Leadership, Talent, and Career Growth Explained with Miranda Conlon

In this episode of career coaching secrets our guest is Miranda Conlon, a seasoned people and culture leader who shares practical insights on career growth, leadership development, and building meaningful workplace impact, drawing from her experience across talent strategy, coaching, and organizational development; this conversation dives into actionable advice for professionals navigating career transitions, developing leadership confidence, and creating long-term success in today’s evolving job market.

You can find her on:
https://mirandaconlon.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/miranda-conlon/
Email: miranda@mirandaconlon.com

Transcript

Miranda Conlon: 0:00

Tell me if this is too long a story, but then my dad got sick and so I sort of stepped back from looking at what I was going to do next and was really focused with my mom on my dad's health. And the only thing I did throughout this entire phase of my life was work with a career coach and really spend time thinking about what I wanted to do. And out of that, knowing I didn't want to lead a sales team, I didn't want to go in enablement, I didn't think I wanted to be back in corporate. I loved managing people, I loved coaching people, I loved developing people, I loved helping other people be better at their jobs, I loved helping people think about what they do next.

Davis Nguyen : 0:43

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 Wayne, 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.

Kevin Yee: 1:14

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcasts. I'm Kevin, and today we are joined by Miranda Conlon. She is the founder of MLC Coaching, been in business for one year, but been coaching for 25 plus years. Welcome to the show, Miranda.

Miranda Conlon: 1:31

Thank you. Happy to be here.

Kevin Yee: 1:34

Yeah, I'm happy. I'm happy that we're finally getting to connect. I know the first time we connected, we had some technical issues.

Speaker 3: 1:41

We did.

Kevin Yee: 1:41

But something I think about is 25 years of coaching is a long time. You could have been, I don't know, a librarian, maybe uh baker in the past. But of all the things that you chose, you chose coaching. And not only that, you chose to turn into a business. Tell me a story about about that.

Miranda Conlon: 2:05

Sure. Well, I can start by saying I attempted an Apple Crisp two nights ago, and it was really not good. So baker, I don't think, was ever on the list.

Kevin Yee: 2:17

Maybe another timeline.

Miranda Conlon: 2:20

Yes, my daughter is an excellent baker. So maybe it skips a skips a generation or something.

Speaker 3: 2:25

Yeah.

Miranda Conlon: 2:26

Yeah, I mean, I would say I have been coaching my whole career. I have been in business leadership my whole career. And well, not my whole career. I started in business and pretty quickly moved into leading teams. By the end of my corporate life, I was leading teams of, you know, up to 200 people. And so, sort of inherently in there, I was coaching, mentoring, developing, helping people performance manage, all those things, but it was always like the side part of my job. I was also leading a huge sales team or leading an enablement team. And so, yes, I would say I've been doing it for many, many years, and now it's my whole job, which is amazing.

Kevin Yee: 3:14

What was that transition like? Because you know, I don't feel like this was like overnight. You're just like, oh yeah, tomorrow I'm just gonna start my business and quit everything, right? Like, how'd it happen?

Miranda Conlon: 3:25

It was actually literally the opposite. It's funny you say that. Because for a long time I said I never want to be, I always want to have a boss. Like that was sort of what I said. I always want there to be somebody above me making the final call. I always describe myself as like not entrepreneurial. I don't know where I created that narrative. And in fact, my dad had his own business my whole life. So um I don't know where it came from, but so you're right. I definitely did not overnight say I'm ready to be a coach. And in fact, I'd probably say the way I got here was thinking about all the things I didn't didn't want to do or be. So I made the choice to step away from corporate leadership and first took a little time to like literally lower my cortisol levels because it was so high. So cortisol is like the fight, flight, freeze-appease hormone in your body, and it was so high from my work experience that it wouldn't come down. Like I had to go to a doctor and work with an endocrinologist and get it to come down. So I also got COVID and shingles all in like the same like three-month period. So my body was saying, you can't keep doing this. So I stopped, I left, I navigated a graceful exit, as we say in the business. And once I sort of slowed down and started thinking about what I wanted to do, I instinctively just started looking for jobs as a sales leader or an enablement leader. And each time I did it, I felt like a little sick to my stomach. Like I was like, this is not resonating at all. Tell me if this is too long a story. But then my dad got sick, and so I sort of stepped back from looking at what I was going to do next and was really focused with my mom on my dad's health. And the only thing I did throughout this entire phase of my life was work with a career coach and really spend time thinking about what I wanted to do. And out of that, knowing I didn't want to lead a sales team, I didn't want to go in enablement, I didn't think I wanted to be back in corporate. I loved managing people, I loved coaching people, I loved developing people, I loved helping other people be better at their jobs, I loved helping people think about what they do next. She one day was like, Why aren't you a coach? I was like, Why aren't I a coach? And then like literally overnight, I started, I like created my LLC, I opened a bank account, like I just I can't really explain it, but that was overnight. Once I realized what I wanted to do, I just dove head in. Now here we are.

