A proactive approach to safeguard your job to prevent a layoff, switch careers, or even navigate a tough job market more easily while finding flexibility for real work-life balance.

This episode is Part II of a two-part series inspired by concerns about return-to-work mandates, low morale, looming layoff rumors, or worse, actual layoffs by my Ladies of Brilliance tribe, our Work Muse community, and clients. In Episode 19, I share my best advice for how to keep your goals on track, despite a less-than-supportive environment. 

In this episode, I dive deep into three specific innovative strategies to prevent being laid off or to navigate a tricky job search in a tough job market while building in your flexibility with job sharing. You might even find yourself amazed by how job sharing could simplify this whole tricky job time.

Links Mentioned:

• FREE Guide: The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing: The Step-by-Step Blueprint to Creating a Successful Job Share
• Ep 19: How to Handle Work Instability to Keep Your Career Goals on Track
• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work
• Work Muse LinkedIn
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/68
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

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Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Best of the Best: A 10+ year job share SuperTeam dish their best advice for women interested in job sharing.

They thought about it for years—corporate turned entrepreneurial job share team Gabriela Mercado and Gabriela Proctor open up about how they persisted for their job share's approval and what they'd do differently today, so you don't have to. 

You might be surprised to learn how job sharing can positively impact your career and income. Tapping into one another's strengths gave the duo the "perfect formula" for career success so much so that, unbelievably, the minute GX2 (their job share nickname)  began job sharing, not only did they make more income than working full-time, but the job itself became a fun adventure.  

In episode 67, GX2 shares how they took their job share from the corporate world into their entrepreneurial journey. The duo expands upon how job sharing impacted their household labor and Mental Load while allowing them to lean into the parts of parenting they enjoyed most but were previously unable to do, like volunteering for field trips once they found themselves able to "move through both worlds fully and more intentionally."

GX2's message to you: Educate yourself, create a plan to job share, but don't wait—instead, go for it.

Links mentioned:

• Work Muse Job Share Project Case Study Videos

Episode Website: workmuse.com/67
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Is Giving Up Control Holding You Back from Job Sharing? This Mindset Shift Changes Everything

If you’ve ever said, “I love the idea of job sharing... but I don’t think I could give up control,” this episode was made for you.

One of the biggest fears I hear from my high-achieving, big-hearted clients is the worry that they won’t be able to let go enough to be a good job share partner. The truth? That fear doesn’t disqualify you. It’s actually a sign you’d be great at it.

In this episode, we’re flipping the script on control and turning it into your job share superpower—with help from Mel Robbins’ Let Them Theory. I’m sharing what I learned from my own journey of letting go (especially in my second job share when it didn’t come easily), and how my biggest fear turned into my greatest growth.

You’ll also hear a powerful story from job sharers Amber and Kimberly about how their own letting go moment deepened their trust and teamwork.

So whether you’re feeling skeptical or just need a little permission to loosen your grip, today’s episode is your invitation to breathe, trust, and discover the freedom job sharing can bring.

Here’s What You’ll Learn:

• Why “control freak” energy isn’t a dealbreaker—it’s a strength in disguise
• How to use The Let Them Theory to reframe your job share fears
• My personal story of control, fear, and finally letting go
• A case study from real job sharers who’ve been there too
• 3 mindset shifts that will help you trust more and stress less

Links Mentioned:

• The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
• Sign up for Job Share Academy Waitlist  ✅
• Grab The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing  ✅
• Join Work Muse Facebook Community: Job Share Live Life + Slay Work ✅
• DM me on LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/66
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

This powerful visualization exercise will help you envision what it's like to work in a job share in under 15 minutes.

There are several barriers to job sharing that those interested in sharing roles need to overcome, but the hardest barrier to overcome might be you. It takes people a while to wrap their heads around job sharing. After all, there are two people, meaning two personalities bringing two sets of ideas into one full-time position. They're sharing their income, profession, and personal lives, even. It can seem brilliant but tricky to pull off successfully until you've experienced job sharing firsthand.

So before you come across any outside obstacles or barriers to creating your job share, I need you to make sure you are not standing in your way. Visualizing the day-to-day life of one week as a job sharer with this powerful exercise will enable you to slip into the job share mindset and embrace what it's like to job share in less than 15 minutes.

Links mentioned:

• FREE Guided Audio Visualization Exercise (to accompany Episode 65)
• Work Muse Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Group

Episode Website: workmuse.com/65
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Finance leader Liz Stapleton Zerella's moxie landed her a rare senior job share arrangement at Clorox with partner Michelle Shalauta.

What the duo did next is remarkable. If you're wondering if job sharing will negatively impact your career progression, not only does research prove the opposite—According to The Job Share Project, over 70% of job share teams who apply are promoted together—but Liz and her job share partner Michelle successfully navigated a nine-year partnership in four roles while also winning promotion as a job share. As if that weren't impressive enough, they worked in a predominantly male division of Clorox in finance where job sharing was unheard of. 

So friend, take that to heart. Both are possible for you too. 🫶

We had this phone meeting before this podcast was even a thing, and I think you'll find our conversation unique and special—like being a fly on the wall for two former job sharers who’ve finally connected as part of a secret society of job sharers to dish on what it was really like. I hope you enjoy it! 

Links mentioned:

• Fast Company article: Is Job Sharing the Solution to Our Flexible Work Problems?

Episode Website: workmuse.com/64
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

It's 2026, and women are STILL making less than men. Women’s Equal Pay Day marks how far into the year women must work to catch up to what men earned last year. And in 2026? The numbers really don’t add up. 

In fact, the U.S. has taken a MAJOR leap backwards in 2026 for gender pay equity—from women earning just 83¢ in 2025 to just 81¢ in 2026 for every dollar that a white non-Hispanic male makes. 🤯

The gender pay gap has barely budged, despite decades of advocacy. Why is this STILL happening? And more importantly, what actually works to close the gap?

In this episode, we dive into:

✔ The Equal Pay Day stats—how far women have come and where we’re still stuck.
✔ Why the pay gap isn’t just about salary—and how caregiving, career breaks, and job types widen the divide.
✔ The truth about workplace flexibility and pay equity—are women penalized for remote and flexible work?
✔ How job sharing creates pay equity and career advancement opportunities for women.
 ✔ What YOU can do to advocate for yourself and push for real change in the workplace.

Why This Episode Matters Now

Women have fought hard for equal pay, but progress has been painfully slow. With new challenges like AI-driven hiring biases and workplace flexibility backlash, and the first year of the Trump presidency pushing the TradWife Movement and culture shifts encouraging women to return to the 1950s—we need solutions that move the needle. 

Whether you're negotiating your salary, re-entering the workforce, or advocating for systemic change, this episode gives you the tools to take action.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• 👉  AAUW Equal Pay Day Calendar 
• 👉 How the Working Mom Exodus of 2025 (450K in the first 7 months of 2025!) could be a contributor to women losing 2 cents more per dollar in 2026. Catch up: Ep 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58.
• 👉 Episode 62: International Women's Day: What Google's Calendar Omission Means for Equality
• 👉 Explore job sharing: workmuse.com/guide 

Read the full transcript & show notes: workmuse.com/63

**Update: The most troubling pay disparities by ethnicity:

• Black women:  Fell from earning 67 cents in 2025 to earning 66 cents for every dollar a white non-Hispanic man makes in 2026.
• White women: Fell from earning 80 cents in 2025 to earning 77 cents for every dollar a white non-Hispanic man makes in 2026.

Share This Episode!

If you’re tired of waiting for change, send this episode to a friend, colleague, or boss. 

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Why Did Google Erase International Women's Day? And Why DEI Matters More Than Ever.

Something happened on International Women’s Day that I can’t stop thinking about—and I bet you missed it too.

Google quietly erased International Women’s Day in 2025 from its calendar app. And it's STILL missing in 2026. Not just that, but they also removed other major cultural observances like Women’s History Month, Black History Month, Pride Month, and Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Coincidence? I don’t think so. It’s not just about a missing calendar event. This is happening at a time when Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are under attack, despite overwhelming research proving that diverse companies outperform their competitors.

If you care about gender equality, representation, and creating a future where all voices are valued, this conversation is for you.

Here Are 3 Key Takeaways From This Episode:

1️⃣ DEI is NOT just ‘good PR’—it’s a business advantage.
Companies with diverse leadership teams are 39% more likely to outperform their peers financially. Ignoring DEI isn’t just wrong—it’s bad business.

2️⃣ Representation matters more than ever.
Silencing historical and cultural observances is a deliberate act, one that signals to marginalized communities that their contributions don’t matter.

3️⃣ Women’s careers (and leadership opportunities) depend on work structures that support them.
Job sharing isn’t just about flexibility—it’s a career accelerator that allows women to balance work and life while moving into leadership roles.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

• Research: McKinsey & Company's "Diversity Matters Even More" Report (2023)
• Article: Google & Apple's Calendar Controversy (NY Post & Politifact)

More From Me:

• Want to explore job sharing? workmuse.com/guide
• Join Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work community for like-minded folks who value flexibility AND their careers
• Follow me on LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/62
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

To beat imposter syndrome and manifest your job share, you have to believe you can job share.

Once a skeptic, I've become a believer after leaning into manifestation during my most challenging season of life. You might be thinking, "Easy for you to say, Melissa. You're one of the lucky few who've job shared."  I know it may be easier said than done, but I also know there are more job sharers (past or present) out there than you think—probably even in your circle.

There's a dirty little secret that plagues nearly all job sharers, including me—it took us longer to job share than we would have liked. Much, much longer. Had we faced down our fears of the "right timing, the "right boss," or the "right job" sooner, we could have reaped job sharing's massive personal AND professional benefits sooner.

In Episode 61's Mindset Minisode, I distill two personal obstacles you need to understand about job sharing and a powerful 1-minute exercise to help you manifest your (fill in the blank—job share/promotion/new job/work-life goal/flex work practice). I also divulge the mantra I've adopted over the past year that keeps my imposter syndrome from ever rearing its ugly little head.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Work Muse Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Group

Episode Website: workmuse.com/61
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Don't have your workbook? 👉 Download it FREE: workmuse.com/bestself

You'll get the complete workbook with all 5 exercises plus a bonus, and gentle email guidance on your timeline. Pro Tip: Save both episodes 59 & 60 to work through at your own pace.

