Anna S. E. Lundberg

Coach, Speaker, Writer

Fearless Fridays: From Grey’s Anatomy to weight loss transformation

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Fearless-Fridays-with-angela-tranThis month’s Fearless Fridays interview is with Angela Tran. We are both part of a business mastermind and I suddenly realised that her story was an inspirational one to share with you all!

Angela took a “detour in the right direction”, as Gabby Bernstein puts it, training for 12 years to be a doctor only to then realise that the work didn’t feel meaningful to her, and wasn’t compatible with having a family.

She recognised the need for mentoring and guidance right from the start, turning first to free resources available online and then investing in a business coach to help her achieve her goals.

Read on or watch the full interview below to discover how Angela has transformed her own life, and now helps patients transform theirs.

Leaving a corporate job behind to follow your passion: From Grey’s Anatomy to weight loss transformation

Angela-tranAngela Tran started out as a primary care doctor but quickly realising that it wasn’t what she wanted to do, and it wasn’t compatible with having a family. Today, she is a medical weight loss doctor in Denver, Colorado, helping busy professionals lose over 50 pounds in less than six months without surgery, using one-on-one nutrition, fitness training and medical supervision all under one roof.

1) At what moment did you decide it was time for a change?

angela-tran-profile
“I love telling my story because there are too many people out there who are so burnt out and really in the wrong things, and I want to really open that process and allow them to take away their fear and really step outside to do what they were meant to do.”

I was the classic story, little girl with a dream of becoming a doctor. And by the time I finished 12 plus years of training, I ended up not wanting to be a doctor after all. Isn’t that a terrible feeling to have that? “Did I just waste 12 years of my life to really go back to square one?”

I had finished all the way through. I became a primary care doctor, so I was writing prescriptions, helping people with knee pain, coughs and so on, and then I started seeing diabetes and heart attacks. But at the end of the day, all I felt like I was doing was putting Band-Aids, and I wasn’t really saving lives.

I tell people doctors aren’t like they are on the hit TV show Grey’s Anatomy here in the US.

So it really made me re-evaluate. I came to a point where, gosh, if I were to start a family in the terrible state of mind that I was, I was going to be a terrible mother, terrible wife, terrible all around. So that’s when I really started my own personal journey.

I hope this resonates with all the listeners out there. I was caught in the middle of the highway, and it was high traffic, and literally it was eight o’clock at night… I was clocking in for months of 12-hour plus days; I could feel my blood pressure go up. And I literally had a moment where I said, “Gosh, if I had a child waiting for me at home…” I really felt that I would be the worst mother of all. So that was really sort of my ‘aha moment’, where, “There has to be more. I can’t live life like this.”

So I panicked. Just like anybody else, I wanted an out, so I was on the internet. You’re obsessed with looking for the next best thing and the next job, and then you realise, well, this office is further away, or this office makes you be on call on the weekends. I literally just said, “Okay, universe, you win. You know, give me a sign.”

And believe it or not, I met a doctor who actually helps doctors like me who are classically burnt out. And I went to his workshop, and that was the start of it all. He said, “You know, Angela, you remind me of one of my friends in Texas who does weight loss. I’d like to introduce you.”

And so we spent an hour on the phone. She said, “I truly am actually helping people.” And I said, “Really?” And she said, “I enjoy what I’m doing.” And I said, “Who says that? Who?” I didn’t even think that existed, that people actually really enjoyed their job. I thought it was just a means to live life. And so it was love at first sight. As soon as I got off, that was my journey. I started to try to figure out, with zero business background, how to build my practise.

Fast forward seven years later: I started from two employees to ten, that I love to death and drive me crazy. But I’d never give it up to go back to the corporate job that we all feel the pain in.

2) What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the change?

I gave up a six-figure salary paycheck. It made me want to vomit, not only to quit all the work… I was a straight A student! I gave up partying and I studied, and I really worked hard to get into medical school. And then all of a sudden, to even give it up financially; I know some people out there are the primary breadwinners. I wasn’t even married at the time. Yes, I was dating my now husband, but it was just all on me, and I didn’t ask him for any help. I said, “If I’m going to make this work, it’s all up to me.”

That was the biggest challenge of all, committing and going ‘all in’. You don’t have a plan B. You know, as an entrepreneur, there’s no such thing as a plan B. You make it work, and that’s why you’re successful, because you don’t think that there is ever going to be a plan B. That’s probably been one of the secrets.

And then the second obstacle was, “I have no idea how to run a business.” I know how to look under a microscope, and I know how to prescribe an antibiotic, but I don’t know anything about profit-and-loss statements and hiring employees and pricing products and services.

