From Uncertainty to Opportunities: Smart Transitions

Uncertain times should not always mean doom and gloom; instead, they should be

seen as a catalyst for transition. We have all been down the proverbial road of chaos, where absolutely nothing is going right—or so it seems. Staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m., wondering what’s next. The job that once felt secure suddenly isn’t. The business plan that looked solid on paper now feels like a gamble. The world outside seems to shift faster than you can keep up. If you’ve felt

this too, you’re not alone.

Whenever you hit your wall of uncertainty, you will be faced with two choices: freeze or move. Your decision should always be to move, it may be slowly, sometimes clumsily—but always moving forward. Take courses you never thought you’d need. Reach out to people you haven’t spoken to in years, especially those in roles you admire. Update your CV, not just with what you have done, but with what you wanted to do next. Ask for help. Reimagine what success could look like, not just for you, but for the people you care about.

The global landscape is shifting rapidly. Disruption and upheaval have become the norm rather than the exception. Today, we find ourselves in a world of gross

uncertainty, where jobs, careers, businesses, and livelihoods are constantly

on the line. But within this turbulence lies a powerful truth: uncertainty is not the end. It is the beginning of transformation. History has shown us that some of the greatest innovations and personal breakthroughs have emerged from periods of instability. The key lies in how we respond. When we decide to transition smartly or consciously quit, we take some of our power back.

Smart transitions are the bridge between chaos and clarity. It is not about reacting

impulsively but about responding strategically. This means embracing

adaptability, cultivating resilience, and being willing to reimagine what success looks like. It means asking not just “What have I lost?” or Where do I go from here?’ but “What can I build now?” “What do I have to offer?”

For many of us, it is more than just finding the next job. It’s about rethinking what we want from our work and how we define success. This will mean upskilling, pivot

careers, or starting that long-dreamed-of business. For organizations, it could mean rethinking outdated models, investing in digital transformation, or fostering a culture of innovation. For communities, it’s about coming together to support one another, share resources, and build networks of opportunity.

Career transitions don’t have to be dramatic to be meaningful. Sometimes it’s a shift in mindset. Sometimes it’s a side project that grows into something more. Sometimes it’s simply giving yourself permission to want something different.

Yes, the job market is uncertain. Yes, industries are evolving faster than ever. But

that doesn’t mean we’re powerless. In fact, it means we have more tools, more access, and more freedom to shape our careers than any generation before us.

So, if you’re standing at the edge of a career change—whether by choice or by

circumstance—know this: uncertainty is not the enemy. It’s the invitation. With intention, curiosity, and a little courage, you can turn this moment into a launchpad.

The truth is, uncertainty strips away the illusion of permanence. It forces us to

confront what truly matters and to make intentional choices about our future. It’s a

nudge—sometimes a shove—toward something new. And while the road may be

rocky, it is also rich with possibility.

Let us not be paralyzed by the unknown. Let us be propelled by it. These pro tips will help to show you that with every disruption lies the seed of reinvention.

1. Pause and Reflect

Before jumping into the next opportunity, take time to ask yourself:

1. What did I enjoy most in my last role?

2. What drained me?

3. What kind of work aligns with my values now?

Clarity comes from reflection, not reaction.

2. Embrace Lifelong Learning

The job market is evolving fast. Upskilling isn’t optional—it’s empowering. Whether it’s a short online course, a certification, or learning a new tool, investing in yourself is always a smart move.

Tip: Platforms like Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and edX offer affordable, flexible options.

3. Rebuild Your Network

Reach out to former colleagues, mentors, and even acquaintances. Let them know

you’re exploring new directions. Most opportunities come through people, not job

boards.

Tip: Don’t just ask for a job—ask for advice, insights, or a quick coffee chat.

4. Update Your Story

Your resume and LinkedIn profile should reflect where you’re going, not just where

you’ve been. Highlight transferable skills and frame your experience in a way that supports your next move.

Tip: Use action verbs and results-driven language. Show how you solve problems.

5. Stay Open to the Unexpected

Sometimes the best opportunities don’t look like what you imagined. Be open to contract work, freelance gigs, or roles in adjacent industries. They can be stepping stones to something greater.

