Resume Writer & Remote Career Coach + I’m “That Remote Guy” 🙋🏻‍♂️ Helping people find the remote career they’ve dreamed of in less time + Join 30K+ on the Escape the Cubicle Newsletter👇

You can work from anywhere. I’ll show you how. 👇

A Google search back in 2015 changed the course of my career, “How do you make money online?”

I was at a crossroads in my career and ready to make a change. I knew it was time to start building my own thing, a thing that someone couldn’t take away overnight. 

After discovering the world of freelancing, I replaced my income and never looked back. By the second year, I was able to triple that income (more than I ever thought possible) because of one platform: LinkedIn

LinkedIn allowed me to connect with clients all over the world, right at my fingertips. The opportunities that LinkedIn has opened up have been life-changing.

Now, I get to help others use LinkedIn to build a remote career as a Career Coach & Resume Writer and their own profitable brand as a Growth Strategist. I’ll help coach you on growing an online income through LinkedIn, a newsletter (like Substack), and a digital product.

…oh, and I still write amazing, interview-winning resumes if you need that. Just send a DM, and I’ll provide a free review for you. Or email it to me at (JohnHancockResumes@gmail.com).

---
Here’s what I've built:

✅ 125,000+ engaged LinkedIn followers
✅ 50,000+ LinkedIn newsletter subscribers
✅ 5,000+ Escape the Cubicle Substack subscribers
✅ 500+ transformed through my masterclasses
✅ 3000+ resumes written for every industry 

“Press Start” Here 👇

📌 Subscribe to my Substack at: www.EscapeTheCubicle.Substack.Com

📌 Join my Free 5-Day Email Class on “How to Grow & Monetize on LinkedIn” at the link top of my profile (or Featured Section)

📌 Connect for a 1on1 Coaching Call (by sending me a DM); I’ll help you build an actionable 30-day strategy to grow your brand on LinkedIn & Substack

📌 Grab my Six-Figure LinkedIn Growth Masterclass (& Playbook) with 500+ of my other students; click the link at top of my profile (or Featured Section)

📌 Get a newly polished resume at www.JohnHancockResumes.com

There's a better way to work. Let me show you how to find it.

Wes Pearce

Leaving a job because of a toxic boss isn’t weakness. It’s called self-preservation and being brave. 


I spent two years trying to "make it work" with a boss who constantly undermined me.

I watched my confidence erode. My Sunday nights became anxiety-filled. My health suffered.

Then I finally left.

Within two months at my new company, I realized something profound: I wasn't the problem. I never was.

Here's the truth: 

✅ 57% of people have quit specifically because of their boss, with another 37% considering it. (from DDI Development Dimensions International)

You're not alone if you're thinking about making that move.

What we tolerate becomes our standard. Every day you stay in a toxic work environment, you're telling yourself that's what you deserve.

The most courageous career move isn't always climbing higher. Sometimes it's walking away.

Watch for these warning signs that it's time to go:

📌 Your boss takes credit for your wins but blames you for their mistakes

📌 You receive unclear expectations then face criticism for not meeting them

📌 Your physical wellbeing or your mental health is declining

📌 You're constantly questioning your own competence at work 

📌 You can't remember the last time you were recognized for your work

A staggering 82% of American workers say they would quit their job because of a bad manager. The problem is, many don't, believing it reflects poorly on them.

Let me be clear: Leaving a toxic boss isn't failure. It's an act of self-respect.

—-
Ready to make your next move in 2026? I created Remote Dream Job Masterclass for you. 

Here’s the exact strategy & blueprint I teach all my 1on1 clients: https://lnkd.in/eExXfKCX

Resume Writer & Career Coach helping you “work from anywhere” 👨🏻‍💻 Follow for Career, Remote Job Search, and Creator Tips | Writing daily on EscapeTheCubicle.Substack.com Join 10,000+ Subscribers

I'll never forget the dream job I thought I had locked down. And then ghosted. 


Four rounds of interviews. Met with the hiring manager twice. Presented to the team. 