Kevin Yee: 6:26

Yeah, yeah, it's so interesting because you share your story, and I think about it was literally cortisol flowing through your bloodstream, and your body was shutting down, and it forced you to take a break to reflect. And it's really interesting. There's this, I think a lot of times, sometimes like we maybe in corporate life, we kind of ignore the signs from our body, right? And it seemed like you tapped into this a little bit more, and you know, when you found the right thing, when actually coaching kind of sounds like it found you, it was just like a like game on. I love that.

Speaker 3: 7:06

Yeah.

Kevin Yee: 7:07

And so I know you're in your first year, but like let's let's talk about the marketing aspect, right? Because you have a sales background and all that. How are you? You're a business, right? How do you how are you how are people finding out about you right now in this season?

Miranda Conlon: 7:24

It feels like a loaded question for me. It's something I spend a lot of time thinking about. I would say almost entirely from people I know and then referrals and renewals. And I feel both super thankful for that, and think there are other things I ought to be doing to grow my business. I'm actually working with a business coach right now who's really pushing me to try things even if they're not 100% ready for the world to see. And that's that's a little hard for me, but I'm I'm working on it. I for anybody who's look looks me up, like I've posted twice on LinkedIn in the last year, but I'm getting ready to start doing it more when I'm learning about like what I do want to share with the world and what I don't want to share with the world. It took me a little while to realize like I am my brand. And so now that I really get that, it's how do I want to tell the world my brand because I'm very comfortable working with people who knew me or worked for me or worked indirectly with me or know someone who works with me, right? Like all of those things felt easy or easier. Um, starting to work with people I know nothing about or didn't know and don't know me is just a new challenge that I'm just diving into, also. So it's not a great answer because I don't really do like I definitely don't do formal marketing for whatever that means.

Kevin Yee: 9:07

Yeah, and like thank you for being so vulnerable too, because I know like it's it's year one, right? And so you're trying to figure things out. And you know what I say sometimes is like it's easy to look at the highlight reels like on Instagram or like you know, those snapshots when the business is doing really, really well, but not enough people talk about what's happening when actually we might not know the answer right now, and we're discovering it. So I appreciate your your honesty there. Yeah, but let's talk about something like oh yes, go ahead.

Miranda Conlon: 9:37

Well, I was just gonna say, I think to your point, there's so much out there on LinkedIn and on Instagram and even business on Facebook, like it's hard not to think, oh, that's what I'm supposed to be doing. And so what I have been spending time on is what do I want to do? And if that doesn't feel right or it doesn't resonate, like one of the things my coach said is if I'm putting something out there and it doesn't, I'm not in a rush to put it out there, it's probably not ready, right? So, what about it doesn't seem right, and what do I want to change to make it feel more authentic to me? Because I do want it to be authentic Miranda. Like if I'm the brand, it should feel, sound, look like me.

Kevin Yee: 10:23

Yeah, that is true. That's the hard part about content too, is like figuring out your brand voice, what you want to share, what you don't want to share. Also, something I'm very curious about what you said earlier is like almost entirely you're basing it on your your your client base is off of renewals and referrals. But you have to get those initial uh referrals from. Can you tell me a story about like how you got your first few initial clients?

Miranda Conlon: 10:52

I literally made a list of everyone I knew through any phase of my business career whose cell phone I had. Because I felt like if I knew them well enough to have their cell phone number, I knew them well enough to text them. And so I texted people individually and shared that I was starting a coaching business, and that's the one of the two times I also posted something on LinkedIn where I announced that I was doing it, started a business, and I didn't have anything to compare it to, but I got lots of impressions and lots of views and lots of people that are like, of course you are, like you're meant to be that you're made for this, you've always been a coach, you know. So it was I like that um like external validation. Um, so I post I texted people individually, I did that one LinkedIn, and I met with a few people who were like, Yes, let's talk. I met with a lot of people, let's talk. I got a couple clients of people who I had known, you know, my first client, I did a four session package and quickly realized four isn't enough. It's no not nearly enough. But so, like, you know, I've been learning and growing, and then I started to get, I got one corporate client, which was amazing, which then gave me um access to coach people within the company, and I've loved doing that. So now I've been, you know, expanding not just to people I know personally to work with them, but also talking to them about their businesses, like where they work and trying to get inroads there, and then renewals, so like which I feel very, I guess, proud of, right? It's like every single client has renewed in some way with me. So I have a busy day, but I'm definitely not like my roster isn't full yet.

