The Career Reset Blueprint with Reem Borrows

In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets, our guest is Reem Borrows, a dynamic professional known for her insights on career growth, leadership development, and personal transformation. Reem opens up about navigating career transitions, overcoming professional challenges, and building a purposeful path in today’s evolving workplace. We explore her unique approach to coaching, her strategies for unlocking potential, and the lessons she’s learned from working with diverse professionals worldwide. Whether you're feeling stuck, aiming for your next big move, or looking to sharpen your leadership edge, this conversation is packed with actionable advice and inspiration to help you take control of your career journey.

You can find her on:
http://dreem.com.eu/
https://www.reemborrows.com/
https://www.instagram.com/dreemcoachingandconsulting/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/reem-borrows/

Transcript

Reem Borrows 0:00

One of the things I had to learn, and I'm not saying I was brilliant at this, by the way, is just don't be attached to the outcome. Rejection for me, even though I wouldn't, you wouldn't see it on the outside. I'm fairly calm on the outside. It's what's happening on the inside. You know, if if I did all the hard work and then they said no, and it would feel like there was what am I doing wrong, and have to go and reflect on it and things like that until I realized it's not up to me. It's just not my business.

Davis Nguyen 0:25

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 Wynne, 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, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Pedro Stein 0:56

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today I'm joined by Reem, a seasoned corporate trainer and executive coach who has built her reputation leading high-performing teams through strategic transformation. What caught my attention about Reem's approach is her use of the throes of change framework, demonstrating her commitment to structured methodologies that drive real results in business planning and team development. Her unique combination of marketing expertise and strategic human resource management sets her apart in the coaching space, particularly her focus on sales effectiveness and career development for both individuals and entire teams. With her postgraduate diploma in strategic human resource management backing her Bachelor of Commerce, Ream brings both academic rigor and practical experience to every engagement. Welcome to the show, Reem.

Speaker 3 1:59

Oh, that was really good. Thank you. It's lovely to be here.

Pedro Stein 2:03

Lovely to have you. Also, you're the one to blame, okay, about the introduction. So I'll just put it out there. And like I said, great to have you, you know. And I always like to backtrack a little bit, rewind a bit, because every coach has that moment where they look at their life and say, yeah, I guess this is what I'm doing now. Right. So when was that for you, Rim?

Reem Borrows 2:26

So it would have been probably around uh nine to ten years ago. So I'm coming onto my 10th year. I was in the corporate space working for large global matrix organizations in the pharmaceutical space for about 21 years or so. And as you climb the corporate hierarchy, there's some you get to know things a lot more. So I was always in the people space, but the higher up the corporate hierarchy I was going, the more I was getting into PowerPoints and spreadsheets and the right sizing, downsizing, correcting, you know, all those terminologies. And I was moving away from the people side of things, but I also noticed a lot around what performance, because my for me, human behavior and performance are key to driving growth in organizations. But we have to allow for people to thrive as well. And that's what really caught my eye. And I went, well, how do I do this? How do I become, if I can say this, a CEO of my own organization so that I can touch as many people as possible, as many organizations as possible, focusing on human behavior?

Pedro Stein 3:32

Interesting. You know, so it sounds like you're distancing yourself from what truly brought you joy, which was the connection with people, right? So what I want to understand is like when did it shift from moving towards corporate to your own business, right? You're in your 10 year end right now, you're gonna about to be. Um, so when did you felt that that that shift from I'm helping people in your coaching business, like uh in the early days, right? To you know what, I'm building a real business around this, you know?

