From Corporate to Coaching: Annette Blum Pearson’s Journey

 In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets, host Pedro sits down with Annette Blum Pearson, a coach and consultant helping professionals build careers and lives aligned with their values. Annette shares her journey from corporate leadership to launching her own coaching practice, the power of niching down, and how she helps executives and managers make impactful career pivots. Learn her strategies for creating consistency, driving client transformation, and scaling a coaching business while balancing life, family, and purpose-driven work.

Connect with

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annetteblum/
Website: https://www.annetteblumpearson.com/

Transcript

Annette Blum Pearson 0:00

It's very hard to believe in the power of creating a niche. Once you do, you realize that your energy can be so much better spent. The people who keep showing up in my coaching environment are successful people who work in either small or large businesses, are managers, directors, executives who are ready to do more to increase their impact. So they're not necessarily right out of college or even right out of graduate school. They are people who have done the work and are ready to take the leap to the next level and are figuring out not only what that looks like, because they might want to pivot and do something slightly different that feels more aligned with where they are now in their lives, but also how to do it. So what kind of decisions do they need to make? Where do they need to make changes in the way they operate so that they're doing the kind of work that feels meaningful to them, but also support their lifestyle, their family if they have one, and their community.

Davis Nguyen 0:59

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, go discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Pedro 1:30

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today's guest is Annette Bloom Pearson, a coach and consultant who helps people build value-space careers and lives that actually fit who they are. Drawing on a lived experience, researched backed coaching tools, and deep intuition, she works with individuals, teams, and communities to question assumption, clarify direction, and grow with intention. After earning her MBA from UCLA Anderson, Annette spent over a decade in big tech and startups as a product and marketing leader before launching her coaching practice. She is also the co-founder of Light Her Way and the creator of Shallon, a community platform designed to spark meaningful, action-oriented conversations that drive personal and professional growth. Welcome to the show, Annette.

Annette Blum Pearson 2:33

Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.

Pedro 2:35

It's great to have you. So every coach has that moment where they look at their life and say, you know what? I guess this is what I'm doing now. Right. So when was that for you?

Annette Blum Pearson 2:48

That for me, the official pivot into coaching happened at the end of 2020. There was a pandemic, and I was working for a very large tech company, feeling like my impact was being diminished a little bit because I was doing things that weren't necessarily completely aligned with my values and my long-term goals. Because we were in a space where we had a little bit more time to think, a little bit more space away from the corporate environment, I was able to decide what I really wanted to do. And that was to go back to the times that I felt most proud and happiest at work, which was when I saw people's faces light up with understanding, where people came together and they really felt aligned on a long-term vision and they really wanted to work together to make that a reality. So I actually know a lot of coaches and I really admire them. I talked to many, many coaches and was convinced that it would be a great opportunity for me to do the thing that comes most naturally to me, which is connect with people and really help them move forward with their careers and their lives. So that was the turning point for me going from corporate into my own business of coaching.

Pedro 4:12

And, you know, that leap of faith, going from corporate to your coaching practice. I want to understand when did it shift from I'm helping people to I'm building a real business around this?

Annette Blum Pearson 4:23

It's a great question. There was always the intention for it to be a real business. I think I've done informal coaching throughout my entire life. So the shift for me was thinking I can do this in a way that is able to support me, to contribute to my family, to contribute to the well-being of my future. So that was always a goal. And what I decided to do that I think was very intentional was get an official certification and go through a company where I knew they had a lot of history and a lot of the tools that I needed to be a very powerful coach. So I went through certification throughout the course of 2021 as I started to launch my business. And I also had a baby during that time. So I always say that I launched my business and my baby simultaneously. And that was actually a great way to really lean into the parts of coaching that I loved because I had to prioritize what I spent time doing because I everything I spent time doing in a work capacity was time away from my new son. So the business was always the intention and to grow something where I was helping individuals, I was giving back to teams in a corporate environment and also working with organizations that were doing nonprofit work, were doing social impact work so that they were able to grow and increase their impact as well.

