I am thrilled to post this fabulous interview with Michelle Ward of When I Grow Up. Michelle is a life coach and her blog is one of the most inspiring reads around! I hope you enjoy this interview with her as much as I do. Thank you so much for participating, Michelle!
1) I love the energy and enthusiasm you share on WhenIGrowUpCoach.com. Please tell us a little more about When I Grow Up and your role as a life coach. Y’know, I’m still a bit stuck on how I really describe When I Grow Up accurately! I call myself a Creative Career Coach, as I coach creative people into finding passionate careers, & because I’m big on helping my clients move into creative careers! The worst thing I can think of is putting a creative, artistic spirit into a “box”. Y’know, those boxes that existed when we were little & were told we should be X when we grow up (a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, etc). Now it’s 2009, & there’s a guy out there that makes a great living being a LEGO artist! It’s true! So When I Grow Up is there to help creative people discover out-of-the-box careers that they can be passionate about. It’s about asking yourself, as an adult, “What do I want to do when I grow up?”, finding that, and honoring it. But hey, if it is an accountant, that’s cool too.
2) What motivated you to start your own business? Wanting to be a coach! It’s funny, because I decided to be a life coach from the exercises I did during a career change workshop I enrolled in at NYU’s School of Continuing Ed. I had finally admitted to myself that being an actor didn’t align with my grown-up values, & I wanted to find a stable job that I could be passionate about. Of course, I left the class with another unstable career path! But, of course, I do it because I love it, & ultimately I know that working for myself is going to allow me to build relationships the way I want to, & will allow me to succeed on my own terms. I took the hint that my passionate careers have all been self-starting, & maybe I shouldn’t be fighting that.
3) What has been the best aspect of running your own business? What has been the biggest challenge? The best aspect of running my own business is all of the relationships that I’ve created since I started. Even when I was in sales & customer service, that was still so limiting to me. Now, because I can blog & go on Twitter & connect on Facebook without feeling like there are a pair of eyes (or three!) telling me what I can & can’t say…I can’t tell you how many amazing people I’ve “met” virtually that I now consider my cheerleaders & friends. What a wonderful way to extend your support network & learn & grow from others! Also, the sessions I have with my clients give me an amazing amount of energy, & that is just above & beyond what I thought I’d be able to do to earn a living.
The biggest challenge is being a one woman band, especially since I’m still at my day job! Not having someone to delegate the unfun stuff to - like accounting tasks, data entry, etc - certainly takes it’s toll, especially when I’m working with a finite amount of time. I also have had to learn to accept the fact that I am a one woman band, & that some ideas that I want to execute will just have to wait. I don’t think I have an ounce of patience in me!
4) We’re tapping into your expertise as a coach! What advice do you have for others who want to start their own creative business? Keep the safety net! The more I work with creatives, the more I hear about The Leap: of being scared to take it because it might not work out & then their family will go hungry & then everyone will be out on the street. But there is no law that says that starting your own creative business needs to be a leap! It can be a series of little, itty, tiny, bitty baby steps. I’m all about creating Action Plans with my clients, so that the net can be taken away slowly, slowly, slowly until they’re standing on their own two feet, comfortably & triumphantly.
5) What is in store for the future of When I Grow Up? I can’t promise anything in terms of timing (see my answer to #3!), but I can guarantee you that there will be a plethera of low-cost group coaching available (in fact, I have 3 spots open right now in Operation: New Life Design! starting Oct 7th), an e-course chock full of career change exercises to do on your own, an e-book & maybe, just maybe down the line, a “real” book too. I’m also planning on doing free workshops both via phone & in person in NYC. As always, I’ll continue to blog a few times a week, send out my newsletter twice/month, & tweet all the freakin’ time!
6) Please list three random fun facts about yourself that you’d like to share with us. Only 3?! I’m so full of randomness, this could be 300 
(1) I start every weekday with a dose of Judge Judy justice. Yup, I DVR the episodes when they air at 4p (if I watch them then, I find I don’t like ‘em), & watch them when I’m getting ready for work. It gives me the kick in the butt I need to start my day! (2) I would love to be featured on Public Eye in Time Out New York, because I want to answer the question, “What do you categorize your style as?” with “A grown-up Punky Brewster.” Yes, I used to wear two different shoes & two different socks in 4th grade! She was my idol, & I definitely get my love for color from her. And my Mom. (3) My husband and I were delivered by the same doctor, even though he’s 16 months older than me & we grew up far, far away from each other! Of course, our Jewish mothers discovered that without 10 minutes of first meeting each other. So cute.