3) Where did you get the support you needed to make it happen?

The nice thing is that the internet is your library of resources; everything and anything that you ever need is right there.

Here in Denver, Colorado, they also have a centre called the Denver Small Business Development Center. So you take a business basics class, and then they assign you a free mentor that you can meet with. So for an entire year, I literally was in her office every other month. I was seeing patients, running back to the corner office, making phone calls. And fast forward to about 2012, when I officially opened doors, right after I put in the resignation to my chief.

Yes, I had the support of my mother and my now husband, but they’ve never run a business, and so thankfully, they just said, “You can do it.” But really, I had to find resources again, what was accessible to me, like the mentor at the Denver Small Business Development Center, and just took a few courses online, a few business conferences. I just had to open myself up to the world, because you get caught in your corporate job; you have a very narrow-minded one point of view.

And then once you release what I call the golden handcuffs so to speak, the universe is at your feet. So I let the universe support me, and I was more open to it. Rather than my narrow-minded, “I want to control things,” “I want this to happen,” I just sort of released whatever I thought was right, and allowed the blueprint that I believe already existed, and kind of took the Indiana Jones leap of faith. You don’t see it at all. You literally feel like you’re going to fall – that’s exactly how it feels. But all you have to do is take a step.

4) What’s the best part of your lifestyle today?

Angela now has a team of ten employees, whom she loves!

Oh my goodness, I’m just on an all-time high. Yes, I do have the stresses of running a business. Youmentioned we are in a Mastermind group called Legacy Leaders, and our business coach is Kelly Roach. I owe everything to her, because back in 2015, I still struggled. I still didn’t really know what I was doing. I kind of almost recreated my corporate job. So I was still the one-woman show where I was seeing patients back to back to back. And I was doing the marketing and the bookkeeping and even answering the phone calls. I remember I had one employee and she was feeling ill, and so I was it, the only one in the office.

And so I finally came across Kelly Roach, who really helped me understand how to build a true business and build a team.

Fast forward to today: rather than seeing 25 patients a day, I see roughly about five patients a week. But I’ve been able to build an actual team that can really facilitate the programme and formula that I’ve created. Now I still see all patients, but it’s just in such a different atmosphere.

I did it all for my daughter Hailey. I get to drop her off at school next door to my office. I take her home during my lunch break. If she has a soccer game, I get to take her. If she’s sick, I get to go home and take care of her. If I want Fridays off… I don’t remember the last time I worked a Friday. That’s the beauty of really stepping out of what you thought was security, and opening yourself up to what you were truly meant to do, and the universe just rewards you over and over again.

And I heard this from another mentor: “The universe is your business partner.” And I truly believe that.

5) What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big career or lifestyle change?

Commit to yourself first. I know that some people kind of hear that, and it logically makes sense, but they never actually implement that all the way through, because of fear or whatever barrier stories. You can say it logically, but you have to actually feel it, commit to yourself first, and then things will work out the way they’re supposed to. You actually have to make a decision, meaning that you eliminate all other alternatives by committing.

I know there are a lot of people out there who are scared, and I was there, and guess what? I’m still there. We as business owners just have a different tolerance of fear, and we’re able to make decisions around it. But I’ve been there, and I just want to encourage people; there is so much on the other side that you are giving up by staying where you are. So commit, figure it out, and it will be fast to get you to where you want to be. Life is too short for you to stay where you are.

Find out more about Angela at denverweightlossclinic.comor find her on Facebook.

Fearless Fridays: From food editing to keto cooking

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Fearless-Fridays-with-julie-mokhtarThis month’s Fearless Fridays interview is with Julie Mokhtar, also known as KETOJules, who I came across on Instagram.

She is another of the people I’ve spoken to who really loved her job, so it wasn’t a question of leaving to get away from something terrible. She felt, however, that there was a disconnect when it came to the work that she was doing in her day job and her growing side hustle.

Watch the full interview below or read on to find out how Julie set up her KETOJulies website, how she learnt all she could about entrepreneurship and how to monetise her content, and how she I’s now making the most of the freedom, flexibility and fulfilment that comes with running your own business.

Leaving a corporate job behind to follow your passion: From food editing to keto cooking

julie-mokhtar-profileJulie Mokhtar was working as a food editor in Kuala Lumpur when, having discovered the benefits of a keto diet for herself, she saw an opportunity to help her fellow Malaysians implement a ketogenic lifestyle. She set up a website and within two months she had money coming in to the point that she decided to quit her job to go full time. Today, Julie is a certified ketogenic living coach and has a blog, a starter guide and a number of e-books to help people kickstart and sustain a keto lifestyle.

