My journey to becoming a coach and a speaker
Today, I want to write about how and why I resigned from my high paying job with an international oil giant in 2014, to become a mumpreneur, director, inspirational coach and speaker. When I graduated from university in 2002, I had a dream to work for a global company, travel the world with work and to reach senior management level by the time I was 40 years old.
In my early 30s, I realised I had fulfilled most of my career and life goals, I had studied coaching, graduated with an MBA, married and had 2 young kids. In 2011, I was shortlisted as MBA Star at the Women of the Future Awards (UK).
My career goals had changed, I didn’t want to travel as much, I wanted a flexible career while raising up my two young children. My career direction was also changing, I was even more determined than ever to make a difference by empowering others to thrive during a challenging time.
My ‘an aha moment’…following my gut instinct and living by faith
For many years, I had enjoyed coaching and mentoring professionals and students on a voluntary basis.One night in Feb 2014, I had an ‘aha moment’, a thought came to my mind!
“Why don’t you quit and become a coach and a motivational speaker?”
That night I couldn’t sleep, I was excited but also terrified that I was about to walk away from a successful career, financial benefits and job security; I was taking a leap of faith into the unknown.
So the next morning, I woke up and I prayed, “Lord if this is your plan for my life…let it be”. With a smile on my face, I drove to work and looked up how to resign on the company HR portal. I typed up my resignation letter and met up with my boss and informed him that I was resigning. He was completely shocked but understood and respected my decision. I received mixed reactions from many colleagues/family and friends, when I told them I was leaving my steady job to become a stay at home mum and a freelancer. I got comments like “you are crazy, mad, courageous, brave”. One friend even asked me if I was having a mid-life crisis. Others congratulated me and said “we wish we had your courage”.
Overall, everyone was happy for me…even my boss! I had the full support from my husband and I knew with my coaching experience, passion and self determination, I was going to be ok.
My advice to anyone who has a dream to start their own business, go for a promotion or career change, go for it. Identify your potential customers’ needs, understand your strength, do your research, and have a go. You may make mistakes but these are called learnings, you keep going and work hard at being the best! Network, Network and Network!
So did I make the right decision?…YES
Looking back now in June 2016, I can say it was probably one of the bravest and scariest decision I have ever undertaken. But also the best decision ever!
Setting up my business has been an exciting journey, fun, challenging, interesting and also a steep learning curve. I enjoy the flexibility, accountability and responsibility of running my own business. Feedback from current clients here in the UK, across Europe and Africa has been extremely positive. I wake up every morning smiling because I know I am making a positive difference and doing what I know I am meant to be doing.
How can I help you?
I work with professionals in the Public, Private and NGO sectors, who are experiencing change and a challenging time in the workplace or in their personal life. Most of my clients feel unhappy in their current work/life situation and want to transform things for the better. Feedback from current clients, “I have helped to get a better understanding of who they are, what options they have available during the time of uncertainties, learn about what obstacles is stopping them from achieving their goals and feel empowered and motivated to change for the better”. In the end, the clients feel supported during their transition and emerge even stronger.
Corporate clients hire me because I am an expert in managing change, I have demonstrated resilience when faced with challenges, I have a positive attitude, I solve problems quickly and I am good at encouraging and motivating others.
My corporate background and interest in organisational change means that I understand the challenges organisations are facing in todays’ competitive landscape very well. Which in returns means that I am better equipped to help them build employees resilience and motivation to the ongoing changes.
I have over 10 years coaching and consulting experience with clients from different cultural and professional background. What set my coaching practice apart from others is that, I have developed an innovative and effective coaching framework that help the client to see opportunities and options amongst the challenges in a short span of time. After a few sessions, many clients feel empowered and energised to start making positive life changes. Transformation21st programmes and engagements are personalised and flexible. This is very important to busy professionals who want to see results from the coaching process quickly. Also, the speaking events are designed collaboratively with the clients, for example the client usually state the problem and together we work on the topics that are relevant and beneficial to the audiences.
If you are a professional who is going through a organisational change or want to change career or want to improve the quality of your work life balance then chances are I can help you. If you are a company who is going through a challenging time and you need to help your staff build resilience to change, I can help you.
Author: Gloria Ruto (MBA,BSc)
Email me at gloria.ruto@transformation21st.com and we’ll set up a FREE 45 minutes Career Resilience/Change Resilience Strategy Call. In this call, I will explain how we work, prices and also understand how I may help you/your company.
Please note, there is no obligation on either of us to enter into a coaching relationship after this strategy call.