Reem Borrows 4:05

That's such a good question. And you know, the transition is not always as obvious. Um, it's not one of these, oh, in 1955, and I'm making up my you know years here, but I it I came to this and it was 15th of June, and then I just figured it out right there. And then it really was a progressive realization of that worthy ideal or a goal. It was a dream. And for me, I loved the corporate space. Like when when I started straight after university, I was 27 years old, and when I need to be in that commercial side of things with people, and I want to drive my career as as high as I can go, but I always had this notion in my mind that one day I'll have my own business after I have all the experience. I just knew it. It just took me 21 years. At the 21 year mark, that's when I realized time, the time has come. And you know, Pedro, it's funny how these things happen because I kind of like burn, it's not burning my bridge bridges in a negative way. I I remember just driving to work one day and I went, today's the day that I'm going to finish up. And I um went on to I went onto the website, I registered dream coaching and consulting, because felt like my name. I got an ABN, had a friend of mine just create this really bad business card. I went, you beauty. I'm in business. That's it. That was it. Because I knew otherwise you'll just get scared and you wouldn't, you wouldn't jump. Because it's too easy. Like it was so comfortable for me. It was so I had such a great time in the corporate space that I knew that I could go to the next level. But if you really want to, I want to do something so challenging and just follow that dream.

Pedro Stein 5:54

You know, I understand it's so organic, right? But at the same time, there is a point of I would call it inflection that we grab the hat, it's like coaching slash CEO business owner, right? And uh I I feel I feel like it's so interesting. Like you're oh, I I grabbed my crappy business card that I got and just went for it. So I love that story. I still have it, actually.

Reem Borrows 6:16

I'm gonna show you. I still have it.

Speaker 3 6:18

It's my like, and it was just really it's very, very interesting. I love this business card.

Pedro Stein 6:26

Oh, you should frame it also, like having that, you know, that one business card, the first one. I love it. Now, after you got rolling, you know, in the coaching practice, who are the people that kept showing up? You know, Reem, because in the early days for coaching, there's a lot of trial and error, let's say it like that. Most coaches are trying to help everyone, trying to embrace the entire world. But I want to understand from you, you know, uh, the ones you realized, okay, these are the people I work best, you know, these are my people. Did you eventually get there?

Reem Borrows 6:59

Yeah, I mean, when you first start, it is. And I have to say, the transition between going from senior leadership roles in corporate space where everything's looked after, and you've got, you know, you've got your car, you've got your laptop, you've got your uh team helping you, you've got everything, and you go into your own little business, you go from hero to zero, what felt like hero to zero, and you've got to redefine yourself. And I remember going, What did I do?

Speaker 3 7:24

So it was like that initial, it was there were a few tears, I gotta tell you. Going, Wow, okay, I burnt my bridges, but what did I do?

Reem Borrows 7:35

So initially, I my background is in sales as well, sales effectiveness and sales. So initially I knew just take your own advice, what would you do? And ultimately, it's about who how do you go and see people and connect with people? And yes, in the beginning, there was a whoever will talk to me, Pedro. I was like, I'm going to do speed dating off networking, and who's willing to see me and listen to the story and ask the questions. And uh, and I remember in the first month I picked an industry event and I saw 40 people in the first month.

Speaker 4 8:05

Wow.

Reem Borrows 8:06

Literally 40, 40 coffees. So you can imagine how like um rigid I was, but it was just see 40 people, and all I needed was, I knew all I needed was just to get started. But there wasn't a while, I can say I wasn't that strategic. Who who am I going? It's people I knew. That's where I started. So I went to people I worked with, my old colleagues, things like that. And over time I started to refine that.

Pedro Stein 8:36

Okay. You know what? That is something that I see a lot of people doing, especially sometimes in the coaching space. It's like they're so comfortable to talk with people that are not inside their network, you know, but they're not as comfortable to reaching out to people that they actually know. I'm not sure if they're afraid of being judged, you know. Oh, I wasn't this big corporate uh job and now I'm and what are what are going what are people going to think about me? You know, that type of mentality. So do you see that happen a lot? Because when you mentioned the networking, the per the people that were actually close to you, it's natural. But at the same time, for some people, it's not as easy, right?

