Career Coaching Secrets

Mary Jo Romeo: Unpacking Challenges and Building Sustainable Growth

• Davis Nguyen

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Host Rexhen interviews Mary Jo Romeo, executive coach and founder of MJR Coaching and Consulting. With decades of experience building national sales teams, Mary Jo brings a unique blend of business acumen and coaching expertise.

Mary Jo's coaching journey began unexpectedly after her sales career, leading her to get ICF PCC certified at Columbia University. She now finds deep reward in being a "thought partner" to senior leaders, asking tough questions that lead to clarity and transformation.

Her client base is primarily senior leaders, often in transition, mostly acquired through word-of-mouth referrals and pro bono workshops for community organizations. She maintains minimal traditional marketing.

Looking ahead, Mary Jo plans to focus on "high-impact programs" for intensive client work, further develop her partner who coaches younger generations, and pursue additional coaching certifications. She emphasizes her strong network and willingness to ask for help as key to her success. While admitting a past mistake of over-investing in an unresearched online program, her most valuable investments have been her website, a marketing person for LinkedIn, and assessments. Her main personal challenge is balancing work with her desire for more travel. She advises coaches to define their ideal client, leverage their network, and tell powerful stories to showcase coaching's value.

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Mary Jo Romeo:

Well, I've been in sales my whole life. When I went to Columbia and studied, got my certification, Columbia University of New York, to get my certification for coaching, I was the only salesperson in the room. And the guy, Dr. Terrence Metabolo, thought I was sick. Why are you here? Most coaches come out of HR. I've met quite a few lawyers who became coaches. You don't meet a lot of salespeople. And when I decided to go on my own as a coach, I thought this is...

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 $100,000 years, $100,000 months, and even $100,000 weeks. Before Purple Circle, I've grown several seven and eight figure career coaching business myself, and I've been a consultant at two career coaching businesses that are doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or building your practice for the first time, You'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Rexhen Doda:

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm your host, Regan, and today's guest is Mary Jo Romeo. She's an executive coach, a business growth consultant, and the founder of MJR Coaching and Consulting. Mary Jo brings decades of leadership experience to the table, including a first career building and leading national sales team. Now, her focus is helping others realize their potential, whether it's executives seeking clarity, teams looking for community... to communicate more clearly and effectively, or companies wanting sustainable growth. She's certified through Columbia University, and she blends deep coaching expertise with real-world business savvy. Her specialties include executive leadership, communication, women's advancement, and high-impact workshops that spark real, lasting change. And it's my pleasure to have her on the podcast today. Welcome to the show, Mary.

Mary Jo Romeo:

Right. Nice to meet you, Rajan. Thank you for having me.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. And so It's a pleasure for us always, but I want to know, MJ, a little bit more about what inspired you to become a coach and then start your own coaching business, coaching and consulting business.

Mary Jo Romeo:

There's two things, really. One is I coached national sales teams for almost 20 years. Before that, I was a very happy salesperson. And what I learned is that there's a gap in professional development and what coaching is about. so transformative for people that it makes such a huge impact that it makes me really happy. I was very happy leading national sales teams for a long time. And at my last company, we sold it. And I took my little golden parachute and I pivoted and started a communications sales company to help salespeople be more effective communicators. And my partner is a theater director. And we had stupid fun, really great fun. We worked with companies like Google, NBC and Universal, really great brands. And what happened is that people started sending me people to coach. Like, oh yeah, Mary Jo can help you with that. Mary Jo can do that. MJ can do that. And I didn't have the process. I didn't know what I was doing. So I went to Columbia and got certified and I ultimately got the PCC certification through ICF. And it gave me that understanding, that skillset. that process, that framework, or the many frameworks that we use as coaches. Does that answer your question?

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah, that does answer the question. And I want to know more. I want to know when it comes to like, so you started your coaching business and coaching consulting business. Which part of your coaching journey do you find the most rewarding since you started the coaching business and went private?

Mary Jo Romeo:

Which part of the journey? I think the journey that I'm on today, working with who I'm talking with today. Well, I love the concept of being fully present in the moment that you're in or that I'm in. And I have loved partnering. What I've learned as an executive coach, what I've learned is that one of my superpowers is working with very senior leaders. That fills my soul. I love to be a thought partner with leaders. I weave in communication in everything I do. So that's very much a part of it. The part of the journey is where I am today. The executive coaches, the executive clients that I'm working with really fires me up. And I love wrestling with challenges, partnering with a company or partnering with a leadership team, partnering with an individual who's working to solve something. And being that person that's poking and prodding and asking those hard questions. When you ask a question of a client and they turn their head, that's a good question. That happens all the time. And I love it because it demonstrates in real time that they're thinking through something that they wouldn't have thought of otherwise.

