You did everything you were supposed to do. The grades, the degree, the title, the raise. And you still pull into the parking lot some mornings with a knot in your stomach. I Hate My Job! Now What? is the podcast for high-achieving women who did everything right and still feel like something's off. Every episode, I get honest about what's going on, help you name what you actually want, then figure out how to go build it. A bold pivot, a role that doesn't exist yet, or a business of your own. I'm Sarah Decker. I blew up the script to build work I love, and now I help other women do the same.
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How to Find Your Niche as a Service Provider: Know Your Strengths, Know What Clients Need, Say No to the Rest
Saison 2 · Épisode 3
jeudi 8 octobre 2026 • Durée 18:16
Sarah opens in September 2020, mid-pandemic. Fresh mascara, a brand-new ring light, and real nerves before a sales call. A few minutes in, the man on the other end explains he expects her to connect him with a list of employers ready to hire. She’s a coach. Not a headhunter. That call taught her to get very clear about what her business does and doesn’t do. Six years later, three of her business-coaching clients brought her the same question in one week: should I be offering this?
From there she walks through a simple framework for deciding what belongs in your service business, why saying no is so hard when you spent years playing by someone else’s rules, and why you’re allowed to keep changing your answers.
If a client keeps asking for something that isn’t yours to give, this one is for you.
WHAT YOU’LL TAKE AWAY
Why Sarah still offers a free 30-minute consultation, and who it protects
Why she won’t write your resume for you, and what that has to do with your next interview
The two questions every service business starts with: what are your superpowers, and what does the market need and pay for
Why the work you keep avoiding is useful information
How to spot scope creep, from bending over backwards for a sale to problem-solving for clients when it isn’t your job
Why your business is allowed to change as you do
IN THIS EPISODE
00:44 September 2020: a ring light, a sales call, and “I’m not a headhunter” 03:09 What that call taught me about my business 03:54 Why I still offer free 30-minute consultations 04:29 “Can I just send you my stuff?” Why we do your resume together 06:18 Three clients, one question: should I be offering this? 06:53 The parent coach and the scope of the work 07:45 Why saying no is hard when you’ve always played the game 08:50 The parts of entrepreneurship I don’t love 09:37 Step 1: Know your superpowers (and the work you avoid) 11:44 Step 2: Know what the market needs and will pay for 12:36 Your energy doesn’t lie 13:42 Road bumps: contorting yourself and solving problems that aren’t yours 16:33 We let kids reinvent themselves. Why stop at 22? 18:04 The life events that change us, at home and at work 19:54 My business keeps changing with me 20:23 Let’s talk
YOUR REFLECTION QUESTIONS
These look simple on paper. They aren’t. Give yourself real time with them, and let your answers be different than they were five years ago.
What are you uniquely good at? What comes easily to you?
What work do you keep avoiding, even though you’re good at it?
What do your clients know they need, and what do you know they need?
Where are you saying yes right now to something that isn’t yours to do?
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
A free 30-minute consultation with Sarah, to see if you’re a good fit: sarahdecker.com
Google Drive, where Sarah and her clients work on resumes, business plans, and websites together
Episode 2, How to Know It’s Time to Quit Your Job and Start a Business, if you’re still deciding whether to build your own thing
WORK WITH SARAH
If you’re building a business and can’t tell where the line is, I’d love to chat. Whether you want to get unstuck or build something of your own, you don’t have to do it alone.
Work with Sarah and see all the ways to get support at sarahdecker.com.
Follow along on Instagram @sarah.decker.coaching.
If this episode found you at the right time, share it with someone who needs it.
New here? Start with Episode 1, then follow the show so you don’t miss what’s coming. And if you’ve got a second, leaving a review helps another woman find her way in.
How to Know It’s Time to Quit Your Job and Start a Business: 4 Signs
Saison 2 · Épisode 2
jeudi 24 septembre 2026 • Durée 20:28
Nobody can promise you it’s going to work. Anyone who says they can is lying to you. But there are ways to know when an idea is ready for you to act on.
