Build Your Own Boat

After two decades as a talent acquisition executive at Fortune 500 companies, Chelle Johnson found herself successful on paper — and spiritually depleted in practice. In 2019, she made the leap: she launched Best You Talent Advisors, a fractional talent advisory firm, and never looked back. This episode is a masterclass in what it actually takes to build a sustainable business in midlife — the real financial timeline, the client development grind, the pivots, and the mental fitness work that makes it all possible.

Chelle doesn't sugarcoat the first three years — including the year she earned a third of her corporate salary, deferred her mortgage, and still kept going. She walks us through how she built a referral-driven consulting practice, grew Colorado Career Connectors to serve over 6,000 job seekers, and evolved her offerings to focus on what she calls holistic talent operations and executive coaching — grounded in a framework of head, heart, soul, strategy, and wisdom.

If you're a woman over 50 wondering whether your experience is enough to build something of your own, Chelle Johnson's answer — backed by a fleet she built herself — is an unequivocal yes.

Chelle Johnson is the founder and CEO of Best You Talent Advisors, a fractional talent advisory and executive coaching firm based in Denver, Colorado. A first-generation college student who double-majored in Spanish and organizational development, Chelle went on to earn an MBA from one of the country's top international business schools, live and work in Japan and Latin America, and build a 20-year corporate career in talent acquisition at major companies including Sonora Quest Laboratories.

In 2019, after reaching the top of her field and feeling her soul being crushed, she left corporate life to build her own. Best You Talent Advisors brings Fortune 50-level HR expertise to growing companies on a fractional basis, and her coaching practice — grounded in a framework she calls Career DNA (head, heart, soul, strategy, and wisdom) — helps executives and professionals at career crossroads find clarity, build mental fitness, and move forward with intention.

Chelle also founded Colorado Career Connectors (now Best You Career Connectors), a community that has helped more than 6,000 people navigate career transitions. She has served as a trusted advisor for Vistage, the nation's leading CEO peer advisory organization, and was named an exclusive Forbes recruiter for Colorado. She speaks Spanish and Japanese and once led a group of women on a transformational walk of El Camino de Santiago through Spain and Portugal.

Fractional talent acquisition means hiring an experienced HR or recruiting professional to work with your company on a part-time, contracted basis — typically 10 to 15 hours per week — rather than bringing on a full-time employee. Companies get Fortune 500-level expertise at a fraction of the cost. Chelle Johnson's fractional clients have saved over $400,000 in recruitment fees with a single project management firm and more than $50,000 in three months with a women's healthcare company.

Chelle Johnson's experience is consistent with what many first-time entrepreneurs report: year one brought in about a third of her previous corporate salary; year two she paid off a deferred mortgage and took a tax loan; year three was when she hit her stride. The turning point came from a combination of growing confidence, client testimonials, a clearer niche, and the post-COVID surge in demand for fractional recruiting. She advises that having a financial cushion, a supportive partner, and a business coach can make the difference between making it through the lean years and giving up.

Chelle's entire early client base came from her existing professional network — people who already knew, liked, and trusted her. She supplemented that with a deliberate social media strategy (including hiring a social media manager), consistent speaking at chambers of commerce and women's organizations, a weekly newsletter, and rigorous follow-up. She notes that it now takes approximately 13 touch points to convert a prospect and emphasizes that the willingness to follow up repeatedly — without apology — is one of the most underleveraged skills among women entrepreneurs.

Yes, ageism is real and well-documented. Chelle, who works primarily with clients aged 45 and older, notes that 25% of workers over 60 may never return to a traditional corporate environment. Her approach focuses on what she calls a "brand MRI" — helping clients audit how they're signaling to the market, identify their "name gravity" (who thinks of them first for a specific problem), and fast-track interviews through warm introductions to hiring leaders in her network. Of five recent clients who just landed new roles, four were over 50 — all with increases in pay.

Positive Intelligence (PQ) is a neuroscience-based mental fitness program developed by Shirzad Chamine. It helps people identify and weaken their internal "saboteurs" — the self-critical, self-limiting mental patterns (like the inner critic or imposter) that undermine performance and wellbeing. Chelle uses it with both job-seeking clients and entrepreneurs to build the mental resilience needed to push through rejection, self-doubt, and the emotional volatility of building something new.

Vistage is the nation's largest CEO peer advisory and executive coaching organization, serving leaders of small and midsize businesses. Members meet in confidential peer groups led by experienced chairs and receive one-on-one coaching. Chelle Johnson served as a trusted advisor for Vistage for two years in the Denver market. Learn more at vistage.com.

 

Build Your Own Boat is a podcast series hosted by Janine Vanderburg — award-winning three-time entrepreneur and anti-ageism advocate — featuring women who have launched new entrepreneurial ventures in midlife and beyond. The series is part of a larger storytelling project that includes a Substack publication and a forthcoming book, all built around one goal: changing the narrative about who entrepreneurs are and making women in midlife and beyond visible as builders of wealth, freedom, and possibility.