Nobody plans to rebuild their career in the middle of a crisis. But sometimes the burnout, the diagnosis, the loss, or the pay cut hits before you’re ready — and you have to figure out how to pivot your career after a crisis with whatever you’ve got left.
That’s exactly what nurse Janine Kelbach did, and she’s been teaching others to do it ever since.
Originally aired: December 15, 2020 during the pandemic.
This post has been updated and republished as part of rebuilding the podcast archive.
If you’re in the middle of your own pivot right now, you don’t have to do it alone. The Gratitude Geek Lab is a membership community for women solopreneurs over 40 who are rebuilding after something hard. We work on strategy, systems, and the kind of support that actually moves the needle. Find out if it’s a fit at kandasrodarte.com/lab.
5 Lessons on Pivoting
1. Let the crisis be the push, not the plan. Janine didn’t leave bedside nursing because she had a brilliant exit strategy. She left because a pit bull bit her, her pay got cut to a quarter of what it was, and her grandmother was dying. She didn’t wait for the perfect moment — she moved when the door closed. The lesson for your audience is that sometimes the disruption is the plan.
2. Niche down further than feels comfortable. Janine didn’t become a freelance writer. She became a nurse who teaches nurses to freelance write. That level of specificity felt risky but it’s exactly what made her stand out. She knew her people’s language, their pain points, and their schedule because she lived it.
3. Start before you believe it’s real. Janine made her first $5 on Fiverr and didn’t tell her husband. She didn’t announce it, she didn’t brand it — she just kept writing during naptime. She started building proof before she had confidence. That’s the move.
4. A crisis can hand you goals you couldn’t achieve before. Janine spent all of 2020 trying to network more but couldn’t fit in-person events around school pickup and work. Then the pandemic moved everything to Zoom and she completed that goal in months. The constraint became the solution.
5. Break the elephant into bites you can actually chew. Her ClickUp/goal framework is the most concrete thing in the episode: take your big annual goal, break it into quarters, then weeks, then daily tasks. She walked through writing 100 articles as an example — that’s 9 a month, roughly 3 a week, which is totally doable. The goal doesn’t change; your relationship to it does.
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What This Episode Is About
Pivoting your career after a crisis is one of the hardest things you can do, especially when you’re already depleted from everything life has thrown at you.
This conversation with registered nurse turned freelance writing business owner Janine Kelbach is for the woman who knows her old path isn’t working anymore but hasn’t figured out what comes next.
Janine walked away from 12-hour night shifts, built a freelance writing career from scratch with no writing background, and eventually created a whole business teaching other nurses to do the same thing.
If you’re a woman solopreneur over 40 navigating a major life disruption — whether that’s burnout, illness, divorce, or loss — her story is proof that a career pivot after a crisis doesn’t require a perfect plan. It just requires your next move.
Episode Breakdown (Timestamps)
0:00 — Janine joins us and the chemo waiting room story
4:04 — What it’s really like being a healthcare worker during a pandemic
6:48 — How Janine teaches nurses to start a freelance writing career
7:28 — From labor and delivery burnout to finding her niche
12:09 — Building Savvy Nurse Writer: courses, coaching and an agency model
16:28 — Virtual networking with Happy Networking and Lunch Club
21:06 — Using ClickUp to manage a growing business
24:38 — Breaking big goals into weekly and daily actions
32:33 — Janine’s moment of gratitude
Meet Janine Kelbach
Janine Kelbach is a registered nurse, freelance writer, and founder of Savvy Nurse Writer, where she helps nurses build freelance writing businesses outside the hospital. She didn’t come from a writing background — she came from 12-hour night shifts, new motherhood, and a career that was quietly burning her out.
What makes Janine worth listening to isn’t just that she figured out how to pivot; it’s that she did it in the margins of a life that was already full, without a business degree, a big budget, or a clear roadmap.
For women solopreneurs over 40 who are rebuilding after something hard, that matters. She’s proof that the skills and experience you already have are worth more than you think, and that starting over doesn’t mean starting from nothing.
“If you cannot think outside the box, you probably shouldn’t be a micropreneur or entrepreneur.” – Janine Kelbach
Connect with Janine Kelbach
- Savvy Nurse Writer website: https://savvynursewriter.com
- The Savvy Scribe Podcast: https://savvynursewriter.com/the-savvy-scribe-podcast/
- Book: Savvy Nurse Writer: A Nurse’s Blueprint for Starting a Profitable Freelance Health Writing Business on Amazon
Resources Mentioned
Disclaimer: Some links may be affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you choose to purchase. No added cost to you.
Your Turn
What resonated with you in this conversation? Share your biggest takeaway on Instagram or LinkedIn. Prefer to keep it on the blog? Drop a comment below.
Final Thoughts
Rebuilding after something hard doesn’t mean you have to rebuild fast. Janine’s career pivot happened one nap time at a time, and that’s the kind of sustainable, doable growth I talk about every week on this podcast. If you’re a woman solopreneur over 40 who’s been through something that knocked you sideways, you’re in the right place.
Support the Show
If this episode brought you value, here’s how you can help:
- Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Goodpods
- Share this episode with a friend who’s rebuilding her business after disruption.
- Want to be a guest? Send me a message on Podmatch.
- Support the podcast financially – every bit helps to keep the mics on.
If you’re ready to stop figuring it out alone and start building with a plan, the Lab is your next step. It’s a membership community for women solopreneurs over 40 who are rebuilding after something hard — and we work on exactly the kind of strategy, systems, and support that Janine talks about in this episode. You bring the experience. We’ll help you figure out what to do with it. Join us at kandasrodarte.com/lab.
Stay Groovy!
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