How did you get to do what you do for a living? Do you do something that you dreamed of as a child? Did you find yourself following a path that evolved? Did you discover something you were good at or loved and changed path? Some other way? Here’s a bit of background from me.

Childhood dreams

As a teenager I dreamed of being a vet. I took it seriously enough to get a weekend job in a veterinary hospital which I loved. I also took physics, chemistry and biology at A level.

During my A levels I realised that I probably wasn’t going to get the grades that I needed to go to veterinary college and, actually, I was OK with that. Somewhere along the way the dream had changed and I hadn’t event realised.

I still had a scientific mind and I also became seriously into sport, specifically trampolining with a bit of netball thrown in for good measure. Perhaps sports science was the way forwards. So, when visiting universities, it was those that offered Sports Science that I honed in on.

One of the colleges I visited was Crewe & Alsager College of Higher Education. Whilst interviewing for their Sports Science programme I was informed about their HND in Business & Finance with a diploma in Sports Coaching - something about that attracted me. It had the sports science component that I liked, I’d get to accumulate more sports coaching qualifications and it would give me a career potential that was not dependent upon me being physically well into my later years of life.

What I didn’t expect was to find out that I had a natural ability for finance. At the end of my first year I got straight distinctions in all subjects and I had to choose whether to focus on business or sport. That was a really tough choice. The rational part of my brain decided that if I went into finance I could pursue sport as a hobby and this is what I decided to do. It’s funny how life twists and turns sometimes.

Carving out a corporate career

I left college with my HND in hand and looked for and secured my first job in finance. I went on to study some more and became a qualified accountant. In fact that seemed to be a bit easy so I did another professional qualification for good measure and became both a Chartered Management Accountant and a Chartered Public Finance Accountant!

I progressed in my career initially in the public sector and latterly in large corporates. If I reflect now on the common factors throughout my career in finance, curiosity and being easily bored feature a lot. What do I mean by that? Well, I like to solve problems. I don’t like to do things that are predictable and repeatable. So whilst I didn’t have massive aspirations for getting to a senior level, that kind of need to be challenged does lead naturally to progressing in seniority. I was often the person who was asked to troubleshoot something.

That’s an interesting profession for someone who also suffered with the imposter syndrome!

Alongside this I did indeed continue to pursue sport, both as a participant and as a coach.

Further training

One other thing that has been a constant feature in my adult life is the pursuit of new knowledge. After my professional training I went on to complete an MBA from a leading business school.

Occasionally, you get taken on a track that changes the path of your life. Having had an experience with hypnosis for my own sports performance, I became curious about how this and NLP could be used in my sports coaching and in my corporate career and I undertook training to become a master practitioner of NLP and a hypnotist.

What I didn’t anticipate was how much of an impact this training would have on me. I discovered that I had a natural talent for this. I loved the significant changes that I helped people make to their lives during this training and I wondered if or how I could make this my career. For many years the logical and risk averse accountant in me resisted pursing this as a career as I had a family to support and a mortgage to pay.

That still small voice…..

That still small voice in me wouldn’t let this potential avenue be buried. The curiosity remained. Eventually I decided that it was time that Emma 2 France Ltd be born. So far this has been part-time. Next year I intend to devote my whole time to this venture.

Even in my part-time I have worked with some amazing clients who have achieved significant changes in their lives.

I simply love to help people make changes in their lives.

Big change isn’t easy, and just as I like to help others, I take help from similar professionals too. By helping me to remove my baggage, I am better able to help others.

Full circle

It’s funny how things go full circle. I wanted a career in sport and coaching. The coaching that I now do is broader than I ever dared to dream. The corporate career has helped me set up a business with efficient systems and processes. My attraction to solving problems also neatly fits in. Perhaps this was always the plan and I just didn’t realise.

What about you?

How did you get to where you are now? Was it part of the original plan? Are you still trying to find your way? Do you have all that you want? If you do, that’s fantastic. If you don’t, it’s never too late. Please get in touch if you would like some career coaching. I’d be delighted to help.