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Reinvention, Solo Travel and Starting Over. From Corporate Travel to a Second Act. This is episode 287 of YOUR CAREER Podcast with Jane Jackson.

This delightful conversation with the amazing Bronwyn White will have you booking your next flight ... on your own! Bronwyn is a travel researcher, marketer and founder of two businesses that reflect her own midlife reinvention with Solo Travel Collective and Second Act Collective.

With over 35 years in travel and tourism, including roles with Qantas, destination marketing, research and consulting, Bronwyn has built a new chapter around the things she understands best: women, travel, behaviour, change and what happens when life no longer looks the way you expected it to.

Solo Travel Collective helps women travel confidently on their own terms, and helping women work out what their next 20 years will hold. Travel and retreats are how Bronwyn does it.

Bronwyn is particularly interested challenging the idea that by midlife women should have everything figured out!

Her view is simple: sometimes the most interesting part of your life and career starts after the plan falls apart.

What happens when the career you built no longer fits the life you want?

In this episode, I talk with Bronwyn White, about career change, reinvention and the unexpected opportunities that emerge when your original plan falls apart.

Bronwyn loves her travel and tourism specialisation which including roles with Qantas, Destination NSW and Kantar, before building her successful travel businesses.

Her career has involved multiple reinventions, including adapting her business after COVID-19 and later embracing AI and launching her successful business, Solo Travel Collective, supporting women to travel independently.

In this episode we discuss what it takes to recognise when change is needed, why reinvention doesn't have to wait for a crisis, and how midlife can become a time of discovery rather than limitation, especially when it comes to the rich and varied experiences women gain through solo international travel.

Key takeaways:

• Your life and career can have several chapters, and you don't have to know the entire story before beginning the next one.

• Understanding the people you want to serve is essential when creating a new business or career.

• Travel can provide an opportunity to rediscover yourself, build confidence and experience life differently.

• Midlife can be a time to reconsider what you really want from work, identity, life and travel.

I loved our conversation and am very envious of her next trip with a select group of 8 women to the Maldives. Such freedom and fun! Bronwyn shares her approach to designing travel experiences for women who want the freedom of solo travel without necessarily having to do everything alone.

Find out more about Bronwyn:

Solo Travel Collective: https://solotravelcollective.com

Follow Bronwyn White on LinkedIn for Baby Boomer solo travel inspiration

About Your Career Podcast

I'm Jane Jackson, a career transition coach with over 25 years' experience helping professionals navigate redundancy, career change and their career crossroads.

If you're wondering what comes next in your career, you'll find practical career advice, stories and inspiration here.

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Welcome to Your Career Podcast with Jane Jackson where I help mid career professionals overcome self doubt and gain career clarity and the confidence to create the life and career they desire.

Book a Zoom chat with me at janejacksoncoach.com - I’d love to meet you and discover what’s happening in your career!

Support the show

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To discover how to make a successful career change and land the job you'll LOVE, take the CAREER SUCCESS QUIZ and within 2 minutes you'll have your results, analysis and recommendations for career success. https://careersuccess.scoreapp.com/

Love Your Career Podcast? Let us know!

If you've sent over thirty job applications (or fifty, or eighty!) and not heard back, Jane Jackson, career coach, explains what's changed in recruitment the past few years and what you need to do differently.

With approximately 244 applications for the average job posting in 2025 compared to 116 applications per role in 2022 and recruiting teams shrinking by approximately 55% over that same period, no wonder there are MORE people applying for FEW roles and HALF the number of human beings to conduct the recruitment process.

So, applying more by using AI to create your job applications only to be screened out by AI seems like a lose-lose situation.

In my latest podcast episode I explain what the numbers are telling us, what the CEO of Indeed (top job search site) says, and how you can turn things around when you are clear about WHO you are, WHAT you can do, and WHY they should hire you. And how to ensure you have an internal advocate for the job.

Gain the Career Clarity you need by completing Jane's Career Clarity Pack: https://janejacksoncoach.com/career-clarity-pack/

Read the full article with research statistics in Business Chief magazine: https://businesschief.com/news/indeed-ceo-hiring-faces-vicious-cycle-of-ai-applicants

Welcome to Your Career Podcast with Jane Jackson where I help mid career professionals overcome self doubt and gain career clarity and the confidence to create the life and career they desire.

Book a Zoom chat with me at janejacksoncoach.com - I’d love to meet you and discover what’s happening in your career!

Support the show

- - - - - -

To discover how to make a successful career change and land the job you'll LOVE, take the CAREER SUCCESS QUIZ and within 2 minutes you'll have your results, analysis and recommendations for career success. https://careersuccess.scoreapp.com/

Love Your Career Podcast? Let us know!

Red Brick Thinking, Productivity and Taking Control of Your Career with Donna McGeorge

What if the answer to feeling overwhelmed is not to do more, but to remove what is no longer necessary?

In this episode of Your Career Podcast, Jane Jackson speaks with productivity expert, bestselling author and speaker Donna McGeorge about her unconventional career journey, the beliefs that shape the way we work, and why so many capable professionals find themselves overcommitted, exhausted and short of time.

Donna shares how her career evolved from early aspirations of becoming a coroner to working as a secretary, IT trainer and learning and development professional before building her own successful business. After experiencing several company failures, she made the decision to take greater control of her career and create work on her own terms.

Jane and Donna explore why many so-called time management problems are not really about time at all. Overflowing inboxes, excessive meetings and difficulty delegating are often symptoms of deeper issues, including lack of trust, unclear priorities, perfectionism and the stories we tell ourselves about what a capable professional should be able to manage.

Donna also introduces the central idea behind her new book, Red Brick Thinking. When faced with a problem, most of us instinctively add another task, process, meeting or responsibility. Red brick thinking invites us to consider subtraction instead. What could be removed, simplified, stopped or allowed to end?

The conversation also covers workplace burnout, cognitive overload, setting realistic boundaries, questioning false urgency and periodically reassessing whether a role still fits the life you want to lead.

Donna shares the unexpected story behind The ChatGPT Revolution and how one conversation with a journalist led her to write the most commercially successful book of her career.

This is a practical and thought-provoking conversation for anyone who feels stretched by work, is considering a career change, or needs permission to stop carrying responsibilities that no longer serve a useful purpose.

Key takeaways

• Many productivity problems are not really about managing time. They are often caused by overcommitment, unclear priorities, excessive meetings and difficulty delegating.
• Donna’s concept of Red Brick Thinking encourages us to solve problems through strategic subtraction. Rather than automatically adding another task, process or responsibility, consider what could be removed, simplified or stopped.
• Clear boundaries protect our time and capacity. Before agreeing to an urgent request, question the deadline, clarify when the work will be reviewed and communicate what can realistically be achieved.

Where to find Donna McGeorge

Learn more about Donna, her books and her work at:

https://donnamcgeorge.com/

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Welcome to Your Career Podcast with Jane Jackson where I help mid career professionals overcome self doubt and gain career clarity and the confidence to create the life and career they desire.

Book a Zoom chat with me at janejacksoncoach.com - I’d love to meet you and discover what’s happening in your career!

Support the show

- - - - - -

To discover how to make a successful career change and land the job you'll LOVE, take the CAREER SUCCESS QUIZ and within 2 minutes you'll have your results, analysis and recommendations for career success. https://careersuccess.scoreapp.com/