Career Advice for Feeling Stuck: Create Your Own Path

A couple months ago I met with a young girl at the suggestion of one of my colleagues within the Kings media contingency. Sharlette is a college student and an aspiring hockey journalist - my colleague thought it would benefit her to talk to me and pick my brain about what I do and how I got here. I’m always happy to have those kids of meetings because I love the opportunity to inspire and guide someone along their journey. If someone else can benefit from my experience, then we both win.

My meeting with Sharlette was enjoyable and I feel like it was mutually beneficial. I don’t regularly stop to think about the challenges and events in my life that have led me to where I am, but on the rare occasion that life calls for it, I always discover some sort of treasure.

I told Sharlette something about myself because it came up in conversation. Funny enough it was something about myself that even I didn’t realize at first - it was pointed out to me by #Juliet. (Juliet is the ultimate hype woman in my life and everyone needs one just like her!)

What I disclosed was this: every single job I have right now didn’t exist before I came into it.

This is a pretty astonishing thing to think about, but it is, in fact, true. The social and digital media clients I have didn’t have anyone doing their social prior to me (I knew people through volunteer work and other clients and pitched myself as a solution they were in need of). The same is true for my role at the rink(s), which I helped create just for me, and my role at APP, an actual start-up. With the Kings - there was nobody specifically writing human interest features before I came aboard. I can tell you with certainty that this theme in my life was an accident - but it is not coincidence. Read that again.

The moral of the story is this: just because a job doesn’t exist, doesn’t mean you can’t have it.

I know the title suggests that this is career advice for feeling stuck, but the truth is, it's relevant to everyone. I honestly hate the question “where do you see yourself in five years?” Because I think the only kind of answer that would be realistic would have to be really vague. If someone had told me five years ago that in 2025 I would be covering pro pickleball I would have laughed in their faces - I didn’t even know what a pickleball looked like until two years ago. The same would have been true about 15 years ago and having my own social media management business - partially because I never thought I’d be a self-employed entrepreneur, and partially because social media wasn’t such a big thing back in 2010, but here we are.

Interviewing pro pickleball player, Erik Lange, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

This is going to be a short blog, but nonetheless one that carries an important message. If there is something that you’re good at AND passionate about, find someone who will pay you to do it. If you were looking for a sign to step outside the box and bet on yourself, this is it.

To be clear, I’m not encouraging anyone to quit their job tomorrow and go make up a job for themselves with a company they’re unfamiliar with. What I’m saying is to believe in yourself and your skill set, get creative with what kind of value your work can bring, go ask for what you want, and create your own path.

If you try, you risk failure. If you don't, you ensure it. - Anonymous