Big Career Changes are Happening This Year

💖 Hello, hello to the 1,000 new members of the Going Places movement! I’m Janel, and I’m so, so happy you’re here. As a refresher, this newsletter is 100% organic writing, never from Chat 😉— there will be typos, there will be gaps in my logic at times, and there will always be my earnest mission to help you feel more empowered in how you work. I’ve been musing about millennial careers + the future of work for over five years now, and it just now feels like we’re getting vocal about out discontent.

OK, so now that we’re squarely in the Great Millennial Career Crisis conversation (not dancing around it anymore or pretending it’s not happening), I feel emboldened to share more observations I’ve made about how women work now… and how we’ll be working in the very near future.

It’s no secret that the “old rules” of work aren’t working for us anymore, but I see it manifesting in a number of specific ways than just a binary “MiLLenNiALs are f*cked” attitude. 

From corporate life, to the Creator Economy, to freelancing, portfolio careers, and the AI-ification of literally everything, here are five observations on how our work lives (a full ⅓ of our entire lives) will continue to change shape over the next 12 months:

Observation #1: Women are forming "consulting collectives" (a new term I'm coining right now)

Women are creating a third option between solo freelancing and full-time corporate. They're banding together in small, specialized groups to take on bigger clients and projects than they could individually, while maintaining independence and flexibility. Think of it as the grown-up version of the group project, but everyone actually pulls their weight. These collectives share resources, split revenue, cover for each other during vacations, and bid on enterprise-level work. It's the stability of a company with the autonomy of freelancing.

Observation #2: Women are using AI to complement their EQ

While everyone's obsessing over technical AI skills, the women I’ve been speaking to are doing something smarter: they're using AI as a force multiplier for their natural emotional intelligence. They're automating the grunt work (data analysis, scheduling, first drafts) so they can spend more time on the high-EQ stuff that actually moves the needle: relationship building, strategic thinking, and creative problem-solving. Women are already ahead on this.

Observation #3: Women are scaling creator businesses

Content creation is a legitimate business model with serious revenue potential. More women are replacing men as “top creators” because they equate being a creator as being a business owner. I’m personally looking at the playbooks being built by folks like Maggie Sellers Ruem, Grace Beverly, and Jackie Asamoah who are building “sticky” audiences, monetizing core content through multiple streams (sponsorships, products, courses, consulting), and creating businesses that give them both financial security and creative control. We're watching the early days of a massive wealth transfer from traditional corporate structures to individual creators who own their own platforms.

Observation #4: Women are demanding more from corporate

I witnessed the ballsiest move by TIME CEO Jessica Sibley at Web Summit Lisbon last November: in front of an entire packed stadium of founders, leaders, and tech professionals, she called out the fact that the conference moderators forgot to introduce her before she interviewed tennis star + entrepreneur Maria Sharapova on the Main Stage. While Sibley did it with grace and humor, I saw this as a prime example of a larger sea change in Corporate America-- the leverage has shifted, and women know it. They're negotiating harder, leaving faster, and speaking up louder about what's not working. I was fucking impressed.

Observation #5: Women are angel-investing in their own self-interests

I’m stating the painfully obvious when I say that women are tired of watching male investors fund male founders building products for male customers. So they're writing their own checks to female founders, businesses solving problems women actually have, and companies with diverse leadership teams.

Even small angel investments (some starting at $1-5K) are reshaping what gets built and who gets funded. I recently attended a “Female Founders & Funders” mixer that brought in 250 women in one evening! Creator-entrepreneurs like Ruffin Mitchener are bolstering this movement by teaching other women the foundations of angel investing + the steps to writing their first checks.

I keep coming back to this idea: Most millennial (+millennial-adjacent) women I know want three things from their careers:

1. A career that evolves instead of escalates.

2. Income that isn’t tied to one source.

3. Work that leaves room for health, curiosity, and change.

And there is no one-size-fits-all type of job that solves those things. But even leaning into one of these five movements can help you get closer to a reality that feels more meaningful and fulfilling to you. And closer counts!

More to come as I keep pulling on these threads.  -Janel

Your response to last week’s exploration of the Career Model Matrix was incredible! And, quite a few of you raised a similar question:

What’s the difference between freelancing, consulting, and fractional work?

I see these three model in particular kind of like concentric circles, so please indulge the sketch below: Freelance work is an umbrella framework for an autonomous career, or “not having one singular boss.” Within that umbrella falls the gig economy, assignment-based work like writing, photography, or graphic design, etc. You most likely collect 1099 forms for each gig (if you’re in the US).

Independent consulting is a type of freelance work, in that you’re out on your own outside of a corporate structure. You don’t have an HR team to help set up your benefits or an IT gal to troubleshoot your tech struggles. As an independent consultant, you likely work under an LLC or an S-Corp and use an EIN number for your taxes.

If you’re a Fractional Leader, you are a type of independent consultant who needs to be set up legally/financially in the same way (no 1099s or one-off invoices). Your payment comes more regularly, as agreed upon with the companies you’re stepping into, but you probably don’t receive full benefits from those companies. You’re likely still in “contractor” status.

Fractional leaders are always freelancers, but freelancers are not always fractional leaders. At least, the way I’m making sense of it! Have a different POV? Reply to this email and let’s chat about it!

Love the newsletter but want more? Did you know I put together an entire course called Pivot with Purpose? Think of it like a supercharged version of all the best content from this newsletter, tailored to help you nail your career goals.