Sarah opens with hot coffee, a rare good night’s sleep, and a nod to everyone else who’s been awake from 3 to 5 a.m. lately. Then she goes back to the other kind of sleepless nights: the ones before her two biggest career leaps. Sixty-hour weeks for $45,000 a year in the career she got a master’s degree for. A trapeze hanging in the middle of the living room during the pandemic, and the phone call that became her first coaching client. From there she walks through the four signs she uses, for herself and her clients, to tell 3 a.m. worry from an idea that’s actually worth the leap.
The four signs:When you’re thinking about the idea (3 a.m. or on a walk)
Opportunities are showing up without a fight
Your energy
Your strengths are at the center of it
If there’s an idea that won’t leave you alone, this one is foryou.
WHAT YOU’LL TAKE AWAY
● Why the thinking you do at 3 a.m. is rarelythe thinking you should trust, and how to find the place where you can
● How to tell when doors are opening for an ideainstead of being pried open
● Where your first clients actually come from(hint: not strangers on the internet)
● What your energy is telling you, even if youdon’t want to start a business
● Why the best version of your idea puts yourstrengths at the center, not your hustle
● The one next step Sarah wants you to take withan idea that won’t go away
IN THIS EPISODE
00:37 Hot coffee, a goodnight’s sleep, and the 3 a.m. club
September Is the Real New Year: How to Reset a Job You Don't Love
Saison 2 · Épisode 1
jeudi 10 septembre 2026 • Durée 22:02
When "Back to Normal" Feels Bad: Your September Reset
January gets all the credit. But if you did everything right and still feel like something is off, your year doesn’t turn in January. It turns right now.
In the Season 2 premiere, Sarah opens with the morning after Labor Day that started out perfect and fell apart by ten. Kids off to school, coffee still hot, the fresh to-do list finally open. Then the phone lit up with the school nurse. From there she makes the case for September as your real new year, digs into why “back to normal” is the hard part when the normal you’re returning to is a job you don’t love, and tells the honest story behind why she rebuilt herwhole business this summer.
If going back to your regular life feels like too much right now, this one is for you.
WHAT YOU’LL TAKE AWAY
● Why September, not January, isthe real new year, especially for women who did everything right
● How to tell the differencebetween a rough week and a real sign it’s time to go
● How to grieve the end of summerand reset at the same time
● What “I don’t even know what I’ddo” is usually hiding
● The story behind Sarah’s ownreset: a new website, new photos, and two clear ways to work together
IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 The morning after Labor Day, and I wasnailing it
02:24 Then the phone lights up. It’s the schoolnurse.
04:13 Why September, not January, is the realnew year
06:28 The version of me that used to dread thefall
What the reset is stirring up for myclients right now
Burnout at Work: Why You Don’t Need to Work Harder to Matter More
Saison 1 · Épisode 7
vendredi 27 février 2026 • Durée 20:44
Burnout at work is affecting more professionals than ever, especially Gen Z and millennials who care deeply about their jobs but feel constantly overwhelmed and exhausted. In this episode of I Hate My Job! Now What?, Sarah explains why burnout isn’t a motivation problem and why working harderwon’t make you more valuable.
Instead, she challenges the culture of urgency, overwork, and constant responsiveness, and invites you to shift from measuring success by volume to measuring it by impact. Through real client patterns, research, and career stories, Sarah explores how burnout often shows up when capable people areoperating below their strategic level.
If you’re burned out, frustrated, or stuck in a cycle of doing more but feeling less effective, this episode offers a calmer, more sustainable way to think about work—and practical reflection questions to help you work differently.
Reflection Questions:
Is this a moment for full effort—or is good enough actually appropriate here? Before I say yes, what problem am I really being asked to solve?Who else should be involved to increase the impact of this work?If I’m irritated by this task, is it a signal that I need to reframe how I’m approaching it?
Checking In on Your Relationship With Your Career- A Quiz!
Saison 1 · Épisode 6
jeudi 12 février 2026 • Durée 18:10
What if you evaluated your career the same way you evaluate your relationships?