6. Take Care of Your Mental Health

Career transitions can be emotionally taxing. It’s okay to feel uncertain, anxious, or even lost. But don’t go through it alone. Talk to friends, seek support, and give yourself grace.

7. Celebrate Small Wins

Every application sent, every interview landed, every new skill learned—it all

counts. Progress is progress, even if it’s not linear.

The authors of Consciously Quitting are here to support you through these times of

uncertainty by helping you to embrace your transition with our book. We won’t pretend the journey is easy. But we will say this: the discomfort of transition is often the birthplace of growth. You are not stuck. You are evolving. And with the right mindset and tools, you can turn this uncertain moment into your greatest opportunity yet.

A.V. Andrew, co-author of Consciously Quitting: A Guide for Navigating Your Career

Transition, along with fellow co-author, V.J. Gomes, is building a welcoming community at www.consciouslyquitting.com. Their mission is to inspire positive change, innovation, and empathy, guiding people toward more fulfilling and meaningful careers.

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Your Version of Success is Deeply Personal

One June afternoon, I was sitting in our family’s living room, watching TV while my Aunt Olive reviewed my report card. She sighed deeply and began to chastise me about my overall average: 91 percent, an A grade. Her real issue, though, was my class rank. I had placed 11th.

I was eight years old and genuinely proud of those results. I had already done my own internal postmortem. Yes, I could have focused more, but I got an A. I was satisfied and already looking forward to my summer break.

Aunt Olive, however, wasn’t prepared for my response. I told her, simply, that I did my best. She responded, “Ten of your classmates are smarter than you.” I replied, “I don’t care. It does not change how smart I am.” My results pleased me, and that was enough. She continued to stare at me, and after a long pause, she walked away. She never brought up my grades or any other perceived shortcomings again.

To this day, that moment reminds me that success is deeply personal. To Aunt

Olive, success meant being the best. To me, it meant doing my best. My performance positioned me near the top achievers in the class. Contemporary

psychologists suggest that this proximity may have continuously motivated me to

improve my performance. This was enough for me at that time, and to some extent, I have not changed my opinion.

Years later, A.V. Andrew and I wrote our book, “Consciously Quitting: A Guide for

Navigating Your Career Transition”, to inspire our readers to dig deeper into their lives to find greater meaning beyond the surface of ‘Workism’. We all know that there is so much more to life than work. We can all agree that achieving a healthy work-life balance is a huge part of framing our personal wellbeing. Maintaining that balance has implications for the very work we are doing. We can all also accept that self- actualization lies at the heart of whether we consider ourselves successful.

What does this mean in the grand scheme of things? In my opinion, whatever you

decide to do and however you frame your life, it will be deeply personal, specific to your own values. Your idea of success is indeed very personal.

Perception Versus Perspective

How you experience your place the world and how you respond to it will ultimately

shape your perceptions and inevitably your actions. Perception is how you view your life and wider surroundings using your five senses of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.

However, your perspective is triggered by how you use measurable facts to gain a more refined point of view.

Ask yourself pointed questions to gauge your perception and measure your perspective

on success.

• What does being successful mean to me: wealth, health, or some other concept?

• Am I taking good care of myself?

• Am I giving enough gratitude for how far I have come?

• Am I stuck in the past, or am I balanced in the present while still planning for the future?

• Can I celebrate others’ success without comparing it to my own?

Is Corporate Life a Scam?

A six-figure salary. A senior title. The boss’s praise for being “so reliable.” At first glance, it all looks like success. Similarly, when we work for a job where the atmosphere is supposed to be “like family” but actually invokes a vicious cycle of Friday bliss, Sunday dread, with a hamster wheel of deadlines and meetings heavily sprinkled throughout the week, this is a hard sell for all of us. It leaves very little to be excited about, right?

Let’s probe deeper with a few more questions:

• What if the systems we work in were designed to support us instead of draining us?

• What if we could shape work around our energy, our values, and our lives?

• Could we create more thoughtful meetings, clearer expectations, and healthier

• boundaries?

