 Hi, I'm George cow and I'm happy to be here with one of my clients Michelle Olson. She is a career purpose coach She works with her clients on of course not just a career issues, but all this also the inner Issues that are preventing them from having a thriving career Anyway, I'm excited to bring you on to this interview Michelle. Hi. Hi, George Yeah So let me read your bio so folks can have a some context for for what you do and then we'll go into some of the lessons you've learned as you've grown your coaching business and You also share with us some insight on The inner critic which is something that you work with some of your clients on you create some content around that That is an issue that people have as they do career transition career development, etc So let me start with your bio. So Michelle is the founder and coach at green light coaching She is focused on helping women birth their career purpose She helps heart-centered busy women find clarity and purpose and assists Them in taking action during their career transitions. She is a fierce advocate for more purpose driven work in this world Michelle had a 12-year corporate career in sales Before making her own soul satisfying career change about 10 years ago. Her website is green light dash coaching calm I'll be sure to put the link in the notes of the video so Let's see, you know, one of the things that you have been learning about especially Transitioning from your corporate career a decade ago is how to bring more of yourself into your work so Kind of maybe I'll just let you share whatever you like there in terms of how that's impacted your business how that you know Why it's that's an important thing for you Yeah, um Yeah, so I had this 12 year corporate work and Anyone watching or listening knows that there's not a huge invitation in the corporate world to bring your whole self I mean, they definitely want you to bring yourself to work and they want engagement and they want Production but that idea of bringing your whole self to work Wasn't something that I personally experienced in my time in that environment And so when I made the transition to creating Well first moving into my own business creating my own work I realized there was some you know It was a little wobbly at first because I thought I had to present myself in this very specific professional way and it had to look a certain way and and What I realized is when I tried to do it that way it would lie It would really land flat with people and I could feel it. It didn't feel good to me either like trying to Act professional And so as you know as the time has gone by as the years has gone I have gone by what I realized is the more and more I just bring all of myself like The spiritual part of myself the heart part of myself the compassionate part of myself the Logical part of myself to both my clients and my business. It just goes better. I attract People that are well aligned for me and the work I do in the world And I find that my I feel better in my business that there's a contentment That I experience in because I'm not trying to be anybody else but myself So that was that's been a big lesson For me and work in business And then I'd add one more thing I is is I think Experimenting over and over is a big lesson that I've gotten from you George is just like Try something out Hear the feedback Adjust if needed. So like giving myself permission to just keep trying things out and seeing if they land or not So that would be the second is just experimentation and one of the Experimentations you've done with your content is well, I mean just in terms of topics, right? Like you noticed that oh when you talk about the inner critic. Yeah, that seems to be Something your audience particularly likes Seeing from you. Yes Tell me I mean talk about that process I mean in terms of testing the content topics and things like that. Yeah. Yeah, so since you know, I really started being consistent with content while working with you over the past year and a half and I I Love that you give us all permission like we all need a permission slip But you do that well So, you know to test our content and one of the things is I have all these You know, I have these quote-unquote hard skills I can teach people how to do an informational interview and I can teach people how to network and I can teach people The Enneagram and I can teach people Myers-Briggs. All of that is valuable But what I find that the people who really end up working with me In a coaching relationship is they really want to delve into more of how do I work with fear? How do I work with doubt? How do I work with? Communication, you know, how do I work with my higher self listening to my wisdom and So more in this, you know, internal spiritual world to go towards new work Versus some of the standard things you'll see in like career counseling where it's It's more focused on what is your resume look like or you know How do you how do you show up for an interview and present your best self? So that doesn't technically land with my people So yeah, that was good to notice talk about that. I'd love for you to so yeah People think career coach they think okay great You're gonna you're gonna get me a great resume so that when it's send it to anybody They're gonna be like wowed by it and they're going to put me on the top of the pile And then I'm gonna have to have to be a great interviewer and then I'll get in yeah, so why is that not? You know, why is that not necessarily the best way of going about a career transition? Because in my experience, it's focused on the outside, right? So again kind of going back to my own like parallel process like If it's coming from the outside and not from within Then it's not integrated and when it's not integrated then we're not landing into foment or satisfaction We're just we're kind of robots marching to the next right thing based on expectations Externally versus what is it internally that you're being called to what is it internally that lands for you? Work is always fascinated me just the idea of work, you know business non-profit entrepreneurship I just think it's a really fascinating In in the world that we live in we work a lot You know like most of our most of our waking hours, which is why it's so important to think about yeah So important and it's so many of our waking hours And so you know we put attention on our personal relationships We put attention for us mothers on our children. We put attention on our family relationships So why not create a relationship with work and That meets you in a way that feels satisfactory and so I mean not to say that that Resume and networking is not important that information is good to have but I find if you start there It's not actually getting to the change that someone's