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Brett Trainor Unplugged

Brett Trainor

Brett Trainor Unplugged is for Gen Xers who want to get one step closer to living the life they want—on their terms.After six years of building life beyond the default corporate playbook, thousands of conversations with Gen Xers, entrepreneurs, and experts, and features in Fortune, Fast Company, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and Inc., Brett Trainor is still on the quest to build his ideal life—and he shares what he learns along the way.Part personal journal, part practical guide, and part curious conversation, this is a candid, lightly produced show about stripping away the noise, rejecting unnecessary grind, and seeing more of what is possible.Brett is a deconstructor, explorer, dot connector, and self-admitted high-functioning lazy person. Through solo episodes and unfiltered conversations with Gen Xers, founders, creators, and experts, he explores the decisions, habits, tools, tradeoffs, and ideas that can help you build a life you actually want to live.The conversations

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Episodes

355 episodes

  1. How to Quit Corporate Without Blowing Up Your Finances, with Tania P. Brown 48:58
  2. Laid Off Tomorrow? Here’s Exactly What I’d Do 35:31
  3. Why I'm an Unapologetic Optimist About Gen X 21:09
  4. Jim Barke: His First 2 Years Going Solo, Unfiltered & Honest 47:04
  5. You Don't Need to Replace Your Salary. You Need to Fund Your Life- Here’s How 29:42
  6. Hana Kim: I Left 3 Months Before My Pension Vested 41:59
  7. Janet Tanguay: Spitballs, Sweater Vests, & 4 Days in Banking 40:50
  8. Ten Years of Planning. Then He Quit in a Day 38:35
  9. Geoff Curtis: You're Not Burned Out, You're in Purgatory 50:06
  10. Megan Collier: You Don't Need Followers to Get Paid (UGC) 41:22
  11. Shelley McIntyre: Who Are You Without the Title? 42:13
  12. Myth Buster: Entrepreneurship Isn't for Everyone 18:31
  13. The Expert's Privilege: Wes Wheless on Leaving Corporate and Going Solo 49:07
  14. Gen X Has a Math Problem 18:33
  15. 9 Things I Learned in 6 Years Out of Corporate 20:35
  16. Brett Trainor Unplugged 8:15
  17. You Can Always Make More Money. You Can't Make More Time 25:42
  18. 15 Ways I've Made Money Since Leaving Corporate 31:03
  19. What Pro Athletes Know That Corporate Won't Tell You 22:07
  20. The Hardest Boss to Fire Is You (with Diana Alt) 45:23
  21. Sunrise, Not Sunset: Life After 50 Isn't the Wind-Down 22:39
  22. The REAL Connection System (How Solo Escapees Actually Build a Pipeline) w/Janice Porter 39:51
  23. Your Age Is the Asset (UGC, AI, and the GenX Advantage) w/Megan Collier 42:29
  24. 8 Service Offerings GenX Escapee Could Offer Tomorrow 27:51
  25. No One Is Coming to Save You: The Mindset Shift That Works Whether You Escape or Stay 20:53
  26. What a Life First Future Actually Looks Like (& Why You Can't Build One You Can't See) 23:49
  27. Stop Waiting for Permission. Nobody is Coming to Give It to You 16:54
  28. 3 Surprising Ways GenXers Are Replacing Their Corporate Income 15:33
  29. When the Work Stops Lighting You Up: Leaving Corporate Before They Push You Out w/ Kristen Hamborg 34:09
  30. 2 Kids Under Two, Full Time Job, & She Still Built It. No Excuses! w/ Danielle Burken 34:03
  31. AI Doesn't Replace Escapees — It Supercharges Them 17:36
  32. 4 Real Paths to Replace Your Corporate Income (And Why Franchising Deserves a Second Look) 15:26
  33. Laid Off 4 Times: What the Job Hunt Won't Teach You About Getting Back Up" (ft. Steve Jaffe) 31:47
  34. I'm My Own Worst Enemy (And You Probably Are Too) 20:45
  35. The Truth About Fractional: Rates, Retainers, and Getting Your First Client (John Arms) 45:35
  36. Breaking Corporate Dependency: Why Going Solo Alone Keeps You Stuck w/Brett Trainor 17:23
  37. Corporate Is Changing — 3 Trends Creating New Opportunities for Escapees in 2026 20:21
  38. Ashley Returns: Two Years Into the Escape — What Worked, What Didn’t, What’s Next 36:32
  39. Your Job Title Isn’t Your Identity: How to Tell a Bigger Story w/ Catherine Jelinek 28:37
  40. Special Episode: What Happens After Corporate Breaks (w/ John Arms) 58:23
  41. The Surprising Keys to Succeeding Outside of Corporate 13:42
  42. Sequence Over Strategy: How Escapees Actually Find Their Path w/ Michelle Warner 38:07
  43. The Zillow of Franchising: A Smarter Way to Leave Corporate w/ Alex Smereczniak 45:49
  44. “What Am I Doing Here?” — How Tom Mirabella Escaped Corporate at 30 54:29
  45. From $40K in Debt to $20K Months: The No-BS Path to Profit + Freedom w/Pia Silva 41:46
  46. Why Most Corporate Escapees Fail (And How to Avoid It) 18:02
  47. Why Podcasting Might Be the Smartest Side Door Out of Corporate w/Mark Hayward 37:18
  48. You Don’t Need to Quit to Escape: Build Your Exit on the Side w/ Sam Lee 39:52
  49. New Year-> New You: 7 Steps to Take Back Control From Corporate 24:55
  50. Keep It Small. Keep It All. (Live Workshop on Escapee Taxes + Business Setup) 40:31