Reem Borrows 9:15

Ah, it's very hard. Even for myself, it was hard because then all of a sudden I had to be, I had to be willing to be rejected by people who I knew really well, who knew me really well. So I I learned a lot from that though, because when you've got a particular role, people had to see you. So no one ever deleted like from their calendar or cancelled appointments with me in the corporate space. All of a sudden, in my own business, people go, Oh no, I can't make it today, or I can't do this, or I can't do that. So I had to learn really quickly. Or people promise things. Look, human behavior is really interesting. And as long as I think I came to the realization is just expect to be disappointed by human behavior, not by people, just human behavior. Because it's kind of like you have to put your best foot forward, but you're going to get rejected, and you're going to get rejected by people who you know the best, who you thought would help you. And then all of a sudden, Pedro, I found that while I was talking to everyone that I knew, it was people who I didn't know that came to me in the end.

Pedro Stein 10:24

Wow, that put things into perspective, right?

Reem Borrows 10:27

Yeah, it's very interesting. Because people introduced me to people, and then it's kind of like I had this branch out, but it was a great, it was an absolutely brilliant exercise to do because out of the 40 people, I got two or three jobs, but that was enough because that that got me started.

Pedro Stein 10:45

And how did it felt like when the first time you burst a bubble, right? When you did a code outreach or someone like a complete stranger ended up turning to a client. It's a different feeling, also, right?

Reem Borrows 10:57

Oh, it's beautiful. It is, it is a beautiful feeling because you it's you put the work in, the grind, okay, and then the outcome. I mean, I'm not one of the things I had to learn, and I'm not saying I was brilliant at this, by the way, is just don't be attached to the outcome. Rejection for me, even though I wouldn't, you wouldn't see it on the outside. I'm fairly calm on the outside, it's what's happening on the inside. You know, if if I did all the hard work and then they said no, and it would feel like there was what am I doing wrong? I'd have to go and reflect on it and things like that until I realized it's not up to me, it's just not my business. So when they did start to sign up, it was and people who I didn't know, it was a beautiful feeling.

Pedro Stein 11:42

Okay, interesting. Now that's the coaching side, and what I want to talk about a little bit, it's like the part nobody escapes, right? Marketing. So how do people usually find you now, how do they find me?

Reem Borrows 11:57

Um, it's funny, even though my background is also in marketing, coaches really get into can can, especially when you first start into this whole attraction marketing piece. And you can spend a lot of money and make a lot of mistakes until you learn what's needed and what's not needed. Okay, so right up front, when I first started, I didn't have a website. I didn't, I had a bit that business card that I showed you is pretty cool, but I didn't have a website. I didn't, I didn't even um I wasn't on social media per se, it was all for personal use. And I relied on myself to talk to people and to networking and things like that. Over time, I ended up building a website, I ended up building a social media platform. But I still to this day use my social media platform for more branding and awareness, value adding, as well as sort of proof of proof of who I am. So people meet me, they go, the thought, what's the first thing they do is they go to my Instagram or LinkedIn account. Um, so I I do it a little bit back to front, even though now though, now it's much stronger. So because I've got nine years, I've got visibility. How I use marketing is through value. It really is about how do we get people to genuinely get to know you, and how do you touch people through value and adding back to them and letting allowing them to reach out to you? I don't do attraction marketing per se, it's around authentically showing up and sharing what it is that I love the most. Um, and then when someone look, I I truly believe this. When someone needs you, they will be in contact with you. And I still do reach out in terms of the personal reach out. I love the personal. We the personal reach out's incredible, it's so powerful.

Pedro Stein 14:00

Yes, especially when we're talking about AI, right? There's always that first filter nowadays that I feel like it's people, am I talking to a bot? Right. So the in-person event kind of kills it. It's like, yes, I'm a real person. So that's one thing. Now imagine I looked at your LinkedIn, your website, your content on Instagram, you know, and I'm like, okay, this seems like Ream is pretty cool, right? I start resonating what you post and all of that, and eventually I want to know what working with you actually looks like, right? So walk me through it from my perspective as a client, considering I'm being on boarded, right? What so how do you structure your coaching business? That's basically the question.

Reem Borrows 14:43

Okay, so from pre-sale to like pre-contract to starting up with me.

Pedro Stein 14:49

Well, however, you want to put it. Okay.