Even had a final conversation with the VP where he said, "We're really excited about bringing you on board. You'll hear from us this week."

Four weeks later, No call. No email. Not even a generic rejection.

I followed up once. Then twice. Then realized I was chasing people who clearly didn't respect my time enough to send a two-sentence email.

Here's what made it worse: I'd turned down other interviews because I thought this was a done deal.

That experience taught me something I'll never forget: How a company treats you during the hiring process is exactly how they'll treat you as an employee.

And companies wonder why they can't attract top talent.

Here's the reality: Every person you ghost tells 10 other people about the experience.

If you're hiring: Send the email. Even if it's a template. Even if it's bad news.

Candidates deserve basic human decency, not radio silence.

And if you're job searching: Remember that ghosting tells you everything you need to know about that company.

You didn't dodge a bullet. You dodged a whole firing squad. 

Has this ever happened to you?

—
📌 PS - Need more help with your job search? This is why I created Remote Dream Job Masterclass.

I’ll teach you the exact strategy I give my 1on1 clients to start generating remote job interviews without applying on job boards.

Or you can sign-up here: https://lnkd.in/eExXfKCX

The most inspiring story I've been part of this year wasn't about a 25-year-old founder.


It was about Margaret, my client who started her coaching business at 68.

After spending 40 years as a nurse, raising three kids, and surviving a divorce that wiped out her savings, she came to me ready to build something of her own.

No business degree, No email list, No idea how to start a Substack or sell coaching.

Just decades of experience helping people and a refusal to let age define what she could build.

We started from scratch. Built her Substack and then launched her pilot coaching program. Figured it out step by step.

Today? She's at 1,000+ subscribers and her coaching program is slowing booking out. She's making more than she ever did as a nurse doing work that finally feels like hers.

But you won't see Margaret on any "30 Under 30" list. You won't read her story in business magazines celebrating "young disruptors."

Because we're obsessed with early success. With people who "made it" by 25. With the idea that if you haven't figured it out by 40, you've somehow missed your window.

But some of the best work happens after 50. After 60. After life has given you the wisdom that only comes from actually living.

The 55-year-old who finally published their book after years of rejection.

The 62-year-old who started a business after being laid off and told they were "too senior."

The 70-year-old still learning, still growing, still proving that ambition doesn't retire.

Those are the stories we should be celebrating.

Age isn't a deadline. It's just more experience to build from.

——
📌 if you’re ready to building something of your own in 2026? 

I created a “LinkedIn Growth Guide” breaking down how I grew to 150K followers here and built a business around it.

If you’d like a copy, just comment “GUIDE” I’ll send it over to you.

The worst career advice I’ve ever heard: "Just give it more time. It'll get better."


I've watched too many people torture themselves staying in places that are slowly wearing them down.

Their mental health is suffering, confidence is shot, skills are stagnating.

All because someone convinced them that leaving "looks bad" or that they need to "stick it out."

Here's what actually happens when you stay too long in a toxic place:

-You normalize behavior you'd never accept anywhere else…

-You start believing the problem is you, not the environment…

-You waste years trying to prove yourself to people who've already decided not to see your value…

I've had clients stay in toxic jobs for three, four, five years because they were scared of what leaving would look like on their resume.

Every single one? Wished they'd left sooner.

Your resume doesn't need to show endurance or blind “loyalty.” It needs to show growth.

And sometimes growth means knowing when to leave.

Stop sacrificing your mental health to avoid an awkward conversation in an interview.

Staying in the wrong place doesn't make you loyal. It makes you unavailable for the opportunities you actually deserve.

Leave. Recover. Find better.

That's not quitting. That's self-preservation.

—
📌 Ready to make your next move in 2026? I created Remote Dream Job Masterclass for you. 

& a newly updated DIY Resume & Cover Letter Kit.

Here’s the exact strategy & blueprint I teach all my 1on1 clients: https://lnkd.in/eExXfKCX

Six years in the same role. Zero promotions. Zero growth opportunities.


Jessica had been at the same company for six years.

Same role. Same salary range. Same empty promises about "future opportunities."