In this Valentine’s-themed episode, I invite you to take a simple four-question “quiz” to check in on your relationship with your work. We explore four common career patterns—including outgrowing a role, working in an unbalanced dynamic, going through the motions, and the on-again, off-again relationship so many people recognize.
This isn’t a “quit your job” episode—it’s an honest, compassionate check-in designed to help you notice patterns, feel less alone, and reflect on what you want next, at your own pace.
Quiz:1. How stretched do I feel in my current role — intellectually, creatively, or professionally?
2. How trusted do I feel where I work?
3. How energized do I feel by my work most days?
4. How often does the question, ‘Is this still right?’ come up for me?
If I Were Your Career Coach: 5 Things to Focus on for the Rest of 2025
Saison 1 · Épisode 5
jeudi 11 décembre 2025 • Durée 20:39
Feeling pulled in a million directions as the year ends? In this episode, Sarah invites you into the passenger seat of her SUV for five grounding, deeply human reminders that will help you release what’s draining you, honor what you truly need, and walk into 2026 with more clarity, peace, and self-trust.
Reflection Prompts:
What do you not want to do anymore — and how do you know?
What feels forced in your life right now?
What makes your body tighten, hold its breath, or feel drained?
Where in your life are you tolerating something that has already ended?
What are you carrying out of habit that you no longer want to bring into the new year?
Where can you choose meaning over obligation this season?
In this episode, career coach and hiring manager Sarah Decker opens the lid on what really happens when someone scrolls your resume over lunch — and what moves you into the yes, no, or maybe pile.
00:00 A Day in the Life: Balancing Work and Family
02:52 The Importance of a Strong Resume
06:00 Sorting Resumes: Yes, No, and Maybe Piles
09:06 Crafting the Perfect Resume: Key Elements
11:55 Navigating Job Applications: Strategies for Success
15:07 Understanding ATS: Making Your Resume Stand Out
When Chaos Becomes a Calling: The Story Behind Advance Professional Coaching
Saison 1 · Épisode 1
vendredi 21 novembre 2025 • Durée 17:53
In this episode, I share the very real, very messy story of how my coaching business was born in the middle of early-pandemic chaos. It’s a reminder that sometimes your calling arrives in the most overwhelming seasons of your life.
Reflection Prompts:
1. Where are you feeling a spark or pull... even in the middle of your fully, messy life?
2. Who has already reflected a skill, talent, or gift back to you that you're not using yet?
3. What is one tiny step toward a shift you could take without blowing up your whole life?
In this episode, career coach Sarah Decker shares thetrue story of her own “I hate my job” moment, the quiet breaking point that changed everything, and what it really looks like to outgrow a job and start over.
Reflection Prompts
1. What did you first whisper, "I hate my job" (even quietly to yourself)?
2. What might that feeling be trying to tell you?
3. If it's not failure, what might it be opening space for?
“I Hate My Job.” The Conversation We’re All Having (But Never Out Loud)
Saison 1 · Épisode 1
jeudi 13 novembre 2025 • Durée 17:35
Ever whispered “I hate my job” to your work bestie? You’re not alone. In this first episode, career coach Sarah Decker gets real about the conversations we all have behind closed doors, why so many of us feel stuck at work, and how to start finding your way back to what lights you up.
Reflection Prompts:
