We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lisa Pachence a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Lisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I grew up in a very privileged family. I was/am deeply loved by my parents, I was afforded a wonderful education, and I’ve had so many opportunities to travel, grow, and create career options that combined income and impact.

And yet, even with this loving family, the education and opportunity, I suffered from high-functioning depression and anxiety most of my young adult life. In looking back, I can now recognize that this struggle was caused by a gaping chasm in our society of teaching emotional intelligence, encouraging authentic connection, and healing generational traumas.

After over a decade of therapy, I was still struggling to manage my mental health, through excelling in the work environment as a Recruiting Director. At this point in my career, I decided to hire a coach to support my career and leadership trajectory. Little did I know how much it would change my life, direction, and existence.

After only a few conversations, my life started to radically change. I began seeing patterns I didn’t see. I started to view myself as the perpetuator instead of the victim. I saw opportunities to take ownership and responsibility. And most importantly, I got my AGENCY back over my thoughts, beliefs, and emotions.

It was the work that I couldn’t NOT do.

10 years later, I specialize in working with underfulfilled, high-performing women who are at a crossroads in their career, and are seeking radical change to beat the cycles of burnout, and design a life they’re wildly in love with. I work with these women because I WAS that woman. And the epidemic of burnout, struggle, disconnection, and depression is rampant… yet solvable.

I’m on a mission to break the cycles of generational trauma that have led to celebrating stress and overwhelm, and teach a new method of productivity – finding and following your purpose. With that, I support my clients to develop deep emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and the knowledge that THEY are their own greatest teachers. To me, this is my version of helping to heal our planet… from the inside out.

Lisa, 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?

I got into this industry because of how drastically my life has changed for the better from coaching. It was able to find and fix the gap that nothing else could. Business problems are usually people problems, and people problems are usually self-awareness and communication problems… things that emotional intelligence, self-knowledge, and coaching directly support.

I now work with women professionals, female founders, and “underfulfilled, overachievers” at a crossroads in their career. For these individuals, burnout, stress and overwhelm are their kryptonite and they cannot solve the next step of their career from how they got to that place in their career.

There are so many courses, consultants, and videos that tell and teach you what you should do.

And yet, that telling and teaching is part of the problem that’s created burnout, stress, and overwhelm in the first place. It perpetuates the idea that the solutions include more things to do or change. It prolongs the notion that we do not have the answers inside of ourselves, that we shouldn’t trust ourselves to find the answers, and we don’t have the resources to figure it out. This “Tell, Sell, Yell” approach of consulting unfortunately has a short shelf-life.

It is MUCH more sustainable to coach someone to success than it is to consult someone to success. And here’s why.

From a coach-approach, the client is the teacher who holds the answers and seeks to better her/him/themselves in the exploration of finding the answer. The client uncovers deeper levels of self-awareness, discovery, and character building tactics that are authentic and unique to them.

From a consultant-approach (and frankly, the way that most “coaches” are), the consultant knows the answers and it’s the client’s job to listen and act according to the consultant’s knowledge. Like good minions.

The world doesn’t need more minions. We need more kind, clear leaders.

I believe a pure, true coach-approach will help break this pattern and I am very proud to call myself a Master Certified Coach by the International Coach Federation, something that less than 1% of all coaches achieve. I believe educating others, mentoring coaches, and supporting leaders in the way that I do is a vastly different yet more sustainable approach to changing our culture’s paradigm than most coaches do.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I’ve built my reputation in the market by being a primarily word-of-mouth, referral-based business. Instead of going high-tech, I’ve gone high-touch, and I try to create stark raving clients by focusing on mastering my craft and striving for excellence in impacting my clients.

I try to allow my work to speak for itself, and I speak for my work through the client success stories, testimonials, and natural conversations that they would have with people in their life.

I’m also not afraid to say, “I LOVE working with you. If I could work with 10 people like you, my life would be complete. Who else in your circle is in your position and could use someone like me?”

Courage and connection – two foundational principles I’ve used to create success in my business. And when coaches ask me “is it really possible to create a referral-based business anymore?” I can say firmly – “Yes it is. Because that’s how I’ve done it, and that’s how MANY boutique, high-quality coaches have as well.”

Because in the end, sales happens within a great conversation. And great conversations happen inside of a trusting, safe relationship.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I recently became a first-time mom, to an adorable child, Wesley Emmett.

Talk about life-pivot.

I’ve always related to myself as a high-performer. I say yes to many things in my craft, because I have such cool opportunities to say yes to.

But, fortunately and unfortunately, my method for business success and activity needed to drastically change. What I say “yes” to now comes with consequences of saying “no” to spending quality time with my 5-month old son. And that’s not something I’m willing to compromise.

The way that I’ve pivoted during parenthood is to fall back on my self-development background and tools. I’ve built boundaries around what’s important to me. I’ve scaled down my business to the 2-3 things that bring me the most joy, impact, and income. I’ve pared my time down to 2-days a week of clients. I’ve said “no” over and over, but also “please think of me in the future.” I’ve continued to define what values I hold most dear, and follow those values in the activities I do. I’ve partnered and requested more support than what’s comfortable. And I allow myself to try, fail, learn, and try again.

Pivoting requires so much the above – boundaries, courage, asking for more support than is comfortable, trying and learning and trying again.    

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.coachingwithlp.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachingwithlp/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CoachesCreatingCommunity/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisapachence/

Image Credits
Robyn Graham