Rexhen Doda:

Interesting. So that is, you would say, one of the main goals of coaching is trying to trigger thoughts that they haven't thought of before that would solve problems that they would have or that they haven't solved before in their original way.

Mary Jo Romeo:

Think about things differently, having more clarity, recognizing a bias that they hadn't thought of, they weren't tuned into, being a bit more vulnerable. I use a lot of assessments when I coach in emotional intelligence, the needling brain instrument, whatever flavor of the minute there is. They're good because they trigger, they trigger discussions. I coached a senior leader this morning around emotional intelligence and some of the gaps that he has in areas that he wants to develop. And it pushes. And in a coaching engagement, because it's confidential, as you know, you've interviewed how many people? How many coaches have you interviewed, Raja?

Rexhen Doda:

So for the research paper, about 771. Right now, I think we might be above 80 with the podcast, so like 150. But 71 were confidential. This one is public.

Mary Jo Romeo:

Yeah. That's a lot of people, right? You develop a certain level of expertise. You start to see things, right? And when you can partner with somebody and uncover, unpack something that they hadn't thought of,

Rexhen Doda:

it's very cool. Absolutely. And when it comes to the people you work with, you did mention working with executives. And is there a specific... um target or niche within these executives maybe an industry or a demographic that you usually typically find yourself working or liking to work with or is actually broad when it comes to like it doesn't matter you're an executive still qualified to work with you

Mary Jo Romeo:

i went into this profession 10 years ago to make an impact that's what drives me And if I meet somebody that wants to partner with me in that journey and they want to partner with me as a coach, I'm really excited about doing that. So I don't discriminate, if you will, but I do gravitate toward more senior leaders.

Rexhen Doda:

Senior leaders, I would say mid-career leaders or that is all maybe. But what would you qualify as senior?

Mary Jo Romeo:

It depends. Presidents, CEOs, people mid-career. I do a lot of work with people in transition. I do work with young people. That's not where I get the most energy from. And I actually have a partner now that specializes in that. So this way I can work, I can, if somebody comes to me and they say, I really want you to work with fill in the blank. I can say, well, my partner really specializes in people under.

Rexhen Doda:

And how does the transformation look like for the people that work with you? Where is the focus generally?

Mary Jo Romeo:

I'm sorry. Could you ask that question again in a different

Rexhen Doda:

way? So what transformation do you help these executives achieve? But we talked a little bit about the clarity. We talked, is there to share a little

Mary Jo Romeo:

bit more? So I love that question. I'm an outcome based. coach, right? We are trying to solve for something. Why are we working together? What's the point? What's the challenge you're trying to solve for? Oh, I have a lot of clarity around that when I engage a client or a client engages me. We know exactly what we're doing, right? I have worked with clients over a long period of time And it's more of a thought partnership relationship. I have a gentleman who owns a company. I've been working with him once a month for three years, but we've solved a long time ago. We solve or what he hired me for. But every time we get on the phone, we're always pushing and prodding with whatever he's solving for in that, in that moment in real time.

Rexhen Doda:

So it's always like a problem at a time, depending on like what you're working on or like that. Yeah. I want to move a little bit away from the actual transformation. Just like want to talk a little bit about marketing since I mentioned to you, I have a background on it. So where do you find your audience or your clients or where do clients find you? What marketing channel is working best?

Mary Jo Romeo:

When I, well, I've been in sales my whole life. When I went to Columbia and studied, got my certification, Columbia University of New York, to get my certification for coaching, I was the only salesperson in the room. And the guy, Dr. Terrence Metabolo, thought I was sick. Why are you here? Most coaches come out of HR. I've met quite a few lawyers who became coaches. You don't meet a lot of salespeople. And when we decide, when I decided to go on my own as a coach, I thought this is going to be super easy. I've been selling my whole life. How hard could this be? And somebody, some wise soul, I can't even remember who told me this, said, it's probably gonna take you about three years to build your business. And I thought, well, I've been selling my whole life. It's not gonna take me three years. And it took me about three years to build it to a place that I wanted it to be. And I've been able very happily to maintain that. And I do that a couple of different ways. One is... Very much with relationships. I have people that I've known for 20 and 30 years who will reach out to me and say, hey, my friend needs, right? I get a lot of referrals from past clients. So I'm a very relationship-based coach. And I really admire people who use companies like yours to get leads. I think it's brilliant. And I think for many coaches, they need that. For me, I have been very lucky and blessed in that I have been able to maintain a very successful business, 99% through referrals. The other thing that I do is I'm very out there in the market where I live. I'm involved in the chamber. I know a lot of people. I do pro bono workshops. You mentioned earlier, I love doing high impact coaching workshops or doing high impact workshops. So I will get a lot of leads through that.

