Career Coaching Secrets

The Power of Partnerships: How Laurie Mendoza Coaches Internationally

• Davis Nguyen

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On this episode of the Career Coaching Secrets podcast, host Rexhen Doda interviews Laurie Mendoza, a certified career and leadership coach based in Mexico. Laurie shares her inspiring journey from a financial advisor at Citibank to discovering her passion for facilitating workshops, which ultimately led her to coaching. She discusses the evolution of her coaching business over nearly nine years, highlighting her focus on empowering individuals and teams to shift mindsets and thrive. Laurie reveals her strategy for coaching internationally through strategic alliances with platforms like IPEC, Randstad, and BetterUp, noting how LinkedIn has been crucial for these partnerships. Looking ahead, Laurie aims to scale her impact by transitioning more into group coaching, workshops, and team building, both virtually and in-person in Mexico, partnering with other trainers and coaches. She candidly discusses the trade-offs of working through alliances, acknowledging the impact on her rates versus the benefit of outsourced sales. Laurie concludes with invaluable advice for aspiring coaches: understand yourself, your desires, and continually reflect on your path rather than simply copying others.

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Laurie Mendoza:

I want to continue impacting people. I love the phrase that my coaching school uses, which is, we raise the consciousness of the world one person at a time. And I have done it one person at a time, but I want to do more of group coaching, of workshops, of team buildings, guided meditations. not only here in mexico but also internationally speaking even though that needs to be virtual and after the pandemic times the the group stuff i prefer in person so I see myself making partnerships here in Mexico with other trainers and coaches and really going into the companies and raising the consciousness of the organizations one individual at a time.

Davis Nguyen:

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Nguyen, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. Before Purple Circle, I started and scaled several seven and eight figure career coaching businesses myself and consulted with two career coaching businesses that are now doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or just building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Rexhen Doda:

Hey everyone, welcome again to another episode of Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. My guest today is Lori Mendoza. She's a certified career and leadership coach whose mission is nothing short of transformation. With credentials like PCC, CPC, and ELIMP under her belt, Lori empowers individuals and teams to shift mindsets, align with their values, and thrive personally and professionally. She's based in Mexico In Mexico, her coaching, however, transcends borders and touches lives at every level, from emerging leaders to established professionals seeking deeper fulfillment. And it's my pleasure to have you on the podcast today. Welcome to the show, Lore.

Laurie Mendoza:

Thank you, Rexan. It's a pleasure to be here as well.

Rexhen Doda:

It's a pleasure. Pleasure is all ours. So tell me a little bit more about what inspired you to become a career and leadership coach.

Laurie Mendoza:

Well, that's a great question. Actually, I never imagined, Rexon, to end in this journey. But you know how life works. It surprises you. So I used to work at Citibank. I was a financial advisor. And at some point, they invited me to participate in a workshop that was called The Power of One. So I went and I truly enjoyed the workshop because they taught us like different life skills that were very useful to apply, not only at work, but also in your personal life, such as, you know, take responsibility versus being a victim, the different behavioral styles so that you can communicate better with different people, leadership skills like, you know, influencing others through how you talk and how you behave and all those kinds of things that were very interesting to me and after that i was invited to become a facilitator of that workshop as a volunteer so i was doing my financial job and on the side quite a month i was facilitating this workshop for the employees within the country here in mexico And I truly, truly enjoy doing that. So I started thinking, I want to do this as my full-time job. So what can I do to become a more prepared and effective facilitator? And from there, I found coaching or coaching found me. That's what I... think or like to say, because it really emerged naturally. I started talking with HR people and they were the ones that direct me to this coaching pad. And when I started reading more about it, I was like, yes, I want to do this. So from there, I myself made a career transition and that's how I became a coach.

Rexhen Doda:

Oh, and so far it's been almost nine years, eight years and seven months. So how does the journey look like from the moment you started your coaching business to where you are at today?

Laurie Mendoza:

Completely different, completely different in terms of, you know, having more clarity as to what's my niche, more working opportunities, different experiences working with companies of many sectors and people from all kinds of levels within an organization. And I have also had my private clients that are young people or older people in different stages of their life and their careers. So when I was starting, you know, you wanted practice. So I started working with a nonprofit organization as a volunteer. And from there, I gained experience, real experience, because when I was taught in AIPEC, which is the coaching school I attended, you practice a lot, but with students that were going to be coaches. So we were like all in the same line. And it's different when you really coach a person that has nothing to do with coaching. So I tried with that organization, you know, just sharing with family and friends what I was doing and from there started coaching. And then I started making alliances with companies because I wanted to go back to the corporate world. So yeah, it's been a huge change thinking back in 2016 when I started and where I'm now.

Rexhen Doda:

When you say making alliances with companies, what does that, what do you mean? What does that look like?

