Those Life Transitions Will Come Upon You

Those Life Transitions Will Come Upon You

When I started my coaching business in 2009, I named it Absolute Transitions. I still remember the story of how that came about. At the time I had gone through a series of life changes, not even thinking about them as transitions, but instead, things that just happen in your life. I had become a widower 3 years before. About 15 months after that, I chose to move on from my corporate job, as working in a corporate environment held no further appeal to me. Shortly after that I was introduced to the woman who is my wife today. We dated for a year, before we began planning marriage in the Fall of 2009. During the year I had met her, I had decided to take studies in Life Coaching which ultimately morphed into Career Coaching, as it appealed to me as an activity that I wanted to do after my corporate career.

My coaching studies clicked well with me. One thing that I had not given much consideration to was how coaches got themselves clients. While some might be employed at companies or educational institutions many practice their craft independently. At that time, I had no knowledge at all, about the life of the entrepreneur. However, near the end my coaching studies, it became apparent that I soon would.

During this time period I had taken on a financial advisor. A postcard mailing to my home connected me to him. I attended a presentation he did on the need to manage your finances as you moved forward from your work life. The advisor not only became a part of my financial life, but also a friend and confidant. It worked both ways. I was able to help him with some items he was contemplating in his life. He in turn was able to make me become aware of the life of the entrepreneur. One of the things he indicated was I would need a name for my business. He suggested choosing something beginning with an “A” in the name since it would put me first alphabetically in business listings. Giving that some thought and realizing from my coaching studies that working with people in transitions was a major part of the profession, the name “Absolute Transitions” was born.

Transitions are a part of most people’s lives. Given the world health situation with COVID-19 over the last 21 months, transitions were forced on many of us. Whether it was going from working in the office to working at home, having your home function as an office, classroom and who knows what else, or realizing that your favorite eatery is now all takeout, or may not even be there, a lot has happened. For myself, career-wise I went from a balance of seeing clients in person and others on the telephone, to still having some on the telephone, but most every other client via virtual medium with Zoom technology. All the job search support meetings I have run have been virtual. The business networking meeting that I am a part of weekly is still virtual, and just now talking about in-person meetings or some hybrid of the process.

As I personally come to the last 3 months of my year, the transitions I face have come in the form of seeing some of my business pipelines that were very busy early in the year trickle to very little. By the same token other areas that had been quiet are now becoming active. I have been offered opportunities to help in the job search coaching practice to help disadvantaged youth and a refugee family from Afghanistan. My business networking chapter has asked me to take on a leadership team officer’s role while at the same time helping in the transition of our Chapter’s new President. October also has been a month of 3 different conferences with which I have been involved, two as a participant and gaining additional education and one where I am providing resume’ reviews and helping to provide fellow career coaches who will impart their job search wisdom to a large number of project managers.

While they can be frustrating, at times overwhelming and frankly at other times not welcomed at all, be open to welcoming the transitions which come into your life. Certainly, some life stability is always desired. However, to count on it happening all the time, is very unlikely in a world that is ever-changing and in need of one’s talents and strengths.