Career Coaching Secrets: Leadership, Clarity, and Growth with Monica Smith

In this episode of career coaching secrets our guest is Monica Smith, a career coach and leadership mentor who helps professionals gain clarity, confidence, and direction in their careers. Monica shares practical insights on navigating career transitions, building executive presence, and making intentional career decisions that align with long-term goals. This conversation dives into mindset shifts, leadership growth, and real-world coaching strategies that empower individuals to take control of their professional journey.

You can find her on:

https://empowermecc.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/752799107330016/

https://www.youtube.com/@EmpowerMeCC

https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicasmithcoaching/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

That's going to help me tremendously. So that's kind of right now my focus is on trying to because I just want it all, right? I want to do it all. I want to experience it all. I want to build it all. And you need a strong operations person in your life to be able to do that.

Davis Nguyen : 0:16

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 David Swin, 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 businesses myself and have 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, go discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Pedro: 0:48

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today's guest is Monica Smith, founder of the Entrepreneurs Therapist. You guessed it. She is a therapist and emotional intelligence professor who created the empowerment therapy module. She helps high-achieving, compassionate clients break free from self-criticism and past the management so they can rebuild confidence and a stronger sense of self. Known as the Professor of Emotional Intelligence, she teaches practical tools for resilience, leadership, and relational strength, guiding people toward lives that feel more grounded and authentic. Welcome to the show, Monica.

SPEAKER_01: 1:38

Oh, thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

Pedro: 1:41

Oh, we're great, great to have you. And okay, I like to rewind a little bit, you know, get back to the origin story. So every coach has that moment where they look at their life and say, you know what, I'm doing this now, you know. So when was that for you?

SPEAKER_01: 1:56

Uh my origin story is just quite crazy because it is not what I expected to be doing. I was teaching emotional intelligence at the college and at the university in the Midwest. And my husband at the time was an organizational leadership guru. And so he was invited to a conference to speak, and they were female entrepreneurs. And so we were at some conference in in New Hampshire, and he ended up not connecting, I think, as much as he wanted to with the women. And I kind of stepped in at the time, I was really into narrative therapy, and so I was hearing different stories, and I was really helping them to learn about their beliefs and their needs and values that had come out of their personal stories. And one of the ladies said, if you would take on some of us, we would love to have you as our coach. And I said, Oh my goodness, I don't even know what that would look like. And then I just started researching and learning a little bit more. I read the book, The Game of Tennis. You know, the original coaching profession came was born out of a tennis coach and the tennis coach concept. So I learned kind of the the story of coaching, and then I thought, well, you know what? I'm already doing counseling. That's easy to take it to coaching. So that started about 14 years ago.

Pedro: 3:31

That's interesting. And yeah, when did it shift, you know, from you know that that that lady that approached you? So I'm helping people, right? To I'm building a real business around coaching now.

SPEAKER_01: 3:41

Yeah, so it was a side hustle. So I was building uh a career as a professor and loving it, but I worked in the school of business, which I really love, teaching emotional intelligence. So I was already helping people to um the whole concept is that you're really looking at self-awareness that leads to self-management, and then social awareness that leads to relationship management. So I was already teaching this all of the time, and it was just a natural fit to then be coaching my clients about some of those same concepts. And of course, naturally, the more we get to know and love and care for ourselves, the more that we want to manage our lives in a healthy way, and then the more productive we are. And that really does lead to some really great things because I always believe as a person we are the product. So that was happening, and I was doing the side hustle of coaching, not thinking much of it. And then in 2020, when the pandemic hit, I had just gone through a I mean gruesome divorce. It was probably could be written about. Um, I had been with my husband for 27 years, and we got divorced two days before a national pandemic hit. And all of my classes went online, and I was like, oh my goodness, you know, I really like the entrepreneurs I'm working with, and a lot of them were struggling because businesses in 2020 were really struggling, at least the the founders that I was working with. And I just thought, you know what, I've already faced my biggest fear, which is from the time I was little, I never wanted to be divorced. So it's like I've I've already faced my biggest fear. So why not just really take the side hustle and lean into it and make it happen? And it it happened so quickly. I mean, I was already up to my salary that I was making at the college within six months. So I I really did not skip a beat. And it is it's amazing when you when you face the thing that you're most afraid of and then you survived it, it's so transferable. So the idea of being risky in starting a business and just those behaviors. Uh I was a single mom with a kid in college, and it all worked out, which is amazing. It's a great story.

