Career Coaching Secrets

Ade Oluwayemi: The Power of Empathy in Career Transition Coaching

• Davis Nguyen

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Rexhen Doda interviews Ade Oluwayemi, a career transition coach helping professionals pivot and overcome imposter syndrome. Ade, who personally transitioned from medical science to project management, began coaching part-time and aims for full-time coaching and later, helping others start side businesses.

She relies on LinkedIn, Instagram, and webinars for lead generation, emphasizing value-driven content. Her main challenge is converting leads (10% rate) to enable her full-time transition. Ade advises coaches to understand their audience's needs before creating offers.

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Ade Oluwayemi:

yeah so the biggest challenge is um i will say is still i don't want to say it's lead generation i would say maybe in closing leads converting leads to clients that is the biggest issue right now i will say my conversion rate is um a little like It's like 10%, but I'm still trying harder to make it go up to 20 to 30% just to be able to have enough income to be able to go dive into it full time. So I would say the biggest challenge I have right now is converting those leads into clients.

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 seven and eight figures without burning out. Before Purple Circle, I started and scaled several seven and eight figure career coaching businesses myself and consulted with two career coaching businesses that are now doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or just building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Rexhen Doda:

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. Today we're talking with Eddie Oluwayemi, a career transition coach who helps professionals move from stuck to thriving using a structured confidence building system. Eddie brings a project manager's precision and a life coach's empathy to every session and she's especially gifted at guiding clients through fear, imposter syndrome and uncertainty. We will dive into how she It helps people pivot careers with purpose and what fellow coaches can learn about building transformational programs that get results. It's my pleasure to have you on the podcast. Welcome to the show, Adi.

Ade Oluwayemi:

Thank you for having me today. It's my pleasure to be here today.

Rexhen Doda:

It's a pleasure for us too, Adi. Can you tell me a little bit more about what inspired you to become?

Ade Oluwayemi:

Thank you very much. What inspired me to become a career transition coach? At a point in my life, I think it's the fact that I've also transitioned myself. So my background was in medical laboratory science. So when I finished school, I decided to pursue project management because I felt that I fit more into that aspect. When I was even working in the laboratory, I feel that when it comes to any kind of project, I'm the one leading. So I felt that I'm more aligned into project management. So I started looking for where I could get experience in project management or project coordination. So I transitioned into project management along the way. So when I now moved to Canada, I still continue my project management and that was out of passion for helping other people start because i see so many people that they are stuck in maybe one career and they want to pivot but they don't they don't know how to do it and i'm somebody that okay i have walked through that part i used to tell people that i have that lived experience of transitioning during my transition process i had to study a lot to be able to say okay how will i show that okay i can do project management apart from maybe getting the certification and education people want to see the experience also so i have to look for how i can relate the experience that i have in laboratory into project management so that was how i started it took a long time for me before i could crack that code so that was what inspired me to be a career transition coach to be able to help people instead of them going through the long journey that i went through be able to do it in a short time so that was what inspired me into becoming a career transition coach

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thanks so much for sharing that. I think it's the case for a lot of coaches who have experienced some difficulty in their personal life and kind of trying to fix that for other people so that has to go through the same. How does the, it's been two years now. Can you share more about like the business? How does that look like? I know you're doing it part-time now. Was it part-time from the moment you started it or was it at some point full-time that we switched to part-time? Can you share more how the journey at all completely evolved during these two years?

Ade Oluwayemi:

Okay, yeah. So before I started my own career coaching business, I was working as a program manager for a nonprofit. And I do see people coming wanting to maybe do their resume, to do their LinkedIn, just because nonprofits tend to help people. So in my capacity as program manager within that nonprofit, I was helping people to do their resume, give them career transition advice and things like that. Then also friends and family members as they come to me for that advice. So one day I said, this thing, I'm already doing it free for people. I'm already helping people. I'm already changing lives. Why don't I do it as business? So I started it two years ago as a part-time business while still working in non-profits. So that was how the inspiration started and that was how I started the business. So I've been doing it for two years now, though it's on a part-time level, but it has been fulfilling and it has been so many things along the way, but it has been fulfilling so far.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you for sharing that. And basically you talked a little bit about how you're helping people and it's also people who have similar struggles to what you also had in the past. Could you share some more when it comes to your target audience or what transformation you're helping achieve? Are they from a specific industry or demographic? Can you share more about that?

