Mary Meston of MPowered Solutions Group: Five Things You Need To Create a Highly Successful Career As a Life or Business Coach
And my 5th success tip is don’t go it alone. And what I mean by that is to have a few people you can reach out to for advice and counsel and get yourself to a position where you can outsource those tasks and details that are not the best use of your time. Early on, it may be just you, so having sounding boards and support is vital and as you grow, enlist additional assistance.
The coaching industry is now tremendous. It is a 15 billion dollar industry. Many professionals have left their office jobs to become highly successful coaches. At the same time, not everyone who starts a coaching business sees success. What does someone starting a career as a life coach, wellness coach, or business coach need to know to turn it into a very successful and rewarding career?
In this interview series, called “Five Things You Need To Create a Highly Successful Career As a Life or Business Coach” we are interviewing experienced and successful life coaches, wellness coaches, fitness coaches, business and executive coaches and other forms of coaches who share the strategies you need to create a successful career as a life or business coach.
In this particular interview, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Mary Meston.
A former HR executive with three decades of work in the Fortune 500 and successful startups around the globe, Mary has extensive experience in large and small-scale organizational growth, transformation, and change enablement. From personally providing full-scale 1–1 coaching services to establishing corporate strategies and championing “new to industry” approaches- Mary focuses on helping clients, organizations, and groups develop influence and influential leaders. Additionally, through her firm — Mpowered Business Solutions Group, she helps professionals envision their future, enable their path to get there, and how to engage support along the way.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and what brought you to this particular career path?
There is no sugar coating it — I grew up dirt poor in a tiny town in central Wisconsin. I learned early the value of hard work and getting a good education. I leveraged that hard work ethic into a successful leadership career in various companies– from startups to Fortune 500s and industries as diverse as footwear, utilities, software, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and consumer products.
Along the way, I learned the unpleasant truth that working hard by itself isn’t enough to be “successful” and leaves you burned out. So, after years of corporate life, I founded my first of 2 coaching practices and a brick and mortar school for children. Neither was a commercial success but built the foundation for the practice I am in today — MPowered Solutions Group — a coaching and consulting company established to help leaders, influencers, and entrepreneurs envision, enable, and engage in success. My unique insights and experience have created a unique approach to finding and achieving personal success. My clientele spans the entire business map and ranges from small business owners and entrepreneurs to C-level executives, professionals, and leaders.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- Purposeful
2. Curious
3. Persistent
Thank you for the compliment, and yes, now I do consider myself a successful business leader. If you had said that a few years ago, I would have had to disagree with you. However, my experience of testing, trying, and refining is a combination of the three character traits that have led to my current success.
When my first business wasn’t doing so well, I took a mental pause and reflected on why I went into my own business and got crystal clear on purpose. And that clarity of purpose kept me going even when my first coaching business and then the brick and mortar school didn’t do well. It took clarity of purpose to keep me persisting and not giving up. I knew I wanted to help others via the knowledge gained from my experience, mistakes, and misadventures, so I doubled down on learning more about what it would take to be successful and how to make a go of doing what I was passionate about doing.
How have habits played a role in your success? Can you share some success habits that have helped you in your journey?
Funny, you should ask; a lot of my coaching focuses on defining, setting, and following through on good habits. And I think the word practice may be more accurate. Even coaches practice maintaining good habits. A habit, by definition, isn’t once and done. The top habits I see that have helped innumerable coaches, executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs are: self-care, continuous learning, and acting with courage.
Self-care is pretty self-explanatory -in that, if you are not at your best in health and wellness, be it mental, physical, spiritual, or intellectually — you are not working from your best foundation. And that solid foundation is key to your success. The desire to continuously learn and seek out learning experiences, connections, and content is also crucial. Change is constant. And finally, acting from your solid foundation with all the best information and knowledge in hand, it is also critical that you take action — and courageously. Choosing to act when you have enough information, desire, idea versus waiting for all the answers, information, or data — and trusting that intuitive side of yourself is vital.
This will be intuitive to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out directly. Can you help explain a few reasons why it is so important to create good habits? Can you share a story or give some examples?
