Category: Jen Slagle

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5 Ways Hiring a Career Coach Will Impact Your Life

Confession – the definition I had of a career coach a few years ago is very different than the one I have now.

When I was hiring a career coach, I was completely resume focused. I needed someone to help me update my resume because that was for sure the reason, I was not getting any interviews.

It feels kind of funny even to write that now. But you know what? We all live and learn. I could have chosen to beat myself up for not knowing what to expect when hiring a career coach back when I was looking for one. I thought for sure the main reason I was not getting any interviews was because of my resume. It wasn’t grabbing anyone’s attention just yet. If someone professional could tweak it, I just knew it would help.

What a fun story I was telling myself back then. But that story, combined with my coaching certifications, has led me to a whole new realization around how hiring a career coach will impact your life. I have chosen not to beat myself up for that former thought; instead, I will use it as a learning lesson. And tip one stems right from that point.

1 – BIG PICTURE THINKING

As your career coach, my vision is everything from the next logical step to where you want to be five-ten years from now. We even discuss your ideal retirement age! Yes, you need your resume updated but let’s dig into all of your ideal work components.

Much like I did when I hired my first career coach, I was caught up in the current timeframe. I needed a job. I was scared that my unemployment gap would not be a great thing to showcase on my resume. What I wasn’t considering, however, was my bigger picture. I was taking everything with me straight to the next job. I interviewed with the negative, victimized energy of someone who had just lost a job they love and did well. They felt that.

Once I could hit pause and work with a coach to better understand my mindset and where I was coming from, my energy changed. I was more confident, and the excitement shined through to land my dream role. A career coach is going to help you adjust the lens that you typically look through.

When you do that, you start to see a different picture. One that is larger than the immediate need. A vision of how you want to feel in your next job. Is being rewarded and recognized important to you? If so, we better find ways to land you a job that either does this or knows how you measure success.

2 – ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER

A teacher shares information with you. Mentors share experiences. Coaches ask open-ended questions. The agenda is not about them. In fact, the best coaches have nothing to do with the conversation from a personal perspective. Instead, they focus 100% on you. They are your accountability partner to set you up to solve your problem or achieve your goal successfully.

After my clients and I are done with our session, I follow up with an email outlining what we all discussed, their to-dos before our next meeting. If they don’t do them, that tells me something, and we can dig into that. I don’t give them a free pass and say no biggie. They hired me to keep them accountable and on track. We are doing something far greater than they can do or would do on their own.

For me personally, I know that when I have someone who is pulling me forward and challenging me to stay focused on what I said was important to me, I will thrive way more. That is what a coach does for me. And I know I am way further along because of it.

3 – EXPERIENCED EXPERTISE

Companies are not only interviewing you, but you are also interviewing them. Walking into an interview with a bag full of examples and being able to share and articulate what you are looking for is a win-win for both parties.

I can speak to this one from experience. When I lost my first job, I interviewed for over a year before landing my job. And several of those interviews, I made it past the second and third interviews.

Being a career change coach and having been through where my clients will be going, is vital. I’ve been there. And we all know what we learn when we are helping someone else through an experience, we have been through ourselves. Some days I think I should write a book around all the lessons I learned in those interviewing months. Ask me about taking an ice pack in my pocket once to an interview…

4 – BUILD SELF-CONFIDENCE

I received my coaching certification through the reputable program iPEC. This certification required me to have almost 150 hours of training. Personally, it took me about a year. And the one thing that I can say it gave me the most was a huge boost in self-awareness, which lead to great self-confidence.

I can’t help someone else build up their confidence if mine is gone. I could try, but it just wouldn’t be as effective. Coaches help you see the areas you are missing. They give you insights that you may not want to hear but need to hear. And all of this builds on your personal awareness, which can only boost your self-confidence.

In my Design Your Dream Career program, we start with the mindset. Many professional women come to me, defeated and exhausted. They are miserable in their job, and yet they think finding a new job is the answer. And yet, you take those same behaviors and thoughts with you to the next job, and they never get resolved.

