Client Case Study

FROM JACK OF ALL TRADES TO BUILT ON HER TERMS.

Emily Markanich lost more in a single year than most careers ever ask anyone to carry. She rebuilt a portfolio career of fractional, consulting, and coaching work, and never once applied to a posted job.

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The Challenge

A year of compounding loss, grief, job loss, and a master's degree left Emily feeling like a generalist who could fit into anything but wanted nothing in particular, while juggling short-term cash flow against long-term direction.

The Shift

Emily named a caregiver pattern of self-abandonment carried from her personal life into her career, and started choosing alignment over scarcity, even stepping away from a role mid-engagement.

The Outcome

A client who initially asked for five hours a week became her top client after Emily positioned beyond the ask, sourced entirely through relationships and never posted publicly.

Olivia Gamber

A Note From The Founder

Olivia Gamber, CEO

When Emily first came to Career Evolved, she was not stuck at a glass ceiling and she was not fresh out of school hunting for her first job. She was in the third category we see, the hardest one to name from the outside: I don't know what I want, but I know I need to pivot, and I need to figure that out while also making rent.

She had just come through a year that would flatten most people. She lost her mother. She lost her job. She gained a fiance and a master's degree, and grief and celebration were tangled together in the same months. She told me she watched the jack of all trades video on our site and saw herself completely, someone who could slot into any role and do it well, but who had no idea what she actually wanted in the world.

What I watched over the next year was not a job search. It was Emily identifying a pattern underneath the pattern, a caregiver identity she had carried from caring for her mother straight into caring for every company she worked for, always making sure they won while she disappeared. Once she named that, everything she built afterward looked different. This is her story.

A Year of Loss, A Life Without Direction

Olivia Gamber

And I can't believe it's been almost a year since we first connected with Career Evolved. So tell me, where were you at when you came to Career Evolved? And what was your situation?

Emily

Well girl, I went through a year of loss. I went through a lot of loss in 2024. Between my mom and losing my mom, I gained my master's. My fiance lost his grandmother. I gained a fiance. We got engaged and I lost my job. And so I was in this world of grief, this world of pain, and this world of I don't know what the heck I want.

I remember watching the video on your website about the jack of all trades. And I was like, yep, there I am. I can fit into anything you put me in and I can get the job done and get it done well. But what the heck do I want in the world?

...I was constantly juggling these two games of long-term career aspiration and short-term, I need to pay the bills. I need to make money. I need to gain cash flow.

“I remember watching the video on your website about the jack of all trades. And I was like, yep, there I am. I can fit into anything you put me in and I can get the job done and get it done well. But what the heck do I want in the world?”

Naming the Caregiver Pattern

Emily

So we talked a lot about energy levels, you and I, in our calls and our sessions. You're like, you're stuck at caregiver is all about the other person winning. How do I help you win? You're stuck at caregiver. And it makes sense. I was a caregiver to my mother for a while. And then I was a caregiver, frankly, to my previous companies. It was a lot about making sure they succeed and totally self-abandoning and forgetting about myself.

And so there's this new era of shifting out of caregiver and into being a cup overflowing.

“You're stuck at caregiver is all about the other person winning... I was a caregiver, frankly, to my previous companies. It was a lot about making sure they succeed and totally self-abandoning and forgetting about myself.”

Emily

So the fractional chief of staff role, I went in and worked it and had a great time, but at the end of the day, assessed and said, this aligns in this way, but it doesn't align in these other ways. So I'm going to step away. And then they shift into becoming a consulting client of mine and that worked out better for everyone involved.

That was me really shifting out of caregiver and into opportunist visionary creator. Because I was like, here are the ways this is a great opportunity, and here are the ways where this doesn't align. So I'm actually going to choose me in this very unconventional way. And since doing that, so much has blossomed.

“So I'm actually going to choose me in this very unconventional way. And since doing that, so much has blossomed.”

A Portfolio Built Without a Single Job Posting

Olivia Gamber

For you, you're literally not coming in just looking at job boards and job postings. You're looking at problems and positioning solutions as a consultant. And that's how we train our clients at Career Evolved to market themselves. So I think your mindset has absolutely allowed you to create opportunities that were not on a job board, right? None of these were posted.

Emily

No, none of the clients that I've gathered ever posted any of these jobs. That's so true. I hadn't put that connection in, but that's so true. It was just connection and networking and talking.

“None of the clients that I've gathered ever posted any of these jobs. It was just connection and networking and talking.”