In Episode 60, you'll discover:

Day 4: James Clear Your Year—Habits That Stick

• "You fall to the level of your systems" - James Clear
• The 4 stages of habit formation: Cue, Craving, Response, Reward
• James Clear's 7 best tips + 2 personal mantras
• Real success stories:
  • How Mike became a runner: one mile he couldn't finish → 50K trail race
  • How I became vegetarian 14 years ago and why it stuck
• Identity shift: BE a reader, not "read more"
• Power of environment and community
• Your action: Identify 1-3 habits and build systems to support them

Day 5: Manifestation & Who You Want to BE

• The neuroscience of manifestation (Dr. James Doty)
• My manifestation story: from hardest season to incredible opportunities
• Oprah's wisdom: "You become what you believe"
• The 6 steps to manifest (get clear, ask, be flexible, do the work, release limiting beliefs, lean into joy)
• James Clear: "Every action is a vote for the type of person you want to be"
• Your action: Who do you want to BE? (Not what you want to do)

Day 6 BONUS: Ikigai & Job Sharing

• What is Ikigai? Japanese philosophy for finding purpose
• The 4 circles: What you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, what you can be paid for
• The Ikigai exercise: Find careers at the intersection
• What is job sharing? Partnership sharing one full-time role
• My story: Nearly a decade in 24/7 media
• 6 things job sharing gave me:
  1. Leave work at work (truly unplug)
  2. Goodbye to guilt
  3. SuperTeam results
  4. Organic boundaries
  5. Equality at home (most profound)
  6. Work BFF (#1 factor for work happiness)
• How job sharing might support your Ikigai
• Your action: Complete the Ikigai exercise, reflect on job sharing

You did it! You've reflected, let go, chosen your word, set goals, learned habit science, explored manifestation, decided who you want to BE, and discovered your Ikigai.

Most people never do this work. But you showed up.

Remember: You become what you believe. This year is yours. 💛

Resources:

• FREE Workbook
• Free Job Sharing Guide
• Facebook Community
• Connect on LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/60

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

What if you could approach the new year without all the pressure? In this episode, I'm sharing Part 1 of a gentle, science-backed approach to setting intentions that actually work.

Before you listen: 👉 Download your FREE New Year Reset workbook: workmuse.com/bestself

When you sign up, you'll get the complete workbook with all 5 exercises plus a bonus, and email guidance, with flexibility and on your timeline.

In Episode 59, you'll learn:

Day 1: What to Leave Behind

• A powerful camera roll exercise to reflect on the past year
• How to decide what no longer serves you (without judgment)
• How to identify the "rocks in your backpack" to release what's holding you back

Day 2: Choose Your Word of the Year

• Why one word is more powerful than multiple resolutions
• How to choose between words of reflection, change, or connection
• Real examples from my past Word of the Years and those who've joined our reset the past three years 💡

Day 3: Setting Achievable Goals

• The SMARTER framework that actually works
• Why most people fail (they forget the HOW)
• 5 goal-setting mistakes to avoid, and how to break goals into micro-actions

Why this matters: The past year has felt rough—from economic and political uncertainty, to AI disruption and job market challenges. When everything external feels chaotic, the most powerful thing you can do is center yourself internally.

Pro Tip: Save episodes 59 & 60 to work through all five exercises (and the bonus ✨) on your timeline.

Resources:

• FREE Workbook
• Facebook Community
• Connect on LinkedIn

Coming in Part 2: James Clear's habit method, manifestation science, and Ikigai for career purpose.

Episode Website: workmuse.com/59

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Add in ageism, the motherhood penalty, and AI screening resumes? People are hitting their heads against the wall in this brutal job market.

But what if you could bypass the nail-biting interviews altogether?

Here's job sharing's best-kept secret for career relaunches: Find your partner FIRST. Have them pitch you as a team. Get built-in mentorship as you upskill on the job—like an old-school apprenticeship.

Instead of explaining resume gaps and competing against uninterrupted work histories, you're partnering with someone already valued and trusted. You're offering a high-performing team, not asking for a chance.

In episode 58:

• Why relaunches are harder than ever (ageism + AI HR + motherhood penalty)
• The confidence crisis no one's talking about
• 👩🏽‍💻 5 strategic moves for mothers relaunching or transitioning careers
• 💡 The alternative path: Partner first, bypass interviews, upskill together
• Why this is my absolute favorite way to start job sharing 
• 🎉 Series wrap-up: Making sure you're not part of the exodus

Here's the genius: You're likely coming in for a final-round interview with your partner in the room. An all-star employee vouching for you. Faster upskilling than starting solo. A personal cheerleader and built-in mentor.

You're not starting at a disadvantage. Your success is their success.

This wraps our 7-part series. When we started: 212K women left in first 7 months of 2025. ❌ October BLS data: 450,000 have left. 😵 Understanding how to make sure you're not one of them is critical.

Featured Research:

• Fortune analysis on the mother's workforce exodus
• Mom Relaunch
• iRelaunch

Resources:

• FREE Guide to Job Sharing 👉 workmuse.com/guide ✅
• Transitioning or relaunching? 🤔 DM me on LinkedIn
• Join Work Muse Facebook Community

Nearly all job sharers create their own arrangements. You can too. Believe you can and put a plan into place.

2026, watch out! It's time to make all our dreams come true—yours and mine.🥂 🥳 

Episode Website: workmuse.com/58
Transcript: workmuse.com/58transcript

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

This one is deeply personal. My mom came into my care with Alzheimer's overnight during the 2021 snowpocalypse. Nearly five years in, and here's what I've learned: Without accessible eldercare support, your day can turn on a moment's notice. And it's a much harder, colder push than even the motherhood penalty.

Family caregivers provide 21.9 hours of care per week—a second job on top of your full-time job. Alzheimer's caregivers? We provide 1-4 years MORE care than other illnesses, often 5+ years.

There's a Rosalynn Carter quote I think about often: "There are only four kinds of people: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers."

This will touch all of us.

In episode 57:

• The sobering statistics (I check every box)
• Why federal support falls dramatically short
• What employers are doing—and what they're failing at
• 5 strategies sandwich generation caregivers are using to survive
• 💡 How job sharing lets dual caregivers keep Senior/Director/C-Suite jobs
• My truth: How job sharing skills saved me when diagnosis came

Here's what changed everything: You CAN keep your demanding career and care for aging parents—WITH a job share partner to hand over the baton so you can schedule appointments and handle care needs. Built-in flexibility without constant negotiating.

When we started this series: 212K women left. ❌ October data: 450,000. 😵 Eldercare is a significant part of this crisis.

Featured Research & Organizations that Support Caregivers:

• National Alliance for Caregiving statistics
• Hilarity for Charity
  Parenting Aging Parents
  Caring Across Generations

Resources:

• FREE Guide to Job Sharing 👉 workmuse.com/guide
• Sandwich generation ? 🤔 DM me on LinkedIn
• Join Work Muse Facebook Community

One gender is not more suited to provide care than another—it's about damn time we unsocialize that.

Episode Website: workmuse.com/57
Transcript: workmuse.com/57transcript

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

This isn't about capability—it's about the "maternal wall" bias that assumes mothers can't possibly be both good mothers and good employees.

What if there was a way to bypass this penalty entirely—to keep your demanding career, maintain your promotion trajectory, and still be present for your kids?

In this episode, I'm exposing why the motherhood penalty persists despite decades of progress—and sharing my personal story of how job sharing let me avoid it completely.

In episode 56:

• The real cost: $300,000+ in lifetime earnings lost
• Why the penalty hits hardest during crucial early career years
• The "ideal worker" model that was never built for mothers
• 👩🏽‍💻 3 things mothers can do to combat the penalty (document your value!)
• 📈 4 things employers must do (anti-bias training + salary transparency)
• 💡 How job sharing bypasses the penalty in 5 specific ways
• 💵 My personal story: How I kept my 24/7 media job without downshifting—and it ignited my career

Here's what most people don't understand: Job sharing isn't working part-time in a reduced role. It's restructuring a full-time position to fit your life. And 70%+ of job share teams are promoted together—often faster than solo workers.

Featured Research:

• TIME: "How to Address the Crisis for Working Moms"
• McKinsey Report: "Women in the Workplace"
• National Alliance for Caregiving

Resources:

• FREE Guide to Job Sharing 👉 workmuse.com/guide
• Facing the motherhood penalty? 🤔 DM me on LinkedIn
• Join Work Muse Facebook Community

The motherhood penalty costs women enormously. But you don't have to accept it. Job sharing showed me another way—and it's available to you too.

Episode Website: workmuse.com/56
Transcript: workmuse.com/56transcript

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

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Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

And here's what should make you furious: The #1 cause of burnout isn't personal issues—it's unmanageable workloads.

What if everything your employer is offering—the wellness stipends, the meditation apps, the mental health days—is treating symptoms while ignoring the disease?

Three-quarters are saying "thanks, but no thanks."

In this episode, I'm calling out why workers say their employer's mental health resources aren't helping—and showing you why job sharing is mental health infrastructure, not just another flexible work option.

In episode 55:

• Why women are driving 70% of all mental health leaves
• The data employers don't want to face about their "solutions"
• What Fair Play is—and why job sharing is like the work version that flows into your home
• 3 things employers should actually do (hint: protect time for deep work)
• 5 ways job sharing fundamentally supports mental health (hint: 4 consecutive days off every week)
• 💡 Why 96% of job sharers report the flexibility they need vs.~70% for other flexible work practices
• My truth: I never felt burnout while job sharing. Never.

Here's what blew my mind: Job sharing doesn't just change how you work—it organically changes how you parent and partner at home. You learn to give up control, trust your partner's way, and share the mental load without fighting about it.

Featured Research:

• McKinsey: 76% of workers more stressed than 2 years ago
• Deloitte: 50% of working women report higher stress
• Lyra Health: 65% say employer mental health resources don't help
• The Job Share Project: 96% report work-life balance flexibility

Resources:

• FREE Guide to Job Sharing 👉 workmuse.com/guide
• Feeling the burnout? 🤔 DM me on LinkedIn
• Join Work Muse Facebook Community

If you're barely holding it together right now—this episode is for you. Real solutions, not band-aids.

