What happens when the job you thought would carry you to the finish line disappears overnight?Two months into what she believed would be her final role, Merry Korn was let go. She was a single parent with two teenagers, college tuition looming, and no clear path forward. The fear was real. The pressure was immediate. Staying in bed was not an option.What followed was not an overnight success story. It was a series of hard conversations, informational interviews, small courageous steps, and a refusal to surrender. From those early survival decisions, Merry went on to found and scale a for-profit social enterprise that employed more than 1,300 people across 30 states, prioritizing jobs for people with severe disabilities, disabled veterans, and individuals living in the most impoverished communities.Merry shares how to:Move forward when fear feels paralyzingUse informational interviews as a career and business growth strategyAlign work with purpose instead of contorting yourself to fit the wrong environmentBuild a mission-driven company that attracts high-quality talentCreate simple rituals that protect presence at homeLead with values when rebuilding after a professional setbackTurn survival mode into meaningful, scalable impactDig DeeperPearl Interactive NetworkBergen-BelsenSchindler's ListBarneyCrazy by Patsy ClineFollow MerryOn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merrykornOn X: https://X.com/korn_merry45334On Instagram: https://instagram.com/mpearlkornOn Facebook: https://facebook.com/firedtoinspiredOn her website, Fired to Inspired: https://firedtoinspired.comFollow Gap to GigOn Instagram: instagram.com/gaptogigOn TikTok: tiktok.com/@gaptogigOn X: x.com/gaptogigOn YouTube: youtube.com/@gaptogig-gtgOn your podcast player of choice: https://rss.com/podcasts/gaptogig/Sign up for the Gap to Gig newsletter: gaptogig.comFollow MichaelOn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themichaeljacobs/