Kathleen 0:03
I realized I had clarity. But I did not know it was fair. And you helped me dig deeper and discover it by helping me realize that I was fighting too hard, not making things simple enough, I realized I was going against migraine for so long that if I just made me relaxed and let things happen, things would come into fruition, you’d let me be myself, you just got me, you just grabbed me as a nonlinear person, and just kind of let me take the reins and do what’s working for me. When I did give myself permission, things just became so much clearer. And things just started rolling a lot more quickly. After that, no, I can go in knowing my value and my credentials and feeling more comment about myself and set down my own roles. Since I finished the probe or was coming towards the, actually the middle of the probe. I made an update to some of my online profiles, saying that I was in the consulting realm, and the floodgates have opened, I got a ton of calls. And I was so amazed at how many positive things started happening.

Blake Schofield 1:33
Hi, I’m Blake Schofield, founder and CEO of The Bridge to Fulfillment mom to three, USA Today top 10 professional coach, and former corporate executive who got tired of sacrificing my life for a comfortable paycheck. My mission is to expand women’s perspectives and empower them to achieve greater impact at home and work without sacrifice. This is the Bridge to Fulfillment. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Bridge to Fulfillment. I’m really excited today to introduce you to my client, Kathleen, she has an incredible story. And beyond having an incredible story, I think that she shows a very different side to some of the work we do at the Bridge to Fulfillment. And I know when we first connected, she had a lot of questions on Hey, this looks like a really great program. But I don’t know if it will work for me or people like me. And so it’s such a wonderful honor to be able to bring her back after these months of being in the program to be able to share her experience and how that this program was really exactly what she needed. So with that said, Miss Kathleen, welcome.

Kathleen 2:46
Hi, Blake, thank you. I’m honored. I really never thought I’d be on your show.

Blake Schofield 2:53
So when we started and I said it’s my goal for you to be my next client success story. You were like, Yeah, but probably not.

Kathleen 2:59
Probably never thought I’d be asked. That’s for sure.

Blake Schofield 3:05
And I love it. Because your story has been so inspiring to so many women in the program that it was a complete natural fit to have you come and share it here.

Kathleen 3:12
You will thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, it’s

Blake Schofield 3:14
great to have you. So I’d love for you to share just a little bit with our audience. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what was going on in your life when you and I first connected?

Kathleen 3:23
I was at a position for five years that I had taken kind of as a security necessity type of position. And I way overstayed I believe the length of time that I should have been there, I just kept telling myself things would get better. Or I could do other things on the side doing it for my family. It’s just the way it has to be. And I had a little bit of relief when COVID hit, which is not you know, it was a hard time for a lot of people. But my situation I was allowed to work from home and it went from being two full days at home and then it went to three days at home. Once everybody went back to the office. I was furloughed for a few months. And at that time, I really got to relax and kind of decompress. I had burnt out right before COVID. So it really kind of hit at a time that I actually needed to have the time off and be home when the office opened back up. I was rehired. I’ve never fit well into the nine to five type of lifestyle, the nine to five box. I fought it for many years. I always thought it was what I had to do. I was going against my grain and I knew that but I just told myself that it was something that I had to do. I’ve been in the workforce for a long time for over 35 years. And back when I started to work, nobody works from home unless you were a freelance worker, which I dabbled in from time to time, but most of my creative career was a In the nine to five space, which I always struggled with, like I said, COVID helps me for a little bit. And I started to burn out again. And the company then decided to enforce as a summer trial, everybody coming back to the office four days a week with Friday’s off, and I thought, Okay, once again, I got kind of sucked into that. And I said I could, I could do it. And it was okay for a short time. But I realized I was actually sitting at my desk, really with very little interaction with anybody. And I didn’t understand the reasons to be at the office, yet, there was no interaction around me. And I found that I really just work best with my own schedule. So the four days, I managed to handle it for a little while. And then we were all called into a meeting where we were told it was becoming permanent. And there were no if ands or buts about it, nobody could question it. That wasn’t long before I burnt out again. And I think it started to show and we wound up coming to my company, and I come into a mutual agreement with some security of contract work to not work in the office anymore and become a contract worker. So I was happy about that. But at the same time, also a little bit concerned for security purposes, I just kind of jumped off in it was around the time that I had started the program with you that I had asked you ahead of time, what happens if somebody loses their job during the program has that happened before, because I really felt like a lot of things were going on internally undercurrents within the company that I just sensed and felt changes happening. And it was a concern of mine, that they were either going to cut staff or just make some changes. And it really did happen. And you said yes, that has happened before with clients. And it happens within a few weeks of starting the program. And it’s actually been a fantastic thing. I hate to say it, but I mean, I like to say it, nobody likes to and I really don’t consider it losing my job. But like I said it was mutual, they wanted to keep me on for the same job I did just on a contract basis. So I had a little bit of security there. But it gave me the push that I needed to work on all of the little side businesses I had taken on over the years that I was there. And I took on those side businesses usually out of boredom, or out of looking at ways that I could work from home looking at what other people have done successfully following my interests, things that I really felt like I didn’t have in my career anymore that I was interested in working on. And the leaving the position gave me the freedom to go a little deeper into those side gigs, jobs hustles that I had, while also still doing a little bit of work for my former company and having a little bit of security.