1. What’s the real thing I want to say about my job right now, not the polished version, the real one?
2. Where do I feel an itch for more, more energy, more alignment, more meaning?
3. If I stopped trying to follow the “right” path and instead followed my gifts… what might open up?
Learn more about coaching and support at sarahdecker.com
Share this episode with your work bestie 💛
Chapters:
00:00 The Role of Relationships in Career Transitions
03:51 Creating a Safe Space for Honest Conversations
04:15 Understanding Job Market Trends
06:12 Embracing Career Evolution and Growth
10:07 Identifying Your Unique Gifts and Passions
13:41 Overcoming Career Change Fears and Misconceptions
14:18 Reflection Prompts for Career Clarity
01:42 Leap #1: sixty-hourweeks, $45K, and the Sunday scaries
02:46 Leap #2: a trapeze inthe living room and my first coaching client
03:31 “How do I know it’sgoing to work?” The honest answer
04:39 Sign 1: When you’rethinking about it (3 a.m. vs. the walk)
07:06 Sign 2: Theopportunities start showing up
08:09 Where my firstcoaching clients really came from
09:22 Sign 3: Your energywill tell you everything
11:31 Not starting abusiness? The job-description test
12:39 Sign 4: Yourstrengths are at the center
16:03 Your next step: givethe idea a real appointment
17:35 The cost of staying
19:07 Let’s talk
YOUR REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Walk yourself through these, ideally on a walk. Then take your answers to someone who’ll ask you the harder questions.
1. When do your best ideas actually show up? When did you last go there on purpose?
2. Where are doors opening for you right now without a fight?
3. What do you keep going down the rabbit hole on, even when nobody asked you to?
4. If this idea were built around your strengths, what would youstop doing first?
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
● Voxer, where a lot of Sarah’s best thinkinghappens with colleagues, her coach, and friends
● Sexton Test Prep & Tutoring, the tutoringcompany Sarah co-owns and went all in on after her first leap
● Episode 1, September Is the Real New Year, ifthe Sunday scaries part hit home
● A no-commitment chat with Sarah about the ideathat won’t leave you alone: DM her on Instagram or visit sarahdecker.com
WORK WITH SARAH
If there’s an idea that won’t leave you alone, it deserves at least half an hour. I’d love to hear about it. Whether you want to get unstuck or build something of your own, you don’t have to do it alone.
Work with Sarah and see all the ways to get support at sarahdecker.com.
If this episode found you at the right time, share it with someone who needs it.
New here? Start with Episode 1, then follow the show so youdon’t miss what’s coming. And if you’ve got a second, leaving a review helps another woman find her way in.
08:47
10:59 When “back to normal” is the whole problem
13:15 Signs it’s the job, not just a rough week
15:02 Grieving summer and rebuilding my businessat the same time
17:21 The coaching question that stopped mecold: “you’re a business coach”
18:53 The relaunch, three reflection questions,and your permission slip
YOUR REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Grab a pen, or just sit with these. My clients say I ask the hardest questions. Good. That’s what you pay me for.
1. If September is your real new year, what do you want it to be about?
2. What did you outgrow this summer, even if you haven’t said it out loud yet?
3. What would you change if you believed you were allowed to?
LINES WORTH SHARING
“September, not January, is the real new year.”
“When going back to your regular life feels like toomuch, that’s information.”
“I don’t even know what I’d do” usually means “I knowexactly what I want, and I’m scared to say it.”
“You can have a good job and still want a differentlife.”
“You’re allowed to want more. And you’re allowed to gobuild it.”
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
● Sarah’s newly redesignedwebsite, with new brand photos and every word rewritten: sarahdecker.com
● Two ways to work with Sarah now:get unstuck, or build your own thing
● Yesteryear, this week’s bookclub read. Lots of people hated it. Sarah didn’t. Let her know what youthought.
● Looking for a headshot photographerin the Metro West area? Sarah loves Diana and is happy to pass along her info. Just DM her.
WORK WITH SARAH
If any of this sounds like your life right now, I’d be honored to talk with you.Whether you want to get unstuck or build something of your own, you don’t have to do it alone.
Work with Sarah and see all the ways to get support at sarahdecker.com.
If this episode found you at the right time, share it with someone who needs it.
New here? Start with this one, then follow the show so you don’t miss what’s coming. And if you’ve got a second, leaving a review helps another woman find her way in.
06:50 The Toxicity of Performative Busyness
09:22 The Importance of Relationships in Career Success
15:00 Shifting from Effort to Impact
18:12 The Power of Language: Framing Your Experience
21:04 Encouragement for Women: Apply for the Job
23:55 Creating Your Master Resume: A Living Document
