When I first became a coach I was so proud... I graduated Royal Roads, became an executive coach technically, and I was like, "I coach everyone!"
Crickets 🦗
Nobody could refer me, because nobody really understood what I did.
And the funny thing is, the second you get more specific, a whole new fear shows up... okay, so now I'm only allowed to be this one thing forever?! I see it with so many of the moms I coach, whether you're on mat leave, back at work or quietly wondering what's next, there's this pressure to pick your lane and stay in it. So let's talk about that.
You're allowed to have a soapbox (or three)
I say "not to get on my soapbox" all the time, and there are a few things I'm just not gonna apologize for getting on my soapbox about. Most of my marketing speaks to mothers, and yet one time a young man, not married, no kids, booked with me because he knew he wanted to become a parent one day and wanted his career coached with that in mind. I was like, that is so freaking cool. You actually never know who you're going to attract and why, and that's kind of none of your business... people can sense when you're lit up by something, and the right ones find you.
Tree people saw it, so what?
When I left advertising I made a whole stink about it. "Nope, I'm leaving that beast," and I made an Instagram post saying I'm leaving advertising. Then I moved to Vancouver, didn't know anyone, got bored, chatted up the woman selling me running shoes and ended up working at The Running Room for two weeks (true story!), and then the advertising contract offers started rolling in and I was like, "Ugh... but the post!" Who cares? Honestly, like three people saw that, and if I had just taken the contract a little bit earlier I could have had a lot less financial stress at the beginning.
Instagram could go away tomorrow
Sometimes I catch my whole brain spinning on what my Instagram profile says about me, and how ridiculous is that? Instagram could go away tomorrow, and then what are you left with... a life where you only let yourself be one thing because you didn't wanna confuse people online?! Think about the water cooler when you work in corporate, you better believe the conversation is all oh, you like to dance, you travel a lot with your partner, you're crazy about dogs or gerbils or whatever. That multifaceted person is the one I'd rather hang out with, every single time.
Sourdough before school drop-off
My husband recently called me out on the podcast for making sourdough in the morning before school drop... and fair, I'm a little all over the place! One of my greatest friends runs her business by the hour with structured calls on certain days, and she looks at me like I'm a train wreck, and we laugh about it, because we've both built businesses that are successful in our own right, in how we each define success. So when a client who's a corporate accountant asks me, "should I be doing financial TikToks?" I just ask, do you want to? no? then no, enjoy your bean counting, we need it all!
What if you just changed one thing?
When my clients are in the middle of a big change, maybe going back to work after a baby, maybe wondering if the old job even fits anymore, I'll often ask, what if you went back to the job you know? Parenting is hard and complicated enough, so give yourself some runway, let your nervous system settle, and then pick the next thing to change. That whole idea that we have to get married, buy a house and change everything within a one or two-year span is out of control, I didn't do that, and I don't think many of us have. One thing at a time means you're not having a funeral for all the parts of yourself at the same time.
Want more of this?
Mindy Crawford is back on the podcast for round three, and this time we got to do it IRL! Mindy is a human design coach and the founder of The Embodied Entrepreneur, and since we last chatted her business has done a total pivot. We get into why "don't pick a niche, pick a soapbox" changed how she shows up, the 2027 shift into what human design calls the Era of the Individual and the one place she says AI absolutely does not belong.
