Career Coaching Secrets

LJ Nieulant: Coaching Men to Thrive in Tech, Finance & Media

• Davis Nguyen

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Rexhen Doda speaks with LJ Nieulant, founder of Inspirator and a veteran career coach. LJ shares his transition from sales to coaching, his niche of men in finance, IT, and media, and his global, remote practice. He discusses using LinkedIn and word-of-mouth for clients and his biggest scaling hurdle: the fear of losing control over quality. LJ emphasizes the value of having a coach and masterminds for continuous growth, advising others to trust their intuition and "just do it."

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Lj Neulant:

For me, it changed a significant level because I used to be from divorced parents and I, together with my sister, moved in with my mother. And so I was, would I say, and I don't mean anything negative about this, but I'm more raised in a more feminine way than maybe in a more masculine way. And so my first set of clients were all women.

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 Purpose 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:

Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm your host, Rexhen, and today's guest is LJ Newland. He is the founder of Inspirator and a career coach who's helped 250 plus clients across tech, media, finance, and more. In just 30 to 90 days, he helps you gain clarity, uncover your talents, and confidently navigate your next career move. He's an espresso-loving, world-traveling talent whisperer. LJ believes doing Doing what you love is the path to thriving. And it's my pleasure and an honor to have you on the show today. Welcome to the podcast, LJ. Thank you, Rexhen. LJ, tell me a little bit more about what inspired you to become a coach and start your own coaching business.

Lj Neulant:

That's a good question, Rexhen. I've been doing this for 18 plus years. Looking back, I've always been in sales. Sales, in my opinion, is about listening first. By listening, you get to know what your customers or think he or she wants. Then go deeper. with questions, discover what really is going on. And that's the end of my sales career. I went from the bottom part of the ladder to the highest ladder. Did it all. Liked it. I like to meet new people. And suddenly I asked myself, okay, is this what I'm going to do for the rest of my life? And the answer was obviously no. And I took one year and a half sabbatical just to figure out, navel staring, what I wanted to do next. And one day, really, this is how it went. One day I woke up and said to myself, I will become a coach. That was like almost 20 years ago. And coaching wasn't like it was, like we have it now. So I had to school myself, do some courses. And at the end of the day, since I want to be part of a result, I opt in for career coaching.

Rexhen Doda:

And so it's almost 20 years you mentioned. And then you started Inspirator. What does the journey look like from the moment you started Inspirator? to where you are at today? Obviously, that also has changed years now.

Lj Neulant:

Yes, it has. Well, I thought, so being with a background of sales, doing a lot of soul searching, personal development, and then also on top of that, coaching, how would you say, courses, then I thought, oh, well, this is easy. So I put a plaque on the wall, opened my store, and let's go. But there is a difference between selling for somebody else selling yourself. That's the biggest difference I found out when starting. And I was like, this is scary. It took me another year to figure that out and to be getting more and more confident with my own approach, with my own offerings. From then on, it's slowly but steadily improved. I'm more familiar with it.

Rexhen Doda:

Throughout these years, obviously, this also might have changed. When it comes to the people that you're generally trying to reach? What does that look like? Is there a specific industry, demographic type of people that you like to help? It's

Lj Neulant:

a good question. For me, it changed significant level because I used to be from divorced parents and I, together with my sister, moved in with my mother. And so I was, would I say, and I don't mean anything negative about this, but I'm more raised in a more feminine way than maybe in a more masculine way. And so my first set of clients were all women. I think 2008, 9, 10, I asked myself, so what is this? And I did some digging and then I decided for myself, I asked, okay, may I now coach? Because I also know there are struggles coming from that background and becoming a man and an adult man is something different than coming out of a feminine household. So for me, that was a very big, big aha moment and a big change. I don't say I don't I don't do women, but if I look at my clients at the moment and the last few years, it's all 80% men, 20% women. And there is no disqualification. It's just what it is. And I think I also, what I did is I figured out for myself, the industries I worked in myself, these are also the industries I would like to serve people in because I know what's happening there. I know the jargon. I know the industry, et cetera, et cetera. So I do financial service. IT and printed media. And once in a while I do healthcare and yeah, that's it. Cool.