Kevin Yee: 12:47

There's a lot of coaches out there, you know, and so I'm kind of curious. What do you feel like your I don't want to call it secret sauce, but like there's this unfair advantage that you probably have, right? Why the why people are actually like you and not some other coach. What do you think that is?

Miranda Conlon: 13:04

Well, you said vulnerable before. I I'm I'm very even when I led large sales teams or large teams, I always talked about being transparent. Like I'm very transparent, I'm very direct, but in a kind way. I think I am good at holding and creating space for someone to like stop and really think and think about all the permutations. Permutations is one of my favorite words because there's like in any situation, there's so many permutations, right? Like, and a lot of times people are like, no, I could never do that. Just the way I was like, I could never be an entrepreneur, but actually I could. And so, and I I ask a lot of questions to say, like, why not? What would it look like, right? So I think maybe my special sauce is I'm I'm authentic and transparent, I am direct, and I have a ton of experience. So, you know, I've changed jobs, I've worked in big corporate companies, I've worked in startups, I've coached people in startups, I've led sales teams, I've led um coaching and you know, like coaching of reps and like salespeople. I've um have all this different experience, and so I, you know, can sort of easily tell a story of like, oh, well, here's something I tried. I've got a ton of experience in like compensation and quotas, you know, so I can coach somebody really strategically, but also help them think about how they're gonna performance manage someone on their team. So I think I don't know if that was that's a very long special sauce, which is why I'm not a cook either. But um, you know, that's I think that's what I bring.

Kevin Yee: 14:50

You know, what's interesting is like, you know, as I reflect on your journey, you mentioned that you're texting people who are on your phone initially. For the people that did sign up, like with you and decided to do a coaching engagement with you, any similarities that you're noticing, like everybody talks about ideal client profile, right? What's yours that you've kind of discovered?

Miranda Conlon: 15:14

I'm laughing because similar to me like finding out deciding I want to be a coach by thinking about the things I didn't want to, thing things I didn't want to be, like led me to being what I realizing what I did has played a role in me thinking about who I work best with. And it's gonna sound really simple, but what well, let me take a step back. One of the things I do when I coach is I work with people on identifying their values and then helping them think about how they're living and applying those values and whatever they do. And it's funny because sometimes when we do the exercise, the person will be like, Well, am I thinking about work or life? And I usually kind of laugh and I'm like, Well, I think, you know, let's do the exercise and see what happens because it, you know, your values are your values, and they almost always realize, like, oh yeah, it's the same across both of them. There, you know, it's important to me in all those places. But when I first started thinking about my values, which is one of the things I was thinking about when I um took some time off, was I really want to work with good humans. Like I want to enjoy my day. Like when I worked in companies, I spent more time at work and doing work than at home. So I don't I'm not sure it's fair to say my ideal client is a good human, but like that's my number one criteria. I've had one client choose to stop working with me mid-package in the last year, and he was by far the person I connected with least, right? Like we did not mesh. And so, you know, it it was probably not the right fit.

Kevin Yee: 16:59

Are you saying this bad guy was a bad human? No, just kidding.

Miranda Conlon: 17:02

Um no, okay, in case you're listening, no, I'm not saying he was a bad human, definitely not. We were so different, right? We had such different approaches to life, such different, even different values, right? And um, so when I think about who I'm gonna coach, we don't have to have the same values. That's not what I'm saying at all. I coach men, I coach women, I coach people older than I am, I coach people younger than I am, I coach people all over the country, I coach my coach that I'm working with is from another country, right? So it's finding people who want to be coached, who are open to trying new things, who are willing to be vulnerable in the same way. People who one thing I talk a lot about is like the scarcity or the abundance mindset, and it doesn't just mean about money money, although people sometimes think that, but I gravitate towards people who can learn and understand the difference and think about it in their lives.

Kevin Yee: 18:03

You know what? I know we we were joking about you being like a baker or something or food and stuff, but it's almost like kind of like you know, the people I like hang eating with, right? They have a pretty open taste, they're not super they're open to new experiences, they're vulnerable to like not liking this or this being really weird, and they want to try new things, or they want in this case a coaching engagement. So it's pretty funny that you brought up uh brought up this as well.

