Speaker 3 0:03

What if you once loved your career and then one day you realize you just don't anymore? You're still good at it, but you're not sure you can keep doing this

Speaker 2 0:15

This is the Your Next Success podcast, and I am your host, Dr. Caroline Sangal. I am a life first career coach and strategist on a mission to normalize questioning your career because I believe each of us is made on purpose for a purpose only we can fulfill. The longer we live out of alignment with who we are, what we do best, and why we are here, the more we miss out and the more the world misses out on what only we can give the Your Next Success Podcast is where we explore how to build a career that truly fuels your life. We talk about self-discovery, smart job, search strategies, professional growth. And you will hear stories from people who have navigated big career transitions themselves. So you can create a life, first career and become your own version of authentic success, one that is aligned, meaningful, and truly yours.

Speaker 3 1:18

Megan Applegate is a business owner, recruiter and career strategist helping people navigate the job search in a way that reflects who they are and where they want to go. That clarity comes from experience. She built a 20 year career in hospitality, growing into leadership roles where she was trusted to create meaningful experiences and lead high impact work. She was confident in what she was doing. She knew how to do it well, and then she reached a moment of awareness. Her work started to feel different, and her energy was shifting. She was still showing up, still delivering, and she was ready for something more aligned. In this episode, we hear her journey, what she noticed, what she chose, and how she stepped into what came next.

Caroline 2:11

Megan Applegate, welcome to Your Next Success. I'm super excited to be talking to you today.

Megan 2:17

Thank you. excited be here.

Caroline 2:20

So, so we are gonna get to all the amazing things that you do with people in the midst of job search and your phenomenal career and all the ways that you help people. We will totally get to that. And I'd love to take it way, way back to the beginning. Can you help us understand, you know, where were you born? What was life like? What was life like for the very littlest Megan?

Megan 2:44

Sure, sure. Um, so little Megan, um, grew up in Michigan, so I, um, was born in a pretty small town in southern Michigan called Hillsdale. I have a twin sister,

Caroline 2:58

when you were really little, were there any particular activities that you really enjoyed doing?

Megan 3:03

I was a sports girl, so, you know, really enjoyed my social time, I think as most, um, young females. But I was super into, um, volleyball I played basketball. Um, my sister and I did a lot of horseback riding. I tried everything, like as a little girl, right? Like, I did gymnastics, I did dance at one point, I did a year of cheerleading. So I would say, you know, I, I dabbled in a lot.

Caroline 3:36

And how about school subject-wise? Were there any particular things that you enjoyed more than others?

Megan 3:42

Um. You know, and this is funny that you asked that question. 'cause again, if I like, look, if I think back to, you know, again, comparing the two of us, we, we were fraternal. We didn't look anything alike. Um, but she was very much the science brain and became a, um, PA physician assistant and went through that and I kind of floated in the middle of, I'm not terrible at anything when it comes to like, the main subjects of school, but I never gravitated towards one thing or another. I just kind of like stayed in the middle and never really like found my footing in anything really until I got to college, um, of like I was great at other than socializing. Of course

Caroline 4:34

So

Megan 4:34

all day

Caroline 4:35

socializing is the. Yeah. Socializing though is the, missing, hidden skill that propels anybody in their career, I came from a science background and so the amount of brilliant people who can't communicate their way out of a paper bag is a lot. It's a lot. And so even while you weren't necessarily finding a favorite, academic subject in the early years of school, you still were developing these ability to relate to people, communicate, get things done with and through others. Like these are phenomenal,

Megan 5:06

you're right.

Caroline 5:07

skills and.

Megan 5:08

you don't think about that all the time, you know?

Caroline 5:10

this is why I ask people these things 'cause it's like, oh, there's, there's elements of who you are that have been there all along, just looking for their, you know, beauty and their place to shine. So

Megan 5:22

no, you're absolutely right.

Caroline 5:25

what did your parents do?

Megan 5:28

Um, so my mom a bookkeeper.

Caroline 5:34

Huh?

Megan 5:35

did bookkeeping for, um, a company And my dad actually was an, was an entrepreneur himself, which is interesting. Right. Um, so I saw a little bit of that. He, they both worked for my mom's dad way back in the day when we were in tiny little Hillsdale, Michigan. then my grandfather got sick and passed a, a pretty early age. And so that's when we moved up to the, East Lansing area. Um, because my dad's uncle had started and was really, growing well with an installation business,

Caroline 6:12

Oh, cool.

Megan 6:13

building installation. And then, um, pretty, pretty quickly after that I remember my dad being like, you know what? Like, I just don't wanna work for anyone anymore, including family. And he started his own accounting business, I just remember my dad always having three to four different businesses going at one time. I don't remember thinking, well, I wanna do that too. But it is a core memory of mine

Caroline 6:40

Yeah.

Megan 6:41

him kind of, you know stumbled a little bit. I mean, nothing ever like officially really took off, if I'm being honest with you. But like to constantly be getting back up and be like, okay, let me try this next and let me try this next. And he still to this day, has his accounting business, so Yeah.

Caroline 7:02

wow.

Megan 7:02

they did. Mm-hmm.

Caroline 7:04

And when, when you were kind of in that, let's say early years or up to high school, what did you think it meant to be successful? Like what, what did you think that was to, for somebody to be in a successful adult?

Megan 7:19

I would classify that as easy living. But I think that, you know, being successful meant that we never had to like, worry, um,

Caroline 7:31

Hmm.

