100. Customer Success Career Advice: Stop Blindly Following Traditional CS Paths

What if the reason you feel stuck in your Customer Success career has nothing to do with your performance and everything to do with the path you’re blindly following? On today’s episode, I’m unpacking the uncomfortable truth about traditional CS career paths and why doing “the next logical step” can quietly derail your growth, happiness, and earning potential. We’ll talk about why promotions that look good on paper can feel miserable in real life, how following the crowd leads to boring roles and regret, and the simple mindset shift that changes how you make career decisions inside Customer Success.By the end of this episode, you’ll walk away with a completely new way to think about success in your Customer Success career, one that’s built around what you’re actually good at, what you enjoy, and where you want to end up, not what everyone else is doing. If you’ve ever felt pressure to go enterprise, become a CSM, or say yes just because it’s “the path,” this conversation will give you clarity, confidence, and permission to choose differently.3:05 – Why Blindly Following a Career Path Can Lead to Burnout and Missed Potential5:41 – How Peer Pressure (and ‘Default’ Decisions) Steer You Off-Course8:33 – Why Enterprise CSM Isn't Automatically the Next Best Step15:56 – The Power of Defining Your Own Success in Customer Success (and Knowing You Have Choices)22:00 – How Tech Touch Customer Success Offers Rapid Growth and Thought Leadership Potential28:12 – The One Interview Question That Reveals If a Future Manager Is There by Choice🛎️ FREEBIES & RESOURCES:Optimize your resume for Customer Success jobs to land consistent interviews with my FREE Training: https://customer-success-career.captivate.fm/resumeLearn how to sell yourself as the best candidate & walk into your next Customer Success job interview with confidence with my FREE Training: https://customer-success-career.captivate.fm/sellyourselfLearn how to MASTER Behavioral Interviews with my FREE Training: https://customer-success-career.captivate.fm/behavioralActively looking for a job in Customer Success or plan to in the near future? Apply for 1:1 Coaching with me HERE♥️ CONNECT WITH ME:Let's be LinkedIn friends: www.linkedin.com/in/carly-agar/Got any questions? Send me an email at [email protected]➡️ HEAD TO THE SHOW NOTES: https://customer-success-career.captivate.fm/episode100🌟 FOLLOW & REVIEW:Are you loving the podcast? I'd appreciate it if you could take a few seconds to do these two things:hit the FOLLOW button so you don't miss out on any new episodes when they dropand either leave a review on Apple Podcasts or let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment over on Spotify!This helps me reach more customer success pros who need these insights.Thanks for tuning in to the Customer Success Career Coach podcast! I'll catch you next week.🎙️ New episodes drop every Wednesday!