Meet Karen Rosenfeld

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Karen Rosenfeld a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Karen, really appreciate you joining us to talk about a really relevant, albeit unfortunate topic – layoffs and getting fired. Can you talk to us about your experience and how you overcame being let go?
Like many people, I was laid off in 2020 from my 9-5 accounting position. I was of course devastated, but it was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was unhappy for a long time and was planning on a way to leave to work in a more creative field, and for myself, but I was a long time away from actually being able to do that. I spent the rest of the year still applying to new accounting positions and taking the break to try and heal the years of burnout I was experiencing previously. It finally hit me that this is my time to make what I want to happen. Since then, I have learned so many new skills and was able to create a foundation for my business. Getting laid off was the catalyst that helped me realize and start working toward what was actually important to me in life.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My two favorite things are traveling and photography. Of course, I found a way to combine them! I am a photographer, filmmaker, traveler, writer, graphic and web designer, and so much more. As you can probably guess, I keep myself pretty busy. I can’t help but think of new ideas and dive headfirst into them.

I have been a photographer for 15+ years and specialize in documentary-style photography. Throughout those years my interests expanded to filmmaking, graphic design, and web design. Naturally, when I started traveling, my camera came along with me. I fell in love with seeing parts of the world I hadn’t seen before and experiencing things different from my normal. So far, I have traveled to 17 countries and 20 US states, and I am always looking for new places to explore. Photography has always made that exploration even more fun and helped me end up in places I would have least expected. There is something about a camera being in your hand that pushes you to explore that hidden spot, walk that extra mile, and improve your patience when waiting for something amazing.

This is how I came up with the concept of The Everyday Adventure. When you start to think of everything as an adventure, it makes life a little more exciting. I help with everything travel. From before your trip to after, and everything in between! My goal is to help others realize that they can do the same. It wasn’t that long ago for me that I thought traveling abroad was something I would never get to do. I’m so excited to see where my business and I both end up in the future.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three qualities of mine that I think helped me most over the years are that I am eager to learn, I’m resilient, and I have a proactive mindset. I have so much fun learning and always want to know something new. This helped me continue down different paths on my journey along with finding myself on other paths as a happy accident. Resilience helped me so much when one of those paths didn’t work out. Everything isn’t going to go the way that you intended, but the most important thing is when that happens, don’t let that discourage you. Move on to the next thing. Lastly, being proactive enabled me to set clear goals and have initiative within my projects. The best advice I have for someone early in their journey is to make a plan but be okay with things not going the way you thought they would go. Being able to quickly react and go in another, possibly better, direction than before is the best thing you can do instead of just giving up.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
I am completely a type A personality, which is great for productivity and setting goals. However, this quickly comes along with feeling overwhelmed and becoming burnt out. I’ve become much better at recognizing when this is starting to happen along with implementing ways to better balance my work so this is less of a recurring issue. It can still happen though. When I do start feeling overwhelmed, there are a couple of things that really help me. Lists are my best friend. If I feel like there is too much going on and I feel like I can’t make sense of it, or I feel like there is too much to do, I make a list. This helps a lot by giving me a chance to check things off as I finish tasks, giving me a sense of accomplishment. It also gives me the ability to stop for a second and reevaluate what has to be done so I can pivot accordingly.

If all else fails, I just stop everything and take a break. Whatever it is can wait. Sometimes just stopping and watching TV or doing something fun for 30 minutes, or the entire evening is just what I need. Now if that fails, maybe take that as a sign that something needs to give. It’s okay to take a break from a project, or completely give up on something that is only stressing you out.

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