Caroline Dowd-Higgins, tell me about your vision.
Harry, it's good to be with you.
Thank you so much.
Well, my vision is really all about empowering people.
I've committed my career to helping individuals navigate
their life and their career simultaneously.
And Harry, I'll tell you, my vision
is really to help people play to their strengths
and enjoy their career but also love their life,
because so many people invest so much in their careers
that they actually miss their lives.
And I'm one of those people that was a workaholic,
but I have found happier and healthier ways now moving
forward.
That's amazing.
I want to dive deep into that.
And I want to ask you, tell me more about that.
But I wanted to share a story.
I think that goes perfectly with this.
There's a mentoring opportunity we created.
It's where we bridge the gap between the United States
and the Western world with the rest of the world,
Asian countries, South American countries,
and a lot of places like that.
And I'm from India, born and raised.
And there's one of my friends that I've been mentoring.
And I was talking to him, and he was in a conundrum,
and he wasn't sure.
And I asked him, hey, why are you doing this specific thing?
Why did you leave this job?
And why did you go to that?
It's like, I want to make money.
I'm like, so if you make money, what do you want to do?
He's like, provide for my family, et cetera, et cetera.
And he wasn't even clear.
And I went more deeper into the thoughts.
And he said, most people will give you the answer of,
I want to travel and enjoy my life.
And he was in the conundrum where
he has to choose between providing and going
through the struggle where he can be financially stable.
Because we are very fortunate in the Western world
to have the stability that we can make a lot of money
very, very fast, but a lot of people don't have the skills.
And they've been guided in the world.
You have no idea what to do and how to do it.
And he was one of those people.
And I can compare myself to back times,
but that's where he was.
So how did you do it?
How did you choose all those paths?
Yeah, I think experience is such a great teacher, Perry.
It's fascinating to me.
I have had a lot of different career journeys.
I like to say that my career was circuitous.
Your listeners won't know this, but I started my career
as a musician, as an opera singer,
and did that for about 10 years and loved it.
But it was very difficult to earn a living
and sustain it financially.
That starving artist feasts to famine existence.
So I had to really reframe and decide
that singing and music was a part of who I am,
but it wouldn't be how I would earn a living.
And it took a while to grieve that loss,
because I was so deeply passionate about that.
And from that moment on, I was really
committed to finding something that helped me realize
my other talents and my other strengths,
but also to realize life is too short to suffer.
There are bad bosses.
There are bad jobs.
Things happen.
I have a phrase that I created that the suckiness is real,
but the suffering is optional.
And I'm now on a journey to say that I
know it's not perfect all the time,
but I want to make choices that empower me, that
help me do my best, but also give me the space
to enjoy my life and my career at the same time.
Yeah, that's amazing.
Where would you say that this vision came from?
Yeah, this vision came because I had the hard reality
of my first career not working.
And I say that it worked in that I was working.
But when you're a performing artist, you have a gig here,
and then you have six weeks off, and then you've
got to find the next gig.
So it wasn't consistent, and it wasn't secure.
And that was really heartbreaking for me,
because it was such a deep passion,
and I thought I would be doing that forever.
So it was really reframing and understanding.
It's never too late to try something new
and try something different.
And people reinvent throughout their lives.
So that gift of failure actually opened up my eyes
to realize, try something new.
Try something different.
And it's never too late to keep trying something new.
And when you started to try something new,
how did you get started in the journey you're on today?
Well, it actually informed my second act career
as a career coach.
So I worked with coaches because I was really stuck.
And I didn't quite figure out on my own the other things
that I do well.
And my coach helped me peel back those layers
and understand, yes, I'm a musician, and yes, I sing.
I also communicate well.
I speak well.
I am someone who enjoys writing.
And those were gifts, because it helped
me understand the other strengths that I had
and how I might put them into practice in a career.
So the biggest learning for me was,
don't be afraid about asking for help.
That's amazing.
I want to dive deep into your story more.
But before I go now, you are a coach, and you do what you do.
But why do you do what you do now?
Yeah, again, it's back to, I don't
think anyone needs to suffer in their career.
Now, let me be really clear.
I've been in moments in my life where
maybe I've worked two and three jobs around the clock
because I needed to earn the money,
and I needed to support my family
and feel good about that.
They were jobs.
They weren't necessarily the career.
But I would tell you, I'm at a point
now where I want to focus on things
that I do really well that bring me meaning and purpose.
And I think sometimes we need to stop and think about what
really gratifies us.
And we always have choices.
We always have agency.
And I am now at a point in my life,
and I try to empower others to think you need
and you deserve to think about what fills your cup, what's
really meaningful and powerful to you,
and finding something that honors
your values, your interests, your personality,
and your strengths.
And is that what fills your cup?
Yes, for me, it's helping people.
There's no doubt about it.
I'm someone who has always enjoyed uplifting others,
helping them find what they do really well.
I'm still a performer.
So the way that I perform now is public speaking,
speaking around the world at conferences and events.
And it feeds my love of being on stage, being with people,
and sharing a message.
I say I'm singing a different tune.
But it's also important because I
have these wonderful audiences, just like we do today,
who are listening.
And I think you and I share this mission of helping others
and helping others live their best lives.
Yeah.
Hey, the question I have along the same line, Caroline,
the transition from you being coached
and you coaching other people, when
did you realize that that's what gives you meaning and helps?
And how did you get into starting to coach other people?
And how was that journey like?
And what challenges did you face doing so?
Yeah, it's such a good question.
Ever since I was a little girl, I've
been in that person that people would come to for advice.
Like, what do you think about this?
Or what would you do in this situation?
