A Year Into Life After Being a W2

One year ago this week, I got laid off for the first time.

I don't know if that's why I've been paying more attention to the "open to work" posts lately, or if I'm just always looking for ways to connect those people to someone in my network. Whatever it is, it got me thinking back to what exactly one year ago actually felt like.

I want to be honest about what that stretch actually felt like. I learned a lot at that company, and I genuinely mean that.

This time last year was just weird. I knew my time was coming to an end, and the strange part was that one of the MANY feelings underneath everything was relief. Not because I wanted to be laid off. Of course nobody wants that, and it's way too common in our industry for anyone to want more of it. But there's a specific kind of tiredness that comes from waiting for the other shoe to drop, and once I knew it was coming, at least I was finally done waiting for it.

At Swaay 2025, I had the absolute pleasure of connecting with Abdul Rastagar with Sirona Marketing for the first time. He’s an amazing human and shared something super insightful that I still think about and still pass along as his wise words. He said there was a point where being a W2 employee was such a coveted thing. And then somewhere along the way, being a W2 basically turned into being a contractor with benefits, because no job or company is untouched anymore. Whether it's an obvious, news-making layoff, a quiet one, or just a role that quietly never gets backfilled, I don't think there's a company out there today that's fully safe from it.

2026 W2: A contractor with benefits.

In my "trip around the sun" post, I shared Azul Heart formally there for the first time. This picks up right where that story left off, because I've been on a real journey over the past several months, and it has been so freaking amazing. Like, seriously. The gratitude I have for where I am right now, and for the people who I've gotten to know along the way, who've taught me things and helped shape what I'm building, it's a lot. And yes, I’ve shed happy, grateful tears over the past year. (The best tears happen in places like a poolside lunch at HIMSS with an old friend. I just am very emotional lol.)

So here are a few of the lessons that come to mind when I look back.

Lesson 1: Unemployment math is really scary.

Once I knew I was getting laid off, but that I'd be staying on through my company's acquisition, I felt so much relief. Having a landing point, even a temporary one, changed the whole experience. The first thing to figure out was the unemployment math. I asked someone on my team who'd been laid off earlier that year, gently, if she didn't mind sharing what she'd been getting. She told me $1,050 a week. I was pleasantly surprised at that number and filed that away as roughly what I'd get too. Fast forward to a short time later when I found out unemployment isn't federal, it's state by state (who knew-not me), and Ohio's number was more like $650 a week. Once I ran the actual math, I knew that wasn't going to cover it. Unemployment just isn't designed for people like me, and probably not for a lot of you reading this either. When you don't have a severance sitting underneath you, that gap is SCARY, as some of you reading this know all too well.

When all of that really hit me, I had a few genuinely dark days. I remember being on a call with someone at the time who asked me point blank what was wrong, because I looked so reserved and despondent, such a departure from my normal self. Sitting with all the feelings was hard - but necessary.

Lesson 2: Don’t let fear guide you.

But before I get to that lesson, I think it actually started years before this layoff ever happened. A little backstory, because as I like to say (and Drew Madden may start saying now too,) "long story long." I left my town's public schools after a genuinely good run through elementary and junior high, where I was not bullied, I had good friends, was liked, and by every normal measure there was zero reason to leave. And I chose to go to a Catholic high school instead, for basically no reason other than a billboard I saw. (Hello, marketing! ) would give a lot to get inside 8th grade Amy's brain and understand how she landed on that idea, ran with it, and actually followed through. But if I'm honest, that's kind of always been my pattern. See something, feel something, follow it, and figure out the rest as I go.

That's the same instinct I found myself leaning on again last year, just older, and this time doing actual spreadsheet math instead of following a billboard. Eighth grade Amy didn't have a plan, she just wasn't letting fear be the one making the decision. Losing my job could have easily handed fear the wheel instead. Despite the impact unemployment had on me, I kept coming back to something my very wise friend Maureen Nylin MSN RN, CHCIO, PMP, CDH-E told me: don't let fear guide you. I absolutely remember both hearing that...and also thinking, "ok, but that's easier said than done." But wow, was she right. Fear guides you to make decisions for the wrong reasons. And had I let fear guide me, I would be in a very different place than I am today.

I had one consulting opportunity locked in for at least September, and I fully acknowledge how privileged I am in saying this: the amount I'd have made from that would have offset whatever I got from unemployment anyway, so I didn't ever apply. Instead, I got fortunate again. Once I saw the writing on the wall, I did what I'd tell anyone smart to do, and I widened my networking calls to include the "hey, is there any chance you need help" version of the conversation. A friend from two jobs back was at a Series B startup that needed help standing up their events and industry associations work, and that turned into a real engagement.

People have told me over this past year how "brave" it was to start my own business. I have absolutely brushed that off, but looking back now, I think the real story is how incredibly fortunate I was to have not one but two clients start the very next day after the old job ended.

Lesson 3: Lead with confidence.

