Starting Over
Job losses, investment losses and the uncertainties of the economy have been a catalyst for millions of Americans to take stock and chart new courses in their work and personal lives. We asked Marketplace listeners to share their experiences with beginning anew.
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“The fear and the uncertainty that the recession produced was greater than the fear and uncertainty of starting a new business.”
Terry Ballantyne, Aptos, Calif.
Realtor to funeral planner -
“This is a scary time, especially since my family has a grim tradition of starting over in your 50s, with mixed results.”
Peter Basch, Los Angeles, Calif.
Powerpoint designer to playwright, computer consultant -
“I wasn't sure. What do I do now?” The one thing I know I really enjoyed was the stock market.”
Steve Breakstone, North Bennington, Vt.
Bully prevention to futures trader -
“All of a sudden we were ministering to our own, in very important and very present ways.”
Rabbi Daniel Gropper, Harrison, N.Y.
Dealing with types of loss he hadn't faced before -
“The things that we're so afraid of often don't turn out to be as bad as we thought they were.”
Alice Lesak, Barre, Mass.
Lost house, went bankrupt, now lives in mobile home -
“Literally walked away from my career. I decided to start over by hiking the Appalachian Trail.”
Lance Madson, New York, N.Y.
Human resources professional to photographer -
“It was very freeing. I was literally in a situation where I had nothing else but my imagination and my gifts and my confidence in my own ability to solve problems.”
David Moye, San Diego, Calif.
Laid-off journalist to P.R. puppet master -
“Got trained and immediately started networking aggressively and calling everyone I know in the business.”
Bruce Peoples, Roswell, Ga.
Brand management to focus group moderator -
“I've found that the benefits of working for myself far outweigh the obstacles that I've had to overcome.”
Tracy Nazarchyk Pagnozzi, Raleigh, N.C.
Corporate consultant to self-employed writing consultant -
“I actually thank the recession for my career change.”
Roberto Santiago, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Journalist to museum communications director -
“What I've learned about this recession is ... it's best to be flexible.”
Gary Van Meter, Wayne, Neb.
Retail business owner to teacher in Romania -
“We basically decided to make a shift, and I went back full time.”
Lori Walker, Charlotte, N.C.
Part-time yoga instructor to head of a nonprofit -
“We're just still in shock about how difficult it's been to change schools and change neighborhoods.”
Susan Wilson, Phoenix, Ariz.
Gated community to apartment living
Are you starting over?
Tell us about it.
More Voices…
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I miss the job but could not reside in the trenches of corporate war any longer. I miss my health insurance as well, but my co-workers more.
Mary Kronkowski
Grand Rapids, Mich. -
Coming back to Baltimore was the hardest thing I've ever done ... even harder than leaving.... And I had to get a house, a car and a job, and then furnish the house from scratch. I learned that I could do something like this and make it work.
Meg Fielding
Baltimore, Md. -
While things certainly aren't going gangbusters, we are slowly growing and pleased to be out on our own.
Christopher Gibbons
Shelburne, Vt. -
There is opportunity in crisis, and this crisis has allowed me the chance to think broadly about what's important to me, what brings me satisfaction, and what I want my life to look like. Given stable circumstances, I would not have been challenged to renegotiate my relationship with the world around me.
Bill Glucroft
Fairfield, Conn. -
Although I am grateful to have a job, it is in a field that is very unfamiliar to me, and the position I hold is a far cry from the responsibilities and duties that I was dealing with in my previous job.
Maria Roesler-Lundy
Minneapolis, Minn. -
I spent the last 10 years working as lead copywriter at an advertising agency in Elkhart, Ind. I wanted a career from which I could earn a good living without having to go back to college. My choice? I got my insurance license and am now selling for Aflac.
Art McFarlane
Mishawaka, Ind. -
I have been liberated, hopefully forever, from the idea of employment as something that is given to you, rather than something you create for yourself. We have the ability to create a livelihood based on what we're good at, what we love to do, and the kind of lifestyle we want to live.
Mike Shoemaker
Minneapolis, Minn. -
I spent nine years working for a manufacturer in Michigan. I cashed in my 401(k) and moved my family out West. All in all it was a positive move, but I spent my retirement in order to start over and caused tremendous upheaval to my family.
Doug McCoy
Yuba City, Calif. -
I retired at the worst possible time -- Nov. 1, 2007 -- after which the economy came quickly crashing down. I was determined not to take early, reduced Social Security, so I returned to my former, 27-years-ago love of freelance writing and editing.
Martha Steger
Midlothian, Va. -
I am now on a mission to NOT use my credit card.
Beth Wallen
Columbus, Ohio -
I was laid off from my design drafting job. So within a month after I was laid off, I started my new business, CAD Vantage. I am off and running. As an entrepeneur, I believe an owner's brilliance is more important than the economy.