Reem Borrows 14:52

I um mine is a three-step approach. I try to keep everything really, really simple. It might be three, maybe four steps. It depends on uh it depends on the person and what they're ready for as well. There's no there's no point in speeding things up. Sometimes it's good, sometimes you have to slow it down as well. But let's just say someone gets in contact with me, the first thing I do is just get to know them. There really is uh and ask a lot of questions. Now, the first most people are I find most people are worried about that first call. To me, the first call is the easiest call. Easiest by far, because you're getting to know them. It's fun, it's exciting, it's you're asking them questions, they're doing the heavy lifting, not you. Okay, so it and I I focus predominantly on just finding out more about them. And I'm very genuine in saying if this is for you. So I often say to people, I'm going to give you on that first call, you're going to give me five questions, and I'm going to give you five questions to go away, think about it, because you we have to make sure that we're aligned. I've I've learned as a coach, I don't pull teeth. That's not, you can go to the dentist for that. I just, you know, it's it's a truth, right? I and I say to people, I don't pull teeth. We we have to be really, really aligned because the coaching relationship is probably, Pedro, one of the most trusted relationships. And it needs a lot of trust if you're going to help people expand and find out things about themselves they're not even aware of yet. So then on the second call, they come in with their five questions. We've got our five questions. If it's suitable for both them and myself, so it's a dual equation. Then we move to the third call, which is okay, let's have a look at what you need. It could be in the second call, it could be in the third call, and then we um we put together what's what's needed for them. I'm a highly tailored and specialized coach, so it has to be tailored to the person's needs. While there's frameworks that are similar for everyone, I wouldn't treat everyone exactly the same when it comes to coaching, depends on their needs. I really go through the situation leadership model, the organizational models, you know, psychology frameworks, things like that to find out what is what are their needs specifically within frameworks. Interest by the time they sign up, they're excited, they know exactly what they're about to enter. And also, uh there's no we don't they they know what they're going to, what's expected of them and what's expected of me.

Pedro Stein 17:32

Okay, so I love the fact that you level the playing field, considering expectations, right? Because it's not uh just about they paying for a service, they need to put the work too, right? So it's it's like a two-way street. Everyone needs to do their part, and that makes perfect sense. Now, your work seems pretty hands-on, right, weem. We're talking about almost like a customized experience. We're talking about discovery calls, and there's also the business development side. So, how do you think about capacity? So you don't stretch yourself too thin, you know, because there are a lot of coaches out there that I see that are struggling with that factor, especially when you mention moving from corporate to coaching, right? And then you have to set everything up from marketing to sales to ops. So, how do you you do you plan on capacity?

Reem Borrows 18:20

Yeah, that's such a good question. Um there's different levels for me. So, over the last uh just over nine years, I have online programs that are self, we've got self-learning. Uh we have also group one-to-many programs, so we can reach out to people. And then we also have uh like I have the executive coaching, which is one-on-one, and that's really special for me, as well as um, then we work with their teams. So it's you've got a whole range of things because you can't stretch yourself too thin. You really have to work out how am I going to keep my energy up? I I don't believe, and here's the biggest thing, I don't believe in back-to-back meetings. I don't, I just don't, because that's just there's no time for thinking. And if you you have to practice what you preach. So for me, I practice the slowing things down before you speed things up. Throughout the day, I have to have intervals, and I'm not going to go from person to person to person to person in back-to-back meetings. So that way, what I do is I go, okay, what's good enough? What what what are people? That's why discovery calls are important. They don't always take a long time. I'm not saying I spend hours on them. Some of them are only five minutes, some of them can be an hour, some of them, it depends on what people are interested in. But we do have so for me, I've just organized the whole online learning, one-to-many, one-on-ones, then delivery face-to-face to one-to-many as well.