Showing up focused and ready for a new role requires us to pause and work on ourselves a bit first. Then we can dig into where we want to go with a clear mind and a knowing of who we are down to our core. And I guarantee this stage will impact your life in all areas.

5 – INSTILLS MOTIVATION

Feeling motivation and maintaining motivation can be tough on your own. For many of us, distractions can happen easily and often. That isn’t a helpful place for someone who needs to be spending time searching for a job, updating a resume, and connecting with new leads.

Maintaining a focus and building up your energy to keep a full tank of gas is vital. It also ensures you avoid pitfalls and disappointment. Because there will be some, you will find the dream job and hear nothing back. And it will completely defeat you and set you back. Speaking from experience here… But the key is how fast you can rebound in that space and re-focus.

Going through that process solo will likely take way more time than if you have a coach who can call to help get you back up and moving forward. Speaking again from experience there… family and spouses are helpful in these situations. Still, nothing beats a third party that is not connected to you personally and instead is there 100% for you to achieve your goal. That is their one and main focus.

If you are looking to find your dream job and have no clue how to get started, let’s connect. There is no reason to feel alone and overwhelmed. Hiring a career coach will impact your life. I know because it did for me. And remember, we can always begin again. No matter our age.

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We Can Always Begin Again (How To Find Your Dream Job)

Dee came to me feeling overwhelmed and demoralized in her current role. In the past year, she had left a great job for what she hoped to be her dream job. But that move left her feeling helpless and without direction.

Now she spent her days searching, for countless hours, trying to find the next “perfect” job. The toxic work environment she was in would likely end soon, and she needed a plan quickly.

On the day we chatted, she said some familiar phrases I hear during discovery calls.

  • I have no energy, and I feel stuck and overwhelmed.
  • I have so many skills, and yet I don’t know what I want to do.

Should I just look for a job that doesn’t pay as much but I am at least happy?

She had come across my name after doing yet another middle of night google search.

She landed on the post of how I reinvented my career at 45. It caught her attention as she, too, was middle-aged. When she read my five steps to design your dream career, she was intrigued. Many of us can relate to Dee. You desire confidence and clarity around Who we are and What lights us up. There is a desire to uncover your superpowers and your gifts.

You are hopeful this new place will bring the energy and power you desire.


From my experience, I can tell you that once you are clear on who you are and what lights you up, the doors start to open for your dream job. Opportunities start appearing because you are looking for them. What seemed lost before and slipped through the cracks is now showing up frequently.

This program is for so many different types of mid-life women. Here are just a few examples that you might be able to relate to.

  • I want to enter a new career field, but I don’t know how to start.
  • I am ready to make a pivot and move my career forward where I currently work and keep getting unnoticed for promotions.
  • My energy and mojo are gone; I need to get it back!
  • I feel like I am starting to head down the wrong path, and I don’t know where else to go and still make this salary.
  • I took some time off work, and now I am ready to get back into the industry and have no clue how to get started.

My 5 Steps to Design Your Dream Career program will prepare you for what’s ahead. All while remaining accountable, focused and unstuck. It consists of thought-provoking coaching sessions, assessments, and various tools to set you up for success.

If you are looking to find your dream job and have no clue how to get started, let’s connect.
There is no reason to feel alone and overwhelmed. We can always begin again.

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My Top Three Life Lessons

life lessons

Birthdays bring with them a desire to reflect. And since I turned 46 this month, I thought it was an excellent opportunity to share these life lessons with you. I can only pray that I will get another 46 years and the ability to learn more life lessons. However, today I am leaning into these three biggies – change the lens, listen to the whispers, and assume good intent.

1 – Change The Lens:

My brain is a visual one. Reading a book and remembering what I read is tricky for me. It always has been. I learn better through visual means, and if you give me an analogy that sticks, it is a winner winner chicken dinner! 

When I first started life coaching school, I was fresh off the result of a company restructure. I was in the process of continually pulling my hair out, trying to get an interview ANYWHERE! It was beyond frustrating and highly depressing.