1) At what moment did you decide it was time for a change?

julie-mokhtar-cooking
Food has always been Julie’s ‘thing’ and, although she was working with food in her previous job as an editor, she felt drawn to helping people more with improving their health by eating a nutritional diet.

I was working as a food editor at one of the largest digital content producers that we have here in Malaysia, and it was, I would say, a dream job in most ways. My role was to create content centred around food – making recipe videos, brainstorming sponsored content for our clients, and so on. I was happy, I loved it so much, and it was fulfilling in so many ways. I worked with an amazing team, and I had an editor that I really looked up to. So people would ask me, “Why are you going to leave that and work on this new, uncertain thing?”

I think there were two big things that influenced my decision.

The first was that I wanted to be more authentic. Part of my day job was going out to try new foods, and going to food events. At that point, I was already on the keto diet and KETOJules was already there, and so at my day job, I was trying to eat around the carbs. So, at a pizza event for example, I was just eating the toppings – and I looked like the most ridiculous person ever!

I felt like there was a disconnect between me as a career person and then who I was with the KETOJules brand. On KETOJules, I was trying to promote nutritional awareness of how we choose to fuel our body, and so it felt inauthentic that I was there eating foods that were not part of what I felt was great for me. And I had to eat some of these things, because there were times that I had to be talent in the video, and I had to eat burgers and stuff like that!

So I felt that, “Okay, I need to pick which person I want to be.” I naturally gravitated to the keto side of things, because it has made me feel so much more centred, both physically and mentally – and that’s how the decision was made!

I think the bigger reason that made me eventually decide that I had to leave was that we also worked with a lot of food brands that wanted to appear much healthier than they actually were to the public. I really believe in clear branding and transparency and this misleading information that I was helping them put out didn’t really sit well with me. I felt, ethically, that I could not be okay with that, and I didn’t want to be part of the problem. I wanted to be part of helping people and empowering them to make a more informed decision when it comes to their health. So, that was how I decided that it was KETOJules all the way!

2) What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the change?

I think monetisation was my biggest challenge. I wanted to make sure that I could pay my bills and have some form of sustenance at the end of the month! And although I was producing all this content, I had never actually known how to make money from it.

And so, when I quit my job, I learned all I could about entrepreneurship. I went for master classes, I would be listening to webinars the whole day, and going to seminars and talks. I was getting to know other entrepreneurs and really trying to figure out: what’s the best way for me to make money in the long term?

I was also starting up a few different income generators and then analysing which one was most profitable, and how much time as well as how much mental and physical capacity it would take to generate this income. Because if you want something to be sustainable, you have to look for something where you can make money in the least amount of time with the least resistance; you don’t want to be making money at the expense of your mental health.

3) Where did you get the support you needed to make it happen?

Credit goes to my husband, who was my financial safety net at that point. I told him, “Hey, so this is my plan: I’m going to leave my job.” And he wasn’t even shocked, he just said, ”Okay, so how can I help?” He was really there for me.

And my family members are amazing, and I have amazing girlfriends who are always there. They make sure to call me at some point just so I have human interaction when I’m working at home by myself!

Having that support system has been really, really great for me – and that’s really helpful for any entrepreneur, I think.

4) What’s the best part of your lifestyle today?

julie-mokhtar-speaking
Running her own business gives Julie the freedom to make her own decisions, the flexibility to manage her day according to what works for her, and the fulfilment that comes from knowing that she’s making a difference with the people she works with.

I’m going to quote you on this, because I saw your video that you did on freedom, fulfilment and flexibility! These really spoke to me on a whole other level, these are the things that I was looking for.

As I mentioned, the job that I had before was fulfilling in some ways, but to be able to have that freedom to make a call on every decision in the business – whether I fail or I succeed, everything is on me right now – I think that is a great thing.

It teaches me a lot and it gives me a lot of freedom in the sense of choosing what sort of content I want to produce. I pick what sort of brands I want to continue working with, that are great for the community.

And flexibility in the sense that I’m free to carve out my work schedule according to how I like it to be. I could work a bit later in the morning and get my workout in first, whereas when I was working before, most of my energy was spent on the job and by the time I came home, I was super tired and I didn’t really want to be doing anything else. It gives me so much more space to really work on all these other things that are also important in my life, like my health, and things like that.

