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

Rebecca, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us a story about a time you failed?

I’ve worked since I was very young. Before I was a teenager, I delivered newspapers, mowed lawns for neighbors, shoveled snow, and got booked in advance to babysit for neighbors, family friends, and my father’s co-workers. Though I had a childhood, I remember paid work being part of my life year-round.

Work wasn’t the thing that I failed in. I had a hard time at school socially, but I still performed fine in my courses. In college, I had a full schedule of classes and intramural sports events, and I always fit a part-time or full-time job into the mix somehow.

Entering the workforce wasn’t difficult for me, and I often held on to a job while starting a new one, which gave me overlapping paychecks and extra income from side consulting gigs.

That’s why it was so surprising to me that when I quit a very stable, consistently six-figure leadership job to start my own consulting, coaching, and stay-at-home mother pursuits, everything shifted. In ways that felt very negative and like failures.

I designed and created. I paid people to teach me about sales funnels, marketing, and using all the social tools. I wrote all kinds of sales copy. I figured out who my target audience was and generated hundreds of hours of audio, video, and written content almost effortlessly. It was simply getting out of me everything that I already knew into a format for others.

Yet, it didn’t pay off for me in the way that I expected. Nothing flew off the shelves, even as others that I had gone through the process with experienced success. I tried harder, hoping it was just me not discovering the secret that would unlock it all. I showed up each week online, sharing and responding to others. I even gave a lot away for free. I coached others for hours and got coached.

Still, I was uneasy. Was this a failure because I wasn’t following the correct formula? Was this a failure because people didn’t like how I was showing up in this new way in the world? Did they not like the products and services that I was offering?

It really messed with my mind. How could I be so on the ball and successful in many other work pursuits and suddenly be so off in understanding what the people I served needed?

I started to pay attention to some of the nuances along the way. I did ok in the consulting gigs. The clients seemed to appreciate everything I recommended. If anything, some of them became too dependent on me. These happen to be those who paid less or late. I tried teaching online for an organization I highly respected. I learned that I didn’t like the repetition each week, even though I enjoyed creating content, helping students with specific challenges, and expressing confidence that they could keep going.

Through it all, I kept trying to be a coach. I kept trying to build an online business.

I decided to quit both the consulting and the teaching because I didn’t feel like they aligned with the direction I wanted to go. Yet, I couldn’t make the coaching and digital product development work for me. I wasn’t growing my little company. I wasn’t bringing in the income I desired from it. I felt like a failure.

But I didn’t quit.

If you surround yourself with those in the coaching world, social media marketing, and digital product development, there is a lot of messaging around how to step into discomfort and failure and change your mindset. You keep going despite setbacks. You keep modifying your approach until you start attracting the right customer base. Yes, you should show up authentic in it all, but make sure you share in the right way to help people resonate and desire to learn specifically from you. You look at failure as a chance to learn and grow.

I kept going. I didn’t quit. And I felt even more shame for failing to launch despite years of successful launches of products and services within organizations.

Somewhere along the way, I decided that I was willing to go back to a full-time job. I remember deciding one day that I would apply for jobs for one week, have interviews the next, and expect offers. I figured if things fell into place, perhaps that is the direction I should take temporarily.

It worked. By the third week, I had already searched for jobs, had interviews, and had three offers! None of them were bad offers, either. Each had opportunities to grow, learn, and do some of the things that I already knew how to do. I started working full-time again with the intention of getting back to coaching and online business endeavors after a few months.

It felt good to be contributing to an organization again, even though it was clear some organizational problems were going on. Nine months later, I was laid off with 50% of the employees. Layoffs had been happening for months, so I wasn’t surprised, and I didn’t feel like I was a personal failure with this setback. And it was a chance to re-pursue coaching and my online business.

I started again and met with the same experience.

I couldn’t get traction. A few people liked to learn from me, but not a steady flow of clients.

This time around, I started to realize something. I didn’t like showing up in the world as a coach. I didn’t get excited about showing up marketing myself or my business. And it resonated less and less as I saw more and more people trying to do some of the same things.