As I mentioned above, a habit is a routine, something done or thought or felt more than once and generally consistently. So setting good habits is key to giving yourself a steady foundation from which to create and coach. I think of the younger me that didn’t necessarily focus on my health, including sleep, diet, and time off. I burned myself out more than once and often thought what was wrong with me that I couldn’t keep up. Seriously, rather than believe what I was doing was askew, I thought I had a character flaw when it was faulty thinking and doing. So setting good habits for yourself creates a stable foundation from which you can spend your efforts on creating and inspiring and coaching rather than repairing your foundation or criticizing yourself for not being/doing enough.
Speaking in general, what is the best way to develop good habits? Conversely, how can one stop bad habits?
The best way to develop a good habit is to get clear on what you want to achieve, set your mind to it, and practice a bit of the new routine daily. So often, when establishing a new habit we over-commit and overwhelm ourselves. So decide to practice a bit of the new habit each day, and that is a success. Conversely, to stop a bad habit, I find the same process but removing, ceasing, or changing a bad habit a bit each day is the best long-term strategy. I think of all the fad diets where the solution is pretty drastic and sudden and inevitably return to our old bad habits after a while because we may have tried to change too much, too fast and assertively. Baby steps!
Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?
“You are who you are becoming.” I am the same, yet evolved from the person I was a month ago, a year ago, a decade ago. The great thing is there is always change, an opportunity for growth, and the journey is inevitably interesting, exciting, entertaining. Each of us is evolving every day — be it we like it or not.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
I have a lot happening. I am currently authoring a book focusing on the Intuitive side of Leadership and shares stories and successes of the many leaders, influencers, and “evolvers” that I have had the honor to work with over the years. I am also launching a program focused on helping career-minded individuals RESET after the pandemic and determining their next best step. It is called Pause, Pivot, and Persist — leveraging the BIG RESET to your advantage.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Many coaches are successful, but some are not very successful. From your experience or perspective, what are the main factors that distinguish successful coaches from unsuccessful ones? What are your “Five Things You Need To Create a Highly Successful Career As a Life or Business Coach”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.
The five things are:
- Clarity of purpose and niche
- Energy to persist
- Courage to take action
- Boundary setting
- Getting help
The first is clarity of purpose is fundamental as I see so many coaches thinking coaching is easy; they don’t get clear on why they want to coach, what they want to coach on, nor how to coach. Because the coaching business is a business, it requires all of the building blocks of creating and managing a business and more. That more is being clear on what you are offering and who is your prospective client.
And secondly, coaching is a full-time occupation, and you are the vehicle of that service; managing your energy is critical. You need to maintain your health and wellness to have the energy to create and manage your business and support your product your coaching.
The third is the courage to take action, particularly when you are starting out and not having all the details or answers. True to starting a business, there will be unknowns, and the courage and ability to move forward even without having all the answers is vital. Courage is pushing through uncertainty, trusting in a great outcome, and the willingness not to get it right the first time.
My fourth tip is about setting good boundaries. Many coaches learn the hard way. You are probably pretty eager to get your business to cash flow positive — you may all sign up all clients and can easily over-commit yourself in particular when doing 1–1 coaching. So it is beneficial to speak with other coaches about how best to build your business without breaking you or your ability to provide your coaching services. Reading this article is a great way to learn and find support.
And my 5th success tip is don’t go it alone. And what I mean by that is to have a few people you can reach out to for advice and counsel and get yourself to a position where you can outsource those tasks and details that are not the best use of your time. Early on, it may be just you, so having sounding boards and support is vital and as you grow, enlist additional assistance.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen coaches make when they start their business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Oh my, where can I begin? I have made many mistakes even after I was informed to be on the lookout for them. Of the many mistakes — big and small — I can share some of the mistakes I made early on. I think the two most common mistakes are thinking that a coaching business takes less work than a regular job and that because you have much to offer from all of the years of experience and knowledge, clients will come running to sign up. Unfortunately, the coaching industry is taking a credibility hit for the many coaches who paint a picture of easy peasy. Many coaches believe that to get clients; you need to oversell the benefits with the idea of “little to no effort,” “fast money,” or “quick fixes.”
You can avoid these errors by reading articles like this one, learning from those who have already made the mistakes — and taking a serious look at the fact that you are starting a business. Starting a business is no small feat and will take more work than expected, take longer than expected, and have more twists and turns than expected. If you are clear on “WHY” you are doing it and PAUSE to reflect on your purpose and set iterative goals as you begin the journey, you can PIVOT when needed. And your passion and persistence — will fuel you during the hard times — giving you a better chance of getting through the myriad of challenges.