Pedro 5:59

I love that. You know, um, having to manage a baby and the launching of your business puts you into that efficiency mode, right? Because sometimes people and we see, especially with uh with entrepreneurs, is that they're thinking, oh, I can work 12 to 13 hours, right? But at the same time, that's not sustainable. And if you try to put into a box, let's say six hours, five hours, eight hours, you're gonna have to be so efficient, like your situation, managing the baby, so your energy and time, it's really diminished. So you have to make ends meet towards exactly, I don't know, five, four, six hours, right? And that puts you into a state of efficiency. And and sometimes we see that lacking in entrepreneurs. Do you see is that something that applied for you?

Annette Blum Pearson 6:45

It took me a little while to figure out how to create that balance, to understand how much time I was able to devote to my business and what were the most important things that I could be spending time doing instead of doing the things that were just spinning wheels and not really moving the needle in terms of connecting with the communities that I wanted to know in order to build my client base or other coaches who I could learn from. So there is a lot of busy work at the beginning and even the middle of building a business around setting up your systems and your email tools and your accounting and things like that. And I did have to try to do that as effectively as possible with the time that I had. And I think the thing that I learned, and that has always been something that I rely on, is the more people you can reach out to to get help from, the more experts who you can lean into their knowledge and their expertise, the better you're going to be in terms of building the things that are harder for you and experiencing more success in your business because you are not spending time trying to do things that don't come naturally to you.

Pedro 8:03

Well, it's the foundation of getting a coach, right? To expedite their success. So that makes perfect sense. Okay, so after you got rolling, right? Who are the people that kept showing up? Because the the ones you realize, okay, these are my people. Because at the start, we see a lot of coaches that are struggling, right? They're trying to help everyone. But I'm not sure if you niche down, I'm not sure if you're, oh, okay, this is my crew. How did that play down?

Annette Blum Pearson 8:26

I agree. It's it's very hard to believe in the power of creating a niche. And once you do, you realize that your energy can be so much better spent. But the people who keep showing up in my coaching environment are successful people who work in either small or large businesses, are managers, directors, executives who are ready to do more to increase their impact. So they're not necessarily right out of college or even right out of graduate school. They are people who have done the work and are ready to take the leap to the next level and are figuring out not only what that looks like, because they might want to pivot and do something slightly different that feels more aligned with where they are now in their lives, but also how to do it. So, what kind of decisions do they need to make? Where do they need to make changes in the way they operate so that they're doing the kind of work that feels meaningful to them, but also supports their lifestyle, their family if they have one, and their community? Okay.

Pedro 9:37

I mean, that's the coaching side. But let's say we're talking about how do these people, your crew, they find you, right? The marketing aspect. So how do they they usually find you?

Annette Blum Pearson 9:48

How do clients find me or how does my community find me?

Pedro 9:51

Well, you're so the prospects, the clients, yeah.

Annette Blum Pearson 9:54

Yeah. I've actually done a lot of work with the alumni associations of both of my universities, both my undergrad, which is Emory University, and my master's program, which is UCLA. And because of the work I do there, doing trainings and also being part of their coaching network, I've had a lot of success with incoming requests for coaching. So a lot of that is building trust within a community that people feel comfortable with. So being part of that alumni association and having people look at the profile, understand that I am in a space that would be similar to something that they're experiencing. So they feel comfortable reaching out to explore coaching with me. I would say the other places where I build community and pull prospective clients are through LinkedIn and other social networking, but very specifically in areas where I feel aligned with the people. So in parents' groups where there are working parents who are working really hard to find that balance, especially with mothers who are very powerful entrepreneurs who are looking for support and a sounding board as they build their businesses and also work to create a family environment that they're proud of and that they feel benefits their entire family. Um and and really word of mouth. So the clients that I have, I give my all to every client. And I get feedback like, you've changed my life, or I never thought about things this way. And working with you has been so powerful. And when they share that with people that they work with or their friends, or even their partners, I have other people coming to me that way saying, I want that experience too.

Pedro 11:48

All right. So let's talk business for a second. Some people find you through LinkedIn or the Alumni Association, right? So they resonate with your work and eventually they want to know what working with you actually looks like. Everyone builds their coaching business a bit differently. So when someone actually becomes a client, what does that experience look like right now?

