This past week I began receiving a number of congratulations from my Linked In contacts. They were congratulating me on an anniversary of which the application had alerted them. At first I was surprised, then curious, and then it occurred to me. It had been five years ago that I had started up my coaching business. Absolute Transitions, LLC had reached a milestone.
One never knows how things will work out in their life. Even now that I have been coaching for five years, I still don’t know what may transpire the next five years in terms of this journey I am on. Even in the last several months I have evolved into working as a career and acclimation consultant for the accompanying spouses of transplants to the part of the United States where I live. Over the last year I have become a regular at two additional job search support groups in my area, after being the facilitator of just one at my local library. Some of the relationships with my initial clients are now three to four years old. Other clients have moved on, but we check in with each other from time to time to see how each other is doing.
When you have a one person business named “Absolute Transitions,” which by definition is a “coaching company,” those you come in contact with are just about always transitioning from one aspect of their life to another. Some come to it suddenly, such as through a job termination. Others come to it voluntarily realizing they dislike some aspect of their life and want to move onto something different. Often those I meet are not sure what is next for them. There are fears of “making a mistake” in taking a next path. Other times “gremlins” from their past come to mind, convincing them they may not be capable of what they may want to achieve.
What have I learned over these past five years? One lesson is that when you first start something new you tend to attract many people who have “advice” for you. One is told they must do things this way or that way to succeed in what they are embarking upon. In my early couple of years with the business, I had no experience being in business for myself. As such I was prone to every pitch on how to quickly grow my business, from classes and seminars, to different ways of advertising to which networking groups “I must attend”. As I moved forward, and particularly as I had been at things awhile, I was able to begin to sort out what approaches were most comfortable for me, and which were not. My way certainly did not have to be the same way as someone else in a similar circumstance. And, it did not make my way right and another’s way wrong. However, the more I did and the activities I got my self involved with connected with who I was, and how I wanted to serve those with whom I came in contact, the more natural the transition from 30 year corporate America employee to second career single person business owner evolved.
The tendency often is to want everything to happen quickly. Sometimes that is felt out of necessity (worries about paying bills, having others in a family dependent on you, etc.). However, other times it comes about because there is fear about putting in the time, effort, research and steps along the way. What if they lead me to a place I don’t want to go? What if when I get there, I find out that which I thought I wanted is not really what I wanted in the first place?
I can truly only speak from my own experience, but I know I have learned this over the last five years. I went into coaching because I have always enjoyed sharing what I have learned and being there to help guide those who need someone as a sounding board to help them along on their journey. When I veer from that focus and look more at what I do as a business as opposed to a vocation in service of others, I become most frustrated. Being open to learning, not only from my formal training classes, but just from the people I meet, (clients, other coaches, those at networking activities, etc.), has awakened my knowledge on topics I had never even considered previously. There are times I can still get overwhelmed, especially when my schedule has me running from one activity to another. But, when I get back to the basic premise, of being there to listen, ask questions and provide perspective to those who come in contact with me, perhaps provide them insight that helps move their life forward, I’m at my best at what I do.
Yes, taking a new path can be filled with concern and doubt. However, when you not only leave yourself open to start on the journey, but stay open to learning what you truly want as opposed to being told what you should want, you can find yourself at a really great place in your life. And, sometimes you may even not realize like I did this week, just how quickly the time passed as you enjoyed the journey.
