After 20 years at IBM, I changed careers and started a side gig. Now it's a 7-figure company — here’s how I grew it.

Becky DeGrossa spent 20 years in Big Tech before opening her business, CounselingWise.

Matthew DeFeo for BI Becky DeGrossa, 66, worked at IBM and then became a therapist before opening CounselingWise.

The service helps therapists market their businesses through custom websites, SEO, and Google Ads.

She works with 40 to 50 contractors who have great people skills, which has helped her scale.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Becky DeGrossa, a 66-year-old who is founder of CounselingWise from Boulder, Colorado.

It's been edited for length and clarity.

I earned a degree in computer science from Cal Poly and then spent 20 years in total at IBM , leaving the company in 2003.

When I left, I was a consultant and managing principal, and I was supposed to be leading the team up the hill — but I just really wasn't passionate about it at all anymore.

I spent a year thinking, "I'm going to go do something else.

I've been here forever.

What do I know how to do? What do I like doing?" When I thought about what I liked about my Big Tech job, it was being a manager.

The most meaningful part of my job was meeting one-on-one with employees to help them out with a problem or coach them along.

I'd also been in therapy and had found it extremely helpful, so I thought I'd change careers to become a therapist .

I earned a Master's degree in psychology from 2003 to 2006 and then worked as a practicing therapist.