As the founder of a life-coaching business, Geraldine Moran knows how to motivate people to achieve their goals. But while she was helping others move forward, she also had her own challenges to overcome.
“Coaching is about moving people forward. We help people identify where the potential is for success in their life, and assist them in achieving the outcomes that they want. But it is also about reframing people’s experiences of adversity so that they no longer limit them,” explains Geraldine Moran, founder of OzSpectrum Success Coaching.
It is this very philosophy that guided Moran in her professional life. After working as a solicitor, she decided that the legal profession was not for her.
In the midst of a career change, however, she was diagnosed with cancer.
“That was a life challenge in itself- to pick myself up, and know that I could survive and move forward,” Moran explains.
But surviving her bout with cancer gave Moran resilience, along with a newfound sense of purpose. “A life-threatening event like that can really focus you on what you want to achieve in life. And for me, that was a real turning point,” she explains.
People had always found it easy to talk to her and establish rapport– and this was something that she began to value. Throughout her recovery, she used this skill to support other cancer patients and help motivate others.
“What I had previously denied as a valuable skill was something that I really began to focus on and develop. I realised the power in having people open up to you. And that really led me to establish OzSpectrum” she explains.
Establishing a business with no prior entrepreneurial experience brought with it a new set of challenges. “Struggling to find clients presented a real challenge, and really made me doubt myself at times,” Moran confesses.
However, she was willing to admit that she was out of her depth and when she asked for help, she found that she received it.
Moran joined a Business International Group, which met once a week, and a local life-coaching network that helped her with some of the day-to-day difficulties of coaching.
“I listened to similar professionals, and asked questions. If there was somebody that I really respected, I’d find out how they’d set up their business and what they had done. By talking to people who were years ahead of me, I was able gain invaluable advice,” Moran explains.
If she could have her time again, she says she wouldn’t do anything differently. “The biggest challenges were often the ones that gave me most direction, in terms of establishing a life-coaching venture,” she says.
“The only thing I would have liked would have been to find that confidence in myself sooner. I found that even as a coach, I doubted my ability. But when you let go of that doubt, it allows people to approach you and really open up,” Moran says.
For entrepreneurs struggling to establish themselves, Moran offers three tips:
1. Find the confidence in yourself.
2. Ask for help- and don’t be afraid to ask.
3. Find mentors- people who you respect and admire. If you can’t talk directly to them, then at least read as much as you can about them. Learn from their successes.