BIG NEWS!!! HOW B-SCHOOL HELPED ME MAKE A MID-LIFE CAREER CHANGE!

Okay, so this is kind of big……

If you know me well know that I’ve made some pretty big life changes over the past few years.

One change I’m pretty proud about is stepping out in faith to make a really BIG career change. After working for over 25 years as a CPA/Business Executive, I left my corporate identity to become a life coach and eventually a licensed counselor.

This was part of a long journey that started back in 2014 when God made it undeniably clear to me that I was to enroll in a Pastoral Counseling Masters degree program at Loyola University. At the time, I was beyond stressed trying to hold together a very demanding work schedule and balance it with taking care of my family. Sadly, it wasn’t going well. How was I going to add graduate school on top of everything else? God said to me through a sermon, “Whatever I make clear to you, ACTIVATE it!” So, I did. I enrolled in a 66 credit masters degree program with no idea how things were going to work out.

It was a LONG journey. It took five years in fact. A lot happened along the way. Work got crazy. I had to change jobs and ended up with a two-hour commute. My 16 year-old daughter was diagnosed with type one diabetes.  BOOM, that changed everything.  My dad developed Parkinsons disease and dementia. Another REALLY big change. I became my dad’s primary caregiver and moved him in with us.  I was working full time, commuting over two hours back and forth everyday, and trying to figure out how I was the world I was gonna keep all the balls in the air.  Something had to give.

So I decided to step away from my six-figure job and focus on taking care of my dad, and my family, and me.  And finish this graduate school thing I started. The time had come for me to work for two years in an UNPAID clinical internship. How were we supposed to stay financially afloat?  This is the point, in 2016, when I decided to launch a life coaching business. I had already been dabbling into coaching and could see that it would be a nice complement once I finished graduate school and launched my counseling practice.

So, I stumbled around for quite a while, not really having any idea what I was doing. I had never run a business before.  There was so much to figure out. So much pressure. I didn’t want to be a failure and the last thing I wanted was to go back to corporate work. This was after all, a spiritual quest, I couldn’t turn back…

Along my journey, I met many guides who provided tools and resources to help me learn about building a successful business. One of them, is a phenomenal woman named Marie Forleo.  For those of you who don’t know her, she’s HUGE.  Her MarieTV YouTube channel has over 50 million views. Oprah calls her a “thought leader for the next generation.” She graces the March/April 2020 Success Magazine cover as one of 12 new thought leaders who can lead you to your brightest future.

Marie runs a PHENOMENAL program called B-School, which teaches you EVERYTHING you need to know to run a profitable, successful online business. Since I didn’t want to be counted amongst over half the new businesses that fail within the first five years of operation, I turned to an expert. There are so many wonderful, life-changing, transformational things I can tell you about B-School, but I’m gonna save that for another message.

What I want to share with now is that I received the most amazing news last year! I was invited by Marie Forleo’s team to share my story and experience of taking B-School!!!  Imposter Syndrome kicked in big time, and I was tempted to say No. But God wasn’t going for that. So, I graciously and humbly accepted the offer and traveled to New York City in September to meet with some of the most amazing people I have ever been in the presence of, other B-Schoolers and Marie’s team. You can tell a lot about a person by the energy of the people around them. Participating in this experience was so electrifying, fun, and empowering! Her team put together an amazing video to share my story of career change and how B-School empowered me to create a successful coaching and counseling practice.

I’m sharing this with you not to brag or to boast. In fact, those darn Imposter Syndrome gremlins came back and I’ve been doing battle with them all week. What if people judge me? Yes, I’ve accomplished A LOT, but I’m still not where I want to be. On and on….

God helped me figure out that I need to put my little ego to the side. And step out of the way and share my story. In case there are other women (or men) out there who feel like I did. Like you have to choose between work and family. Maybe your life seems perfect from outside, but from the inside everything is falling apart. Maybe you have this inner yearning inside calling YOU to something GREATER. And it won’t go away. Maybe you need a little spark of inspiration to see what things might look like when you move beyond the limited vision of what you can see into the infinite possibilities that come when you take a courageous step of FAITH into the unknown. It’s been a difficult journey, yet it’s been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done!

I’ll be back over the next few days to share more exciting news! But for now, please CHECK OUT THE VIDEO that Marie’s team produced to help me share my story. I’m so honored and humbled to share it with you. Please share your thoughts and let me know if you’ve been getting a little nudge that it’s time for you to make a change.

Take Good Care!