When I was working, I would look at all those people in coffee shops at really odd hours on week days, and I would think, “What do they do? How come they’re so free and they’re here having coffee while I’m at work?!” And I’m so happy that I’m one of those people now! It’s just so freeing, to make your own decisions about when and how you want to work.

Where I am right now, it also carries a lot of meaning in the sense that I am working with people to help them better their health – and I feel like I have more of a purpose.

5) What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big career or lifestyle change?

Make sure that you’re – if not 100% ready – at least 99% ready! I think it’s best to validate your business idea first, to make sure that it’s going to be okay – because if you quit and it doesn’t work out, it’s going be so much harder to bounce back.

So, if you really need to stay at your job first, for the financial security, that’s fine, there’s really no shame in that. There are also a lot of things that you could learn while you’re on the job, and a lot of what I do right now, I learned from my previous job.

So have a plan; validate it; and, when you feel that you are ready to do this, then just go full steam ahead!

Find out more about KETOJules on her website or follow her on Instagram.

Fearless Fridays: From investment banking to transformational coaching

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Fearless-Fridays-With-Gareth-Martin-2This month’s Fearless Fridays interview is with Gareth Martin, who I discovered thanks to his girlfriend Maressa over on Instagram. Gareth is South African, has been living in England for the last 20 years, I met him via his Brazilian girlfriend, and he’s about to move to Portugal later this year!

Watch the full interview below or read on to find out about how Gareth ‘tried’ to leave his investment banking job already back in 2013 but found himself back there before long; how the second time round he was much better prepared, putting in place a plan, learning new skills, and increasing his savings buffer; and how the reality of running your own business doesn’t always match your expectations…

Leaving a corporate job behind to follow your passion: From investment banking to transformational coaching

Gareth Martin was an investment banker for about 20 years and really loved his work. Deep down, however, he knew that it wasn’t what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He left two years ago, thinking he would do something with his long-standing passion of fitness and wellbeing. Today, he is a transformational coach, also running The Ridiculously Human Podcast, and really feels that he has ‘found his calling in life’.

1) At what moment did you decide it was time for a change?

I actually tried to leave… I think it was in 2013 the first time. I’d always had this thing inside me that I wanted to do something else. So, I left, and I went and did all these courses on learning how to build apps and do tech stuff and whatnot… but I didn’t really have a plan, to be honest with you. And, eventually, I came back into banking! I thought, “I’ll just come back briefly,” and it ended up being three years.

But when I went back, I realised, “Okay, I need to have a plan now,” so I made sure that within those three years, I used my time wisely, and I trained up as much as I could in terms of what I wanted to do; I also saved as much cash as I could.

Then, two years ago, I was said, “Cool, I’m ready to go. I know what I want to do, and it’s time to jump in at the deep end.”

When I left investment banking, I thought I was going to get into the health and wellness space. I trained many years ago to be a personal trainer, and in those last three years, I was training people on the side. I figured, “I’m definitely going to get into this and do some sort of high-end personal coaching.”

gareth-martin-buddha
Gareth trained to be a yoga instructor and meditation teacher in India.

At the same time, I felt like a one-trick pony, because I’d been doing banking for such a long time and I didn’t really have a tonne of other skills. So, I said, “Okay, I need a year to go and up-skill myself.” And I wanted to offer something quite boutique-y and unique, not just personal training – there’s so much more to being healthy than just hitting the gym.

I went to India for two or three months, and I trained to be a yoga instructor and meditation teacher; I then came back and studied to be a chef. Then, while I was finishing off my chef diploma, a friend of mine said, “Why don’t you come and do this executive coaching certification with me?”

There’s a real art and science to coaching people properly, and I thought, “I can learn this and apply it to the fitness side of things.” We did the course together and I realised, “Actually, I much prefer this!”

Once I’d finished that course, I thought, “This is definitely what I want to do.” And it was that executive coaching which really changed my trajectory towards the coaching that I’m doing now.

2) What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the change?

First of all, it takes much longer than you’ll ever imagine.

I think the picture that people have, that I had, for example, was that, “I’m just going to be at home and be able to do my own thing, and I’m going to have so much time!”

And the reality is that, actually, you’re going to work much harder than you probably ever worked in your corporate job, especially in the beginning. And by “the beginning”, I mean the first two to three, maybe even longer, years. It takes a lot to get a business going.

It’s also much lonelier than you think. Personally, I thrive around people, that’s where I feel like I’m in my element. And so, being at home is definitely lonely.

