Real Time Creator | A Laid Off, Career Break Diary

Alison Kinsey Langone
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I spent years chasing success and money while shelving my creative dreams. I was a  $200K+ earner in tech and a secret weapon inside of a 7-figure creator business. Then I got laid off from my tech job, and EVERYTHING changed. I decided to take my severance, divide it into 12 equal installments, and give myself a minimum 1 YEAR career break and creative sabbatical to reinvent my life. I'm Alison Kinsey, and each week I share a raw and unfiltered glimpse into my career break, money transparency after getting laid off, and the messy work of creative reinvention. I also share the stories of other inspiring women who have built a portfolio career after a career pivot. If you've been asking yourself, "is this IT for my life?!" this is your weekly voice note to inspire you through the in-between. New here? Start with Episode 1: "I Lost My $200K Tech Job... and Everything I Thought I Wanted." Connect with me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey Or email me: alison@alisonkinsey.com

  1. 4D AGO

    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 sendCarly Valancy’s reach out experiment and her overall success rate What exactly led to me getting a mysterious invite to San FranciscoThe deeper fear that hides underneath the possibility of rejectionResources & Links: Follow Carly Valancy on LinkedIn and check out her Substack article where she shares more about her Reach Out experiment. Let's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives.

    8 min

  2. MAY 12

    $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 TEDxThe weird butterfly effect of leaving home and accidentally building an entirely different lifeLosing my dog unexpectedly, and the spiral of thinking about alternate timelines and “what if” momentsThe moment my car’s alternator failed on a busy California freeway - and why we almost gave upLet's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives.

    14 min

  3. APR 21

    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 lifeMy unexpected visit with a reiki healer a few months before I got laid offThe complacency I felt in the final stretch of my tech career, even while still liking my jobThe internal tension between leaving a stable job for entrepreneurship, and sunk cost fallacyLet's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives.

    14 min

  4. APR 14

    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 episodeWhy the traditional job search feels more broken than everThe two arenas you can choose to play in, and why one of them is a crowded, exhausting dead endWhy the "white picket fence" version of a career might be the thing we need to questionResources & Links: Episode 8: A $107K Portfolio Career, “Boring” Businesses, & the Rise of Unconventional Work  Let's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives.

    15 min

  5. MAR 31

    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 highlightsThe three “power words” I wrote in my journal before I got on stageThe $60 and $13 investments that changed how I showed up The unexpected part of committing to this experience that drained the most energyDid 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 Let's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives.

    19 min

  6. MAR 24

    My Tech Sales Salary Progression and What NOBODY Tells You About Losing a 6-Figure Income

    Nobody talks about what happens when a high salary stops feeling like enough. I was making over $200,000 a year and STILL attaching my sense of worth to every paycheck, every commission, every win.  This is a vulnerable episode that goes deep into the complex layers of lifestyle creep, what it was like to earn at a high level and why I was still chasing “more” even when I was already maxed out. In This Episode: My exact tech sales salary progression, and what I earned at each stageThe debt that “ballooned” to 5-figures overnight when I was in my early 20’sHow I got caught in an unexpected shame spiral because of lifestyle creepThe “overemployment” rabbit hole I fell into while already burned out Related Episodes: Episode 1: I Lost My $200K Tech Job… and Everything I Thought I Wanted Episode 5: We Scaled Podcasting for Creatives to 22 Clients… Then My Husband Ended Up in the ER Let's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives.

    19 min

  7. MAR 17

    What My Week ACTUALLY Looked Like 7 Months Into My Career Break (Spoiler: A Lot of Resistance)

    What do I actually DO all day?! In this episode, I’m getting real and honest about the resistance I felt around committing to a new creative hobby, why I’m doing the exact opposite when it comes to my usual workout routine, and how I’m trying to avoid acting “retired” 24/7. The messy middle of reinvention doesn’t always look super dramatic from the outside. It’s like a series of tiny experiments that slowly start reshaping your life. In This Episode: The six-week pottery class I almost bailed on 90 minutes (!!) before it startedMy awkward first attempt filming video content (hello, cringe mountain)The self-care appointment I hadn’t done in almost 1 yearEarly reactions to the Brick device and how it’s impacting my screen timeA coffee chat with a founder building device-free “third space” experiencesResources & Links: Read my layoff story in Maggie Blackburn’s newsletter, Feeling Free Learn more about the Brick if you want to cut back on your phone screen time Get the FREE AI prompt I used to map out my 3 odysseys, lifeview, and workview Related Episodes: Episode 3: The Bad Habit That Hijacks My Life, and What I’m Changing in 2026 Episode 10: I Asked AI to Map Out My Future… and It Gave Me 3 Completely Different Lives Let's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives.

    21 min

  8. MAR 10

    I Asked AI to Map Out My Future... and It Gave Me 3 Completely Different Lives

    Every time someone asks me what’s next for my life, I freeze. And last week, a conversation with my former boss pushed me to explore that tension using AI in a way I didn’t expect. (And I’m sharing the ENTIRE prompt with you so you can try it too!) We’re talking all things AI, internet nostalgia, and what I learned when I used Claude to map out three potential “paths” for my career. In This Episode: Betting on a dream vs. the “safer” path that’s less riskyHow I craft thoughtful AI prompts to avoid surface level answersThe reflection questions that forced me to confront what I think about workAI use cases, including my take on AI clonesThe future version of my life that would feel like a “slow death” Resources & Links: Get the FREE prompt I used to map out my 3 odysseys, lifeview, and workview Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans Learn more about AI Snack Club to join a community of other women mastering AI together Let's Connect: Follow me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey or send me an email: alison@alisonkinsey.com.  Connect with Alison on LinkedIn. I also help entrepreneurs and thought leaders launch and grow their podcasts through my boutique podcast editing agency, Podcasting for Creatives.

    17 min
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About

I spent years chasing success and money while shelving my creative dreams. I was a  $200K+ earner in tech and a secret weapon inside of a 7-figure creator business. Then I got laid off from my tech job, and EVERYTHING changed. I decided to take my severance, divide it into 12 equal installments, and give myself a minimum 1 YEAR career break and creative sabbatical to reinvent my life. I'm Alison Kinsey, and each week I share a raw and unfiltered glimpse into my career break, money transparency after getting laid off, and the messy work of creative reinvention. I also share the stories of other inspiring women who have built a portfolio career after a career pivot. If you've been asking yourself, "is this IT for my life?!" this is your weekly voice note to inspire you through the in-between. New here? Start with Episode 1: "I Lost My $200K Tech Job... and Everything I Thought I Wanted." Connect with me on Instagram: @alisonkinsey Or email me: alison@alisonkinsey.com

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