From Uncertain to Unstoppable: Career Lessons with Gabriela Martínez Bretón

In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets our guest is Gabriela Martínez Bretón, a dedicated career strategist and leadership development expert who shares powerful insights on navigating professional transitions, strengthening your personal brand, and taking intentional steps toward a fulfilling career; with her extensive experience and industry knowledge

You can find her on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmbreton/
https://www.instagram.com/gaby.breton.psicologa/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

And yes, I am making a good coaching for all the pro bono work that I'm doing. So it's going to be easier for me. But yes, I I think I have found a balance, and that's something important because you cannot teach something that's you don't.

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 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.

Anni: 0:48

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Annie, and today we're joined with Gabriella, an HR specialist who has spent over 20 years turning companies into a place where people can actually thrive. By leading thousands of successful hires and architecting nearly over 5,000 learning programs, she has helped organizations grow while uplifting people inside them. As the people and happiness director at IBICare, she is defining workplace culture through emotional intelligence and inclusive leadership and tirelessly committing to helping them perform their best. Welcome, Gabriela. Well, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01: 1:28

Thank you for having me.

Anni: 1:29

So you are also the founder of GBCC. You have also been a teacher, an HR manager, CEO, and founder. And out of all the things you've done, you are still coaching and consulting. And I want to know what made you want to be a consultant and turning that into a business.

SPEAKER_01: 1:48

I became a consultant and a coach. The moment I understood that most people don't need more motivation, they need the way back to themselves. Early in my career, I kept seeing extraordinary talented people doubting, their own brilliant, you know? And um, they weren't stocked because they like potato, but they were stuck because no one had ever helped them to understand their figure, their patterns, or the story silently shaping their choices. So I realized that what uh changes a person career and often their life that isn't a long speech, but a single insight that contains everything. So one moment of clarity can save someone years of frustration. And I think I understood this very early in my career. I started working when I was 16 years old. I saw tons of people going through this path. And really decided to believe that every person carries a version of themselves they haven't met yet, no? And uh my work as a coach now is simply to me that version sooner. I didn't want to be the person who fixed others, of course not. I am a psychologist, so people don't have role for. I wanted to be the person who helped see themselves again in a very different way. So that's why I started, and that's the moment coaching stopped being uh just a profession and became my colleague. That's the teacher. So I help people reconnect with their potential and with the spark that makes them feel a lot. So that's what inspired me, and Nick Skill inspires me every single day of my life.

Anni: 3:26

That's incredible, Gabby, how you're able to help people rediscover themselves and find a version of them that they know that they can be. That's a really powerful ability to do that. And I'm really curious who are like the specific people that you are helping right now?

SPEAKER_01: 3:45

Well, I have uh several different kinds of people since very young people are trying to find a career, like they are trying to see what are they going to do in their lives. No, it's uh something important. So because when I work with young people, my goal is to push them toward a career, it's it's to reconnect them with uh what makes them feel awake, and uh, we try to find a purpose. And the purpose is isn't found through pressure or comparison, it's found through curiosity, emotional clarity, or understanding what energizes them, you know, at the core. So I work with them. I also work with executives since uh starting with uh, I don't know, coordinators or uh general directors. It's uh different kinds of people just to try to find themselves.

Anni: 4:37

So it's all a yeah, I read your bio, and you said that you help people who are 17 trying to find their jobs, their purpose in life, people that are like in their 30s, trying to transition, who have experience, and people even in their 60s. And I am so curious, how are how are they finding you? What is the way that they get to find out? Oh, this is Gabrielle, and I really want her to help me.

SPEAKER_01: 5:02

Well, I think it has been like, well, I have been working, as I told you, since so I have a solid career, you know, and I have been the head of human uh relations or human capital for several years. So I think that was my way, and also I always enter active, you know, in social media and everything. So sometimes they need me that way. I have several TV shows that uh they are inviting me to talk about these kind of things, and uh people sometimes recommend my work. So I have been very lucky because they always find me recommendations.

