Sharyn Coughlan is an executive coach and workplace wellness consultant, specialising in the not-for-profit sector, who participated in the September 2017 intake of the Hustle & Heart program. This is her story.
I decided to do the Hustle & Heart program because I wanted to learn marketing for my new business. I’ve had thirty years experience in management and coached and managed people working as directors of marketing, as well as strategic planning, policy and operational functions. I had experience in marketing and understand the fundamentals.
But marketing as a sole operator is very different. I wanted to get the narrative right – the pieces you pull together to form a meaningful story. That’s powerful marketing.
I’ve been receiving Brook’s emails and reading her blogs for some time and knew she was good at this.
I’ve been a consultant for a number of years. I started my side hustle in 2012 when working full-time in executive management, which was hard. In June 2017, I became full-time self-employed, which was very different. Suddenly, you have no-one to delegate to and every decision rests on your shoulders alone.
I wanted to do a better job of branding and positioning myself and needed a sounding board and feedback from somebody objective.
Coaching + training
In executive coaching you empower people to solve their own problems; you don’t intervene. But the Hustle & Heart program is not just about coaching. It combines information and practical tutorials and training with coaching, which I love. It trained us in the fundamentals of financial management, marketing and branding, PR and publicity, while coaching us to optimise that learning.
I loved the process of learning in the Hustle & Heart program because it was self-directed, not imposed. I liked all the opportunities to implement as we went. The Facebook Lives in our community group were fantastic – I would never have tried that without being given this forum to do it, in a way which felt supported.
It was invaluable being able to test ideas in the group – to ask for feedback and to give feedback to others, which is also a learning process.
Since doing the program, I’ve started refining my personal brand. I’ve always been an action researcher – I like to experiment with what I learn and put things into practice. That’s what makes someone strategic – being able to draw on a wide range of information to come up with a solution.
Before the program, I was anxious about whether or not I was going to make it on my own. I feel far more confident now, not only to do a range of different things, but to be brave about bringing my unique background and perspective to what I’m doing.
My business is so new. It’s evolving in front of me. I’m excited about what I’ll do next.
Are you ready to step up and see what’s possible in your business? Hustle & Heart is open now.