Megan 7:32

where we could do some traveling and we could go out to dinner when we wanted to. And I was very much in the middle class type of life in, you know, blue collar Michigan area where in my eyes we never struggled. Right? Like, and, but I think you always wanna kind of protect your children from really knowing what's going on. So, who knows, maybe we were, and I had no idea, but we got to take good trips and, you know, a lot of it was, um, by car. But we got to go to Hawaii once and to California once. So for me, I think, would he tell me I was successful back then? Knowing what I know now, um, I'm not sure I would say the answer would be yes, even though I've never really had that, that honest conversation with him.

Caroline 8:19

Okay. So, how did you decide that you were even gonna go to college, and how did you pick where you went?

Megan 8:26

Good question. So, college was just always something like. That's just what you're gonna do. That was never not a thing. Right. and so, you know, I didn't have the best grades. I didn't have really bad grades. I was really in the middle. So I found a college because I, I still didn't know what I wanted to do. I really was like, you know, I'll go, sure. I'm excited to go to college, but like, I can't put my finger on what that's gonna look like yet. And, you know, I think a lot of people in, in that age, um, there's a lot of emphasis on, and, and us as parents thinking, well, hopefully, you know, so we're not wasting our money. But like, there's a lot of people that don't, including myself. So I picked a school, um, that was a good size university. It was an hour and a half away, so Central Michigan University. So I was finding a way to like detached myself from my hometown and from my twin sister a little bit, right where she stayed, she went to Michigan State, which is an amazing school. I love that school. But that was just like her path and part of me understands now that I needed to find my own path, right? So deciding to go to that school, was still a good school, just easier to get into, a little bit further away so I could develop my own, you know, who is Megan gonna be? and so I got there and, you know, I did have one friend that went with me, but beyond that, I think that's when I first started to be like, okay, so I, I'm not one of the Applegate twins, or I'm not Nicole's sister, right? Um, that I, I started to develop this whole brand new group of friends and, you know, really started to, to hone in and figure out. my path would lead next. And it took me to my junior year to figure out what I wanted to do.

Caroline 10:22

And then how did that come about? What did you, what did you fall into?

Megan 10:27

So when I was a junior, um, one of my, one of my roommates that I had met at college, um, she started working and, um, in the recreation department, which basically is like, uh, the hospitality industry, like that degree. And I'm not sure why I never even like considered that that was a true job or industry or degree that you could get. Um, but she kind of like started talking about these classes she was taking to get a hospitality degree in the recreation, commercial recreation department. And there was just like a light bulb that went off in my head to be like, wait, like you can get a degree and then go work where everyone is vacationing and having fun.

Caroline 11:14

Yeah.

Megan 11:14

me up. Like that was like literally sold. And I think my parents were like, thank God. She figured something out to do right. And I like remember latching on the idea that I could work in the hospitality industry. Um, even though I think at the time I still was unclear of truly the, the size of what that industry is, but like, just the idea around I can go and be in warm places and with palm trees around me and work with people where people are having fun and plan events and That was just it. That was what I was going to do and that's what I did.

Caroline 12:00

That's awesome. And so then how did you, or when did you get your kind of first job in that?

Megan 12:09

so part of our schooling, um, for this degree was I had to go and do a two-part nine month internship. So I earned like a stipend just so I could like survive, right? But like, they didn't actually have to pay us. So I, um, found myself an internship working at what the, was then called the Amelia Island Plantation, which is now I believe an Omni. Um, but Amelia Island is right outside or on the coast of, um, Jacksonville, Florida. So,

Caroline 12:44

Cool.

Megan 12:44

very, very spread out. Super cool, you know, resort. I did the recreation department and I and I got to do it with people from around the world. So they had people from Wales and England and, you know, like Mississippi and these people that I remember thinking, oh my gosh, like I only know Michigan, right? Like, other than from vacations, it's like you don't realize what you don't know. What you don't know right?

Caroline 13:15

Yeah.

Megan 13:16

will only come from one area of, of the United States. Um, and so my eyes just got like this, right? I was like, oh my God, this is so much fun. This is it. Like this is what I want to do. So I finished that internship, um, and the two parts of it, I went back to Central Michigan University, graduated, and before I had left, um, I had secured myself a job in, um, West Palm Beach working for the Breakers Resort. And I

Caroline 13:48

Oh, that's so cool.

Megan 13:50

So I was like, sorry, mom, dad, but like, I've got the bug. I'm going to Florida. This is, you know, this is so me, like I want, you know, all the sunshine and the palm trees. And, and again, you know, living in the tundra, like I just, that was like a whole new world for me. So I did, I packed up my life and took myself down there and, you know, started off super young, uh, working for $10 an hour, you know, but in this beautiful resort, um, Breakers is one of the, you know, top, places in the United States and even worldwide known So I got some great exposure to just getting my feet wet, um, running a kids' camp, you know, and like babysitting

Caroline 14:35

that's cool.

Megan 14:36

fun. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, not anything I would ever wanna be doing now, but like, at the time. That was perfect. I was getting to experience so many different things in a brand new world, um, in, in an industry that I was just like so in love with, right? Like, I'm just loving it and I didn't care if I had to work at night or on the weekends. I just was soaking up every single part of, you know, that lifestyle I don't say that because I have a terrible childhood. I just, you know, that's, it's two different worlds. from, middle class, blue collar area, Michigan to going to Palm Beach, Florida, right.