Laurie Mendoza:

Well, that's a great question. Well, I work with IPEC, which is the school I attended, and there I was a success coach. And I also did some trainings for the students that were going to get certified. So I was working as an independent contractor with them. That's what I mean with alliances, because I really like the word, when you make an alliance, it's like a teamwork. We all win by making that collaboration. And after that, I also work with Ransat Corporation, helping people to find a new job or switch career when they were laid off from their company. And I'm currently working with Betterop and I'm also a dependent contractor. So those kinds of alliances, I mean.

Rexhen Doda:

And when it comes to your clients, Who do you typically find that is your target audience or the people that you generally like to work with? And what is the transformation that you help them achieve?

Laurie Mendoza:

Well, on one side, leaders, leaders within companies. They could be emerging leaders, more experienced leaders, or even T-suite leaders. And typically what I work the most with them is manage their emotions, how to have more work-life balance, how to have difficult conversations, how to grow within the company so that they can continue impacting more people, or transitioning of one role to another one within the same company, or even to a different company, a different sector. in summary i help them with their career to be more fulfilled to thrive as individuals therefore to thrive as leaders of the people that they work with directly and indirectly

Rexhen Doda:

and is there a specific demographic that falls into it this general

Laurie Mendoza:

demographic you mean age or nationality I mean, I have worked with all kinds of people in terms of professional backgrounds, in terms of ages, in terms of countries and companies. So I would say it's international.

Rexhen Doda:

And in terms of you, since this is international, and I've also had coaches on podcasts that if either... worked internationally or have tried to work internationally, have tried to get clients also overseas. How do you currently do that? Like, where do you find your clients or how do clients find you?

Laurie Mendoza:

So with this strategic alliance that I shared before, for example, IPEC, even though it is from the US, it has presence also in Europe. So I got to coach clients from Europe and Asia and Canada and US and also from the Latin market. So that's one idea. Also with BetterUp, that is what typically happens. You get connected to people from all around the world. I think that's my main strategy to coach. be an international coach. When it comes to Mexico, here is more words of mouth, the people that I know, my network here. But yes, I will say the strategic alliances are the ones that have opened me those international doors.

Rexhen Doda:

And do you also utilize maybe your LinkedIn or some other social media profiles for people to find you or has that not been a source yet?

Laurie Mendoza:

Yes, LinkedIn has been a powerful source for these companies to find me. Like Ransad found me there. BetterUp found me there. IPEC, no, because it was my school, so they knew me. And yeah, now I'm also thinking about, I also worked with a former trainer of IPEC. He's from the US. So he has also opened, international doors for me.

Rexhen Doda:

So generally, when it comes to IPAC, Randstad, BetterUp, BetterUp I'm familiar with, but these two other ones, do they work like a platform where people go in to find a coach and your name is listed in there? Or do they actually just find you clients and send them your way?

Laurie Mendoza:

Yes, they do the sales process. So they find the clients and then they assign it to the coaches that are working with Randstad. And in terms of better off, it's the same. They are the ones that find the customers, which are the company. And then my profile is within their platform. So the individual people from the different companies is going to the platform and based on some information that they share, they get to choose between a couple of coaches.

Rexhen Doda:

Interesting. Cool. Now, moving away from marketing, I wanted to ask you, do you have any future goals with your coaching business that you're working towards for the next one to three years?

Laurie Mendoza:

Yes. I want to continue impacting people. I love the phrase that my coaching school uses, which is we raise the consciousness of the world one person at a time. And I have done it one person at a time, but I wanna do more of group coaching, of workshops, of team buildings, guided meditations, not only here in Mexico, but also internationally speaking, even though that needs to be virtual. and after the pandemic times the the group stuff i prefer in person um so i i see myself making partnerships here in mexico with other trainers and coaches and really going into the companies and raising the consciousness of the organizations one individual at a time

Rexhen Doda:

and so basically right now you're doing one-on-one coaching and you're trying to in a way scale your impact through doing either group coaching or working with teams so that you're not just reaching one person at a time, but you're reaching multiple people at a time, right?

Laurie Mendoza:

Exactly, exactly. I have done it, but currently, as you mentioned, I'm more focused on the one-on-one and I want to go back also combining the group with the one-on-one.

Rexhen Doda:

I see, so a combination of the two. Exactly. And when it comes to investments, has there been any investment that has been helpful for you in growing your coaching business? Either like investments that you made in yourself or any like communities, masterminds, anything like that?

Laurie Mendoza:

Yes, there has been a lot of investments in terms of money, energy and time. I think the greatest investment was me getting my certification with IPEC coaching. And I spent time, I spent energy, I spent money, and I can see the return of investment of that decision. Also, I got my credentials from the ICF PCC, and every three years I need to renew those credentials. And for that, I need to, you know, get training. from core competencies and also other type of trainings. So that keeps me familiarized with different skills and tools that can serve me as a coach. And well, also by making the alliances with these companies with Better Operate Ransat, it has been an investment because At the beginning, it's all about you learning their methodology. They have an assessment. You need to learn how to use it and apply it with your clients. And yeah, I think it has been more for me investment of time.