Miranda Conlon: 18:32

Okay, yeah, and I and I would say, you know, sorry, I was just gonna say like people are no go ahead. I'm I would say I've probably been asked four times in the last three months, or I've been told by somebody, I don't really believe in therapy. And I'm like, okay, so first, like I'm like, well, we'll come back to that. Because I'm not sure like that's a thing. I'm not sure that's a thing to not believe in therapy, but coaching and therapy are not the same thing. So let's talk about what coaching really looks like and why I wouldn't describe them as the same thing and how they're different and um things like that. So, yes, like to your point, it's there has to be some openness, and I'm happy to help someone understand what it will be like and what it won't be like.

Kevin Yee: 19:23

Yeah. It's kind of interesting because I feel like it's obviously been getting better, but the granularity of the terms that we're using, right? Where like, you know, I think the older gen, they'd be like, yeah, coaching therapy, same thing, but they're very, very, very, very different. And uh, I'm sure we could d deep dive into the differences and all that sort of stuff. But um, I do want to go back to your story for a second because all right, you're interacting with these great humans, right? They're raising their hands, they get a text from you, they're just like, Okay, oh my god, Miranda, how do I how do I work with you, right? And so So if you're comfortable sharing, like what does what do your coaching engagements or offerings look like? Are they mostly like one-on-one coaching? Do you do any group coaching, team trainings? Kind of curious.

Miranda Conlon: 20:12

That's a good question. Currently it is all one-on-one coaching. I offer packages that start in theory with a six-session package, although I would say in like the last six months, everyone has started with eight or more. And if they started with six, we've renewed in some way. And even the people who have done, like I have a couple of clients who have done an eight-session package and then a 12-session package, which is so awesome. And then afterwards, I offer like a I've been calling it, I'm not sure it's the perfect word, but like a booster session where they can just check in with me and do one session for, you know, a one-off or if they're applying for a job or have a big meeting with their boss or something like that. So typically it's either 8, 12, 16, or six months. When I do the six months one, what I've been doing is typically we start weekly and then move to bi-weekly at some point through it. Because at the beginning, there's really something nice about meeting regularly, especially if I don't know them as well or don't know where they are in their career now. With my corporate clients, I don't know them at all. So I'm getting to know them, I'm learning about the things they want to work on. Sometimes I've been given feedback on what their leader wants them to be working on, right? And aligning on things like that. So each each person I work with has a different set of areas of priority. I'm offten focusing on like stakeholder management, communication, performance management, and then what I call intentional career exploration. So that could be do they want to do better at their own job? Do they want to think about another job in the same company, or do they want to think about going someplace else? And that could be somebody who is working or isn't. In fact, most of my clients are working, but thinking about what's next. And I haven't done group coaching, although I'm very intrigued by it. I think it could be really interesting because I love being in a group coaching environment. Like I really thrive on the group and hearing other people and like people nodding and feeling like I'm not alone. So I it's something I'm very interested in trying. I have not done it yet. And it's all always virtual. So I've I have people literally all over the country currently. I don't have people outside of the country, but I in all of my jobs for the last many, many years, I manage people globally, and I actually love I love that experience. I love focusing on and understanding different cultures and environments and languages. I actually speak French and Spanish pretty well, and I love to practice it. So really, yeah, so not neither perfectly, but both well enough. I don't know if I could do a whole coaching session in it, but I definitely could have a conversation in it in either of those languages.

Kevin Yee: 23:11

Man, previous life you're a translator too. That's awesome.

Miranda Conlon: 23:14

Oh, totally, or a tour guide. Someday I think I may like I'd like to be a um like a travel advisor. I think that would be really fun too.

Kevin Yee: 23:27

Uh yeah.

Miranda Conlon: 23:30

So I don't know if I answered your question, but it's all it's all one-on-one. It's all typically a package, and I meet with people usually either every week or every other week because I definitely see value in keeping the momentum, not feeling like we have to catch up, knowing the players that they're working with, etc. The other thing I would say I do when I do the career exploration pieces, I'm with them all along the way. So, like if they have interviews, I'm helping them prep for them. If they have to do a case study, I help them, you know, practice or put the material together. I help them negotiate an offer. I help them think about how they want to give their notice and their job if they're working, some, you know, so I'm I'm really there all along the way.

Kevin Yee: 24:16

Yeah, I love that career coaching aspect that you add too. And it goes to show that all that like 25 plus years of experience really, really come into play as well.

Miranda Conlon: 24:26

Right, which is crazy because I am so young.

Kevin Yee: 24:33

I know better not to ask how old you are on this uh podcast as well. Yes.

Miranda Conlon: 24:37

So I'm over 21.