Blake Schofield 8:13
Thank you for sharing that. So if I were to summarize, you have multiple decades of experience in the creative world, you had found yourself in your last position sort of going through a cycle of burnout got a little bit of a reprieve with what happened with COVID. But then there were new roles, things put into place. And you found yourself back in that sort of cycle of again, what I tell the burnout moment, and some things start shifting in your inside your company start looking and saying, Hey, I think I might be at risk or hey, I think that I need to really make a move. And that’s really what was the impetus for you deciding that you wanted to get some support and help and figure out really, what was next is that right?

Kathleen 8:51
Exactly, yes. And I had at my position, I had the freedom because I worked independently to listen to a lot of podcasts and a lot of self help and inspirational podcasts and business type of podcasts. And I found you a long time ago and listened to many, many episodes, reached out or started to reach out and then didn’t finish and then finally sent a message to you and started the process.

Blake Schofield 9:24
Yeah, I love that. So you’ve been following me for a while you thought about reaching you didn’t reach out. And then I know when we connected. There were some things that were holding you back from reaching out. Also some fears or concerns you had about was this really right for you? Do you remember some of that and what can you share about what you were experiencing or thinking at the time?

Kathleen 9:43
Well, I didn’t even know if you would accept me as a client. I had seen some women that I thought were very powerful and inspirational. And at the time, I wasn’t considering myself in that realm. But I did identify with a lot of the He did talk about in the podcasts and I kept coming back and and listening some of the other concerns I had were, would it work for me, if I built went ahead and invested in myself? Would I see the benefit of it? How could you help me, I was concerned that I, as a creative person, I don’t remember listening to many of the guests being from the creative, creative background. And I just thought, you know, maybe I’m just this anomaly, who can’t work, normal nine to five position, it was just mainly fear that I wasn’t the same as everybody else. And so fear of the investment. Again, that’s pretty much the gist of it.

Blake Schofield 10:49
So what helped you sort of overcome those concerns or fears? And what do you wish that you had known back then that you now know, now, after having gone through this process yourself?

Kathleen 11:01
I wish I would have reached out a lot sooner, because I was immediately put at ease. When I spoke with you the first time, our first couple of calls were from my car, on breaks, lunch breaks. And whenever I couldn’t break away, I was afraid, actually, I was afraid that, you know, maybe there wouldn’t be a connection. And I would be I just was afraid of that first call for some reason. And after I made the call, I was totally put at ease and felt comfortable speaking with you and telling you my story. And just almost feeling like I was talking to a friend about it, but an unbiased friend, because I had also been down the road where I have close friends and my husband as well. But I’ve expressed my concerns and my dissatisfaction with where I was in my career. And I was pretty much getting the same type of answers. I felt like with you, I had more you understood, you didn’t tell me Oh, you’re lucky to have a job, you’re at least it’s a paycheck, it’s, you know, pays the bills. I always found all those positives to when I felt ungrateful for ever questioning it, because there’s many people that need jobs, and would be very happy to be in the position that I was in. But it’s something was just not right for me. And I knew it for so long. So when we spoke for the first time, I felt like you understood and you saw it within me. And I thought about the financial aspects of investing and toss. You know, I thought about it for a while. And I actually, I think I cancelled one of our calls, because I was just nervous again, it was right before our first call. And when I was away on a trip, and I received not only a follow up email from you, it was not a canned type of email that I knew came from an email list, I got a personal recorded video response to all of the things I was feeling about my career. And it was from you. I was really impressed by that. And I thought I have to give this another shot that was actually before we spoke the first time. So I said, I have to speak with Blake and we did we set it up not long after and then started working together. Yeah.