Episode Website: workmuse.com/55
Transcript: workmuse.com/55transcript

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

And here's what's breaking my heart: Women who built businesses from the ground up are returning to corporate jobs just to afford childcare—keeping their businesses as side hustles. Entrepreneurs forced to pause their dreams because the math doesn't work.

What if there was a way to cut childcare costs by 40% while keeping your full-time career trajectory—benefits, promotions, and all?

In this episode, I'm exposing the childcare funding cliff that's forcing impossible choices—and showing you how job sharing makes care affordable while accelerating your career.

In episode 54:

• Why the $24 billion federal funding cliff changed everything in September 2024
• The heartbreaking math: when earning $90K means taking home barely more than childcare costs
• 📊 How 6-month childcare waitlists are making it impossible to return to work
• 👩🏽‍💻 3 things employers can do (on-site care = 7.4x higher retention!)
• 📈 3 strategic moves for working mothers facing impossible childcare costs
• 💡 How job sharers cut childcare costs by 40%—only needing 3 days of care
• 💵 The promotion math: When your job share gets a 20% raise, here's what happens to your take-home

Here's the thing: You're not just working part-time for less money. You're in a full-time position with full benefits, and 70%+ of job share teams are promoted together. Let me run those numbers for you.

Featured Research:

• U.S. Department of Labor Analysis on childcare costs
• SHRM Report: Employers with on-site care have 7.4x higher retention
• TIME Magazine: "Why So Many Women Are Quitting the Workforce"

Resources:

• FREE Guide to Job Sharing 👉 workmuse.com/guide
• Share your childcare struggles 🤔 DM me on LinkedIn
• Join Work Muse Facebook Community

This episode resonates deeply with so many in my audience. Share it with a friend facing the same concerns—they'll see a path forward they might not have considered.

Episode Website: workmuse.com/54
Transcript: workmuse.com/54transcript

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Half of Americans want a return to traditional gender roles. But here's the breakdown that should worry you: 60% of men vs. 40% of women. That's a 20-point gender gap—and it's affecting your workplace whether you realize it or not.

What if the tradwife trend isn't just TikTok noise—what if it's quietly undermining your career advancement, normalizing sexism at work, and making "mom guilt" even worse?

In this episode, I'm unpacking how cultural shifts toward traditional gender roles are pushing women out of the workforce—and why job sharing is one of the most powerful tools to fight back with real equity at work AND home.

In episode 53:

• The polling data that reveals the gender divide (Gen Z gap: 19 points!)
• Why the tradwife movement is gaining traction—and the 5 forces driving it
• 4 major ways this cultural shift is affecting your workplace right now
• 👩🏽‍💻 3 things employers can do to combat these shifts and keep women in leadership
• 📈 3 strategic moves for working mothers navigating cultural pressure
• 💡 The secret hidden benefit of job sharing: organic gender equality at home (without fighting about it)
• My personal story of how job sharing with a 6-month-old changed everything—including my marriage dynamics

Here's what blew my mind: When you job share at work, you start applying the practice everywhere—trusting your partner to parent their way, giving up control, sharing the mental load. It happens naturally, without the friction.

Could job sharing be the secret weapon to render the Tradwife Movement impotent?

Featured Research: 

• Most Men Want a Return to Traditional Gender Roles, but Women Aren't So Sure, The 19th*(September 2025) 
• McKinsey "Women in the Workplace" Report
• "American Women Are Leaving the Work Force. Why?" by Jessica Grose, The New York Times
• Eve Rodsky's "Fair Play" framework

Resources:

• FREE Guide to Job Sharing 👉 workmuse.com/guide
• Thoughts? 🤔 DM me on LinkedIn or leave a vm
• Join Work Muse Facebook Community

As a gender equity champion, this episode is personal. The world feels unstable right now, but understanding how cultural shifts affect us means we can meet the challenge while elevating women in the workplace.

Episode Website: workmuse.com/53
Transcript: workmuse.com/53transcript

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

And here's the kicker: White men with "care privilege" are the ones making RTO decisions that are pushing mothers out. 

What if the flexibility you fought for during the pandemic is being ripped away—and taking your career with it? In this series premiere, I'm exposing why return-to-office mandates jumped 85% in just six months—and how job sharing offers a solution that actually works, even if your employer is demanding 5 days in-office.

In episode 52:

• Why 212K women left and what it means for YOU
• The 7 challenges driving this exodus 
• 📊 The data employers are ignoring about RTO and retention
• 🥴 The impossible trade-off mothers face
• 👩🏽‍💻 3 things employers can do to stop bleeding female talent
• 📈 3 strategic moves for working mothers navigating RTO mandates
• 💡 Why job sharing works even with full-time in-office
• 💵 How much 3 days of commuting vs. 5 really saves

Here's the thing: The vast majority of job sharers create their own arrangements—you don't have to wait for permission. And over 70% of job share teams are promoted together. 👈 Read that again. 

We can't afford to wait. With job sharing, you don't have to. You create your own path—with a partner, not AI.

Featured Research: 

• "Why So Many Women Are Quitting the Workforce" by Alana Semuels, TIME
• "Burned Out at Work? Find Someone to Split Your Job 50-50 With You" by Alana Semuels, TIME
• "American Women Are Leaving the Work Force. Why?" by Jessica Grose, The New York Times
• "How to Address the Crisis for Working Moms" in TIME
• KPMG Working Parents Survey (February 2025)
• The Flex Index Fortune 500 data

Resources:

• Guide to Job Sharing 👉 workmuse.com/guide ✅
• Thoughts? 🤔 DM me on LinkedIn or leave me a vm
• Join Work Muse Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work ✅

The world may have turned upside down, but you don't have to. Join me for this special series every other Tuesday through Dec 30 to understand what's really driving women out—and how to make sure you're not one of them.

Episode Website: workmuse.com/52
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Think you can't afford to job share? This episode will completely change your perspective on the financial impact of sharing your role.

I was an equal breadwinner carrying benefits for my family when I started job sharing. I had the same money fears you might have right now. But here's what I discovered: you don't just afford to job share—you can't afford NOT to job share.

What you'll learn in episode 51: 

• ✅ 5 ways job sharing saves money immediately (childcare alone could save you 40%! 🤯)
• ✅ Why job sharing is a negotiation that protects your income and benefits 
• ✅ How job sharing can boost your career and earning potential 💡
• ✅ The surprising promotion rates of job share teams 📈
• ✅ Real examples of income maintenance and growth in job shares

The truth: Job sharing doesn't mean half pay. It means strategic career planning that often leads to promotions, better work-life balance, AND financial benefits you never considered.

We've officially busted all 5 myths over this series:

• Episode 48: Your job CAN be shared
• Episode 49: Finding a partner is easier than you think
• Episode 50: Getting boss approval (50th episode!)
• Episode 51: The financial benefits revealed

Ready for your September Surge? Your job share is waiting to transform your life. 👩🏽‍💻 

Resources mentioned:

• Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing: workmuse.com/guide
• Job Share Academy for step-by-step training

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Welcome to our 50th episode! I'm so grateful you're here and would love your help reaching 50 reviews on Apple Podcasts—we're so close!

Now, let's tackle the big question that stops most people in their tracks: "How do I get my boss to approve a job share?"

Here's what I know after years of helping people navigate this conversation: most bosses don't reject job sharing because it won't work—they're skeptical because they've never heard of it and don't understand the massive benefits it brings to their team and bottom line.

Today, I'm sharing the exact framework that turns skeptical managers into job share champions: the 3 P's that make approval almost inevitable.

In this milestone episode, you'll discover:

• Why your boss's biggest concerns are actually job sharing's greatest strengths
• The mindset shift that changes everything about how you approach this conversation
• My "birds and bees" approach to introducing job sharing to your manager
• The 3 P's required for job share approval (Preparation, Proposal, Pitch)
• 4 key questions to research before presenting your job share
• The top 3 elements every job share proposal should include
• How to make the business case that benefits your employer

Remember: Even the most risk-averse boss can't help but be intrigued by an innovative practice that stamps out burnout and turnover while producing better results with two talents in one role.

Your job share is waiting to transform your life—and this episode gives you everything you need to make it happen. 🙌🙌

Thank you for 50 amazing episodes! Here's to the next 50 and all the job shares we'll create together.  🎉🎉🎉

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• Myth Busting Edition Series:
  •  Ep 48: Your job CAN be shared 🙌🙌
  •  Ep 49: Finding a partner is easier than you think 👯
  •  Ep 50: Getting boss approval (50th episode!) 🏆
• Join Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Community ✅
• Grab The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing  ✅
• DM me: Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/50
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

"How do I find a job share partner?"  It's the first question people ask me after learning about job sharing, and I totally get it. You're looking for someone to share your job, your responsibilities, and in many ways, your professional life. It can feel overwhelming.

But here's what I've learned after job sharing with four different partners over nine years: finding your perfect partner is more like spotting a VW bug than finding a needle in a haystack. Once you know what to look for, you'll see potential partners everywhere.

Today, I'm sharing my proven 5-step process for finding your job share partner, plus exactly who they need to be (and who they don't need to be) for a successful partnership.

In Episode 49, you'll learn:

• Why there's no "perfect" partner and what to actually look for instead
• The 6 things your partner does NOT need to be (this might surprise you!)
• Why partnering with someone different from you often leads to better results
• My 5-step process for finding and vetting Ideal Partner Candidates
• How to approach potential partners and have those important conversations
• Why selecting your partner gives you incredible momentum toward your job share

Here's the truth: Would-be job sharers are all around you who would jump at the opportunity to work half the week while slaying work with you—if only they knew job sharing existed. Finding the Amy Poehler to your Tina Fey is closer than you think. 👯 

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• Myth Busting Edition Series: Ep 48: Your job CAN be shared 🙌🙌
• Join Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Community ✅
• Grab The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing  ✅
• DM me: Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/49
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Have you been telling yourself that job sharing would never work in your role? That your job is too complex, too client-facing, or too strategic to share with a partner?