Pedro: 6:09

But yeah, I love that. The fact that you turned the hardship into an opportunity, right? So you transformed that concept and you owned it. So yeah, that's really impactful. So after you got rolling, you know, who are the the people that kept showing up? You know, the ones that you realize, okay, this is my group, this is these are my people.

SPEAKER_01: 6:29

Yeah. So it started for me in the entrepreneurial world. Um, luminary leadership was the first organization that they would bring me to speak, and I was speaking directly to entrepreneurs, and then an organization, um, pipeline, they're out of Kansas City, and that organization brought me in to be their mental resilience coach. So I was coaching entrepreneurs with a steady every month gig, which was so helpful. And then as I was in that organization helping, and I'm still in that organization helping, that ended up being my pipeline, and I laughed. There's such irony. Pipeline ended up being my pipeline. And I had a even now, I've got a waiting list, which is is such a blessing. I mean, I do not take that for granted because I know getting into coaching can be. I I've watched coaches really struggle in the beginning to build that clientele. Of course, I would tell you that uh have a niche, get in with your tribe, find your tribe. I did some C-suite coaching and I still kept a couple of those clients. They pay the bills, they're I mean, they're wonderful clients, but the entrepreneurial community is really who I'm seeking, who I go after. And it's it's been so rewarding when you find the people that you know you can serve best. Um, I I think out of that, just I mean, I I love what I do. I literally love what I do. I love the people I work with.

Pedro: 8:10

Yeah, that's interesting. That the fact that you mentioned the niche, you know, because we see a lot of coaches, they're trying to help the entire world, right? But it doesn't really work that way. Sometimes it you're being considered a commodity if you don't niche down, right? So it it's hard to find that balance. And I understand the struggle because we talked to a lot of coaches here. So yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_01: 8:34

Yeah, well, it's interesting. So um, when I was getting kind of branded, which I didn't even, I kind of fell into getting branded, which was really interesting. But Lillian James Creative, uh, Erin is the founder of that, and she actually was the one who really said, you know what? We're getting information thrown at us all the time, and people are constantly selling themselves. I mean, we're we're just inundated with messages. So the more specific of who you are and what you do, and it being so specific that nobody asks or questions, um, because I went to her originally and I said, okay, I've created this wonderful empowerment therapy model, and it's based off emotional intelligence with see yourself, be yourself, uh, see others and be with others. And I've got 20 plus therapies wrapped up in this model. So I think empowerment therapy is what everyone needs. And she said, nobody really knows what that means exactly. But if you come at it with who you already work with and you say you're the entrepreneur's therapist, everybody knows how to sell you. And so it's interesting. She was right. Referrals just overnight changed because it was like, oh yeah, who this is my instead of just this is my coach or this is my therapist, it turned into, oh, she's the entrepreneur's therapist. Oh my gosh, I know an entrepreneur and he's struggling, or she's struggling, or and it's amazing how fast my business took off as far as really getting to do some of the one-to-many and getting to work with groups, which I love. I love working with groups.

Pedro: 10:13

Okay. So I want to highlight one thing that, and I mean, that's the coaching side. And you touched a little bit about when you mentioned referrals, the marketing aspect to it, right?

SPEAKER_01: 10:23

Yes.

Pedro: 10:23

So, what I want to understand is how do people usually find you?

SPEAKER_01: 10:28

Well, it's really interesting because I've not uh I'm I'm getting ready to do some marketing, but I've not really done any marketing. It's all been referral-based. It's been speaking at entrepreneurial groups, and it has been just having the clients that I have. Some of my clients I've I've had literally since the beginning. So we're talking 14 years. So, which is so wonderful to have that the relationships. And when you do find your group, they're usually friends with people in your group, and everybody has needs at some point in their life, and so it's nice whenever I can meet those needs, which is great.

Pedro: 11:09

Nice. Okay. All right. So let's talk business for a second. They find you, okay. People find you, they through referrals, they resonate with your work, and eventually they want to know what working with you actually looks like. So everyone builds their coaching business a bit differently, right? So when someone actually becomes a client, Monica, what does that experience look like right now?