Anni: 5:40

That's really incredible. So you get because you're so active and you're deeply embedded into the community, a lot of people refer you through word of mouth, and you're really you're an influencer, you're really big on LinkedIn. I know you have like 24,000 followers. Is that your main uh social media channel, or do you have other ones that you're growing?

SPEAKER_01: 6:02

Instagram and it's 33,000, it's not a lot, but uh well, it works, and uh it's different because in LinkedIn I am more like uh human resources coaching and consultancy, and Instagram is more my side to be it's uh psychologist in logotherapy and it's uh the other part. So I have both sides.

Anni: 6:25

Oh, that's really incredible that you're able to express like the the psychology behind all that you do. So when someone does want to go coaching with you, do you normally do one-on-one coaching, good group coaching? I would love to know about like how your structure works.

SPEAKER_01: 6:42

Okay, it's one-on-one mostly. No, well, because it's easier. Sometimes, yes, I do group coaching, that's amazing. And I have several groups that I am doing this kind of coaching, but I really enjoy being one by one because it's easier for them to open to certain things. So I really love to help people remember who they were before, feared out or expectations, deemed their inner life. So this is easier when you are talking to a person in a private place, you know, because I think that uh they don't want to share some things with a group, so like both, but so I personally really do love the one-on-one coaching too.

Anni: 7:26

There's so much more intimacy in that, and you would feel more safe sharing something just between you and I. For your group coaching, how big is the group that you have?

SPEAKER_01: 7:37

Well, I have different groups in different moments and different companies, so it has been from 10 to the biggest 25, I would think. Yeah, because I don't I don't like huge groups because I cannot take care of them. So, yeah, with the ticket, what 25? I think that's too much. I would give it 10 because I can take care of each one, so that's easier.

Anni: 8:03

Yeah, I prefer something more intimate too. Some of our coaches kind of have a hard time with managing their pricing, and I'm wondering how do you work out your pricing structure? And you don't have to give me hard numbers, but just like how you think about pricing.

SPEAKER_01: 8:19

Okay, well, when I uh left the organization because I was uh human resources director, I have no idea. So what I decided is that I put the price of on my hours, you know. So hourly divided, you know, my salary, that is the salary that I have in my minimum amount of money for my hours, you know, my working hours. So that's how I did it. And I think that I am uh I I did it great because I have seen that, I have compared, and that was an amazing way to do it because to be a human resource director with a salary, with many research and everything, you know, it was easier. But that's what I did, and it was amazing.

Anni: 9:04

That is incredible. I'm glad that it's like working out for you. So I'm super curious to figure out what your biggest goals are. You help so many people like find out what their path is and meet their future version of themselves. I'm wondering where do you think of your consulting business? Where in two or three years, what's like your biggest vision for it?

SPEAKER_01: 9:30

Okay, I think my next chapter is about celebrating conscious leadership on a global scale. That's something that I do. So organizations are finally recognizing that emotional clarity, presence, and psychological safety are not soft skills. They are strategic advantage. So the leaders who will shape the next jacket are the ones who can regulate, regulate themselves, make intentional decisions and create environments where people don't just perform their flourish. So in the next one to three years, I'm developing programs that help leaders their inner world with the same rigor they apply to struggle. So when a leader learns to regulate their emotional landscape, they immediately transform the experience of everyone they lead. So at the same time, I'm deeply committed to guiding young people, helping them give over their passion, their easy eyes, very important this concept, the thing that makes them feel awake and purposeful. Because if we teach people early how to connect with life, with what lights them up, we change entire generations. So my goal is simple to build leaders established and energy who show up with clarity, humanity, and purpose. And uh leaders who inspire not through power but through presence. I think that's my vision now.