Today, I'm dispelling one of the biggest myths that keeps talented professionals from pursuing job sharing: "My job just can't be shared." Spoiler alert: it probably can be, and research proves job sharing actually works BEST in demanding, complex roles.

From sales and leadership positions to strategic roles, client-facing work, and senior positions in global organizations—I'm sharing real examples of where job sharing thrives. Plus, I'll walk you through exactly why your job is likely more shareable than you think.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• The 5 myths that stop people from pursuing job sharing (and why they're holding you back)
• Why timing will never be "perfect" for creating a job share
• The real reason you don't see more job sharers around you
• Which types of roles research proves job sharing works best in
• An eye-opening exercise to help you see how your job could be shared
• Real industries and job types where job sharing is already thriving
• Why job sharing has moved up the pay scale to senior-level roles

The bottom line? Once you put in the upfront work to thoughtfully create your job share, stakeholders overwhelmingly experience positive results. Your job is probably more shareable than you think.

Links Mentioned:

• ☀️ 🏖 Summertime Job Share Video Playlist ☀️ 🏖
• DM me on LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/48
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Still on the fence about creating a job share arrangement? I'm bringing back this essential lesson with 6 reasons why job sharing might be the best decision you could make for your career and life—plus how to know if you're ready to take the leap.

Just picture this: powering down every Wednesday (your new FriYAY!) and never again logging on into the wee hours. Saying goodbye to the guilt of putting work first or family first, once and for all. Achieving better results leveraging two minds in one job than you ever could solo, while nurturing a supportive relationship with a partner who's got your back in work AND life.

This, my friends, is the rewarding life of job sharing—and it might be exactly what you've been looking for.

Here's what we cover in this episode:

• The 4 main types of people who thrive most with job sharing (plus the often-overlooked 5th type)
• Why knowing your "why" is everything when it comes to job sharing success
• 6 life-changing reasons job sharing transforms both work and life
• The peace of mind benefits no other flexible work practice can deliver
• How job sharing releases you from guilt at work AND at home
• Why boundaries become crystal clear when you job share
• The secret relationship benefit that makes work actually fun

Ready to dive deeper? Grab my FREE resource: The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing for your step-by-step blueprint to creating a successful job share.

Links Mentioned:

• The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing
• DM me on LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/47
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Here's the truth: While job sharers do work part-time schedules, job sharing is fundamentally different from traditional part-time work. Understanding these differences could be the key to unlocking career-life balance without sacrificing professional growth.

The reality? Traditional part-time work often becomes a career trap, especially for working parents. But job sharing can actually accelerate your career while giving you the life you want.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• The 3 crucial differences that determine whether you'll thrive or just survive
• Why 71% of job share teams get promoted together (versus career stagnation in most part-time roles)
• How job sharers avoid the "part-time penalty" and stay on leadership tracks
• Why job share teams are up to  30% more productive than full-time employees

As one job sharer told me: "We would get more done in our three days each than most people get done in five days." 🙌🙌

If you're a driven professional who wants meaningful work, competitive compensation, and career growth alongside true work-life balance, job sharing might be your answer. 

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• The Job Share Project Key Findings
• Join Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Community ✅
• Grab The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing  ✅
• Leave me a voice memo on the podcast app!!...or DM me: Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/46
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Here's the hard truth: 59% of employees report feeling burned out very often or always (Gallup, 2024). The WHO found that working 55+ hours increases stroke risk by 35%. Our always-on culture is literally killing us—and traditional "solutions" aren't working.

But what if instead of managing burnout after it happens, we could prevent it from ever taking root?

As someone who job shared for nearly a decade starting when my daughter was 6 months old, I can tell you: job sharing doesn't just reduce burnout—it eliminates it completely. In this episode, I'm sharing exactly how job sharing flips the script on overwork culture.

In Episode 45, you'll discover:

• 5 ways job sharing prevents burnout before it starts
• How I got 13 consecutive days off using only 3 vacation days
• Why job sharers perform 30% better than full-time employees
• The boundary accountability that keeps you actually off when you're off

If you're tired of glorifying overwork and ready to eliminate burnout instead of just managing it, job sharing might be your answer. 🙌🙌

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• WHO research
• American Psychological Association's 2023 Work in America™ Survey
• Gallup's 2024 State of the Global Workplace report
• Join Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Community ✅
• Grab The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing  ✅
• DM me: Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/45
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

If you're drawing a blank, you're not alone. This episode tackles something affecting millions of working parents but rarely gets the attention it deserves: workplace loneliness and isolation.

In May 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a warning that should have shaken us all: America is facing an epidemic of loneliness—and it's a public health crisis affecting our physical health as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Working parents are feeling this most acutely. Especially moms navigating the "motherhood penalty"—expected to be fully committed to our careers while being primary caregivers at home.

But here's what I've discovered through nearly a decade of job sharing: We're not meant to do this alone. And with job sharing, we don't have to.

In Episode 44, you'll discover: 

• Why workplace loneliness is hitting working parents hardest (and the shocking health impacts) 
• How job share partners become true life partners—not just work coverage 
• Real stories of job sharers supporting each other through family crises and major life challenges 
• Why job share teams weather uncertainty differently than solo workers 
• How genuine partnership at work ripples into every area of your life—parenting, marriage, caregiving

The truth: Job sharing isn't just about splitting tasks or working fewer hours. It's about shared purpose, mutual care, and revolutionary partnership in a world where too many of us are isolated.

Your job share partner becomes the person who notices when you're struggling, steps in without being asked, and genuinely wants you to succeed—professionally AND personally.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• U.S. Surgeon General’s Report: Our Epidemic of Loneliness & Isolation, 2023
• Join our weekly newsletter (biweekly this summer!): workmuse.com/newsletter
• Grab your FREE Guide to Job Sharing 👉 workmuse.com/guide ✅
• DM me on LinkedIn
• Join Work Muse Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work ✅

Episode Website: workmuse.com/44
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

If there's one thing I know for sure, it's this: There will ALWAYS be challenging seasons to navigate when life moves fast and work is intense.

Fresh off my daughter's high school graduation and our five-day "grad-u-palooza," I'm bringing back our #1 most popular episode—and I think its popularity speaks to how absolutely overrun we all feel, especially during "Maycember" (that chaotic collision of May's end-of-school madness with summer's promise of freedom).

End-of-school craziness paired with scrambling for summer childcare can feel overwhelming for parents juggling work schedules. Whether you're piecing together camps, relatives, and friends for younger kids, or navigating the complex world of teens who've aged out of traditional childcare, the struggle is real.

Personally, the end-of-school season always hits me like a two-by-four. If there's one thing I miss about job sharing, it's having a work bestie to help keep my well-being in check—someone with the authority to signal when it's time to pause and practice real self-care.

In this encore episode, you'll discover:

• How to handle summer transitions without losing your mind
• Why taking a pause isn't selfish—it's essential
• How to pivot and downshift when kids are home and work routines go out the window
• What real self-care actually looks like (hint: it's more than massages and facials)
• How job sharing principles can help you rest, refresh, and recharge—even outside of work

Links Mentioned:

• Join our weekly newsletter (biweekly this summer!): workmuse.com/newsletter
• Grab your FREE Guide to Job Sharing 👉 workmuse.com/guide ✅
• DM me on LinkedIn
• Join Work Muse Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work ✅

Episode Website: workmuse.com/43
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

It's the end of Mental Health Awareness Month—and if you're a working parent, you know the cruel irony. May is supposed to be about mental health awareness, but it's also the most mentally exhausting month of the year. Graduations. End-of-school chaos. Emotional rollercoastering that would make anyone question their sanity.

I'm living it right now. My daughter Iris graduates high school in two days, and between the "lasts" and the logistics, I'm feeling it all.

But here's what this overwhelming month perfectly captures: We're in a workplace mental health crisis, and what employers are offering isn't working.

In this episode, I'm having the conversation we need to be having about mental health at work—not the surface-level wellness app solutions, but the structural changes that actually support well-being.

Here's What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Why 65% of employees report mental health challenges but only 25% find employer resources helpful
• The real reason burnout rates keep climbing (hint: it's not about individual resilience)
• How job sharing creates mental health infrastructure, not just another perk
• Why 87% of job sharers say it was the difference between staying and leaving their job
• The business case for reimagining work structures to support human well-being

This isn't just about being nice to employees—it's about building sustainable, high-performing teams in an era where talent retention is everything.

If you're a people leader watching your team burn out, an HR professional trying to move the needle on engagement, or an employee barely keeping your head above water—this episode is your roadmap to something better.

Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is admit the current system is broken and dare to imagine something different.

Links mentioned:

• Episode 41: A Wake-Up Call for Working Moms: What Two Job Sharers Did to Save Their Health—and Their Sanity
• Episode 30:My Coping Strategies: How Job Sharing Creates Stability During Uncertain Times
• 2025 State of Workforce Mental Health Report, Lyra
• McKinsey's Women in the Workplace Report, 2023
• Deloitte Workplace Burnout Survey, 2024
• 7 Things to Know about Workplace Mental Health
• The Job Share Project study key findings

Episode Website: workmuse.com/42
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

It’s Mental Health Awareness Month—and let’s be real: for moms, May might just be the most mentally exhausting month of the year. Talent shows. Awards ceremonies. Prom. Final projects. Finals. You name it—May has it. I’m in the thick of it. My daughter’s graduating in mere weeks, and the calendar is jam-packed with celebration and emotion, stretching me very thin. 

That is exactly why we're revisiting this powerful conversation. In this episode, I sat down with Work Muse clients Mary Kaye Stuart and Sommer Hruska, whose job share was born from the toll of a demanding job on Mary Kaye's health and a deep need for change. 

Mary Kaye hit a wall, and instead of pushing through, she got honest about what she needed… and did something about it. 

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode: 

• Why burnout isn’t just about stress—it’s about unsustainable systems
• How Mary Kaye and Sommer created a job share arrangement that saved her career and wellbeing
• Why job sharing is a practical AND powerful solution for long-term health
• How you can use job sharing to build in boundaries, breathing room, and balance

A doctor's sage advice for longevity and a young mother's determination to find more time for her children and homestead might have been the impetus. However, job sharing led both Mary Kaye and Sommer to enjoy other parts of life society "doesn't deem as worthy" like exploring passions such as writing and being truly present with one's children and self. 

