In this episode, wildlife conservationist Brian Stranko explains how he shifted careers paths while still trying to help the environment. Career coach Jim Doliber describes the process and helping guide Brian along.
From the article https://jdoliber.esourcecoach.com/wildlife-conservationist-pursues-wild-new-opportunity/ on The Entrepreneur's Source Blog https://entrepreneurssource.com/podca...
From the article:
Career ownership coaching from The Entrepreneur’s Source® gave Brian Stranko the tools he needs to achieve financial freedom and pursue his passion for preserving wildlife in Africa.
Stranko dedicated his career to helping the planet as a conservation leader. Most recently, he served as a strategy and fundraising consultant for nonprofits in Africa as they struggled to secure funding during the pandemic. He also spent 11 years working for The Nature Conservancy as the director of the nonprofit’s water program in California.
Inspired by the decline in wildlife tourism during the pandemic, Stranko started a new nonprofit in July 2021 to fuel conservation efforts. Rather than rely on tourism funding, Afri-Vet hosts online veterinary and wildlife care education programs created by African wildlife sanctuary staff. The videos are designed to help grow sanctuary resources and provide scholarships for limited-income Africans. Afri-Vet’s mission is to raise awareness for wildlife veterinary medicine and care to promote conservation.
Having spent his career in the nonprofit industry, Stranko knew he needed to secure a steady income stream to be able to achieve his goals and support his family. Jim Doliber, a Career Ownership Coach™ for The Entrepreneur’s Source®, helped Stranko discover a new path to achieve the American dream. “I wanted to be able to have some sort of Plan B,” Stranko said. “Jim [Doliber] totally understood my need to maintain my work with my nonprofit and find a business that fit.”
Doliber began his coaching career with TES in 2019 after spending more than 25 years working corporate jobs in product and real estate management and franchising. His past experience in franchising helped him recognize the importance of helping entrepreneurs discover a Career 2.0® that achieves their goals.
TES coaches help people open their minds to new possibilities. The nation’s leading career coaching franchise uses an education-based program to help people identify their Income, Lifestyle, Wealth and Equity™ goals to achieve financial freedom and self-sufficiency. “I’ve had to know myself before, but it has been a while. It was nice to revisit it and understand how I operate, determine my interests, and my likes and dislikes,” Stranko said.
In addition to achieving financial freedom, Stranko envisioned a future where he could continue his role as Afri-Vet’s executive director. He also needed his new career path to offer flexibility and further his conservation vision. In addition to his career as a conservationist, Stranko has three daughters who keep him on his toes. To stay grounded, his family likes to spend time together traveling. While current events forced them to put travel plans on hold, the family fondly remembers their last vacation where they relaxed and watched the wildlife at an eco-lodge in Playa del Carmen in Mexico.
Welcome to your career 2.0 Launchpad presented by the entrepreneur source, my name is Mike toper. And it feels like it's been a matter of time before I get these guys here to join me. I'll introduce them. We've got Jim and Brian. And we'll start with Jim, just give us an introduction of yourself. Good morning. Thanks, Mike. Jim dolliver with the entrepreneurs tours, I'm a career transition coach for the entrepreneur source and just happy to be here, especially with you, Brian. He's, he's a neighbor, almost a neighbor. We sit at opposite sides of a mountain in the San Francisco Bay area. So if if I had the ability to be a drone, or jump on a drone, I could probably Brian's house and minutes. But it is a 4000 foot hill slash mountain depending on where are audiences listening and viewing us. But someday, Hey, Brian, I love to climb mountains. As you know, I climb mountains all the time. I have no excuse. I should climb over the mountain and come and visit you. So anyway, JD you already know ain't no mountain high. This is gonna be the common thread throughout this video podcast is Mike singing to us. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for having us. We got the coffee going. Brian, could you tell us a little bit about yourself here? Sure. I'm Brian stratco. And I'm a client of the entrepreneurs source. And I am now a proud owner of a no H two O franchise. As Jim said, I also live in the Bay Area near this really great mountain. And what I really love to fly fish. And so that's how I get out into the world and see things I probably wouldn't see otherwise. Excellent. And Brian, let's start with you. First of all, can you just tell us a little bit about your work history? Before tea? Yes, sure. Yeah. I I'm a longtime wildlife conservation person as well as a water conservation person. So I've been in the nonprofit space for over 20 years. Most recently, I worked at The Nature Conservancy, and was the Water Program Director for California. And then prior to that, I worked at California trout, which does help the waters of California too. But of course, it's related to fly fishing, which is another reason I was there. And prior to that I have a history and in working in in Africa. Yeah. And speaking and that's the transition there. Obviously, with water, you know, in your career, when did you come to the point where you felt like you needed to change? Or I should ask what inspired you to look towards a new venture and to reach into something different? Well, it was a couple of things. I think, first of all, I, during COVID, I was home a lot, and I'm sure this is the case with a lot of people home a lot. Seeing my kids, I