In this week's episode of HELLO!'s Second Act podcast, sponsored by Absolute Collagen, host, influencer and beauty broadcaster Ateh Jewel meets transformation coach Jo Glynn-Smith.
The former fashion journalist turned motivational speaker opens up to Ateh about how her transient childhood moving around army bases gave her resilience, how she navigated a Second Act career pivot after redundancy from her lucrative job at global jewellery brand Pandora, and her career advice for 50-something wannabe entrepreneurs.
"People are terrified about redundancy, but it is the best thing that happens to you," the 52-year-old tells Ateh in this week's podcast. "It sounds trite when you are in it now, but it makes you braver, you don't care anymore."
A midlife pivot
During her pivot into life coaching and starting a new career from scratch, Jo identified what she and other women in their midlife needed to know to bravely navigate a new start in their 50s; stop falling into the comparison trap.
"On social media, we are fed young successes; people telling you: 'I set up these businesses and I'm only 23'. That makes it so difficult, because you feel like you are failing," she says.
"The important thing everyone should know about midlife is you come into yourself a little bit more, you have spirit."
In her podcast episode, Jo delivers hints and tips on how women in their Second Act can thrive in the workplace and at home. The secret sauce to happiness, she reveals, is setting goals to give you focus and purpose in life - no matter how big or small that may be.
"We all have a lack of self-belief at times," says the mother-of-two, who recently set up The Ascent Associates to help coach leaders on how to successfully juggle careers with family life. "Really having a vision is like the North Star. I had a client who said all I want to do is earn a million a year. That is a goal. You might say, 'That's crazy!' but at least they know what they want. When you know what you want, you block out all of the noise, you stay focused."
The career advice she is now giving to her female clients in their 50s is to ditch the idea of one career for life, and instead figure out what is really important to them to lead a happy life.
"I am coaching my 50-year-old clients into a portfolio transition. Non exec, mentoring, working for a charity… We are going to end up with people who will have five different careers, a portfolio career."
On her biggest learning from thriving in her Second Act, Jo says: "If you can be aligned with who you really are and you live your life that way, then your world is your oyster."