You need to really understand these things and get your mindset into the right place, to be happy with your own company. I’m so happy that I’ve been working on mindsets and trained yoga and meditation and all of these sorts of things, because you get to actually be a bit more comfortable within your own skin.

Also, your network changes. You’re going to have to be ready for some of your friends who don’t understand what you’re doing.

3) Where did you get the support you needed to make it happen?

I did a lot of courses, so I met a lot of people through that. There was another course I didn’t mention, as well, the altMBA, by Seth Godin – that was a real game-changer for me. It was online, but it was still an amazing network, and I’ve since met a lot of those people in person.

I think you have to put some rules and things into place in your life: you have to make an effort to get out of the house every single day; you have to make an effort to join groups; possibly go to a co-working space once or twice a week, just so that you can actually speak to people and see them.

4) What’s the best part of your lifestyle today?

Gareth loves seeing the transformation in people over just a few months of working together.

Like I said, I loved investment banking, but it feels very one-directional. You’re just there, you’re helping the bank earn more money, and you’re not really providing much value in the world. So, for me, there was this huge void. I thought, “Fine, I’m doing a good job, but I’m not actually providing something positive back into the world; I’m not helping people.” I knew I wanted to do that – and, now, I feel like I’m doing that. It’s amazing!

Every single week on our podcast, we speak to such interesting people, people who have done incredible things, and we really get to know these people in such a long-form podcast. We book in a two-hour slot and, for most of the time, we’re basically chatting to them about their life story; and you learn so much about people through their own stories. And for us, Craig and I who run it, it’s been beneficial, selfishly as individuals; but then the really cool thing is when you post an episode, and you have people who listen and who say, “I totally related to that, I found it so powerful.”

So you realise, “Okay, I’m doing something good. We are providing value; we’re helping other people.” And that, for me, nourishes the soul. If we can touch one person a week and help them out, then that is the best thing ever.

And then, on the coaching side, it’s the same thing. You see these transformations in people – people who have a bit of low confidence or low self-esteem, or who are confused and a little bit lost and don’t know how to get to the place that they want to get to – and over 12 weeks, their outlooks and their perspectives on the world have completely shifted. These sorts of things make such a big difference to my life now.

And also, just not having somebody to answer to every day! I feel fortunate that I had some great managers when I was working for the investment bank, but then at the same time, you also have the odd one who really makes your life a misery, and that was the case for one of my last roles for almost two years. Micromanaging for me is just not the way to do it; I’m not the type of person that needs to be micromanaged, and I really disliked that.

It’s just being in charge of your own day, and your own destiny. It’s such an amazing feeling, having autonomy in your life. And now I have a fully online business, so if we want to go somewhere – say, Maressa and I are going to go to Portugal later on this year to live – then we can! I’m not bound by where I need to be. And just having a little bit of that flexibility in your day to go and drop some keys off this afternoon, and have a cup of coffee with somebody, and I don’t have to ask anybody; I can plan my own day around that.

Those are some of the things that I really, really love.

5) What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big career or lifestyle change?

I think everybody in this world has something amazing to share, and I think because of the way society is, it’s kind of ground out of us from a young age. We learn, “Okay, this is how the world works, this is what you must do, you must go and study, you must do this,” and blah, blah, blah.

And you forget to be creative, you stop being creative, and you actually almost forget who you are as a person. And so, you really need to do some inner work first: everything comes from inside you. You need to start understanding, and remembering, who you are, and that you do have something amazing to offer this world.

I think every single person in the world is different, and they’re going to need different things…  But I actually wish that I had had a coach, somebody who had done what I wanted to do. If you can get yourself a coach, that will expedite your journey and your path so much more than you can ever imagine – these people have done what you want to do, and know the pain, and know the struggles, and everything that you’re going to go through and experience.

At the same time, you also need to go and do work yourself: you need to go and join courses, read books. You need to just go and do things, go to events, and find out what is out there. You’ll have an idea of what you want to do, but that’s going to morph over time – it may even become something completely different.

Another thing that I think is super-important is that you need to speak to those people who are close to you. You need to tell them what your plans are so that you get their buy-in, to get them on board. You need to say, “Look, this is what I want to do, and it would mean the world to me if you could provide me with your support and your backing.”

Make sure that you saved double the amount of money that you think you need; and make sure you have a plan.

Find out more about Gareth’s transformational coaching on his website, and have a listen to his podcast, Ridiculously Human.

Fearless Fridays: From advertising to animal photography

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Fearless Fridays with Grace ChonThis month’s Fearless Fridays interview is with Grace Chon, who initially approached me to be on her podcast, Creativity School. When I heard her story, I immediately asked her to come on my interview series as well!

