Melanie had every reason to stay: the title, the paycheck, the 401(k) she’d be walking away from as a single woman with no one to fall back on. Then a mentor asked her one question that made all of that beside the point — how many women are you NOT reaching by playing it safe?
ABOUT THE GUEST:
Melanie Kiss spent nearly 30 years in healthcare before founding Chicas Abroad, a women’s adventure travel company she built on the side and didn’t go full-time on until 48. Now the author of two books — a practical travel guide and a reinvention memoir, When the Compass Shifts — she walks through the thoughtful, strategic five-year transition: the money math, the mentor question that reframed everything, and the dream she’d buried since she was 16.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
- [03:31] Why she launched an adventure travel company in the middle of COVID, when no one was traveling
- [10:25] The single question from her mentor that flipped her from “I can’t afford to leave” to going all in
- [29:30] Why she wroteWhen the Compass Shifts— a reinvention memoir with reflection questions for women rethinking their next chapter
- [34:26] How she found her direction by noticing where her mind wandered — a dream she’d had since 15
- [41:26] Which corporate skills transferred straight into entrepreneurship — and the practical pieces (pricing, profit, contractors) she had to learn from scratch
- [51:07] Her mantra: get out of your comfort zone — and why she holds her clients to it too
GUEST LINKS: Chicas Abroad
Website: https://www.chicasabroad.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chicas_abroad/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chicasabroad
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chicas-abroad/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniekiss/
Podcast: Chicas Chat
Book — Adventure More, Worry Less: https://amzn.to/4acOCef
Book — When the Compass Shifts: https://amzn.to/3SlkvLr
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RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: https://a.co/d/09E1ps0J
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