• Most importantly, can we give ourselves permission to stop the people-pleasing?

Say it with me, “It is OK to have zero desire to be everything to everyone all of the

time.”

Some of us reach the C-suite and forget the sacrifices we made to get there. We

replicate the very patterns we once prayed to escape, calling it “paying dues.” Maybe the real flex is actively building better work life cultures for future generations to admire and replicate. If we led differently, more people would stay at their jobs instead of consciously quitting. Isn’t a better work life a significant mark of success?

Where Do We Go From Here?

There are numerous ways to measure where you are at in your life. Start by:

Leveraging what you already have: You have to appreciate where you currently are

while making room for any improvement(s). Check in with yourself regularly, speak to a close friend or a trusted professional. A wise expert once said that the gap between good and great is the acceptance of learning. Do not be afraid to keep learning more about yourself and what you need from your life.

Do not cling to the familiar: Change is inevitable. It is often said that growth begins

where and when your comfort zone ends. The rise of AI and shifting economies means you must get comfortable with the new reality of being constantly uncomfortable.

Focus on alignment not achievement: You can collect titles and still feel off-track. Ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” When your “why” is clear, the direction becomes obvious. If it doesn’t make sense to you then you might be wasting your precious time.

Build relationships responsibly: Not everyone deserves VIP access to your time,

energy, or loyalty. Choose your people with care. Build trust slowly and end ties when necessary. (Please refer to our previous posts on networking for more insight on this topic.)

Stop the comparisons: If we accept that we are all on individual journeys, there really is no need for any comparative measuring, unless it inspires you to become even better. You cannot measure where you are if you are constantly looking into someone else’s life. Keep your focus on your own life decisions.

Final Thoughts…

As stated earlier, your version of success is deeply personal. As you reflect on your life and its trajectory, give yourself credit for everything you have been through while remaining open to all the possibilities and challenges that are still to come. Identify your sense of purpose or your ‘why’ and guard your well-being fiercely. Once you lead your career and life with intention, success is sure to follow!

Our wonderful Consciously Quitting team has a free resource just for you. Download the Hierarchy of Needs guide to help clarify what matters most to you right now.

While you’re here, please continue to enjoy the CQ Blog. We have posts on networking, exit manifestation, and much more, all written with your evolution in mind.

Get Now!

Your version of success is personal, and so are your needs. In Chapter Two of Consciously Quitting: A Guide to Navigating Your Career Transition, we discuss how Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can guide you in clarifying what truly matters to you during your career journey. We’ve created a free, fillable Hierarchy of Needs printable to help you check in with yourself, identify what needs are being met, and see where you want to grow next. Whether you’re assessing your health, safety, relationships, confidence, or your drive to reach your potential, this guide will help you align your next steps with your personal definition of success. It’s a gentle yet powerful tool to ensure your choices reflect your values, not just external expectations. Download your copy today and start framing your career and life around what truly matters to you.

V.J. Gomes is the co-founder of Consciously Quitting, a career-transition platform. Book her for a strategy session or keynote address.

Grab your copy of Consciously Quitting: A Guide for Navigating Your Career Transition

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Double For Your Trouble: Pricing Strategies Explained

Pricing you can take to the bank…

Years ago, I sat in the small conference room, reviewing the project terms presented by the firm’s CEO. Across the table, he and his deputy CEO sat awaiting my offer. I quickly assessed the timeline and weighed their earlier assurances that, “You won’t be doing the amount of work you handled for your last project.” The project was presented as having a short timeframe and less work, so my services wouldn’t cost as much, right? I proceeded to quote a reasonable figure to them for my compensation. When neither of them protested or batted an eyelid at my price, I knew I had underbid myself. My misstep will become your blessing.

This piece is called, “Double for Your Trouble”, because pricing your services goes way beyond the basics of supply and demand. When you are offering a product or service you have a lot of issues and expenses that have to be factored into your costing equation.

What are the terms?

Is your client offering you a permanent workspace? Are they willing to lend

administrative support? Do they understand what they are truly asking for? Are there specific demands from the job, such as compressed timelines?

