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

Dina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump into the story of starting your own firm – what should we know?

I started coaching in 2016, but it wasn’t until 2019 that I went fully self-employed. I had a picture in my mind of how it was going to happen. At the time, I was was employed as a coach at a start-up. That was a dream job and I absolutely loved it. I had variety in my days, I got to travel internationally for work, I had a coaching team I managed, I coached creatives who were super inspiring, and I was given a lot of freedom and autonomy in my position.
However, my heart yearned to be self-employed. I wanted more creative freedom and although I knew it was going to be hard, I was actually excited at the opportunity of testing myself. Don’t get me wrong though, the excitement didn’t drown out the fear. It matched it.
So like most people who are waiting to do the scary thing, I thought that I just needed more time. I felt that after working there for 5 years, I’d finally feel ready and I would, without any fear or hesitation, leave my job and set up my own (thriving) practice. I pictured a very smooth transition. What can I say, I was a blind optimist.
But life had other plans for me.
One unassuming afternoon, we were called into an all company meeting and told that our beloved start-up was going into administration.
Life apparently wanted me to become self-employed sooner.
I was shocked. I felt I wasn’t ready. I needed more time!
Luckily, I had a coach at the time, and she coached me through the fear. If it wasn’t for her, I would have been too scared to go solo. I would have kept on telling myself the lie that I wasn’t ready.
But she kept reminding me of my vision and helped me to move forward despite the fear. She helped me make that leap and it was truly the best thing I’ve ever done! I haven’t looked back since.
So if you’ve got a dream to work for yourself, but you’re telling yourself that you aren’t ready or you need more time, then think again. You’re probably a lot more ready then you give yourself credit for. I always say ‘now is the perfect time to start’. Don’t wait for fear to dissolve, it won’t. Channel bravery instead and you’ll see – you’ll surprise yourself with what you can achieve.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a life and career coach specializing in career clarity. I’m based in London, coaching worldwide, and have had my coaching practice for 8 years now. My training is academic because I love a lecture theatre and getting deep into research! I have a degree in psychology and a masters in applied positive psychology and coaching psychology.

When you start off as a coach they tell you to niche down. Finding my niche wasn’t difficult at all.
I chose career clarity because that’s all I ever craved when I was in my 20s. After leaving uni, I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I tried lots of different jobs in different industries. From teaching to luxury, fashion to corporate. Those were my Quarter Life Crisis years and I was desperate to find my calling!

So when I finally found it and became a coach, I decided to help others, just like me, get clear on their career.
Career clarity encompasses career change and career development. Clients come to me because they’re not happy doing what they’re doing and we figure out why that is and what happiness and fulfilment looks like for them.
Sometimes, the answer is to leave their work, but other times, it’s about speaking up more at work and changing their role to fit their strengths and interests.

When I started, I was mostly doing 1:1 coaching and running workshops. Now, I have created a course to help those who don’t have time or money to work with a coach 1:1 but still want help. It’s called the Career Clarity course and I’m pretty damn proud of it. It works! If you do the exercises and trust in the process, you will not only get clarity, but you’ll get to know yourself better, enabling you to be self-led in big life decisions and not waste time feeling stuck and indecisive.
I also provide workshops and in-house training to organizations on topics like goal-setting and how to give and receive feedback.

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

Marketeers drum into you that you need to know your ideal client like the back of your hand. That you have to know all the details from where they shop and what they read to where they hang out and how old they are. At the beginning of my business, I thought marketing specialists knew better so I followed their advice, even though I felt a lot of resistance against it internally. I knew it didn’t sit right with me but I couldn’t articulate why until I met a mentor who did it for me.
She pointed out that you haven’t met a lot of people yet, so by narrowing down on one type of person, you’re excluding other people you could help.
She said – narrow down on the problem not the person.
And since doing that I have felt a lot more free. And my clients have been so different to each other that I’m glad I didn’t close myself off by only marketing to one type of person.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Most of my clients come from webinars or talks that I do. I think picking a coach by searching through Google or a directory is quite a hard thing to do. It’s hard to know if you’re going to click with a coach based solely on looking at their website. Most coaches offer a free chemistry call where you can speak to them to see if they’re the right coach for you, but those calls don’t always give you a flavour of the coach themselves. That’s why webinars and podcasts are so much better. People have a chance to get to know me. They get to know my philosophies on life, my backstory, how I’ve helped clients in the past and my dry sense of humour! If they like that, then they’ll know straight away whether I’m the coach for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dinagrishin.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dinagrishin/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dina-grishin-90585259/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DinaGrishinCoaching

Image Credits
Nicole Engelmann