seeking when they're wanting to create more purpose work in their life they're wanting to create more satisfaction and fulfillment and contentment and peace in their life So yeah, that's really great. So Well, you know, I'd love to Touch on that idea of inner critic I mean since this is something you talk about with your clients and within your content so Yeah, kind of walk us through what that means and why is that how is that related to? career transition career development, yeah So, you know any change we go through as humans where we feel fear. It's a natural It's a totally natural response Especially when we're going out of our comfort zone or the familiar we're gonna feel fear so that so I think first and foremost I just Invite clients to just be be like, yeah, I'm gonna feel some fear and that's okay And then secondly, you know starting to really understand when does the fear pop up? So for that individual to get clear of like oh when I when I try to network my fear really comes up or when I try To Even think I'll take it even a further step back even think about changing my work life I get really scared and so, you know really meeting the fear with compassion and kindness and Acceptance is the very first step and then getting a clear understanding of when it pops up and when it happens in your life Like when you notice. Oh, right. That's my fear zone, you know and then really Learning to go. What is it like to say to you? What is the common messages? Where did those messages originate or those messages from your parents? Are they messages from your teachers or grandparents religious institutions? School institutions like starting to get very clear on where who's actually saying this because usually if you Dig you'll find that it came from someone else as a young person and so That helps create a little bit of space between yourself and the fear and then and then I always like using the common thing of Naming your inner critics. So given your inner critic a name, you know some people have called their inner critic the demon or Baltimore from Harry Potter or Miss bevy, you know the white collar guy someone Name their inner critic. So again, it's just creating more space between the thinking of the inner critic and yourself and I Don't think fear necessarily goes away, but I think fear are quiet when you take the action So, you know really committing to what is it that I want to do? I feel scared of pay acknowledge that give it really good love and attention and then go Okay, I'm gonna do it anyway, even if I'm scared and so moving taking that action Regardless of if the fear is there or not That's great. Do you have can is there a Situation in a client's life or transition that you can think of where The inner critic was was there or how did they Manage that to be able to move forward is or maybe in your own life. Is there a Yeah, I just thought of one client when you saw a client emailed me last week and she said Michelle I'm so Excited I finally broke through so she was a she's a software engineer by trade and she was working for a big Organization in the Bay Area and decided to leave that organization. She's a mom she wanted to find something that was going to give her more flexibility and She was very shy very very very shy woman and very introverted and so she it was really hard for her to reach out and and network and meet people and yet The need was greater than the fear, right? Like she needed to do it if she was going to make this change that she deeply desired And so she recently just emailed me to say that she found a Group of other women other software engineers and now she's working with this group and And feels like all the work she did like all the time It took to work through that fear has paid off and she is super satisfied it was exactly what she had envisioned in our work together and Yeah, and so it was you know, I think what was great is I Never encouraged her to step farther than would be You know What I want to say I Think there's this like if you think of a circle, right? Like I think if you're this far out It can be too scary But if you can just go this far out when working with fear then you start pressing that You know your edge starts getting a little further and I really witnessed that with her. So Yeah I also love for you to talk for just a minute or two I know it's not a lot of time but but just to give us a sense of I mean you have so many different skill sets But one of them is the personality Typing with any gram with Myers-Briggs I know probably some of you watching this are familiar with one or both of them, but maybe you can share What you like about each one and what it is for those who don't know or need a refresher sure um So I'll start with Myers-Briggs because I think it's a simpler system than the Enneagram and With Myers-Briggs. It's definitely Behavior-based so it looks at specific behaviors and There's 16 different dichotomies and so the first one is either Interversion or extroversion and irony and That is based on our energy. You know whether we Build our energy through solitude and time alone or we build our energy through being with the group and observing Outside ourselves. So the extroversion and introversion The next one is N and S which is intuition and sensing Which I will say that none of these make sense They were created in the 1940s, but anyway, so intuition is basically you get a general sense or general idea of something You would look at an art painting and you'd probably use words like oh that you know that brings me joy Or that painting opens my heart would be an intuitive response a Sensing with response would be like they use the colors of red and blue and yellow and look They use this this curve right here, and then they use the square right here So it'd be two people looking at the exact same paintings, but Interpreting the information differently. So that's into inch intuition and sensing the third one is Feeling or thinking and this is the decision-making part of it And so if you're a failure feeler, you're making your decision based on how you feel And if you're a thinker, you're typically making your decision based on logic And then the last is judging or perceiving and this is basically how we do life and so Going back to the corporate environment. It's a very judging culture in And it doesn't mean that term judging in the way. I'm using it It's it means that if you tell someone who's a J judging J That they need to have a project done by noon at the next day more than likely they're gonna have it done by 10 a.m Because judgers just get things done and that's why the corporate environment tends to hold that culture because they want production They want people moving with peas Peas need a deadline. They definitely need a deadline. So