Confessions of the Accidental Career Coach

Surprising Secrets to Create a Life-Changing Job Helping Others Launch Their Thriving Career

Cara Heilmann

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781473656055
• eBook ISBN: 9781642795929
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Success

Confessions of the Accidental Career Coach helps those who want to start their own self-sustaining business and not worry about money – start now!

Cara Heilmann, CEO of Ready Reset Go® and bestselling author of The Art of Finding the Job You Love, has trained many people to become profitable career coaches. Confessions of the Accidental Career Coach helps readers obtain the tools they need to start making a difference in others' lives. Within Confessions of the Accidental Career Coach, readers learn:

• Why so many coaches fail in their first year—and what they can do to avoid it
• How getting clear on their ideal client makes everything easier
• How to help their client answer the question, "What do I want to do when I grow up?"
• How connecting with love during the sales process is the most effective – even if they hate sales
• How they can have the confidence to support their clients

Begin the journey today of launching a thriving career coaching business and making a difference in this world with Confessions of the Accidental Career Coach.

Chapter 1

Why Won’t This Nagging Feeling Go Away?

It’d been a couple of years in my new job and the newness was already gone. I wished the challenge of starting a new job could stay for more than just a couple of years. The excitement used to last at least three years, but the happy ramp-up time was already over. Maybe I needed to find a new job again for a new challenge. Who are the players, what are the issues, what can we do quickly to fix, make better? I love the overwhelming feeling of making a difference, of showing my value quickly. But after only two years, I’d hit all the targets and rebuilt the processes. I’d hired all the staff and trained them to perform. Things were humming well. You’d think I’d be thrilled, but I was bored.

“You have that look on your face,” said Kathy, my training manager.

“What look?” I asked.

“The look of wanting to stir things up,” she playfully whispered, looking around in a conspiratorial way.

I heard what she was thinking, because I could read it on her face: “Why can’t you just let things be?” It’s such a great question, because it would be so easy to come in every day, do my thing, and then go home at night and forget about work. How great it would be to just flip on the maintenance switch and coast? I could see the question in Kathy’s eyes: “Could we not have a new effort, please?” Yet there I was, meeting with my team to ask about complaints, murmurings, ideas of what we can do now. What campaign can we launch? What problem can we fix? What big hairy audacious giant can we slay?

Undeterred by the status quo, my team and I found a new activity to do. “It will re-energize the office!” I exclaimed to my boss, the Executive Director and CEO. It was dark in his corner office because I posted flipcharts up on every wall. I marched him through a justification of what we should do next. “What if we were to figure out what our core values are?” I asked. With a nod, he approved the campaign. Excited that I had a new project to play with, I jumped in with both feet.

Six months later, everyone was proud of what we’d accomplished. But once again, I was bored and thinking of what could be done next. “This is a huge company. There must to be something else I could do,” I said, believing I just needed a new problem to solve.

I joined national committees and immersed myself in the world of diversity and inclusion. I raised my hand to help with a national physician education program. I inserted myself where I wasn’t wanted to keep the learning and excitement going. I orchestrated a LinkedIn training class for our physician recruiters. Another year went by, and I got bored again.

You might not be in the same vertical of human resources and recruiting, but does this sound like you? It is like an itch that never goes away. Like you are just lightly touching the edge of your life’s work and never fully immersed. There are moments of alignment where the time flies by, but most of it feels like you are back in school watching the second-hand slowly move around the clock. Then, the boredom morphs into something else more negative.

It starts out just as a small feeling that something isn’t right, like the spark and enjoyment of what you’re doing just isn’t there anymore. Going to work gets harder and harder.

Shawna—my assistant—and I have an inside joke. “Is it a fake it ‘till you make it day?” we’d ask each other as we walked into the office. We’d trade a knowing look across the office. I love Shawna. She is brilliant and professional, and I know that this job is a stepping stone to something else for her. This is a stepping stone for something for me, too. Maybe that is why we get along so well; we are in the same boat. We both wondered what our next lily pad could be.

I thought working for a nonprofit in the healthcare industry would be the fuel that would keep my flame eternally bright. Making a difference in the lives of people through access and getting well is a great mission. It is. Yet, it felt like there was a knot in the pit of my stomach that kept me thinking I should be doing something more, something more meaningful.

I never got to the point where I said that I hated my job. I’ve talked with many people who have said that they hate their jobs. I was close. For me, it was more of a sense of dread and a lot of regret. Did I make the right choice in moving my entire family to Northern California for this job? Maybe I should’ve stayed where I was because we were growing a team, creating a department out of nothing. And it was also in the healthcare space. So many doubts filled my mind.