Caroline 15:17

yeah.

Megan 15:17

22. So why, why would you not do that?

Caroline 15:22

even grow growing up, you kept trying new things and experiencing them right, and, and meeting people and just like, yeah, I'll, I'll try that. And so, yeah. Why, why wouldn't you,

Megan 15:32

Why

Caroline 15:32

um, get to do now in, in that phase, um, that young phase, when, here you are working where other people are vacationing. Did it feel like work or did it feel like fun

Megan 15:46

both, honestly. I think at first I was just so like by like the beauty of that in that area, you know, coming from, you know, where I was. Um, and so at first I was just like. I've just literally landed in, in heaven, right? I was just enthralled with the new, and, and very proud of myself for moving, at the time that was very attached to, to one person for my whole life to just be like, this is just not where I foresee myself. And I found my life and I think it was easy to do, especially in the hospitality industry. And again, besides what I do now, um, that's really my whole, my whole life have revolved around that. And I did it for 20 years. But when I first started. Especially in hotels and big resorts and big properties like that, it's very family. You get very indoctrinated into, you know, the people you work with because even though it can be stressful and, um, hard and you're working, you all kinds of crazy hours, you are having fun and it becomes very family oriented where you just, like, easy just to grab on to all the friends right where you're at And so I never felt like I was on my own or I was lost because I just was like, this is my family. This is what I've been waiting for,

Caroline 17:16

So then how did that progress from, that early. years to then, you said you were 20 years in the hospitality industry, so How did it progress from the start to that 20 year span? Yeah,

Megan 17:29

So, I, I didn't have a straight line. Um, I worked for The Breakers for quite a while. Um, absolutely loving life. I then kind of pivoted, um, not because I didn't love what I was doing, but I realized I couldn't like, sustain, you know, a merely $10 an hour. And so I actually tried to do, um. Something within a recreation department, like a city recreation department in Fort Lauderdale. it wasn't for me. So, um, I kind of pivoted that way and then I took a small change because I had met, um a future husband, let's just call him my future, you know, ex-husband. And so he wanted to go get a master's degree in sports management. So we ended up going, actually interesting enough, back to Michigan to Western to get his degree. And then we came back. So I had a little bit of a, a sidestep of like, I love this, but then love blinded me. So I decided to do this

Caroline 18:28

Yeah.

Megan 18:29

right. I mean, I think, and that happens. Um, and then we landed back in Florida like two years later. So it wasn't a very long stint after he got his, his degree. Um, and we landed in St. Augustine, Florida. Um, so, when I got back, I was lucky enough to, to land a job at the Casa Monica Hotel, um, in St. Augustine, which is, you know, if you don't know that one, it's like part of the Kessler collection, which is the Grand Bohemians. And, uh,

Caroline 18:56

Oh wow. Yeah.

Megan 18:57

favorite companies to work for, because every single hotel they have is artsy and different and got a different theme. So I got back into that, um, worked my way up into the sales, um, and events and catering department, which is basically what I did the rest of my career. I, got lucky enough to prove myself and so I started working all the social events, for the Casa Monica Hotel, and we had three different, venues or two ballrooms and like an outside pavilion pool. Um, so I became the wedding planner queen.

Caroline 19:33

Oh, that's so cool.

Megan 19:34

at that time of my life, I would would've been, in my late twenties and we would do five weddings a weekend. I mean, it was

Caroline 19:44

Wow.

Megan 19:44

a, it was, it wasn't a huge resort. It was a downtown property, but it was so unique and we had the space. Um, and so it just became just like really well known for that. my most amount was 120 in one year or something like that. so people were always like, how the hell did you do that?

Caroline 20:05

Yeah.

Megan 20:05

You know, I must be really good at logistics along with, um, selling and, and the people part because they trusted me, right? And so,

Caroline 20:15

Yeah.

Megan 20:16

it was something I trained myself to do and I absolutely adored that. I loved it. Um, but again, life happens. Loved St. Augustine. Um, but, you know, I. First marriage ended. We'll just say that it didn't last very long. And so the next step took me down to Miami area. Um, and so I got into a property, I think it's JW now, in Aventura, Florida, which is like north area of, of, um, Miami. So I did that for a long time. Then I progressed into becoming a director of catering for, um, Shula Hotel, which is also that area. then ended up having our son. So, Cruz, he's 15 now, but we had him in Miami. So, um, we ended up here in Charlotte, which is where I am now. Um, and we moved here in 2014. So we've been here 12 years this was kind of the last stop for both of us on the hospitality train, I got myself into a great Hilton property up here in downtown Charlotte. Um, and I was there for, about five years was living life. growing our family. And that was 2018. Um, when I finally hit my wall, hit my wall of like, I absolutely adore this industry, but I can't, I can't plan one more wedding. don't wanna work the weekend. I don't, I don't wanna be here. And I had that epiphany one night working where I was just like, I was there and everyone had left and it was a Friday and I was just like, I, where is the magic? It's gone. Like I don't have the emotional bandwidth. I started to not care any longer. And I think after, you know, a couple of days of, you know, working the weekends and a couple weeks where I was just like, I. It kind of, it felt like it hit me out of nowhere. Like, I was just like so in love with everything, you know? I had all these great friends here in Charlotte, and I was getting intertwined with the community of hospitality, and I was at like my peak of like, I am amazing at what I do, and so confident in my abilities and what I was doing, but somehow I just was like, I don't, I don't, I don't wanna, I don't know, I don't wanna quit hospitality because it's all I know and I love the industry so much, but I don't want to do this anymore. And I, and I, I really hit a wall of like, wow, okay, well what does that, like, what do you like, Megan, wherever, you know, like little Megan, big Megan, like, what are you gonna do with your life then? Like, what does this look like? I mean, it's all that, you know. Um, so that was, that was my turning point of like. Okay, what do I do?

