Could it be a viable career path for you?
It’s not always easy to wake up and do the same thing every single day. At some point, you just feel like you’re going through the motions, and life just feels dull. Where’s the spark and energy you once felt? Or did you ever even feel it in the first place?
Julia Wuench has a similar story when she was wishing for snow days during those hot summer months. After 4 years of dreading going to work, she decided it was time for something different. She decided to go to business school in North Carolina from New York and she ended up planting roots.
After business school, Julia went into the social impact consulting realm.
What is social impact consulting?
Social impact consulting is where the aim is to solve societal problems. It could be a range of problems (as there are many) that someone’s very aligned with in their morals and passions.
After creating something she thought she was immensely passionate about and after making dramatic shifts in her life to make it happen, Julia realized it wasn’t actually what she thought it would be. But there was something she realized she loved about what she was doing, and it was helping people with their goals and big picture visions.
She realized she loved helping people with their long-term goals, but she didn’t want to manage them. She wanted to coach them.
Staying motivated
When challenges do arise, how can you stay motivated?
By looking at your support system. If you have a strong support system in place to be around to cheer you on on your bad days, you will have the drive to keep going. They’re the ones to remind you of how much you’ve already accomplished and what you will continue to accomplish. Even if it’s not your whole family or friends that support you, if you can find just one person to look to in those times of frustration, it will uplift you more than you could imagine.
Making the switch into coaching
All the conversations of 5 year plans, helping someone develop their confidence and skills, that’s what she wanted to be doing every day. After realizing where her true passions were, she knew she had to make it happen.
The next week, she went into her job and quit without a plan b. She separated her worth from her job. She realized she was not her job and that didn’t solely identify her.
At first, she didn’t realize coaching was what she was going to be doing. But she began to take on clients for free, and perfected her process and found her value proposition, so she could truly stand out.
Julia emphasizes that starting a coaching business is not a 1,2,3 method and it certainly doesn’t happen overnight. There are seeds to be planted and they don’t grow in a day. Building connections and planting the seeds is what you can control from the beginning.
Challenges to overcome
Isolation can be difficult to deal with as a solopreneur. Especially coming from a background where you may have had a team of other people to rely on. The best tip for this is to make sure you’re throwing yourself into communities of people that you can connect with, so you avoid all the social isolation that comes with starting a business.
Another obstacle is patience. It takes time to build something profitable, and it can’t be something you throw the towel in for right away.
What the present looks like
Entrepreneurs can so often forget what they’ve accomplished because they’re living right where they are and looking ahead. They’re constantly wanting to be better and get better for their clients so that they forget what they have already accomplished.
A piece of advice? Don’t forget to slow down and recognize the successes already completed.
Advice for all the perfectionists and dreamers
It’s not easy to try something new. Especially when you feel like you couldn’t possibly achieve it anyways.
One of the smallest practices you could start implementing in your routine is journaling. Something as simple as writing out how you’re feeling in that moment. Julia mentions the idea of two types of shoulds. There are positive and negative “shoulds” and by using the journaling process, you can figure out which ones feel positive while others feel like you’re dragging your feet.
Overcoming imposter syndrome
Defined by Julia, “Imposter syndrome is the feeling of fraudulence among people who are quite successful.” You may be brilliant in your field, but you have feelings of doubt within yourself.
Imposter syndrome isn’t something you can just easily overcome. It’s a practice that you have to constantly work on, and speak about with others to eventually overcome it.
Once you talk about it with someone, notice how you’re talking to yourself. Become aware of the internal thoughts going on in your head. It’s not an overnight process, it’ll take time, but it will be 100% worth it.
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