Ade Oluwayemi:

So how I help my audience or my client is when I see someone that wants to transition, I first of all have that conversation with them to understand their background, where they are coming from, the education that they have, try to see if there are gaps that they need to fill because, for example, if someone is transitioning into project management for whatever industry, I have to ask questions like, have you ever done a project before? Some people don't really know that they've done a project, maybe because it's not stamped projects. But when we have those conversations, I try to understand where they are coming from, if there are gaps that they need to fill, maybe if they need to go do maybe a bootcamping project, project management or they need to get certification they need to do maybe their PMP or whatnot so we have those conversations and we'll see what gap that they have that we can bridge then some people might be they have everything or they are they they are qualified project management but project manager but they don't get the kind of job they want maybe they are looking for more pay or they are experiencing burnout they are stuck where they are and they want to move um to another organization but they don't know how to do those transitions so uh i have discussion with them because i also have background in life coaching so i try to understand their fears understand their struggle and most of the time i would say 90 of the time is usually imposter syndrome people will be like are my feet am i going to be able to perform in this role will i be able to handle this and that so those are it's not as if they don't have the capacity to do it it's just that they have that fear of unknown and they are not sure of their self so when I have those conversation and like break those struggles down for them make them to provide solution for themselves in their own way without them knowing just through asking them questions trying to understand their challenges so those are the ways in which I help my clients another thing I also help them is to be able to gain that confidence to be able to come out there uh like make recruiters to be interested in them by optimizing their linkedin profile be able to customize their resumes just to put them in those um situation whereby they can be they can be able to show value just beyond maybe their resume or just applying for a job they should be able to show value people should be able to reach out to them that oh i like what you are doing in the field of project management would you like to work with me something like So that is how I help my clients. That is how I understand their struggles and help them to be able to overcome those imposter syndrome and be able to apply for the roles that they deserve.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And now that you're doing it part-time, what are the goals in the future for, let's say, the one, two, three years in the future? Do you have any goals that you are working towards in relationship to your coaching business? Do you think you're going to go full time at some point or you want to continue to keep it part time? How does that look like?

Ade Oluwayemi:

Yeah, so for me, the goal is to go full time. The goal is to build a business in such a way that I can go in full time and be able to be helping more people. So that is the goal. And in maybe three years, because you said one to three years. So in the short term is to be able to go into full time. Then in the long run, I want to be able to scale that business to also help. people like like me now that they have an idea they want to do a business and they still have their number nine to five job so be able to help them to have those that transition maybe to be able to start a site also also and gradually transition into full time because um i like Before I teach somebody something, somehow I like to walk through that journey. So me walking through this journey now, I've gained some experience. I've gone through some challenges. I've gone through some problems. So I believe that... I'm documenting the lesson learned along the way so that when the time I want to scale into helping people to start their own side business, it will be easy. So just to summarize, the answer is that in the short term, I want to be able to scale to go full time. And in the long term, maybe in three to five years, I want to also be able to help other people start their own side business while they have their own nine to five job. So it's still career transitioning, maybe helping people that are looking for a job or helping people that already have jobs to start looking into business.

Rexhen Doda:

And so far, even doing it part-time, has there been any type of investment that you found valuable, such as like any coaching programs, masterminds, or communities, or anything that you feel like you've invested in that you've actually seen a lot of value in growing your coaching business even part-time?

Ade Oluwayemi:

Yeah, yeah, so I have invested in the business. I've gone through so many trainings. Apart from the fact that I have a lived experience in career transitioning, I also had to be able, I went to a coaching institution to be able to really know how to coach people just to make it more professional, not just my own experience, just to also understand the coaching aspect and the business aspect of it. I also went for another class that taught me a little bit about the business aspect, about lead generation, about sales and converting, things like that. And I also have communities of friends that are into business different kind of business that we come together just to encourage one another. If somebody is learning new thing, the person shares with the community and vice versa. So I've just surrounded myself with a group of founders and entrepreneurs that are also looking to improve their business. All of us are not into the line of coaching. Everybody have different, we have other coaches to build. We also have different kind of entrepreneurs that will just come together, share knowledge, encourage one another that motivates one another to move forward in our businesses.

Rexhen Doda:

And since you mentioned you've worked a little bit with a company or was it a coaching company that helped you understand a little bit more about the business and lead generation, could you share more about how you are currently going about generating leads or where do you find the clients mostly?

Ade Oluwayemi:

Okay, where I find my clients is mostly on LinkedIn. LinkedIn, I post every weekday and I don't just post content to like sales content. I post content to give value. I make sure that every post I post on Monday to Friday gives value to people. I normally tell people that even if you don't pay for my coaching, if you are following me on LinkedIn, like reading my content, you also gain value in those content that I post. So I also post on Instagram. I just repurpose the post for linkedin or instagram because i found out that on instagram you um some people are also active On Instagram, I do find people that are already in the field, but they are burnt out. And they just use Instagram as a realization time in the evenings or in the morning. So I see some clients from Instagram too. But another lead generation that I do is doing free workshops or free webinars. But those workshops and webinars are usually promoted on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook to be able to get people in there I offer value in that webinar and from there I can also get leads. So those are the two major ways, social media and webinars that I get leads for.

Rexhen Doda:

And how does it work for the workshops? Are you, when you say you're promoting it on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, are you, for example, on Instagram, are you running ads on Instagram or Facebook or either on LinkedIn or are you just posting it?

Ade Oluwayemi:

So I've never done ads on LinkedIn, but I've done ads on Facebook. And Facebook is linked to Instagram. So I've done ads on Facebook to get people into the webinar, but I've never done ads on LinkedIn.

Rexhen Doda:

Cool. And so you've seen that doing ads on Facebook has helped you get quite a few registrations for your workshops. And from those registrations, you have seen some conversion in them, you either becoming a very qualified lead to work with you or potentially becoming clients, right?

