Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in coaching but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Erin Baker, Founder of Erin Baker LLC, located in Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I reintroduce successful, ambitious, and impact-oriented entrepreneurs to their joy. Most people go into business for joy and freedom but over time. they find themselves shackled to what they should, supposed to, and doing what "good entrepreneurs do." The more success they create from the shackles, the more disconnected they become from their joy and who they are, what lights them up, what unique geniuses and strengths they bring to the table, and how they best do things. They find themselves feeling "meh" or miserable in their business. They also hit a success ceiling that they aren't sure how to break through. I believe the key to a prosperous, impactful, long-term sustainable business is to make joy a primary business strategy. And by joy, I mean more than fun and delight. I mean a deep connection to oneself and a purpose or mission. I work with people one-on-one and in groups, doing a variety of coaching, mentoring, and consulting.

Tell us about yourself

In the early 2000s, I described a potential career to my college academic advisor that I didn't think existed. It involved helping people navigate life, but not in a therapy setting. I had no idea coaching was a profession, nor did my advisor. Instead, I ended up on a fascinating path, first getting a Ph.D. in Social Psychology, then working as a researcher at Facebook, and eventually becoming a leader at Facebook and Microsoft. I'm grateful for those experiences, as they shaped much of who I am and what I believe in as a coach. I hired my first coach in between jobs at Facebook and Microsoft. I was initially quite skeptical of the profession, but a couple of sessions in, I realized it was exactly what I had described to my academic advisor 15 years earlier. And I realized it was changing my life in mind-blowing ways. I immediately knew that this was what I wanted to do with my career going forward. There is no deeper joy for me than helping other people learn, grow, reconnect to themselves and their joy, and see what they create in their businesses, lives, and the world.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

As a coach to entrepreneurs, I often feel more connected to the accomplishments of my clients than to my successes. I love seeing them define what success looks like for them and then reach it, whether that comes in impact, revenue, or personal goals. In September of 2022, I will be able to claim a big personal success when my book, Joy-full AF: The Essential Business Strategy We're Afraid to Put First, comes out. But as of this writing, I'm not quite there yet. I can say that even deciding to tackle writing a book is a success for me!

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Being a business owner requires intense self-leadership. You are the one setting your own course and guiding yourself to get where you want to go. That requires getting to know yourself deeply - who you are, what you care about, and how you best do things and radically trusting yourself to create the success you want. (Often, that means ignoring the advice of gurus and experts in favor of doing things your way!) It also requires learning to navigate fear, doubt, challenge, comparison-itis, and failure. You bring all of you as a human to running your business. Your business will require you to be with all of your humanness in ways you've never expected or likely experienced in other professional settings.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Don't wait until you have achieved conventional success to pursue joy in your business. Most people think that they will feel happy once they hit certain goals. But they find themselves miserable in the process. And when they reach their goals, the positive feelings don't last. The truth is, if you follow your joy in every part of the process towards your goals - from the actions you take to the overarching business strategies you employ - you will create success. success does not create joy. Joy creates success.
  2. Business is a long game, so don't focus too much on short-term wins or losses. You can't know if you're successful in the first few months or even a few years. There will be ebbs and flows, some of which you can't control (like global pandemics, wars, and economic recessions). And many seeds you plant early on won't sprout until much later.
  3. Don't go it alone! Every "hero" in our movies and books always has a mentor and a merry band of sidekicks journeying with them. (For example, Frodo had Gandalf as his mentor plus the crew of Merry, Pippin, Sam, Boromir, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli in Lord of the Rings). A great coach, mentor, or teacher can help you go places you would never have known to go on your own. And a great set of colleagues or peers can be amazing support, cheering you on and helping you through challenges.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

On top of helping people create joy-full AF businesses, I am also deeply passionate about bringing a more trauma, neurodiversity, and systems-of-oppression informed lens to the coaching industry. One way I do this is through mentoring other coaches. I recently trained in Internal Family Systems, a therapy model broadening to other disciplines. I am bringing that framework and philosophy to my coaching and coaching mentoring.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: http://erinmbaker.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drerinmbaker/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinmikaelabaker/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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