We recently connected with Lauren Ruvo and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I have always wanted to work for myself and have my own business. Entrepreneurship is in my blood – my dad started a wine and liquor distributorship when he was in his 20s and he and my mom have founded their own charity. Watching the two of them create something from the ground up was always so interesting to me and something I knew I wanted to do. Before I felt ready to go out on my own, I held various jobs including working on Capitol Hill, practicing law, and working at a university. Each of the positions I held taught me important lessons including what I wanted out of my career and, even more important, what I didn’t want. I finally took the leap of faith and left the comfort of my full-time university job to pursue my coaching and consulting business full time and while I don’t think you’re ever fully “ready” to leave the comfort of a stable paycheck, the time felt right and I couldn’t be happier running my own business. That said, there are absolutely times, usually when a client and I end our relationship because they have found a job (which is awesome but still bittersweet!), where I think a full-time “regular” job would be easier from a steady paycheck perspective. But, when those thoughts creep up, I remind myself of all that I gain by having my own business and the perks fully outweigh any of the doubts or concerns I have. Some of the perks include setting my own schedule, getting to travel and work remotely, spending time with my family, working with people who I want to work with, and helping my clients find careers where they are truly happy.

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?

After years of school, studying, and fulfilling everyone else’s dreams but my own, I finally reached my breaking point and that’s when I realized I needed to tune out the noise and start listening to my inner voice. Once I did, life became easier and I felt happier and more fulfilled – personally & professionally. During this time, I realized I have always wanted to help people and the area where it has always come natural to me is in helping people figure out what they want to do with their career. I launched my career coaching business in March 2021 and since then have expanded my services beyond career coaching and now offer clients business and policy consulting services. I have been fortunate that since my launch I have had a 100% success rate in helping clients identify and secure jobs they are happy with. I love helping my clients find what they’re passionate about and helping them every step of the way.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I graduated law school in 2019 and knew I didn’t want to be a lawyer; however, the external pressures I felt made me think that being a lawyer is what I was meant to do. This led to me studying for and taking the California Bar Exam because it was something I felt I had to do and was the logical next step. After months of studying, I took the exam, and after even more months of waiting, I found out I failed. At first, I was devastated, which was purely ego driven since it was the first time I had “failed” and I felt like I had let everyone down. But, once the initial shock wore off, I realized this was exactly what I needed to have happen because I knew I didn’t want to be a lawyer. While I wasn’t sure what my next step would be, I gave notice at the law firm where I was working and took a leap of faith and started the job search process. I was landed a job at a university where I worked on sexual misconduct cases and policy and loved the work I was doing, but knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do forever. It was during this time that I did a lot of soul searching and discovered my passion for helping people with their careers as well as my love for creating policy that aligns with federal and state laws. If it wasn’t for my failing the bar, I’m not sure I would have taken the risk of trying something new with my career.

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

I work with a business coach who has helped me immensely when it comes to finding new clients and strategies for finding them. For me, it has been a mix of online searches and word of mouth referrals. that have been most successful. My first few clients actually found me on Yelp and while most of my clients at this point come from a referral of one sort or another, many still find me through Yelp or Google.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.laurenruvo.com
• Instagram: @laurenruvo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauren-ruvo-coaching-counseling-consulting/?viewAsMember=true
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/lauren-ruvo-coaching-los-angeles-2

Image Credits
Veronica Crawford