I arrived at my life coaching school with an optimistic yet victim-feeling undertone. Losing my job was a hard pill for me to swallow. While I was aware it happened for reasons that had nothing to do with me, I am still human and took it personally.

But that first weekend, when the trainer said changing your energy is as easy as changing your lens; I got it. Clear as day. I was looking through the wrong lens of my career. The lens of being a victim to a downsize was not serving me or giving me any movement. It was leaving me feeling apathetic and just plain exhausted.

Once I changed my glasses and looked through a new lens, opportunities started appearing around me. Our energy is a powerful thing. It is why every one of my clients starts off taking the Get Unstuck assessment. It allows us to see how they are resonating energetically on a typical day and when under stress. 

Nothing gets done when we are sitting in a stressful space. This new information allowed me to see myself as someone who lost my job and was blessed with some time to figure out my next steps instead of a corporate restructure victim. Lucky for me, severance and unemployment were part of my package, and that helped ease the financial strain.

2 – Listen To The Whispers:

How many times have we heard of trusting the process? I know, it’s annoying. Yet, it is also entirely accurate. Pausing and allowing the whispers and more profound learnings to sink in is a huge part of growth. Taking the time and slowing down your mind will enable you to hear things it would have missed if it was in overdrive.

When I lost my job, I kept hearing about life coaching. It was showing up in everyone from co-workers to close friends. I ignored so many of the conversations, yet it wouldn’t leave me. I knew or thought I knew that I needed to keep working in marketing and find a job in that field. But once I let the curiosity sink in and decided to learn more, the stars started to align right in front of me.

I admit I can be a bit stubborn. But life coaching school taught me a different approach, and I can honestly say that lesson has changed how I show up now in all areas of my life. I am open to so many more opportunities. I welcome them, and I look for them. Instead of assuming I can’t do that job or don’t know enough about that career, I change the lens, listen to those who mentor me, and move forward. 

This trait is also a great one that I share with my clients. So many of them show up with horse blinders on. They think since they are this age or don’t have this skill set, they are stuck. Once they turn their curiosity on and start listening to not only our conversations but to the whispers around them, they too adjust.

3 – Assume Good Intent:

I recently had a post on LinkedIn reach over 156,000 views. It was about connecting with those that you don’t know. Lending a helping hand to someone else and being a helping hand in return.

For the most part, I heard only positive feedback. But one comment I received kind of set me back. It was something that I think I would have perhaps said years ago, but now that I have changed the lens, I can see it differently. 

We all get tired of the constant salespeople. The ones that are always trying to get us to sign up for their program and buy their product. I, too, receive those messages and calls every day. I can honestly say now I read some of their sales pitches. What if they have something that might be interesting or beneficial to either me down the road? What if they have a job opportunity to share with my connections that might lead them to a new dream job? 

I am assuming good intent for the most part, and it has eased my stress. I give people the benefit of the doubt and believe they want to help me or someone I know. Their services might not be of interest to me now, but you never know down the road. 

This approach is energizing vs. annoying. And that, in turn, creates opportunities. Those opportunities can lead to connections and positions that never would have presented themselves to me if I would have been wearing the horse blinders.

I encourage you all to pause and reflect on your big three life lessons. What would you say or share with others? These past 46 years have taught me big life lessons. Sometimes I can’t fathom that there is still more to learn. And then something or someone new comes along, and boom, another great lesson.

If you are looking to find your dream career and have no clue how to get started, let’s connect. There is no reason to feel alone and overwhelmed. Perhaps some of my life lessons will be helpful ones for you to consider as well.

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3 Surefire Ways to Arrive at Your Dream Career

Remember the days of heading out on vacation with the large road atlas spread across the dashboard? There was no other way to arrive at your destination. You were lost unless it was a path you had memorized in your head. So how can you expect to arrive at your dream career without a plan as well?

My dad would spend time before our trips reviewing the map and handwriting out directions on a piece of paper. Then he would refer to them often throughout the trip. Depending on time, sometimes we would take the fast route. Other times, we opted for the scenic route. Either way, without those directions, we were lost.