She was good at her job. Actually, she was great at it. But there was nowhere to go. 

When we first talked, she knew she needed to leave. But she was paralyzed.

"What if I can't find anything better? What if I'm not as marketable as I think? What if this is as good as it gets?"

So she stayed. Watching her skills plateau while her frustration grew.

Here's what I told her: You're not going to grow in a place that's already decided you're done growing.

So, we built a 90-day exit plan. Targeted roles that actually matched what she wanted. Got her resume in front of the right people.

She put the work in. By the end of summer, she had an offer. 

Fully remote. Higher pay. And actual growth opportunities, not just vague promises in performance reviews.

Here’s the truth: You can't outgrow a space that's designed to keep you small.

You can work harder. Stay later. Prove yourself over and over. 

But if the ceiling is low, you're just going to keep hitting your head on it.

If you've been in the same place too long with nothing to show for it, the problem isn't you.

It's the environment you're trying to grow in.
Change it. And watch what happens.

(Image: Travis Bradberry)

—
📌 Ready to make your next move in 2026? I created my Remote Dream Job Masterclass to help. 

The Masterclass gives you the exact strategy I teach my 1on1 clients to attract recruiters and find your next work-anywhere role. 

You can join here: https://lnkd.in/eExXfKCX

No alternative text description for this image

Rachel stayed at her company for four years waiting to be seen.


Four years of coming in early. Staying late. Taking on projects nobody else wanted.

Her manager kept saying she "wasn't ready yet" for a promotion. 

Meanwhile, less experienced people kept moving up around her…

When she finally quit, her manager seemed shocked. "We were going to promote you next quarter."

Sure they were.

Here's where Rachel went: She found a company that saw her value immediately.

Within six months at her new company, she got the promotion her old job said she wasn't ready for. 

Within a year, she was leading projects her old manager said were "above her level."

Her old team reached out last month asking if she'd consider coming back as a senior manager.

She declined. She didn't need validation from people who spent four years overlooking her.

The thing about toxic workplaces is they convince you your value is tied to their opinion. 

That if they don't see what you bring, maybe you don't bring much.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is stop waiting for people to see your worth and go somewhere that already does.

You don't need their table. Build your own. 

Or find one that's been waiting for exactly what you bring.

—
📌 Ready to make your next move in 2026? I created Remote Dream Job Masterclass for you. 

& a newly updated DIY Resume & Cover Letter Kit.

Here’s the exact blueprint I teach all my 1on1 clients, to land interviews in weeks: https://lnkd.in/eExXfKCX

Graduate corporate life for entrepreneurial freedom — without jeopardizing your income or family 💚 | Pod: UncageYourself.FM 🎧

Directors. VPs. Executives.
Ready to go Corporate → Founder in ONE Year?

This is the smart path out — without blowing up your life.

We help corporate veterans turn their employer into an investor, compress their job by 50%, and launch a 1-of-1 premium business.

Corporate becomes a short-term asset — not a lifelong trap.

The system is called Corporate Graduation™.
And it works.

You’ve built a strong corporate life. But you’re likely facing 2+ of these:

1) Your time isn’t yours.
2) Work consumes everything.
3) Family & health get leftovers.
4) You’re just going through motions.
5) You know you’re meant for more — but have no idea what.

It’s costing you — emotionally, physically, financially.
You feel stuck. Fading.

That was me.
Divorced. Burnt out.
Later — remarried, rebuilt, and free.

I made my employer my investor.
Cut hours in half.
Launched a business around my genius.
Graduated corporate life — forever.

Now I help others do the same.

Corporate Graduation™ is the system.
165+ have used it to:

✅ Compress their job into 20 hours/week
✅ Exit with runway, not regret
✅ Build a premium service business that reflects who they are
✅ Create leverage through proprietary IP, not more hours

This is how you build your founder future — without burning bridges.

This isn’t about dabbling.
It’s about reclaiming your life.
For your family. Your future self. Those you’re meant to serve.

No “passive income” BS.
Just active transformation — with revenue, clarity, and agency.

Ready to graduate?

