Hello and Welcome to my Blog! As this is my first blog post I thought it would be fitting to share my journey to becoming a money coach and why I chose this path as a career.
Anyone that knows me well reckons I should have been a psychologist because I am completely and utterly fascinated by human behavior. I love learning about what drives people’s behavior, what shapes their thinking and their perspective in life, why they react to situations in a certain way and why they interact with people the way they do. I get excited over that sort of stuff! I am also a developer at heart, I am naturally able to recognize and cultivate potential in others, and I love to do this. To help people believe in themselves and to cheer them on as they strive to be better versions of themselves. These qualities are the reason why I think I was drawn to behavioral money coaching,
I didn’t always know this about myself though, I didn’t always know that I was interested in human behavior and human development. Nor did I become enlightened in a single event. But it was a series of events that led me to this discovery, which have been moments of self discovery in which I got to know myself a bit more. First was when I still worked in financial services regulation. While I was at work, a woman who had applied for debt review came in asking to be removed from being under debt review because she wanted to borrow more money. And I was just so curious (as I was shocked) why she would choose to sink herself into a deeper hole over taking the lifeline that had been extended to her to get out of that situation. She was an emotional wreck over not being able to take additional credit, and I was heartbroken as realized just how deep seated our issues with money were. Part of me knew that she was in that position because she didn’t know how to do better, and I wished that I could help her do better. I had just started to educate myself on personal finances, and I wished that I could share the knowledge that I had gained with her. At the same time I recognized that it wasn’t as simple as that. Part of me knew that knowing how to manage her money wouldn’t necessarily change her behavior. More help was required in that regard but at the time I didn’t know what that help could look like. This incident got me thinking that I would love to one day help people get out of that space and be financially empowered.
The second light bulb moment came at a time when I was trying to figure out what would be a fulfilling career path for me. Since I had taken an interest in helping people with financial know how, I started exploring work in this field and I stumbled upon financial coaching. I made the decision to obtain certification for financial coaching and the course I enrolled for was more than I had imagined. It provided the answer to my question as to why a person would choose to sink themselves into a deeper financial hole over choosing a lifeline to get them out of the hole?” It focused on human behavior and helping people understand what influences their money behavior with a view to transforming their relationship with money. I knew that people in my community could benefit from this kind of work and I knew I to share it.
I had my epiphany though when I took a strengths assessment for a work training which coincided with the money coaching course. I was amazed to learn from the assessment that developing talent in others, empathy and positivity are my top strengths. This validated my desire to be coach. It was like I had found my place and my purpose. And with that enlightenment I was resolved to use my natural strengths to empower my community in the financial space. So, that is how I stepped into this career path. And honestly, it is so amazing to be able to do work that is so aligned with my own strengths and that genuinely makes my heart happy. With that said, I hope that I can make a positive contribution to your life through my practice and through this blog.