Hana Kim: I Left 3 Months Before My Pension Vested

From Brett Trainor Unplugged · 41:59

Show by Brett Trainor

Hana Kim did almost everything you're not supposed to do.She spent seventeen years in corporate, all of it in insurance, and made VP. Then she took a bigger VP role that required moving her whole family from Southern California to Arizona during the pandemic. House to sell, house to buy, a dog, and her mom, who lives with them. She landed in mid-June when it was a hundred and fifteen degrees.The job was great, until it wasn't.She describes the feeling the way a lot of us would recognize. Not burnout exactly. More like wearing a suit that kinda fits. Day by day you notice the fit is off, and then one day you have to take it off or lose your mind.She joined the Escapee Collective in October of 2024, gave herself until the end of 2025 to decide, gave notice in July, and walked out in December. Two or three months before her pension vested. On paper, a terrible decision. She'll tell you she had no choice.Then she made it harder. Insurance is a small world, and the easy path out is referrals and consulting gigs inside the industry you came from. She left the industry too. Which meant starting over with about three hundred LinkedIn connections, more than half of them in a business she was never going back to.What she says about that period is the part I keep thinking about. Being excellent in corporate doesn't mean you know how to talk about your work. Her reputation was built inside the walls of one office and one industry, and none of it came with her.The back half is her actual craft, and it's good. Her idea of building a neighborhood instead of an audience is the best framing I've heard on LinkedIn, and I'm stealing it. Not finding your ICP and bombarding them. Building a street where some people hire you, some people refer you, and some people are just people you talk to.ABOUT THE GUESTHana Kim is a personal brand strategist who works with solopreneurs and founders. Before going solo in December 2025, she spent seventeen years in B2B marketing in the insurance industry, finishing as a VP. She started out as a freelance writer and editor, went to law school, and practiced as an attorney before moving into corporate. She is intentionally a solo operator and has no plans to build an agency. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanakim/She also has no content pillars, on purpose, and she'll explain why.In this episode:Seventeen years in one industry, and the VP job that required moving statesWhy she doesn't call it burnoutFalling out of favor, and how it's never one big thingThe pension she walked away fromInterviewing for a C-suite role and realizing she didn't want itWhy the SVP math stopped making senseLeaving the industry, not just the jobRebuilding a network from three hundred connections, most of them deadThe post that went semi-viral and brought the first clientYear zero, and the seven or eight offers nobody remembersBuilding a neighborhood instead of chasing an ICPWhy she has no content pillarsDeciding what you don't want to be known forThe rented land problem, and why she's planning her exit from socialTHE NEIGHBORHOOD, ASSEMBLEDHana's core idea, pulled into one place.The wrong model: find your ICP, connect with your ICP, bombard your ICP with information until they like you enough to hire you.The right model: a neighborhood. Not everyone on your street is a customer. Some are people you chat with. Some will refer you to the person who needs what you do. The value of the street isn't that everybody on it buys from you.What that changes in practice:You talk to people who will never hire you, on purpose.You stop optimizing every post for conversion.You control what you can control, which is how you show up, because the algorithm is not yours.You decide what you want people to say about you when you're not in the room, and then you stay on brand even in the throwaway posts.You pick what you don't want to be known for, and you walk away from content that works but points the wrong direction.And the one that takes the pressure off: nobody remembers your early offers, and nobody remembers your failed ones. Hana tested seven or eight in her first year and can't recall what was in most of them.TIMESTAMPSTaken from the raw transcript. Shift for cold open and sting.00:01 — Welcome00:46 — English degree, law school, attorney, caregiving break, seventeen years in corporate01:40 — Joined the Escapee Collective in October 2024, and the deadline she set herself02:56 — Why she wouldn't call it burnout03:00 — The VP opportunity, and what it cost03:30 — Uprooting the family to Arizona during the pandemic04:30 — Sunday scaries, and thinking everyone had them05:09 — Landing in mid-June at a hundred and fifteen degrees05:20 — Finding Brett on LinkedIn, and "corporate gave up on you"05:40 — Falling out of favor, and how it's never one big thing06:00 — The process of elimination: the job, the company, or the work itself06:45 — The pension she left on the table06:56 — Brett on purgatory and the Geoff Curtis episode08:18 — A…

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