Blake Schofield 13:28
And what a fun journey. It has been, you know, I think about where you were, personally when you first came into this program, and how drastically things began to shift for you. So again, back to what we talked about when you first came into this program, you’re you’re in this job, you’ve been in a long time already suffered burnout a couple of times feel this anxiety on a day to day basis of Am I safe? Am I safe? What’s going to happen? What’s coming? And yes, you had all these side hustles and things that you had been doing? But is that really what you should be doing? Is that really gonna get you where you need to go? Take us back to that beginning of when you first started the program? And then if you can’t share? When did you really start to feel maybe that very first shift?

Kathleen 14:13
I think I felt the first shift. I felt hope within the first couple of phone calls. And just before I had even signed up, I felt hope because you understood you had been down a similar path to me. One thing I didn’t say before is I had not only experienced the one position, I had experienced it throughout my career where I would be in a position be excited to get it be there six months to a year and start being restless and bored and sometimes not even bored. I plenty of work and I was challenged but just something didn’t feel right. So I felt hope right away after speaking with you and I first joined the pro Graeme, I also felt cool right away glimmers of hope. But I would say the real shift started when I was kind of pushed out of the position that I was in and really got to work with you and the group and dive in. So it was within the first actually, the first couple of weeks, two weeks of starting, I felt the shifts, I felt the positivity, I started remembering my value from the past, because I was valued as much as maybe I was not in the right long term positions. For me, I had some excellent jobs in my past where I was truly valued. And I did not feel valued at the last position that I was at, or the one before that. But when I started reflecting on my past, and I think that was part of some of the things we began within the program to I started thinking, wow, yeah, I am good at that I am valuable, they did value that it just started progressing from there. And then also meeting in the groups with the other women and being told that I inspired them completely blew me away, because I never saw myself in that light. But again, going back and reflecting on my past and the things we were learning in the program, I just really started to see my value, the hope for future there. And maybe there is something here that I really can make work this time without signing on for a nine to five position.

Blake Schofield 16:36
Yeah, so let’s talk about that. Because the little bit of work that happened in the beginning was really understanding where are you financially? What are your options? And I think that was a big part of allowing you the ability to really focus and hone in on your gifts and your value was we actually sat down, we broke down, like if you did consulting, what would that look like? And how would that work? If you want to continue to do this for the company, because there had to be some negotiation to make that work? And then what are other streams of income? Or what are other things that you’ve done that are interesting. And through that we were able to get a lot of clarity around how we could make this work for you financially, while you were really figuring out what that long term path was anything that you want to kind of share about that process. Because I watched that do a lot. From my perspective, it did a lot to sort of transform your perspective, your approach, and drastically reduce your stress.

Kathleen 17:29
Well, I did have a little bit of security of taking on some work when I left. But as I said before, I dabbled a lot in things I was interested in. When I shared those with you, you saw so many positives and the things I had taken on and steered me in the direction of if I were more intentional with them, rather than dabbling, too, I realize what I could actually grow from there, if that makes sense.

Blake Schofield 18:04
Now one of my favorite parts of that process, and this is one of the things I love. And I think it’s really important to say because I heard you say at the beginning, one of the reasons that you hesitated to reach out as you saw all these inspirational women and you thought I’m not sure if I am not sure if I need that metric. I’m not sure if I am that person. And I think that’s really common. I also hear a lot from women. Well, what if I don’t have a secret sauce? transferable skill? And I’m like, that’s yes, there’s no way that you don’t everyone does. But we can’t see it for ourselves. And what I loved is you and I went through this process as I started looking at what you’re doing, and I was like, Wait a second, you actually have all of this gold hidden right in front of you, if you can actually understand fundamentally, who you are and how you create the results that you do. And I remember that conversation that we had when I stopped and kind of walks through, how have you created success in your corporate jobs? And how have you created success on these side businesses, there was a moment of which I saw the light bulb come on for you. And what I have loved about watching this journey is that once you understood that you have used that and leveraged it over and over and over again to create amazing results. Can you share a little bit about what that experience was like? Because I think that’s the first time maybe ever and you tell me if I’m wrong, but I think it’s the first time maybe ever that you actually really saw who you are.