Sallie Malmstrom
Eden Prairie, Minn. -
I have allowed my identity to shift rather than standing rigidly, determined to be who I was (or thought I was: personal chef, successful business woman, etc.). I have stopped knocking on the doors that closed behind me and turned to look at what is in front of me.
Terri McClernon
Pittsboro, N.C. -
After 25 years in advertising and 30 years in retail sales for my husband, we both lost our jobs within a year of each other. We are now making bags and things out of recycled billboards. We've been at it for a little over a year now and are finally hitting our stride.
Gail Greengard
Minneapolis, Minn. -
I was unemployed for the first time, I was 51.... I'm still out of my comfort zone, financially and otherwise, but the roads of the past 30 years have led me to a major turning point -- one I think will lead to greater things ahead.
Debi Pelletier
Port Saint Lucie, Fla. -
The recession forced me to relocate from the Boston area to Long Island and be willing to deal with a "commuting marriage." My husband and I work long hours during the week and the weekends are now like mini-honeymoons.
Cassandra Camp
Melville, N.Y. -
We decided to go back to grad school to get our Masters degrees. As opera singers, the economy is so bad now. We have resolved ourselves to the fact that we must move to Europe and start over there before we have any children of our own.
Obed Floan
Minneapolis, Minn. -
Almost two years ago I left California because work had dried up. Now settled in Brussels, I'm teaching English to corporate types, working on a couple of TV and film projects, and enjoying economic stability for the first time in ages.
David Palmer
Brussels, Belgium -
This all could have ended badly for me.... I was fortunate enough to be able to pick the best fit for me out of all the job opportunities I interviewed for. I now have a really cool new job, work about 10 hours less a week, and got a 66% pay increase!
Jason Gonzales
Columbus, Ohio -
Looking for a new challenge, I began teaching about five years ago. Unfortunately, I live in California and the budget turmoil here has made it an inopportune time to make such a shift. Still, there are few options, and so I persist with this career change while squeezing every last ounce from my ongoing but evaporating business.
Eric Gersh
Agoura Hills, Calif.
Comments
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From Charleston, WV, 01/01/2010
Starting over is a snap if one is retired, has thought a lifetime about what you want to do before you die, lives alone and modestly, and is passionate about seeing something created that works. A snap. A pain in all aspects of your existence, but a snap, because what you do is measurable and needed. Of course, I am talking about developing a nonprofit organization. I have founded Thank! Plain and Simple that is succeeded. Its mission is to unify the people of West Virginia around the well being of our soldiers and veterans - without being political. We created many ways for people to show we value our people in the military, and now we are employing one veteran at a time to develop projects that are at the front lines of social change. Our first project is the West Virginia Rosie the Riveter project, to collect the stories of WV women who worked all over American in World War II. We recently asked the country of Belgium if they wanted to be the first allied nation to thank American Rosies for their contribution to World War II, and they did a fabulous job - they sent a female, Lt. Colonel Martine Dierckx, to Shepherdstown, WV so that American Rosies were thanked 64 years after the war. The women are surprisingly able, vocal and willing to tell their stories and we have a grant to create a documentary film. We have chosen to train veterans who were enlisted, not officers who are usually the focus leadership positions in civilian jobs. Our veteran served in Iraq twice, is 27 and is learning nonprofit management, project development while working with the public. For me, I am 70, have been most frustrated at the glass ceiling for women and at America's persistent stigma of West Virginians. We are at the front lines of social change by focusing on training veterans to adapt their team building and leadership abilities to their home community. Yet, it is these older women, often born in the early 1920s, who make our first project so successful. Who can argue with allied forces, older and capable women (including myself) and veterans who learn to wrestle with the realities of the nonprofit work as they create a new project? Plenty do. But less now that we are succeeding, and what many thought was only mushy minded planning see a strategy and results that keep me going, at least for a while longer.
From Raleigh, NC, 09/16/2009
My partner just lost his job at NC State, at 41, so we know what you all are feeling. As a result, he decided to facilitate drum circles full-time. We now teach workshops in creative thinking and often say that from destruction comes creation. All of you presented enormous amounts of faith in your own abilities to make this recession a green light for great creative ways of being. Thank you for sharing your story.
~creative blessings...
annelies and gregory
www.conduitforchange.com www.drumforchange.com
From Rochester, MI, 09/11/2009
Thanks to everyone for sharing your "new beginnings". I admire everyone of you for have the courage to step into something you always loved. Good luck and keep us posted as you move along.
I am certainly motivated to start over in my life.
From Asheville, NC, 09/10/2009
Woohoo Lori! Thanks for the glimpse into who you really are...
From Baton Rouge, LA, 09/09/2009
Lori - this was wonderful! I am so proud of you!!! It takes courage to start over and rise to the occasion!
From Okinawa, Japan, 09/02/2009
Listening and reading all of this makes me think of a divorce. Starting over, scared, change in life, all the same verbage.
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