👉 DM me “GRADUATE.”

Matt Doan

I left corporate 4 years ago.

Here’s what actually changed:

1) Mondays have energy again.
I wake up early because I want to. Not out of discipline or obligation, but out of genuine excitement for the week ahead. That feeling was gone for years in corporate. Now it’s normal.

2) The Sunday dread disappeared.
That quiet weight that used to settle in by Sunday afternoon — the sense of re-entering a system that didn’t fit — lifted once I started building something I actually owned.

3) My wife became my partner — in a new way.
Cecilia and I now talk about clients, strategy, and impact together. We’re building something side by side. Corporate never could have offered that, and it’s deepened our marriage in ways I didn’t anticipate.

4) My kids see a different version of me.
They see energy instead of depletion. Engagement instead of exhaustion. They’re watching what it looks like to build something you care about... not just talk about it.

5) My health followed my work.
When work creates energy instead of consuming it, everything else responds. Sleep improved. Stress dropped. At 41, I have more capacity than I did at 35.

6) I’m building skills that compound.
Psychology. Sales. Marketing. Persuasion. Category design. These aren’t corporate skills. They’re human skills. They don’t expire when roles or markets change.

7) I finally understand who I am.
Not my title. Not my employer. Me. The founder path forced me to confront things I could avoid for years in corporate. On the other side was clarity I never found climbing the ladder.

This isn’t about hating corporate.

Corporate gave me my Career Capital:
judgment, pattern recognition, credibility.

But it couldn’t give me ownership.

That required a different structure.

---

For those who've outgrown their container.
Jan 19 → https://lnkd.in/esvq8nuY

I messed up a lot in 2025.

9 mistakes shaping everything in 2026:

It's been four years since I left BCG. Four years building Corporate Graduation™. This year made one thing clear: being a founder isn't a career — it's a complete reconstruction of how you live.

Here's my honest accounting:

IDENTITY MISTAKES

1) Positioning to be the authority instead of being it.
I kept "getting ready." Waiting for permission that was never coming. Authority isn't granted — it's declared. In 2026, I'm done preparing. I AM the authority in my space.

2) Tolerating small stages and obscurity.
I've been playing too small. Nothing remarkable is done alone — I need multiplier partners. Stages that reach millions, not hundreds. I've talked about "going big" but haven't truly lived it. Obscurity isn't noble — it's a bottleneck.


FOCUS & ENERGY MISTAKES

3) Saying yes to too many things.
Scattered focus = scattered results. I know this. I teach this. I still violated it. Every diluted yes was a no to what actually mattered.

4) Being distracted around my family.
My wife and four kids deserve my presence, not just my proximity. Too often I was physically there, mentally elsewhere. Unfinished tasks follow you into the evening. In 2026: fewer priorities, cleaner endings, real presence.


RESOURCE MISTAKES

5) Not asking enough of my team, coaches, mentors.
I invested tens of thousands in people who could help me — but didn't nearly extract the full value. I made too many excuses to myself.

6) Over-investing but under-implementing.
I was a collector of insights instead of an executor. The gap between what I know and what I do became too wide. In 2026, implementation is what matters.

7) Being too ad hoc with AI.
Random prompts. No system. I treated AI like a convenience instead of infrastructure. This year, I'm architecting it into how I think, create, and operate.


LEADERSHIP MISTAKES

8) Not pushing my clients hard enough.
They didn't join the Corporate Graduation™ program for slow and incremental. They came to compress a decade into a year. My job is to install new fire — and make them feel the cost of not showing up powerfully.

9) Not being bold enough in what I said.
I softened hard truths. Hedged when I should have declared. Here's what I held back: The work world is being restructured. AI is here. The old playbook is dead. Corporate is a burning platform. I'm done holding that back.

---

These mistakes cost me time, money, energy, presence.

But they gave me clarity.

My "hard lines" for 2026: 
Stop preparing. Start declaring.
Stop tolerating small. Start building big.
Stop over-investing. Start implementing.
Stop holding back. Start saying what must be said.

Which mistake hits home for you?