Pedro Stein 19:59

Okay, makes sense. Now, I feel like I need to highlight something here, which is kind of a hot topic, you know, pricing. And we're not talking about hard numbers, okay? It's more about the mindset behind it, especially when you told me, like, oh, I left from corporate from hero to zero, you know. And uh sometimes the scarcity mindset can have their way into our heads when we're talking about pricing, especially like we're looking at a calendar, and I'm also a coach. So you're looking at a calendar, calendar is pretty empty, and you start to think about, hey, maybe I should get my prices lower, you know, and all that. Oh my god, and and all that what that entails. So, my question to you is how do you think about pricing today? And were there any lessons along the way that really shaped how you landed where you are?

Reem Borrows 20:55

Oh, so many, Pedro, so many. And it really is through a lot of trials, and and you never get it, you never perfect it. So I have tried a lot of times you go, okay, look, let's just work out is this enough, is this too much? And you have to put your own like value on your own. And I did go through a phase where I went, okay, well, let's do cut price, right? Don't just don't do it. Don't do it. You can negotiate. Negotiation is okay. I keep the door open for everything, right? The challenge with the challenge with it is that I started finding those people who paid me the premium got a lot more results than people when I gave it away for free. There were times where I just would, and I don't, it's not that I don't do pro bono, because sometimes value you see people and you want to help them, and I will do that too, but it has to be conscious. It's not from a coming from a place of lack or me being scared that I can't get a client or anything like that. It's it's a very conscious decision these days. Or I do I don't do pro bono as much anymore. I do small. Small bono. Because if you want to add value, if you want people to appreciate who you are, they're going to have to fork something out. When the experiment was really interesting, because the only reason why people would start to reduce their fees is coming from a place of lack and fear and lack of self-worth. And what would happen was, I guess, so you'd have, say, for example, someone who is paying top, they'd be getting so they would be getting the results would be amazing. They would turn up at the right time. In fact, they do the homework, they send you the agendas. They're very, very committed. They're all in. And then the person who hasn't paid you will say things like, Oh, I can't make it today because I'm cleaning my house. Or it's just too busy, or I haven't read the information that you've sent through to me. So I just you have to learn from it. You go, look, I'm gonna have to learn. And here's the thing: you can either learn it the easy way or the hard way. You can either just work on your own self-image and internal self-belief, or you're just gonna keep getting smacked around until you learn the lesson. It's interesting, that's just the way it is. And the reason why I say this is because I've learned it.

Speaker 3 23:20

Like I'm speaking from experience here.

Pedro Stein 23:23

Exactly. That's the reason I asked, you know, and I think one word that you said is like crucial here is like commitment, right? They have they need to have some skin in the game. If they don't, it's like worthless to from their point of view because they have no commitment. It's like, yeah, whatever. I mean, it's free if I don't show up.

Reem Borrows 23:47

There is another side to the equation, though, Pedro, as well, is you have to have commitment. But if you I I've seen coaching programs which are astronomical and the value is not there. And people, it's like a sausage machine, like just churn them in, churn them out, churn them in, churn them out. Eventually that's going to bite you as well. Uh for me, I live by my values. Dream dream coaching, consulting, you know, there's there's five to six values, and I live by them. I I say to people, no matter how much you're paying, no matter how much you're investing, you will, I would always deliver more than what your expectations are. Always. And I live by that. It doesn't mean that I give my give everything away and don't value myself. I just always know that I'm going to deliver more value. And I'm there, they're my number one priority.

Pedro Stein 24:39

Okay. Since we're talking about value and delivering value, I got a little bit curious about where you're taking all this, right? So, Reem, looking ahead, where do you see the business going? Are you thinking about scaling, maybe hiring, or is there a next step you're excited about?