Watch the full interview below or read on to find out more about the two pivotal moments that made her realise that her work wasn’t working for her anymore, the fear and scarcity mindset that initially held her back in her business, and the ‘breadcrumbs’ that she followed towards creative work that felt meaningful for her.

Leaving a corporate job behind to follow your passion: From advertising to animal photography

Grace ChonWith a background in biology and parents who wanted her to go into medicine, Grace Chon worked hard to get into a creative role, as an art director in a large ad agency in Los Angeles. Although fun and glamorous, she found it to be stressful and a very male-dominated culture. Today, she’s a commercial and editorial animal photographer, and she has published two dog photography books.

 

1) At what moment did you decide it was time for a change?

There are two very interesting moments that I remember.

One of them was when I was working at Deutsch. Donny Deutsch came into the ad agency in Los Angeles one day to give us a motivational pep talk, and he said something so profound that it stuck with me: it was the idea that if you’re not as excited to come into work on Monday morning, and you’re more excited to leave on Friday afternoon, then you really need to rethink what you’re doing. And I thought, “Wow, okay, yeah I sort of dread Mondays at this point…”

I don’t even think I had the language then that I do now to explain why I felt so unsettled there. I can see now being so young, being female, a d being Asian American, it was a very toxic male culture.

And then I remember there was one night where my partner and I were at the agency until about 12 or 1 in the morning and I was driving home and I thought to myself, “If I got into a car accident right now, this wouldn’t be so bad. Not enough to kill me, but just enough where I don’t have to go to work…”

I realised, “This is not healthy. I cannot be in this work environment – it doesn’t matter how hard I worked to get here and what I overcame to do it – this is not a healthy mindset.” And I had to do something. And that something wasn’t even, “I need to get a new job”. It was, “I just need something to make me feel happy again. I can’t be this miserable and want to get in a car accident coming home from work!”

I’m a big believer in small steps. My whole thing was, “What can I do right now in this situation just to make myself a little bit happier? Because this is not working.”

Grace Chon Dogs
Grace had adopted her own dog and, as an art director, realised that she could use her skills to help out and, at the same time, find a little bit of happiness.

I decided to start taking head shots of homeless dogs to help them get adopted, and I did this as volunteer work on the weekend. As an art director, I recognised the power of really good imagery. I thought, “Hey, if I can take a really great photo of this dog, I believe people will want to come to a live adoption event, meet them, and then potentially adopt them.”

So, I put an ad out on Craigslist, and I said, “Hey, I’m an art director. I want to take photos for your rescue group. Please contact me.” I found a great group called the Dog Squad here in LA, and I started taking head shots of these little homeless dogs, and people started coming in from everywhere to meet them; those photos were really making a difference.

This was back in 2008. And people started asking me, “Hey, can you do this for my dog?” And I turned that into a side hustle pet photography business! So, while I was working my incredibly stressful job at the agency, I was working nights and weekends at my pet photography business, and it blew up faster than I could have imagined.

I realised, “Okay, I need to quit my job and see what would happen if I invested the time and the energy full time into this business!” And people thought I was nuts because this was during the great recession in the United States where everybody was losing their job. People were saying that about 50% of the people in the ad industry had been let go, and I had just received a raise at work because my partner and I had launched a series of TV commercials that went viral. I walked into my boss’s office and I said, “Hey, I’m quitting.” And I did it.

That was back in 2008, 2009. It was about nine months of side hustling, and then I said, “You know what? I have to do this.”

2) What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the change?

I think the hardest part about making the transition was the fear of not being able to make money and not knowing if I could do this. And that fear was valid, right? We were in a recession… It could be considered frivolous to spend money, hundreds of dollars, taking pictures of your pets.

I was very fortunate to not get pushback from my boyfriend, who is now my husband, at the time; he was incredibly supportive of what I was doing. But I had certain friends who just didn’t understand, and they weren’t interested in what I was doing. At that point, I thought, “Maybe you’re not really my friend if this sounds ridiculous to you and you can’t support me?”

But, for the most part, I think it was just the fear of what was going to happen. And it wasn’t even really that big of a fear, because I felt, “Well, I can always go back to advertising if this doesn’t work out – it’s not a big deal.”

For me, the bigger fear is regret. I would never want to look back on my life and say, “Why didn’t I just try? Why didn’t I just do this?”

What’s the big deal? If I don’t make money and I “fail” at it, there is no harm. Actually, I should be proud of myself because I took the initiative and tried. I think trying takes more courage than not doing anything at all.