So why do you take something so important and impactful as your career and not do the same thing? Expecting to arrive at your “final destination” without a plan doesn’t sound like a logical plan to me. Much like planning out a vacation, we need to plan out our life roadmap. And a key part of our life is our career. The following three steps are the ones I guide my clients through during the motivation phase of my Design Your Dream Career program.

Step 1 – Explore the Possibilities

The first step is to let your imagination go. Explore all the possibilities available to you. Get past conventional wisdom.

Before writing your possibilities down, take some time to get your mind clear. Visualize the future self you want to see.

Next, create four lists or a mind map with four areas: three months, one year, three years, and your lifetime. Set a timer for five minutes and write down all you want to accomplish regarding your career. Think of this as your wish list for your ideal career path.

Don’t get caught up being realistic or feeling like you have to justify what you are desiring. Write it all down. Ask yourself, if I can be anything, do anything or have anything, what would it be? Studies will tell you that if you write down your dreams, your odds increase by 42% of them actually happening.

Embrace and enjoy this step. How do you want to feel and who do you want to be when you arrive at your dream career? All the obstacles are out of the way. Dream of a future of limitless possibilities.

Step 2 – Prioritize the Key Steps

Now that you are feeling energized and excited for your future, your next step is to establish a plan to arrive at your dream career. This step involves going back to your first step and reviewing all the items you wrote under each area.

Set a timer for one minute. Choose one item in each area that would have the most positive impact on your dream career. Circle those four items in each area. These are your goals. When you are done, you should have one goal you want to accomplish in the next three months. One in the next year, one three years from now, and one that is a lifetime goal.

The lifetime goal might be around an age you want to retire. It might also be  around a monetary level you need to reach to feel comfortable even thinking about retirement. If you are over 40 and have yet to plan out (or dream about) when you want to retire, you are not setting yourself up for success.

Step 3 – Details, Details, Details…

Step three involves getting detailed around each of the goals you have established for yourself in step two. Much like you did in step one, create a mind map, or list, for each goal. List all the items you feel it would take to achieve this goal.

The more detailed you can be here the better. Add specific due dates for each task. Indicate how much, how many, or by when if applicable. Number  the tasks in the order they must be completed, if applicable. And then write these due dates in your calendar. Accountability is key. A weekly check-in is ideal allowing you to adjust accordingly.

Don’t forget to think about what you might need to stay motivated to accomplish this goal. Are there sub-tasks that you can check off along the way to complete the goal? Likely so. Creating sub-tasks allows you to feel a sense of accomplishment and motivation to keep going!

READY?

You’ve mastered the process of identifying your goals, now what do you do? We are down to the last seven weeks of 2020. A new year is right around the corner and many of you are likely starting to craft some lofty goals for 2021. Are you looking to grow your current career? Do you want to explore what else is out there? Are you open to new opportunities but not sure how to get started?

Having a coach, or accountability partner, is key at this stage of the game. If you don’t have someone ensuring you are making headway and accomplishing what you said you wanted to, you will likely stall a bit. Weekly check-ins help hold you accountable. They allow for time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t work. Two minds are way better than one.

So, where do you want to be in six months? What do you want to create in 2021? Reach out and schedule a call. I would love to connect and share more with you about my Design Your Dream Career program. It is for anyone who wants more in their career. Let’s create your roadmap and plan how you will get there. By doing so, you will automatically set yourself up for success!

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Design Your DREAM Career – A FREE Exercise

What Makes You Unique?

How many interviews have you been a part of that start with the tell us a little bit about yourself question? I wish instead they would start with what makes you unique.

After all, that is what they are going to remember – your superpowers and key differentiators. This is what will give you an edge and stand out from the crowd.

To help you answer this routine question, I invite you to take some time for a little self-discovery. In stage one of my 5 stages to Design Your Dream Career, we look at your mindset. We spend time narrowing down your values, assessing your energy, and digging into your personal brand. Think of your personal brand as how you want people to remember you. What is your legacy? Your legacy is what makes you unique.