Reem Borrows 24:58

Yeah, absolutely. Um, and you know, businesses, you're allowed to scale up and scale down as it goes along. I've scaled up previously and I've scaled down. And depending on what's happening in the economy, depending on the changes that I'm making as well, uh, I am ready for scaling. And it's it's scaling though. This time I'm going to do it in a way where I feel I'm really comfortable with it. It's scaling in alignment with your values. So I don't want to scale and then lose the that intellectual property that dream has. We're very, very specialized in what we do. And value and working with us is really um, it's an experience, it's an experience for most clients. That's how I like to see it. And so the question becomes how do you scale with authenticity without losing alignment to your goals and values? And so I've I've got a book coming out, it's called Unfollow the Leader. Um, and it's been four years in the making because I've added everything, okay. I'm going to put everything that we do in one book, and there's going to be downloads in there, and I'm going to be true to the process. That's coming out in the 15th, uh, on the 15th of April. And that's a one-way where it's just going to start, the scaling starts from there. So focusing on bringing it all together first, the messaging, and then we look at how we're going to scale one quarter at a time. So I know where I want it to be in 12 months, and now we're working on one quarter at a time. And the trick here is to break it down to the lowest common denominator. I know what the big picture is, but how do I break it down? So every single day I'm taking action towards that growth that's aligned with the values.

Pedro Stein 26:47

So it sounds like there's a lot of intention behind it. You went through the process of scaling, then scaling up and then scaling down. And now it's about building the right foundation, right? So you can do it with intention and authenticity in a way that feels right to you, right?

Reem Borrows 27:06

Absolutely, absolutely. And and what what that does is that one of the things is about how do you, for me, I've constantly been working on myself first. The better you understand yourself, the better you'll understand everyone else. And there's no limit to growth. Who I was 10 years ago, brilliant, that was great at the time, but I also have to grow beyond my own expectations, not just my customers. I don't just say that to my to my clients. It's me. I need to grow beyond my expectations. And the first place to do that is to work out where are all my paradigms? What am I not seeing? How do I look at things differently and become innovative in a way that's aligned with me? Not innovative in a way that's aligned with everyone else. I stay in my lane. So it's been a fine balance of knowing, okay, where is the technology that's available? What is available, but then how do you do it authentically to yourself and only focusing on dream rather than having a look at constantly looking at what other people are doing and how they've scaled up? I don't want to constantly be copying other people. I learn, I learn from it, understand my own paradigms, and then decide on where dream is going from there.

Pedro Stein 28:26

Okay, interesting. Now, considering scaling up or down, right? And we were talking about with the authenticity. What are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in dream right now? And you know, in your business that you think is like most pressing, for example?

Reem Borrows 28:44

The most pressing uh for me right now and for Dream is our operating rhythm and consistency. The most pressing. Uh and I what I what I mean by that is uh it's really there's a there's something called uh shiny new star syndrome. As you're scaling, it's really easy to go for all these U-But new things that are coming along and going, oh look, there's another idea, there's another idea, there's another idea, and then forgetting the foundations, your own operating with them, your own consistency, which really breaks the foundations down. So that is one of the, and and it might seem simple, but it's not simple. The easier something it is to do, the less likely we're going to do it. And consistency is one of the things, the main things in organizations that can be going, don't worry, we've been doing that for three months, so we're not gonna do it today, and then today becomes tomorrow.

Pedro Stein 29:45

You know, it's pretty wild if you think about it, right? It's like the social media that we didn't have like 20 years ago, and now you're scrolling, and it's like, uh, and I always use this example. It's like AI is dead, and exposed, AI is gonna take over. So it it puts us in into certain modes, like we're just being drifted all the time if we don't take care of ourselves, because there's so many hooks out there, it's so easy to be passionate about one of them because they do good marketing eventually, right? Someone clicks with your with you in the messaging, and you're like, if you have this project that you're dialed in and working on it, and you're like some external factor starts to question that. Sometimes you we we let it leak, you know, and and then we're chasing some other stuff that we shouldn't be chasing in the first place. I think that's basically what you told me, but I'm not 100% sure.

Reem Borrows 30:40

No, that is exactly it. It's the shiny new star syndrome. It's like there's so many things, and change change is really quick right now. You see, on social media, AI is a wonderful tool, and there's so much that we can do with it. Um, but it is real change. And the question then becomes are you doing the things that we know fundamentally are needed for a business consistently, or are you sacrificing those basic elements for those new things that are coming out?

