I'm Rachel! I am a Confidence & Career coach, working both 1:1 with ambitious women and within businesses offering group coaching programs to empower female leaders. After spending over 10 years in the corporate sales space, going over above & generally people pleasing to the point where I often approached burnout, I began craving a more meaningful outcome from my work.
The technology industry was a male dominated one, and whilst I'd progressed well it hadn't always been easy. I realised that the super professional persona I'd always been really proud of had meant that over the years I'd failed myself somewhat. I'd failed to set healthy boundaries, failed to stand up for myself when I was being patronised (sadly, a regular occurrence) and failed to ask for what I really wanted.
I am hugely passionate about helping women 1:1 to make sense of what that next step looks like for them, and how to build a plan to get there. Working with organisations on my group program gives me the opportunity to support women to disprove past beliefs about themselves, and really build the skills to confidently articulate themselves.
I wanted to play my part as a contributor to the personal and professional development of women with huge potential who just hadn't realised it yet!
Here's a little Q & A to learn a bit more about me.... I reached out to my personal network to hit me with some questions to use as part of this process.
- Tell us some of the personal stuff... I am 32, I live in Leeds with my husband and absolutely gorgeous Mini Dachshund, Pepper. I love walking, swimming, eating out, and the pub.
- Did you always want to start your own business? Absolutely not, I'd never had seen myself as "good enough". When it came down to it, it became more about helping women combat some of the situations I failed to handle well, and when the focus shifted it didn't matter so much about where my confidence was. As I got further into it, I regained my confidence.
- What was your dream job when you were a child? We didn't talk that much about careers, but I remember when I was about 17 wanting to become an Air Hostess. What held me back was that I had a tendency to blush when directly addressed, and I felt I was too shy. Rather than building on my skills, I avoided getting into a situation where I'd feel uncomfortable. Fast forward 5 years when my personal development journey began and I knew this avoidance needed to be nipped in the bud.
- What is the failure that you most cherish? Why? In my mid 20's I took on a telemarketing role. I knew fairly early on that I wasn't great at it, but I was too emotionally immature to admit that to myself or the business. When it came to an end, I had the opportunity to move to London which led to the marriage to my now husband, and so I cherish that failure for 2 reasons; the opportunity to reflect on how I'd managed the situation, and for the opportunities that parting ways presented me.
- What does a Confidence Coach do? When working with private clients on a 1:1 basis, I use a combination of traditional coaching and practical strategies that can be consistently used every day to build sustainable confidence. Put simply, the sessions themselves consist of me asking questions to encourage my client to articulate how they feel about certain situations, and identify goals that really mean something to them. They'll get "homework" and agree action steps to continue the progress in between sessions.
- Have you always been confident? A lot of people assume that as a Confidence Coach I am super confident naturally. But answer me this; if I were naturally confident, how would I be able to help my clients move from being cripplingly shy and doubting themselves, to building up to attack goals they never would imagine? Because I have been through this journey. I used to really struggle with face to face conversations, avoiding eye contact, blushing frequently about nothing at all and generally dreading anyone asking me anything directly. Most of the time, confident people are not born like that. They've had to unpick insecurities and build resilience in ways that to be quite honest, not a lot of people are prepared to do.
- What sort of businesses do you work with? Many organisations have goals to create more female leaders or diversify their director board. I work with organisations who are fleshing out their D & I strategy, and who have a genuine interest in developing people both personally and professionally. Staff retention is a growing issue, and it's often blamed on organisations not understanding their employees needs. To a degree I believe this, but I also believe that the employees need to understand their own needs first.
- Are your programs just for women? My core program is aimed to support specifically women, however I also offer shorter workshops which are available to all.
- What makes you feel most fulfilled? When I get positive messages from my clients about things they've achieved, or feedback on the concepts in my programs. I absolutely love it - not because I love the validation but because every one of these messages re-enforces why I am doing what I do today. Each individual I work with inspires me to continue learning, continue researching and continue gaining feedback to keep tweaking my work to become as impactful as it possibly can.
- What made you start your podcast? So many people hate the sound of their own voice, and I was no exception! I started Achieve with Me because I'd found listening to podcasts on the way to the office was the absolute best start to my working day. If you don't already listen to podcasts, there is a whole world of inspiring, informative, thought provoking, FREE content out there that you're missing out on!! I wanted to contribute to this, and offer practical advice about handling situations at work and increasing productivity. So far, so good!
I absolutely love connecting with new people so do feel free to reach out!
You can find more information about 1:1 Coaching and Corporate Coaching on my website, where you'll also find my podcast:
https://www.rachelharrietcoaching.co.uk/faqs
https://www.rachelharrietcoaching.co.uk/corporate-coaching
https://www.rachelharrietcoaching.co.uk/podcast
#empoweringwomen #corporatecoaching #confidencecoach #corporatetraining #confidenceskills #communicationskills #settingboundaries #podcastrecommendation #ambitiouswomen #genderbalance