Anni: 11:08

Wow, hold on. I'm trying to sync this all in. Your goal is so powerful, I can feel it through the screen of how you want to focus, not on like money or anything, but it's more about the human consciousness, how to empower people to be leaders, and you're thinking in a generational like movement of how to inspire young people to take on leadership that have clarity, presence, and basically multiply that because when you're creating leaders, they themselves are going to impact other leaders, and that's incredibly powerful.

SPEAKER_01: 11:42

Absolutely, and I have a 25-year-old son, so yeah, for me, it's really important to change generations, you know, because there are so many fights against one generation and the other, and these kind of things, and I really think that we just need clarity, we need purpose, we need passion, we need to find our guy, and that's the way we are going to work together. Yeah, no, not everyone for their own purposes, so their own agenda. So that's my goal.

Anni: 12:18

That is really, really empowering, and I love that goal. Sometimes I like want to have something to quantify it, like some measurements. So, in two years, like what would that look like? How many people would you want to impact in two years?

SPEAKER_01: 12:33

Well, I am going to tell you something. I did courses, I am giving conferences, I'm a speaker. So I really think, and uh now that you ask me how people find me, sometimes this is the way, because I'm giving a teacher or something, and they text me and say, How can you help me? So I think it's not just the coaching. Sometimes you hear something that changes, and if I I touch a person with a word, I think I'll done. So I can. I really don't have a number because now I have many, many of my work, my activities are pro bono. Um because yes, money is not my motor. No, that doesn't ignite you, you know. And uh I am very grateful because I am not pursuing that.

Anni: 13:19

I'm not pursuing which if it's just a number, like based on like how many people you've helped in the last two years, if you could just like I don't know, double it, what would that number be?

SPEAKER_01: 13:31

Well, I would say like uh maybe a hundred, yeah. Because I'd be amazing. In a year, I I can have like 25 or 30 coaches plus the conferences, so maybe yes.

Anni: 13:46

That is super achievable. I want to reach back out to you in a year and have you tell me that oh my gosh, Annie, I've helped a hundred people this year, and I'm so proud. So I kind of got to know more about like the future and where you are going, your mission in life. And I'm just wondering in this current season, if there's any growing pains that you're noticing in your c consulting business, is there something like unexpected that you you're going through or you have to face?

SPEAKER_01: 14:16

Oh, yes, I think that uh sometimes companies don't invest on their people. 98% of the companies are small or medium, so they are paying many other things that they consider more important than uh people. So sometimes that's that's the worst part of my job, and that's why I'm doing so so much pro bono because companies don't have the money to invest in the development of their people, no? So that's crazy because they are working for them. So if you don't develop these people, they are going to stay behind. So this is this is something difficult uh since 2017. Uh the pandemic, it came like something really heavy because they stopped investing on me.

Anni: 15:06

Oh, okay. It sounds like that a lot of the problems are not within your own business, it's more about how people or businesses in Mexico are really small and they don't have the funds to invest in coaching and teaching their people. Therefore, you have to do a lot of pro bono work. Is that correct? Yeah, okay, okay. Yeah, that's correct.

SPEAKER_01: 15:30

And we have sometimes I have independent coaches, uh coaches, yes, but mostly in the companies that tell people to do this kind of project. So and um yes, it has been difficult with the companies, not with uh uh independent coaches, no, but yes, with the companies, yes, that's a topic.

Anni: 15:50

I'm super curious because I know like if I'm doing a lot of pro bono work, like that takes a lot of sacrifice, you know, like time, energy. I'm wondering if you have enough for yourself if you're taking care of yourself, you know, like be able to take care of yourself, if that's okay to ask. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 16:07

