Client Case Study Sara Ifert - When I Grow Up

Client Case Study Sara Ifert - When I Grow Up Um, do you know that Ive coached hundreds of women since I started offering dream career guidance in 2008? And that these women are freakin rock stars, leaving soul-sucking jobs and traveling the world and launching creative, grown-up businesses and simply doing work that fits their lifestyle goals? Well ya do now and youll hear their stories firsthand in my  Client Case Studies series!  Multi-passionate peeps in less-than-fulfilling jobs, listen up! Sara spent 15 years in marketing and through lots of soul-searching, bravery, and action is now a health coach AND artist (and occasional dog walker ha!). She gives us such a peek into her inner thoughts during this process, and Im so appreciative of her honesty and vulnerability. I cant wait for you to meet her! Why did you decide to work with me, a creative career coach? I had been building a successful marketing career for 15 years, and never really loved what I was doing. I was really good at my work, but often felt like I should be spending my energy on something else. My career just didn’t feel like  â€œme.”  I had stumbled on your website, felt inspired, and signed up for your newsletter. While I didn’t consider my career creative at the time, the concept of a creative career really resonated with me. I had grown up dreaming of becoming an artist or something similar, but had long ago stopped tending to my creativity. I decided  to take your “Create Your Dream Career”  course on Creative Live, and got a lot out of it. But things got real a few  months later when I had a bit of a health crisis. I was stressed and tired of not living authentically, even though I wasn’t totally sure what would feel authentic yet! I finally decided to take the plunge and work with you one on one, so I could finally get some clarity and put a new career i nto motion.   What were you doing work-wise when we started our sessions? I had a good job at a nonprofit doing marketing. It paid the bills, and I enjoyed my team and coworkers. There was always a lot of pressure though, and after years of building my career, I just didn’t feel like I wanted to take the next  â€œlogical” step up the ladder. What was your biggest takeaway  from our time together?   One of the biggest fears I had that was keeping me from pursuing a career change was worrying what  others would think. I was certain people would think I was a flake or a failure for leaving my already successful career in the pursuit of something different and somewhat unknown. You asked me what I thought of others who were doing similar things as to what I wanted striking out on their own, building a business, or making a change. Even if they weren’t successful in the traditional sense, I realized I thought they were totally amazing and admired the guts they had to make it happen. Not only that, I was often a little jealous  of them! It was sort of an aha moment where I realized that even if I failed, I would still respect myself more for taking the chance on something that felt more authentic to me. And also, I realized anyone who really cared about me would feel that same respect. I think I was just getting in my own way and projecting my own fears on others, when I really ne eded to turn that spotlight back on myself and think  about what I truly wanted. Was there anything else you tried to do as a career between the time we stopped our sessions and what you do for work now? If so, how did it inform your current business? Trying things has been THE BEST way to learn.  Originally, I tried working with health and  wellness businesses as their marketing consultant. I was super close to landing a client, when I realized that wasn’t what I wanted. But, it made me see that I wanted to start my own wellness biz. I had been taking a health coaching program, and decided to focus on creating that business (Go Simple Wellness) instead of consulting. I also wanted to do creative work, possibly graphic design, but I didn’t want typical  freelance work. So, I am in the process of building my pattern design  portfolio and learning all about the surface design industry. When working with you, you helped me realize that I had to get out of my head and start DOING things. And I’ve tried to put that into practice ever since. I imagine my daily work may change in the future, but I am totally comfortable with what it is today: health coach, pattern designer/artist, and an occasional dog sitter!  And it couldn’t fe el more like  â€œme! What would you tell someone now that was in your shoes when we first started working together?  Whats your best tip to allow them to make a grown-up living doing what they love? If you work on anything, work on your self worth and start  believing in the amazing things you can do.  You are going to attract what you put out into the world.  If you don’t believe you can do it, no one else will either.  Believing  in yourself is the best way to get out of your own way.  Yes, that is hard! So, don’t be afraid to seek help. Sometimes you need someone asking you all the hard questions and keeping you accountable. Whats on the horizon for your business? Wed love to hear about any upcoming offerings or goals! For women who are tired all the time (hello, is this not all of us?!), I just launched a free video email series called 5 Days to More Energy. It has my best tips for improving your energy level so you can get things done and feel better. You can sign up at  gosimplewellness.com/energy.  I also coach busy women 1:1 to help them manage their stress, live healthier, and be more true to themselves. I do a  free 30 minute consultation  so people can see whether health coaching is for them or not! I’m also launching an online store on my  personal website  soon with products that I’ve designed, which I’m pretty excited about!