---

PS - Corporate → Founder this year? 
matthewdoan.com/2026

Monday, your Career Capital starts compounding.

Or it doesn't.

One-time, special event:
https://lnkd.in/esvq8nuY

Here's what most people miss about workshops like this:

It's not information.
It's decision-making.

You slow down and show up.
You become a captive audience — to yourself.
You stop scrolling. Stop reacting. Stop drifting.

And for the first time in months (maybe years), 
you do the actual work:

1) You stop making excuses for your delay
2) You uncover your Career Capital
3) You decide how to deploy it
4) You see what's possible beyond the role
5) You start forging a path no employer could match

That's not just inspiration.
That's the compound effect, taking hold.

Imagine where you'll be 90 days from now.

Not just "thinking about it."
Not merely "planning to start."

Actually in motion.

Energy returning.
Clarity sharpening.
Your family feels the new you.

This is what Corporate Graduation™ looks like.

Those who've already committed to Monday aren't hoping for answers. They're giving themselves permission to move.

One decision.
One workshop.
A new trajectory.

The Career Capitalist™
Monday, January 19
$50: Live + Recording + Assets

One time only.
See you inside.

https://lnkd.in/esvq8nuY

---

PS - Registrants get the IP Builder GPT, Corporate Graduation Readiness Scorecard, category design tools, case studies, and a private 1:1 Founder Game Plan call. Recording included.

Vision isn't just what you see.

It's how you live.

Back in my corporate days, I climbed the ladder on autopilot.

One rung. Then another.
Trusting that's how it worked.

But there was no real vision.
Just a bigger title and the promise of becoming my boss's boss.

Then I looked up.

And realized I didn't want their life.
It looked awful.

That was the wake-up call.

I had sight.
I could see the next step.
But I had no vision for where I was actually going.

So I built one.

I wrote about it. Journaled about it.
Got coached on it. Talked about it.
Surrounded myself with people walking the same scary path toward something that felt impossible.

Vision isn't a destination you arrive at.

It's something you embody.
Every. Single. Day.

You might have sight.
You might see the next rung.

But if that's all you're chasing?

You'll wake up one day full of regret.

What's your vision beyond the next step?

The moment I knew corporate couldn’t hold me.

5 lessons it took too long to learn:

For a long time, I couldn’t name what was wrong.

I was progressing.
Respected.
Trusted.

But every time my thinking stretched a little too far — every time I tried to hold a bigger picture — it was quietly contained.

Not shut down.
Just… redirected.

That’s when the tension started.
Not dramatic.
Just constant.

Here’s what I eventually learned.

---

1) Big thinking can be praised and still be unwelcome.

I’d offer a strategic view and hear, “That sounds good.”

Then came the quiet clause:
“But we’re not taking that outside.”

I wasn’t wrong.
My imagination just didn’t fit the system’s design.

---

2) Being valued doesn’t mean being usable.

I was told my work mattered.

But my judgment had nowhere real to land.

When your best thinking can’t move anything, it doesn’t disappear. It withers.

---

3) Side outlets are signals, not solutions.

Publishing in HBR.
MIT Sloan.
The Atlantic.
Think tanks. External channels.

Those weren’t mistakes. They were proof I was trying to breathe outside the box.

What I didn’t see at the time:
External validation was a symptom, not a cure.

Every byline was evidence of capacity the system couldn’t absorb. I kept finding outlets because the main channel was blocked.

Useful moves.
Never satisfying.

---

4) Breakthroughs aren’t about talent. They’re about ownership of environment.

Everything clicked when I sat in a room full of founders.

They had Career Capital too. Decades of it.

The difference was simple:
They didn’t need permission to create.

They built conditions where judgment could compound.
They said yes to themselves.

---

5) Staying longer has quiet, compounding costs.

The financial ceiling was obvious.

The real toll was energy.
Family.
Self-trust.

Saying yes to work that wasn’t me.
Knowing I could be far more impactful — and accepting I wasn’t.

---

That’s when I stopped asking how to optimize my role.

And started asking a harder question:

Where does my Career Capital actually belong?

