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As a coach, I am often asked by prospective clients how coaching might benefit them. It appears there is some mystique around what happens in real life coaching sessions. Therefore, I thought I would share the following story to demonstrate how coaching made a difference in one client's life. Anne graciously agreed to let me tell her story.
I met Anne, a 55 year old former real estate broker, in the fall of 2009. At the time, Anne was living in Staunton, Virginia; so officially we have never met in person. All of our coaching sessions were conducted over the phone, over an eighth month period. When we began working together Anne was at a cross roads in her life. A former real estate broker, she was forced to close her successful brokerage company of 19 years due to suffering a major medical setback from a botched gall bladder surgery. In much physical pain most of the time, Anne was capable of working no more than 4 hours a day due to medications she was taking. She had moved to Staunton to be closer to her parents, who at the time were supporting her financially.
Sensing that Anne was now motivated to move beyond her internet business and explore new options, I introduced her to the Life Purpose exercise. I was anticipating her need to live by the water would drive her to find a way to make it work financially. After all, she was very resourceful and had proved this before as a successful real estate entrepreneur. All she needed to do now was to tap into her strengths and craft a career that could sustain her happily in her ideal environment. The Life Purpose exercise takes clients on a path of career self discovery, helping them identify activities, jobs and other life experiences that have given them pleasure in the past. They use this insight to explore new careers that will satisfy their passions. This process took Anne several weeks to complete but the end result was well worth the time and effort she put into it.
Last month, Anne moved into her new condo on Chesapeake Bay and is actively pursuing her new career. She is also well on her way to completing her Home Staging and Redesign Certification. The process Anne went through was not an easy one. We spent many sessions strategizing ways to influence her father who would be instrumental in helping Anne launch her new career. Anne would also get very frustrated with herself at times for 'not accomplishing more'. Her Achiever strength would sometimes work against her and I would have to remind her just how far she had come. If you asked Anne a year ago where she would be now and what she would be doing A&F Caps, she would probably say, "I am not sure, but I will figure it out, believe me." In Anne's own words, "Don't give up before the Miracle". And, she didn't.
As we continued to work together, Anne pursued her internet marketing business, hoping to improve her financial situation. She often got frustrated however with the limited time she could devote to it as well as the lack of financial reward she reaped from it. On top of this, there was the continued pressure from her father to become financially independent sooner rather than later. There must be something else she could do that would be more satisfying and provide financial security.
In the early stages of your career you may not be able to find a qualified manager to take you on as their client. If this is the case, don't be afraid to allow a close friend or family member, who is HIGHLY motivated, assist you for the time being. If someone close to you sees your potential and is willing to help you get started, they can be even more helpful than a Manager who puts you on the back burner for his more established clients.At this point you should be marketing yourself through every avenue possible. This means getting your music in the hands... and ears... of as many people as possible. Artists have taken many different approaches to this over the years as technology continues to evolve.
Anne also divulged to me early on that her self-esteem was at an all time low, meaning she no longer "knew who she was" or "what she had to offer". "I don't have a cheer leader", she remarked. This was not a surprise given her health issues, the loss of her business (loss of identity) as well as the pressure she was getting from her father to "get back on her feet and make some money". Her dad had been loaning her money to stay afloat; not a situation Anne was happy with. She also talked about her need for her father's approval which wasn't to be won easily. Not fond of computers, her father took a dim view of her internet business. I explored this with Anne to better understand how we could work with her need for her dad's approval and help her discover a career which would be meaningful, provide financial independence and not stretch her beyond her physical limitations. As her coach, I would need to be both a 'cheer leader' as well as the one to help her tap into her natural talents and personal motivations, as a way to enable her to discover that which she was most passionate about.
As with many clients who enter coaching Brand Hat/Cap, Anne could only see the obstacles in her path. (loss of career, poor health and no financial independence). My job as a career coach was to help her discover those talents which drove her to be her best and to 'try on' different interests to see what felt right. Keep in mind that most people who enter the coaching relationship have the resources to figure out what they want to do; they just need help getting there. The coach's job is to help clients tap into those areas that they may not see or consider. We call these 'blind spots'. I felt Anne had a few 'blind spots' that needed further exploration.
In mid December Anne took a trip to Chesapeake Bay. This was a turning point for her. She called me the next week very excited, and told me that her plan was to move to the beach by the following summer. This, she said, was where she wanted to be. Her environment was critical to her happiness. Anne had done a '180' and I could hear the levity in her voice. All of a sudden 'moving to Chesapeake Bay' became her overarching goal. In the next few months this goal would drive the other decisions in Anne's life. I should also mention a rather serendipitous event that happened to Anne while she was visiting Chesapeake Bay. One day while walking along the shore she found a horse shoe. While some might argue this is purely happenstance; I always encourage my clients to not ignore these subtle messages. They all play a part in career discovery. The best career choices are not always based on logic.
Once you have created a Marketable Image, and you have written Quality Songs, your next step is to begin building a Fan Base.Fan Base Building a Fan Base can be a daunting task, but it is an absolute necessity if you hope for any record label to take you seriously. One piece of advice I will give you is to seek out any help you can find in completing this requirement, because building a Fan Base will likely take some assistance.One key person to enlist is a Manager. Managers often have many connections in the industry including club owners, promoters, other artists Juicy women handbag, and even record label executives. Of course, you will have to do a lot of marketing on your own, but the help of a qualified Manager can be the difference between your success and failure.
When we first met, Anne was pursuing internet marketing, trying to sell ads on Google. However, she was not having much luck with it nor was she finding the work to be particularly satisfying. Being rather savvy with computers and web design, she continued to pursue this venture in the hopes she could make enough money to become financially independent once again. I could tell in our sessions Anne's heart was not into internet marketing; though she pursued it with unwavering dedication. She possessed the technical skills to develop websites but the work offered her no opportunity to help others, a need she would later discover was a driving force for her. Her ability to help others had been key to her success in real estate and was something that would influence her next career choice. Although at this time, she was unaware just how important this motive was for her in choosing her next career.
These talents had served her well in the past when she was happy putting in 12 to 14 hour days as a successful real estate broker... a career she was truly passionate about. Now her work schedule was significantly limited. My challenge was to help her channel her strengths into a productive and meaningful career that would allow her to become financially independent on a reduced work schedule....no small task.
To help with Anne's low self-esteem I had her complete the Strengthsfinder Assessment (Author, Tom Rath). The Strengthsfinder provides the client with their top 5 themes, otherwise known as strengths. The client then focuses only on those careers/jobs that will utilize their strengths. Put another way, one's career satisfaction/success will increase to the extent she is able to utilize her strengths. Two of Anne's strengths were 'Command' and 'Achiever'. She thrived when she was in control of situations, making decisions and being highly productive.
In the end, after several iterations, she realized her need to help others could be obtained by pursuing home staging and redesign. This occupation would utilize her real estate knowledge, plus the joy she got from the 'match making' aspect of selling. It certainly would allow her to help other people and she could do it on a fairly limited time schedule. All she needed now was to convince her father of the idea as she also wanted to purchase a (distressed) condo in Chesapeake Bay, where she would run her new business. "Wow, I thought to myself, Anne is on role." I encouraged her to continue on this path. Being the strategic person that she was (another of Anne's strengths) and good with numbers, she developed a business plan for her father, detailing the return on investment for the condo she wanted to buy as well as the income she could generate from home staging and redesign. Her plan was to eventually pay off her loan to her father while pursuing a career she was passionate about. He bought into the plan!