How to maximise your potential through hiring a life coach.

It could be argued that 2020 was a year of lessons learned.

Through all of the uncertainties and challenges, our members regularly came together to support each other, build new connections and learn from each other. 

A regular at our coffee and catch ups and host of our self esteem workshops, Kirsty Summers is a well known face in the Women Connect community. Today she discusses the benefits of coaching whilst giving an insight into the process she goes through with clients.

“What I know about being a jewellery maker can be written on a grain of rice. It’s a sort of mythical job for which, I would think, you have to be a mixture of creative, patient and detailed.

Imagine my delight when Scottish Borders-based jewellery maker Lynne Robertson, whose lovely sea glass pieces make up her Back From the Beach signature collections, recently agreed to explore coaching to help her focus on her business.

One of the benefits of coaching people is that you get a glimpse into jobs and professions that normally you wouldn’t know anything about. Whilst this sounds like it might be a weakness, being someone’s coach means that my role is to approach sessions from a place of not knowing. This gives me the opportunity to support the client and provide guidance on steps that they need to make in order to grow.

Lynne had reached a point where she wanted to set a direction of growth for her small business, something that started as a hobby but quietly grew into a fulfilling enterprise. 

Recently a perfect storm of events, not least the completely unexpected lockdown due to Covid-19, made Lynne rethink her purpose. As things slowed down, she had more time to think about her future and the possibilities of her business. 

As an ideas person with strong creative skills and qualifications, Lynne felt she was in the position that she could choose one of a number of career moves. The sticking point was actually making the decision.

It began with a dream 

I took Lynne through a fairly simple coaching process, firstly helping her to assess where she was and identifying the root of her fear of failure, and how she could overcome them. I then encouraged Lynne to think about what she felt she wanted and needed from life; what really was that dream that she had never vocalised to anyone and were there steps that she could take to make it a reality. Despite sessions being forced online, it was clear to see which of these dreams lit Lynne up. Working through her coaching process allowed Lynne to identify that jewellery design really is where her passion and expertise lie. 

Accountability is key 

Coaching holds clients accountable and, for Lynne, this meant undertaking very small tasks, such as working out her hourly costs for creating a piece, so she could better understand how to move further towards making her business her main career.

Lynne now has grand plans for growing her small business. She is very industrious, and she loves the process of designing, making and finding avenues to sell her pieces. Coaching also helped her realise there were some other areas of development she could undertake. In many cases, these are known benefits of being coached. They include:

Being in a safe space - Lynne enjoyed that the sessions were non-judgmental and confidential and this allowed her to visit dreams and goals that she had long put to the back of her mind. Already she is working some of these into her business plan.

Increased self-esteem - Lynne noticed an improvement in her self-belief, something that she felt was lacking before embarking on coaching. She didn’t think she had the required knowledge to progress her business. But the coaching process helped her to feel free to talk about her ideas, and she began to realise that defining her direction demonstrated her knowledge.

Additional support -  Being held accountable for her dreams and goals is probably the area where Lynne had the biggest revelation. By her own admission, she was great at talking about what she needed to do, but in identifying specific tasks, and being gently questioned on what she had achieved, she was pushed to complete them.

When asked about her sessions with Kirsty, Lynne gushed “I wasn’t sure what to expect from coaching. I was a little bit nervous at the beginning but this didn’t last long. I loved having time to explore the opportunities available and decide what I really wanted to go for. Kirsty helped me unlock some of my dreams and provided me with the guidance needed to put the stepping stones in place to make them a reality.” 

To find out more about Kirsty and her range of workshops visit https://www.kirsty-summers.com/