if you say I need it tomorrow at noon They're typically gonna finish it at like 11 59 and 30 seconds So they they'll meet it. I mean they actually meet the deadline, but they they Perceivers like to be in the process piece more So that's just a general overview of the Myers-Briggs the Enneagram which I once heard and like repeating is is the Is Myers-Briggs on steroids is all based on our motivation. So what motivates us? It's a very old system. It's was created It's created from lots of difference religious backgrounds Sufism Christianity Judaism and It's considered a spiritual system So we're born into our type and there's nine types on the Enneagram Just as a simple basis and each type has a fear and a motivation To it and so what's beautiful? I really love the Enneagram. What's beautiful about this system is People often hear personality assessments and they go no, I don't want to be put in a box I don't want to be judged or you know, maybe that those feelings might come up But in reality what it's doing is it's opening your perspective, you know Like if we only have one ninth of the perspective of the full system If we learn the other types and really understand their motivation and fear all of a sudden We put on these glasses and we get a bigger view of ourselves We get a bigger view of the people we're working with our family members our friends So it's a really beautiful system and it's in there's a lot of detail to it that I won't go into today But just as an introduction, it's it is a system that's based on motivation And if someone's interested in personal growth It's an excellent system to use to just you know start looking at places where you might have blind spots and Or not feel good and you want to expand in that area. I think it's a gentle system in that way Wow, that's great to hear you Summarize that from your perspective because you've been working with these things So deeply for a while and with so many people and you've taught classes on it and and so it's really cool So is that something that you enjoy working with clients on if they're interested in that? Definitely, and then they could of course with that perspective Do More thoughtfully their relationships at work and with different people they will start noticing the different Personality types and different motivations and be able to kind of navigate that better thing. Yes Yes, I've had the opportunity to lead some teams in this and what they the feedback I get from them afterwards is It helps them understand their co-workers so much better and they're like, oh, that's why she does that thing So there's this immediate like empathy and compassion and understanding It also can help with communication, you know each type Communicates differently and so understanding. Oh that person is a seven. They really like direct Communication or oh that person is a nine. They hate conflicts They avoided at all costs. So, you know, I'm gonna give them critical feedback. It needs to be gentle and kind and You know, I mean, that's probably a good rule for any type But you know, just as a general understanding knowing what the person's individual type is and how to meet them Super valuable in your work life Fantastic, so let's wrap up and I'd love for you to share What your your gift for the audience is you have a very generous offer, so I'll let you So through through coaching with George You've taught me to Again listen to my clients and what do I you know what feedback do they give me and I Typically work with people for a longer term because it takes time to make a transition and it takes time first to figure out what you want to do and then actually find the work and But every so often I get people who come to me and they say oh, could you just do a one-off session with me? I really and I kept hearing it over and over and so I recently created a Typically my coaching sessions are 45 minutes So I created a 60-minute consultation session and I figured it's a great opportunity for people who have a Specific thing they're working on. I mean maybe even the enneagram They want to know their enneagram type and they want to dive into it a little bit deeper. That'd be a great way to use the session I Had a woman I did one with a woman last week and she wants to hire a VA And so we came up with a plan on How she could where to look for the VA first and foremost how to do the interviews and set them up How to do the reference calls? So we came up with this great plan and she was super satisfied after I had another person do a session and it was actually a man I typically work with women, but he wanted a one-off session on Building more opportunities. He was in a job search. And so we went through and created a plan to keep him in momentum So he could you know build Reaching out to people and doing a job search. So the session can be used in several different ways Motherhood You know, if you're if you're in mother deep in the throes of motherhood, this is a great topic I like to work with and you you're really wanting to find some flexibility with work We could brainstorm ideas on that. So it's it's more of a consulting 60 minutes with me then coaching I will offer coaching in it I it's as needed, but it's it is more of like bringing our two minds together and then pulling out of me resources I might have to support an individual in their Worklife or communication or several different topics. That's great. I love it. I love it So it's a single session They get a lot out of that because of your experience in these different areas and if they want to They can also sign up with to work with you in a more Structured way over a longer period of time for deeper transformations for more holistic view on on their career and their in their life So, yeah, awesome Great. Well, thanks Michelle. So always get to talk with you You too. And is there a final encouragement you want to give to those let's just say those who are In a career transition. What would you say? I would say there's hope. There's hope. I think a lot of people get discouraged, especially if they're middle-aged They think oh, well, I'm you know the 20 years in why you know, why bother? I'll wait till retirement. I would say there's hope you can do it It's possible, you know, it takes time. I'll be realistic. It does it does take time It's not something you'll do overnight, but it is possible You can transition into something that you would more soothe your heart and be fulfilling for you. Yeah Thank you so much and I'll be sure of course the links are below. So please go go ahead and follow up with Michelle and She also has lots of content on her on her Facebook page on her blog. So be sure to check that out She's a great newsletter So Thanks Michelle for all the work that you do. Thanks George. Thank you Bye