This Career Pivot Playbook features Chloe Markham, the writer behind Joyful.
She didn’t set out to build a nervous system-focused business.
She was trying to build a life that didn’t leave her exhausted.
Her early career followed a familiar pattern. Different roles. Better pay. No real sense of fit.
So she left and built something of her own.
A yoga studio. Full classes. Waitlists. A strong community.
From the outside, it worked.
But the model came with a cost.
Long weeks, constant output, and burnout that kept returning
…until everything stopped.
The pandemic forced Chloe into making a decision. Stay with the studio or change direction completely.
She chose to change it.
What followed was not a smooth transition. It was a period of breakdown, rebuilding, and decisions that did not always make sense at the time.
Inside her interview, Chloe shares what changed when she moved her work online, why she stepped away from the traditional model, and how she built a business around a more specific problem.
She also talks about writing, leaving social platforms, and what happened when she went all in on Substack.
This is not a clean pivot.
It is what happens when you evolving your work long enough to find what fits.
If your career looks right on the surface but feels off underneath, this one is worth a read.
✨About Career Pivot Playbooks
A public archive of modern career blueprints…
Most careers no longer follow a straight line.
People pivot gradually.
They extend their work beyond institutions.
They combine roles, platforms, and income streams.
Career Pivot Playbooks is a weekly series curated by Katharine Gallagher documenting how professionals build resilient, future-ready careers by turning existing skills into income, often combining Substack with consulting, teaching, research, creative work, or business ownership.
The focus isn’t outcomes.
It’s about how careers are shaped in practice.
About Chloe
Chloe Markham is the writer behind Joyful, a Substack for sensitive, high-achieving people who are tired of living in constant overwhelm and want to feel better in their own lives.
A yoga teacher and nervous system coach, Chloe moved from running a busy in-person studio to building a quieter, online business focused on regulation, energy, and joy. Her work now centres on helping people shift out of survival mode and into something more sustainable.
She writes for people who look like they are coping on the outside but feel exhausted underneath. She writes for those who know something needs to change, but do not want another system that pushes them harder.
You can follow her work here →
Chloe reflects:
“Can you share a bit about your professional background and the path that led you to where you are today?”
It’s the classic tale, isn’t it: I worked in corporate and quit everything to become a yoga teacher. Except that particular corporate gig was just one in a line of many.
After graduating with a Marine Geography degree from Cardiff Uni, I worked offshore as a hydrographic surveyor. Hated that, so then I worked as a marketing exec. As an office manager. A copywriter. A marketer…
But I became overwhelmingly despondent. The money for some of these jobs was brilliant, but I was deeply miserable. The stereotypical turning point came when I qualified as a yoga teacher in 2016, began teaching, and had waitlists and queues out the door within six months.
I opened a studio in 2018 and it quickly became a thriving community — packed classes, loyal clients, and a real sense that I’d finally built something meaningful. Today yoga is still part of my work, but it’s just one of the tools I use in helping women find their magic and their joy.
“What sign, moment, or slow realization told you it was time to diversify, and what did you have to push through to actually act on it?”
The Covid pandemic was a slap-in-the-face overnight realisation that I needed to pivot. I’d been running my studio in York, my hometown, for about a 18-months, and it was starting to turn an actual profit. Then March 2020 came.
I shifted our classes online overnight, and within a couple of months I was forced to make the decision whether to commit to the studio, or change my entire business model. I chose the lesser of two evils: I changed the business model.
That shift was the start of a few years of upheaval. I left a toxic relationship not long after, and I kept my business going by the skin of its teeth as I totally broke down. But from that rock-bottom I was able to rethink what I want this whole thing to be.
Before 2020 I was teaching around 14 hours of yoga a week and burning out every couple of months. But now I’m running a successful online nervous-system-focused business, helping women shift from survival to thriving in my easy going style.
“Which skills or experiences from your previous career unexpectedly became an advantage in what you do now?”
I wouldn’t say I’ve had a previous career as such — it was all so random as I searched for meaning in my work — but working in marketing and as a copywriter has been unbelievably lucky for me. To run your own business is to wear every hat ever made, it seems. To have marketing and copywriting abilities is a huge advantage, and for that I’m grateful every day.
“How did you decide where to build visibility or credibility (Substack or elsewhere), and what role does that platform play in your overall career or income mix?”