Kevin Yee: 24:42

You know, being uh in your first year or two and having a sales background, um, I would actually like your perspective on this because where I noticed a lot of coaches where they struggle is pricing and pricing strategy. So they're like wondering, oh my god, what do I charge? How do I get that initial number? How do I put this together? Of course, you don't have any have to give any hard numbers, but I would love to hear about like how you think about pricing and how you structured your uh your your packages.

Miranda Conlon: 25:15

Okay, well, I'm gonna answer it, and then if you're willing to give me any feedback, I welcome it. It is by far the thing I struggle with the most. It is by far the thing I'm least comfortable with. I don't think it's the thing I spend the most time thinking about, but it's definitely the thing I ruminate about the most. I have been told multiple times that I should double my prices. I haven't done it yet. I often offer discounts, and I've been told not to do that. Like I listened to this great book on tape called Something Like We Should All Be Millionaires. And she literally is like, whatever your price is, double it, right? And then if she's like, I want you to see if you can make this much money, and then she's and if you're thinking you can't do that number, take whatever number you think you can do, and then add 25%, right? Like whatever I say, people are always like, you are lowballing the price. So I'm sort of prefacing it with that. I try not to talk about it by like pricing per session, but it kind of ends up being that way because the package has a number of sessions in it. And I do discount in the in that the more sessions you do, the less it costs per session. And so I don't I don't know if any of these things are best practice. It's I've I've worked really hard. Somebody once told me that if you were to go in to buy a Mercedes, which I probably wouldn't, but if one were to go in and buy a Mercedes, and whether you know a 50-year-old man walks in or an 18-year-old college girl walks in, the Mercedes costs the same, right? And so you're not gonna change the price based on who walks in. And so I try really hard to remember that, but it it's it's really hard for me. Please give me feedback.

Kevin Yee: 27:19

Yeah, I think based off what you're saying, like it's very, very normal what you're going through. This is honestly, so the reason I'll tell you why I talk about this on this podcast. It's because it's on everybody's mind. Money's a bit taboo, right? So no one talks ever talks about it. But I think it's one of the most important things because pricing determines how much profit you make, pricing determines the type of clientele that you bring in, whether they're uh good humans or not, right? It's like it determines so many different things, even your workload, too, right? Like I think all those things come into play. And I've heard so many different pricing models, right? Like, both through the podcast, but also through my experience, too. Like, you know, some people base it off of their own resources, so that's when you hear things like, oh, price it hourly, which I would never recommend. Price it through packages, right? But then there's the other side of the spectrum of like charge, charge your know your value, which is very good, by the way. I hate that. It's like one of the like things I hate, but like there is there's uh something about like value-based and learning how to have those value-based conversations, like you know, being able to quantify it, like hey, you know, it sounds like you're really struggling with I don't know, sales or whatever, right? Yeah, if we were to fix this bottleneck, what would that mean to you? What would that look financially, right?

Miranda Conlon: 28:54

So there's so many different ways. I I believe firmly that people there's an ROI, like a really strong ROI from working with me, and I talk about that. Yeah, whether it's like you said, like you know, removing the bottleneck or helping them find another job or helping them get promoted or helping them have a better work-life balance. So they're working fewer hours, right? Like all those things I see come to fruition. And I also know I got paid so much more when I was in corporate than I'm making now, right? And so I I agree with you on the like, what's your value? But I'm clearly undervaluing myself with my pricing currently, or there's like some evidence that would suggest that. And so that's something I'm focusing on for myself for because I hope this is my job for the rest of my life. Like, I hope this is what I do from here on out.

Kevin Yee: 29:56

Yeah, I'm happy to have a deeper conversation with you offline too. But like I always think about the classic Peter Drucker Drucker quote profit is derived from risk, and whoever's taking more risk gets a profit more. So, for example, that example that you gave about you know, you discount your prices per session if they buy a longer duration of time, right? In that case, they're de-risking uh the volatility of your business and you're collecting more MR. So it does make sense to or sorry, the monthly recurring revenue uh through a subscription, um which which actually favors you. And so I'm like, oh yeah, that's perfect. Maybe it makes sense to do that in that case, right? I've known I've spoken to some people on this podcast. They they got equ they did it for equity of a company. Now that was super risky, but one of the guests ended up uh doing like uh his company ended up doing all the coaching arrangements for uh Tesla, Hyperloop, and SpaceX when they were brand new. And we all know what happened with that. So he took a huge risk more. Yeah, yeah, no, yeah. I've never heard of Tesla or SpaceX or anything like that. Crazy, right? But it's really, really interesting. And um, yeah, I just want to let you know you're in the right direction too for pricing. So thanks. What kind of like if if you're thinking about pricing models based off what we talked about in the short amount of time, what do you what what is the pricing model that you kind of want to like explore in the future? Are there any types of pricing models that come to mind?