3) Where did you get the support you needed to make it happen?

I don’t even think it was called this back then – or maybe it was, and I didn’t know – but it was mindset work; really digging deep.

I have a podcast now called Creativity School, and what I say is that you need to do the work on the inside to make sure you get the best work out on the outside. At the time, I had very organically stumbled into this work and realised that I needed to overcome this lack mentality, this poverty mindset, where I was feeling like there wasn’t enough. “Oh my God, this new pet photographer started, now there’s less business for me!” I think that was a really big thing that I had to learn to overcome, feeling like I was constantly in competition with people. I realised there is enough for everybody, and if a potential client goes to somebody else, it’s because they were meant to be their client. I used to take it so personally: “Why didn’t they choose me? There’s something wrong with me.”

Overcoming that kind of thinking and stepping into a place of abundance, realising there really is enough for everybody, and we’re not meant to get every client out there – I think that helped me so much.

4) What’s the best part of your lifestyle today?

The best part is that I get to make the work that I want to make, that is coming from my soul. In advertising, I was being creative and making things, but it wasn’t meaningful to me. Now, I get to create work that is meaningful to me, and I have such great intention behind it. I get to spread this energy through what I create, and have it impact somebody else out there. I think there is such great power in the fact that I get to be exactly who I am, channel that into my work, and have it impact other people – and I love that.

And, yes, the freedom is a great thing. I’m speaking to you at nine in the morning on a Monday and I’m not in an office! One of the reasons why I wanted to quit advertising was that it just felt like, “How do you possibly juggle a schedule like this with being a mum?” I wasn’t a mum at the time, but just thinking long term, I didn’t have any female role models in the ad industry. I had one actually, I was so fortunate: she was my boss, the creative director. She’s now off being the executive creative director at an amazing agency – but she had a stay-at-home husband to raise their two kids.

I knew my husband would not be a stay-at-home dad, and the thought of juggling that schedule with children… There is zero work-life balance in the ad industry. I would say it’s like being a doctor on call, but you’re not saving lives! To be free from that and to be able to make my own schedule, that is amazing.

But I think the greatest thing for me is that I truly get to make, and share, work that is meaningful.

5) What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big career or lifestyle change?

I would say, really pay attention to what makes you happy. It’s like following breadcrumbs: it’s step by step, tiny little clues. As I shared, it wasn’t that I had this ‘aha’ moment and realised I had to jump from here to there. It was me listening to myself and realising what would make me happy: in this moment now, what can I do that will make me happy? And that little breadcrumb led me to taking photos as a volunteer; and then the next breadcrumb was, “Oh, hey, maybe this can be a business,” and the next… I just kept following each little breadcrumb.

Now, I’m not even doing what I started doing. I started as a family pet photographer and you could hire me for special occasions or just because you wanted lovely family photos. But I followed the breadcrumbs again and became a commercial and editorial photographer, focusing on creating work that’s meaningful to me; and that’s the work that I’ve shot that has gone viral, and that has been turned into dog photography books.

So, I want people to realise that it’s not about having these big ‘aha moment’ epiphanies and having to make giant leaps from point A to point Z. It’s about really going in and paying attention to what makes you happy, and just taking those little tiny steps – because you never know where that will lead you.

I shared how I’m a podcaster now… I never imagined in a million years that I would have my own show; I would never have imagined that back in 2008, when I first picked up my camera. And I think that is the beautiful thing about tapping into your creativity and paying attention to what you like, because it leads you down a path that you cannot even begin to imagine.

Check out Grace’s portfolio of animal photography on her website, and her Creativity School Podcast, where she is sharing people’s journeys towards their own personal creativity (including mine!).

Fearless Fridays: From PR to personal coaching

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This month’s Fearless Fridays interview is with Louise Colbridge. Her story is one of many steps, from moving to Singapore to taking some time off to have her children, to discovering NLP and coaching and then to finally making the decision to quit her job and set up her own business last year.

Watch the full interview below or read on to find out more about the different decision points along the way, the challenges she faced in particular when it came to her mindset and confidence, and how she has transformed her life and found a way to build a business that works perfectly for her young family and allows her to make an impact in the world as well.

Leaving a corporate job behind to follow your passion: From PR to personal coaching

louise colbridgeLouise quit her 9-to-5 job in August 2018, after more than 14 years working in communications and marketing. She had moved to Singapore because of her husband’s job, taken some time off to have her children, and then found when she returned to work that her priorities had shifted. Today, she’s a personal coach for people who are on the verge of embarking on “something big”, exciting clients who bring energy and enthusiasm and are ready for change.

