My Coaching Story
Like so many people, I ‘fell’ into my first career and went into commercial sales straight after university. I spent the next 10 years climbing the corporate ladder and had - on paper at least – a very successful career but deep down I knew I was on the wrong path. I felt stuck in a rut. I was unmotivated and stressed and knew I wasn’t playing to my strengths. It was thanks to a Christmas present from my brother – a voucher for some career coaching sessions – that I had my “light bulb” moment. The coaching opened my eyes to the fact that I had lots of transferable skills and there were many opportunities available to me that were much more motivating than my current role.
The coaching helped me understand that having a role with “meaning” was extremely important to me. I decided to change career direction and retrained as a coach founding Inspired Mums in 2006 to help other mums find their own ‘light bulb’ moment. Women today often face a crossroads when they have children and no longer know what they want. All too often I hear mums say ‘I’ll do anything as long as long as it fits round the kids’ but this can lead to roles that leave you feeling undervalued and unfulfilled. I started Inspired Mums because I’m passionate about helping mums find fulfilling and flexible work.
My inspiration for my business really comes from my own mum. She was a working mum who successfully juggled family and work life. It wasn't easy – as my Dad was in the Navy and away for long periods of time – but she managed to find roles that were flexible so she could spend a lot of time with us after school and in the holidays. I lost my Mum to cancer when she was only 52 years old and I was 21. My Dad had just retired after 40 years in the Navy and tragically they never got to enjoy their retirement years together. This has had a huge influence on how I choose to live my life and my passion for helping other mums live their lives to the full. I firmly believe that ‘life is far too short’ to be in a job you don’t enjoy or find stressful.
Coaching has played an incredibly important role in my life both personally and professionally and one of my goals is to ensure as many women as possible can benefit from it. With this in mind, I have partnered with Hannah from The Talented Ladies Club to develop an 8 week online career course which offers mums a greater degree of flexibility as they have access to the coaching material 24/7. I have been delighted by the feedback from mums on the course, “This course has been a fabulous ‘discovery’….a truly inspirational tool which will definitely help me in finding what’s right for me in my next steps as a very busy working mother.” (Cristina, mum to 2 year old twin boys and 10 year old girl). Receiving emails such as this, reminds me once again how lucky I am to have found work that I truly love and that makes a real difference to women’s lives.
If you need help finding work you love, then find out more about our next 8 week career coaching course today. Book by the 4th May to take advantage of the early bird discount and save £50.