Ade Oluwayemi:

So when I get leads from the webinar, most of the time what I project in my webinar is for people to have a conversation with me to book a free discovery call because I've realized over the past two years is that people have different things that they are looking for. So I usually like to have those one-on-one conversation with them to understand what they are actually looking for and see if they are good fit for what I can offer. So we have those one-on-one conversations and if they are good fit then they sign in and if they are not I try provide value for them or I'll send them to where they can get more value. For example, I do have some people that they just want to learn about project management. They don't have any education or what not in project management. And for now, I'm not providing any training on project management. So I just help project managers, people that are already project managers to get jobs. So I do refer those people that don't have any background on training in project management to other of um my friends that offer those training so when they go and get those training after the training then they can now come back to be able to start looking for a job in project management

Rexhen Doda:

is there um and i really like that you mentioned you sometimes if you feel like that someone else could help them better. You're working also with other friends that are also coaches, right? And then to them, I would potentially also maybe some of these coaches I could ask if they want to be in the podcast, I'd be happy to have them on as well. But what would you say is the biggest challenge right now in you going full-time in coaching and starting to scale your coaching business it seems like you already have a very good foundation so i wanted to ask like what what is currently holding you from going full-time or what is the biggest challenge in you growing this coaching business

Ade Oluwayemi:

yeah so the biggest challenge is um i will say is still i don't want to say it's lead generation i will say maybe closing leads converting leads to clients that is the biggest issue right now i will say my conversion rate is um a little like it's like 10 it's 10 but i i'm still trying harder to make it go up to 20 to 30 percent just to be able to have enough income to be able to go dive into it full time so i'll say the biggest challenge i have right now is converting those leads into clients yeah

Rexhen Doda:

and How are you going about it right now in terms of you converting them? Is it because you had multiple channels where the leads could come from? Do you try to potentially get them either on a newsletter and then try to get them on a call with you so that then they can become clients and potentially want to join your program? How does the process look like from lead to client?

Ade Oluwayemi:

So what the process looks like is every leads going through the, I have a centralized funnel that every leads going through. And most of the time they book a call with me, then we'll have those conversation. Then some of them, I sign up immediately. Some might say, oh, I need more time and I'll follow them. I will be following up. I have newsletter. The moment you get into that funnel, you are already like signed up into newsletter. So whether you sign up for coaching course or not you will be getting the i have a bi-weekly newsletter so you are getting those newsletter then those people are also on in the funnel so when i want to do webinar i send them um the registration link and stuff like that then i have some other ones i said that they want to do the program or the coaching course but they don't have the training for project management yet So those ones I move them to. I have partners that I work with that can train them on project management and they come back and will do the other aspects of it together. Then they just remain there. I still check up on them. I have some people that for the past six months, I'm still following up. They are telling me, oh, I'm very sorry, I'm going to do, but I provide value to them. Sometimes when I do webinar and my people, I call them maybe my co-leads or one leads, I still send them the recording of this webinar just to watch just to gain value so i make sure that everybody that come into that funnel are gaining value one way or the other whether they are paying or not then another aspect i think i've not mentioned is the fact that i have some courses that i also offer um a self-paced course that you can you can just go on your own and read it so some people might want to do the one-on-one coaching maybe they cannot afford it or for one reason or the other So some people, that is why I love to have those conversations. They can decide to go for those courses and do those self-paced courses and they get what they want from it.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing. That gives a lot of context on how it works for you. We're getting to the final question. Is there any final advice you'd like to give to other career transition coaches who are around your level and are looking to scale their impact?

Ade Oluwayemi:

I think the main thing I would like to say is that try to understand your audience. Try to understand where... people at, what people are looking for. I think a mistake that I made, I don't know if I should call it a mistake or not, is I was doing so much courses, so much trying to create a lot of value, but at the end of the day, I discovered that that might not necessarily be what people want. So by the time you now do your survey and your research and you discover what people want, you might be lucky that what you have been creating is what they want, and you might have to create another thing. So just first of all, understand your audience. And I did a lot of that mistake when I started. I did so many content, so many courses that When I now start having leads, those are not the things that those leads want. So I have to now start again to be creating offers and stuff. So to your ICP, try to understand what people want. Don't just assume that this is what people want before you start putting so much energy into creating a cause or whatnot.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah, so basically do your market research, make sure there is a need for the product. Before you do the product. Thank you. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure having you on the podcast, Addy. And for anyone who wants to find you or connect with you, they can find you on your LinkedIn at Addy Oluwayemi. Or they could also find you on your website, propertycoaching.ca, correct?

Ade Oluwayemi:

Yes, that is correct. Yeah.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. And let me know if there's any other way people can connect with you.

Ade Oluwayemi:

People can mostly connect with me through, they can book a call on the website or LinkedIn. I also have an Instagram, Andrew, which is at Coach Ade.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure having you on the podcast.

Ade Oluwayemi:

It was a pleasure being here too. Thank you so much.

Davis Nguyen:

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