Oh yes, that's okay to ask. Yeah, sometimes yes, I get burned out, of course. Now, for example, that I am going through a difficult period of time right now because I have just lost my mother. Oh, I'm so sorry. Oh no, yeah, thank you. It's uh a month ago. So, yes, I made a stop and I could talk to my coaches and I told them, okay, I need a time to uh to move them. That's been really hard for me. So I think the best coach you you can have because I'm talking about my emotion and with my job. So, of course, I try to tell many people, but I try to not trespass my own well-being. Because when you don't take care of yourself, the message that you are sending to the people around you is you cannot take care of yourself. So, being for the people that are working in my company and uh with my coaches, of course, this is not the message I want to give them. No, you cannot take care of yourself. It's uh good to have burnout. No, of course not. So I'm taking care of myself. Yes, I have several things to do. I promise my problem that next year I'm going to slow down a little bit because yes, I have tons of things to do. So, and yes, I am making a proof coaching for all the pro bono work that I'm doing, so it's going to be easier for me. But yes, I I think I have found a balance, and that's something important because you cannot teach something that you don't do. And for me, it's really important to have a balance on the course, to have family time. For me, my son, my husband, they are my life, and I really enjoy being with them. So, yes, it has been hard, but yes, I think I find the time to do the things that matter.

Anni: 17:54

Wow, Gabby, you are an extremely strong woman. Like for someone who's just lost a parent and your mom, and to be able to process all that and still be focused on balancing as well as taking care of your family and the dozens of people that you have in your life that you're consulting right now. You are an incredible person. Is there anything that like you think we can help you with and support you? Like, you're an incredible person. I would love to know how like we can continue to support you.

SPEAKER_01: 18:28

Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Oh, well, I think that spreading the word that it's important to take care of yourself is really important, you know. So find the balance in your life. It's uh I cannot tell my coaches to find this balance and this purpose if I don't like it first. Because that's the important part. Sometimes the person told me, no, Gabby, this is uh a performing, you don't have to be coherent with what you are doing. This is just the show. And I said, No, I'm so sorry, but if I tell people something, I have to leave it. So, yes, it has been hard, of course, and I'm taking care of myself, and I'm going to make uh to safety break in December, of course. I need it, and I also have the support of my family during this period of time and uh of many other people, you know. I think that I have people that cares for me and they have been very impressive. So I feel really uh they they have been taking care of me, you know.

Anni: 19:27

So yeah, it's so interesting and funny when I'm just like, how can we take care of you? And your first instinct is, well, I just want people to be able to take care of themselves and take care of themselves. You're such a loving and giving person. Oh my gosh. I wanted to see if you would be down to play a little game with me. It's a little business investment game. It's called First, Last, Best, Worst. And it's a way to help our coaches kind of figure out like how to grow and learn from you as well. Well.

SPEAKER_01: 20:00

Okay, okay, let's do it.

Anni: 20:02

Okay, cool. So, from a business investment, a lot of times our coaches go to training, uh do marketing and masterminds. And I'm just wondering, what is the first business investment that you remember making?

SPEAKER_01: 20:17

The first business investment could be my offices because I wanted to have a safe place for everybody working here. So it's my in in their offices to be able to have them okay with with the good light and uh the good environment, you know. So it was weird. I think when you work in a nightway, you work there, yeah.

Anni: 20:41

It's a great place for everyone to come together. That's a huge investment, and it sounded like a really good investment too to bring people together. Yeah, what is the most recent investment that you've made?

SPEAKER_01: 20:52

Okay, I do mean like in the company or whatever.

Anni: 20:55

Oh, yeah, mostly in your consulting business.

SPEAKER_01: 20:59

Yeah, okay. I could say a course for all the employees, um, and I think it was amazing because I am giving the courses of conscious leadership, you know, but this is different if it comes from me than if they go to a course and they have um other people around. So I invested in that. So every single one of the of the people that have working here, they are taking this course. So I think that was an amazing investment because that's what I am uh trying to teach to other companies.

Anni: 21:31

Okay. This is really great that you invest back into your team. What is the best financial business investment that you've made and why?

SPEAKER_01: 21:41

I think that training and development are amazing investments. And when people grow, your business is going to grow, of course. So for me, that's amazing. When I invest in the people around me, in the lives that I have that I'm taking care of, I think that's an amazing investment because it's the return over investment, it's amazing because they can fill all the clients in a very different way. So the best investment ever is training and development.