 

1) At what moment did you decide it was time for a change?

I moved to Singapore ten years ago with my husband, so my career moved as well, and I carried on working in PR and marketing here. I had my children, had a bit of time off, and went back to work for four or five years after my youngest daughter was born. I noticed a shift in what I was passionate about and how my values had completely changed from being quite career-orientated and wanting an exciting job to needing something that was more in line with who I felt I was becoming. I don’t know whether it was a case of just getting a bit older and having children who were a bit older, but I felt a real shift in my life and in what I needed.

Coupled with that, I was going through a really stressful time in my job and I realised that whilst I loved the people and I loved being part of the team every day, the actual job just wasn’t ticking the boxes for me anymore. I was working really long hours, my children weren’t seeing me, I was really stressed, I wasn’t exercising, I was getting sick, and I thought there must be something more…

A friend put me in touch with a coach and I had just one conversation with her to start with and literally my whole mindset changed, and I realised that of course it was possible to do something different! But I struggled for about two years with finding out what that was. I knew I wanted to work for myself, I knew I needed more time at home with my family, I knew I needed more time for myself; but it took about two years.

I enrolled in an NLP course and I loved that, and I loved working one-to-one with people, but I didn’t want to fully jump into the world of NLP. So, I started looking at coaching courses and as time and fate would have it, I was talking to another mum who I’d known for four years. I enrolled on the same course that she had done because I was so inspired by her and what she was doing – and I haven’t looked back!

I made the decision to do the course and to set up my own business, but actually handing in my notice was still quite difficult. I spent a long time talking about it and not doing anything and then, again, things just kind of ‘happened’. My boss at the time wanted to change my hours, to extend them, and that was enough for me to say, “Actually, this is not going to work for me and there’s something else that’s calling me.” So, I handed in my notice.

2) What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the change?

I think it was gaining the confidence to accept that this was going to be my next move, and stepping into that. I’ve found that every step of the way the energy that I put out comes back. As soon as you open yourself up to the possibility of things happening, I think they start to happen; they were probably happening anyway, I just hadn’t been in the right place to acknowledge them. And that has been huge for me, just getting over those mindset blockages of what is and is not possible.

Moving into a new career and getting myself accredited and all of those things has been great and kind of a supported process. Then there’s the whole business bit and nobody tells you what you should be doing. In spite of my career in communications and marketing, I still wasn’t able to do any of that for myself – that was really difficult.

I have also kept quite quiet about everything that I’ve been doing, and I’ve been a bit scared in terms of putting myself out there, so I’m definitely still working on that.

3) Where did you get the support you needed to make it happen?

My husband. Knowing that I had somebody at home who said, “You go and do what you need to do.” That was a huge foundation for me to be able to go and explore – that was the biggest support for me.

I also found that doing the courses that I did, you suddenly build up a network of like-minded people who don’t know your history, don’t know your background, but know that you’re really excited about something. I’ve made friends here that I’ve only known for a year but we’re on this journey together and that’s been amazing.

4) What’s the best part of your lifestyle today?

louise colbridge
Louise has built a business that works with her personal and family life, and that allows her to make a real impact in people’s lives; it has been completely life changing.

I feel like my life has completely turned around! I mean, I have built a routine that is just perfect for me. I get to drop my kids at school, I exercise every day, I meet with really interesting people who inspire me so much to be better and learn more. And I just feel like I’m having a positive impact on the world in terms of my work.

I feel like my life and work have merged into one, which I guess could sound quite scary to some people; but I feel like I’m living and breathing it more. It’s no longer about work and home, it’s just: this is my life and this is how I’m choosing to live it.

So for me, the main driver was having an impact and being able to spend some quality time with my children and not be stressed, and busy, and sick and worrying about balancing everything. Achieving that has been life changing.

5) What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big career or lifestyle change?

Give yourself permission to explore and be open to opportunities and realise that anyone can do it. I thought that setting up and running your own business you had to be an entrepreneur, or you had to be young or you had to be always coming up with new ideas – and I don’t think it’s about that. I think it’s about finding what passion you want and what you want your life to look like and then working backwards from that.

Somebody said to me, or I read somewhere as I was starting out, that you should “Start before you’re ready.” And I’ve used that a lot more recently. Previously, I would have always researched and made cases for and cases against. Actually, I think there’s a time and a place to just do it and then work it out… and if you put the energy and the effort in, it will all come together.

Find out more about Louise’s coaching on her website, We are Limitless.