Rexhen Doda:

And just to walk a little bit through the strategy of the workshops. And I like to talk strategy always. So you do have obviously a big network when it comes to like new landing clients. How does it work strategically, maybe even tactfully, in terms of getting people to show up into these workshops and then later on get to know you? Maybe, I'm not sure if the people who are going through these workshops are people that already know you or are people that don't know you but are getting to know you through the workshop. Can you walk me through a little bit? Sure. How do you get people to sign up and then,

Mary Jo Romeo:

yeah. Sure. I really take the lazy man's way out, Rajen, I confess. For example... I do work with the chamber. I have a relationship with the folks at the chamber. They need a facilitator for X, Y, Z. I go and I facilitate. I've done work for their young professionals. I've done work for their women's group. And that's where you meet people. And then somebody will post or they'll follow up with me afterwards and say, hey, I have a problem. I'm working on a big project here in town. And that came through one of those random calls. Roundtable workshops where we were talking about women and negotiating salaries. I'm a change junkie. I love doing new different things. I've done workshops on all different kinds of topics. You know, many coaches and many people in our space, what they do is they have a packaged product, right? I have this workshop, would you like it? And that's great. And that's very efficient. And it's a lot easier, honestly. But what I do is very different. What do you want to tackle? What do you want to solve for? Let's create a workshop around that. And usually they're 90 minutes to two hours. And that's how I get most of my leads. I don't do workshops myself. I always do them for an organization, a nonprofit. I may do a workshop for a nonprofit. I did one for a leadership group here and here locally. I did a workshop, got a lead. That's pretty much how I do that.

Rexhen Doda:

To move away from marketing, I want to ask you, since you mentioned you like change, you like to try new things, what does the future look like? Do you have any goals that you're working towards for the next one to three years with your coaching business?

Mary Jo Romeo:

I want to continue doing what I'm doing. I love it. It energizes me. Love the thought partnership workshops. I also enjoy doing high impact coaching. And I have realized that a lot of companies will say, hey, Mayor, I have a problem child. I have somebody that really needs some intensive work. And I have been learned. I've been In the past, a little laissez-faire about it. You don't want to meet every two weeks, every three weeks, whatever's good for you. And I've changed for the problem children, for when somebody is being voluntold to work with me because of a development, a professional development area they need to focus on. I now offer a high impact program. It's a minimum of three months and you meet every week. Every week you have either a 15 minute check-in or a one hour deep dive. There's check-ins with management midpoint. There's specific assessments that they do. It's very, it follows a formula. because these people need intensive work. And to make a shift is really hard. As you know, from all the interviews you've had and your own personal life, I'm sure. To make a change is hard. I feel like you really need that intensity. The thought partnership I do a lot of, love this high impact work that I'm doing. Can't do a lot of it. It's exhausting. It requires like you pour your energy into this client, right? The other area that I want to focus on in the next few years is continue to work with my partner on the younger folks, particularly Gen Z. That generation is really cool and they need help. I'm finding that there's a big need there. Oh, I want to continue to partner with her, develop her and get her to a point where she has a thriving practice. And then the other thing I want to keep doing is I love workshops. The other thing I want to do is get some more assessments.

Rexhen Doda:

Get more assessments.

Mary Jo Romeo:

Like be certified. in different assessments.

Rexhen Doda:

Oh, I see. So get more certifications, you mean? Yeah. I see. Okay, cool.

Mary Jo Romeo:

Keep growing and learning and all of that.

Rexhen Doda:

And there's, even on ICF, there's more than just PCC, right? Or is that the last

Mary Jo Romeo:

one? There's that MCC.

Rexhen Doda:

That's the MCC. Okay, cool. Great. Another question I want to ask is through the years of experience working with your coaching business, I want to know about investments that you feel that actually have been valuable to you. Meaning, has there been an investment where you put money on your coaching business or even to yourself that you feel like, oh, after this, my business actually grew? That could be coaching programs, masterminds, communities, certifications, whatever it is that you feel actually had a lot of value What would that thing be?

Mary Jo Romeo:

Yeah, it's interesting because what comes to mind first is not what got me the most value. It's what was the biggest mistake I made. So I'll share the biggest mistake and then I'll tell you what I got the most value of. Do you want to hear the mistake?