Anni: 22:13

What is the best training and development course called that you took? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_01: 22:17

I think this one, the College of Leadership, because I did it several years ago, and I am reading a lot about that. And I have my my great books here, no, like this from Bob Chapman, everybody masters, you know, everybody masters this book. I really recognize this book, and uh now that they are taking the course, it's amazing because they are sharing with me all the knowledge. So this is amazing because they are they are teaching me new things, but they are like thinking in the course, so that's something different. I guess now.

Anni: 22:52

Wow, what's something that you learned from the the book that helps you in your life?

SPEAKER_01: 22:57

Well, this book is amazing, and I really think that the philosophy of Bob Chapman is amazing. It's you don't have employees, you have life. So because the person that is working with you is someone, someone's mother, or someone's brother, or someone, whatever. So I'm here at the office we say that we are life, no? It's that we are we are doing the changes, and he says that we have to have devotion, a funny place, where to be, and uh because he he saw that people were having a good time outside the office. So he said, Well, why don't we bring that joy to the office? And devotion because he's a very spiritual person, so he was the church, and he said, Okay, so people is coming to the church because they have something, so it is the devotion that I want for the company and everything that's important, and also to take care of all the people that is around you. So I have been learning emotional intelligence and politics psychology, and then when I met conscious capitalism, I said, like, okay, this was like the view that that was amazing to put everything together. So I think that those are amongst the things that this is a book from Bob Chapman that is the CEO of Barney Web Miller and Rach Cisodia. Both are the leaders that are spreading the conscious capitalism.

Anni: 24:25

Wow, I love it how that it's impacted your mindset too, and how it really highlights your perspective that you know, people they're not just employees, they're human beings with spirit, with energy, they're mother parents, like that's seeing them not as objects or tools, but like real human spirits.

SPEAKER_01: 24:44

That's really not not human reasons. No, they matter, you know, yes, they have many things to give, and sometimes we don't place them in the right position, so they matter. So we have to find as leaders the right position for the person, it's not the other way around, but I want to be a human service manager, and that's why I'm here. No, if you are to as a humanitarian manager, that's amazing. But if not, let's find a way. So I would say that that's super important, and it's uh like making sense with all things, the things that I have studied so what's going on.

Anni: 25:25

I'm glad that you were able to share that book and how that was the best investment. I'm wondering what's now like the worst investment that you've made, and you're like, man, I want my money back from that experience. What was that?

SPEAKER_01: 25:38

Several years ago, it was like super famous versus that was even amazing courses. And uh uh when I went and all my team we went to that course specifically, I felt so disappointed because it was more like a cold or a safe or something, and I was like, what are we doing here, you know? And uh all the people were like super excited, and I was like, no, no, this is not what I want because there was no tech, you know, it was the concept like floating here, but nothing that comes, I don't know, inside, and it was not very good, but so I think my best and like the worst options have been courses, but now I'm good at uh choosing courses or good uh training some replicas.

Anni: 26:25

Yeah, I'm glad that you were able to take that influencer's course and realize, like, you know, just because they're famous, it doesn't mean like they are good teachers. Yeah, do you want to name drop them or keep that a secret?

SPEAKER_01: 26:37

That's a secret because I don't know. If that person helps someone, that's okay. But I think that uh sometimes if they are not in the right path, yes, this can become like a call for something, you know, it's uh it's difficult. So, but sometimes it's the only thing that you can do. So if you are looking for something to help you in a moment of despair, I think that uh it's okay for me because I know all the concept, everything that I know it's it's important, and uh this person that told me that was the person that I told you that this is a paper for me, this is not this is not what I am. So I I don't like this kind of person.

Anni: 27:17

Yeah, and it really wasn't for you, it wasn't for you because you're way further along on that journey, and yes, it's great for those people that they're actually helping. I wanted to ask about advice because you've been in the business for 20 years and you have so much knowledge to share. What is the most overrated piece of business advice that you have ever heard?

