If you had asked me a few years ago what my career plan looked like, I wouldn’t have had an answer for you. Not because I didn’t care, but because I cared enough to lose sleep over it…and still had nothing figured out.
At the time, I was home raising multiple kids. My husband was working 12–16-hour days in construction, basically coming home to eat and sleep, and I was doing what most stay-at-home moms do – keeping everything running while somehow feeling like none of it counted in the ways that felt measurable.
Those years were the best days, but they were also the heaviest ones.
I don’t regret staying home with my kids or putting a career on the back burner. I would make that same decision again. But it was hard in ways that are difficult to explain unless you’ve lived it. We were always on a budget, constantly trying to make each paycheck stretch just a little further.
On the hardest days, I wished I could find something…anything… that would bring in a little extra money to take some of that pressure off my husband. Instead, everything I found felt like a dead end. MLMs, survey sites that paid in pennies, data entry jobs that felt sketchy at best – nothing that actually worked for the kind of life we were living. Just things that made you feel worse for even trying.
It’s a weird position to be in – feeling useless and valuable at the same time. Both things can be true, but the tension and guilt don’t really go away, even if no one is saying it out loud.
To quiet the noise and the self-doubt, I started reading more.
What began as self-development books on marriage and family eventually led to communication, mindset, habits, and just figuring out how to show up better in the life I already had.
There really wasn’t some bigger plan behind it. I just needed something that pulled me out of that stuck funk I was feeling and gave me a little forward motion.
From Stay-at-Home Mom to Content Team Lead
Back in 2022, we moved from Colorado to Tennessee in pursuit of a better life. But after getting settled, we quickly realized that there was no outrunning the cost of living, no matter where you go. In case you didn’t know, kids are expensive everywhere.
Then an opportunity came along – a part-time, work-from-home content writing job. I was hesitant to apply. I had been out of the workforce for more than ten years, and the only writing samples I had were from this blog. It didn’t feel like much to offer. But to my surprise, I received an email asking to meet for an interview.
Long story short, it was not the company for me. But that decision led me to another opportunity at a different company – a full-time role. Not everyone was convinced I could handle it. But I shrugged it off and thought, I’ll figure it out.
And I did.
About five months into that role, a position opened up for an editor. I pitched the idea to our COO, explaining why I thought I could fill the gap. After thinking it over, his response was simple: “It only makes sense.”
That led to a meeting with the CEO, who agreed to give me a chance.
That was the first moment where it really hit me – not just that I was capable of doing more, but that someone else saw that, too. It also made me realize how much opportunity there was to grow. If I was willing to step up, there was space for it.
About a year later, I started paying more attention to where I could be more helpful – bringing on new writers and improving consistency across the team, while also supporting the people behind the work. My CEO noticed the impact and offered leadership training as a way to support that growth. A few months later, I found myself stepping into a team lead role.
The Work You Think Doesn’t Matter Still Counts
Now, when I look back on that season of life, I don’t see it the same way I did at the time. I thought I was standing still, but I wasn’t.
The small, intentional decisions to keep growing (even when it didn’t seem necessary) made more of a difference than I realized when the opportunity finally showed up.
Because a lot of life really is waiting for opportunities – jobs opening up, people finally noticing what you’re good at, and getting a chance you didn’t see coming. But the other half is what you do while you’re waiting.
I feel lucky in a lot of ways, especially because it’s not easy to find work flexible enough to continue homeschooling, and I don’t take it for granted.
But getting here didn’t feel like luck.
A leadership coach once told me, “If you’re going to pick up the ball, score.”
It’s easy to hesitate when something new is put in front of you – to question whether you’re ready, whether you deserve it, or whether you’re the right person. But at some point, it really does come down to that.
You either step into it, or you don’t. And I hope you don’t overlook the decisions you’re making today because they might be the ones that change everything.
