Hi, I'm Karen, I'm a Career Coach, and I love my job!
It wasn't always like that though...
I stayed there because …. well ….
- It was secure (I thought)
- I didn't hate it, mostly it was OK or "meh" (but I definitely didn't love it)
- It was flexible (once I accepted what I'd sacrificed, I was fully able to embrace the flexibility to enable me to be Mum more often than I wasn't)
But my 3am "what if I left" story was more about
- What else could I do anyway?
- Nobody else would have me anyway
- I'm not good enough at… (spiral of inadequacy thoughts…)
- I wouldn't even know where to start
- At least I know what I'm getting here
- Everyone else just knows what they want, there must be something wrong with me…
Then, in the middle of covid, I was made redundant, laid off.
My first instinct: PANIC!
My second was to see this as an opportunity to reassess my life, what's actually important to me, and find a career I love.
So I found myself a career coach, and I noticed there were many things missing from my old career, and there were things which I wish had not been there…
I realised the voluntary mentoring that I'd done alongside project management, was my favourite role - but I had no idea you could do mentoring and coaching as a career!
That was my lightbulb moment and led to me starting my own business, Clarity & Confidence. Here I get to help others go from stuck, like I was, to make CHANGE and love their work and their lives!
My aim is to help people realise "ok" or "meh" isn't good enough - we all spent so much of our lives at work we deserve to love our roles!
Please don't do what I did and wait to be pushed - there is so much out there to choose from, and that choice is actually yours - take back ownership of your life and take action to CHANGE today!
Contact me to set up a complimentary introduction call to start your journey from stuck to clarity as soon as possible!
My Mission with Clarity & Confidence
I believe we all deserve to feel valued, be confident, be heard, and live the balanced life that works for us!
I am passionate about equity - not just everyone having the same opportunities, but having flexibility around what we each need to be able to do our best at what we chose.
So my mission is to help as many people as possible go from feeling stuck in their careers, to designing their future and taking confident, decisive action to love their job and their lives!
My Approach to Coaching
For me, a coach is someone who works in partnership with you, asking lots of questions, really listening to what you're saying (or not saying), and helping you to identify where you are currently, where you want to be instead, and how to get there.
Know that working with me, you are in a safe and confidential space, without any judgement or assumptions, but expect to be challenged, and to have to put effort in yourself to achieve your ideal outcome.
What I won't do is provide you with answers, advice or direction - I am not you, so I don’t know what's right for you, but you do (or will!)
I use a variety of tools to support you, drawing from my experience in coaching, NLP, several years in the corporate world, and starting my own business. I may share information with you but I will not tell you what to do.
You are totally responsible for defining and taking your actions, however I will be there to keep you accountable, and support you every step of the way!
What’s Important to Me
I talk a lot about helping you find out what’s important for you, so its only fair to share with you what’s important to me – and I know these are all mine, no longer ones I thought I “should” have:
Kindness – we are all human, but we never know what’s going on for other people, so treating people with kindness is important – and FREE!
Connection – I am an extrovert in the true definition: I get my energy from being with people, so being connected and helping others connect is key for me
Flexibility and choice – there is no one right way to do anything, so having these means I can do what’s right for me and my family, but can also advocate for others who have not got these privileges
Equity – not equality. Sadly we are not all equal in this world, but we need equitable opportunities available so everyone has the chance to do what they love, in the way that works best for them. Empowerment also goes with this – helping others to help themselves, not assuming we know what’s right and doing it for them…
Integrity – this was a learning curve for me: honesty has always been key for me, but now when I look back I did not live up to my integrity for myself, only for others. Now I’ve learned to trust myself and to say no, when things are not in line with my values.
My Qualifications
Amongst other things I have:
- The Coaching Academy - Personal Performance Diploma level 5
- The Coaching Academy - Confidence Coaching
- Reed-Robbins Performance Solutions - certified NLP (Neuro Linguistics Programming) Master Practitioner
- The Coaching Academy - Certified DISC Personality Profiler
- The Experts Coach Academy - Career Coaching accreditation
- Member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council
