Client Post: Why I decided to work with a life coach
GUEST POST BY A RECENT COACHING CLIENT, MICHELLE
Over the years, I’ve spent my professional development budget on various conferences or self-paced courses, but rarely felt like I had significant development or growth as a result. What’s the opposite of development…some of the conferences had that effect on me. They were too hectic and generalized for my day-to-day work, and the self-paced courses I either admittedly never completed or eventually became irrelevant to my work.
“Let’s not burn through another year’s professional dev budget,” I told myself at the beginning of the year. And then I remembered a few ladies at work mentioning working with coaches. Ding the lightbulb went off.
Working with a therapist for the first time during the pandemic, I recognized how effective working 1:1 and building relationships over time is for me personally. Why not carry that over to the professional side of my life? Seemed like a no brainer!
It’s hard to toot your own horn, but credit should be given where due; I know when I have a goal or dream with a plan in place that I believe in, I’m going to chase after it and execute to bring it to fruition. At the beginning of this year, a lot of those goals, dreams, and plans were fuzzy or shrouded in fear, which resulted in a very anxious and frustrated me. After working with my coach Brittany for 6 months, I have the confidence, clarity, and empowerment to go get ‘em!
Who I was looking for
I wanted to work with a remote, female career coach, preferably with a technical background or experience in the technical field. Some coaches specialize in topics or stages of life such as career transitions, resume and interview training, or becoming a manager, but I wanted to work with someone more generalized without a specialty.
I also wanted to stay near my our professional development budget, but was open to chipping in a bit of my own.
That’s kind of all I knew going into my search. (Brittany didn’t have a tech background which ended up totally fine!)
How I chose my coach, Brittany
Frankly, this was the hardest part of the whole process. I was big shrug and didn’t know where to start. Retroactively speaking, I should have asked around internally at my company first, but I didn’t.
Instead, I started with the Googles and was instantly overwhelmed with articles about career coaching and finding a coach, but didn’t find any great platforms or directories to help search for coaches; the closest I found to this was BetterUp. When you first sign up for BetterUp, you get one free consult with a coach to “see if they’re a fit”. After taking a short survey, they serve up some recommended coaches with bios you can swipe through. I went with a woman with a tech background to have an initial consult.
It didn’t go poorly! But BetterUp’s 30 minute allotted sessions didn't feel like enough time to work with a coach, and the skeptic in me needed to talk with at least one other coach to compare. So, I headed to Reddit and through some searching found a couple references to the Ladies Get Paid community. I joined the free community for women professionals and posted a public message about myself and why I was looking for a coach. Within a few days, several ladies posted references to coaches or reached out as coaches available for consults.
I took intro calls with two more coaches, and ultimately landed on working with Brittany of Hello Velocity. Why Brittany?
For some reason, I imagined a coach as a much older, and thus more experienced and wiser person, but that isn’t the case! Brittany immediately felt relatable in her professional and personal anecdotes as someone who could empathize with me and provide genuine guidance on my particular life stage and growth.
She emphasized the importance of getting concrete value out of each session, and them not being vent or therapy sessions. To ensure this, I prepared an actionable topic 24 hours before our meeting, and Brittany would explicitly ask “What value did you get out of today?” at the end of each session.
She also just immediately made me feel comfortable. I felt like I could share things I was insecure or embarrassed about without judgment.
The value I got from each session
As mentioned above, at the end of each session, we ended with “What value did you get out of today?” In case you’re curious, here’s a tl;dr compilation of the topics and value-adds from my sessions:
Switching roles in my company
Asking “What else do I need to make the decision?” to get unblocked on actually applying for a new role.
Passions in a side/small business
Discussing options of how having a small business can be on a spectrum, and how I want to grow mine.
Values
Defining my values as freedom, joy, and connection. I’ve done values exercises multiple times in my life, but feel like Brittany really helped me hone in and own these as my own.
Business Ideas
Validating and working through some business ideas. In this session, Brittany pointed out that I sound like I don’t take myself seriously when talking about my business ideas, and that I should. I realized they felt too far-fetched or silly when relayed them out loud to others, but no longer. Reach for the stars!
Interview Practice
Getting concrete interview practice for the new role (per #1) after being rusty.
Establishing short and long-term goals at my company
Feeling less restless and more assured about my future at my company along with an actual list of goals and relative timelines.
Establishing short and long-term life goals
Feeling empowered and with clearer direction on what I want in life at this point in time along with an actual list of goals and relative timelines.
Project planning my move to a new city!
Feeling less overwhelmed by the TODOs of moving, having a concrete “project plan” tool for the move, and establishing deadlines for major milestones. (We’re currently on track! )
Supporting friends and my partner through their careers
Identifying how I can be of value and supportive to my partner and friends with their careers without feeling accountable.
How to continue my side business while moving/transitioning locations
Determining two solid paths forward that both my partner and I feel good about.
How coaching has helped me be happier at my company
Overcame burnout without feeling the need to leave the company after 4 years, and smoothly transitioned into my new role.
Gave me the confidence to apply and interview for a new role.
Established short and long-term goals, which made growth and goal conversations so much easier with my manager.
Encouraged me to find a technical mentor within the company.
Helped me realize I’d like to pay mentorship forward by being a mentor to an early-career, female engineer.
Encouraged me to have an outlet for my passions outside of work and find balance amongst the two.
Allowed me to take advantage of my company’s remote work to plan and execute a move to a new city.
Am I going to continue coaching?
No - not for now, but not because I didn’t get value - quite the opposite. Brittany kind of put herself out of a job doing so well during our 6 months, so I’m feeling equipped enough now to proceed on my own for the near future. That doesn’t mean I’ll never work with a coach again! I’m actually looking forward to potentially working with Brittany again when another fuzzy, anxious time in my life comes around.
I’m super appreciative of our professional development budget at my company and feel fortunate to have worked with a coach with minimal financial burden. Unfortunately and honestly, like therapy, coaching is not cheap! Nevertheless, I’m a proponent of its potential value to anyone feeling stuck, stale, overwhelmed, or in need of just a little extra support from outside of work. (And if that’s you, I see and empathize with you).
-Michelle
Are you ready to see if you and Brittany would be a good fit to work together, too? Book a free 60-min 30-min discovery call. We’ll dive deeper into your goals, you’ll get a feel for Brittany’s coaching style, and together we will see if we’re a good fit to work together.