SPEAKER_01: 27:41

Well, overrated advice, yeah, yeah.

Anni: 27:44

Like people say it all the time, and it like really doesn't make that much of an impact, you know?

SPEAKER_01: 27:50

So many, right? Yes, sometimes other people say is that you have to warn from within, and in reality, you are not consistent with what you say and what you do, no, everything that I told you. So I have heard so many gurus saying amazing things, their lives are completely destroyed. So it's not something specific, no, that it's an advice, but I think that when you give an advice and it doesn't come from a good place, it doesn't come through and it's not helping people. So that's what I can say. Not just one thing, but several things that if you don't act the way you really believe, if you're not going to be successful or just they are just words that are not thinking successfully.

Anni: 28:39

Yeah, just not having alignment with like what you truly believe and the things that you say that can definitely set people aloft. They would be pretty lost by that. Yeah. What is the most underrated piece of advice that you've ever gotten? Something that's helped you discover yourself and maybe you want other people take more seriously?

SPEAKER_01: 29:03

Well, I think that uh sometimes coaching is taken like this is going to change you to solve your problems, uh to solve your life. And this is not uh coaching is not to solve someone's life, it's to help them see the parts of themselves that they are avoiding. No, so this is not magic. This requires patience, presence, and courage to hold silence when someone wants away from the food. So sometimes when you tell people, take this in, it's not all magic, this is going to take time, and you have to walk with yourselves. People want magic solutions. And I think that coaching is it's a process. So real transformation is not dramatic, it's funny. So I think we don't have to rush people to their breakthroughs, and I think this is sometimes something that people don't understand. That it has to take time. I know if I answer what you ask me, that yes, it's sometimes they don't see the power of coaching because they want things really quickly, and this is a cross because you have been acting this way for a very long period of time, so you have to take time to change. Change sometimes to earth.

Anni: 30:19

You know, when you say that piece of advice to me, it's speaking directly to my soul because, like, you know, I want results, I want to be better, I want to be the best version of myself now. And for you to say, hey, it's okay, change takes time, and there's a part of me that's so resistant because I want it so bad right now, fast. But I think that's exactly why people need to hear this is that it's okay. Take your time, it's a process, things don't happen right away, and that's okay. Well, that's a really good advice. Thank you so much for sharing that.

SPEAKER_01: 30:54

This only takes science, but you'll go on within yourself. So if you haven't explored your shadows, your patterns, your fears, you will never be able to guide someone through there. And this is a process, and I have to make you be in touch with your shadows, your patterns, your fears. So this is not something that you can do one day to the other. It is just a process.

Anni: 31:16

It is just a process, all right, listeners. That was a beautiful piece of advice from Gabriela. Okay, Gabby, how can people find you and connect with you?

SPEAKER_01: 31:27

Okay, I'm in LinkedIn as Gabriela Martinez Breton. So it's my my code name. And in Instagram is Gabby do Breton do psicóloga in Spanish. That's how you can find me.

Anni: 31:43

Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. A few things that really stuck out about you was just how soulful you are, how loving and generous of a person you are, and the fact that you were on this path to help hundreds of people. I feel it. I feel your vibe, I feel your energy. I know you've helped so many people, and I see that you're going to impact a whole generation. And I'm really grateful that you joined our podcast today.

SPEAKER_01: 32:13

Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. And uh the first one I want listeners to take away uh it's that nothing changes until you are willing to look inward with honesty and compassion. Because your potential isn't waiting for the perfect moment, it's waiting for the attention, and it takes time and need to transform your whole life today. Just start with a moment of clarity, one intentional speech down one step for what the person below you can become. Your purpose is not something you find, it's something you real with every choice you made, and it takes time so easily.

Anni: 32:54

Hmm, you heard it here. Be patient with yourself. Transformation takes time. Alright, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01: 33:01

Thank you, honey.

Davis Nguyen : 33:03

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.