You didn’t plan on becoming an entrepreneur.
After decades in corporate life, you assumed you’d stay put, retire quietly, or at least have options. Then layoffs, ageism, and a shifting job market changed the math.

For many people in midlife, entrepreneurship isn’t a dream, it’s a reluctant consideration. And that reluctance isn’t a flaw. It’s information.

In this episode, we unpack what resistance to entrepreneurship is really protecting you from: fear of financial uncertainty, loss of structure, judgment from peers, and the grief of leaving behind an identity that once worked. We’ll also dismantle a few myths. Especially the idea that admin work is a monster, or that you need confidence before you start.

This is the first episode in a three-part series on the Reluctant Entrepreneur.

Today’s focus is unlocking resistance. Next, we’ll explore entrepreneurial archetypes so you can identify which path fits you best. Then we’ll talk about taking action without burning everything down.

If you’re not excited about entrepreneurship (but you can’t ignore it either) this episode is for you.

Shelley McIntyre helps GenXers stop slogging through corporate life, reclaim their identity, and build something real. Through her coaching programs and podcast Burn the Map, she guides midlife professionals to design a vibrant, intentional next chapter with clarity, courage, and structure.

🚀 Ready to start your next chapter?

👉 Apply for the Reinvention Partnership Program: Shelley’s step-by-step, personalized coaching framework for post-corporate professionals.
🔗 https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelley

Or jumpstart your clarity with an Own Your Edge Strategy Session: a focused 90-minute conversation to help you move from stuck to starting.
🔗 https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edge

Let’s connect:
LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube | Website

After decades in corporate, asking for help feels like admitting failure. You were the indispensable one, the person with all the answers. Now you're building something new and the skill you avoided most is suddenly essential.

Asking for help isn't just awkward, it feels like a violation of the role you always played. Like you're bothering people. Like you have nothing to offer back. Like admitting you're incompetent.

But here's the truth: most people actually want to help you. You're projecting your fear onto their generosity. And the belief that you have to earn every scrap of support? That's just old corporate wiring.

Let's figure out how to ask for help without shame, build the support network you actually need, and stop treating relationships like a ledger that needs to balance every week.

You'll learn:

• Why corporate trained you not to ask - How transactional work relationships became your template for all relationships, and why being a beginner again makes you panic that people won't want to be around you
• What help actually looks like now - The difference between hand-holding and building authentic connections through vulnerability, plus what kind of support you'll actually need (emotional, tactical, networked, and more)
• The counterintuitive truth - Why people want to help you (and how you're robbing them of something meaningful when you don't ask), plus what you always bring to the table even when you think you have nothing
• How to practice asking - The "asking rehab" exercise that trains your nervous system to receive without immediately reciprocating, and why asking for help is actually a leadership skill

Shelley McIntyre helps GenXers stop slogging through corporate life, reclaim their identity, and build something real. Through her coaching programs and podcast Burn the Map, she guides midlife professionals to design a vibrant, intentional next chapter with clarity, courage, and structure.

🚀 Ready to start your next chapter?

👉 Apply for the Reinvention Partnership Program: Shelley’s step-by-step, personalized coaching framework for post-corporate professionals.
🔗 https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelley

Or jumpstart your clarity with an Own Your Edge Strategy Session: a focused 90-minute conversation to help you move from stuck to starting.
🔗 https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edge

Let’s connect:
LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube | Website

You finally escaped corporate. Three months later, you're at your desk at 8am sharp, working through lunch, feeling guilty about that doctor's appointment you're thinking of canceling. Again.

You rebuilt the exact same prison you just left. Same hours. Same guilt. Same burnout.

Here's what's happening: your corporate wiring is running your new system. Decades of conditioning about productivity, worth, and "acceptable" work doesn't disappear overnight. The box was the only system you knew, so you brought it with you.

What's the point of leaving corporate if you don't take advantage of the flexibility? Let's figure out how to design work around your actual life, energy, and values; not replicate the system that burned you out.

You'll learn:

• The corporate box you internalized - How productivity became hours in a chair, self-worth got tied to performance reviews, and why you learned to ignore your natural rhythms
• Signs you're recreating the same prison - Why you default to 9-5, feel guilty for breaks, and skip the activities that actually energize you
• Permission to build something different - How to work with your chronotype, build in fuel (not distractions), and spread the weight your corporate job used to carry
• Be the manager you always wanted - Why you might have brought your tyrant boss with you (as a voice in your head), and how to become the fair leader you deserved all along

Shelley McIntyre helps GenXers stop slogging through corporate life, reclaim their identity, and build something real. Through her coaching programs and podcast Burn the Map, she guides midlife professionals to design a vibrant, intentional next chapter with clarity, courage, and structure.

🚀 Ready to start your next chapter?

👉 Apply for the Reinvention Partnership Program: Shelley’s step-by-step, personalized coaching framework for post-corporate professionals.
🔗 https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelley

Or jumpstart your clarity with an Own Your Edge Strategy Session: a focused 90-minute conversation to help you move from stuck to starting.
🔗 https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edge

Let’s connect:
LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube | Website