The Corporate Escapee with Brett Trainor
The Corporate Escapee with Brett Trainor Finding financial independence and living your best life after corporate quits on you Tom Cruise said it best in Risky Business: "Sometimes you gotta say what the f** and make your move." He just didn't know he was talking about corporate. Here's the truth most people won't say out loud: corporate already quit on you. Maybe it was a layoff. Maybe it was a role that slowly stopped making sense. Maybe you just woke up one day and realized the institution you built your life around stopped caring a long time ago. That moment — th...
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When the Work Stops Lighting You Up: Leaving Corporate Before They Push You Out w/ Kristen Hamborg
<p>Kristen Hamborg is six weeks out of a 25-year corporate interior design career — and she's never looked back. In this episode Kristen shares how burnout, a pandemic pivot, and a coaching certification she pursued on the side slowly shifted everything. Unlike most escapees who get pushed out Kristen made the decision herself — and she'll tell you exactly what it took to get there.</p><p>This one is for anyone still in corporate feeling the slow fade of work that used to light them up.</p><p>What You'll Learn</p><p>🎯 How Kristen recognized the burnout before it broke h...
2 Kids Under Two, Full Time Job, & She Still Built It. No Excuses! w/ Danielle Burken
<p>Danielle Burken escaped corporate in September 2023 — but her journey started six years before that. In this episode Danielle shares how she went from a full-time agency job with two kids under two, to building a six-figure solopreneur business in under 90 days by doing one thing most corporate professionals never do: listening to what people were already asking her for and charging for it.</p><p>She also breaks down human design — what it is, why it works, and how she uses it to help entrepreneurs build businesses that are aligned with how they naturally operate. If you've ever felt like you're forcing something that should feel easier, this episode is for you.</p><p></p><p>What You'll...
AI Doesn't Replace Escapees — It Supercharges Them
<p>Corporate is using AI to eliminate jobs. Escapees get to use it to multiply themselves. In this solo episode Brett pulls back the curtain on exactly how he runs his entire business with AI — the tools, the use cases, and the honest truth about what it can and can’t do.</p><p>He also covers the single biggest opportunity most escapees are missing right now — helping small and midsize businesses actually leverage AI. Not programming. Not building agents. Bringing the business judgment that 20+ years of corporate experience gives you and marrying it with the right tools. That’s the supe...
4 Real Paths to Replace Your Corporate Income (And Why Franchising Deserves a Second Look)
<p>The 4 Real Paths to Replace Your Corporate Income</p><p>Most corporate escapees think they only have two options: find another job or figure out how to start a business from scratch. But there are actually four legitimate paths to replacing your corporate income — and one of them is seriously underrated.</p><p>In this solo episode, Brett breaks down all four paths and then goes deep on the one he doesn't talk about nearly enough: franchising.</p><p>If you've been thinking about leaving corporate but the blank page feels too risky, this episode is for you.</p><p>...
Laid Off 4 Times: What the Job Hunt Won't Teach You About Getting Back Up" (ft. Steve Jaffe)
<p>750 layoffs a day. No, that's not a typo — and it's not slowing down.</p><p>Brett sits down with Steve Jaffe, marketing veteran and author of The Layoff Journey: From Dismissal to Discovery, to talk about what most career books completely skip: the emotional and psychological toll of losing a job — and why processing that first is the key to what comes next.</p><p>Steve was laid off four times over a 30-year career. His first layoff took him years to recover from. His last one in 2023? Water off a duck's back. The difference? He finally understood what he w...
I'm My Own Worst Enemy (And You Probably Are Too)
<p>There's a Lit song that's been stuck in my head for weeks: "My Own Worst Enemy." And it's the perfect metaphor for my entire solo journey.</p><p>I've blocked myself at every stage—consulting, fractional leadership, and now with The Escapee Collective. Not intentionally, but by doing what corporate trained me to do: overanalyze, overstructure, and wait for perfection before taking action.</p><p>In this episode, I walk you through the three times I made the same mistake—and what I'm doing differently now.</p><p>If you're overthinking, over-structuring, or waiting for the "perfect" website, pitch deck...
The Truth About Fractional: Rates, Retainers, and Getting Your First Client (John Arms)
<p>Fractional work is exploding — and it’s still confusing for a lot of corporate escapees. In this Featured Speaker session inside the Escapee Collective, John Arms breaks down Fractional 101 in plain English: what fractional really is, who it’s for, how to get clients (spoiler: it’s not campaigns), and what you can realistically charge.</p><p>If you’re still in corporate, recently laid off, or already freelancing and want more stability, this is the clearest “how it works” primer you’ll hear.</p><p>What you’ll learn</p><p> • The “W2 → 1099 bridge” and why more people are getting pushed across...
Breaking Corporate Dependency: Why Going Solo Alone Keeps You Stuck w/Brett Trainor
<p>Jon the Escapee Collective!</p><p>What keeps 79% of corporate professionals stuck isn't lack of skills or opportunity—it's something deeper. In this solo episode, Brett shares the story of landing his first client, making good money, and then doing something that still makes him cringe: convincing that company to hire him full-time. Nobody forced him back. He walked himself in.</p><p>This mistake cost him 18 months and taught him the hard truth: leaving corporate is tactical, but breaking your dependency on it is psychological. Brett breaks down what corporate dependency actually is (hint: it's not just the pa...
Corporate Is Changing — 3 Trends Creating New Opportunities for Escapees in 2026
<p>Corporate isn’t stabilizing—and that matters if your income still depends on it.</p><p>In this solo episode, Brett breaks down three trends shaping the Escapee economy in 2026:</p>a corporate metric that’s quietly driving layoffs,the rapid expansion of revenue streams outside corporate,and why small businesses are moving away from full-time hires in favor of fractional and specialist talent.<br/><p><br></p><p>If you’re still in corporate, this episode helps you see what’s coming.</p><p>If you’ve already escaped, it explains why demand for your experience is only growing.</p>...
Ashley Returns: Two Years Into the Escape — What Worked, What Didn’t, What’s Next
<p>Ashley Evenson returns for her third appearance on The Corporate Escapee Podcast — and this time it’s a real update from the field. Two years into her escape, she breaks down what actually helped her land fractional work, what surprised her, and the biggest mistake most new escapees make once they get busy.</p><p>This is a practical conversation about network-first business development, creating momentum without feeling “salesy,” and why the long game matters more than the perfect plan.</p><p>What you’ll learn</p><p> • How Ashley landed her first fractional roles through her existing network</p><p> • Why...