Caroline 23:26

Yeah.

Megan 23:26

I wasn't being challenged anymore because, you know, again, like when you are doing a lot of event planning, and especially with me on the social side, I was super involved with, you know, weddings and people's, like, big memory things. And I remember having just like, you know, watching these weddings happen and having tears and just like all the emotions. And then I realized like that stopped happening and I just was like, that's not fair to them. For me to not care and not want to be here and just be like, I'm going through the motions of this. Us. Um, and I, was like, I was proud of the fact that I realized that, um, because I think a lot of

Caroline 24:12

Absolutely.

Megan 24:12

you know, people will be like, well, that's normal. Just keep moving on, moving on, right? And I was like, Hmm, no, I shouldn't do this. I shouldn't do this. Because people need the old Megan that had all the feelings and the cares and wanted to make memories, um, and really cared about what she was doing. So I, I, I really took that to heart and was just like, okay, like, you know, this is, I cannot do this for myself, but I can't, I can't do it for the people that I am, you know, planning all these events for either anymore. And so interestingly as soon as I kind of like said that to myself, I think within a week I actually had somebody reach out to me that was a recruiter and said,

Caroline 25:04

Hmm.

Megan 25:05

your profile on LinkedIn. We're recruiting for, um, it was a national director of catering conference services, for, Compass Group, which is a very large company. like it's part of hospitality, but it's extremely different than a hotel and the way that, that, that, that world runs, especially within food and beverage and events. And then to take that into a contract food service where I was planning and organizing and over a very large team. that was over the Bank of America contract. So extremely rigid,

Caroline 25:42

wow.

Megan 25:42

right? So, um, somehow I got this job and I, 'cause again, it was like, I've never done contract food service and it was a huge step up, huge promotion, huge bump and pay. I was gonna be traveling to New York and Chicago and Boston, and I was just like, oh, this, oh, this is what I need. This is what I need. All right. Like, we're all in, like, I'm on board. I'm so excited about this. Somehow I like managed to get myself this job, which I was just like, I don't know how I did that, but I'm, I'm in. And I was so excited and that lasted seven months and I hated it.

Caroline 26:19

Imagine what your life would be like if your career aligned with who you are, what you do best, and actually fueled the life you want. At Next Success, we support all ages and stages through career transitions from students exploring majors or careers to job seekers actively searching or re-imagining their next move to professionals committed to self-awareness and leadership growth. Stay connected and explore what's possible at nextsuccesscareers.com and follow @nextsuccessmethod on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Feeling bored and being like, I don't think I can do this again. Then you're kind of like looking for an escape and here comes some fun looking opportunity, anything different. Sounds great.

Megan 27:08

Yeah.

Caroline 27:09

get in there and it sounds good from the outside, but then what was it from the inside that wasn't actually aligning with what you wanted?

Megan 27:17

I didn't know a lot about contract food service. I just knew how catering and conference, conference services and detailing and I was leading, I could lead a team. So like I knew that piece of it. Um, I just, it was a completely different level of, I wouldn't say expectation, but just like layers, layers of like, you had the bank who hired another company to manage this company, then to manage this company. And it was, you know, so many rules, so rigid, you know, I just felt like I was like under fire at all times. Um. I didn't feel good. I didn't feel good in it. I felt like people were not giving me a fair chance. Like the people that hired me were in my corner because they were like, we made this decision, but then they were trying to prove their reasoning for hiring me to like, who then managed them. And those people didn't necessarily agree. And it was this kind of like conflict of, you know, I never feel like, I never felt like I got a chance an off on the right start. Because even though the, you know, the group that hired me was confident, the people above them were not. And so there was this battle. Of like, I really wanna do good. I, I wanted to prove myself and I was, um, but I felt like I was under a microscope almost every day. And I think when you come from a world of truly feeling like you've got your world under control, you know what you're doing and no one's questioning you because you've proven yourself, and then you go do something else. And it feels like there's always pressure and always people like, I don't really know. Is that good enough? I was like, oh, no, no. Like this di this doesn't feel good at all. Like, I just, I was like, this is, was, I was grateful that I took the opportunity. I don't think I ever regretted it. I just was like, this is not, this is not it. And that's okay. Like, how else would I have known that? Right.

Caroline 29:32

Absolutely. but the earlier roles, you had a more direct line into how what you were doing was actually impacting and helping somebody have a wonderful experience. But now with all of these layers, you're just working with within the layers and not necessarily getting to experience the firsthand joy and gratefulness of somebody who got to experience the event you planned with them. You know? So maybe that that thing too, 'cause

Megan 30:03

No, you're very, it's true. Like

Caroline 30:05

Yeah.