To help you gain awareness in your uniqueness, I have five areas for you to simmer and journal on.

List your strengths

Start with some self-awareness here and make a list for yourself. A quick google search will lead you to various pages that share lists to choose from. It is also a good idea to ask your family, friends, or colleagues what strengths they admire most in you. See what words continuously come up. Think back on the projects you worked on. What strengths did you bring to the group or activity? Were you the leader or did you like being part of the group? Did you bring energy to the group and keep everyone involved? Examples of strengths include honesty, flexibility, determination, persistence, creativity, discipline, dedication, versatility, patience, and respectfulness.

Now add in your skills

Do you have certain skills you like using more than others? Are any of these a unique skillset? What about combining various skills together? For example, I was a graphic design and I had a marketing background. I also enjoyed writing. Those skills separately were attractive but combining them made me even more valuable. Having emotional intelligence is very critical these days for many employers. Are you able to recognize and manage your emotions and the emotions of others? Examples of skills would include communication (written and verbal), management and leadership, organizational, active listening, technical competency, critical thinking and problem solving, teamwork and collaboration, and professionalism.

Make a list of your interests

Are there topics you enjoy talking or reading about? What area do you want to shine a light on? Maybe you enjoy writing on a certain topic. Sift through your social feeds and note where you feel pulled to stop and either read or watch what has been shared. It is around health or personal development? To help you think deeper here, consider noting your interests in the eight different areas of life. Those are family, fun & enjoyment, spirituality, finances, health, personal development, career, and relationships.

Write your story

I had a coach one-time hand me a piece of graph paper and told me to write down a timeline of my life. Sounded simple until I started it. I found myself wanting to dig into things I had forgotten even more. I was calling my parents asking them about important dates and life events. Once I could see the big picture of my life, so many pieces of the puzzle made sense. Try this and don’t forget to add in your career. Once you have done that look back and see if there are any big themes that come up? Where did you excel and why did it perhaps stop?

What is your expertise

Make a list of the roles and projects you have worked on. What stands out of the ordinary? If there was a particular area, what made you so good? Are you learning anything new? Have you spent time qualifying for a certain profession? Are you investing in on-line learning to further develop your skill set? Remember here to think of yourself outside or work as well. Did you plan a large family reunion? It may not be work related, but I would guess you had to be very detailed, sensitive to various age groups in attendance, and responsible when handling the finances. All those traits and qualities are ones you possess at work and in life.

When you represent what makes you unique – your experiences, your insights, your story – you draw an audience for your unique voice. Once you begin to connect these aspects, you define what sets you apart. Remember, no one has lived your life or had the career you have. Own your superpowers.

If you read this and want to know more, or would like assistance in narrowing down your superpowers, let’s hop on a call and chat. I would love to share with you more about my 5 stages to Design Your Dream Career program. (Use code SAVE400 to get $400 off your package!) It is never too late to begin again.

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Do you listen to your inner voices?

This past May I was faced with a really tough decision – listen to my intuition and follow the scary, uncertain, path, or take the safe route.
 

I chose the scary, uncertain, path. And once I did, I felt, for the first time in a long time, an overwhelmed sense of inner peace.
 

You see, I am a chronic safe-route picker.

It is the one that usually wins in my mind. I know I am not alone in this spot, so many of us tell ourselves where we are at is good enough – we are supposed to be here. We need to just stay the path for now. Something better will happen later, now is not the time.
 

But I have to tell you the other side – it’s a whole new level of inner peace that I am experiencing. And I want to help everyone else experience it as well! I can’t keep it all for myself; you need to feel it too!
 

So, I thought I would share with you my top five learnings that happened when I chose to listen, and trust, my intuition and inner voices.