Rexhen Doda:

And when it comes to, obviously as someone that has moved from the Netherlands all the way to US, when did that move happen? Did you start your coaching before and then moved or was the coaching started when you moved to US?

Lj Neulant:

So I'm a happily married man with a husband with three children. And we met late in life. We got three children in two years, so to say. And we have lived in... So we started in Italy. Then we moved to the East Coast in the United States. Then we went back to Milan in Italy. And then we went to the UK. And then from the UK, we went back to the East Coast. And from the East Coast, we went to... West Coast. And that's where I am now. We're now living in California. And the nice thing about coaching is you can do it, especially after COVID. Everything is legal. It's normalized around Zoom or Meet or whatever. You can do it on the screen. But I prefer and I prefer people to touch people, to meet people and hug, etc. But I coached when I was like almost 20 years ago. That's when I started. Then we got kids for a me involved than than my wife because she was then the the breadwinner and now it's like the kids are older they go to school by themselves etc i don't need to be the bus driver of the day so that's where also my life changed because the the big advantage of of moving is also adapting very fast to whatever situation comes up and to be able to when i meet those people that have done the same i there was little and more immediately connect with those because we've been in the same boat.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah, I really feel that. And you have moved quite a lot. Yeah.

Lj Neulant:

It's so nice.

Rexhen Doda:

So, yeah, especially the beauty of being able to do your job while moving around, especially recently. I wanted to ask you, I want to move a little bit into marketing. Where do you find your clients? Like what marketing channel is working best for you? I know you and I were talking a little bit in the beginning and And you said a lot of people are coming to you. So where are they finding you?

Lj Neulant:

Mostly on LinkedIn and by word of mouth. So mostly LinkedIn.

Rexhen Doda:

And is there a specific strategy that goes into LinkedIn? Are you doing any posts or anything like that?

Lj Neulant:

I should do more, to be honest. I think it's interesting. It's such a big, it's a vast ocean of possibilities. And you need to stand out. influx of clients and I'm also connected to all my former clients who say hey can you coach my friend or my colleague

Rexhen Doda:

and when it comes to Inspirator the coaching company are you currently working mostly just you or do you also have like a team that is working with you

Lj Neulant:

yeah there's a team working with me not coaches but staff etc to make my presence on LinkedIn and reaching out, et cetera, doing all that. Yeah, so, and taking care of websites and whatever have you. And I'm currently also developing a course for a career coaching do-it-yourself. So yeah, that's, I can't do that on my own and coach. That's not possible.

Rexhen Doda:

Oh, I see. So most of the admin stuff is what you have moved over to your team, like all of the marketing admin stuff and mostly focusing on actually uh either like doing the coaching or maybe also taking the sales calls and things like that

Lj Neulant:

yeah because i love to meet people and i love to know where you come from and what you do where you are at because at the end of the day um yeah coaching is also about having a being able to connect with people and to have to be is it a fit are we are we able to work together

Rexhen Doda:

yeah absolutely um i wanted to talk to you about the future now uh do you you have any goals that you're working towards for the next one to three years with your coaching business

Lj Neulant:

that's a good question yeah I think so so I'd like to do this till maybe till the day I die because it's so inspiring to meet all kinds of people who come from different backgrounds who have different walks of life so I want to do this as long as possible that's my that's my biggest aim I want to be of more help and service to others and I think I have to bring something to the world that goes beyond me like I want to carry the message further and further that we are here on this earth to thrive that's our birthright and I think we without being condescending but we should do something with that

Rexhen Doda:

I like that that is a very strong message when it comes to the company and thinking of small or goals and that are you currently looking to scale further than you are or you're currently like maintaining the rhythm that you have

Lj Neulant:

no I'm yeah there is I love the rhythm that I have And there might be room for scaling. And that's also scary on the other side, to be honest.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah. And when it comes to investments, thinking of investments, has there been any investment that you feel like has actually made a difference in you growing your coaching business or any investment that you feel is valuable to share? And that could be any like maybe communities, any masterminds, any coaching programs, anything that actually you feel that you've invested invested in it and your business actually grew from it?