Based on your experience and success, what are a few of the most important things a coach should know to create a Wow! Customer Experience? Please share a story or an example for each.
The important things I do to provide the Wow Customer Experience are: offering a customized experience, listening between the words, and getting the client to at least one big AHA early in the engagement. Sharing a case study with a most recent client, a reluctant but curious executive reached out to chat. He wanted to understand what coaching could provide for him and was — let’s say — a bit skeptical. I was very prompt and thorough in my initial connections, even scheduling to fit his limited availability where possible. During those initial connections and reading between the lines, I could discern time management and productivity were opportunities for him, even though he did not directly share that awareness. And in our first official session, holding the space for him to see a mistaken belief that he needed to be in every discussion to prove his worth was his first AHA. He subsequently was able to opt out of many meetings and moved to more strategic matters. A win for him and his firm.
Lead generation is one of the most important aspects of any business, and particularly in coaching. What are the best ways for a coach to find customers? Can you share some of the strategies you use to generate sound, qualified leads?
There are many ways to find customers, though I prefer the word “clients” because that infers an ongoing relationship. And while some of it is dependent on the coaching you focus on, several overarching strategies work with the prevalence of social media, virtual reach, and universal 24x7 access for the many that exist in today’s world.
My top 3 are sharing valuable content, personal referrals, and networking.
The latter two were the main strategies in the pre-2000’s — yet still prove to be the best means of obtaining high-quality clients. A personal referral leverages the credibility of all those involved and sets up hard to disappoint expectations for all of those involved. Networking, though it has been around for decades, has advanced with the availability of online platforms, apps, and omnichannel opportunities. Gone are the days of the Rolodex. Making a connection that could have taken many days and weeks can now be as simple as a high-quality exchange online. And that leads me to the strategy of sharing valuable content. One of the most significant issues is an over-proliferation of “everyone” calling themselves a “Coach.” And with oversaturation, to stand out and be credible, you need to demonstrate your credibility and value, and you do this by sharing valuable content. There are many ways to share your content: blog posts, podcasts, articles, curated videos, and daily posts. Your frequent, consistent, and continuous sharing of rich content provides your client (lead) with the opportunity to get a sense of who you are. Your sharing offers a view of what you believe in and your content and offers them a preliminary “test drive” to see if what you provide fits with what they seek.
Coaches are similar to startup founders who often work extremely long hours and it’s easy to end up burning the candle at both ends. So what would you recommend to your fellow coaches about how to best take care of their physical and mental wellness when starting their business?
Yes, starting a coaching business is like any other business startup with long hours, times of faith and trust, and the ever-present possibility of burnout. But, as an original believer in hard work wins the day, I now know how to take care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and also financially — and to do that first. The phrase is trite, but you need to put on your oxygen mask first if you are to be there to help others. I know of more coaches that have burned themselves out than those that have remained in this space. And that is particularly true because coaching is a business based on holding the space for others and requires you to be at the top of your game.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Oh my, that is such a big question! And thank you for saying I am a person of significant influence. I believe everyone can be of great influence. Now that you have given me the stage, my mission is to improve opportunities for all, overcoming various challenges and limitations inherent to how many see the world through a lens of competition and scarcity. As I think through this question, I think I would start the Abundance Movement, a movement to shift global mindsets from lack, limitation, and competition to prosperity, opportunity, and the best good for all.
We are blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I can think of several, and if I have to pick just one — I would like to have a private lunch with Oprah Winfrey. Her accomplishments are many, her numerous successes inspiring, her perspective is heart lead, her level of influence is unmatched, and her perspective is heart lead. When I think of the many topics and concepts I coach on, she embodies those. Yet, I know there is, even more I could learn from her, and I would like to grow to continue to help others at an even greater level. And if Princess Diana were still alive, I would ask that she join us for that lunch. She, too, led from the heart, influenced the wellbeing of millions around the globe, and still is an inspiration now over 20 years are her untimely death.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can find out more about me via my many social media channels and my website. I share weekly content on
topics tied to clarity, influence, courage, confidence, and Mpowering your best U.
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marymestonchpc
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/mpoweredsolutionsgroup
- Email: Mary@MpoweredSolutionsGroup.com
- Web: www.MpoweredSolutions Group.com
- Facebook: M Powered Solutions Group | Facebook
- Twitter: @MaryMeston @GroupMpowered
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!