Annette Blum Pearson 12:08

When I work with individuals, I think it's important to create consistency. So I prefer not to work with someone on a one-off basis for sessions. We usually set up a minimum of six sessions over the course of about three or four months. And typically I recommend doing 12 sessions over the course of six to seven months so that someone really gets into the rhythm of coaching. They get into the rib rhythm of asking themselves questions and being used to the questions that I'm asking them so that as they're making decisions, they really are attuned to their personal values, the things that they want to prioritize in their life, in their career, in their relationships. And they're asking themselves, is this opportunity aligned with the things that I care about? And if it's not, why am I spending time on it? And if it is, what are the actions that I need to take and the milestones I need to reach in order to make this happen? So I like having a longer period of time to work with someone to help that transformation happen and create small habits that become big changes that they can really embrace over a lifetime and not just think about and then lose.

Pedro 13:26

How do you think about capacity? So don't stretch yourself too thin.

Annette Blum Pearson 13:30

That is a great question. So I have definitely felt stretched too thin at times during my time as a coach. One of the things that has been probably the most powerful for me is becoming part of a partnership and launching Light Her Way with my partner, Samantha, and being able to share some of the responsibility of creating outreach, creating marketing, of managing incoming requests and doing things like that so that not everything falls on me. That really what has worked well for us is communicating. What are the things that I'm good at? What are the things I like doing? What are the things she's good at? And what are the things that she feels comfortable doing? And we've also explored and tried hiring a virtual assistant. And that has been really excellent in certain times where we wanted to build our list of potential clients or potential attendees of one of our cohorts. Doing things that don't require our one-on-one attention, the being able to delegate has been extremely, extremely valuable.

Pedro 14:43

Okay. I want to tap into your experience a little bit, you know, because one thing every coach wrestles with at some point is pricing. And I'm not talking about hard numbers, okay? And how to package their work. You know, sometimes it's a self-worth path. There, oh, should I charge X, Y, and Z? Is it too much? Or am I worth it? Sometimes we see that happening with coaches. How do you think about it today? And what are any lessons along the way that shape how you landed where you are right now?

Annette Blum Pearson 15:09

Pricing is definitely one of the hardest parts of coaching because in a perfect world, I would love to offer free services to everyone. In reality, I know that that actually wouldn't benefit everyone. There are people who can afford coaching, and part of the value that they get is the investment that they make in it. So that is one of the things that I think about and remind myself and other coaches in my network about often is that when someone invests in themselves and they know that they're putting their precious money into something that will be meaningful to their future, they're going to be more committed. They are going to appreciate it in a different way. And so I believe that you need to price in a way that showcases value to the people you're working with. So I do modify my prices depending on the clientele that I'm communicating with as a prospective client. I said that I typically work with very high-level people, mid to high-level people in large companies or founders of startups. But there are also people who come to me who are very recently graduated or who are in between jobs and feeling a little nervous about their finances. When I think that they could benefit from coaching and my normal pricing will not work for them, then I want to give them an opportunity to try coaching at a lower price so that they can get the benefit of it. And if they decide to continue with coaching once they've established themselves either in a new career or their first career, then they know that the pricing will change because they can afford it and the investment will be meaningful to them in a different way. So that's how I think about it.

Pedro 17:01

I like that, you know, especially the commitment part because I've talked with hundreds of coaches and we see them trying to do pro bono, trying to do free free sessions and people not showing up because they were not committed enough. So I think that's the key word. It's like energy, you know, they're more down to it because they invested. So that makes perfect sense. Now I'm curious, you know, about where you're taking all this and that looking ahead, where do you see the business going? Are you thinking about scaling? You mentioned a V8, right? Hiring, or is there a next step you're excited about?