Lj Neulant:

I think it is a non-negotiable for a coach to have a coach, because at the end of the day, you need to grow, keep growing. You need to be aware of your flaws. And I'm a big believer of strength. Work on your strength instead of your weaknesses. So the investment in a coach and masterminds is a no-brainer. It's essential for growth. Business-wise, personally, it's very necessary.

Rexhen Doda:

Is there any... particular coach or mastermind or community like that that you would like to share?

Lj Neulant:

There's a community I work also I work with since I lived in Vermont on the East Coast twice now that's with a company called From Within Coaching and I just like a few hours ago we had a mastermind of all the coaches together with all the coaches together

Rexhen Doda:

Cool Thanks so much for sharing that. And for anyone like maybe in Vermont who wants to find that, is there a name or like you could potentially also email it to me later and potentially might add it on the podcast?

Lj Neulant:

No, there is. They are called From Within Coaching.

Rexhen Doda:

Oh, from coaching. I see. Thanks. Thanks for sharing that. Another question I wanted to ask you is, throughout your years of experience running your coaching business, so running Inspirator, what would you say, even today, is the biggest challenge to you further scaling your business?

Lj Neulant:

The biggest challenge would be the fear of losing control. Because to deepen... I'm convinced I'm a very good coach. And would scaling mean other coaches? Are they as good as I am? And it's not like, oh, I set the bar. That's not what I mean. And look at me, I'm the diva. That's not what I mean. But it's the fear of would they get the same results? Would they have the same approach? That's not possible. So that's the fear of letting go. Fear of letting go to grow.

Rexhen Doda:

Because at that point... You'd be doing less of coaching. You'd actually be coaching your coaches. that would be working with you. And yeah, I feel like that is actually one of the main fears that I've seen for every coach that does one-on-one coaching is the fact that scaling might mean that they don't have control over the quality that they are delivering because they're doing it themselves. They can control that outcome, but how easy would it, or how hard would it be once you have a team of coaches doing that for you? That is Yeah, that is definitely a challenge. So yeah, I feel like that is definitely there for most coaches. And it's been lovely so far. Is there any final advice that you give to other coaches who are looking to scale their impact?

Lj Neulant:

I would say trust your intuition. So trust your gut with hiring people or... And at the end of the day, Nike said, just do

Rexhen Doda:

it. Just do it, guys. No,

Lj Neulant:

I'm serious. And I'm also in front of this big hurdle. Like, okay. And on the other side of the hurdle, it says, just do it, man.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah.

Lj Neulant:

I

Rexhen Doda:

really like that. Again, thank you so much for taking the time today, LJ. It was lovely having you on the podcast. For anyone who wants to connect with you or find you, they can go into LinkedIn and they can search your name, LJ Newland. The other method would be the website, which is inspirator.nu. Is there any other way they could connect with you?

Lj Neulant:

Well, there is my phone number, but there is one caveat with the website. It's under construction at the moment, so they won't reach me.

Rexhen Doda:

The

Lj Neulant:

best way and my cell phone.

Rexhen Doda:

Okay, so LinkedIn, your cell phone, and just looking at your LinkedIn right now on the contact, you also have Skype, which is kind of making me sad that we no longer have Skype.

Lj Neulant:

Yes. Yeah, so you have to go over to team to go over to the dial board, the dial pad of Skype. But cell phone is the best and LinkedIn, of course.

Rexhen Doda:

Well, thank you so much, LJ. It was a pleasure having you today.

Lj Neulant:

Thank you, Rejan, and I loved it. So thank you for your time and giving me the opportunity to talk to you.

Davis Nguyen:

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This conversation was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. To learn more about Purple Circle, our community, and how we can help you grow your business, visit joinpurplecircle.com.