Kathleen 19:28
Tes. First of all, the fact that you kept saying to me, this is gold, this is gold, I really minimalized some of the successes that I had with little little ventures I started on the side but when we broke it down, that is when I discovered what my one of my secret sauce, transferable skills was that I never ever took into account and that was relationship building. And that’s just something that even going back Back. past career wise, I’ve always been a person who since I was a little girl, I kept in touch with friends with letters, I wrote letters. Career wise, I pretty much I think I have a comment at least one contact from every job I’ve ever worked at, that I’ve kept in touch with. And none of it was ever intentional. It was just really the way I operate. I like people, I like to have really deep conversations with people about common interests along the way. And all my jobs, I did not realize that I picked up quite a network of connections. And that was just through relationship building. And I just never saw that as anything other than just something I do, I never would consider it a secret sauce. But I could connect back. So many things that have happened that happened now or that have happened recently, career wise to relationships I have made along the way. And a lot of times I it’s not like I ever reached out to get favors from people or anything like that these relationships just kind of came back into play at the right time. And really play a big part in either getting additional consulting positions, or just people if somebody needs somebody with a creative background, I’ve worked in so many different creative realms, from product design to product development, it seems like people think of me when somebody needs something that involves creative. As somebody with a creative background, you helped me discover that building relationships is one of my secret sauce skills, something I never ever would have realized on my own.

Blake Schofield 21:47
Thank you for that. I love that you say that relationship building is a part of the secret sauce skills, often people think, oh, I can just figure these things out on my own. It’s far more complicated than just I’m good at relationships. But there’s a simplicity of what you say, which I think is beautiful. When we could look at the pattern of all of the things that happen in your life, you had an entire career where you’re always being recommended for things all the jobs just would show up. Same thing, when you looked at all of your side businesses, these relationships would open doors time and time and time again for you. And there’s a very unique way of which you build relationships, that enables that this Keen Eye always on understanding the market and the consumer always looking at how can you be of service? How can you help people and once we understood that, like, Oh, this is how you get business, this is exactly how you work, then all of a sudden, it’s like you have the map, you had a cheat code, as one of my mentors would say, all of a sudden, you were like, Oh, I now know, I can now look and see the pattern of success in my whole life. And so now I know, in order to create more of what I want, all I have to do is go really pursue and continue to work on relationships. And once you got that and kind of clicked, and then we did some work around getting clarity. And we could talk about that in a minute how you got clarity on what you wanted to do. But once you got clarity, and you really understood what you were gifted at, then it became a really beautiful thing to watch. You put that into action. And we’ll get into that in a minute. Because what you’ve been able to accomplish in the last three months has been unbelievable. And I consistently look at it as you are somebody who comes in and you really listen, and you apply the lesson, and you go do so I’m excited to dive into that for a minute to show people what’s truly possible. But we’ll back up for a minute. That big ol mouthful, I just said and say right, we uncovered this, then you were like, Okay, this is how I’m successful. The other big piece that needed to get unlocked for you really was clarity. Because there was a lot of how can I actually make the income that I want? And what actually should I be spending my time doing? And I think that for you for a long time that had been there. And for creatives, I think that’s a very normal thing. creatives are always doing a lot of things. And so you don’t want to get boxed in. But you also want to feel like what you’re doing is aligned with what you want to do. So what can you share about that journey or what you learned in terms of clarity that you had struggled with?

Kathleen 24:15
I realized I had clarity, but I did not know it was there. And you helped me dig deeper and discover it by helping me realize that I was fighting too hard, not making things simple enough, I realized I was going against my grain for so long that if I just may be relaxed and let things happen, things would come into fruition. I like the fact that when we did program in order to get clarity, you’d let me be myself. You just got me you just grabbed me as a nonlinear person and just kind of let me take the reins and do what’s working for me just from the Clarity Calls that we had. What you really brought out was I had goals in front of me like you said But I was not being intentional about it. So all of these little things I was doing, I was kind of complicating by just not realizing that things were already working for me, I just had to know how to become intentional about them, and just let myself be open to them.