Annette Blum Pearson 17:36

Many. Yes, absolutely. Especially as we are so close to the new year. There's a lot of thinking about what is possible in 2026. But the scaling that I want to do and that I think will be so valuable to the people that I work with is doing a lot more work with teams, bringing groups together within a corporate environment and bringing the type of coaching that I do to them along with training. And you mentioned that I do, you know, research-backed coaching training. And that is something that I think is so important in the corporate environment that we're experiencing today. People have lost a lot of trust in institutions and in each other. So building the ability to trust each other, work together more effectively, stay at a company for a significant period of time is so incredibly vital to the way that businesses operate and the way that society is actually operating in order to serve the people who live in it. So the training that I want to do and that I want to do with my partner Samantha as part of Light Her Way is going into corporations and working with their managers to uplevel their communications, to understand what it is that makes a great leader, to make sure that people are aligned on the company's goals and that their personal values are also aligned so that they're working together effectively and that they are retaining employees instead of churning through them, which is both ineffective for the business, but also extremely costly. So what we want to do is be that investment for a business, for a team, even for a nonprofit or a social impact organization that really wants to take what they're doing to the next level.

Pedro 19:34

Okay. And of course, you know, whenever we're aiming toward the next chapter like yours, that you're you want to scale towards group training and all sorts of things, towards corporate, right? There's always something we're refining in the present. So what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business with Samantha?

Annette Blum Pearson 19:53

That's a good question. The areas that I think we are trying to improve are Well, I don't know if we're necessarily trying to improve, but what we want to do is understand very specifically for every business that we work for, the pain points that they are trying to solve and make sure that we are addressing those in a way that actually resonates with the people we're working with in that specific organization. So instead of bringing something generic to every single business that we approach or that we've been hired into, we like to make sure that we are talking to the leadership, we're talking to the managers who will be in our sessions to understand where they're struggling, where they're stuck, what they're proud of, so that we are really taking them to the next level as opposed to just bringing in some corporate jargon that feels boring and frustrating and that they don't think adds value because we know how busy people are.

Pedro 20:58

Yeah, that's true. And not to mention the fact that sometimes the person that hired you may have some blind spots, you know, that you need to uncover and tell them, hey, you know what? Actually, it's not the team, it's you. It could be, right? The wrong environment, the wrong leadership style towards that team or towards the goal they're trying to achieve. So yeah, that's a big challenge. I get what you're saying. Okay. Annette, I want to switch gears for a second, you know, do something a bit more fun. Not that this was not fun, but if you're down for it, I got a quick game for you.

Annette Blum Pearson 21:31

Yes, I love a game.

Pedro 21:32

Okay. So we'll look at this through the lens of business investments, okay? Things like coaching, training, marketing, team, masterminds, you name it. So it's pretty simple.

Annette Blum Pearson 21:43

Yeah.

Pedro 21:43

I'll give you four prompts and you tell me the first thing that comes to mind. If there's a story behind it, even better. Okay. First business investment you remember making. It could be in your own practice or it could be towards the co-partnership you have right now. You pick it.

Annette Blum Pearson 22:00

Well, the first business investment I made was well, twofold. The coaching certification was the initial investment, but I'd say the one that felt most meaningful to my business was my own coach, investing in having a coach who worked with me on my personal, you know, stuff, but also worked on me with the business. You know, what was I trying to build? What was important? What did I want to focus on in terms of the tools? And I absolutely loved my coach. Um, I'm working with someone different now, not because I didn't love her, but just a different fit. And I remember thinking she showed up to every session. First of all, she looked amazing, so professional. And it gave me so much peace of mind to think this woman has done this. She knows what I'm going through. And then she would work me through questions about where I was feeling stuck, what was working, and she would let me soundboard things. And I always left our sessions feeling really motivated and empowered to take my business to the next level. So I think coaching is the best and best a coach can make in their own in themselves.

Pedro 23:18

I like that, right? Practice what we preach. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. Next one. The most recent one you made, recent business investment you made.

Annette Blum Pearson 23:28

So as Samantha and I are growing right her way, we are investing in virtual assistance, as we mentioned, and also marketing help. So we are putting our money into things that we think will help us reach the best audience in terms of the people who would really benefit from the work that we're doing. So tightening up our messaging, making sure that the right people are receiving a cadence of communication and making sure that once they are interacting with us directly, they are getting their questions answered and they're getting the offers in terms of programs and events and tools that really resonate with them so that we can serve them and that they want to be long lifetime members of our community and our coaching opportunities.

