We were lucky to catch up with Eric Kebschull recently and have shared our conversation below.

Eric, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

Starting my business when I did was actually perfect timing; I am one of those people that believe everything happens for a reason, so I have a hard time believing that starting my business sooner or later would have made sense for me. The simple fact is that a perfect storm of events happened in order for me to start my own business as a coach.

Prior to starting my business, I was working in the insurance industry setting auto accident injury cases. At one point I actually enjoyed this line of work; it was challenging, intellectually stimulating, and at times fun. Over time, however, the job became mundane, bureaucratic, boring, and even soulless. The industry felt like a constant battle of winners versus losers, with no sense of compromise or shared purpose in what we do for a living. In other words, it was just another job for a paycheck.

7 years and 3 insurance companies later, I finally hit a brick wall mentally. I was flat-out unhappy with my professional life and felt hopeless about the prospects of the future. Deep down I knew insurance wasn’t for me, but I had a tremendous fear of starting over and felt I did not have the transferrable skills to do anything else.

I eventually quit my job at the end of 2021 with nothing new lined up. I took a couple of weeks to reflect on what I wanted to do for a living, and the same thing kept popping up in my head – becoming a coach or a therapist. I did not want to go back to school for my master’s degree only to have to work for someone else. The alternative was just as scary for me, which was running my own business. I never thought in a million years this I was capable of this.

Fast forward to today, and I am running a successful leadership and executive coaching practice. I owe it all to listening to my gut and heart, and taking a chance on a) quitting my job, and b) taking a chance on running a business in a new career path. I have never been happier!

But back to the main question at hand.

Honestly, I do not think I could have started my business sooner, as I would not have been certain what that business would look like. I simply wasn’t ready. On the flip side, I am eternally grateful I did not start my business later due to the perfect timing of what clients I worked with in those first 6 months.

I am fortunate to say I would not change a thing about my experience. Everything really does happen for a reason, and the perfect timing of leaving my job and starting my coaching business has led to both professional success, and more importantly, my happiness with life!

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

I am a 32 year old Leadership and Executive Coach from the Dallas, Texas metro area. I actually grew up in New England, was raised in Connecticut, and went to college in Boston. I relocated to Texas in 2014 in search of new surroundings and law school. Law school did not pan out, but the location was perfect for my then-girlfriend (now wife) and me to settle down and build our careers.

I got started in coaching due to a strong desire to help people. It took me leaving my previous career as an insurance adjuster to seek a job with more meaning and purpose in my life. I knew that helping others with leadership challenges made the most sense for me, as I had seen my fair share of leadership challenges across the insurance industry over the course of 7 years and 3 different companies.

My mission is to help develop better leaders through self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and the principles of adaptive leadership. I do this through individual coaching, as well as group coaching. I also offer webinars and seminars on leadership concepts, as well as assessments of individuals, groups, and organizations at large. Typically a client comes to me wanting to work on specific leadership skills like communication, emotional intelligence, or problem-solving; what they end up walking away with is a more complete, holistic framework from which they can operate in their duties as leaders.

What sets me apart from other coaches is the emphasis on working around a client’s self-awareness and emotional intelligence, along with the pragmatic framework that adaptive leadership offers. My aim to help clients build up the mindset and actions of a great leader, and then work through the challenges together with the adaptive leadership framework. Great leaders inspire others to take action on tough challenges, and I believe that this can be done by ANYONE – not just those with the job title and authority.

I am most proud of the work I have done thus far with up-and-coming leaders in various industries. Most of my clients have been women (just by chance), so to see more women taking on not only leadership roles but a commitment to high-quality leadership that empowers others to act has been a real joy and privilege to be a part of. My clients have done tremendous work in growing as leaders, and I have been very blessed to help them realize they have had the capability to be great leaders all along.

So while the program I offer is unique, I do truly think that the simplicity of my message to potential clients is what I wish to convey to others. That message is as follows: Anyone Can Lead. You do not need a title or authority to lead, just the will and desire to do so. Sure, I help experts in their field become experts in leadership; but it is the belief that anyone can lead that drives the core message of my coaching platform.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One lesson I had to unlearn was to rely on others’ input before making any business decisions. Put simply, I used to never feel like I could make a decision in my professional life without the input of others. Maybe this was due to the organizational structures I have been a part of, or maybe it was rooted deeper in my lack of confidence – but I always justified the action of seeking input as the most logical way to make a decision. Consult the experts before making a decision. Sounds reasonable, right?

Wrong. This process prevented me from truly trusting my intuition as well as my own experience to run a business. I learned this lesson relatively early in the formation of my business, as I had gotten different advice from different “experts”. None of that advice resonated with me. So, I trusted my gut and forged my own path in terms of where I would bank, how my business was legally set up, and how I would do business with potential clients. Now I am more confident than I have ever been in my life, and I have starting a business to thank for that.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Before starting my business, I had a nervous breakdown at my old job. It wasn’t the first time this had happened in my life, but it was the first time I could not identify the reason WHY I was having a breakdown. Things were good in my life; a steady job, steady paycheck, life balance was good, and I am in a happy marriage. But still, I was depressed.

Rather than simply accept that this was out of my control, I decided it was time to face the hard facts; I did not like my job. My job did not bring me joy, meaning, or purpose anymore. So rather than search for yet another job in my industry, I took a giant leap of faith and left my job and searched for my purpose in life. I did this with no other job lined up, and limited resources financially to do so. I was in uncharted territory.

Thankfully, with grit and determination to start over in a new industry that I was passionate about, I began studying for my coach’s certification. While doing so, I started my business. Rather than wait until the certification was completed, I decided to take a chance and work towards building the business while I progressively got better at coaching.

The resiliency lesson is this; just because you do not believe you are capable of changing now, does not mean you aren’t capable of doing so in the future. Mind over matter!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.coachwithekcom
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachwithek/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-kebschull/