Blake Schofield 25:22
And so on this journey, part of this for you, what I saw was maybe for the first time ever having permission to work in the way that you work permission to just be Kathleen, and permission to trust the instincts that you have that would guide you towards the things that you are naturally gifted at or wanting to do. And I think for before this, you had never had that you were constantly sort of trying to live in the way other people told you, you should live.

Kathleen 25:53
Very much so. And I knew deep down that that’s why I was doing things the way I was doing them. Because it was just the way it was always done. But when I did give myself permission, things just became so much clearer. To me. One of the indications of that were one of the tests that we took in the beginning of the program that came back as me going against my grain for so long that I just couldn’t even give me an answer. So from there, you and I went to work to dig deeper about the things that I really have enjoyed doing in my career, the things that were successful, kind of retracing the steps back, like we said to past successes and my secret sauce skills and connecting the dots. But when I finally had that permission and started working, we’re just letting things happen, like you said with having open hands and just welcoming what comes along without questioning it without judging that judging yourself like, Oh, I was just lucky, or this is just a side thing I was just interested in, you made me realize that there was something there. And things just started rolling a lot more quickly after that. And towards the end of the program. I don’t know if I’m jumping ahead. But when I went back and took the test again, I was just blown away, blown away. By the results, the tests just got me to a tee. It just kind of clarified all the things I’ve known about myself, but just pushed down so far, for years. And just that I pushed them down because it was status quo. It was kind of like I said, what I had to do, the way the working worlds were but when I took these tests, they just clarified that I was the way I was which is a creative innovator see things from a high level, kind of get in act on it, and then move on to the next thing. All these things I always thought were not positive things about myself. It made them it made me see them in such a validated, I felt validated. It made me see them in such a better light that hey, you know, no matter what other people say there are people that operate the way I do that, see things at a high level, that that can come in and see the big picture and then make all the plans and well not even make detailed plans but kind of see the vision and make it happen without overcomplicating things.

Blake Schofield 28:29
To me this is one of the things I’ve enjoyed so much about watching your journey is when you can really embrace and understand who you are, and stand in that value and live your life the way that you’re wired to live it. There’s an ease and a joy and expansion that happens with that. And it’s been so fun to watch this journey for you. Because I’ve watched so much of that happen for you. And I think it’s a huge part of why you’ve inspired so many women in the program is because you say it and it seems so easy. But I know the women listening and I know where I was five years ago, and when you are living a life out of fear and feeling stuck and trapped. It feels really hard. Like how can you do that. And I want you to know it’s a step by step process layer by layer, right? But you can get there and there’s beauty and there’s ease in what can happen in your life. And you are 100% An example of that, Kathleen, so can you share a little bit with us about what has happened in the last couple of months in terms of business opportunities, growth, etc for you as a result of getting that clarity, understanding your secret sauce, transferable skills, and really being able to align yourself with your natural way of working what’s come to fruition since then.

Kathleen 29:42
Okay, since then, one thing I wanted to say that I forgot to say before is that you made me see it and a completely different things in a completely different life where I’m in charge at the table, not either the person interviewing me or looking at me for freelance or consulting job before I went in, and just kind of like I said, accepted stuff things down accepted the roles, this is what they want to pay, this is what they wanted to do. Now I can go in knowing my value and my credentials and feeling more confident about myself and set down my own roles. Since I finished the program or was coming towards the, actually the middle of the program, I made an update to some of my online profiles, saying that I was in the consulting room, and the floodgates have opened, I got a ton of calls. And I was so amazed at how many positive things started happening. And as I let them happen, I have zeroed in on a few of my side businesses, I also see and I always did feel they all were related to each other. They’re all in the creative realm. So I’ve been focusing on one I’ve through the power of relationships have probably quadrupled the amount of clients I have, and one type of creative that I’m having. That’s my side business of doing hand engraving and calligraphy. But that came through people sharing my name forming relationships with them. And I’ve also been contacted by two very good potential consulting positions. And another full time position, which I decided that I was not even ready to think about at the moment, because the person that approached me, kind of approached me already with his ideas in mind. And I just realized that I have the power to step back and think about it for a little bit, though, with these consulting positions and my side businesses and just see where that leads me before I jump to another mistake. And I realized that consulting could be the thing for me. And it could have been for a long time because I do go in and do see things from a high level can do my job quickly within six to 12 months, and then feel the need to move on. So it’s the perfect thing to satisfy my need to always be trying different things. So really, like I said, the floodgates have opened since I changed my mindset, I changed some online profiles, I met someone in the group attended the calls to the work, which I continue to do. Even though I’m finished with the program, I love the fact that I can still look at it on a daily basis. Remember things looked into calls again. And it’s been extremely influential in what I’m doing now. Because I don’t think I would have gotten that just going back to talking to friends or asking the wrong people who just really didn’t understand I was feeling inside and going just going against my grain for so. So and finishing that the Colby index was icing on the cake, seeing how it went from telling me in the beginning that I’ve been going against my grain for so long, they couldn’t even give me an answer to getting like flying colors, validation that I am what I’ve always known about myself, which is an innovator and they person that likes to just jump in, do things and move on to the next creative adventure.