Rexhen Doda:

Absolutely.

Mary Jo Romeo:

Okay. The mistake is I talk about career coaching and career coaching is really, it's a special area, right? And I've done quite a bit of it. And it's really gratifying, particularly when you work with somebody, you partner with somebody and they get to that place where they feel like, wow, I know where I want to go. I have that confidence now. I really thought through things. So I created right before COVID, I created a program called Career Transition. And I hired a videographer and developed a marketing agency, developed a website, created all the materials, did this whole product, packaged it, which me and a zillion other people. Now, you mentioned earlier, Rajen, you're a researcher, right? That is not a skill that I have. I'm terrible at it. terrible and if i was smart i would have researched all the people that have created these programs around career transition i wasn't smart i created the program put a boatload of money into the whole thing and guess how many people actually bought it before i decided to pull the plug

Rexhen Doda:

i don't know i'm scared to answer this question

Mary Jo Romeo:

well what do you think

Rexhen Doda:

well i don't know maybe a very low number that was not worth it potentially

Mary Jo Romeo:

yes about

Rexhen Doda:

two And

Mary Jo Romeo:

then I put it on, I don't know if you know Udemy, I put it on Udemy and it sat there for a while and whatever. What did I learn? I learned that I need to research things and I don't research them. I just jump in with both feet. But what it also helped me understand is just the importance of the career coaching process. You need to have a process to really support these people. Okay. What I've put money into that has really paid off or what has excited me obviously is my website. I just redid that working with great people. I hire a marketing person who posts on LinkedIn for me because I really need to do that to stay out there and connecting with people. The third thing I think is really valuable is getting these assessments. You know, I love new favorite is the emotional intelligence assessment. I do a lot of work in that area. It's really got a lot of very interesting. It's got a lot of meat. I think that's pretty much It's just basic stuff.

Rexhen Doda:

Interesting. And I like that you're interested in emotional intelligence. We think I might've had two podcasts with coaches that were really focused on that. So I'm not, because it's been, I think maybe a couple of months since then. So I don't exactly remember the name, but I might find that and I'll send that over to you through email so you can check that out

Mary Jo Romeo:

as well. Sure. Yeah.

Rexhen Doda:

So, um, The other thing I want to know is right now, when it comes to challenges that you have, what would be some technical challenges that you're trying to solve for in the short term or medium to short term future? I

Mary Jo Romeo:

don't want to sound like a jerk, but I really don't have any. I have a very good network. I have learned to not be an expert in everything, to ask for help. If I was in a different chapter in my life, I would probably use one of the programs like yours or be in one of these. There's a lot of coaching platforms out there where you can have this community. I have, I'm very blessed in that I have some really strong communities, even from Columbia. I have a mastermind group that I work with that I've had since we graduated like in 17, 2017, that we still meet with once a month. Maybe we graduated in 18, but So I don't have challenges. My clarity over the last several years is ask for help, accept the fact that you're not going to do everything. Realize you've got to invest in your business with time, talent, a whole bit, money. And the biggest thing that I have, the biggest challenge, I guess, is... I'm at a certain point in my life. How much do I want to work? Little different than you, I'm sure.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, definitely not a challenge that I have to think of right now. But when you say how much do you want to work, are you thinking like for the future or even right now?

Mary Jo Romeo:

All of the above. Yeah.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah,

Mary Jo Romeo:

I want to take a lot of vacations. I want to travel. So I'm shrinking my work week down to all day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday morning, maybe Thursday afternoon is flexible Friday morning.

Rexhen Doda:

How are you currently balancing like working on your business versus working in your business, like actually doing the coaching versus doing all of the business operations side of it? How does that look like for you?

Mary Jo Romeo:

Mondays are maintenance, so I would do either. Mondays I do work stuff, but I'm also very involved in nonprofits. I sit on three boards. So Mondays are that kind of work. It could be working on my business, but really Mondays is more spent on nonprofit work. Tuesdays, usually when I'm in, I work in my business and on my business on the same days.

Rexhen Doda:

And another question that came to mind is, I want to figure out when, because I've interviewed many coaches and this has appeared to be an issue. Maybe it's not an issue that you faced, but there has been, a pattern of actually some people, maybe not all of them, but like a small number of people do not really either believe in coaching or feel like coaching might be something of like a luxury for some people. Do you handle it when someone says like, they're just getting to know you, want to learn more? They say, oh, I think I can figure this out on my own. How do you help them actually understand the real value of coaching when they don't initially?