Pedro 24:21

Okay. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Best financial business investment you have made and why? Best financial investment I've made.

Annette Blum Pearson 24:30

I think the best and and most surprising to me was also something that we did for Light Her Way and fairly skeptical when it comes to people who connect through random outreach on LinkedIn with offers to grow your business. But one came through, and actually I really credit Samantha for doing the research and helping me understand that it could be valuable. But we worked with a company that helped us really expand our outreach to the right people, to primarily women who were in a place that they were ready to explore the type of work that we were doing and the type of training that was available through Life Her Way. And by doing that, we have expanded so dramatically, and it's really been powerful. So that leap of faith was very well worth it, and I'm so grateful that she convinced me to try No, that's good.

Pedro 25:30

Okay. What's one investment you wish you could get your money back on?

Annette Blum Pearson 25:36

You know, there aren't too many things that I spend a lot of money on. I think the one thing that I regret is that I up-leveled my subscription for QuickBooks to have a lot of support and all of this stuff that I never used, and I felt like I was just throwing away money. And at some point I didn't even think about what the subscription was doing for me. And it took me so long to go back and actually change it. And I just regret that I didn't do that sooner because that's money I could have spent elsewhere or, you know, saved. Okay.

Pedro 26:16

And looking at those, how has your approach to investing in the business changed over the years? If it has.

Annette Blum Pearson 26:22

I don't think it's changed dramatically. I definitely believe that you have to invest in order to grow. And I am always willing to put money into something that feels like it is creating a foundation of a stronger business, whether that's coaching for me, investing in memberships of other communities where I am building relationships with the people that will be sending the right people my way or who can support me through the questions that I have about growing my business. Yeah, I would say that I try to be as thoughtful as possible about investing because I'm still in growth mode, but I do believe in investing in the business. And I believe that when you spend money wisely and thoughtfully, it comes back to you.

Pedro 27:13

I love that. Okay. And if someone listening wants to connect with you, Annette, or follow your work, where can people find you and connect with you?

Annette Blum Pearson 27:21

The best place to start is on LinkedIn. I have my personal LinkedIn of Annette Bloom Pearson. I also would recommend that everyone connect with Light Her Way. We have our LinkedIn page and a community that is free to join. So we welcome anyone who is looking to up-level their network, their community, the support they're receiving, and also understand how they can grow in their impact. So LinkedIn is a great way to start. I'm also available through email on Instagram and basically any platform you can think of.

Pedro 28:00

Using COVID as a catalyst, turning that hardship into an opportunity, you know, that really stayed with me. I really like the way you framed it. That negativity into a positivity. So you've been there and done that. Powerful. Is the fact that I have two kids, you know? I'm married, have two kids. So managing a baby and launching your own business, that's just, you know, I see that, especially with my wife too, how hard it is, you know, to keep the household and have a full-time job or trying to launch a business. So I think that's the main challenge for women.

Annette Blum Pearson 28:43

And well, you know, they say, and I've heard this so many times, that it's one of the most important things you do in your business with them. And will they support that balance so that you can grow your business and then be available to them when the opposite is true and they need that support. So it sounds like you have a really amazing relationship and you've been able to build a family and also a business. And I credit my partner, my husband, and also my business partner, Samantha, for making everything that I've done over the past couple years or four years possible.

Pedro 29:20

Yeah, I love that. And the last point is like, I like the word you use, right? When we're talking about the business, you said you wanted to create consistency for your clients. That's not a a word that I hear a lot in the coaching space. I love the consistency aspect to it, you know. It's not just about pushing them, the client or the prospect, into a program. It's about finding consistency and results, right? So we can keep moving forward. So I really like that. And I appreciate what you do. I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today, Annette. It was great having you on.

Annette Blum Pearson 29:57

It was great being here, and I very much appreciate what you do. Thank you for sharing all of the wisdom of coaches with all of us.

Davis Nguyen 30:04

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.