We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ivette Flower a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ivette, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
As a recovering perfectionist and lifelong high achiever, I know how it feels to constantly chase gold stars and put everyone else’s needs before my own. After experiencing burnout as a top producing senior sales executive in Business-to-Business sales, I founded iFlower Solutions to help others avoid the same fate.
My wake-up call came in my early 40s, when I found myself hooked up to wires to diagnose my sleeping issues and memory loss. It turned out that I was experiencing burnout, and it was caused by my tendency to rush from one thing to the next, making everyone else a priority and always looking to hit every sales goal. I later learned that I was an overachiever who over used my strengths and it was sabotaging my relationships and wellbeing.
Through my journey of recovery, I’ve learned to prioritize my own mental wellness and implement lifestyle changes that have helped me exceed sales goals even while working part-time. I’ve realized that being a high achiever was my superpower, but taking it to the extreme caused self-sabotage which produced anxiety, stress, and overwhelm.
After working with a professional coach and honing in on my strengths, I decided to combine my 20 years of sales experience and get certified as a leadership coach with the International Coaching Federation. I was nervous about leaving a 6-figure income to pursue this new goal but took a leap of faith. Soon I realized coaching others was fulfilling. Now, I teach my clients to activate the neural pathways in their brain to find peace and joy, while being laser-focused on their goals even when life is challenging. I’m passionate about helping others avoid self-sabotage, improve their mental fitness and achieve their level of success without burnout.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Ivette Gonzalez Flower, I am passionate about helping individuals and teams achieve their highest potential. I am a keynote speaker, trainer, certified leadership coach with the International Coaching Federation, and a Positive Intelligence Coach. With over 20 years of corporate sales experience, my company iFlower Solutions provides corporate training, keynote speaking, and executive coaching for individuals and teams.
Sales can be a high-pressure, high-stress job, and sales executives who do not manage their workload or prioritize self-care may experience burnout. This can lead to decreased performance, and their role can be costly to replace.
It is important to identify the root cause of the problem so that sales executives do not unknowingly sabotage their own or their team’s performance. I help my clients build powerful habits by focusing on the root-level factors that impact sales and team dynamics, with a training program called Positive Intelligence PQ® Training. This science-based program helps boost each individual’s mental fitness by growing their three mental muscles, so they improve sales.
I am most proud of the outcomes my clients have achieved. Most recently, my client was able to increase her sales by 250% in only three months. She quintupled her sales for that year! Many others find the foundational work on values to be life-changing because, once they figure out their values, they can align them with their goals. This makes being laser-focused on their goals as sweet as eating dessert since they understand their “why” and have tools to increase productivity and create long-lasting habits.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Starting a new business during the pandemic shows my resilience in many ways. First, despite financial uncertainty and instability, I earned my certification from the International Coaching Federation because they are recognized as a standard of excellence in the coaching industry. I felt like this recognition would provide credibility and enhance my professional reputation as a new coach.
Second, I have demonstrated resilience by being able to pivot quickly. At the beginning of my journey I thought I wanted to work with high schoolers and be a college admissions coach. I had to pivot during the last week of
my 3 month business launch certification program into being a Leadership Coach. This meant I had to change my marketing plan and messaging quickly.
Last, I have had to maintain a positive mindset despite some personal family emergencies that were heightened from the affects of the pandemic. Thank goodness I have the Positive Intelligence training in my toolbox!
I am resilient by nature and I am pretty determined once I set my mind on something even during life’s challenges!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Through my journey of becoming an entrepreneur I had to remind myself of the setbacks I had as an overachieving sales executive who was striving for gold stars, and always putting my well-being last. Now, I focus on activating the neural pathways in my brain to find peace, joy, laser-focus, and decisive action even when life is challenging. I’m passionate about helping organizations focus on the root level factors that impact sales and team dynamics!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.iflowersolutions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iflowersolutionscoach/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iflowersolutions/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivetteflower/
Image Credits
Rick James Tricia Turpenoff Gaelle Glass