficult time in their lives very rewarding,” Stephen adds.

As Nicole puts it, “It is much more fulfilling in that the service [teaching] comes without cost or controversy—no one has to lose for my students to be successful.”

Rewards and Challenges of Changing Careers

Challenges

• Accepting fear, doubt and the unknown as part of the change process

• Leaving behind a secure monthly paycheck for a life in which you have to generate your income sources

Rewards

• Reconnecting with your original essence

• Feeling whole

• Waking up each day excited about your work

• Knowing 100 percent that you are doing what you love and are great at doing

• Moving the world forward in a positive way

From Celia Ward-Wallace, author of A Woman’s Guide to Having It All, Life Lessons to Live By.

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