b.Inspired Cafe & Blog

Waking up Inspired: From Banker to Biker Chick

I'm thrilled to share with you this real life story from my former/grad client, Denise Maple. It was such a pleasure to coach with Denise and you will love the "feminine power" in her line of cool clothes, etc. that I think are for anyone who likes the vibe, not just bikers. We both hope this encourages you to believe in possibilities and follow what truly inspires you. Check out her fabulous mission and here's the background in her own words, below:   

I went from being a Senior Vice President managing LaSalle Bank’s Corporate Development department (now Bank of America) with a 17-year banking career to founder of VaVaVroom (www.vavavroomonline.com), a women’s motorcycle clothing company in a matter of months.  It was quite a career jump to say the least.   Whereas my typical work day at LaSalle included meeting with the bank’s top management and directing internal strategy assignments, I now daily encounter motorcycle dealers, graphic designers, photographers, salespeople, and clothing manufacturers.  I connect with a wide range of people, many I may have never met had I decided to stay in the large corporate world.  While the thought of starting my own business was scary, the work that I had done with Marian leading up to it pushed me to take that leap.

I knew early on in my career that banking was not my long term calling.  I just didn’t realize at the time how much of a change I would be making.  It was one afternoon when I was feeling particularly frustrated at work that I came upon Marian Baker’s business card in my Rolodex.  (I had met Marian at a work-life balance seminar a couple of years before where Marian was a panel speaker.)  Taking it as a sign, I called her to arrange an appointment.  I needed to find a career path that I could be passionate about - where I could feel like me again.

I am grateful that Marian gave me assignments, held me accountable and helped me push my boundaries.  If I came up with a design or marketing idea, she suggested that I take the next step.  The assignments ranged from coming up with a marketing plan to running my design ideas by friends and family.  I created a deadline for myself by signing up for a motorcycle trade show.  This meant that in a matter of months, I had to have product ready, purchase show equipment, and develop a website.  The show went well and I was on my way.  However, with a full work schedule, I found it difficult to find time to devote to my new business.  As luck would have it, I was laid off from my job two months after starting the business! 

Sixteen months later, I am thrilled to be my own boss – making decisions, building a brand and developing a following.  I started my business with only an idea in my head and built it to a viable company with a thriving online business, a faithful following of 1,000+ people  that receive my email newsletter, and a presence in over 20 stores in the US and Canada.  Sure, I have my days when I wonder if it will all be worth it, but my gut tells to keep going and to follow my dream.

You can contact Denise or check out the cool clothing and gear at www.vavavroomonline.com or on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/vavavroomgirl! 

Coaching Tale: Jessica’s Path to Building Confidence

Jessica wanted to coach about achieving her new goals at work. In our previous coaching session, we had boosted her ability to create a new marketing plan.  Her boss was happy with this, and now she was a bit nervous about being out there, actually doing it. When we explored what she needed, “confidence” came as the key ingredient. As her coach, it felt like this wasn’t “the answer” to help her succeed. She already feels like she needs more confidence. It doesn’t help to just say “OK, go to confidence school” (yes, I’m being silly) or  “How do you get more confident?” If she knew that already, we wouldn’t be having this coaching conversation. We needed to go underneath this, or around it or something to reach genuinely helpful insights.

So, I asked her to pretend the vocabulary word “confidence” didn’t exist. "Take a breath and reflect on other ways you’d describe what would have you feeling more at peace with being able to do your job/ achieve your goals. Take your time." Now, a new list flowed out of Jessica:  Knowledge, experience, being relaxed (when meeting new people), trust in myself that I know what I’m talking about, feeling like I’m meeting the right people at the right time, saying the right things.

I smiled widely; feeling delighted that now we actually have a menu of things that are strategically do-able, that we can coach about. (See how this opens up new pathways better than just “I need to feel more confident”?) We could brainstorm about each menu item and find ways of working on each to help her grow/succeed.   I asked Jessica if there was a “lead domino” in her list. “Knowledge” came first. We were able to identify ways that she could gain knowledge, starting with small steps, a deadline and accountability support.

Also, that word "confidence" is no longer in the lead, as it might be (paradoxically) deflating to keep telling yourself to "Be more confident." Sort of like someone telling you "Don't think of ice cream" and that's all you can think about. Or the old "just do it" command that isn't always inspiring help.

Coaching Tool for you:

The key insight to share from this Coaching Tale is how to find pathways toward beneficial insights, leading to real progress. You can coach yourself with this! Try this “imagine there’s no vocabulary word for XXX” with something that you wish for or need. Take time to reflect on other ways of expressing it. Or list the sub-ingredients of your desired X.  I hope you’ll find that this opens up new ways of exploring and making progress toward whatever you want to build for your inspired success.  We’d love to hear your examples- share a comment that will help the rest of us :-)

Names and details are changed to honor client confidentiality.