We were lucky to catch up with Carly Berger Nguyen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Carly, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

Hi, I’m Carly!

I’m a former fashion industry executive who completely changed gears and started my blog ‘Little Voice Big Matter’ back in October 2021, which focuses on helping and inspiring women to cultivate a positive mindset and find more purpose, passion, and joy in their everyday lives. I also currently have a life and mindset coaching practice where I offer 1:1 coaching for moms.

But my journey to what I’m doing now really started to take shape during the pandemic when we were all at home in lockdown.

I guess you could say, for the greater part of my life, I’ve struggled with feeling fulfilled.

My life looked great from the outside, but I always had the sense that something was missing.

I often felt like I was just going through the motions, continuing down a path of what I thought I SHOULD be doing – getting a well-paying 9-5 job, settling down and getting married, then having kids.

I remember when I decided I was ready to become a mom for the first time, I felt this great sense of relief because I told myself that motherhood was finally going to be that thing for me that would fill the void.

I thought being a mom would finally give me that sense of purpose and fulfillment that I’d been missing all along.
And for a while it did. Being a mom was amazing. I embraced it with my entire being and it filled me up so completely that I thought I’d never need anything more.

And of course, motherhood in itself is all-consuming. With the myriad of responsibilities that come with it, especially in the beginning, there really wasn’t time for anything more, especially not time to nurture a sense of identity or purpose outside of being a mom.

I let myself get lost in motherhood…..

Until one day, I realized that being “mama” had become everything I was and that no longer felt like enough anymore. Plus as my kids got older and their needs were no longer all-consuming, I found myself right back at the same place I was before becoming a mom-

Struggling with that lack of purpose and fulfillment and LOOKING TO OUTSIDE SOURCES FOR MY HAPPINESS – instead of looking within.

It wasn’t until 2020 when we were in lockdown during the pandemic, that I was finally able to tune out the outside noise and turn inward, really for the first time, and I started to realize that a big part of this lack of fulfillment I’d been feeling was because I wasn’t connected to myself.

I don’t think I ever really had been…

So it was during this time that I started to prioritize this self-connection. I started journaling regularly, as writing was something I had always used to understand myself better but had neglected for too many years.

I woke up early each morning simply to have undisturbed time alone to check in with myself and listen to and process my thoughts.

I became obsessed with books and podcasts on mindset and personal growth and I learned to bring joy into my routine each day through things that felt true to me, things that brought me a sense of purpose and fulfillment that I’d never felt before.

I’ve experienced a huge transformation in the last few years in terms of my mindset, my happiness, and my sense of self and have realigned my life in a way so that I no longer feel unfulfilled.

And now, my mission is to help other women experience transformation like I have.

This is WHY I started my blog littlevoicebigmatter.com back in 2021, through which I share practical advice, heartfelt insights, and actionable resources to inspire and support women in motherhood, relationships, wellness, and life. It’s also WHY more recently, I launched my coaching program for moms, called ‘Beyond Balance’.

As a life and mindset coach, I currently support other moms in creating balance so they can find more joy, connection, and fulfillment in their everyday lives.

Carly, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

*please reference previous answer for back story

I am a mom of two, former fashion industry executive turned writer & life coach.

I run the blog, Little Voice Big Matter, where I share practical advice, heartfelt insights, & actionable resources to inspire & support women in motherhood, relationships, wellness, & life.

As a life & mindset coach for moms, I’ve developed an 8-week coaching program called Beyond Balance, in which I help moms create balance to find more joy, purpose, & connection every day.

I mentor, guide, and support my clients to:

-Consistently make space for themselves in their lives each & every day, despite a hectic schedule – because they’ve adopted the mindset & created the framework that made this easy & natural.

-Feel fulfilled & connected, rather than overwhelmed & tuned out – because they understand what they need to feel happy, calm, & grounded each day AND how to seamlessly weave those elements into their daily lives.

-Quiet the “shoulds” & ever-present “mom guilt” – because they have peace of mind that they’re giving and doing “enough” each day.

-Easily to respond to what people ask of their time & energy – because they’ve set boundaries, prioritized the few things that mattered most —and let the rest fall to the side, guilt-free.

-Rediscover their passions, interests, & hobbies, and live each day with a sense of purpose, joy, & contentment.

I feel that I’m uniquely qualified to help my clients in this area because I’ve been where they are now – stuck in an ENDLESS CYCLE where it feels like a losing battle trying to keep up with all the activities, chores, homework help, meal-time battles with ANY hope of keeping your composure (or sanity) by the end of the day.

^Feeling like your brain is on overdrive with the amount of things you have to keep straight and resentful that no one in your family seems to get all the “behind-the-scenes” stuff you do every day.

^The constant pressure to make sure everyone else’s needs are met before you do anything for yourself

^Struggling to remember who you are outside of being a mom

But I’ve managed to forge a path forward toward greater joy, connection, and fulfillment. I tell my clients that if I’m capable of making this change, then they are too because I’m just a regular mom like them.

However, I can help them get there faster with the proven real-life strategies and tools that have worked for me in combination with coaching skills and methodologies I’ve learned through training, as well as the accountability and structure that my coaching program provides.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

A book that has significantly impacted my entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy is “Everything is Figureoutable” by Marie Forleo. This book encouraged me to initially start my coaching business, as the author drives home the point that you don’t have to know everything to get started. Just do it – do it scared and do it messy in the beginning and you will figure it out as you go.

Most of us have goals and dreams we’d like to achieve in our lives, but all too often, we hesitate to get started or don’t get very far once we do because we become so caught up in getting it right and are held back by our fear of failure.

This was me for so long, but after reading this book (and some others along the way), the word failure is really not even in my vocabulary anymore. I now view every “failure” as a positive thing in the sense that it provides me a learning opportunity. If I don’t meet a goal or “fail” at something, there is always some lesson to be learned from the experience.
At a minimum, it shows me what doesn’t work or what I need to do differently next time and thus serves to push me one step closer to eventually “getting it right” and succeeding in my business.

The book “Everything is Figureoutable” has also helped me to develop a mindset in which I am focused on my progress, rather than striving for perfection. This has allowed me the space (and grace) to be a beginner – to learn, grow, evolve, and iterate over time.

I’ve learned to embrace self-doubt along the way too because it’s natural to question your judgment and doubt yourself when being pushed outside of your comfort zone, which I’ve found comes with the territory when you’re an entrepreneur. These feelings of self-doubt are to be expected, and even embraced, because it means you are growing.

I am continuously learning, evolving and growing as an entrepreneur AND more importantly, as a person. From my perspective, this is how I can best live into the most authentic, truest version of myself and is how I define success.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think showing up authentically and being true to who you are is most helpful for succeeding in the coaching business.

There are thousands and thousands of coaches out there, so what is going to make me the right choice for a prospective client? I am not going to be the “right” coach for everyone, nor do I strive to be. It’s actually quite the opposite.

I don’t want to be “right” for everyone. Rather, I seek to work with clients who resonate with my particular perspective, my approach, my personality, and my authentic voice, and therefore I must show that to prospective clients in order to attract those people to my business. This means being true to who I am and showing up authentically in my marketing and sales strategy in order to effectively convey to clients what makes me the right coach for them, personally.

I think choosing a life coach is a very personal decision. The client must feel a connection with the coach and vice versa. It truly has to be the right fit for both of you!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://littlevoicebigmatter.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlevoicebigmatter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlevoicebigmatter
• Other: https://campsite.bio/carlyb