Sunday evenings were the worst. Right around four o’clock in the afternoon it would hit me that very soon I would need to go into the office again. It was when the sun started to sink below the horizon that the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach would start. I knew that early tomorrow morning I would see Shawna, and she’d ask if it was one of those fake-it-make-it days. I’d do this, all the while dreaming that there must be something else that makes me happy.

“Have you thought about talking to a career coach?” asked Susanne, a colleague and friend.

We’d become close friends since attending an executive leadership intensive at the Harvard Business School. In Boston, we bonded. Susanne and I were on the same team of eight named high-potential healthcare executive minds. We spent evenings preparing and became close friends. Susanne is safe. She’s someone I trust, so I know I could share my unhappiness with my job.

She said, “I may know someone who might be able to help sort it out; you should talk with her.”

I didn’t ask how she knew Mary, who is a career coach. I guessed that perhaps Susanne had talked with her too, long ago. I never asked Susanne, instead leaving that question unanswered. But it did make me feel better that someone so accomplished like Susanne had a career coach.

Mary was a breath of fresh air. From the first conversation, I liked Mary. She believed in me and that I am all I need to be, not needing to be anything more. We chatted every other week and I couldn’t wait for our conversations. I shared that I was meant to do something else.

“Create your own job, Cara,” said Mary. “Create a role filled with only the things that make you happy, that bring you joy.”

Later I took out a blank sheet of paper and I started to write.

I loved it when I helped others one-on-one. I like teams, but really love it when I connect deeply with another person. Victoria, director of quality, was struggling in her role and her boss asked me to chat with her. She was exceptional at getting things done; however, she would unknowingly knock people aside while marching to the goal. I met Victoria for several weeks and loved it when it dawned on her that she was a bull and we were the china in the shop. I especially loved it when her boss praised her after Victoria made a few small changes to her approach. Victoria’s boss said that she sent Victoria to “Cara’s Charm School.” It wasn’t charm school. It was quite simple, really. All that happened is that Victoria realized that the person she is wasn’t really coming through. The brilliant, talented, confident Victoria never made it past her skin. And what we were seeing was something else she thought we wanted to see. Once she understood this, she made a few tiny modifications and now we got to see the real Victoria.

I also loved it when I helped people get jobs. Searching for candidates is something I really loved to do. I loved to dig into online databases to find that one person that might be a great fit for the vacancy. And I especially loved it when I found a rare talent and made a connection with the hiring manager. Julie was the name of a possible candidate that I heard a couple of times and I wanted to talk with her. With her mobile number in hand, I call her and mentioned this role I have for an S.V.P. of H.R. She was intrigued. Two weeks later she met with our C.E.O. and they fell in love with each other (in a business way). It is a type of business match-making that I love.

I’m also critical of résumés. I’ve reviewed a hundred résumés of my friends, co-workers, and neighbors. I’d give my advice and often spend hours revising the résumé for them. I never charged a dime; instead, the currency came from the results. People would say things like, “Cara, thank you for helping my son with his résumé…he started work Monday as a Case Assistant.” It made me feel great to know that I helped someone get a job. And, like Victoria, I loved knowing that I helped someone thrive in a job.

Per Mary’s advice, I reviewed all that I love and everything that I wanted my new job to be.

“I want to do these things every day of my life,” I told Mary.

Immediately, Mary said, “You should become a coach, like me.”

Suddenly, I felt like the door of the cage was opened. The idea was so light and free. And yet it was like standing on the edge of a high cliff and with a long way down. This scary-exciting feeling filled my stomach, replacing the sour clenching feeling. Could I do it? Could I start my own business? Could I support myself as a career coach? I was not sure what to do. Where would I start? What would I need?

I had so many doubts. What would I call my business? Would someone buy from me? Do I need a website? Would I be credible? Would I make any money? I had so many doubts about my own abilities, even though I’ve started businesses in the past. The first business was in high school where I made figurines that I put on boxes and wrote the client’s name in pretty lettering. That was loads of fun. I held parties at my house and my friends would come over and buy items for the holidays. I did this until my mom, who had a very successful thriving manufacturing business, asked me how much money I made.

“I made a ton of money,” I said.

She raised her eyebrows and said, “Sit down, let’s look at this.”

When I added it all up, I didn’t make any money at all. In fact, I now had a lot of inventory and was in the red, per my calculations. Remembering this first venture, all the doubts flooded in. How could I think I would make money now because I couldn’t make money as a teenager? It’s interesting how fear reminded me of my earliest failure as an entrepreneur.