Megan 30:06

that for sure, um, you know, that, that could have definitely had a hand in it because I, you're right, I didn't really ever get to see the finished product anymore because I was a level then that I was just making sure that the people that were supposed to be doing their job were, were doing their job right. And like, kind of like the high level touch with some of these clients. Um, but again, you know, our client was like. The bank, but then, and, and all of their employees. But then, you know, we had another client underneath them that were trying to prove their worth, that they could

Caroline 30:42

Yep.

Megan 30:43

to the bank. And so I was just like, Hmm, this does not fit

Caroline 30:47

It was, it was back in the behind the scenes thing, which you had already thought like, Ooh, I don't wanna be behind the scenes. I wanna be out, out in the front. And so this, but without knowing, how are you supposed to know? 'cause it sounds like, oh yeah, all these layers, all these people, I'm down, I'm down for it. And then you realize, wait a minute,

Megan 31:03

Yeah.

Caroline 31:04

a little more direct. Yeah.

Megan 31:06

maybe if, um, maybe if that hadn't happened, you know, like, and I wasn't like, already doubted from the beginning that like, that feeling would've settled better and I would've just kind of kept going. But very quickly I was just like, this doesn't work for anybody. this just isn't like working. And it was honestly an agreeable departure of like, okay, you know, we're, we're sorry because again, they, they, they tried on their end, um, compass

Caroline 31:37

Yeah.

Megan 31:37

you know, like help the other people. But, um, again, I, I don't dis disregard the situation because I learned a lot from it. Um, but

Caroline 31:48

then, yeah.

Megan 31:49

yeah, go ahead.

Caroline 31:50

And, and in the same moment, you got to experience additional layers within this great wild wide world of hospitality and multiple new job functions that you hadn't worked with before. Now, instead of just seeing them on thing, you now intimately know a little bit more about what each one of those other roles do beyond what you had experienced from all the resorts and the hotels prior. So it still opens up your awareness

Megan 32:17

Oh, for

Caroline 32:18

that

Megan 32:19

And,

Caroline 32:19

Yeah.

Megan 32:20

it gives me the ability to say, I did contract food service even though it was only seven months. Like, you know, it was enough to give me a taste of what that's like. And, and, you know, and truthfully, um, Compass Group tried to like keep me, they tried to be like, well, this isn't work on this contract, but we love you, so let me put you over here. But at the time I was just like,

Caroline 32:40

Hmm.

Megan 32:41

is, does not feel good anymore. Like, I, like I really appreciated that, but like it in general, I didn't, I just wasn't me, you know, it didn't feel good. And I think you have to kind of trust that sometimes to be like, you know, when you first start a new job, it doesn't ever feel good because it's like, I hate not knowing and being the person that knows all the things. That's like why a lot of people don't change jobs is because they don't like the uncomfortable piece of being the person that doesn't know all the things. Right. Um, it's, it wasn't that, it truly was like. I was just a big stress ball every single day and just feeling like I could never get it right. And then I was, you know, having to travel and, um, you know, there was just, there was too many things that I was just like it, even if I gave it more time. You just know when something doesn't feel right for you, I think.

Caroline 33:38

And I'm so proud of you for like listening to that because again, there's so many other people that are like, I'm gonna push through. I'm gonna override this. No, no, it's fine. It's fine. And it's not actually fine. And so you're, you gave yourself the space to be like, nah, I don't, I don't think so. And so then what happened though?

Megan 33:55

Well, so at that point, honestly, I just didn't have a job. it, you know, and I was kinda like, okay, so like, I literally luckily, because of this situation, that had occurred, you know, they gave me a decent, severance. So I had some time to figure it out where I wasn't just like, oh my God, I'm, you gonna just take whatever comes back to me that I'm good at. 'cause you know, I'm not sure if I, I, I don't think I would've done that, but again, I totally understand people and the desperation that you feel when you lose a job, it's, it's, it's a terrible sinking feeling, not only from a, a material financial piece, but just like a from emotional point of view of feeling like you did something wrong or you're not good enough. I mean, it's just is really hard to be in that, um, in that space. I've learned, especially with what I do now, which is interesting, you know, and how this has played out, but, um, that like. It, it things happen for a reason. They always do. Right? Like it's, you just don't see it in, um, and I tell my clients that I work with now all the time, like, if you don't have a job or you got laid off, like there is a reason for what's gonna happen. And even though it could be taking you way much longer than you had hoped for, like you will truly understand eventually. Right? And like, I feel like that's where I'm at now, where I've never, you know, at that time, um, and this was 2018, um, know, forward eight years, I would've never put myself in the position that I'm in now. So, you know, you just have to like, keep your eyes open and just keep going forward. Um, so after that. I, um, I was just like, okay, so what am I gonna do? and my husband had said, you know what? I had a recruiter reach out to me once, um, before with this company called Gecko Hospitality. You know, maybe she can help you. Um, let's, you know, let me pass your resume along to her and then just see what happens with that. And I was like, okay, well at this point I don't know what I'm doing. So. Sure. So Joan calls, this is, um, the restaurant side of Gecko Hospitality. She calls me, the owner, and she's like, well, I don't have anything like specifically that, you know, fits what, your background is. However, I'm actually considering selling a portion of my business in North Carolina, with Gecko Hospitality and your, you know, your profile and your resume and your experience fits up really well with somebody that could take that on. And when, you know, and what that, what that meant was, so Gecko hospitality is a franchise model, right? And we are, nationwide. So what Joan was doing was she was saying, I own both restaurant and the hospitality side for North Carolina with Gecko, and I wanna sell the hospitality side of my business, and would be a perfect fit. And I was like, come again. What are you talking about? What do you do? What do you do? You know? And she is like, well, I'm a recruiter. And I was like. I only have one experience with a recruiter and you know, that was, um, that actually somebody that just recruited me for this la my last job that didn't work out. And she is like, let's, you know, let's like have a conversation. I'm here in Charlotte, you know, this weekend, let's just sit down and talk about it. And I just was like, okay, like let me, let me think about this. And so, you know, long story short, um, I think that in the back of my mind, I'd always had an inkling that I would love to own a business. I thought I would have my own event planning business when I was in the thick of loving what I was doing. You know, when we first, especially when we first moved to Charlotte, like, I can do this. I would be amazing. Every, all the fun stuff and the pretty stuff and I'm, you know, the creative stuff, I love it all. And so, but that opportunity just never came. And so when this kind of came and dropped into my lap, I just kind of thought, well, hmm. Recruiting. What, like, how does that even work? Like, like does that person do? Like how do you make money? And so, um, we had a conversation, a couple of different conversations with Joan and, you know, Chris and I together, um, made the decision to, to go ahead and move forward and, and buy this portion of her business from her. Um, and I will tell you, I would, we are not ready for it. You know, a lot of people ask me like, how did you move from having a steady paycheck and then all of a sudden owning a business? You know, and we didn't, that wasn't like a, we're gonna start a business. This was a we are going to buy something from somebody that's already established. So there's a little bit