If you’re feeling the weight of it all—this one’s for you. Especially if you’ve ever whispered to yourself, “There has to be a better way…”
 
There is. And this episode shows you what it can look like. It may just be the wake-up call you need to consider sharing your job.

Links mentioned:

• Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing (Free Guide)
• Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Group
• DM me on LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/41
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

What if Mother’s Day didn’t feel joyful… and instead brought up a swirl of emotions?

You’re not alone. In this deeply personal episode, I’m unpacking the messy middle of Mother’s Day—why it feels so complicated for so many of us, and why we need to stop pretending it’s one-size-fits-all.

From loving-but-complicated relationships with our own moms, to loss, longing, caregiving, and navigating shifting family roles—Mother’s Day can bring up more pain than pampering. As I reflect on my own experience—from my childhood to my daughter’s last Mother’s Day at home before heading to college—I share the real talk I wish someone had told me years ago: It’s okay to do this day your way.

You’ll also hear how job sharing isn’t just about workplace flexibility—it’s about building a life that allows space for real connection, caregiving, and yes, even grief. Whether you're a mom, have a mom, lost a mom, or have complicated feelings about the whole thing… this episode is for you.

Here’s What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• Why Mother’s Day can bring up grief, pressure, and emotional landmines
• My story of mothering, caregiving, and setting boundaries in a blended family
• How Alzheimer’s changed my relationship with my mom—and gave something unexpected back
• What I want my daughter to know before she heads off to college
• Why it’s okay if Mother’s Day sucked this year—and how to make next year better
• A loving permission slip to celebrate your way (or not at all)

Whether you’re in the thick of motherhood, mourning, or making peace with what you’ve been handed, I hope this episode gives you space to breathe, reflect, and feel seen.

❤️‍🩹 Share this episode with someone who might need it today. And if it spoke to you, DM me and tell me what's one thing you're ready to drop next Mother's Day.

Episode website: workmuse.com/40

Transcript here 

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

This Mother's Day, we're diving into the mental gymnastics of parenting—from toddler tantrums to college applications—and how sharing the load can be your saving grace.

In this episode, I share my personal journey of navigating the college application process with my daughter, Iris, and how my husband, Mike (aka "my guy"), and I have learned to co-parent effectively by job sharing the mental load. We'll explore practical ways to apply job sharing principles at home, especially during the chaotic month of May—affectionately dubbed "Mayday!"—filled with end-of-school activities, tests, and graduations.

Plus, we'll uncover what moms really want for Mother's Day (hint: it's not flowers) and how everyone can pitch in to give Mom the gift of shared responsibility.

Here’s What You’ll Learn:

• The concept of job sharing at home and how it can alleviate parental stress.
• How my husband and I co-parented our daughter through the college application to acceptance process, perhaps as hands-on on toddler days!
• What is Lead Parenting and how can this pitch-and-catch concept help me?
• Strategies to manage "Mayday" madness—the end of school countdown!—with shared responsibilities
• 4 stats on what moms truly desire for Mother's Day (that might surprise you) 

Links Mentioned:

• Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
• The Double Shift substack by Katherine Goldstein 
• Grab The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing  ✅

More from Me:

• Join Work Muse Facebook Community: Job Share Live Life + Slay Work ✅
• DM me on LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/39
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

If you’ve ever said, “I love the idea of job sharing... but I don’t think I could give up control,” this episode was made for you.

One of the biggest fears I hear from my high-achieving, big-hearted clients is the worry that they won’t be able to let go enough to be a good job share partner. The truth? That fear doesn’t disqualify you. It’s actually a sign you’d be great at it.

In this episode, we’re flipping the script on control and turning it into your job share superpower—with help from Mel Robbins’ Let Them Theory. I’m sharing what I learned from my own journey of letting go (especially in my second job share when it didn’t come easily), and how my biggest fear turned into my greatest growth.

You’ll also hear a powerful story from job sharers Amber and Kimberly about how their own letting go moment deepened their trust and teamwork.

So whether you’re feeling skeptical or just need a little permission to loosen your grip, today’s episode is your invitation to breathe, trust, and discover the freedom job sharing can bring.

Here’s What You’ll Learn:

• Why “control freak” energy isn’t a dealbreaker—it’s a strength in disguise
• How to use The Let Them Theory to reframe your job share fears
• My personal story of control, fear, and finally letting go
• A case study from real job sharers who’ve been there too
• 3 mindset shifts that will help you trust more and stress less

Links Mentioned:

• The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
• Sign up for Job Share Academy Waitlist  ✅
• Grab The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing  ✅
• Join Work Muse Facebook Community: Job Share Live Life + Slay Work ✅
• DM me on LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/38
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Before you get started  👉 Grab 11 Traits of Successful Job Sharers Checklist ✅

If you’re curious about job sharing but not sure you have what it takes, this episode is your permission slip to find out for real. Because today, I’m walking you through the 11 most common traits of successful job sharers—so you can discover your strengths, spot areas to grow, and know exactly what to look for in a dream partner. 👯

These traits come from the 2011 Job Share Project study and—after nearly a decade of job sharing myself—I can tell you firsthand, they’re spot on. I’ll share how this list would’ve saved me tons of time, energy, and stress with my first job share (which didn’t work out) and how it helped me find true alignment with later partners.

Whether you're new to job sharing or knee-deep in planning your dream work-life setup, this episode gives you a roadmap for success—plus real-life stories from job share teams who’ve made it work beautifully.

Here’s What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The 11 most important traits of successful job sharers
• Which traits you bring to the table—and how to fill in the gaps
• How to use this list as a partner selection cheat sheet
• What real job share teams say about trust, communication, and personality fit
• Why you only need 5–7 traits to thrive (not all 11!)

This episode is the one to share with a friend, especially if you’re actively seeking a job share partner. It could be the spark that opens the right door!

Resources Mentioned:

• Grab Your FREE Checklist ✅:  11 Traits of Successful Job Sharers Checklist 
• Work Muse on Instagram
• Melissa Nicholson on LinkedIn
• Work Muse Facebook Community

Enjoyed this episode?
Take a screenshot and tag me @workmuse, DM me your top traits on LinkedIn, or share this with a friend who might just be your future job share partner. 💛

Episode Website: workmuse.com/37
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Five words: I just had a baby. That was my why—the deep, personal reason I was determined to make job sharing work. I wanted to be fully present for my 6-month-old daughter without stepping away from the career I had worked so hard to build.

In this special re-release of an essential lesson in job sharing, I share how my first  week job sharing with 4 consecutive days off kept my WHY in focus for the hard-won lessons I learned figuring it out on my own. From that first, life-changing week of job sharing—when I felt free, present, and completely re-engaged with myself and my family—I knew this was the future of work.

Whether you’re a new parent, navigating burnout, or craving real work-life balance, job sharing could be your next bold move. In this episode, I walk you through 5 types of professionals who thrive with job sharing and 6 life-changing reasons to say "Yes!" 🙌 🙌

Links Mentioned:

• The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing
• DM me on LinkedIn
• workmuse.com

Episode Website: workmuse.com/36
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

If you’re wondering what job sharing is exactly and how it works, you’re in the right place.

When I first discovered job sharing, I had no roadmap. No guide. Just a bold vision of creating a life where I could thrive in my career and be present for my family. What followed was a journey filled with wins, setbacks, lessons learned the hard way, and ultimately, a work-life revolution that changed everything.

In this special reintroduction episode, I’m taking you behind the scenes of my job share story—the reality of navigating this innovative work model on my own and the hard-earned insights that fuel my passion to make job sharing easier for YOU.

In Episode 35, I share:

• How I went from career burnout in a 24/7 industry to nearly a decade of thriving in job shares.
• The tough lessons I learned pioneering my own four job share partnerships—without a roadmap.
•  Why job sharing isn’t just a work solution—it’s a game-changer for equality in caregiving, mental load, and career progression.
•  The inspiration behind founding Work Muse: so you can bypass the struggles I faced and create a successful job share with training, implementation, and support.

Why This Episode Matters Now

I figured job sharing out on my own, but you don’t have to. This episode is the foundation for our upcoming lesson-based series, designed to give you the clarity, tools, and confidence to create a job share that works for you. Whether you’re seeking better work-life balance, career sustainability, or a way to keep rising without burnout, job sharing can be the answer—and I’m here to show you how.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

👉 Download the 3 Keys to Job Share Success & 3 Steps to Get the Job Share Green Light – Your first step to exploring job sharing.
👉 Read the full transcript & show notes: workmuse.com/35
👉 Join our Job Share, Live Life & Slay Work Facebook Community to connect with like-minded professionals.

Share This Episode!

If you’ve ever wondered if job sharing could work for you or if you know someone searching for a better way to work, send them this episode!

🎙️ New episodes drop every Tuesday! Subscribe to Jobshare Revolution on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Moms, it’s time to give yourself permission to take a break—by yourself! In this special episode, I’m sharing one of the most unexpected and empowering experiences of my life: taking a solo trip during spring break. After 18 years of motherhood, I finally learned the value of carving out space for myself, and I’m here to tell you why every mom deserves this kind of self-care—and why I regret waiting so long.

In Episode 34, I share:

• ✔ The life-changing reasons why I decided to take a solo vacation away from my family.
• ✔ How giving yourself permission to be alone can recharge your spirit and make you a better version of yourself (for you and your family). 
•  ✔ Why I wish I’d done this sooner, and how a solo trip can actually benefit your entire family dynamic..
•  ✔ What I learned from spending a couple of days totally by myself—and how it can inspire you to carve out moments for yourself, too.

