A woman who became a world traveler after 21 years working 9-5 shares her best advice for people who want to try something new

Cacinda Maloney needed a change.

In her 21 years as a licensed chiropractor, she built and ran an Arizona chiropractic practice with her husband. During that time, she had always made regular travel a priority, and in 2012, started PointsandTravel.com to document her adventures.

That year, she visited eight countries and 38 cities. In 2013, she did about the same.

By 2014, Maloney had reached a crossroads. "I was extremely busy at the clinic and then became busy at PointsandTravel.com and I knew something had to give. It was a good thing, but there was just too much work!" she told Business Insider in an email.

"I had been working long hours for years and was ready for a break," Maloney remembers. "I was one of the lucky ones, who had built-in vacations every six weeks of my life for over 20 years. But still, I was tired of the same routine. I knew I had to make a decision at this point, as I couldn't do both and do both well."

Work like freelance writing gigs and photography offers, brand ambassadorship proposals, and trip requests started flowing in, and "it was now or never to take the plunge.

She decided to make travel her profession as well, leaving the practice's daily management to her husband and beginning a new career as a travel entrepreneur.

Now, Maloney, who runs her site and its associated Facebook and Instagram pages, is a Travelocity ambassador who's visited over 50 countries so far. While her husband and two teenage sons sometimes join, she takes the majority of adventures on her own.

Maloney has some advice for people who want to make a career change, even after decades in their field. "Invest in yourself," she said. "That one great skill you have: Use it. Do what you do and do it well. Do it better than anyone else. Strive daily to do your best work."

Making the most of her passions for travel and for photography, she works as a brand ambassador for three major travel corporations, a travel expert for a tourism board, a freelance and contributing writer, a social media manager, and a travel photographer. To change paths, she said, "I worked hard, establishing a business plan, reading books about what entrepreneurs should know, taking blog classes, setting up spreadsheets for the finances, planning strategies, and goal setting."

Her income, she admits, doesn't compare to what she was earning as a chiropractor, and she still maintains a partnership in the practice she built.

Of her own career change, she remembers, "I was a part-time blogger for one and a half years, so the transition came naturally. Of course, it was scary for this medical professional to transition, but it was like a new adventure in many ways."