1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 How did you get started? 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Yeah, that's a great question. 3 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:11,000 I think over my life I learned that the best way to get started is to follow the steps of others. 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:17,000 So read the books, watch the videos, talk to other people, get some certifications. 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:21,000 And through that I was able to get some of my first clients. 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:29,000 Okay. And then when you got started, how long did it take you to actually get up and running? 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:34,000 Especially with the tech part, I'm sure you had to do a lot of the work on your own. 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,000 I think the technology part was the easiest because of my background. 9 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:44,000 The business part was a little bit longer to kind of work on because it required building a bigger network 10 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:50,000 and also changing my branding and market awareness of what kind of things I do now. 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,000 Because in my network originally I was perceived more of a technology expert, 12 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:59,000 and coming out and saying that I now coach others from a business perspective was a change. 13 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:04,000 So introducing new dialogues, introducing new titles, introducing new messaging and narrative 14 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,000 was the important thing that I had to support. 15 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,000 So is it just you or do you have a team of individuals? 16 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:16,000 Well, I think we all have teams of individuals available at the clicks notice from a consulting perspective, 17 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,000 but for full-time it's just me. 18 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:23,000 Yeah, yeah. And when you need that consulting, it is just a click away. 19 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Is it someone that you work with very often, or is it someone you might have to have help assist you 20 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:35,000 in another area with a different niche that you're not very well versed in? 21 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:43,000 Right. So I think for, let me just fix the slide a little bit, it's developing relationships. 22 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:49,000 So in a sense that for some tasks that hasn't been done before, I will always look for somebody who is recommended 23 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,000 or will explore a relationship with multiple consultants. 24 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:58,000 But I think for the tasks which I had before, it's much easier to go to a proven contact 25 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,000 with you've done business with and you already know what kind of results to expect. 26 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,000 Yes, yes. It makes all the sense in the world. 27 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:11,000 And as I'm doing some of the numbers and adding in my head, you've had the business for two years, 28 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:16,000 which meant you were in the corporate world as an employee or the... 29 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:23,000 So I had startup careers for the past 10 years. 30 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:28,000 So before I joined this, well, before startups were... 31 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:34,000 I look at my current business as more of a practice, like a coaching practice, not necessarily startup, 32 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:40,000 because startup requires a product, a team, like you have a growth trajectory of investors. 33 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:45,000 And since I'm running this individually, and a lot of time, I just do one-on-one consultations 34 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,000 or coaching sessions, I consider more of a practice. 35 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:53,000 My prior businesses where I was a co-founder, those were more of a startup nature, 36 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,000 where it was two, three people at the beginning who had a product, and we took it to the market, 37 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,000 and then all the other details came along. 38 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Makes all the sense in the world. Now I get it. 39 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:07,000 And it's interesting because you have this love for things and you did have a startup business, 40 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:14,000 and now you've gone into coaching. What held you back for so long? 41 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:19,000 I see. That's a good question. I think it's the realization of where the most impact lies 42 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:24,000 with the overlap of my skills. I thought before that it was important to be part of the company 43 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:31,000 to feel the outcome of my efforts better, and I did that through my startup experience. 44 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:36,000 But then the bigger question, why, popped, like, why am I part of this startup? 45 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,000 So I started working on that, what made me kind of switch to the aerospace, 46 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,000 and then I started thinking about the scope and breadth and the depth that I can offer, 47 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,000 and I just had to shift to a different level. 48 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:56,000 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And coaching is such a different type of business, I guess you could say, 49 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:03,000 because it's definitely just leading and guiding and making sure that whatever their end goal is, 50 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:08,000 is that you're helping with that. How long is your coaching for? 51 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:13,000 So typically it's between three to six months sessions. 52 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:21,000 We meet either bi-weekly or weekly, depending on the level of chaos in your mind or in your organization. 53 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:28,000 OK, OK. So on your side, I see book a call. So if I booked a call right now, 54 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,000 take me through what a call would be like. 55 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Cool. And I hope you'll click after this session. I'm looking forward to chatting with you. 56 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:41,000 It will be initially a discovery session. I would like to understand where you're coming from, 57 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:46,000 what the nature of the issue is. But the most important thing is the context. 58 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,000 This is where coaching is a little bit different from consulting. 59 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:54,000 Consultants usually ask for the individuals to describe the problem in detail, 60 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,000 and then they go to work on solving that problem. 61 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:02,000 In coaching, we're co-thinking the problems together, and we're trying to figure out 62 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,000 whether that's a real problem or not a real problem, where it's coming from, 63 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,000 how does the context influence our problem definition, 64 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,000 and do we need actually any external help to figure it out, how to solve it, 65 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,000 once we identify those problems. 66 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:21,000 But during the first session, it's going to be a lot of context sharing, 67 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,000 nature of the issue sharing, background sharing. 68 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,000 So this way we can identify what are the actual issues that we're working on. 69 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:32,000 OK, OK. And then once that's found and we decide, 70 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:36,000 hey, you know what, this sounds like a good fit for one another, 71 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:42,000 we go further in depth of what our needs are and how we'll move forward. 72 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:47,000 Yeah. So typically that gets converted into a relationship over three to six months. 73 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:53,000 And I like to introduce those timely differentials because our relationship is unknown. 74 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:57,000 Even though we had one discovery session, we may not be good fit after two, three sessions. 