Pedro Stein 31:12

You know, I I feel like the need to ask you something because you mentioned that your work at Dream is so it's so contained and based on and based on uh you guys are so experts at what you do, you have that specific outcomes that you deliver. So if if I'm like a potential client, I'm and I'm wondering right now, what would you say? And I understand there are a lot of uh nuances there and a lot of our variables like the frameworks and all that, the customer experience. But if you had a pinpoint, at least one or two points that makes you shine, stand out, you know, makes your business different, what would you say that is?

Reem Borrows 31:50

Okay, we bridge, I think the main thing, and and I've and the reason why I'm quick to answer that question is because I've been looking at it for a very long time now to go, well, what is differentiation? It's one thing to say we're different, but what is the differentiation? What truly makes dream different? We we truly bridge that knowing-doing gap. The knowing-doing gap in everyone's life, in organizations, in teams is real. So we align strategy. We do, I well, I love strategy. I mean, I was just like, it was almost like I I was weaned on strategy from a very young age. So we what we do is we align strategy. So it's great, you want a strategy, it's very important, you want to have a look at it, that, but how do you align that with behavior and culture? And then the organizations or the businesses can perform while people thrive, not at the expense of people. So, what does that mean? It means that you have a look at that situation leadership model. It means you really have to identify what do people need? When do they need hand holding? When do they need a safety net? And when do you need to allow them to fly on their own? So I put skin in the game. I say your growth is very important, and I take the responsibility, I take part responsibility for your growth. It's not only you, but you have to take responsibility for your growth. But I will take also that responsibility with you. And that's the differentiating. I don't back away from that, I'm not shy from it because I really back our work to know that if we follow these steps, if we do certain things, if we provide the right safety nets for organizations and our clients, then they will perform and people will thrive and there will be cultural change. And I'll back that up. I think that's the difference there.

Pedro Stein 33:53

I love that. Okay.

Reem Borrows 33:56

Can I extend that a little bit more? Can I extend that a little bit more? And I'll give you an example. Um, it's really easy to get caught in the sales game where getting new clients is really exciting. So you look at sales, sales, sales, bring them in, you bring them in, bring them in on all that. It's a bit like Netflix, you know. Netflix, you'll be a long-term client, and all of a sudden you see an ad. And if for a new person, if they they'll take 50% off, you'll get three months for free. They're focusing on business generation. And then you forget your old clients, but you forget that those old clients are your bread and butter. They're the ones that started your business, they're the foundation, they are the cycle. So you want to be focused on sales generation. It's really important and new clients. It's exciting, it's great, but you cannot do it at the expense of your existing clientele. You need to nurture that that nurturing part is constant. That's the fourth stage, by the way. You know how I said there's three to four stages. Okay, you get them in. Well, what's the first fourth? And that's the nurturing part to really constantly be delivering to the value that you promised. And guess what? When you do that, the new sales become easy because people are doing refer, like there's referrals, but it's constant. You don't even have to you wake up and you don't even have to do anything because it's coming to you.

Pedro Stein 35:15

Got it. Yeah, I know that that makes perfect sense. If you think about it, it's like if you because there's a lot of coaches out there that, and not just coaches, right? Um, like you mentioned, Netflix or other types of business, they're considering sometimes ops like cost overhead slash overhead, and they're super excited about uh client acquisition, right? Because that's growth, and it's a different, it's sometimes it's it's the same business. And what you're what you're telling me is like, yes, it's important uh to grow, to have the client acquisition piece, and it's exciting to to sell, right, and serve people, but at the same time, you cannot lose track of yourself and you still need to deliver, right?

Reem Borrows 36:01

100%. Delivery is the delivering to your promise based on your goals and values and what you agreed to is so critical because you can fall apart. And and coaching is not owning your own business, and coaching is probably one of the hardest spaces to be in. I mean, while I talk, you know that anything could go wrong tomorrow, and you're only as good as you're only as good as your last sale, and you're only as good as your own values. So anything could go wrong tomorrow. Um, and coaching is one of the first things when the economy is down, when the when people uh there's things that are tightened and things like that. And I'm really aware of the global, what's happening in the global market right now. It's not an easy space to thrive in as a coach if you're not looking at the four stages within your within your business. And if you're not delivering, it's the first thing that people let go of because they go, well, and especially with AI now, here's the thing like AI is really strong. I've tried it for coaching. Like I've gone in there and I've gone, well, what would you do in this situation? How can I do that? And they ask you questions. I go, act like my coach. It can do the job. So, how are you gonna differentiate yourself from all the plethora of information available online for free?

