Twelve years. That’s almost a quarter of my life. I have spent the last 12 years building my coaching business. I started this career path after having my first and second children and leaving Corporate America. I needed a business that would allow me the freedom, flexibility and fulfillment I craved and my little, growing family needed.
A few years into my business, we had our third child, and my husband received a promotion that moved us from Michigan to Ontario for three years. Being my own boss allowed me to scale back my business when I needed to put more focus on the family. It later allowed me to build it up over the years as I became more efficient and my children went off to school.
Now, my babies are 15, 13, and 11 years old. The busy time of day for me starts around 4 PM each afternoon. I provide snacks, homework help and accountability, and hours of driving to get them where they need to go each day. And the time we spend shuttling back and forth have provided a space for some of the most important conversations I get to have with these, my wonderful children. I treasure our “van time.”
The last 12 years have taught me so much. I have helped my clients make some of the biggest decisions of their lives: whether to start a business, or to end one; whether to expand their family, or to finally get out of a marriage that wasn’t working. We have studied all the metrics and decided when to make wild leaps and huge investments, and we have also made the fierce and purposeful choice to stay small in order to align with our priorities. Helping people make big decisions has always been one of the most rewarding parts of my work.
And now it’s time for me to make a big one myself. Tomorrow, on March 1st, I’m letting go of Mom Biz Coach. This thing I’ve created and built over the last decade has served me well, but it has served its purpose. My current clients are aware of this change, but it will probably come as a surprise to many of you. I will no longer be accepting new clients, but I am happy to offer referrals to those coaches I know well and hold in the highest esteem.
So what’s next?
That’s what’s really exciting me right now. Back around Thanksgiving, I felt the familiar feeling that I’ve felt many times during my career: that I was ready for a change, needed to do something different, that I wanted a new challenge. And most importantly, I wanted to learn new things and be around people who were smart and fun to be around. This extrovert has absolutely enjoyed all the fruits of her mompreneur labor (like not having to wear pants while working from my sofa with a loving dog next to me), but I seriously miss working with people. In an office. And having a reason to get dressed and look cute every day.
So I reached out to two of my local social media/marketing friends and told them that I was feeling antsy and ready to do something different. I knew that they both liked the companies they work for, so I figured I would ask them a bit about what they were doing and see where it went. I poked around on Indeed.com but quickly gave up, frustrated because I didn’t know how to sell myself. Was I looking for a sales job? Marketing? Strategy? Leadership? Coaching and consulting? Training?
The conversations with my two friends led to meetings with both of their CEOs, and I felt excited to just meet them and have a conversation. Those conversations started looking more like interviews, and then more interviews, and then we were working together to craft a job description, and then…
I’m starting my next chapter tomorrow as a Business Development Manager for White Glove Workshops, a digital marketing company less than two miles from my house. I am totally geeking out over getting to go into an office each day and be surrounded by people I respect. I get to work with an old friend and make lots of new ones. And I get a chance to do so many of the things I’ve been doing to help my clients grow their businesses over the years, while also getting to be a part of that growth. I am so lucky they have chosen to include me. And on top of it all, they have an amazing work culture that allows me to still be home in the afternoons to be the mom my kids still need me to be. I am so grateful.
It’s hard to believe that in the space of a couple of months, I was able to create this opportunity. I followed the steps I have asked my clients to take when they have to make big decisions:
1. Get clear on your priorities. What is influencing and motivating this decision? (For me: Keep my family first, be there for them when they get home and available for them in the evenings, do work commensurate with my strengths and experience, make a significant financial contribution to our family’s finances, find a work culture that is a fun and positive place to be.)
2. Describe the ideal situation that would make this decision a no-brainer for you. (For me: A small, but growing startup where I could do a lot of different aspects of my current job—branding, sales, marketing, consulting, coaching and development—that pays well but has flexible hours so I can be home with the kids.)
3. Start manifesting/putting it out to the universe/making space for this ideal situation in your life. (For me: I had no idea what kind of job I was looking for, but I knew I had to get into action and start talking to people to help me figure that out. I was honest about what I wanted and didn’t want and willing to walk away if my priorities weren’t met.)
And here I am: ready to start my new career and next chapter at White Glove Workshops! Everything feels right. I feel so lucky that they’ll have me. And I’m even luckier to have the support of my friends and family, especially my husband, who have helped me figure out what this “desire to do something different” really meant to me, as well as helping me have the courage to go get it.
I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do with all the Mom Biz Coach virtual real estate I have out there—the websites, social media accounts, podcast, workbooks and workshops, etc. For now, I’m just going to focus on taking this next big step and allow myself some time to figure the rest of it out eventually.
Thanks to all of you who have shared this journey with me. I hope you continue figuring out your priorities and aligning your actions with them. It has been an honor! Now, what will your next chapter be?
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