Way Out 23: From Corporate Gaslighting to Total Freedom with Karol Figueroa

Way Out 23: From Corporate Gaslighting to Total Freedom with Karol Figueroa

"Corporate for many people tends to be our longest emotionally abusive relationship." In this episode of 101 Ways Out, we sit down with Karol Figueroa, who achieved the ultimate corporate dream as a Director at Microsoft, only to realize the "matrix" was a trap. After dedicating 12 years to a company, she watched them coldly dismiss her need for flexibility during a grueling, $100,000 custody battle. But the real wake-up call came from her 4-year-old daughter. While Karol was working late one night to pay for a lavish lifestyle, her daughter looked at her and said the five words that changed Karol's life forever: "Mom, but I already love you." Today, Karol is the Founder and CEO of HIK Trainings. She traded her BMW for an electric Mini Cooper, fired her toxic corporate bosses, and built a life where she has the ultimate freedom to be fully present with her family. In this episode, you will learn: →Why corporate loyalty is an illusion (and how to protect yourself). →How to handle toxic managers and narcissistic gaslighting in the workplace. →The exact financial strategy Karol used (including leveraging company stock) to fund her escape. →Why you must uncouple your identity from your job title. →How to stop buying your way to happiness and redefine what "success" actually looks like. 🔗 Links & Resources: Connect with Karol & HIK Trainings: www.hiktrainings.com [http://www.hiktrainings.com] Want to chat about your own Way Out? Grab some time on Vanessa's calendar: https://calendly.com/leva-app/leva-vanessa-c200?month=2026-06 [https://calendly.com/leva-app/leva-vanessa-c200?month=2026-06] 101 Ways Out explores how thoughtful, capable people step away from inherited definitions of success and begin designing lives rooted in freedom, meaning, and joy. Through intimate conversations with founders, creatives, coaches, executives, and explorers, host Vanessa Jupe uncovers the moments that changed everything: burnout, clarity, fear, courage, and the decision to choose a different path. These are not overnight success stories. They are real conversations about identity, autonomy, money, fear, creativity, and what it actually takes to build a life that lights you up. 🎧 New episodes weekly 🌱 Part of the 101 Ways Out transformation platform 🔗 Learn more: (https://101WaysOut.com [https://101WaysOut.com]) 📷 Instagram: (https://instagram.com/101waysout [https://instagram.com/101waysout]) 💼 LinkedIn: (https://linkedin.com/company/101waysout/ [https://linkedin.com/company/101waysout/])

Way Out #22: Putting Payroll on Credit Cards: Then His Son Was Born Nine Weeks Early with Brian Best

Are you stuck in a career where your income is entirely tied to how many hours you clock? What if you could decouple your time from your money, and run your life from anywhere? In this episode of 101 Ways Out, we sit down with Brian Best, a self-proclaimed "computer nerd" who walked away from a "safe" government pension at 24 years old after drowning in toxic bureaucracy and entitled "boss-holes". Armed with a book on starting a business that he bought in 1996, he launched Best Macs, a Kansas City-based IT company. But building an empire wasn't a straight line. Brian shares the raw reality of his entrepreneurial journey: from cold-calling creative agencies with hand-drawn business cards, to getting crushed by the 80/20 rule in retail, to the terrifying family emergency that forced him to drop from working 80 hours a week down to just 10. That crisis sparked his ultimate "Way Out." Brian completely transformed his business model from an exhausting, hourly "feast or famine" cycle into unstoppable, flat-fee recurring revenue. Today, at 50, he successfully runs his business from the passenger seat of an RV while taking multi-week cross-country road trips with his family. In this episode, you will learn: * Why trading your time for money is a trap (and exactly how to escape it). * How to pivot your business model so your income becomes predictable and reliable. * The danger of the 80/20 rule: Why too much of the wrong business will kill you. * Why your talent alone isn't enough to sustain a business (and the first hire you actually need to make). * How to build a team and systems that allow you to step away without the ship sinking. Stop researching your escape plan and start planning. Hit play to hear Brian’s masterclass in pivoting! 🔗 Links & Resources: * Read Brian's full story on the blog: https://www.101waysout.com/interviews/way-out-22-he-was-putting-payroll-on-credit-cards-then-his-son-was-born-nine-weeks-early-with-brian-best [https://www.101waysout.com/interviews/way-out-22-he-was-putting-payroll-on-credit-cards-then-his-son-was-born-nine-weeks-early-with-brian-best] * Connect with Brian Best & explore his managed services: ⁠ [https://www.bestmacs.com/]BestMacs.com [http://BestMacs.com]⁠ [https://www.bestmacs.com/] Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an inspiring story of everyday people doing extraordinary things to find their freedom! #101WaysOut #Entrepreneurship #RecurringRevenue #RVLife #LeaveCorporate #SmallBusinessTips #ITManagedServices #WorkFromAnywhere #TimeFreedom

Way Out #21: From Corporate Hostility to Sicily: Suitcases and a One-Way Ticket with Jennifer Sontag