have three wonderful daughters, beautiful wife, two dogs. And I lived in a great place. And I was able to spend a lot of time with them. And for me, that was really important. And prior to that I was commuting an hour and a half each way, almost every day. And while I love the work that the Nature Conservancy does, it was it was time for me to think about some something else to be more with my family. And then the second reason I would say is, is because the work in water, especially in California, and places as dry as California can be really taxing. It's hard to make any headway. It's very politically fraught. And I wanted to try something new that would help me feel like I was making a difference on a more frequent basis. Excellent. Yeah. I certainly your background that you described has been rich in in making a difference and, and let's move over to JD, our coach. Now. How did you meet Brian? And what were the conversations like with him when he came and said, You know, I'm looking to try something new here. Right, right. Well, Brian, Brian came to me. You know, we really kind of found him through a LinkedIn sourcing messaging. And you know, he was one of these individuals that you don't get very often as a coach, but it just the way he respond 100 was sure, yeah, let's let's get together. And you know, sometimes at this beginning point, there's there's some questions, there's some hesitancy. But Brian wasn't that way. Well, suffice to say that the next few months of conversations were just similar, very, very accommodating, very friendly. Brands, just one of these guys that almost immediately go, I can hang out with this guy. Now, there were some real commonalities. We talked a lot about church and our involvement in our church, we come from the East Coast. So we kind of have that, you know, East, coming all the way west. And now we're in California, we've been in California long time. We have that connection to the east coast. But we love it out here in the West. And there was just something about everything. You know, he talked a lot about his family, I talk about my family, which isn't typical of a coach, it's more about you, not about me. And I could, I could feel this commonality we talked about his Bachi games on, you know, the week and, and it was just fun. And, and then of course, as I said, he's relatively close to me in geographically. So we could talk a lot about the world around the San Francisco Bay Area, and the outdoors, as you know, we're both outdoorsy in our, in our heart and soul, fly fishing, I tell you what, it takes high intelligence and patience to be a fly fisherman. I don't have high intelligence, and I have no patience. So it's kind of kind of odd how we connected but somehow we did. So anyway. And you can you talked a little bit about just going off along that How important was that relationship? Because you guys, for those listening? Can Can you describe that a little bit you guys kind of develop this relationship, like you said, where you felt like you connected? You know, how important was that and, and trying to explore something different? Well, go ahead, Brian, because I started started into it, but maybe from your side. Yeah. As JD said, we connected on LinkedIn. And I was kind of looking to see if there were some things out there. I had recently started a small nonprofit, and I knew that wasn't going to make enough money for our family. And I was still looking for something. And, you know, once we talked the first time, it was it was like, we were kind of old buddies or something. We were able to just get along from the start. And, and I gotta say, JD has been was really open to just being patient. And to making sure that my needs were being met. And honestly, this this came from I knew it was coming from the heart. I knew I could tell that he was doing this because he cared about people. And then because we got along so well. That he actually had my interests in mind. Yeah, that's fantastic. And and for you JD What was it like? Mentoring Brian you mentioned you know, he's a he's a go getter you know, right. He knew a lot about what he wanted to tackle something What was it like mentoring him? Yeah, um, you know, I sent this to some of my fellow coaches we were talking a little before we got on live and we get together some of us get together and collaborate together as coaches to become better coaches and very positive very positive mindset in these these weekly calls, Zoom calls. And I was describing this quite a few months ago about Brian and the journey and as I said, it was it was almost too simple. It was almost too simple. It was almost like you know breaking bread with them every more it you know, there are times when I look at my schedule for the next Daniel Bryan's on it this is great because you know we're progressing well of getting to know his you know, his goals in life and truly what what drives him and what is his goals are up against lifestyle and income and wealth and equity but it was really you know, waking up in the morning all right, I got Brian today so it wasn't as though it was you know, complex in any way. It flowed well never had this feeling like oh, boy, are we you know, are we moving along? Because sometimes clients will go you know if they've got a certain we call it a DISC personality disc communication. But But Brian was always I know, we've got things to accomplish today and we want to be productive. He always held to the I get this, I know we have to be productive every week. But at the same time it was, let's get to know each other. And I'm going to really let you get to know what drives me. He talks about, you know, this, this importance of being around his family and his friends. And I could really get that as we progress through each and every week. But I don't know if I was patient, Brian. But But I am, I'm pretty patient, and I let this journey really unfold. So I never have