I have worked on projects where:

• The true nature of the primary tasks was unknown to the persons recruiting my services. To be clear, they knew what they wanted, but they did not understand what it would truly take to reach all their project deliverables on time.

• The project terms offered were not the actual terms and conditions that applied in practice. The work environment was unwelcoming, and they refused to designate office space and administrative support (I eventually recruited my own admin support).

• There were several unknowns that came up only when serious problems collided with our goals. Those unknowns were challenges that came at additional costs and time we did not have.

• Micromanagement, corporate bullying, information gatekeeping, and any other

  work horror you can imagine. Murphy’s Law was fully engaged as anything that

  could go wrong did, giving me quite the run for my money!

What did I learn? Nothing is ever what it seems when you offer your product or services to people. Assume the worst while preparing to put your best foot forward.

What Pricing Models are you considering?

Are you using the best pricing model for this project or service?

The most common model is the Hourly Rate. It’s the easiest model, and it is usually used by persons breaking into the consulting field or starting their own businesses. This model can be useful when you are trying to understand how pricing works initially, but it is not the best standard when you consider that the hourly rate is basically trading time for money within a context of limited time and possibly limited resources.

As there is only so much that you can do as a human being in a limited time frame, you will inevitably find that you may have to raise your hourly rate, and then, you also encounter those clients who are not willing to pay more. You will be faced with a ceiling of how much you can charge and how much time you have to provide the product or service. Ultimately, you want to avoid the hourly rate in the long term.

Most consultants use a Daily Rate, but understand that with this model, you are still applying the trading of time and labor for money and there may still be a perceived ceiling to work with.

Project-Based pricing goes a bit deeper, as you find yourself considering operational costs, travel expenses, where applicable, and even consideration for emergency or contingency measures if needed. Costs can also be seen and unseen, for example online costs of software subscriptions or for using research tools or meeting platforms, such as Survey Monkey and ZOOM.

If your client decides that your work was valuable, or if they communicate that your

services will be required over the long term, you and your client are then encouraged to work towards agreeing on what is known as a Retainer fee. Your client will agree to pay you to retain your services, and this can be based on a certain level of reporting and transparency. In this case, the client is paying to have access to you over anextended period of time. Depending on the agreed terms, you make yourself available and ready to offer some sort of value for the retainer being paid. One of the upsides of a retainer is stability over an extended period. As long as you avoid being tied down by specific hours, charge a reasonable amount (for you and your client) and deliver diligently what you promised in your offer.

Finally, there is the Value-Based model of pricing. The challenge here is knowing what your approach is because in this pricing model, you are working with your client to determine pricing based on the value that you are creating for their specific assignment.

Strategy consultants, designers, marketing and research professionals, among others, are all solving corporate problems. As you work with the client, and you determine that you can add a specific quantifiable amount of value over period X to solve their problem or deliver on the project, then you use this information to position your fees.

Do consider “Perceived Value”

Robert J. Dolan and Hermann Simon, in their 1997 book “Power Pricing: How Managing Price Transforms the Bottom Line” argued that if customers perceive your product or service as valuable, naturally the price will not only be significantly higher than the actual costs and labor, but your long term profitability will also experience a boost.

Perceived value, a customer's subjective assessment of a product or service's worth, can be the leverage you maximize on.

Final Thoughts…

This isn’t just a conversation about pricing strategies; it is a call to reframe how we value ourselves. Whether you are a consultant, a creative, a business strategist, or a service provider, pricing is not only about money. It is also about boundaries, sustainability, and self-respect.

By consciously considering things like hidden costs, perceived value, and the true terms of engagement, you are setting a rate and your standard. One that protects your time, honors your labor, and builds a working life that feels equitable and aligned.

Before you quote your next offer, ask yourself, “What would it cost me to give my best work for this project?” And don’t be afraid to ask for double—for your trouble, your wisdom, and your worth!

V.J. Gomes is the co-founder of Consciously Quitting, a career-transition platform. Book her for a strategy session or keynote address.

Grab your copy of Consciously Quitting: A Guide for Navigating Your Career Transition

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