Miranda Conlon: 31:32

Well, it's interesting. You said subscription. I'm not sure that's me. I do think group coaching would create a different type of pricing model, which could be interesting. Both more people would more people do it, and then I could be coaching more people at once. So that's very interesting to me from both a time and cost perspective. And then what I've started to do, which is new, is it used to be the people I was working with really were on like a pretty recurring meeting with me, right? Like every week or every two weeks at the same time. And for those people who have finished a package like that, I'm offering more of like, okay, you can you buy, I guess you buy eight sessions and you use them when you want, right? So kind of like the booster I was talking about, but a package of them so that they can say, like, okay, I want I want you with me for these for the next three weeks or the next six weeks as I go through this big head of people interview at this big company, and I want you there all along the way, right? So that's something new that I'm trying.

Kevin Yee: 32:43

Yeah. My prediction, what's gonna happen is you're gonna probably experiment with a lot of different pricing models, and you'll see what's uh yes res what resonates with the good humans, most likely.

Miranda Conlon: 32:54

Yes, my best friend is a um coach. She's a uh she coaches only women physicians, and she tells me all the time you have to try a hundred things, right? You're gonna try a hundred things for everything you do, right? Like what your website looks like, what you offer, what you price, how you price it, right? And you have to be willing to fail 97% of the time, right? Or maybe not fail, but she always says, You're either winning or learning. So I say that to myself. What's that?

Kevin Yee: 33:28

I said it feels like you're collecting data points, you know.

Speaker 1: 33:31

Yeah, yeah, so I'm either winning or learning, or both.

Kevin Yee: 33:36

Yeah. And the last thing before we move on, too, I think I think a lot about the type of people that we want to help as well. I guarantee if I was helping a bunch of pharmacists, they would be risk-averse, that's crazy. So they probably wouldn't want to take on a bunch of risk and stuff like that. They would probably want a more conservative type of thing where it's like, oh yeah, packages and all that versus value-based, right? Because, you know, as a farm, as I was a pharmacist too, we're we're we look for we're we're like anti-risk, you know, because if we take risks, the patient dies and stuff like that, too, which isn't always great. But yeah. Anyways, moving on. One of the other questions I'm actually really curious about, Miranda, is your future goals. And so, being this your first year, where do you want this business to take you in the next few years? Do you have desires to scale, hire more, secret dreams or ambitions no one knows about? I'd love to hear them.

Miranda Conlon: 34:33

So I do think about it, because as I said, I hope this is my job forever. I I'm trying to find the right balance of corporate clients and individual clients. I love the sort of stability of the corporate client, meaning I can have one company and then coach any number of people. And so then I'm not trying to sell to more companies. I'm just, we're just figuring out who is the next person I'm going to coach. I, of course, need to still add value, if you will, right? Because if I'm not doing a good job and they're not seeing the benefit and the growth of their employees, they're not going to keep working with me. But I do really, and I really like knowing the different departments and teams and people, right? So that when they're talking about it, can be like, oh yeah, I heard that, you know, I've heard, da-da-da-da-da, right? Like, how's that impacting you? So I, and it's sort of like also working at the company, but without all the responsibilities. Um, I always think to people, I'm like, this is your best one-on-one, right? Like, you get to have a one-on-one with me where you can say anything, express all the feelings, all the worries, all the thoughts we can brainstorm, and there's no consequence because I'm not your boss, right? So, and what you can say to your boss is just different from what you can say to your coach. So I am looking to continue to expand in the corporate space. I also um really enjoy seeing the growth and development of people that are working with me individually, where I think there's zero worry about the company or you know, who knows who and things like that. And I forget what the question was. What was I just saying? Sorry.

Kevin Yee: 36:27

What do you want your business to take in? Oh, yeah.

Miranda Conlon: 36:30

Um, yeah, so I want to continue both, but grow the corporate side, continue to grow the corporate side. I don't know that I would have like an employee who was another coach, although that could be interesting. I've thought if I did group coaching, I know some people who are really good at things like, or they're certified in things like 360 reviews, like you know. Um, so I could imagine partnering with people in that way. I've done a little bit of that already. I always kind of joked that like when I get a certain number of clients, I'm gonna get a virtual EA, like an executive admin who will um do some of the more like tactical work and logistical work. But so far I love doing that. Like every time I bill a client or send an invoice, I'm like, I feel so happy. So um, but that could be down the road. My day is so busy, I need somebody else to send the invoice. That that will be a good day to celebrate.