Why This Episode Matters Now: If you’re anything like me, you may have felt the constant pressure to be everything for everyone. But here’s the truth: you can’t pour from an empty cup. Taking time away from the daily grind is a game-changer for your mental and emotional health—and for your family’s well-being too. If you’re a mom who’s been considering a solo trip (or just some time to yourself), this episode is your permission slip. Let’s explore why it’s so important to unplug and reconnect with you.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

👉 Dallas Museum of Art
👉 Nasher Sculpture Center
👉 Read the full transcript & show notes: workmuse.com/34

More From Me: 

• Want to explore job sharing? workmuse.com/guide
• Join Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work community for like-minded folks who value flexibility AND their careers
• Follow me on LinkedIn

Share This Episode! Know a mom who could really use some “me time”? Send them this episode today and help them realize the importance of prioritizing themselves.

🎙️ New episodes drop every Tuesday! Subscribe to Jobshare Revolution on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Women’s Equal Pay Day isn’t just another date on the calendar—it marks how far into the year women must work to catch up to what men earned last year. And in 2025? The numbers still don’t add up.

The gender pay gap has barely budged, despite decades of advocacy. Women—especially mothers and women of color—continue to earn less than their male counterparts, leading to massive lifetime income losses. But why is this STILL happening? And more importantly, what actually works to close the gap?

In this episode, we dive into:

✔ The latest Equal Pay Day stats—how far women have come and where we’re still stuck.
✔ Why the pay gap isn’t just about salary—and how caregiving, career breaks, and job types widen the divide.
✔ The truth about workplace flexibility and pay equity—are women penalized for remote and flexible work?
✔ How job sharing creates pay equity and career advancement opportunities for women.
 ✔ What YOU can do to advocate for yourself and push for real change in the workplace.

Why This Episode Matters Now

Women have fought hard for equal pay, but progress has been painfully slow. With new challenges like AI-driven hiring biases and workplace flexibility backlash, we need solutions that actually move the needle. Whether you’re negotiating your salary, re-entering the workforce, or advocating for systemic change, this episode gives you the tools to take action.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• 👉  AAUW Equal Pay Day Calendar 
• 👉 Episode 31: International Women's Day: What Google's Calendar Omission Means for Equality
• 👉 Grab our guide to explore job sharing: workmuse.com/guide 

Read the full transcript & show notes: workmuse.com/33

Share This Episode!

If you’re tired of waiting for change, send this episode to a friend, colleague, or boss. Let’s turn Equal Pay Day into the year we finally close the gap.

🎙️ New episodes drop every Tuesday! Subscribe to Jobshare Revolution on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

It’s been 5 years since the COVID lockdown. Here’s how the pandemic reshaped careers, caregiving, and what’s next for women in the workplace.

In March 2020, the world changed overnight. Many of our kids left for Spring Break, never to return to school in person until the 2021-22 school year. For millions of women, the pandemic wasn’t just a global crisis, it was a career crisis. Between job losses, caregiving responsibilities, and impossible choices, many were forced to make life-altering decisions. Now, five years later, where do we stand?

In this special re-release, we revisit one of our most powerful episodes: Karen Browning’s pandemic resignation letter. In the summer of 2021, Karen courageously put into words what so many women experienced at the height of the pandemic—being pushed to the brink and left without the support they needed to stay in the workforce.

Browning wrote her resignation letter not just as a farewell but as a mic drop moment—a wake-up call for employers and a message of solidarity for women facing the same impossible choices. As we mark five years since lockdown, Karen's story is more relevant than ever.

Here are 3 Key Takeaways from this episode:

 ✔ What Karen’s resignation letter reveals about workplace culture, flexibility, and the support systems that failed women during the pandemic—and how many still feel the impact today.
 ✔ How to advocate for yourself in today’s workforce—whether you’re returning, pivoting, or demanding better from your employer.
✔ What’s changed in the workplace (and what still needs to change) since 2020.
 

Why This Episode Matters in 2025

We often push through difficult times without fully processing their impact. Five years later, you have the opportunity to reflect—not just on the struggles you've faced, but on the lessons you can carry forward. Karen’s story is a reminder that advocating for yourself isn’t selfish—it’s necessary. Whether you left a job, changed careers, or are still searching for work-life compatibility, this conversation will inspire you to take control of your future.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

👉 Join Job Share, Live Life & Slay Work Facebook Community to connect with like-minded women
👉 McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2024 report with LeanIn
👉 SurveyMonkey’s Women at Work
👉 Grab our free guide to explore job sharing: workmuse.com/guide 

More From Me:

• Follow me on LinkedIn 

Share This Episode!

If you know a woman who had to make impossible choices during the pandemic, send her this episode. Let’s continue the convo and push for workplaces that truly support women.🎙️ New episodes drop every Tuesday! 

Episode Website: workmuse.com/32
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Something happened this International Women’s Day that I can’t stop thinking about—and I bet you missed it too.

Google quietly erased International Women’s Day from its calendar app. Not just that, but they also removed other major cultural observances like Women’s History Month, Black History Month, Pride Month, and Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Coincidence? I don’t think so. It’s not just about a missing calendar event. This is happening at a time when Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are under attack, despite overwhelming research proving that diverse companies outperform their competitors.

If you care about gender equality, representation, and creating a future where all voices are valued, this conversation is for you.

Here Are 3 Key Takeaways From This Episode:

1️⃣ DEI is NOT just ‘good PR’—it’s a business advantage.
Companies with diverse leadership teams are 39% more likely to outperform their peers financially. Ignoring DEI isn’t just wrong—it’s bad business.

2️⃣ Representation matters more than ever.
Silencing historical and cultural observances is a deliberate act, one that signals to marginalized communities that their contributions don’t matter.

3️⃣ Women’s careers (and leadership opportunities) depend on work structures that support them.
Job sharing isn’t just about flexibility—it’s a career accelerator that allows women to balance work and life while moving into leadership roles.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

• Research: McKinsey & Company's "Diversity Matters Even More" Report (2023)
• Article: Google & Apple's Calendar Controversy (NY Post & Politifact)

More From Me:

• Want to explore job sharing? workmuse.com/guide
• Join Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work community for like-minded folks who value flexibility AND their careers
• Follow me on LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/31
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

In this episode, I’m opening up about what helped me navigate personal and professional instability—from caregiving for my mom during the pandemic to weathering the 2008 recession in a commission-only job. One thing made all the difference: having a partner.

Before you listen:
👉 Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Workbook: workmuse.com/bestself

Here’s what we’ll explore in today’s conversation:
✔️ Why tuning out the noise and protecting your mental energy is essential for resilience.
✔️ The hardest lesson I learned when trying to change things outside of my control.
✔️ How job sharing gave me security in the 2008 Great Recession—and why it’s more relevant than ever today.
✔️ Practical strategies to build self-awareness, set boundaries, and show up as a helper in your community.

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by everything happening in the world, I hope this episode brings you some peace, clarity, and encouragement. Because the best way to create stability during uncertain times? Find your people.

Links Mentioned:

• Want to explore job sharing? Grab my free guide: workmuse.com/guide
• Join the Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Community for like-minded folks who value the humans in their lives AND their careers
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/30
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Wham! Bam! This is the episode I didn't plan. 👻 😷 

After dodging COVID-19 for nearly five years, it finally got me. And while my instinct was to push through and keep working (hello, workaholic tendencies), something surprising happened instead.

The Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset—the very challenge we’ve been doing together—showed up for me in a powerful, unexpected way during my 9-day COVID isolation. Instead of overworking, I surrendered. Instead of pushing through, I embraced the break. And in doing so, I learned a huge lesson about slowing down, self-care, and why we HAVE to believe in our own transformation before it can happen.

This was an episode I didn’t plan, but I had to share these takeaways with you. If you’ve ever struggled with resting without guilt, believing in big changes, or trusting the process, this episode is for you.

Before you listen:
👉 Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Workbook: workmuse.com/bestself

This has been an incredible journey together, and I couldn’t be more grateful for you. Remember: You become what you believe. 2025 is YOUR year! 🚀

Links Mentioned:

• DAY 1 DECISION: Episode 23 - What Will You Leave Behind in 2024
• DAY 2 DECISION: Episode 24 - Choose Your Word of the Year
• DAY 3 DECISION: Episode 25 - Setting Achievable Goals
• DAY 4 DECISION: Episode 26 - Habits That Stick
• DAY 5 DECISION: Episode 27 - Manifest the Life You Want
• DAY 6 DECISION: Episode 28 - BONUS: Ikigai Your Career & Explore Job Sharing
• Work Muse Instagram
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn
• Work Muse LinkedIn
• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work

Episode Website: workmuse.com/29
Transcript here.

What's Next?  

💛 Curious about job sharing? Grab my free guide at workmuse.com/guide.

💡 And don’t forget—if you loved this episode, share it with a friend who needs to hear it too!

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

You made it! 🎉 Today, we wrap up the Be Your Best Self in 2025 Challenge with a bonus challenge designed to help you find clarity in your career and create true work-life balance. In this final episode, we’re exploring Ikigai, the Japanese philosophy for discovering purpose, and job sharing, one of the most innovative ways to create flexibility and fulfillment in your work.

Before you listen:
👉 Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Workbook: workmuse.com/bestself

What is Ikigai & How Can It Transform Your Career?
Ikigai is the intersection of:
✨ What you love
✨ What you’re good at
✨ What the world needs
✨ What you can be paid for

When these four areas align, you unlock a career that feels deeply meaningful and fulfilling. I’ll walk you through the Ikigai exercise to help you identify your career sweet spot—whether you're considering a change or realigning your current role.

What Job Sharing Means for Work-Life Balance

Job sharing is one of the best-kept work-life balance secrets. In this episode, I will share 5 things job sharing can do for you, even if you already work flexibly. If you’ve ever wanted more control over your time without compromising your career, job sharing might be your perfect solution.

GRAB YOUR BE YOUR BEST SELF: A NEW YEAR RESET  WORKBOOK:

👉 Download it here: workmuse.com/bestself

Links Mentioned:

• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work
• DAY 1 DECISION: Episode 23 - What Will You Leave Behind in 2024
• DAY 2 DECISION: Episode 24 - Choose Your Word of the Year
• DAY 3 DECISION: Episode 25 - Setting Achievable Goals
• DAY 4 DECISION: Episode 26 - Habits That Stick
• DAY 5 DECISION: Episode 27 - Manifest the Life You Want
• Work Muse Instagram
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn & Work Muse LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/28
Transcript here.