That question led me out of corporate.

Four years later, I’m a founder.
Still answering it.
On my own terms.

---

PS - If you’re standing at the edge of that question, don't miss what's unfolding here: https://lnkd.in/eDEkDVb2

If corporate feels a bit "too small" lately, 
you're not imagining it.

That feeling usually shows up when your Career Capital has outgrown the container it's in.

Most people respond the same way.

They start with business logic.
Offer. Niche. Monetization.

Or they quietly reach for passive income.

Passive income won't solve under-leverage.
Only owned Career Capital does.

That's why so many smart exits stall.

The real issue isn't effort.
It's missing conditions.

You can't access, package, and deploy Career Capital into founder leverage if you don't first create:

Space.
Then Self.
Then System.

A recent client — VP in ops — followed this sequence. It changed everything:

1) Compressed his corporate load by ~50%
No drama. No bridges burned. No reputational cost.

2) Reclaimed control of time
Now works 3–4 focused hours/day. Deliberate. Surgical.

3) Restored personal leverage
Energy returned. Health improved. Relationships at home strengthened.

Only then did the founder work begin.

He codified his Career Capital into language, frameworks, and IP.
He clarified category direction.
He ran his first program and delivered real results.

Corporate became optional because leverage was no longer trapped inside the role.

That's real Corporate Graduation.
Not escape. Not dependency.

Leverage.

---

If you want to do this work in the right order, I'm running a live, private, one-time workshop:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁™
Monday, January 19
$50 (Live + Recording + Assets)

Included with registration:

• IP Builder GPT (to structure your Career Capital)
• Corporate Graduation™ Readiness Scorecard
• Category-claiming exercises you can reuse
• Case study pack + common traps guide
• Private 1:1 Founder Game Plan call

See you on the inside:
https://lnkd.in/esvq8nuY

Has work stopped creating energy for you?
This isn’t burnout.
It’s worse.

Most senior pros describe something quieter.

Disinterest. Going through the motions. Sitting in meetings you've sat in a hundred times, solving problems you solved three years ago. Doing "good work" without feeling engaged by any of it.

(After 15 years, this is how I felt about cybersecurity.)

Work used to create energy. It used to sharpen you. Stretch you. Feed the rest of your life.

At some point, that flipped.

Now it drains energy — and nothing meaningful is replacing it.

That state is not neutral.

When work consumes energy instead of creating it, the deficit shows up everywhere. In patience at home. In health. In imagination. In your sense of building toward a future that's actually yours.

What's really happening underneath is simpler (and more damaging) than most people want to admit:

Your Career Capital — years of judgment, experience, pattern recognition, and hard-earned capability — is going undeployed.

Not unused. Undeployed.

You're applying a fraction of what you've built inside a system that can't fully use it. And when Career Capital isn't exercised meaningfully, it doesn't just sit idle.

It decays.

The most dangerous response here is waiting. Waiting for a reorg. Waiting for renewed motivation. Waiting for something external to force clarity.

Energy doesn't come back on its own.

If work no longer creates it, you have a responsibility to create conditions where it can.

That doesn't require a drastic leap. 

But it does require an environment where your thinking actually matters again — and people who understand what you're navigating.

I'm hosting a private workshop next week for people who recognize this moment and want to think clearly about what to do with the Career Capital they've built.

Details: https://lnkd.in/esvq8nuY

The cost of waiting is quiet. 
But it compounds quickly.

The easiest path is the most dangerous one.

Not because it's risky.
Because it's comfortable.

Obstacles don't block us from our life-changing goals.
Instead, it's about a clear path to a lesser goal.

A safer target.
An incremental gain.
A "good enough" outcome.

Here's what I've learned from Dr. Benjamin Hardy:

You can't spread your energy across 10 areas and expect transformation in any of them.

But when concentrating on ONE "impossible" goal?

Everything else moves.

Becoming a Founder forced this for me.
(And made my Corporate Graduation™ inevitable.)

Not a side project. A singular, identity-level commitment.