a timeline. But Brian seem to know that there is a timeline and there is a time to be productive throughout each one of these. These meetings. Does that answer the question? Mike? I don't know. Yeah, Jack. Okay. No. 100%? And for you, Brian, you know, let's, let's look at can you can you describe for us how know, h2o is, is going for you and how you feel that? You know, I guess your overall career and your in your work life is right now? Well, me, first of all, I have to say that JD, because we had that, that immediate pour, it was easy to feel trust, I think both ways. And when you're in a place where you're not sure where your life's going, and you really do want to come up with something kind of new. And I had never stayed home and worked all the time, you you really need a coach. And I think for every part of the journey, and the patients I talk about is that JT always talked about it as an exploration. And that really sang to me. And that's what I needed to do as an explorer. And then we went we found no H two O. And I got to talk to some of the folks at Fastlane. And thought about my water background and nonprofit background. It really is one of these opportunities to do good while doing well. And it's hard for me to see myself doing just well. And meanwhile, I could spend more time with my family, I could continue to have camaraderie with JD, and he'll follow this I know for a long time. So it's going well at no age to Oh, it's it's definitely a Scurry. It's we're it's a it's a startup in a lot of ways here in the United States. But somehow that matches my personality a bit. I like to break through barriers and try to find new solutions. And what I'll say to is everybody at no h2o in the headquarters, including Emmet, right at the very top, they see the value in us as franchisees improve helping provide ideas, solutions, move the company forward, not just be a franchisee, and that I think, is paid a lot of dividends. Last thing I'll say is I I'm one of the original few franchisees in the United States for for no h2o. And to be able to have that ground up relationship with the company, I think is really helpful for me, because we're all kind of in this together. And, and that it makes me feel like they got my back if I need something, and I have theirs. Yeah, that's excellent. That's, that's what makes the dream work. Right. One last thing I want to ask and this is for you JD you know, obviously, you've been in this position as a coach, but you know, what kind of advice would you have for somebody like Brian who may be seeking a career change and, you know, maybe in something with your passion, something completely different. Is there any advice you would have for somebody? Yeah, thanks. Let me go back real quickly, Brian, I love that. Doing good while doing well. I've written it down I'm going to share it. You know, Mike, Brian, what I do in life is a steal shamelessly from others. And I will always give you guys the credit because I don't I can't come up with anything creative and innovative, but it's Something that I really love to do and give you credit. So I love that because there's so much to that meaning but to your to your question Mike and I do get to points eventually, is the fact that we're most of us really rely on the people we love and respect the most. But when it comes to potential pivots in life, especially from our career perspective, sometimes those people are just too close, they're, you know, they're just too close to the subject matter to you as the as the as that person. And they love you, but they protect you. And they don't want you to veer too far right, or left or forward or backward. They want to keep you safe. And I think, as as a coach, and again, I'm surrounded by amazing coaches and entrepreneurs source, it was the great one of the greatest decisions of my my life outside of marrying my wife, Liz. But it really was an incredible decision. Because as a coach, I look at it and I say, I can be that person with no biasness don't know you at all, and be able to just, you know, provide you some feedback while asking you some questions about what's what's most important to you? What's most important to you moving forward? What are the some of the things that you don't, you know, don't want to do as much if you had your choice if you had a magic wand? And were able to say, what if I had that magic wand? You know, what do I want to do more of what I want to want to do less of what do I want to accomplish? As Brian just said, you know, doing good while doing well. It's it's relying on somebody like myself, to just, as Brian said, eventually, possibly trust to me, that I'm here to just help even if it's this much, I mean, to be honest, you know, the majority of my clients will find some fit a new job, the startup gets going, where you don't have to pivot to an a business, whatever it is, but it's helping out even if it's just a tiny bit helping out with that, that pivot in their lives, to find the good fit for them. And that's, you know, that's my goal, and it fits my personal mission statement that will never change. And I just love helping people out. And, you know, Brian told me to get out of the way eventually, by the way, I'm a very conservative person, and I make people do their time I make them do their validation, and he literally did tell me, I got this. I remember the word, Jim. JD I got this. It's like, No, you don't have it yet. But he did. He did have it. Much so much brighter than me. So I finally had to say, I gotta quit coaching. I gotta quit. You know, being so conservative. He's got this. You know what, and doesn't take a mountain to divide. You're free to come together. Oh, going onward and upward here. So that's human, Brian. This has been your career 2.0 Launchpad presented by the entrepreneur source. My name is Mike Soper. Hope you got something out of this. And JD and Brian, thank you so much for joining us.