SPEAKER_01: 11:31

Yeah, well, so I'm an authorized disk user. So what I do is I usually start with an onboarding form and then ask some questions. I use 17 hats for my software platform. Great. It's been a great CRM. And then it also has your invoicing and all of your um your documents so that they have their own client portal. So they come in, they do these onboarding documents, they put their credit card on file, or I also offer monthly invoicing if they want to go that route. And then I do a discovery session where we sit down and talk about what it would look like if I did a killer job. What would that look like? And so we look in four categories. What would that look like for your relationships? What would that look like for your health, mental and physical? What would that look like in your work or your productivity? And what would that look like in your money or your finances? And when we define what it would look like if I just knocked it out of the park, um, that is usually where we then go backwards and start to say, okay, now we know what it would look like. So how are we going to create the right kind of goals and what do I need to offer you to be able to reach those goals so that we can we can have that experience together?

Pedro: 12:52

Okay, so it sounds like I'm not sure, but in terms of structure, we're talking about more one-on-one coaching. Is that the approach you currently use?

SPEAKER_01: 13:02

Yeah, whenever we're doing um about 50% of my business is one-on-one coaching. Most of those are Zoom because I have clients, I literally have clients all over the world, which is so great. I mean, so fun that we can do that now. And then um, so 50% is the one-on-one. I also have a school site, so S K-O-O-L, like uh I I love my school site. So since I have the professor background, I am really used to online education. And so I do psycho education and I do guided journaling. So they've got 30 days to self-connection. Um, you can sign up for to be part of that. You get a community that you're talking to, you get resources and tools. So they're constantly being coached, even if I met them through a group or if they're one of my clients, they have access to coaching 24-7. And then the other 50% of my business is I do a lot of culture development for my entrepreneurs that have companies. So I do all their disc workplace training, and then I go in and I'm uh teaching them emotional intelligence in the workplace, which always is going to start with self-connection. So that's about 50% of my business.

Pedro: 14:16

Okay. So your work seems pretty hands-on, right? 50% is one-on-one, and then you're developing content for this cool website. Uh, on top of that, we're talking about coach culture, right? And businesses. And so, how do you think about capacity? So don't you stretch yourself too thin?

SPEAKER_01: 14:35

Well, it's interesting that you would say that because uh my work has become such a central part of this experience for me in life and this season in my life. I'm really enjoying building work and doing those things. I've got a book that is gonna be coming out within the next three, three to six months, and so it's really interesting that the capacity I I've trained a couple of coaches to be able to do what I do. I've not gotten paid for that training and I don't make money off of those coaches, but I very much enjoyed that, and so I do see me moving as I'm aging into a model where I do offer a certification for becoming an entrepreneur's therapist and what that could look like. So, as far as financially, it's not a business model yet, but it's been something I've really enjoyed because I do I do really enjoy working with coaches because it's always fun to have that same passion and to be excited about helping people to achieve what they want to achieve in their lives. So I enjoy that. But you know, I'm always growing and pivoting, and I think that's just the nature of anybody that really enjoys their own expansion. And and so I don't know exactly what that's gonna look like, even in a year or two years from now.

Pedro: 16:01

Yeah, I love that. The fact that you're helping other coaches, right? I like that. I like the school website. That's also a cool tool that we have today. Now, I'm curious about where you're taking all this. I know you mentioned a book, right? And looking ahead, where do you see the business going? Are you thinking about scaling, hiring, or is there a next step you're excited about?

SPEAKER_01: 16:23

Yeah, well, I I gave birth to my protege, so kind of funny. So I have a 23-year-old daughter that is an LPCC, so she's a therapist, and she is. I've just done all the legal to make her a co-founder, and she is a protege. And so the goal is that she would be trained up, and um, she's already taken on a couple clients and knocked it out of the park, and so I really see training her and looking at what what will the expansion look like as she kind of gets her bearings about her, but she will be an integral part of the legacy of what I'm trying to build for sure. And how many people have that? Like that that's just a gift.

Pedro: 17:11

That makes sense, yeah. That would take off your plate for sure if she ramps up. Yeah, that for sure. Absolutely. That's that's a gift. You're absolutely right, you know, and of course, whenever we're aiming toward the next chapter, there's always something we're refining in the present, obviously. So, what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business?

SPEAKER_01: 17:32

Yeah, so a streamlining processes. Most people who are the creative aspect or the talent of a business struggle with operations. And I am definitely no different. So, getting the right operations person and really honing in on my processes being more streamlined, that's going to help me tremendously. So that's kind of right now my focus is on trying to because I just want it all, right? I want to do it all, I want to experience it all, I want to build it all. And you need a strong operations person in your life to be able to do that, do better, right? How do I improve my own business? And I think one of the things that we can really do as coaches is help them to own the part of that failure so that they can re-enter in a way that allows them to use that knowledge for something incredible and make it better. I mean, that that's really where we learn is when we own it. You can see I get really passionate about that.