It demanded I compress corporate into a tool.
It required better health — mental & physical.
It made me more present for my family.
It made me a category designer.
It radically upgraded my tribe.

Not because I tried harder in each area.
Because ONE decision reorganized everything.

The impossible goal isn't reckless.
It's clarifying.

It tells you what to say no to.
It reveals who belongs in your life.
It forces you to become someone new.

Lesser goals don't do that.
They let you stay exactly who you are.

That's the trap.

Don't you dare settle for incremental.
Laser-focus your energy on the impossible.

Watch how it activates you.
And brings everything into focus and alignment.

---

PS - Grow here: corporategraduation.com

I didn’t know how valuable I was until I stepped outside the corporate system.

Not because I lacked confidence inside.

But because the environment couldn’t show me.

That’s why I built The Career Capitalist™:
https://lnkd.in/esvq8nuY

Happening Monday. A live, private workshop designed to surface, package, and deploy your Career Capital into founder leverage.

Inside corporate, your value gets filtered.

Your judgment gets diluted by consensus.
Your instincts get buried in approval chains.
Your best ideas get spent in meetings that go nowhere.

You’re performing.
Contributing.
Delivering.

But not seeing the full picture of what you’ve built.

It took stepping outside for me to realize:

Every story I lived through → raw material
Every pattern I recognized → deployable insight
Every hard-won lesson → Career Capital to be claimed

And it’s why I hear this constantly from clients once the conditions change:

“Corporate feels simple now. Almost optional.”
“I finally feel in control of my days.”
“I didn’t know I had this much to offer.”

That last one makes me so proud.

Because most people don’t lack value.
They lack the conditions to see it clearly.

Corporate systems are too constraining to reveal what you’ve actually accumulated.

You have to put yourself in founder conditions.
Where your thinking is deployed on your terms.

That’s when Career Capital stops being theoretical.

And starts compounding.

---

Details for The Career Capitalist™
Monday, January 19
$50 (Live + Recording)

Included:
• IP Builder GPT
• Corporate Graduation™ Readiness Scorecard
• Category-claiming exercises
• Case study pack + common traps guide
• Private 1:1 Founder Game Plan call

https://lnkd.in/esvq8nuY

This is a one-time, private event for people who are done playing small inside a big system.

Burnout isn't the real problem.

You've reached a structural mismatch.

After years in the arena, you've built something substantial.

Pattern recognition.
Lived experience.
Relationships.
Reputation.
Judgment.
Talent.

Taken together, this is your Career Capital.

It's stacked. It's real. And it's valuable.

The problem is that the system you're in can only use a tiny fraction of it.

Not because you're capped.
Because the environment is.

Corporate systems are designed for efficiency, predictability, and control. They define a role, reward you for staying inside the lines, and call it success.

Over time, that role becomes a box.
And then a box within a box.

No matter how much Career Capital you accumulate, the system can't meaningfully expand to meet it.

Even changing teams.
Even changing companies.
Even "one more promotion."

The system is the system.

So while your Career Capital keeps compounding, its expression gets constrained.

Your best ideas die in approval chains.
You're solving problems you solved three years ago.
Work that energized you now = going through motions.

That's when the tension starts.

Not because you're ungrateful.
Not because you've lost motivation.
And certainly not from a lack of ambition.

But because you've outgrown the container—which will never change enough to hold who you're becoming.

This might be your first quiet signal that something else is required.

Not a better role.
But a different relationship with corporate altogether.

And a deliberate decision about where your Career Capital will compound.

---

PS - I'm writing deeply about Career Capital this month. The first long-form essay drops on Substack this Saturday — it's about the hidden tax you pay by staying put and what happens when you stop tolerating it.

Subscribe: https://lnkd.in/eDEkDVb2

Career Capital doesn’t sit idle.

It either compounds — or quietly decays.

Inside corporate, decay is the default.

Not because you’re underperforming.
Because the system is designed to consume judgment, not multiply it.

Your experience gets spent in meetings.
Your insight gets diluted by consensus.
Your best instincts get buried under endless “alignment.”

Over time, something subtle but costly happens.