What does it take to sell everything you own, pack two suitcases, and move across the world? For Jennifer Sontag, it took surviving hostile corporate environments, navigating a divorce, and hitting a breaking point where she realized: if not now, when? In this incredible episode of 101 Ways Out, Jennifer shares her zigzagging journey from being a teen mom who launched a successful boutique, to a corporate retail buyer, to eventually booking a one-way ticket to Shanghai. She opens up about the raw reality of arriving in a foreign country to an absolute disaster, how she pivoted to save her own dream, and how she eventually found her way to Europe. Today, Jennifer is the founder of Viamond, a European relocation and citizenship concierge, running her business from her dream apartment in Sicily. In this episode, we cover: * * Why achieving the ultimate "dream job" on paper is often a nightmare in reality. * The raw truth about navigating sexual harassment in the corporate world. * How to handle the terror of a massive pivot when everything goes completely wrong. * Why Jennifer traded her goal of making the "40 under 40" list for a life of simple happiness and autonomy. 3 Tips for Wayfinders: 1. Stop researching and start planning. You can spend 20 years researching your dream, but it will never happen until you set a hard date. Give yourself a deadline, put it on the calendar, and work backward. 2. Trust that you can survive the worst-case scenario. When Jennifer arrived in China, she was there illegally and her housing was a disaster. Instead of panicking, she trusted her grit, booked a room at the Ritz, and figured it out. 3. Your trauma can become your trade. Jennifer's frustrating, messy experience navigating the Italian citizenship process organically led her to help others, ultimately birthing a massive relocation company. Follow Jennifer's Journey: If you want to explore moving abroad, securing dual citizenship, or just want to follow her beautiful Sicilian life, visit her at ⁠ [https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fviamond.eu]Viamond.eu [http://Viamond.eu]⁠ [https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fviamond.eu] or reach out to her on Reddit where she is known as the legendary "China cat lady"! Find your own way out The 101 Ways Out 30-Day Program takes you on a journey from where you are to where you're meant to be. ⁠Learn more here⁠ [https://www.101waysout.com/101-ways-out-thirty-day-program].

Way Out #20: Laid Off From Her Executive "Dream Job": The Burnout Story with Haley Scruggs

For years, Haley Scruggs believed that success required pain. From grueling 80-hour weeks selling books door-to-door in college to becoming a top-tier technical recruiter for fast-paced startups like Bumble and The Zebra, Haley built her career on the belief that her worth depended entirely on being a "workhorse." But muscling through eventually takes a devastating toll. In this episode, Haley opens up about the extreme corporate burnout that pushed her body to its absolute breaking point — and how being laid off from her executive "dream job" ended up being the ultimate blessing in disguise. Today, Haley is the founder of A Lighter Way Consulting, where she uses her decade of HR experience to help driven women in tech navigate burnout and partners with startups to humanely handle layoffs. She shares her strategies for dealing with the terror of entrepreneurship, how to honor your body's natural energy cycles, and why she is manifesting abundance one penny at a time. If you are exhausted from trying to prove your worth to toxic corporate environments, Haley's story is a beautiful reminder: you do not have to sacrifice your health and happiness to be successful. ───────────────────────────── IN THIS EPISODE: ───────────────────────────── ▸ The trap of the "workhorse" mentality and how to recognize when your body is sounding the alarm ▸ Why achieving the ultimate corporate title and salary might not actually bring you peace ▸ How to handle the fear of the "messy middle" of entrepreneurship ▸ Redefining success: from seeking external validation to building a grounded certainty in yourself ───────────────────────────── 3 TIPS FOR WAYFINDERS: ───────────────────────────── 1. Treat fear like a passenger, not the driver. Haley recommends personifying fear as a scared three-year-old version of yourself. Put them in the backseat and remind them: "You don't get to drive this car. I'm driving." 2. Follow the energetic breadcrumbs. If you have a yearning or a pull toward something more, that is your truth — and it deserves to be followed. Start leaning into the things that bring you joy. Those small breadcrumbs will point you toward your next step. 3. Communify your life. You do not have to figure out your next steps alone. Find people already doing the things that make you say "I could never" and start having conversations with them. Community is how you take the tiny steps forward you need to launch your own dream. ───────────────────────────── CONNECT WITH HALEY: ───────────────────────────── Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haleyirenesings/ [https://www.instagram.com/haleyirenesings/] Email: hello@HaleyScruggs.com [hello@HaleyScruggs.com] ---------------------------------------- FIND YOUR OWN WAY OUT: https://www.101waysout.com/101-ways-out-thirty-day-program [https://www.101waysout.com/101-ways-out-thirty-day-program]

Way Out #19: From Being Told What to Make to Building a $1M Agency with Marianne Kaiser

What do you do when the agency that promised you the world starts making you question your own value every single day? If you are Marianne Kaiser, you track your misery on a 30-day Post-It note countdown, and then you walk away. In this episode of 101 Ways Out, we sit down with Marianne, a former Creative Director who escaped the toxic burnout of the traditional agency world to build her own fractional empire, Contrary Collective. While Marianne took the leap into entrepreneurship with two toddlers at home, this isn't just a story about balancing motherhood and business. It is a masterclass in radical boundary-setting, unapologetic outsourcing, and industry disruption. Marianne breaks down exactly how she built her agency to run like a "hair salon for creatives." This unique structure enables her to partner top-tier talent directly with clients on passion-led projects without the unpaid weekends and corporate red tape. We dive deep into the messy middle of entrepreneurship, including how she survived a terrifying dry spell, the exact words she used to turn down a client who tried to slash her budget to a third, and how she completely redefined what "success" looks like. And the payoff for betting entirely on her own authority? Marianne is now projecting a $1M revenue close rate for this year. If you are struggling with imposter syndrome or waiting for the "perfect time" to leave a job you hate, Marianne will inspire you to borrow some self-confidence and make the leap. As she brilliantly puts it: "If someone else trusts you to do the job, you're probably underselling yourself." In this episode, we cover: - The "30-Day Post-It Note Countdown" that led to her resignation. - Why she intentionally built a fractional, 1099 agency model. - How to set firm boundaries when clients try to underpay you. - Why letting go of "mom guilt" (and unapologetically outsourcing the laundry) made her a better CEO and mother. - The power of being of service to others when your business hits a slow period. Follow Marianne LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariannekaiser/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariannekaiser/]