Caroline 39:04

Yeah.

Megan 39:05

right? So like, it's a little bit of like, okay, so I feel a little bit more comfortable because it's established. I'm not starting this from scratch. There are some clients existing, however, I, you know, we owed a decent amount of money immediately to be able to

Caroline 39:23

Yeah.

Megan 39:24

And we were not in a position to do that. Um, you know, good or bad, maybe people would be like, well, that was stupid. Why would you do that? But, but you know, hey, I was in a position and I was like. I don't know how we made it work, but you always can make it work somehow. And we did. And so we decided to, um, you know, rip off the bandaid and go ahead and just do it. Um, I was gonna start, I was gonna build our business. Um, Chris, my husband again, had mentioned him a few times. He was still gonna keep his job. And this was in 2019, and he was gonna stay as our, you know, our steady income. Um, and eventually when I got it to a place where we were super comfortable, then he would join me. Um, and so that was what we did. I went to Florida and I trained with Gecko there in their headquarters. I came back and I started, you know, just doing what I, they trained me how to be a recruiter. What I didn't know is how to run a business. You know? I think that's the hard part, but I just started, I just started to do it and I, and I was working from home all of a sudden and by myself all of a sudden, and I just was like, I'm, I just, you have this change of mindset, like you're just determined. I don't know if you feel the same way, Caroline, but like with your business, but like, it's just a, a brand new set of eyes to be like, I will be successful. Right. Um, and so I started in 2019, um, and then, and then COVID hit the next

Caroline 40:56

Right. Like, oh my gosh. Yeah. Hospitality recruiter. And there's a lot of candidates. Good news, a lot of candidates available. Bad news, not so many jobs, so,

Megan 41:10

at all. So there's that, that happened, which I mean, again, like, I'm not shocking anyone when I say that. Like everyone went through it. Um, but I just literally bought and started a business and you know, on the other hand, Chris lost his job. So here we are, you know, in,

Caroline 41:28

oh gosh.

Megan 41:29

of 2020 and he loses his job and we're just like sitting at home with our son, who at the time, I think he was Finishing third grade. 'cause then I remember we had to homeschool him in fourth grade, but anyways, so we were all looking at each other like, okay, like what do we do? What do, um, and again, I can't even tell you what we did 'cause there was no business, but somehow. We made it and here we are still making it. Um, and 2020 was super hard first half of 21 was really hard and I was just trying to teach him, all that I knew from only a year in, um, 22 like exploded because again, like things were like, oh, okay, now we're desperate for people. So we all of a sudden had a windfall of business that's almost like. Like, I didn't have enough experience to really truly know what I was doing in the first place, but here we are,

Caroline 42:25

Yeah.

Megan 42:25

having to, you know, be super excited about actually being able to make money and all these things. Um, and we did, I mean, we did what we had to do and we were, you know, we learned trial by fire and, and did what we had to do and we're pretty successful that year. Um, but then again, 23 in hospitality, just right back down. But, um, here we are seven years later and we still own Gecko Hospitality. Um, we still, and we actually bought a second territory. So we have North Carolina and we have Missouri. Um, and so through that, Good and bad. Good and bad. We're still doing our thing and still trying to, you know, be successful in our own world. and, and I think we have. but from that, you know, and, and like you have experience with recruiting, recruiting is a, is a hard job. It is not an easy job. And part of, I would say the hardest thing is the fact that, again, I love people, so it totally makes sense for me to deal with people, but then people are people and they

Caroline 43:33

product.