It’s hard to explain the deep shame of failure that set in and the deep shame that I pursued this path.

I started to be embarrassed about some of the products and services that I had created and spent time taking down old posts that I’d made online, hiding half of my podcast episodes and videos, removing any of my links and content from LinkedIn, and changing the names on some of my accounts to hide the fact that I had pursued these entrepreneurial activities at all.

I was a failure. My entire life, I had desired to be an entrepreneur and failed at every attempt.

Still, almost a year ago, I found the gift in it all.

I bothered to try! I had taken the risks. I had gone all in. I had tried and tried and tried and tried. I had put blood, sweat, tears, prayer, money, time, and service into these efforts, and they still failed.

It started to dawn on me that perhaps I had put so many expectations into making it work that I hadn’t recognized that it just wasn’t a fit for me. There are hundreds of ways to show up in the world. I just identified a few that didn’t work for me.

Notice I easily quit the consulting and online teaching jobs during this time. I didn’t feel ashamed about that at all. It was just another learning experience.

That’s all my coaching and online business were. Experiments. Exploration of possibilities. And I learned what I did and did not like about it all.

Now, I’m back working full-time for an organization. It’s perfect for this moment in time. And I’m learning more about myself in this opportunity which will further inform what I choose next.

It’s just part of the journey. Trying something new, failing forward, figuring out where your mindset can change and where you just prefer doing something else. The willingness to experiment, explore, re-start, and take risks is important. And the good news is this: you get to take it all with you to whatever you pursue next. All the lessons, skills, attributes, mindset changes, people you meet, tools you learn, and experience you have!

Am I a failure?

I thought I was, but there is a moment on the journey where suddenly everything shifts. I realized that none of it is a mistake. It was necessary. It helped me know for sure what I like and what I don’t. And I have increased my capacity and capabilities in new ways.

I’ll keep going and seek new horizons. I know that new mistakes await, but so does new growth!

Great, apreciate you sharing this with us. You can find out more about Rebecca’s experience and contact info below.

Rebecca Clark brings her experience leading people, programs, processes, and projects to others through the Start with a Chart® products and service offerings and the Move Your Desk® podcast.

She has extensive experience in corporations, government, schools, volunteer organizations, and as an entrepreneur. She’s been a teacher, recruiter, instructional designer, project manager, program manager, and technology director. Right now she’s helping with leadership development in the federal government. Although she doesn’t consider herself an author, she has written a few books to help anyone with their jobs, projects, and personal lives.

Rebecca enjoys exploring, learning, and experimenting. Her favorite things include taking walks/hiking while listening to books or music, deep conversations with family and friends, and exploring the beautiful world around her.

She’s recently let go of pursuing a coaching and online business, but she continues to create workbooks and facilitate programs to help motivated individuals reach their goals. She funnels most of her ideas through her Start with a Chart® workbooks on Amazon.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

One of the most important ideas that I tried to implement as a leader was to ensure that I was completely focused on finding out what each team member desired from a personal and professional growth perspective. If I know what they desire, it gives me insight as to how to help them proceed to that next step in growth. I assess their current skills and abilities, seek opportunities to provide them opportunities to take safe risks, and give them clear feedback on the journey. It also means that if I see a chance for them to move on, or if they find an opportunity, that I support them in moving on even if it temporarily hurts me or the team in the process.

As each team member sees this support given to them, they start to trust that my intensions are pure and that impacts their performance in positive ways. They go all in learning, working, and supporting our team knowing that everything they do will help the organization, me, the team, and their ability to be prepared for their next desired opportunity.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

For me, the best source is other clients. I’m keeping my side gig efforts small as I’ve returned to full-time work. However, I make sure to send emails, notes, and/or any books I create to those people who first gave me a chance to coach them or participate in some groups and workshops that I created. I will always take care of them, and they often think of me if a friend or co-worker is looking for support in areas that I can serve.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00RNH52W4
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startwithachart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccaclark/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@moveyourdesk

Image Credits
Rebecca Clark