I slogged away for years on the traditional social platforms. And I’d say that contributed to my many burnout episodes. I’ve never felt aligned with them, and it was only in 2024, following the advice of a great coach I had at the time, to experiment with Substack. I was a writer, after all, and that’s the platform for writers.
It wasn’t long before I ditched everything else and decided to go all in on Substack as my prime social platform, and it worked. In less than a year my audience grew by over 300%. Using only Substack and no traditional social platform isn’t only a smart idea for me energy-wise and growth-wise, but it feels like integrity: if I’m helping women step out of burnout and survival mode, building my own business somewhere calmer and slower made far more sense than trying to win the social media attention game, which is way more toxic than we give it credit for.
“Who is your work really for, and what problem do you solve so well that people are willing to pay for it?”
I help brilliant, sensitive, high-achieving women who are burned out and stuck in survival mode find relief and joy again.
Through nervous system restoration and joyful practices, I help them get their energy back, shift their perspective, and start living a life that actually feels good.
Because life’s too short to spend it exhausted.
“What turned out to be harder than you expected when you started… and what was easier than you imagined?”
What’s been harder than I imagined has been a trusting of my gut. Trusting my gut when it told me to close my successful yoga studio and move online. When I shifted away from a yoga studio model. When I left that relationship.
If I told my younger self, even just a 5-year-younger self, that I’d be coaching and supporting and writing the things I do today, I wouldn’t have believed it. It’s taken a lot longer than I imagined to lean into my magic fully. A decade, honestly. And it’s been nothing but learning. Every pivot — moving online, focusing on nervous system work, going all-in on Substack — required trusting instincts that didn’t always look or feel conventional.
Something easier than I imagined? I’m not sure about this one. Although I would say that waking up every day and running my own schedule (I’m currently on a train as I write heading to see a friend who needs some support) is the biggest joy of working for myself. I wouldn’t go back.
“How have you found the journey? What advice/strategies and tips would you give to others wanting to grow their audiences?”
A joy, honestly. I’d say persistence is your biggest superpower with any angle of your business, really, but certainly Substack. Be persistent with Notes, with your writing, trust your voice, don’t worry about what everyone else is doing or the crap that everyone sells that claims to make you go ‘viral’. Just show up, be consistent, and Substack will reward you.
“What nearly made you quit, and what actually kept you going?”
Leaving a toxic relationship, moving in with my mum, closing my brick and mortar studio and feeling the loss of clients post-pandemic… that’s been tough. Really tough. What kept me going, honestly, was always a desire to do things my own way and help women like me find more joy again. So I kept going. I pivoted and pivoted and pivoted again. And it’s that persistence that’s got me where I am today.
“What advice would you give to someone considering a similar pivot or looking to monetize their skills in a more flexible way?”
Do it. I mean, be conscious of your responsibilities and financial situation, but experiment immediately. Weekends or evenings or whatever: test it out, see what happens, and follow what feels good. If it’s just about money, I’m not saying it’ll fail, but it won’t do as well for you in your life compared to a project that you believe in down to your bones. That’s what keeps us going, I think.
“What other platforms, audiences, or income streams are part of your portfolio career… and how do they work together?”
As well as my Joyful membership and signature program, Joy Unplugged, I also work with a handful of founders and entrepreneurs, helping them run their businesses like sane, calm, regulated humans.
“Looking back, what’s one decision that changed everything… and what’s next for you?”
Leaving that relationship, probably. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I stayed. Leaving him allowed me to learn what trusting myself feels like again. Hard journey, but a totally joyful one.
What’s next? Who knows, eh?! But there’s definitely in-person collectives in the future of what I do, because there’s nothing I love more than running an actual real-life party.
For now, though, I’m focusing on making Joy Unplugged and my paid membership impactful and life-bettering and I’ll see where that takes me. I’m definitely one for keeping things fluid! The only constant is helping people live with more joy and a calmer nervous system — the shape that takes will always keep evolving.
Links & Resources
Connect with Chloe:
Joy Unplugged: https://www.chloemarkham.co.uk/joy-unplugged
Her website: https://www.chloemarkham.co.uk/
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I’m Katharine — a future-focused career strategist helping professionals build income options and stay relevant as work evolves.
🙏 I appreciate you being here and supporting this growing archive… and thank you to all the creators who contribute, it’s such a pleasure to learn from them.
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This article was awesome! Thank you Katharine for putting this together! I loved readying about Chloe’s pivots and subscribed to her page!
Such a joy to connect with you on this, Katharine! Thanks so much for having me 😊