Blake Schofield 33:29
Awesome. Yeah, and I love your story in particular, because yeah, the floodgates have opened, like opportunity after opportunity after opportunity. And I think this is one thing people really don’t understand, right is more living from a place of fear. And we’re living in a place it’s not aligned with who we are, we’re so focused on trying to hold on to what we have, because we’re so fearful that we’re going to give it up. And yet what I consistently see is when you align life with how you naturally work, what you’re passionate about what your secret sauce skills are. That’s where the expansion and growth comes. And I know you and I talked about, one of the things that was important to you was, I want to be able to increase my income. I want to be able to add more to my retirement and my husband to feel secure in these things. And I think often there’s this big fear of Well, how could I do that the only way I could do that is a full time corporate job. And what you’ve shown there your experiences that that’s not true at all, actually, what you’ve done is opened up and expanded. You’re making more money now doing what you’re doing. And you’re just at the beginning of this just at the beginning of opportunities, expansion and growth. And it’s such a beautiful thing. And that is happening to you because you’re in alignment. And this is what people to understand when you’re unfulfilled and unhappy and all that that air sign. Those are signs that you are misaligned. And then when you are aligned, that’s when things become easy and things flow and doors of opportunity come open. And so thank you for just coming in sharing your story and your journey, just a small piece of a Kathleen but Before we wrap up, because I know we’re basically out of time already, I’d love to ask you, is there anything that didn’t ask you that I should have, or anything that’s on your heart that you want to share?

Kathleen 35:09
I was so misaligned for so long and playing off of fears of others or by status quo, that I wasn’t being who I really knew deep down inside that I was. And as far as the security of full time job, I know, it does make people feel better when you feel like you have a paycheck coming in, weekly, bi weekly, monthly, but I learned a few times that there really is no security in that if you open your eyes, there is the opportunity not only to make what you’ve made in the past, if you’re open minded about it, you can substantially increase your income and your opportunities. And I’ve already seen that. So I just am excited to keep it going. And it’s been an absolute pleasure. I’ve really enjoyed working with you. I think you’re wonderful. And like I said, I had comfort level from the very first day first conversation. So if anybody was ever concerned about that, it’s so easy to speak with you and you understand, but at the same time you challenge and you really got me thinking and reevaluating and reassuring me and some of the key words you used I just love and I still think of them daily, that things are gold, I had gold at my feet. And also being you know, whether you’re misaligned or aligned makes a big difference in how things manifest in your life. When you have open hands hands and you’re accepting of what might be out there, the things start to come in. They really do.

Blake Schofield 36:51
Thank you, Miss Kathleen, it’s been such an honor. And I’m excited to continue our journey with you moving over into the ascent community and be able to continue to be a part of your life and cheer you on as you continue to gain more alignment and more growth and more expansion for your life. And for those of you guys who are listening. Thank you so much for joining us today. Until next time, have a great one.

Blake Schofield 37:18
Thanks for joining me today. Rather than hope the grass will be greener identify what the right next step is. We can help you do just that. Get clarity on where you are in your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optimal paths to get there, and the right next step to take. Start your complimentary personalized career fulfillment plan at www.thebridgetofulfillment.com  Again, you can get your personalized career fulfillment plan at www.thebridgetofulfillment.com Thanks again for joining and have a great week ahead!