Rexhen Doda:

When it comes to BetterUp and Randstad, have they reached out to you or have you reached out to them?

Laurie Mendoza:

They have reached out to me. It was funny because Well, Ransack found me, as I mentioned, in LinkedIn just before the pandemic times began. And it was a great opportunity because sadly, a lot of companies started doing layoffs. So we had a lot of work. We helped a lot of people. And better off, when I was just starting as a coach, I... look for them or reach out to them and at that moment they told me you need more experience and i was okay so i continued developing more experience i was a beginner as a coach when i reached out to better off and suddenly they were the ones that reached out to me also through linkedin

Rexhen Doda:

cool so basically linkedin has been great for creating these relationships um And what is something that you wish you had known when you first started growing your coaching business that is like either an unexpected lesson learned or even expected? Has there been anything like that?

Laurie Mendoza:

Yes. For example, when I started in IPEC, as I said, the school is from the US. So when they taught us things about how to build your business, how to price things, your coaching sessions or your programs, they were based on, you know, the U.S. market. And here in Mexico, it's completely different. So I had to find out what worked, what didn't work. For a start, here in Mexico a couple of years back, like coaching was not very popular. People didn't know what was coaching or what to expect about what coaching is and what is not. And also, you know, make this research to determine like for individuals and also for companies.

Rexhen Doda:

And right now, with your coaching business, what would you say is the biggest challenge that you're facing in further growing it? Or are you currently looking to maintain it where it is? Obviously, you did mention you want to do group coaching and team building and like expand on that kind of like method. But is there, what is currently the challenge for you getting there?

Laurie Mendoza:

Okay. So, One of the reasons Rex and I have made these strategic alliances is that they do the sales for you. Sales, it's a process. It takes time, commitment, it takes patience, and it takes also knowledge about how to do sales and how not to do sales. So I think I naturally know how to do it. And when I was younger, I did some jobs related to sales. But it's not something I really enjoy doing or thrive in. So if you are working in your own business, either you make the sales or you need to hire someone to make the sales. And with this opportunity, strategic alliances as i mentioned i solved that part but the disadvantage is that they cut your rate a lot so they decide what to charge to the company and they decide how much they pay to the coaches and for sure it's a you know more less percentage as or compare to you determining your own rate and that's what you charge and you take it fully for your business.

Rexhen Doda:

So the cost of not doing sales is that percentage that has been taken out of your profit in a way. Exactly,

Laurie Mendoza:

exactly. And then on the other hand, again, it saves you time because you don't need to make that process. It saves you energy because It can be a slow process. And yeah, so nothing is perfect in this world. I think it's important to decide what are your priorities? What are your needs? What are your values? And from there, determine which road is better for yourself and your business.

Rexhen Doda:

Totally agree with that. And there's been quite a few coaches that I've interviewed that actually don't like to do marketing and sales. So they have partnered or work as contractors for other firms that will just send clients to them instead of them having to do the whole of that process. Because, yeah, it is not a simple process and it is time consuming. Like you'd have to allocate time to marketing and sales. But that also comes with the upside of you charging the price that you want to charge or the value that you put on yourself. So yeah, there's ups and downs there. And yeah, I totally agree with you. Is there any final advice you'd like to give to other coaches who are looking to scale their impact similarly to how you are with trying to go group coaching and impacting more lives that way? Mm-hmm.

Laurie Mendoza:

I think going back to understanding who you are and what you want. So once you know exactly what you want, then the pains can be lessons. So don't try to copy other coaches in terms of what they're doing. Just ask yourself, what is it that I want to do? Who do I want to impact? How do I see myself impacting those people? You know, ask yourself all these questions. Apply coaching questions to yourself, coaching skills to yourself. Like if you were going to have a one-on-one coaching with you to establish this clarity, do it. And also, you know, when times go by, do that again because you change, the world changes. So your plan, your desires, your ideas might switch. So I think it's important to do these follow-ups or this reflection time with yourself in a couple of months or years.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thanks so much, Lori. For anyone who wants to connect with you in the future, maybe they watch this podcast and want to reach out, they can find you at Lori Mendoza on LinkedIn. Is there any other way they could reach out to you? Is it also lauriemendoza.com, the website? I

Laurie Mendoza:

currently don't use the website, but I use my personal email address, which is lnc at lauriemendoza.com.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you so much, Laurie. It was a pleasure to have your podcast.

Laurie Mendoza:

Thank you, Rexon. It was a pleasure as well.

Davis Nguyen:

Thank you so much.