Mikaela Kiner, the founder of Seattle-based HR consulting firm Reverb , released a new book titled The Reverb Way: How to Build a Thriving Business Without Sacrificing It All . The narrative offers a candid account of the ups and downs, detailing what Kiner has learned in a decade of reorienting her work to support the life and the company she wanted to create. Kiner spent 15 years in HR leadership at companies including Microsoft , Amazon , and Starbucks , often working 60 to 80 hours a week, before starting Reverb in 2015. The book is her second, following Female Firebrands in 2020. The book describes what happened when new business dropped to half its usual volume, as tech layoffs, a rocky economy, and the rapid rise of AI hit Reverb's client base. Kiner battled insomnia so severe she couldn't get through a workday without napping. Her daughter told her she'd never seen her this stressed. "I didn't want to give the impression that owning a business is easy," Kiner said in a recent conversation about the book. "You can still be tired, you can still be overworked, you can still be drained, and you can still struggle." At the same time, she wanted to convey the fun and joy that comes from the freedom of doing your own thing. "I made a choice to try and do something different," she said. "And I'm so happy I did. Really, really happy. The key words there being made a choice ." Practical takeaways from the book include: Park your ideas. Instead of chasing every good idea, Kiner started logging them in a "Future Goals spreadsheet" and reviewing the list during quarterly business reviews. Use your freedom. Reverb takes Fridays off from Memorial Day through Labor Day, with one person on call to check email. Don't apologize for your schedule. Kiner writes about watching male executives cancel meetings for their kids' soccer games without explanation, leading her to set a rule: no meetings before 9 or after 5. Build your own community. After being rejected from a business accelerator, Kiner created her own informal group of women CEOs called WISE. Celebrate more than you think you need to. Kiner suggests a simple tracking method: write down your team members' names and add a checkmark each time you recognize them. What's happening now: As candid as the book is about the downturn, things have shifted since Kiner finished writing. In the weeks before our recent conversation, she said new deal volume had jumped 50%, across tech, nonprofits, and small businesses. Reverb is hiring consultants again. "I literally can't explain it," she said, noting that the turnaround has been happening despite inflation, gas prices, and geopolitical turmoil such as the war in Iran. AI is a frequent backdrop and topic of conversation in their work. Kiner writes in the book, for example, about teams at some companies being told to double productivity with AI but getting little support. In our conversation, she described a split: companies using AI as a way to demand more, and those actually bringing people along, showing them how to save time. She's not worried about AI replacing the human side of her work. One of her advisors uses a term she likes: "connective labor," referring to empathy, conflict resolution, and the work of helping people and teams get unstuck. That part, she said, isn't going away. "I think there's room for all of us," she said. "Us and the agents, too." The book is available in paperback and e-book versions.