Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Britney Perlowin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Britney, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?

My coaching business journey has always been tied to my motherhood journey. So I just don’t know how to share the story of the former without speaking to the latter.

When I was laid off as the world shut down, I was 3 months into my first pregnancy. After the shock wore off, I decided I had been given the gift of time: Time to prepare to be a parent and to build my business.

I began researching birth, best strollers, best website building platforms, how to generate leads, newborn sleep cycles, personality assessments… ALL. THE. THINGS.

I worked diligently until my aching body demanded I pause and rest. And with that began a cycle that would continue on and on: resuming and pausing my coaching work.

As I became a stay-at-home-working-mom-entrepreneur, I’d work during my daughter’s naps, pausing when she woke up again. I’d resume work during her dinner time, pausing at her bedtime.

I’d work more in seasons where my daughter’s schedule was more consistent or my partner’s work schedule was more flexible. I’d work less or fully pause when their schedules were more demanding.

For a while, when I’d catch up with someone and they’d ask what I was up to, I talked about my baby, but I always felt desperate to include, “but I’m working on my coaching business when I can!”

It’s like I thought being a stay-at-home parent wasn’t enough. (Probably due to all those Instagram ads promising I could become a millionaire mommy with my nap time side hustle.)

At some point I figured out it was also fear. I kept mentioning my coaching business because I was afraid I couldn’t trust myself to make it happen and I was seeking accountability.

Along the way, I learned to value my work as a mom and to trust that my coaching work would be there waiting for me when I was ready.

The resume/pause cycle continued through my 2nd pregnancy with my son and I accomplished some amazing things along the way – including earning my ICF Certification!

My kiddos finally started daycare in June. As I expected, the cycle of resume/pause has continued as my babes have brought home endless amounts of germs along with their sweet art projects. But in a way, I’ve trained for this. I’m getting good at this resume/pause stuff.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A defining moment in my coaching journey came when I was having a conversation with my long-time physical therapist for my pelvic floor dysfunction. This sounds random, but stay with me here…

My PFD is a collection of diagnoses I’ll have and mange my whole life. It took me years to get to a place where I am now with my PFD. I feel like I am managing my symptoms very well and co-existing with my condition. My physical therapist has seen a lot of women struggle to get to that place and so she asked me, “How did you do it? What worked?”

I was surprised to have the expert asking ME this. As I thought about it, I realized: my mindset was the key that finally unlocked the door for me. And this is the same work I was already doing with some of my clients.

I have had a few clients with ADHD, diabetes, or other health concerns. All of these people sought coaching for something unrelated to their health, yet these conditions kept coming up. Without realizing it, my clients were trying to figure out how to work on their relationship with their health conditions.

This has inspired me to focus on coaching for people managing persistent health conditions.

When we experience a chronic or persistent health condition, it’s like we are suddenly pushed into a different life. We had a whole idea of the life we wanted to live, and it can be so challenging to integrate the reality of these health conditions into that vision. In order to move forward and find some peace, we have to learn how to accept the reality of these challenges, grieve the loss of the life we wanted, and believe that we could have a wonderful life going forward. And a coach is the perfect person to walk that path with you because instead of judging you or giving you advice, they will give you the space to work through the thoughts and feelings until you’re ready to choose your path forward.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Building and nurturing community is so important when you’re in business for yourself. Being a solo-preneur can be so lonely, even for an introvert like myself. I’m not saying it’s easy or never awkward, but I have benefitted so much from having people in my life I can count on to cheer me on through the ups and downs of life and business. These people celebrate me, inspire me, hold me accountable, and push me. We all need that. So make the time for it!

I also think it’s important to have a few sources for this. Don’t expect one person or group to be your everything. Nobody is exactly the same as you, and that’s ok. When I have a challenge or celebration I want to share with somebody, I think about who is going to be the best at showing up for me the way I’m hoping for. Maybe it’s my entrepreneur husband for negotiating or pricing my offerings, a fellow coach friend for content ideas, a mom friend for juggling work and life.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the idea of measuring myself with someone else’s ruler.

As an Enneagram Tye 6, I am programmed to seek out experts who can show me the best way to do things. So in my career, I would look at someone I admired and try to study what helped them succeed. I consider myself an adaptable and observant person, so I found myself trying to model and embody their characteristics. I’d try to do things their way. It was working for them, so of course it was a roadmap to success, right? Wrong.

I’ll never forget the day my manager said to me, “What happened to the Britney I hired? I hired you because of x, y, and z characteristics. We need those on the team. And you’re not bringing it anymore.”

Apparently I had been doing a C+ version of somebody else, measuring myself using that other person’s ruler. But here my boss was explaining to me that she actually measured my value completely differently and I was doing a lousy job at being myself, too.

This of course taught me the importance of authenticity and the value of doing things my way. And it taught me as a leader, that I must communicate to other people the value I see in them so they can also lead authentically.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bperlowin.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bperlowincoaching/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bperlowin/

Image Credits
Britney Perlowin