I Got Tired of Waiting to Be Chosen
After more than a year of looking for a job and following up, I’d only had one interview. I’d been laid off for the fifth time, and by that point, I knew how to start over. I had years of experience in recruiting. I knew how to look for opportunities and get back to work. But this time, I was still waiting for someone to choose me, and I was tired of it.
I was completely dejected and brokenhearted. There was the frustration of needing an income and not being able to find work, but there were also feelings of worthlessness and depression. Spending that long trying to get someone to consider you takes a toll. I had experience and wanted to work, yet I couldn’t seem to get the opportunity.
So when a friend told me he’d completed CDL school for free through a grant, I listened. I’d spent years recruiting drivers, and I knew there was demand for them. I was desperate for work, and this seemed like a practical way to use something I already knew about the industry. He explained how I could get a grant, too, and I went to school and earned my commercial driver’s license.
A New License, but Still No Clear Way Forward
Once I had my CDL, I started looking for driving jobs. That was when I discovered that the positions that would keep me closer to home generally required one or two years of experience first. I’d completed the training, earned the license, and was ready to work, but the jobs that fit my life were still out of reach.
Around that same time, my stepfather’s health began declining. I couldn’t be away for long periods. People depended on me, and honestly, I didn’t want to spend that much time away from my children, grandchildren, and family anyway. I needed an income, but being home and available to the people I loved mattered to me, too.
That was part of what I had to consider as I began looking into other ventures and side hustles. What could I build? What would let me earn a living while staying closer to home? And what kind of work would I actually want to pour myself into?
One thing I knew was that I loved helping people. It had been one of my favorite parts of recruiting. There was something wonderful about matching someone with the right position and then calling to tell them we were offering them the job. I loved making that phone call. Whatever came next, that was a part of my work I wanted to keep.
I Was Skeptical About Life Coaching
When I discovered life coaching, I didn’t immediately think I’d found my answer. I was skeptical. I’d never even heard of a life coach before, so I had some learning to do before deciding whether this was something I wanted to pursue. But I kept researching, and eventually I earned my first certification.
I’d been through a rough decade: an addiction-impacted marriage, divorce, raising my kids, career changes, and repeated layoffs. I knew how to keep going and handle what needed to be handled. I also knew what it was like to have very little excitement about my own life and then face the unfamiliar work of figuring out what I wanted.
As I continued studying the brain, emotions, and different coaching modalities, I began understanding why I’d responded to things the way I had. Hindsight is 20/20, and I couldn’t change the past. But learning helped me look back with more understanding and less of the blame I’d placed on myself.
Once I became aware of what had been “running the show,” it became easier to catch those automatic responses as they happened. I could notice what I was doing, question it, and begin responding differently. What I was learning was making a difference in my own life, and the more I learned, the more passionate I became about helping other women experience that, too.
Then Came the Business Part
What I didn’t understand was how much went into building and promoting an online business. Becoming a coach was one undertaking. Learning how to reach the women I wanted to help, amid all the other noise online, was another.
When I first started, I hired two different developers to build my website. Neither created what I wanted, and one even told me that what I wanted couldn’t be done. Here I am a year later, doing what “couldn’t” be done. LOL.
The website alone turned out to be quite an education. And that was only one piece of learning how to build and run an online business. I hadn’t known how much I’d be taking on when I began exploring coaching, but here I was, figuring it out.
I’m Still in the Middle of This Story
I’d love to tell you that discovering coaching led straight to a successful business and the income I needed. I’m still working toward that part. I’m spending a great deal of my time building, learning, and figuring out how to reach the women this work is for.
My faith is part of how I’m approaching it. I’m trusting God to provide the path and direct my steps while I do the work in front of me. I don’t know exactly how everything will come together. I do know that helping people matters to me, that I’ve developed a passion for this work, and that I want to keep building it. As one of my favorite authors, Mark Batterson, says, “Work like it depends on you, pray like it depends on God.”
Through Next Chapter Studio, I help women who are tired of living on autopilot figure out what they want now and start creating a life they’re excited to live. I bring what I’ve lived and what I’ve learned to that work, including an understanding of how unfamiliar it can feel to begin asking what you want for yourself.
There’s still plenty I haven’t figured out, but now I have something I want to pour myself into. And a website doing what couldn’t be done.
If you’re wondering what you want in this part of your life, I created a free guide called How to Tell What You Want From What You’re Used to Choosing. It’s a place to begin looking at your own decisions and noticing what matters to you.
Get your free guide: How to Tell What You Want From What You’re Used to Choosing.