What's Next? If this challenge has inspired you, share this episode with a friend! 💛 And if you’re curious about job sharing, grab my free guide at workmuse.com/guide.

This has been an incredible journey together, and I couldn’t be more grateful for you. Remember: You become what you believe. 2025 is YOUR year. Let’s make it the best one yet! 🚀

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

In Episode 27, we continue the Be Your Best Self in 2025 Challenge with Day 5: Manifest the Life You Want & Decide Who You Want to BE in 2025. This is about more than wishful thinking—it’s about combining intention with action, getting clear on your goals, and stepping into your full potential.

Before you listen:
👉 Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Workbook: workmuse.com/bestself

By the end of episode 27, you’ll have:

• A clear vision for what you’re a “Hell yes!” for in 2025.
• Practical steps to put your desires into the universe and take aligned action.
• The confidence to let go of limiting beliefs and embrace who you want to BE.

Links Mentioned:

• Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Workbook: workmuse.com/bestself
• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work
• DAY 1 DECISION: Episode 23 - What Will You Leave Behind in 2024
• DAY 2 DECISION: Episode 24 -  Choose Your Word of the Year
• DAY 3 DECISION: Episode 25 - Setting Achievable Goals
• DAY 4 DECISION: Episode 26 - James Clear Your Year: Habits That Stick
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/27
Transcript here.

Next Week: Join us for the Bonus Challenge: Ikigai Your Career & Explore Job Sharing in 2025. This final episode of the challenge will help you apply these principles to your professional life—so you can do work that truly aligns with your purpose.

P.S. Don't forget to hop into our Facebook group to share your Challenge Action for a chance to win a work-life prize! 🎉

Send Melissa a Text Message.

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good business and mission!

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done 

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

If you’ve ever struggled to maintain habits or dropped them after just a few weeks, this episode will transform the way you approach habit-building. Inspired by James Clear’s groundbreaking work in Atomic Habits, I’ll guide you through the science of habit formation and how to create systems that set you up for success. As most folks (including me!) find adopting habits for the long-term challenging, I dive into how my husband became a runner and I became a vegetarian, breaking the broken habits curse once and for all by understanding the stages and applying James' methodology.

Before you listen:
👉 Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Workbook: workmuse.com/bestself

By the end of this episode, you’ll have 1-3 habits that are:

• Specific, Attractive, Easy, and Satisfying—the foundation of James Clear’s proven method.
• Anchored in your daily routines with a system to support them.
• Designed to help you not just achieve your goals but become the person you want to be.

Links Mentioned:

• Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Workbook: workmuse.com/bestself
• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work
• DAY 1 DECISION: Episode 23 - Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Decision: What Will You Leave Behind in 2024
• DAY 2 ACTION: Episode 24 - Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Decision: Choose Your Word of the Year
• DAY 3 ACTION: Episode 25 - Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Decision: Setting Achievable Goals
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/26
Transcript here.

Quick Housekeeping:  Jobshare Revolution podcast will be airing on Tuesdays, starting this week!

Next Week: Join us for Challenge Day 5: Manifest the Life You Want in 2025. We’ll dive into how to turn your dreams into reality and decide who you want to BE in the new year.

P.S. Don't forget to hop into our Facebook group to share your Challenge Action for a chance to win a work-life prize! 🎉

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

In episode 25, we continue the Be Your Best Self in 2025 Challenge with Day 3: Setting Achievable Goals for the New Year. This isn’t your typical goal-setting process—we’re leaving behind vague resolutions that fade by February and diving into a kinder, science-backed approach to help you create the life you want.

Before you listen:
👉 Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Workbook: workmuse.com/bestself

Setting goals can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. In this episode, I’ll walk you through using the SMARTER framework, a more intentional way to create goals that stick. You’ll learn how to set 1-3 meaningful, personal, and aspirational goals that align with your values—and how to turn them into actionable steps.

By the end of this episode, you’ll have the clarity and tools you need to transform your intentions into action and make 2025 your most impactful year yet.

In Episode 25, Day 3 of our challenge, we’ll cover:

• Why traditional goal-setting often fails—and how to unlearn old patterns.
• How to use the SMARTER framework to create specific, measurable, and exciting goals.
• Tips to break your goals into micro-actions and create systems that support success.
• The 5 areas of a full life to consider when choosing your goals

Links Mentioned:

• Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset workbook: workmuse.com/bestself
• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work
• DAY 1 DECISION: Episode 23 - Be Your Best Self in 2025 Challenge: What Will You Leave Behind in 2024
• DAY 2 DECISION: Episode 24 - Be Your Best Self in 2025 Challenge: Choose Your Word of the Year
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/25
Transcript here.

Next Week: Join us for Challenge Day 4: James Clear Your Year with Habits That Stick. Learn how to create systems and habits that turn your big goals into daily progress.

P.S. Don't forget to hop into our Facebook group to share your Challenge Action for a chance to win a work-life prize! 🎉

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Before you listen:
👉 Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Workbook: workmuse.com/bestself

Your Word of the Year isn’t a specific goal or task—it’s a single word that embodies how you want to live, feel, and show up in 2025. Join me as I share my personal journey with choosing a Word of the Year and how it’s guided me through some of the hardest seasons of my life, including caregiving for my mom with Alzheimer’s.

In this heart-centered episode, I’ll walk you through:

• Reflecting on what made you happy in 2024 and what you’d like to improve.
• Choosing a word that inspires and empowers you to show up as your best self.
• Tips for using your word as a daily affirmation to keep it top of mind throughout the year.

By the end of this episode, you’ll have your guiding word—a simple yet powerful tool to keep you aligned with your intentions and dreams for 2025.

Links Mentioned:

• Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Workbook: workmuse.com/bestself
• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn
• How to Help Victims of the LA Fires: 
  • Canine Rescue Club 
  • Volunteer here
  • Donate to World Central Kitchen
  • Donate to LA Fire Department Foundation
  • Donate to Community Foundation's Wildfire Recovery Fund

Episode Website: workmuse.com/24
Transcript here.

Next Week: Join us for Challenge Day 3: Setting Achievable Goals in 2025. You will unlearn what you thought goal-setting was, and instead, apply science-backed research to set 1-3 goals you will actually achieve in 2025.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

In this episode, I'm kicking off the Be Your Best Self in 2025 Challenge by asking a deceptively simple yet transformative question: What will you leave behind in 2024?

Before you listen:

• Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset Workbook: workmuse.com/bestself

Too often, we carry the weight of the past into the new year—old habits, limiting beliefs, or relationships that no longer serve us. But this year, it’s time to let them go. Join me as I guide you through an intentional exercise that will make you feel all kind of warm fuzzies to reflect on your most joyful, impactful, and hardest moments of the past year, and decide what you’ll leave behind to make space for a powerful, fresh start. 

In this heart-to-heart episode, I open up about my personal story of resilience for the very first time, and the magic that unfolded when I leaned into these exercises myself. If you’re ready to release what’s holding you back and step into your full potential, dive into Episode 23.

Let’s leave last year’s rocks behind and create a fertile garden for 2025. 🌱

Links Mentioned:

• Grab your Be Your Best Self: A New Year Reset workbook: workmuse.com/bestself
• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/23
Transcript here.

Next Week: Join us for Challenge Day 2: Choosing Your Word of the Year. It’s time to set the mindset that will shape your 2025.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

• 📣 Announcement: As we wrap our 10-part series for a short Jobshare Revolution podcast pause over the next few months, we are up to BIG THINGS at Work Muse and can't wait bring them to you in the New Year! Want more before then? Join Work Muse Newsletter to stay up to speed weekly (it's not your ordinary newsletter - get ready to go deep and LOL!)

Links Mentioned:

• Join Work Muse Newsletter for all the job share and work-life tips, news, opportunities, and events!
• Rachael Ellison's Election Week Self-Regulation Series
• The Care Gap Tour: Making Care A Global Priority for Well-Being, Economic Growth, and Social Progress 
• Breadwinners Podcast Episode: Share The Load: Is Job Sharing Right for You?
• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LI 

Episode Website: workmuse.com/22
Transcript here 

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

• FREE Guide: The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing: The Step-by-Step Blueprint to Creating a Successful Job Share
• Family Caregiver Alliance statistics
• Childcare costs more than two months' rent in all 50 states
• Moms First
• Chamber of Mothers
• Caring Across Generations
• Moms Rising
• The Care Gap
• Fair Play
• Paige Connell's LinkedIn post
• Paige Connell's Instagram
• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/21
Transcript here  

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

In episode 20, I dive deep into three specific innovative strategies to prevent being laid off or to navigate a tricky job search in a tough job market while building in your flexibility with job sharing. You might even find yourself amazed by how job sharing could simplify this whole tricky job time.

Links Mentioned:

• FREE Guide: The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing: The Step-by-Step Blueprint to Creating a Successful Job Share
• Ep 19: How to Handle Work Instability to Keep Your Career Goals on Track
• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/20
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

When I started hearing the same concerns about return-to-work mandates, low morale, looming layoff rumors, or worse, actual layoffs—sometimes with discriminatory practices laying off pregnant women by faceless algorithmic layoffs—not only from our Work Muse clients but also my closest Ladies of Brilliance tribe, I knew we needed to step in to support our community at Work Muse—my work muses!

In episode 19, I'm sitting down for a heart-to-heart and my best advice for how to keep your goals on track, despite a less-than-supportive environment. If it's been a rougher year than you expected, I made this episode for you.

Links Mentioned:

• Facebook Community: Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work
• Job Share Academy Waitlist
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn
• Melissa Nicholson LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/19
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Links mentioned:

• Enroll for Job Share Academy through Thursday, September 27th at 4pm PT // 7pm ET: Details and Enrollment Information
• FREE ON-DEMAND Masterclass Thursday 9/27 ONLY Masterclass: 3 Insider Secrets to Share Your Job

Episode Website: workmuse.com/18
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

As the doors to Job Share Academy have just opened, we are bringing back our episode featuring Job Share Academy student Elizabeth McQueen for an encore.