Pedro Stein 37:24

You gotta stand out, you gotta do something different. It's about the entire cycle, right? It's nurturing and all the bets you mentioned a hundred. Exactly.

Reem Borrows 37:33

Yeah.

Pedro Stein 37:34

You know, Reem, and if someone and listening wants to connect with you or follow your work, you know, where can people find you and connect with you?

Reem Borrows 37:44

Um, I make it really easy. Really, really easy. So you can go to dream.com.au, you can go to Ream Borrows uh website, you can come to our Instagram page, which is Dream Coaching Consulting under Reemborrows, you can go to LinkedIn, Ream Borrows or Dream Coaching and Consulting. As long as you type in Dream D-R-E-E-M, like my name, coaching and consulting, there's everywhere. Facebook, we there's not a place that we don't. The only place I think I'm not in, I'm not on X. I I finished up with X a little a little while ago. It just became a little bit too much. And I'm not on while we started with um uh what do you call it? Oh, it's a TikTok. I came off TikTok as well. But you can contact me there.

Pedro Stein 38:32

A hundred percent. And we're gonna have uh the links in the description for the episode, so no worries there. You know, thinking out loud right now, like I feel like I need to highlight certain parts of our conversation today that I feel like are very important. Well, first of all, moving away, you know, you know, from the people when we were talking about the origin story, and you're like, you know what, I'm moving away from the stuff that really brings me joy, you know, the people side of things and all that. I think that is so interesting and also so important to always keep your your true self aligned with what you want to do, you know, and what brings actually happiness to you. So in the even if it's in that workspace, and and that is like, okay, this is not working for me anymore. I'm gonna try something different, you know. Um, because I see a lot of people at the end of the day, they're keep pushing towards something that they're not really happy about it, you know. Others, other things that you mentioned, I think that was so funny was like the speed dating for networking. You you reminded me of that book, Super Connector, uh, which I love, but uh you brought it to another level, yes. No, that is so interesting. Um the rejection bit you you told me about don't be attached to the outcome, you know. Uh at the end of the day, I see a lot of people. I'm not gonna say it, I don't want to say it like most, but I I've talked with a lot of coaches, especially women, that had trouble with the rejection. And they were like, I cannot do sales because I feel rejected and all that. I think that's such a powerful reminder to not be attached to it. It's nothing personal sometimes, it's just not gonna work out, and it's good that you're being rejected, right? Absolutely.

Reem Borrows 40:20

Look, fall in love with it. I I if I've got one recommendation is fall in love with rejection because um at the end of the day, you only begin to sell when someone says no. If someone says no, it means you've got the opportunity to ask questions, and it's not a rejection as a no. I see everything as a possibility, it's just not yet. But you have to develop that thick skin, a little bit of a thick skin that it's not nothing's personal, and so don't be attached to the outcome. It's not about you, it's not your business anyway.

Pedro Stein 40:52

Yes, it's about their beliefs and what they feel is most important for them at the moment, not necessarily you. That's a hundred percent. I agree with that. Now, I love the I think it's the experience you brought uh to us today about being able to scale up and then scale scaling down. I think it's like a very powerful reminder to coaches out there that are trying to scale up, and that sometimes they need to take a look of exactly what they want to do, you know, be intentional about what they want to do and how they want to do, because there is not all, you know, uh not everything is perfect, even if you scale up. Exactly, you know. Um, you know, Reem, this is my long-winded way of saying that I appreciate what you do. I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today, okay? It was great having you on.

Speaker 3 41:44

Thank you for having me on, Pedro. It's just been such a pleasure. And you're so and just you're such a good interviewer, too, by the way.

Davis Nguyen 41:51

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.