Four Individuals Helping Others Take Their Life To The Next Level
Empowerment is the secret sauce behind every great success story. Having someone come alongside you and tell you how worthy, capable, and exceptional you are leads to the confidence needed to achieve dreams and conquer obstacles. Three individuals are doing just that — following their passions to help others by encouraging and nurturing individuals to be the best versions of themselves. Here are their stories.
Lesli Doares: Empowering Husbands To Be Heroes
Lesli Doares is a marriage coach who champions the often-overlooked needs of men in relationships. Her Hero Husband initiative seeks to strengthen marriages by providing men with the support and tools they need to build strong, thriving relationships.
Crafting Heroes in Relationships
Doares’ approach is grounded in the belief that the quality of life is closely linked to the quality of our relationships. She noticed a gap in support for men in this context and set out to fill it. Her work helps men understand their partners better and facilitates clear communication of wants, needs, and desires in marriages.
Lesli challenges stereotypes and unrealistic expectations placed on men in relationships. She empowers men to be authentic and confident partners by focusing on open communication, emotional safety, and avoiding compromise and sacrifice, which can lead to resentment. Lesli believes that success in relationships is rooted in understanding and intimacy, emphasizing the importance of being heard and valued by partners.
Changing Perceptions
One of the hurdles Lesli had to overcome while building her brand was the widespread belief that women inherently possess superior relationship skills. With statistics showing that a significant percentage of divorces are initiated by women, Lesli challenges this notion, emphasizing that it’s crucial to understand and support men in relationships instead of holding them to unrealistic expectations.
“Being heard is so close to being loved that for most people, there is no difference,” Lesli says, highlighting the importance of open communication and emotional safety in fostering successful, loving relationships.
Through the Hero Husband initiative and her unique, empathetic approach, Lesli continues to empower men to be authentic, understanding, and loving partners, contributing positively to the culture of marriage and relationships in society.
Victor Dedaj: Unshackling from Corporate Chains
Victor Dedaj’s journey is a testament to the spirit of entrepreneurship and the pursuit of a higher purpose. A decade ago, Victor was confined to the corporate corners of New York City. However, a deep realization stirred within him — a desire to make a difference, not just for himself but for others.
Stepping Into Purpose
While corporate life offered stability, Victor felt a void, a yearning to have a more profound impact. “I felt like I didn’t make a difference for others when I was in corporate,” he reflects. His passion for helping others in areas of mindset, productivity, health, and nutrition led him to embark on a journey beyond the corporate world. Victor emphasizes the significance of appreciation in the workplace, highlighting that valuing employees is essential to retaining talent.
Transitioning from a structured corporate setting to the unpredictable terrains of entrepreneurship wasn’t easy. Victor fondly reminisces about his corporate days, emphasizing the differences in bosses. “The good bosses? They talked, listened, and appreciated people. When you do that, you gain loyalty,” he remembers. Victor believes that appreciation is the cornerstone of any business, stating, “One major reason people leave jobs is they don’t feel valued.”
A Unique Approach to Performance
As an entrepreneur, he faced the challenges of transitioning from an employee mindset to one of autonomy and initiative. Victor’s unique approach to enhancing performance has touched the lives of many. He follows a three-pronged approach:
Step One: Questioning — Identify the root of the problem.
Step Two: Reprogramming — Take control of the subconscious mind and instill focus.
Step Three: Guidance — Emphasize the importance of mentorship and accountability.
Victor’s story is a testament that success lies in doing what you love and helping others along the way. “If you’re doing the things you love, you’re successful,” he states. “The more you help, the better you feel. Always focus on helping others.”
Matthew Harms: Nurturing Authors’ Voices
Matthew Harms’ story is a fascinating blend of a childhood passion for writing and a diverse background in finance. He successfully bridged these worlds to create a thriving business that empowers thought leaders to share their narratives.
Crafting a Childhood Passion into a Career
Harms’ journey started with a childhood love for writing, which eventually led to him monetizing his skills by assisting peers with their term papers. Although he pursued a 15-year career in finance, his return to writing was inevitable. A pivotal consulting role, where he taught students to use writing as a tool for emotional expression, marked the beginning of his journey back to the written word.
Navigating Challenges and Focusing on Excellence
The swift growth of Harms’ business posed its own set of challenges. Expanding rapidly to meet the demands of his clients, he found himself in the whirlwind of hiring writers and project managers to sustain the momentum. However, rapid growth necessitated a relentless pursuit of excellence. Harms became selective, not just about the content, but also about the people he collaborated with. “I want to work with amazing people,” he asserts, emphasizing the importance of enjoying the work process.