Megan 43:34

make, they're

Caroline 43:35

Yeah,

Megan 43:36

that, that they wanna make that don't always benefit me as a

Caroline 43:40

correct. Your product can say no, that's the thing. And I, at the beginning I was getting, I tried to like outsmart it and I was like, well, I'm just gonna get better people upfront. Um, and then I would get kind of very invested in the people and like the possibilities of what it could be for their life. And then I learned, oh my gosh, I should back up. Like you can't just like be counting on, put all your eggs in one basket type of thing. You have to actually get a few backup people because you know, otherwise somebody says no, and now you're starting completely from scratch again. Oh, it was so hard. And then you're, and then yeah, it's like it's complex and what we see from our side of what could be a great move for somebody might not actually align with what they wanted to do or what they needed to do for their family or their, um, their longer term goals or selling a house or moving, like, it just, there's so much that that goes into it. Yeah,

Megan 44:36

There's a lot. There's a lot. I mean, I still love what I do. I feel very for fortunate because this was the other piece of the puzzle that like, know recruiting, but I knew hospitality,

Caroline 44:48

yeah,

Megan 44:49

so the fact that we got into, uh, an established, um, agency that was specific to that niche in that industry felt, you know, okay, like I'm not doing IT recruiting, right? Like, and

Caroline 45:03

yeah.

Megan 45:03

that I know recruiting, I know I could. However, at the time I was like, I at least felt comfortable in that piece of it, um, from what I was doing. But again, I think because, there's not a lot of control at times and recruiting can be difficult. Um, was a little bit of, I think why, my other business was born, um, with Career, Blueprint Solutions because somebody asked me, you know, this was a couple years now, like I think almost three years ago, because they knew me, um, and they knew what I did. They asked me if I could help write their resume, and I was like, thought about it and I was like, yeah, I can. Like I know, I know now what it, it, what is necessary? Because I was like, I know exactly what the client is looking for because I look at resumes all day long. I know when something looks good. I know when. It's crap, right? And so, but I also know what the candidate side looks like. And I was like, yeah, I can do that. And so that in itself kind of helped birth this new thought process around, I love recruiting, I don't wanna quit recruiting, but there's a little bit of me that's like, I see there's much wrong with what people think job

Caroline 46:30

Yes.

Megan 46:31

like these days, right? and there's an actual strategy around looking for a job and networking and building a, a professional brand and making sure you have a signal on LinkedIn and, and I was just like, oh my God, nobody knows this. And I do, like, I have to, I have to help people, I have to help people. And I, I'll admit there's a little bit of me that was like, Liked that I had some control of that

Caroline 46:55

Mm-hmm.

Megan 46:56

again, recruiting is not always a con, having a lot of that control. so that was born because I really was just like, I just, and, and again, there's a part of me that loves to help and to coach people and to show them what they can do to, to benefit them, and like a little bit of that emotional piece. So it made sense to kind of like start that other side of it, um, from our, like more of a career coach type of piece and resume writing, because I do the recruiting side, so like it all kind of meshes together or I get to help people and then I can help those people because a lot of them were coming from the hospitality industry. So then I can turn around and be like, okay. I, I've built you this, you know,

Caroline 47:46

Yeah.

Megan 47:46

built your confidence and now I'm gonna like give you two. If it's not me, a partner with Gecko to be like, this is a great candidate, you know, and I can help them and help Gecko, um, you know, make placements and find people that way. So it's, it's been interesting to see the two kind of marry together and blend to help both companies.

Caroline 48:10

And, and help people more holistically. Right. Because there were a lot of people that, yeah. When I was doing recruiting and I was in the chemical industry field, and people would come and they'd want me to look at their resume and it's like, okay, you wanna be nice and you, and you wanna try, but on the other hand, like, whoa, working on your resume isn't helping anything that could eventually benefit both of us in terms of an income. But, but you found a way to make it so that you could help somebody, you can provide a value, you can get a little bit of. Compensation for that effort. And yet also now helping position them either for you or a referral partner to, to help them eventually land their job. Like what a win-win. That's so, so smart. Yeah. Um,

Megan 48:53

yeah. But again, I didn't think of that. Somebody just randomly was like, can you, and then my brain went, wait, I can, 'cause I have all the tools and I have all the knowledge, and then I just put the puzzle together. And then kind of like born of like,

Caroline 49:07

yeah.

Megan 49:08

yeah. All right. You know, I mean, and that didn't happen overnight either, but still like, you know, that's why I always tell people like, because I have a lot of people that come to me and they're like, I'm thinking about transitioning out of, you know, this one job to something else. And I'm like, yeah, it's possible. It truly is possible. You never know where your life can take you. And I feel very, um. I don't know. Honor's really not the word, the word or, you know, I wouldn't say lucky either, because I, luck is not really part of it. Like, I made my own luck. But again, like the fact that somebody reached out to me and Joan reached out to us and was like, would you ever think about this? Like, I didn't go seeking that. So like, sometimes you just have to like allow those things to come in and, and don't disregard them right away because you never know where they're gonna, they'll lead you to, right. And now we get to work from anywhere and we get to go to all of our kids' sports and we work from home. Um, amazingly we enough, we do well working together, which people are always like, how do you work with your husband? And I'm like, I don't really know. I mean, we literally sit next to each other in our

Caroline 50:19

Oh, that's awesome.

Megan 50:20

Yeah. And don't, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of like, no, I'm right. No, I'm right. No, I'm

Caroline 50:25

Uh

Megan 50:26

But in general, we love the fact that we, you know, support each other and get to go to new networking events together and, you know, just have like, we're building this together, which I think is really special.

Caroline 50:38

oh, that's beautiful. So do you only, like, let's say somebody did need help with their, resume, those kinds of things. Is it typically hospitality focused folks or do you ever branch out into complete, like what if it was somebody from IT or what if it was somebody from chemical stuff? Yeah.