Is it even possible to be like my mom, a successful businesswoman? I had more questions and doubts swirling in my mind. I spewed them all to Mary, explaining why it would just be a silly endeavor to strike out on my own because I had failed in the past. If only I could win the lottery, I’d be set. I could launch my career coaching business and not have to worry about profits.

As you know, I did make it. I do have a thriving coaching business; so much so that I have a list of prospects who want to talk with me on a waiting list that is four weeks long.

There’s been a major shift in the way we see coaches, which has helped seasoned professionals turn to career coaches. Having a coach isn’t something you have to hide. Before, I was hiding the fact that I had a career coach! I never mentioned Mary’s name. Susanne and I never disclosed that she worked with a career coach as well. It was like some weird taboo subject that I needed to talk with a coach. Times are different! Millennials have grown up with coaches their entire lives—sports coaches, speech coaches, tutors to name a few—a coach is another extension of their learning community, their circle of support.

If you think about it, we have personal trainers who coach us to improve our athletic (and mental) skills. We have music teachers who help us learn an instrument. We have language instructors. We have people who surround us every day. Why not work with someone who can help your career? Today, it has become a smart thing to do to have a career coach. In fact, many companies are hiring career coaches to help their own employees find other jobs within the company, and without! People are clamoring for a great career coach, so much so that there is a line out the door to have a one-hour conversation with me.

We need more career coaches. We need more good career coaches in this world to help people find their path, stay on track, and feel like a million bucks every day.

This is my story. I didn’t set out thinking I’d become a career coach. It is such a new field, and, in fact, today’s career coaches are forming the profession. One of my colleagues created and is leading an international association of career coaches, the first of its kind. We are on the cutting edge, and if you feel like you are falling into this role, too, that you never thought you’d grow up to be a career coach, I get you! Like you, I just so happened to fall into this field, and it has changed my life. I love each day, I love the people I support and work with. I love the people I train. And when people ask what day it is, I don’t know. To me, every day is Friday. And it can be Friday for you, too.

Chapter 2

How I Accidentally Became a Career Coach

This is Margaret’s story. Margaret is a rock star. Every meeting I had with Margaret, she was prepared, engaged, and supportive. I considered Margaret to be my right-hand. Every human resource executive has two key resources that are essential to success. Margaret was one of those for me. Much of what we do in human resources is like what a marketing or communications department would for clients, or in our case, employees. If we see our employees as customers, a human resources executive shifts the talent that they need to be effective. Human resources and talent management requires a lot of communication to our employees and, in many companies, this role is called internal communication. Margaret was that for me. She was a Senior Communications Consultant within our organization, and I relied on her to help me get the message out. And not just telling but sharing the message in a way that our employees would digest in the way we intended. There are times when I’d send something out only for it to backfire. It didn’t come across just the way I had wanted, and employees were now confused. This is where Margaret came in.

She was creative, pushed the boundaries on what we could do to get the message across. After reading or hearing what I wanted to communicate, Margaret helped me see the message through the eyes of the employees. She would often challenge the message. And challenge the venue or the channel through which I wanted to send the message. Remember the core values campaign that I pitched to my boss? Margaret had a very out of the box idea, or at least I thought it was unusual, to memorialize our values as a division.

“We should create a jacket for every single one of our employees,” said Margaret. “It would add a level of identity to our division.” Yes, and an expense to a budget that didn’t want to support the burden. “A jacket?” I wondered. In the end, we handed out beautiful jackets with our brand and identity embroidered across the arms. Our employees loved them. They wore them everywhere. Like a letterman jacket, it carried a sense of pride.

I looked forward to my weekly meetings with Margaret, because even though she challenged the way I was wording something or even pushed-back on large strategic concepts, I always knew she was doing so with our employees’ best interests in mind. Then, our m...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Why Won’t This Nagging Feeling Go Away?
• Chapter 2: How I Accidentally Became a Career Coach
• Chapter 3: What Is a Career Coach Anyway?
• Chapter 4: Two Layers of a Cake
• Chapter 5: How to Get Calls From Recruiters
• Chapter 6: How to Get Invited to an Onsite Interview
• Chapter 7: How to Get an Offer
• Chapter 8: How to Set-Up Your Business
• Chapter 9: How Do I Sell When I Hate Sales?
• Chapter 10: When Things Get Hard
• Chapter 11: What’s It Like on the Other Side
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author