Harms’ technique is distinguished by his PenForHire-UK franchise model and his dynamic approach to understanding clients’ motives. Every project begins with unraveling the ‘why’ behind the client’s intention to write, whether it’s for legacy or as a business tool. Knowing the intended audience is crucial, guiding the tone and style of writing to craft a book that resonates with readers and fulfills the author’s objectives.
Today, Matthew’s unique approach to understanding clients’ motives, using the ‘why’ behind their desire to write as a compass, has helped numerous thought leaders share their stories compellingly. He emphasizes that success, for him, is intertwined with his clients’ satisfaction and their achievement of personal and professional goals.
Sue Ryan: Charting Pathways to Leadership and Care with Compassion and Understanding
“You didn’t go to school for a diagnosis or to become a caregiver. Please remember, you’re never alone. Give yourself grace upon grace and refrain from self-judgment.”
Sue Ryan brings a passion and commitment to guiding people to be great leaders of themselves and others in all areas of their lives. She focuses on helping family caregivers navigate their entire journey AND on helping businesses and family caregivers thrive. With an impressive 40-year career intertwining business and caregiving experiences, Sue offers her insight and experiences with her vision of creating stronger, more compassionate leaders and caregivers around the world.
Her Early Beginnings
Embarking on her professional path with a focus on enterprise application software sales, for most of her career, Sue has played a dual role, juggling her professional responsibilities with a variety of family caregiving roles. Lessons from her unique balancing act inspired her to delve into coaching, offering a support system for individuals navigating similar challenges in leadership and caregiving.
“After taking a sabbatical to care for my dad and my husband, I returned to coaching, recognizing my natural alignment with this role. In my roles in sales, I never merely sold; I prepared others to succeed,” shares Sue, who is not just a coach but also an author, speaker, and educator, contributing significantly to the discourse on leadership and caregiving.
Overcoming Challenges with Grace
Navigating the unpredictable schedule of a caregiver while building her brand was not without its hurdles for Sue. “The demands of family caregiving are ever-increasing while the supply of caregiving professionals diminishes,” she notes. The unpredictable nature of caregiving meant that Sue had chose to learn to maintain a delicate balance, ensuring none of the plates she was twirling would fall and break.
Reflecting on her journey, Sue comments, “It was My early journeys were an emotional rollercoaster, and I was riding it blindfolded. It While it was brutal, but crucial it led to for personal and professional growth and my passion to help others learn faster and more easily than I did! .”
A Unique Approach to Coaching
Sue’s coaching methodology is distinct and personalized. She initiates the process by assisting individuals in understanding their natural way of viewing the world. This helps them to handle stress and success effectively. “We often observe others and judge ourselves, sometimes struggling in areas that aren’t our passion or expertise,” Sue observes.
Encouraging family caregivers to seek support in areas where they feel they will benefit from support helps them to leverage their strengths more effectively. Acknowledging that caregiving is a ‘great equalizer’, Sue shares that anyone in any role — and unfortunately including more than 3.5 million under the age of 18 in the United States alone — may find themselves in a family caregiving role.
Defining Success: Clarity, Planning, and Preparedness
Having personally experienced the lengthy challenge of types of Dementia disease within her family, Sue has made significant life choices to support her loved ones, putting her ambitions of traveling, speaking, and accelerating her career on hold temporarily. “I have a tremendous passion for what I do,” she says, underscoring her commitment to her work and the people she supports.
Similarly, success for her clients is defined as achieving peace of mind through learning how to make conscious choices in each area of their lives — and those of the loved ones for whom they provide care. Sue developed massive acceptance and radical presence. These support fully accepting what’s happening moment by moment, so you have access to both making the wisest choices in the most challenging moments AND seeing beauty in the smallest.
What’s Next for Sue Ryan?
With a vision for the future, Sue’s offerings support her passion to help family caregivers navigate their entire journey AND help eliminate the crisis of family caregiving in business. Through coaching, online courses, as an author, crafting workbooks, and and as a professional speaker, Sue is committed to improving the lives of family caregivers, care receivers and the businesses who benefit from keeping their valuable caregiving employees — so businesses, caregivers, and care receivers thrive.
For further insights and support from Sue Ryan, you can connect with her through LinkedIn or her website: Sue Ryan Solutions