So I knew that that was part of my DNA.
And coaching is a profession.
And I went through coach training and coach
certification.
So I knew I liked the idea of helping people and advising
people.
But coaching is not about telling someone what to do.
It's not about me saying, Harry, you should do this, right?
That's an advisor.
That's a mentor.
Coaching is asking those probing questions
so the individual can come up with a response on their own.
I'm a guide.
And I walk alongside them in that journey
of helping them discover themselves and figure out
what they would like to do.
So I would tell you that that was a growth opportunity,
going through coach training, going
through that certification really
helped me become a certified executive coach
and understand what that profession was all about,
not just someone who was giving friendly advice.
That's awesome.
Where are you going with your vision, Caroline?
Yeah.
You know, it's so interesting.
Because Harry, for decades, for 20 years,
after I left my singing career, I
worked in higher education and very large nonprofits.
And I was leading teams.
And I rose to the ranks of vice president.
So I was in executive leadership roles.
And I always had my coaching as a side hustle, something
that I did on my own time.
And in 2022, post-pandemic, I really looked in the mirror
and said, this is what I love.
I love the speaking and the coaching and the consulting.
Why not make that side hustle a full-time hustle?
And it took a lot of courage, because it's a risk,
being your own entrepreneur and being a small business owner.
But it was the best decision I ever made.
And I am blissfully happy and so grateful
to have a successful business.
That's amazing.
Successful business.
I want to get into that now.
Yeah.
What did you, as a business owner,
what challenges did you face, what held you back
during those times?
And what lessons did you learn?
So I think in the beginning, because as I said,
I've been side hustling for over a decade.
And I knew that I loved that work.
But there was this fear of, can I make the money?
And my health care comes from my company.
My retirement comes from my company.
So it was getting over that hurdle
and realizing, I can buy health care.
I can feed my own retirement account.
And I can cultivate my own business.
So it was really getting out of my way
and letting go of the fear and surrendering and betting
on myself.
I remember when I told my accountant,
I said, I'm opening up my own business.
And he said, good for you.
Always bet on yourself.
And he was right.
Wow.
Too many of us do not bet on ourselves fast enough
with diligence needed to do so.
You said you side hustled for 10 years.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
But it was great.
And I don't mean to interrupt you,
but it was beautiful because it helped me build a foundation.
It helped me hone my craft.
And I built a community.
I built a network.
I wrote two books during that time.
So the beauty was I was building relationships
and building this foundation for my business.
So when I officially opened as a full-time business,
there were people out there who knew me, who trusted me,
and had been working with me.
So it was actually a lovely way to build it.
And I want to share one more thing that I
think is really relevant, Harry.
I embraced failure.
Admittedly, my first musical career in black and white
is a failure only because I didn't do it for my whole life.
I stepped off and said, OK, this isn't really
honoring where I am and what I want to do.
So I had many successes.
But in the true sense, I left that career.
And I've destigmatized failure as an opportunity to learn.
And I'm not afraid to fail.
I will continue to fail.
And that's OK because I'm learning from it.
I'm growing.
I'm innovating.
And I'm getting better.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
So during those 10 years, did you make any money
with coaching at all?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
It was what I would say an augmentation of my salary
from the companies that I worked at.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I mean, I was side hustling
in that it wasn't my full time role, but I was earning money.
Yeah.
And I was learning my craft.
And I was learning how to market and brand and develop.
I think creating, I don't think, I know,
creating your own business is intense.
And it takes time.
And it's an investment.
So those 10 years were actually the investment
and the foundation of my business.
I want to, Deep, what you shared is such a golden nugget.
It's for people.
We live in a hustle culture where they want everything now.
In the next two, three months, I want this now.
I want to be rich now.
I want to achieve this now.
No one thinks about the long term play.
And the 10 year mark that you just mentioned
is, I think, a very, very good point for a lot of people,
where your craft needs to sharpen.
You need to switch a lot of things out.
What you're trying to sell, necessarily not what
other people want.
You figure out what your audience wants.
You figure out what you need to change to speak to them.
There's so many nuances in just the sales side,
the operations side, the marketing side, everything
that coming together.
And at the same time, you're working on your brain.
You're working on coaching yourself.
Yeah.
I totally agree.
You and I were chatting before the show started.
And you were very gracious and said that you like my website.
That was an evolution.
I've had three websites before that.
But I love this one.
And I tweak it and update it.
In fact, it's got some new elements now
that are very new as of this week,
because we need to constantly evolve.
When our businesses or even a role in an organization
gets dusty and stagnates, we lose the energy.
We lose the drive.
And I think it's important for your listeners
to know that we each have the power within us
to make those changes and refresh and reboot.
That is absolutely true.
And I couldn't agree more.
It's fascinating to me when I actually
see people who see their path for a really, really long time.
Would you say, Caroline, that this is your legacy
that you want to leave?
Absolutely.
I am confident that my career will continue
to evolve and iterate.
And I may speak about different things.
But I have found my niche in that I
know that empowering people on their career journey
is where I'm supposed to be.
And that is such a gift to have been able to find that
and to find joy in doing that.
That's amazing.
I have one more question for today's segment, Caroline.
And that is, what is your goal for being on the show today?
Yeah, my goal is to help people understand
you always have choices.
And if you get stuck, that's normal.
Don't be shy about asking for help.
Sure, you can reach out to a coach.
But reach out to a friend or a family member or a mentor
first and warm up and see what kinds of questions you can ask.
And don't ever feel like you don't have options.
Everybody has options.
And the most important thing, it's OK to ask for help.
Yeah.
Thank you for sharing that.
You're welcome.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.