You’re still “successful,” but your optionality shrinks.
Your leverage flattens.
The work takes more energy and gives less back.

That’s not burnout.

That’s Career Capital being used up instead of built on.

Here’s the distinction most people never make:

Most professionals let their Career Capital decay inside systems they don’t own.

Founders decide — deliberately — where it compounds.

Not louder.
Not riskier.
More intentional.

They choose where their judgment is deployed — and who benefits from it.

At some point, the question stops being:
“How do I make this role better?”

And becomes:
“Where does my Career Capital actually belong?”

That question changes everything.

---

PS - I’m writing deeply about Career Capital this month. Saturday’s Corporate Graduation essay breaks down the hidden math of staying put — and what most pros never calculate.

https://lnkd.in/eDEkDVb2

The quiet frustration you feel isn't burnout.

It's trapped leverage.

Your career capital is decaying right now.

Not because you're losing skill.
Because you're not deploying it.

Yesterday I ran The Career Capitalist™ workshop.

Here are the five ideas that hit hardest.


1) Career capital is stored energy.

Years of judgment, pressure, and decision-making accumulate as untapped power. But stored energy doesn't stay neutral. If it isn't released into the right environment, it implodes.

Career capital needs motion, leverage, and somewhere to be used (hint: someone else's system won't do.)


2) Career capital must become a compounding asset.

Your career capital can only compound when converted into something you own. Left unconverted, they get spent linearly through effort.

Ownership is the difference between earning repeatedly and compounding over time.


3) Labels suffocate career capital.

SVP. Director. Consultant. Coach. Speaker.

These are pre-priced containers with fixed ceilings. The market decides what they're worth.

Labels come with limits. Founders build the room.


4) Career capital has a window.

Experience is sharpest when it's recent, relevant, and energized. Delay too long, and it decays.

Not from lack of ability. But from missing your window of opportunity.


5) You must intentionally package and deploy it.

Unpackaged career capital goes to waste. If you don't turn it into assets — frameworks, language, IP, owned systems — it never compounds.

It just leaks out through time, effort, and obligation.

---

This is what I wish I understood five years ago.

Career capital isn't something you simply have.

It's something you either convert and compound.
Or you quietly lose it.

---

PS - If this resonates, doors are open for the February cohort of our Corporate Graduation™ program. DM me "LEVERAGE" for details.

Your career capital has a shelf life.

If you don’t claim it, it dies.

Most people assume experience compounds automatically and forever.

That once you’ve earned judgment, pattern recognition, and credibility, it stays available, waiting patiently for whenever you’re “ready.”

That’s not how it works.

Career Capital behaves like any other form of capital.

If it isn’t surfaced, packaged, and deployed while the window is open, it decays.

Corporate environments are very good at using your best thinking. They are terrible at helping you own it.

So the decay is quiet.

Your instincts sharpen, but only inside meetings.
Your judgment matures, but stays behind the logo.
Your leverage increases, but never sees daylight.

Over time, a dangerous gap opens.

You are highly capable.
And increasingly under-deployed.

Directors, VPs, and executives feel this most.

Not because they lack opportunity.
But because they’ve outgrown permissioned contribution and haven’t yet claimed authority.

The people who notice this early make a different move.

They don’t rush.
They don’t panic.
They don’t freelance their way out.

They slow down long enough to extract what they’ve actually earned.

They turn experience into language.
Judgment into frameworks.
Reputation into owned direction.

They understand one simple truth.

Capital that isn’t claimed gets spent by someone else.

That’s why I built The Career Capitalist™.

A one-time, live workshop for Directors, VPs, and execs who know they’re sitting on real leverage and refuse to let it expire unused.

This isn’t about quitting faster.
It’s about learning how to own what you already have before the window closes.

The Career Capitalist™
Private workshop + recording + working tools
Monday, January 19

Secure your spot: https://lnkd.in/esvq8nuY

This experience is built to create motion, not inspiration.

---

If this resonates, trust the signal.

Hidden Career Capital doesn’t unleash itself.
It gets claimed — or it withers.

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