Pedro: 18:37

Yeah, I know I I can tell. That's very interesting. It's like missed it.

SPEAKER_01: 18:41

You you didn't see something you should have seen. That um, I mean, you know what, that's just part of life. So I think the faster that we just own it and say you can't have massive accomplishment without some massive failure. You just can't.

Pedro: 18:56

Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. And on the other side, what's a piece of advice you each more people actually took seriously?

SPEAKER_01: 19:04

Uh, the importance of self-connection. I don't know why people don't understand that no matter what you do, you are the product. And the more that you are connected to yourself, where you are trusting yourself to be able to represent yourself, to be able then to protect and preserve yourself. That to me is so underrated that that people are not realizing that lack of self-connection, it it is so catastrophic, so catastrophic for for a business and for just your personal life. So I I would strongly suggest uh take my 30 days to self connection on the school site, you know, so just a little plug for my school site. Um, but really understand how to to earn your own trust, right? People all the time are are completely. Completely, and I've done this too. I mean, we're all guilty of it, where we violate our own boundaries. We say, Oh, I'm not gonna do that. And then sure enough, we end up doing it and we erode trust with ourselves. You know, we're like, oh man, you know, and we've got to learn how to really trust ourselves in even the way that we represent, right? That we can trust ourselves to represent authentically, we can trust ourselves that we can handle, we can handle hard things.

Pedro: 20:29

I'm still processing. I like that the self-connection concept. Yeah, I like that. Um even if you have a product, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 20:38

Oh, go ahead.

Pedro: 20:39

No, please go ahead. I'm I'm still thinking.

SPEAKER_01: 20:42

Yeah, even if you have a product-based business, because I'll have you know entrepreneurs that say, Well, but I I deliver a product, and like people buy from people they know, relationships, that's where it all is, and you are the product. If you're lacking emotional intelligence, it becomes especially in small business. I mean, maybe you can get away with that with some corporate uh concepts, but not in small business. People buy and and and people do business with people that they know and feel some form of connection with.

Pedro: 21:16

I love that. Okay, Monica. And if someone listening wants to connect with you or follow your work, when can people find you and connect with you?

SPEAKER_01: 21:25

Yeah, so my website is getting ready to be launched in about two weeks, and that's empowermec.com. I also have help. Um, if you want to just email me, I have help at empowermec.com. You can find me on, I think on TikTok. I'm the entrepreneur's therapist, and on um on uh I'm I have a Facebook group that's Empower Me Coaching and Counseling that you can find me on. Uh, I also have a YouTube channel that's Empower Me. And LinkedIn, of course, just Monica Smith and look up Empower Me Coaching and Counseling. There's also a page on LinkedIn. So, but any of those ways that you want to connect with me, I would be happy to hear or answer questions, or I'm pretty personable by nature.

Pedro: 22:15

Okay. You know, there were a few things you shared today that really stuck with me. Well, the first one is how authentic you are. You know, you're treating as a you were so open about your experience. Oh, it was a side hustle. This happened, and then this happened. And I love that, you know, the authenticity of it. I love that. Um, also about turning, you know, hardship into opportunity, you know, the divorce and the COVID on top of it, you know. Um, and you have something that I gotta tell you, I'm not sure if that's a therapist skill, but you're so raw about and so on point about emotion, you know, and you caught me off guard because this and you're so it's so blasé at the same time, uh, about it, right? It's just part of your day-to-day, and but at the same time, it's so powerful, like really. It's like, oh, this, this, and that. And I'm like, Whew, that's a lot. And you're like just going through the motions, you know. I'm like, wow, that's crazy. And and the therapist, you know, it shows easily around, so that's so cool to to watch and and meet you. And the fact that you mentioned about accepting failure, too, you know, that's that's so true. Don't try to turn this, you know. It is what it is. I love that. So yeah, I really appreciate what you do, you know, and I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today. It was great having you, Monica.

SPEAKER_01: 23:44

Oh, I love thank you for inviting me and and being doing what you're doing. I think it's wonderful. Anything that gives back and is helping people to be better or do better is amazing. So thank you so much. Um, enjoyed meeting you too. You're you're quite a lively fellow, and I really enjoyed meeting you.

Pedro: 24:08

Appreciate you.

Davis Nguyen : 24:09

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.