Megan 50:57

I, so I do it all. I will tell you, I started, when I first kind of like thought of the idea of this business, I was very like. I only wanna do a hospitality 'cause I felt comfortable in that lane. so I started as hospitality hired resumes. Um, so I started that way and then like about a year and a half in, I was just like, I had kind of built my process and my system and like what I knew to the formula that, right? Like that makes a great resume and makes people stand out and kind of like the whole package of like, if you were to come to me and, and we're gonna put, you know, you through this process and this, you know, this blueprint, right? Like, I was like, I can, this is not just for hospitality. I wanna open myself up to, to anything because I really can. that's when I changed it to Career Blueprint Solutions. And I, I can do anybody, I will tell you just based on my LinkedIn presence, because I recruit for hospitality and I have um, you know, quite a big following, a lot of what I do is hospitality. However, um, I've worked in construction and, um, oh my gosh. I mean, really anything, anything that, um, project management, um, all kinds of things like the, the basis is there because it doesn't

Caroline 52:21

Yeah,

Megan 52:22

you know,

Caroline 52:22

that's right.

Megan 52:23

to the other of like, what it, what you need to do step by step here is this process in order to not like, not only be a job seeker, but like position yourself where opportunities find you, which ultimately is everybody's goal. Right. never be a job seeker 'cause it's so fun.

Caroline 52:45

Yeah, that's what we'd like to have people understand. Yeah. Because just, you know, trying to like, just blanketly apply to all of the things, there's no fun in that. But, uh, yes, you're right. Positioning yourself so that you can be found so that come, somebody can come and ask you about an opportunity and you get to say yes or no if you wanna put yourself into that process. But it's that showing what you've done, not just what you were supposed to do, being available, and yeah, listening for those opportunities because you, you're right, you never know what's gonna come across your radar that could completely change your trajectory for the better and have made sense of all those other things you've been through. So I agree a hundred percent.

Megan 53:28

and that piece of it like is usually the most rewarding because it's like, people are like, are you sure that's me? I don't know that that's me. Like I have imposter syndrome. Like I don't, I don't like, are you sure? And I'm like, what? Again? And you probably understand this from the psychology side, right? Like that what you do is that like we struggle a lot, most of us humans that like. The, to understand what our true, you know, um, brilliance is what our expertise is are so good at because we do it every day and so therefore we have this blanket perception of, well, if we just know it so well, then it's not special and everyone else knows it too. Right. Where I feel like that's part of the reason I get so much joy out of it is really showing people and uncovering what they are truly amazing at,

Caroline 54:23

yes.

Megan 54:24

them present that in a way that like truly represents them that they can't tend to do on their own, which is hard.

Caroline 54:32

Yeah, it's hard 'cause we know what it's like to be us, but not what it's like to not be us or what it's like to work with us or how we could position us for something be better. Now, how do people find you if they were interested in either of the, the areas that you serve?

Megan 54:47

Um. Yeah. So if you're, either, in a position looking for recruiting assistance, um, Gecko Hospitality, is definitely in nationwide. We help all kinds of hospital, different hospitality companies find top talent. So Gecko hospitality.com is the main website. Um, and then from there, our corporate team gets you in touch with a, um, partner wherever industry you're at. if you're a candidate looking for a job, um, you can also reach out to geco hospitality.com if you're in the hospitality industry, look at all the jobs, um, and then again, apply through the website and go right to that partner that's working on those roles. On the other side, if you're looking for help, um, individually with. Career advancement, um, development, LinkedIn resume, just one-on-one, coaching, interviewing. Um, you can find me at megan@careerblueprintsolutions.com or my website is careerblueprintsolutions.com. And I have all my information there.

Caroline 55:51

Awesome. And then now from this vantage what would you say is authentic success for you in this chapter?

Megan 56:01

Um, authentic success for me is helping other people understand who they are, show them their best self, teach them how to manage the system. Um, and I think that comes from like truly understanding, you know, like. Who you are, who is your soul? What, what does, what does that make? What makes you happy? Because I think that there's so much of us, like, you know, whether it's recruiting or whether it's job searching or career development, we do a job because we've just gotten to a certain point in life and it's money, and it's this and it's that. And I really find that my, my true passion in calling these days is to kind of help people understand, like, if you're in a great position, you wanna grow, that's amazing. But if you're miserable, don't think that there's not a way out of that, right? Because it could be something that's still in the industry. Um. maybe not at all, right? To be able to be like, okay, so like, what, how, and, and that you're fixed in that because you're never gonna get a job, right? That holds the same kind of value if you do now that that's, that's just not true. Um, so I think helping people with that and, and watching them kind of flourish in that way is, is success for me these days.

Caroline 57:27

That's beautiful. Megan, thank you so, so very much for helping us understand more about your journey, your story, all the pivots. You know, we, we can see this clearly now, like things that are happening to people are actually happening for people and I think you and I are both examples of turning those things and into a beauty that can continue to impact lives and, and make the world better. So thank you for your story, for the work that you do, and I'm just so grateful that we had this conversation.

Megan 58:00

Yes. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I, I had had so much fun participating in sharing my story.

Speaker 2 58:07

Thanks for listening to Your Next Success with Dr. Caroline Sangal. Remember, authentic success is yours to define and includes aligning your career to support the life you want.