I remember being at HLTH in October, still in the very early days of this (TBH these are still VERY much the early days) catching up with Aamir Siddiqi when Ajay Kapare joined the conversation. I led with the longer version of my story, getting laid off and now consulting. Ajay stopped me mid-sentence and said something along the lines of, “getting laid off doesn’t need to be part of your story.” That one landed hard, and it's just one of so many little pieces of wisdom I've been picking up along the way. (And yes I realize the irony in sharing this story about getting laid off after Ajay's advice 😆)

My actual last day was pretty anticlimactic. I already had that day scheduled off, because I'm on my golf league's party planning committee, and we always kick off Labor Day weekend early with a Thursday night golf, lake, and girls night. So the photo attached here is from that day, which happened to be my last day as a W2 employee. Maybe forever. Maybe not. Who's to say. 🤷🏼♀️

Last year around this time, I was just starting to take my own power back, quietly, in ways I don't think I even fully recognized while it was happening. Building confidence along the way, sometimes because someone told me directly, sometimes because I had to infer it myself. Finding incredible clients and business partners. Finding growth in learning how to say no just because it didn’t feel right, even with real upsides attached.

I have continued to notice how good things come from leading with confidence. Sometimes it comes from saving a client's biggest marketing investment of the year. Sometimes it's from crushing a meeting, or from the pure joy of connecting two people who were destined to know each other. It can even come from being okay changing your mind when you get new information, which, hello, I'm actively trying to rid myself of being defensive, and that's been a theme across my whole life, lol. And sometimes it comes from making decisions based on beliefs and principle instead of the easy path, and trusting that I've learned enough from the people who came before me to know the difference.

Lesson 4: There is REAL power in connection.

None of this started the week I got laid off. The network I leaned on a year ago was one I'd been unintentionally building for years while I was still a W2, showing up to conferences, saying yes to the coffee chat, staying in touch with people 'just because.' didn't build it because I saw a layoff coming. I built it because I genuinely like people, and it turns out that's not something you can build overnight the week you actually need it.

And in this AI moment we're all living through...sure, AI can write the email, build the deck, summarize the meeting. But relationships and networking might be the one thing on this list that's actually AI-proof, at least the kind that's built slowly, over years, with no immediate ask attached.

I've kept building the community and experiences that led me here, 365ish days post layoff. That's meant meeting people who, within a few conversations, feel like I've known them for years, and learning what it feels like to connect with someone on a real level instead of something surface level. It's meant bonding with people over shared beliefs about healthcare, and getting an up close, painful look at what a rural nursing home actually is like, through my gram's passing. It's meant talking to others who've been impacted by layoffs too, some days sharing hope, other days just wallowing right alongside them, because both of those are honest and both of those matter. And at the center of all of it, it's meant blending my two real passions, relationships and healthcare, into what Azul Heart is now

The Busy, Happy Kind of Tired

I am, without question, the busiest I have ever been in my life. I remember Maureen once telling Mike Mosquito, CHCIO, MBA, PMP, CDH-E not to work so late. Well, hiiiii, here I am (literally past midnight as I type) and several times, I've stayed up into the wee hours of the morning working over this past year.

But somehow, it’s not feelings of tiredness. Sure, there are big feelings of being overwhelmed... and always the thought of "how am I going to get all this done!?!?!" But it’s different now, because I'm building something I believe in and am so incredibly excited about. Even my mom told me recently, "you just seem happier." I want everyone reading this to know that you. can. build. something. too. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

10 out of 10, would recommend building something of your own, though I'd be lying if I said the relationships I already had weren't doing a lot of the heavy lifting. I love learning from the people who came before me in this industry, and I love even more finding people I get to bring along with me on this ride. And when one of those people, someone who is technically an employee of mine now (even if it's really a 1099 situation but does that even matter?) started from a connection with an industry friend and turned into a life-long one, it makes the whole thing feel even better.

At the end of the day, I have a genuinely huge amount of passion for healthcare and equitable access for all. And what I want more than anything is to help change healthcare, and to convene the people, communities, organizations, and companies who are out here trying to do the same thing.

Rising Tides Lift All Ships

Part of the solution is helping the people behind those "open to work" posts. Julie Irving, a recent Swaay connection, is doing that from a grassroots angle with an awesome digital presence. Abdul has a great job seekers network / give-back approach, too. And if you're a GTM/sales person who's looking, or even if you're not, Echelon Collective is worth knowing about.

So here's my ask: if you're currently looking for a new role, comment below with what you're looking for. There's real power in eyeballs seeing this. If you're interested in networking, send me a DM. And if you're figuring out what's next and think a fractional or consulting relationship might be part of that answer while you sort it out, definitely let me know, because I will sing from the mountaintops that working for myself has been the most fulfilling thing I've ever done.

The last eighteen months have been a transformation, both personally and professionally, and I'm genuinely glad to be here. Thanks for reading, and if you made it this far, chances are you've been part of this journey already, reading along through some of these long-story-long posts of mine. 😬 I appreciate you. 🫶🏼