Kevin Yee: 37:28

Beautiful. You know, one of the other questions I have too. Uh, we talked about this and you shared a few already, but also in your current season of business right now, what are just some growing pains that you're experiencing? Is there anything that was kind of like unexpected? I guess.

Speaker 1: 37:46

I mean, it's all been unexpected.

Miranda Conlon: 37:49

I feel like all I've done this call is talk about the pains. To be clear, I love it. I love what I'm doing. I love I love everything about it, even the pain points. I guess pain points have been. I do we talked about the pricing, right? Like figuring out what what is compelling. How do I not create my own thoughts and feelings about you know their circumstances? So that's been a pain point. I think we talked, you said something funny, I can't remember what you said about the LinkedIn piece, but I know I need to be out there more. I want to be out there more. I joke that I the thing I don't want to have the LinkedIn post that's like blah blah blah. Like when I read some, you know, someone's like, I got up at five this morning to da-da-da-da, and this is how I blah blah blah blah. And I just am like blah blah blah. So um I I think a lot about like what do I want to tell people about what I'm doing and how do I want to verbalize it. And I'm even, you know, thinking about this, like we're gonna go back and listen to this, and I'm gonna have a million thoughts about what I did say and didn't say and how I articulated it. So my pain points are really trying to be really intentional in my business. And you know, for example, like I want, I have, I use a tool for my contracts. I use a tool for my invoicing. Like I've been very intentional about trying to set it up for long-term success, you know, because people are like, you could just do that in a spreadsheet. I don't want to do that. Like I want it real, I want it serious, I want it repeatable, I want to iterate and improve, but not, you know, redo it every time. So I don't know if those are pain points, but they're things that took some time to get in place. But now I can send a contract in you know five minutes, which feels amazing.

Kevin Yee: 39:45

Yeah, it's beautiful. I love hearing like the early startup days too. It's like pretty amazing, and and it's also really grounding too because there's certain business because when you're starting again, year one, right? There's a lot of Fundamentals that you have to do, but as someone it's really refreshing too because it makes me reflect, oh, what fundamentals am I totally like overlooking as well? So it's really, really interesting.

Speaker 1: 40:14

Did you come up with one?

Kevin Yee: 40:19

I'm not gonna lie, like you were talking about the invoice stuff, and I hate like it's funny. Um that's the one part. Like, it's all the admin stuff, but luckily I have a VA and stuff, you know, like executive EA. So she helps me out so much. Finding a really good EA, finding a good social media manager, game changer, game changing for the business.

Miranda Conlon: 40:43

Although what I would also say is I it's easy in corporate to forget how to be like a manager-doer and do all the things. So what I'm proud of is if I when I have my executive VA, like I'm gonna teach that person how to do it because I already know, right? So, and I don't want to lose that. Or like I always say, you know, people are always like, if somebody got hit by the bus tomorrow, could you do it? And I like to say if they won the lottery, that seems like a little more positive. But I want to always but I always want to be able to do it, right? I want if someone's out sick or needs the day off, like and I need to send something out, like I want for the I want to always be able to do that for my own business. So that's one of my goals.

Kevin Yee: 41:33

Cheek you question, right? Would you still want to do that if even if you had like contingency in the business, like redundancy in the business, meaning like if you had two EAs that could cover each other?

Miranda Conlon: 41:45

Would you feel like that's a good question? No, no, I still want to know how to do it, but no, that's a great point. I mean, one of the things I talk about this with people I coach when we're talking about work-life balance. Four years for like almost my whole time working in big companies, when I took vacation, I worked throughout it the whole time. Or if I got a call, or if I need to jump on a meeting, and I always rationalize it as well, like because I can be on this nice vacation because of my job, right? That was my mindset.

Speaker 3: 42:20

Yeah.

Miranda Conlon: 42:21

And the summer of 2023, I took time off because of things going on in my personal life with my family, and I didn't work during vacation. And I was like, oh my goodness, like, what if what if I work so hard and now I have I cannot work on vacation because of all the work I've done instead of the other way around. Right. And that was, it took me a long, way too long to realize that. So, yes, to your point, I want to be able to go on a vacation at some point and have somebody else who could, you know, help me run my business while I'm out. So, yes, good point. Maybe one day I will have two people, or they'll work for a company where there's you know redundancy in that way, or maybe more, or maybe more.

