Is this your exit?

If you’re still in advertising, chances are you’ve considered what’s next.

I’ve had more conversations than I can count lately that start with:

“So I think I might be done with advertising.”

Not burned out. Not bitter. Just… done. The kind of done that happens at the quiet end of a relationship when you can’t even be mad, because you can’t muster the energy to care.

It’s not because they stopped loving the work. But because the work stopped loving them back.

They’re watching the job market shrink, the roles get squidgier, the budgets get tighter. And when something does open up, the question is less “am I qualified?” and more “do I even want this?”

It’s a weird time. Especially for people who grew up in the industry when it was full of promise. Full of magic. Full of misfits who could make ideas happen at scale—and get paid for it.

To be clear, I don’t think the industry is done. And I’m not here to tell you it is time to move on. If you are happy, fulfilled, and on a team where you are seen, hold onto it, evolve it, grow with it. You are the ones at the helm of what’s next. But if the growing pains are breaking your spirit, it might be time to ask: what did advertising give you and where else could that take you?

Nobody got into advertising because they dreamed of shipping deck revisions at 11PM. We came because we were obsessed with culture, with craft, with connecting to people in ways that made them feel something… and maybe even do something.

We wanted to travel the world. Work with incredible talent and famous directors. Build things people talked about. Be challenged, constantly, to entertain while solving real business problems.

We wanted to make things that mattered.

To be part of something fiercely creative.

To work with the weirdos.

To be the weirdo.

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And now?

Now the briefs are smaller.

The expectations are delusional.

The leadership is distracted.

The middle is gutted.

And AI is knocking on every double-booked phone booth.

The magic? It’s still there but the margins for finding it are razor thin. And a lot of the people who gave this industry their best years are not-so-quietly wondering… what now? Do I get my yoga certification and drop out entirely? Do I become a director at a time when the film and entertainment industry seems to be faring about as well as advertising?

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What you learned here still matters

Before you spiral, you have to know: You are not starting from scratch.

If you’ve worked in advertising, you’ve learned how to:

• Synthesize chaos into clarity
  

• Think like a strategist and act like a producer
  

• Present, persuade, and pitch under pressure
  

• Lead teams through ambiguity
  

• Tell the truth with style
  

• Work the problem until it gives

These are not small things. These are things the rest of the working world wishes it had.

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So where are people going?

They’re leaving but they’re not disappearing. They’re showing up as:

• Brand leads inside companies that want storytelling from the source
  

• Product strategists at startups who need that “what’s the insight here” lens
  

• Experience designers translating consumer empathy into tools and services
  

• Consultants and coaches using creative problem solving in a whole new context
  

• Creative entrepreneurs building the thing they could never sell in a pitch

Some stay close to the work.

Others go where they feel more useful.

All of them carry that ad DNA wherever they go.

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How do you make the leap?

You don’t need a total reinvention. You need a runway.

Give yourself six months.

While you’ve still got a job, start testing some new muscles.

• Consult on the side.
  

• Take a class you’re curious about.
  

• Write the thing. Make the thing.
  

• Join the room where your voice isn’t just tolerated—it’s wanted.

And when you tell your story? Play up your ad career and translate it.

Because “I led integrated campaigns” becomes

→ “I managed complex cross-functional teams on a deadline.”

And “I pitched ideas to global clients” becomes

→ “I shaped strategy and sold vision at the executive level.”

You didn’t just “do ads.” You moved people to action. You solved problems creatively. You worked inside wild constraints and still made something that hit.

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This isn’t quitting. It’s evolving.

The people I know leaving advertising aren’t doing it because they stopped caring.

They left because the parts of themselves they loved most—their curiosity, their intuition, their intensity—deserved better margins. More meaning. A softer place to land.

If you’re asking yourself, Is this my exit?

Maybe you’re not walking away from something.

Maybe you’re walking toward it.

And only good things come from walking in alignment toward a future that loves you back.