After more than 15 years in corporate roles, including nearly a decade leading Talent Acquisition and People Operations at GoFundMe, I made a decision I never thought I would: I stepped away from the structure of corporate life and took a leap into consulting.
It was not just about filling a gap between roles. It was about testing myself as an entrepreneurโbuilding something of my own from the ground up.
That year taught me more than any single job in corporate ever did. It forced me to think differently, act faster, and rely fully on my own ability to create value. What started as a year of consulting quickly became my entry point into entrepreneurship.
Building From Scratch
In corporate roles, even at the executive level, there is always infrastructure around you. Processes are in place, budgets are set, and there are teams to share the load. As a consultant, all of that was gone. I had to create my own systems, define my brand, and figure out pricing, contracts, and business development from scratch.
It was my first real taste of what founders live every day. Consulting was not just about offering servicesโit was about building a business.
Learning to Sell
At GoFundMe, I built recruiting engines and scaled global teams. But I had never had to sell my own expertise. As an entrepreneur, every conversation became a pitch. I had to package my knowledge in a way that was clear, valuable, and worth paying for.
Selling my own services sharpened my ability to tell a story and pushed me outside of the comfort zone of corporate recognition. Entrepreneurship requires more than expertiseโit requires the ability to communicate the value of that expertise in a way that makes people want to buy in.
Flexibility Over Perfection
Inside a company, leaders aim for scalable systems and repeatable processes. As a consultant, I quickly learned that flexibility mattered more than perfection.
I worked with law firms, healthcare groups, startups, and consumer brands. No two projects looked the same. I had to adapt quickly, design solutions on the fly, and let go of the idea that there was always a โrightโ way.
Entrepreneurship taught me to focus less on polishing every detail and more on delivering value quickly.
The Power of Networks and Referrals
Nearly every client I worked with came through my network. Relationships I had built over 15 years in corporate became the foundation of my business. That reinforced something I always knew but had never relied on so directly: trust is currency.
When you step out on your own, people do not just buy your service. They buy their belief in you.
Redefining Success
In corporate life, success often looks like promotions, bigger teams, and larger budgets. As an entrepreneur, success took on a different meaning.
It became about impact, client satisfaction, and the freedom to design my career on my own terms. It was about the pride of building something myself, even if it looked different from the linear growth ladder of corporate life.
Entrepreneurship showed me that growth can mean more than moving upโit can mean moving differently.
Final Take
After 15 years in corporate, including nine years helping scale GoFundMe from a startup to a global company, I thought I knew what resilience and growth looked like. A year of consulting as an entrepreneur taught me an entirely new definition.
I learned how to build without a safety net, how to sell my own expertise, and how to adapt in ways that corporate roles never demanded. Most importantly, I learned that betting on yourself can be the most rewarding growth strategy of all.
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