Kevin Yee: 43:08

Who knows? And they write the SOPs for you. Totally, totally, yeah. Last last question for you, because you know, as a coach, you know, there's a lot of different investments you can make, not only a coach, a business owner, right? Because you can invest into marketing, you can invest into your own training, you can invest into like masterminds. There's so many, so many things, right? And so I guess during your first year, like what has been through your perspective, what has been kind of like an overrated investment and what's been kind of an underrated investment for yourself?

Miranda Conlon: 43:49

That's an interesting question. Well, I'm not sure I would describe it as either, but I have in fact two coaches, one of whom I've been working with since April, and one of whom I've only been working with for the last couple months. And that has both of them have been um invaluable, like worth every penny. Um, you know, I I'll be like, I can't believe we only have two more sessions. When can we have like, can we renew? You know, and that's what I want my clients to think about. I want them to be like, I need, you know, what? There's only two more. How do I get more? So I guess that's investing in myself, but I it I and I guess it's sort of like training, but having a coach has been incredible for me, and it helps me think about my business. One of my coaches is always like, think like a CEO, like Miranda, you've been like this executive leader. Like, think about that decision as an executive leader. I'm like, yeah, um, I put on my CEO hat, you know. And then the other coach that I'm working with now is helping me think about marketing and and social media and some of those things. So that has been, you know, irreplaceable. I don't know the right word. Overrated, I'm not sure I have found any of it overrated. I think uh networking is so important, no matter what. I'm not sure there's ever enough time to network enough. So that might be something I would say is, you know, sort of an area of opportunity.

Kevin Yee: 45:24

Last question for you, Miranda.

Miranda Conlon: 45:26

Okay.

Kevin Yee: 45:27

Hardest one of the day. Oh no. How can people find you and connect with you?

Miranda Conlon: 45:33

I hope that's not the hardest one. I have a website called Mirandaconlin.com. I have an email. Is this what you mean? Is it okay I'm sharing this here?

Kevin Yee: 45:45

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is this is your your time.

Miranda Conlon: 45:49

Great. Hi everyone. Um, my email is Miranda at Mirandaconlin.com. Um, I have a calendarly link on LinkedIn where you can book time with me for a complimentary like clarity call where we can, you know, get to know each other a little bit and see whether it might make sense to work together. I really like to try to understand when I first connect with someone, what is the biggest issue, pain point, problem you're trying to think about, and what are ways that I could help? Um, I do think I have experience in the world and in business and being a working mom and being a working parent and choosing to leave corporate and you know, all the things. And I really love supporting people in that journey and helping them, you know, hold the space to be intentional with it. So I would welcome people who would like to connect with me and learn more.

Kevin Yee: 46:49

Miranda, as I'm looking through my notes, there's a few things that really kind of pop out at me. I'll limit it to three. But one of the first things that sticks out to me is the identity change, right? Where you're like, oh yeah, I was always really I always wanted a boss and all that, and now you're in just a few short years, or just this last year, yeah, you shifted that identity, which is really inspiring. Because I'm sure a lot of people listening to this, maybe they're probably at their job, maybe they dabbled in coaching, but it just feels so impossible. So it's really cool seeing you make that transition. The second thing is too, um, earlier in the podcast, you're just like, Oh, I figured out what I didn't didn't want. And there's a power in the anti-vision, too, to understand what we're running away from. And I love that you mentioned that on this podcast. And the final thing, I think what really stands out about me is you leading through vulnerability, right? It's like you not you kind of being like, oh man, like I know I need to do LinkedIn, I know my pricing's kind of oh I'm not I don't feel too good about it, but you still putting in the reps and continuing to chug on. So I love that.

Miranda Conlon: 47:59

You know, it's so sorry, I was just gonna say I'm so sure with my clients, right? Like they'll say something, I'll be like, Are you kidding? Double that, are you kidding? Like, of course you can. So it doesn't it comes out very differently when I coach, so that's something I'm also aware of and and think about for myself.

Kevin Yee: 48:20

Yeah, yeah. Anyways, what I was gonna say. That's my really long-winded way of saying of like, hey, I appreciate your work. Your work matters, and thank you for just sharing your time, your stories, and just wisdom that you've gained uh uh throughout your one year of coaching the coaching business on this podcast today. So thank you so much, Miranda.

Miranda Conlon: 48:42

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Kevin Yee: 48:45

Yep, it's my pleasure.

Davis Nguyen : 48:47

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This podcast was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, or even $100,000 weeks, all without burning out and making sure that you're making the impact and having the life that you want. To learn more about our community and how we can help you, visit join purplecircle.com.