Emily

My initial connection with my current client, they were looking for about five hours a week, give or take, they weren't looking for much. And I was like, yeah, I can do that. And then I looked at their website and I was like, oh, hold on, this really aligns with my values, my vision, my brand, my career...

I was straight up. I was like, hey, I can do what you're asking for very easily. We're really aligned. There's more I can do. And here's what that looks like. Let's keep talking. And they came back and they were like, yeah, we want more of you. And they became my top client.

“I can do what you're asking for very easily. We're really aligned. There's more I can do. And here's what that looks like. Let's keep talking. And they came back and they were like, yeah, we want more of you. And they became my top client.”

Ready to Stop Applying?

Emily built a portfolio career without posting a resume or scrolling a job board. If you are ready to stop competing for postings and start building relationships that turn into opportunities, let's talk.

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Read the full transcript

Olivia: tell me like, where were you at when you came to Career Evolved? And what was your situation? What were you dealing with with the career?

Emily: I went through a year of loss. I went through a lot of loss in 2020. What was that? Four. Yeah. Between my mom and losing my mom, I gained my master's. My fiance lost his grandmother. I gained a fiance. We got engaged and I lost my job. And

[Question shown on screen]: So tell me, like, where were you at when you came to Career Evolved and what was your situation? What were you dealing with the career?

Emily: know what the heck I want. I know I can do a lot of things. Like I remember watching the video on your website about the jack of all trades. And I was like, yep, there I am. I can fit into anything you put me in and I can get the job done and get it done well. But what the heck do I want in the world? And you know, you and I were talking and there's kind of three types of people that come into CE, right? It's either I'm in the job hunt for the first time and holy cow, oh, it's hard. What do I do? Or I've hit this glass ceiling in my career? How do I up level to the next level? Or it's, I don't know what I want, but I know I need to pivot into something and what the heck is

Olivia: Can you share a little bit about that and how you're thinking about it?

Emily: like, you're stuck at caregiver is all about the other person winning. How do I help you win? You're stuck at caregiver. And it makes sense. I was a caregiver to my mother for a while. And then I was a caregiver, frankly, to, to my previous companies. It

Emily: so it's been a lot of shift from looking out externally and scrambling to meet whatever is needed to being more grounded internally and being more guided by what aligns with me and my values and my brand.

[Question shown on screen]: Can you share a little bit about that and how you're thinking about it?

Emily: there's this new era of shifting out of caregiver and into being a cup overflowing,

Olivia: like with this risk that it's, it's kind of works both ways, right? You're getting to try them before you fully commit. And in a way it's getting you to be even more selective, right?

Emily: So I'm going to step away. And then they shift into becoming a consulting client of mine and that worked out better for everyone involved, but it gave me that opportunity for discernment and for them, they, they really wanted me. And I appreciated that ego boost of being wanted, but that, that was me really shifting out of caregiver and into opportunist visionary creator.

Emily: know, I secured a client through that client, through a connection in the fractional chief of staff role. I secured the client I currently have. That is a pretty significant client and will likely be a long-term friend. In addition to having you at NCE as a client and ideally a long-term client and a friend.

Olivia: were not on a job board, right? None of these were posted.

Emily: none of the stuff, none of the, the clients that I've gathered ever posted any of these jobs. That's

Olivia: how are you approaching this strategically? Obviously we're using the career bulb method, but can you shed light on like how that shifted things for you?

Emily: so I do my best to put myself out there to, to utilize my network to say, Hey, do you know, so-and-so I'd really, I'm really aligned with what they've got going on. Could you introduce us or just people in my network saying like, Hey, I've got somebody you're super aligned. Bing meet here without me even initiating. That's what happened with my, my current client. It was initiated by my friend thinking of me and saying, Oh, Emily would be great for this.

Emily: And so I'm actually going to, to choose me in this very unconventional way.

Olivia: what you're seeing, right? And as they commit to that identity transformation, it then kind of takes care of itself, right?

Emily: When they're committing to themselves, they're committing to redefining their sense of worth being not just based on their job and the market and their paycheck.

Olivia: can build from here. Where is your mindset now, as you're doing these connections, how are you thinking about it now?

Emily: And I'm not coming into these connections from a hungry place. I'm not coming into these connections from a place of needing something from them. I'm coming in with an open mind and curiosity and humility and, um, a place of,

Olivia: aware guys, like this is a different world right now, right? If you're not in the job market right now, I mean, Emily, you know, you live and breathe this stuff, right? Like it's different. It's just different right now.

Emily: and this is what I love about one, starting off with CE as a student and now, you know, having CE as a client and being the mindset coach because mindset, CE focuses on mindset and that is so core.