Work Muse online training & coaching program Job Share Academy is taken in a supportive, hands-on cohort, including weekly group coaching with yours truly. The doors to Job Share Academy have just opened up for a limited-time enrollment. If you are curious about what taking the program is like, Elizabeth gives an in-depth view into what taking the program looks like, on a practical basis in Episode 9.

Job Share Academy student Elizabeth McQueen talks with me about her experience inside of the program and how she used job sharing first in a volunteer role as PTA Co-President, and then, in her current role as a co-host and co-producer of Pause Play podcast for KUTX. Elizabeth was curious about the idea of job sharing and how it could help her manage the partnership that she had, but also how she might apply job sharing to her life in the future.

Links mentioned:

• Enroll for Job Share Academy through Thursday, September 27th: Details and Enrollment Information

Episode Website: workmuse.com/17
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

• Limited-Time FREE Masterclass Signup: 3 Insider Secrets to Share Your Job and Lose the Guilt of Putting Work First or Family First—Forever 

If you've been considering creating a job share arrangement, you've likely thought, "Will my boss approve a job share?" You might have concerns about what your boss will think of you, your level of commitment, or that they'll reject the idea of a job share arrangement from the get-go.

While the idea of proposing a job share arrangement may seem daunting or even scary, making any big career move, including working flexibly like job sharing, requires proposing the business case to gain approval. You will feel much more confident about broaching the topic and presenting a job share arrangement once you have laid out how you will divide and share the day-to-day responsibilities, the arrangement's benefits to your organization, and how your job share can solve some of your employer's biggest pains.

If you are worried that your boss or company will reject your job share, you're not alone. It's why I'm debunking this myth in episode 16 of our 4-part Myth Buster series to make sure that you are not letting your own limiting beliefs, self-doubt, or imposter syndrome prevent you from presenting a job share. Remember, even the most risk-averse boss can't help but have their interest peaked by an innovative practice to stamp out burnout and turnover while producing better results.

In episode 16, you will learn:

• How to eliminate limiting beliefs, self-doubt or imposter syndrome by doing your homework before presenting a job share.
• The reasons your boss might seem skeptical of job sharing and how you can overcome them, and possibly, win them over as a job share champion in the process.
• The "3 P's" required to gain approval for a job share arrangement and the 4 questions to consider when putting your plan into place.
• The three things you should always put in a job share proposal.

Links mentioned:

• Sign up for My Limited-Time FREE Masterclass
• Job Share Academy
• Jobshare Revolution podcast
• Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Community
• Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work LinkedIn Community
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/16
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

In episode 15, I break down who your partner needs to be and does not need to be and teach you my 5-step process for finding a job share partner. After job sharing for nearly a decade with four different partners, and helping professionals do the same for years, I can tell you that finding your partner and a few backups, even, is easier than you think. 

Links Mentioned:

• One more day! Want to learn how to job share on a tight budget? Join me in my Jobshare Jumpstart Bootcamp
• Job Share Academy
• Jobshare Revolution podcast
• Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Community
• Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work LinkedIn Community
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/15
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Links Mentioned:

• Want to learn how to job share on a tight budget? Join me in my Jobshare Jumpstart Bootcamp
• Job Share Academy
• Jobshare Revolution podcast
• The Job Share Project Key Findings
• Work Muse Instagram
• Work Muse LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/14
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

GRAB YOUR SPOT FOR JUST $27!! Doors are Open for Jobshare Jumpstart: A LIVE Job Share Creation Bootcamp 

Just picture this: powering down every Wednesday (your new FriYAY! ) and never again logging on into the wee hours, saying goodbye to the guilt of putting work first or family first, once and for all. Or what about achieving better results leveraging two minds in one job than you ever could be solo, and nurturing a supportive relationship with a partner who’s got your back in work and life? Now, picture yourself doing all of this while having the freedom and flexibility to live life on your terms. This, my friends, is the rewarding life of job sharing.

Listen in because the time to make your next bold move for your career and life is now! Your job share is just waiting to transform your life

Links Mentioned:

• GRAB YOUR SPOT FOR JUST $27!! Doors are Open for Jobshare Jumpstart: A LIVE Job Share Creation Bootcamp 
• The Work Muse Guide to Job Sharing
• DM me on Instagram @workmuse
• DM me on LinkedIn
• workmuse.com

Episode Website: workmuse.com/13
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

• Join our weekly newsletter (biweekly this summer!): workmuse.com/newsletter
• DM me on Instagram @workmuse
• DM me on LinkedIn

Episode Website: workmuse.com/12
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

• Fast Company article: Is Job Sharing the Solution to Our Flexible Work Problems?

Episode Website: workmuse.com/11
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Links mentioned:

• Last Day to Enroll in Job Share Academy: Details & Enroll HERE

Episode Website: workmuse.com/10
Transcript here

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

"You can be ambitious AND you can spend a lot of time with your family AND you can be successful, you just have to figure out HOW you want to do it and WHO you want to do it with. Job Share Academy opened my eyes to the fact that it can look a lot of ways. If you're willing to put in the work, you can make something cool happen."  - Elizabeth McQueen

Work Muse online training & coaching program Job Share Academy is taken in a supportive, hands-on cohort, including weekly group coaching with yours truly. The doors to Job Share Academy have just opened up for a limited-time enrollment. If you are curious about what taking the program is like, Elizabeth gives an in-depth view into what taking the program looks like, on a practical basis in Episode 9.

Job Share Academy student Elizabeth McQueen talks with me about her experience inside of the program and how she used job sharing first in a volunteer role as PTA Co-President, and then, in her current role as a co-host and co-producer of Pause Play podcast for KUTX. Elizabeth was curious about the idea of job sharing and how it could help her manage the partnership that she had, but also how she might apply job sharing to her life in the future.

Links mentioned:

• Limited-Time FREE Masterclass Signup: 3 Insider Secrets to Share Your Job and Lose the Guilt of Putting Work First or Family First—Forever
• Pause/Play podcast
• CultureMap Austin: Austin music podcast tackles Ticketmaster, climate, and more in new season

Episode Website: workmuse.com/9
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Their job share proved a solid succession planning strategy for their employer, while giving both better mental and physical health.

When you think of job sharing, you might not have considered sharing a job with a partner whose background is very different from yours. It was a pleasure to interview my guest co-hosts Mary Kaye Stuart and Sommer Hruska in Episode 8, not only because they are Work Muse clients, or because I go back a long time with Mary Kaye, but because their job share is such a beautiful example of an intergenerational or cross-generational job share—in this case, pairing a Boomer and a Gen Xer. The duo credits their generational differences with making their job share more effective. 

Mary Kaye and Sommer detail how they navigated their relationships with clients and coworkers, and why if they loved their jobs, they decided to job share in the first place. A doctor's sage advice for longevity and a young mother's determination to find more time for her children and homestead might have been the impetus. However, job sharing led both Mary Kaye and Sommer to enjoy other parts of life society "doesn't deem as worthy" like exploring passions such as writing and being truly present with one's children and self. 

In our live-to-work society, Mary Kaye and Sommer's story is the wake-up call many of us need and makes the case for considering different ways to work like sharing roles.


Links mentioned:

• Jobshare Jumpstart: A LIVE Job Share Creation Bootcamp 

Episode Website: workmuse.com/8
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

• The Job Share Project Key Findings

Episode Website: workmuse.com/7
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

• FREE Guided Audio Visualization Exercise (to accompany Episode 6)
• Work Muse Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Group

Episode Website: workmuse.com/6
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

They thought about it for years—corporate turned entrepreneurial job share team Gabriela Mercado and Gabriela Proctor open up about how they persisted for their job share's approval and what they'd do differently today, so you don't have to. 

You might be surprised to learn how job sharing can positively impact your career and income. Tapping into one another's strengths gave the duo the "perfect formula" for career success so much so that, unbelievably, the minute GX2 (their job share nickname)  began job sharing, not only did they make more income than working full-time, but the job itself became a fun adventure.  

In episode 5, GX2 shares how they took their job share from the corporate world into their entrepreneurial journey. The duo expands upon how job sharing impacted their household labor and Mental Load while allowing them to lean into the parts of parenting they enjoyed most but were previously unable to do, like volunteering for field trips once they found themselves able to "move through both worlds fully and more intentionally."

GX2's message to you: Educate yourself, create a plan to job share, but don't wait—instead, go for it.

Links mentioned:

• Work Muse Job Share Project Case Study Videos

Episode Website: workmuse.com/5
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

• Work Muse Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work Facebook Group

Episode Website: workmuse.com/4
Transcript here.

Send Melissa a Text Message.

>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTS

Thank you for supporting my bootstrapped social good company and mission! 

“I love Melissa and Jobshare Revolution.” <– If that sounds like you, please consider leaving me a 5⭐ rating and review! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5⭐ , and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This helps me support more people—just like you—to find TRUE work-life balance. 🙌🙌  

Karen Browning reads her pandemic resignation letter and opens up about being forced to choose between career and caregiving at the height of the pandemic.

In the summer of 2021, Karen summoned up the courage to vulnerably and transparently spell out what she had needed from her employer and what they could have done to keep her in her letter of resignation—in the hopes of helping those coming behind her at her organization. Today, she's sharing her letter with you should you ever need the same.

In Episode 3, Karen sat down with me for a frank discussion about her experience, what women are facing now, and what they can do about it. As a society, we tend to push through difficult times without taking sufficient time to reflect. While the pandemic is behind us, as Karen says, "We are so different on the other side." An optimist at heart, I believe, as does Karen, that it changed us for the better. As we face a tipping point with layoffs and chronic stress, you can learn a lot from Karen's experience about putting yourself first and creating the life you deserve.

UPDATE: 4/24/24 - Deloitte just released its 2024 Women @ Work Global Study and once again, women feel MORE stress now than one year before, and an "always on" culture remains.

Links mentioned:

• Work Muse Job Share, Live Life & Slay Work Facebook Community 

Episode Website: workmuse.com/3
Transcript here.

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>> Grab your Summertime Reading Playlist 📚 HERE <<  your perfect beach reading material to kickstart your job share plan! 👙☀️🏖  While everyone else is checking out for summer and abandoning their goals, you'll be ready to make your BIG moves come back-to-school time! 📈👩🏽‍💻

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