In this candid monologue, Susan Britton MCC recounts a defining moment in her 30s when she transitioned from running a successful solo resume‑writing business to purchasing and leading Career Masters Institute (now Career Thought Leaders). Invited by founder Wendy Enlow, Susan initially balked at the prospect, fearing the need to master sales, marketing, systems, operations, and team‑building—areas outside her comfort zone as an introverted solopreneur. After a heartfelt discussion with a close friend, she recognized the opportunity aligned with her deeper passions for coaching, leadership, and change. She accepted, endured a painful learning curve, and ultimately built the necessary infrastructure and teamwork skills. Susan reflects that this experience was the most pivotal shift in her career trajectory, shaping the professional she is today.
Chapters
So this was in my, probably my 30s. I was, I had a very successful solopreneur business doing resume writing. I was very involved with an organization called Career Masters Institute. Some of our colleagues on the call will know it today as Career Thought Leaders. Back then I was a board member, was loving working with the founder, Wendy Enlow. She just had a brilliant brain for futuristic ideas and had formed this amazing careers association. She was ready to go off and do something new, and she came to me and said, Susan, would you like to purchase Career Masters Institute and run this career professional organization? And my first response was like, not in a million years. No, thank you. Because I'm this introverted, successful solopreneur, you know, I was having my own little thing going and I liked it. And I knew that if I said yes to that opportunity, I would have to up my game with sales, with marketing, with systems, with operations, with team building, and all of the things that I'm like, I don't want to do that. And I remember sitting at my dining room table with my dear, dear friend crying, saying, I don't want to do this, but I know I have to. Just had that knowing of I have to do this because it wasn't just something of like, oh, I'm going to go learn how to skydive. This was something that I was passionate about. I was passionate about coaching and careers. I was passionate about leadership. I was passionate about change. So on my door is knocking this opportunity. Long story short, I did it. It was painful. There were some moments where I think, what did I get myself into? With building all these systems and the teamwork that I had to learn how to team. And that was the most pivotal change in my career of my entire trajectory, that I would not be sitting here today if I had not done that.