75 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:04,000 So in a sense, like I'm introducing conversations which allow our relationship to either blossom 76 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,000 or transfer into something else. 77 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:11,000 So I might refer to another coach would be more appropriate for the situation. 78 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,000 Once we know what we're working on, then we start setting up goals 79 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:19,000 of what we're trying to accomplish at the end of the three or six months relationship. 80 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,000 And we're trying with each session to get closer to those outcomes. 81 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:28,000 Yeah. I mean, that's and that makes all the sense in the world. 82 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:33,000 The outcome is definitely I guess that's what determines how long you'll spend time 83 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:38,000 with that individual and developing more of a relationship just to see 84 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,000 if it would be the three months or the six months. Right. 85 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:47,000 That's right. That's right. And as we're progressing, some individuals come for just one or two sessions and that's fine. 86 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,000 I feel like I've done my work well. I don't get paid for the rest of it, but that's what it is. 87 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:56,000 I'm here to be the most effective partner that you can have with those conversations. 88 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:01,000 But sometimes it's hard to rule in the chaos of just after just a few sessions 89 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:06,000 and we continue working as new issues come up. Yes. Yes. 90 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:11,000 What are some of the biggest challenges you see leaders face that you hope? 91 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:17,000 I think the biggest challenge and this might sound like is cliche, but it's communication. 92 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:25,000 And I know communication is such a multidimensional work, but I feel like there's so many different layers 93 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:31,000 and any of those layers could be could be in the need of adjustment. 94 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:37,000 It's like, how do I think when I think what kind of work comes out, how does that work travel? 95 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,000 Does it land with the same clarity with the other person, which thought does it get connected? 96 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,000 So there's like multiple different layers. 97 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:49,000 And if you're doing it one on one, what other gestures with buddy posture are you assuming? 98 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:54,000 What tone are you using in the end? You're trying to answer the question. 99 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:58,000 Did what I say land in the same way as I thought about it? 100 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:06,000 And what makes it more difficult is that each single interface between two different people is radically different. 101 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:12,000 We have to adjust so many different parameters in our heads to adjust to each person's unique factors. 102 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:17,000 And then it makes it even more challenging when you're trying to talk to multiple people at the same time 103 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,000 and you're trying to take their inputs and adjust them. 104 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:25,000 And we all have experience talking to people. We have experience talking to multiple people. 105 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:31,000 But I find that many leaders, especially when they just joining the leadership opportunity, 106 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:40,000 have not given a lot of thought of how to approach that communication in such with such a minutiae in mind. 107 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:46,000 Yes, yes. And communication is key to everything, every business leader, employee. 108 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:57,000 And I mean, you that's a great point. If there isn't we have effective communication and in my own words, block communication. 109 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:04,000 I guess I'm going to go anywhere. We're just, you know, we're just talking to be talking and effective communication. 110 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:10,000 It is listening to be heard and not to respond only. You know, so I get that. 111 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:21,000 And I can understand the communication and in the introduction, could that be a mix up or somewhere down the line of how you help them 112 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:27,000 if they're not communicating effectively enough in order to get to that outcome sooner than later? 113 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:35,000 Yeah. So in coaching, it's a good question. And I have to highlight that in coaching, a lot of progress is driven by the client. 114 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:40,000 The client has to arrive to the point where they have to say, like, I would like to work on communication. 115 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:48,000 And it is that while coaches responsibility may be there to lead them to make that the conclusion, 116 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:54,000 but the coach is not in a position to say, hey, listen, your communication kind of sucks. Let's work on it. 117 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:00,000 That's not coaching. That's something else. Maybe it is a type of coaching that some people think coaching. 118 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:04,000 The best type of coaching works when it comes from your context, from your own initiative, 119 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:10,000 when you identify something that you want to work with, because it gives you autonomy to start working on that yourself. 120 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:20,000 Start working on also defining autonomy of how finding other things that you would like to work on and also gain that ownership of your transformation. 121 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:25,000 If I say that you need to work in communication, I own that responsibility. 122 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:29,000 And the client feels like, well, you know, a lot of me are taught me that you need to do communication. 123 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,000 He tried it and doesn't work. You know what? It's not important. Yeah. 124 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:40,000 And it becomes more of a product that you kind of consume. And it's not effective from that perspective. Yeah. Yeah. 125 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:50,000 So are there clients that you've just realized based off of the communication and where, because as a coach, I believe that I've done coaching before. 126 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:56,000 We have a thought process, right. And I think there's at some point in time when the communication is lacking, 127 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:03,000 there's a point where we're like, OK, I can't help this individual. This one is us again. 128 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:08,000 You know, it's not going to be a good match for us. So that's something you experience. 129 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:13,000 And if you do, is that like a referral to another coach or how do you handle that? Yeah. 130 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:19,000 Sometimes that absolutely happens. And I think in the end, it has to be a through the means of asking the question. 131 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,000 Hey, how does this work in for you? Are you reaching the outcomes that you want to? 132 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:27,000 Do you think this is appropriate? And sometimes the client says, yes, absolutely. Yes. 133 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:34,000 Even though you're not a good fit, I really like this aspect, this aspect, this aspect, this aspect, which allows you to restructure the relationship, 134 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:39,000 the focus on just those capabilities and competencies. 135 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:44,000 And sometimes, like they can say, like, hey, I'm not finding that you have a lot of experience with this and this and this. 136 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:50,000 And you might say, well, we might disagree on this, but I appreciate your candid feedback. 137 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:55,000 And it wouldn't be OK if I refer to somebody else who I think actually maybe has a slightly different approach there. 138 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:59,000 Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 139 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:04,000 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. 140 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:08,000 This is going to get more and more fun. More and more engagement as well. 141 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:12,000 I invite people to participate in the show. And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 142 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:30,000 Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.