  1. Resiliency –I have described myself with this word more times in the last three months than in my whole life. Life will break us. Nobody can every protect us from that even if we are living alone in a cardboard box. But how we choose to remain in the eye of the storm says a lot about ourselves to ourselves. When you trust and listen to your intuition, resiliency is the frosting that keeps the cake together. It’s your internal glue. And who doesn’t love to feel resilient? The energy that comes from saying and feeling that word is like a firework going off on the top of a mountain!
     
  2. Growth – I have read “Don’t just go through life, grow through life” many times and it is so profound for me. When I go through life and ignore all the signs and block out the whispers, I don’t grow. I have learned in the last couple of years to know that all the signs and heart-tugging whispers are for me and only me. No one else is hearing them but me so I better listen up. Once I started opening my eyes and ears more and trusting what I was seeing, the peace that showed up was the calm I was yearning for. Growth happens when we learn from these happenings. We trust our gut and grow.
     
  1. Understanding – The fear of being in the same spot as I was right now was a hard feeling to grasp. I was not able to build in my head a vision of my business without first stepping into some hot coals and deconstructing some old ways. I had to listen to my inner knowing and trust that it was guiding me to my true path. The idea of missing out on it was too hard to ignore. And my intuition just kept telling me this. If you don’t go for it now, you are going to miss out on it all. 
     
  2. Armored – I have experienced many life situations where I didn’t trust and listen to the guidance only to have things end the opposite way I had hoped. But this time, after countless internal conversations, I told myself what if the Universe would have my back this time like it is always proclaiming? And man did it. I have a set of armor around me that I have never felt before. I am ready for anything with a strong, confident back, to carry the load. 
     
  3. The Rise – It is so true; we have to fall to rise. We have to go through the mud and muck, we have to feel the feels. Pain isn’t tragic, it is magic. Suffering in life is tragic. And suffering is what happens when we avoid our pain and consequently miss our becoming. I can’t imagine suffering in that spot and missing out on this magical place I am working from now. To quote Shivajee Pandey, “Don’t fear failure, fear being in the exact same place next year as you are today.”

Are you trusting or fighting your intuition and inner voice?

I would love to connect and share with you how I can help you guide your inner knowing for a life-altering, transformation. You will experience an energy shift like no other. 

If you are curious to know more, I offer a monthly package of four sessions for $395! Or click here to schedule a FREE 15-minute discovery call with me to learn more.

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Creating Change and Building Healthy Habits

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How many times have you tried to instill a new habit for yourself?

Maybe you want to get up and exercise before work, drink more water, take the stairs more, not eat out or save more money. If you are like most, your list is likely long and feels a bit overwhelming.

Creating change and building healthy habits starts with an understanding of your awareness. 

Before we can make any change, we need to get really curious about what we might be saying or doing that isn’t serving us. What stories are on constant repeat? We might also have a belief system that was instilled in us while growing up and it is now influencing us to make these new changes. 

All change needs to have some motivation behind it. 

In order to have motivations, you need to understand your personal behaviors as well. And our behaviors have all been influenced by one of six areas: spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, social and environmental.

Understanding where and why the influence is occurring can be the difference in achieving or detracting you from making the new change or habit. And for most of us, we haven’t taken the time to dig in and understand why this influence is not serving us.

Once we dig in, the odds of the change sticking are greater.

On June 11 and June 14, Tracy Hensel and I will be hosting an interactive workshop where we will start to dig into how you can create the change you desire and build new habits. From there, I will be offering a seven-week class where we take a deeper dive into our influencers. We will declare a change or habit we want to make for ourselves based on our new learnings. We are better together and with group support, your level of success just increased!

To sign up for the June 11 or June 14 one-hour class, click HERE. If you still have more questions or want to connect, I offer a complimentary 15-minute call. Click HERE to head to my scheduler. 

Starting June 16th, I am also offering a 4-week book club featuring the amazing book Untamed by Glennon Doyle! Each week, we will dive into a section of the book and discuss what we’ve read. We will combine this book along with some group coaching for a life-changing experience.

I will be offering a morning session and an evening session and spaces ARE LIMITED!

So join me and let’s start creating change in out lives!

You can view more about me and my life HERE!