Real Time Creator | A Laid Off, Career Break Diary

The Email I Was Too Scared to Send...

A very unexpected invitation pulled me across the country, so here I am, popping in from my hotel room in San Francisco. This episode will feel like a spontaneous, casual voice note, but we’re also talking about opportunities… and how you can create more of them if you just send the damn email! In This Episode: * The email draft I sat on for WEEKS and what happened when I finally hit send * Carly Valancy’s reach out experiment and her overall success rate  * What exactly led to me getting a mysterious invite to San Francisco * The deeper fear that hides underneath the possibility of rejection Resources & Links: Follow Carly Valancy on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlyvalancy/] and check out her Substack article [https://substack.com/@carlyvalancy/p-196425752] where she shares more about her Reach Out experiment. Let's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey [https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/] or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-langone/]. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives [https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/].

$0 in Savings, No Plan, No Place to Live - and It Changed My ENTIRE Life

Did you notice I went quiet? No episodes, no social media, no showing up. Life got heavy in a way I wasn't expecting, and honestly… I needed a minute. This episode is part nostalgia, part grief, and part reminder that the scariest leaps are always the ones worth taking. In This Episode: * Why I’ve been grieving the past few days, and the pit in my stomach I felt when I was at TEDx * The weird butterfly effect of leaving home and accidentally building an entirely different life * Losing my dog unexpectedly, and the spiral of thinking about alternate timelines and “what if” moments * The moment my car’s alternator failed on a busy California freeway - and why we almost gave up Let's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey [https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/] or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-langone/]. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives [https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/].

What Quitting Pottery Made Me Realize About the Job I Stayed in Too Long

I did NOT expect a 6-week pottery class to turn into a bigger conversation about quitting, intuition, and the things we stay stuck in for way too long. But that’s exactly what happened.  What started as a small creative experiment on my career break ended up showing me how much resistance I was feeling and what kinds of creative experiences actually light me up. In This Episode: * What resistance reveals about creative expansion vs. adding another open tab to your life * My unexpected visit with a reiki healer a few months before I got laid off * The complacency I felt in the final stretch of my tech career, even while still liking my job * The internal tension between leaving a stable job for entrepreneurship, and sunk cost fallacy Let's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey [https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/] or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-langone/]. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives [https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/].

The Job Market Is a Hot Mess and I Haven’t Applied to a Single Job in 8 Months

For 8 months, I’ve been avoiding the job market, questioning if I want to “enter the arena.” And it’s because the stories I'm hearing are genuinely jaw-dropping. The rules have changed in 2026. We can no longer reactively apply to hundreds of jobs. Our networks matter more than EVER, and I’m ready to share all of my theories. In This Episode: * My “life admin” week, and why I skipped last week’s episode * Why the traditional job search feels more broken than ever * The two arenas you can choose to play in, and why one of them is a crowded, exhausting dead end * Why the "white picket fence" version of a career might be the thing we need to question Resources & Links: Episode 8: A $107K Portfolio Career, “Boring” Businesses, & the Rise of Unconventional Work  Let's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey [https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/] or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-langone/]. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives [https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/].

Everything I Did (and Spent) to Feel Confident Speaking in Front of 100+ People

Last week, I REALLYYYY stretched myself by saying “yes” and speaking on stage at a local podcaster’s panel.  I'm going to take you into my head for the entirety of it - the anticipation, the "day of" investments I made, what it felt like minutes before walking on stage, and how podcasting has shaped who I am as a person. In This Episode: * Live clips from my introduction on stage, along with some panel highlights * The three “power words” I wrote in my journal before I got on stage * The $60 and $13 investments that changed how I showed up  * The unexpected part of committing to this experience that drained the most energy * Did I get paid? And was it worth it? Resources & Links: This is the bronzer I used for a sunkissed glow on stage: Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Melting Bronzing Stick [https://www.ulta.com/p/chocolate-soleil-melting-bronzing-sculpting-stick-pimprod2044529?sku=2622397&cmpid=PS_Non!google!Product_Listing_Ads&cagpspn=pla&CATCI=pla-1898473638669&CAAGID=18002902230&CAWELAID=330000200003189591&CATARGETID=330000200002825550&CADevice=c&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=232907070&gbraid=0AAAAAD9rLH7y04eETTNlynaUQc8zdaBdN&gclid=CjwKCAjwvqjOBhAGEiwAngeQnTPcm1np26JRwKlZA3P0jlDhp8B6KjFJnLqnsR8FUA2beAzcZ0MQ1hoCUO0QAvD_BwE] Let's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey [https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/] or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-langone/]. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives [https://www.instagram.com/alisonkinsey/].