Mary Jo Romeo:

I have... You know, in a way I'm still a salesperson, okay? I will always be a salesperson. That's in my DNA. I'm selling myself. And one of the things that I've learned a long time ago, Rajen, is the power of detaching. I don't want to hold on to these people and I don't want to convince them. This is what I have. This is what I do. This is the value proposition. If it works for you, great. If you can do it on your own, great, great. I've had the privilege of partnering with clients in a lot of different ways, whether it's elevating their communication, whether it's managing, helping them through transition. I have a senior leader who's transitioning from leading manufacturing facilities to going to work for a very large insurance. So going from total blue collar to white collar leadership shift. And that's a huge transition. Partnering with her through that is very powerful for me. And beneficial for her. But if she said to me, you know what, Mary Jo, I think I can do this. Go, go. I have a client who said to me, every time I talk to you, I get an insight that I didn't have before. I don't try to push him. I say, what's the challenge we're trying to solve for? I worked with a very gentleman who went from having a big high power job to managing his estate, his estate financially. That's what he did. Okay. And he came to work with me because there was a communication gap. He didn't feel comfortable speaking in public. The reason he didn't feel comfortable with speaking in public is because he didn't feel comfortable about himself, because he identified with the guy who had the big corporate finance job. And when he pivoted, which he did for his reasons, his family, whatever, and he's very successful, like crazy, stupid, wealthy, he couldn't articulate the story. A year later, he sent me an email. He said, I just had lunch with somebody who's known me for 20 years and said they'd never seen me so at peace and so happy. with where I am. That kind of stuff blows me away, but I didn't convince him. What are you trying to solve for? If I can partner with you to do it, great. If I can't, that's okay. And I always say to people, if you don't want to work with me, that's fine. I know a zillion coaches. I'm happy to find you the right other coach. I also tell people, if you don't want to work with me after this first session, you can cancel anytime and I'll give you back your money. I don't care. I am here to partner with you if that's your choice. But they have to take ownership. I'm not dragging anybody kicking and screaming.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah, and I totally understand that. Meaning, of course, always it's their choice. I was just wondering if you also do something to help them see that sometimes people just need to see the value. I thought maybe there's something you could do to help them see that value.

Mary Jo Romeo:

What I do is tell stories. Stories are very powerful. What is the roadblock that you're facing? What is a challenge? What's getting in the way of you being successful? Or what's getting in the way, period? And then they tell me, and then I give them an anecdote of a client that I've helped that's similar in that area. or partnered with that's similar in that area. Because when you tell somebody a fact, you light up one or two parts of their brain. But when you tell them a story, you light up their entire brain. Well, storytelling is incredibly powerful. And I encourage every coach who ever watches this to use the stories that you already have from your clients. Change their names, obviously.

Rexhen Doda:

Especially if that story fits well with the situation of the person that you're talking to.

Mary Jo Romeo:

Exactly. Exactly. That's a great point. You want to connect the dots for them. You have to connect the dots.

Rexhen Doda:

Cool. Great. Thank you so much, MJ. And for a final question is, what advice would you give to other executive coaches who are looking to scale their impact just like you are? So it's been like an advice you'd give to yourself, essentially.

Mary Jo Romeo:

Right. I mentioned before, I think hiring a company that can help you is great. If that's what you want to do, I would say be out there in the community, be bold, get to know people, network, lean into your network, lean into the people that already know you, and then give them a soundbite and ask for their help. Hey, I love partnering with senior leaders who are navigating transition. I love partnering with senior leaders who want to be the best leaders they can be. If you happen to know anybody, I'd love for you to mention my name. Asking for it, throwing it out there, but definitely being involved in the community. You've got to be a known brand.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you so much, MJ. And for anyone who wants to connect with you or find you, they can go into LinkedIn, Mary Jo Romeo, or they can go into the new website, which I believe is mjcoachingandconsulting.com, right?

Mary Jo Romeo:

Right, mjrcoachingandconsulting.com.

Rexhen Doda:

Okay. MJR Coaching and Consulting. We'll also link that to the description. But yes, mjrcoachingandconsulting.com is the website. Is there any other way they could find you?

Mary Jo Romeo:

No, LinkedIn's good. Or the website. Lovely to talk to you, Rajan. You're a delight. I wish you much success as you really share the world of coaching, which is so powerful. I appreciate you doing the work that you do.

Rexhen Doda:

And I appreciate you coming and helping me do that. So thank you so much, Mary.

Mary Jo Romeo:

My pleasure. Take care. Thanks so much. That's it

Davis Nguyen:

for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This podcast was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 a year, $100,000 To learn more about our community and how we can help you, visit joinpurplecircle.com.