The Corporate Escapee
ABOUT THIS PODCAST 🔗 Hey, I’m Brett Trainor – corporate escapee, business builder, and your GenX guide to life after corporate. After 25+ years in corporate, I realized the system wasn’t built for freedom or happiness. Now I’ve dedicated my life to helping other GenXers escape—and find both. I’m also a student of the game. I research ideas, trends, and opportunities so you don’t have to—then bring you the best strategies, shortcuts, and stories to accelerate your escape. This show covers: • Real stories from GenXers who escaped corporate (and how they did it). • Practical ways to make money using your corporate skills. • Solo business building—from lifestyle businesses to scalable companies • Fresh business ideas and revenue models worth testing. • Simple playbooks to land your first customer fast. • Mindset and freedom lessons from experts, authors, and other escapees. Sometimes I’ll chat with another escapee or subject matter expert, sometimes I’ll share lessons from my own journey. I’ve made the mistakes (so you don’t have to) and built playbooks to make your escape faster, smarter, and less risky. If you’re a GenX professional tired of office politics, layoffs, or waiting for corporate to quit you—this show is for you. Let’s help you escape corporate and Get Busy Living.
Show episodes
$5K in 48 Hours: Turning Your Experience into a Service Offering with AI (Michael Himmelfarb)
GenX Escapees: this one’s your playbook. Michael Himmelfarb (multi-time guest and early Escapee OG) breaks down how to productize a fast, high-value, AI-enhanced consulting offer—think $5K in 48 hours—by letting AI handle the heavy lifting while you deliver the human superpowers clients actually pay for: judgment, crea
About this episode In this solo “CliffsNotes” episode, Brett breaks down how to actually make money from your corporate experience — not theory, not startup fantasy — just 17 real ways GenXers are doing it (plus 2 bonus options if you’ve got some capital to invest). Whether you’re still in corporate wondering if there’
The Ignorance Tax: How to Build a Lean, Automated Solo Business with Paul Durelli
Paul Durelli returns to The Corporate Escapee Podcast one year after his first appearance to share what’s changed, what’s working, and where he sees the biggest opportunities for corporate and medical professionals looking to escape traditional systems. In this conversation, Brett and Paul explore how AI, automation, a
If your “great job” feels increasingly empty, this one’s for you. Former corporate leader Lisa Petrilli (Medline/Baxter) shares a practical approach to discovering your Life Quest—the next chapter where purpose, agency, and freedom replace autopilot. We dig into choice vs. circumstance, how to reframe fear and uncertai
Local First, Personal Always: Selling Solo to Small Business Owners (with Robert Lock)
Robert Lock went from corporate sales leadership to running supply chain during COVID—then used that “between lanes” moment to launch his own firm, Buffalo Mountain Sales Strategies. In this episode, he and Brett dig into how GenX escapees can win clients by going local-first and relationship-heavy, not enterprise-styl
When I first interviewed Jesse Cole—the man in the yellow tux and founder of the Savannah Bananas—the team had just started selling out games in Savannah. Fast forward to today, and the Bananas are a global sports and entertainment phenomenon: • A ticket waitlist of more than 3 million people • Stadiums of 70–80,000 fa
