Teaching and a corporate role failed to give Claire White the fulfilment she wanted. Here's what happened when she crushed fear and found huge personal development by joining TCI.
In 2017, Claire White was a primary school teacher making a difference in children’s lives. Now she’s helping their parents.
Her pivot from teacher to a corporate environment to coach—she’s a professional coach, educational consultant and workshop facilitator in her Coffs Harbour business Claire White Coaching and Development—started after she was searching for clarity around her future and how to use her skills.
“I wanted to really feel I was giving as much as I was getting,” she told The Coaching Institute’s Matt Lavars.
“I just wasn’t meeting the mark in regards to fulfilment. I was looking at all different things, going on webinars—then I came across TCI and it was a values match for me.”
What she loved? That TCI is “all about contribution and giving,” she said. “And I thought, ‘That sounds perfect, let’s find out more.’”
Like many others, Claire experienced “hesitation” and wondered if joining was the right thing for her. She said it was a life changing decision: “It’s not just about what you can do, but becoming the version of you that means everything is a possibility.”
Claire now has more flexibility and autonomy in how she makes decisions in her work day.
“It’s helped me reach a wider range of people,” she told Matt,
“I loved working with the kids and being a wellbeing leader, but I I found the real change happened when you work with the parents.
“A lot of my coaching now is working with the adults, and I love that had such an influence on children.”
It’s given her a “real opportunity” to create meaningful work on a schedule she’s in charge of: “Sometimes I wake up and pinch myself. It’s wonderful.”
When she first decided to become a coach, Claire “most certainly didn’t pack up everything” and go into the industry full time, but at TCI she learned the skills to build up her business.
“TCI is really realistic and pragmatic in the advice they give around what does it really take, and unravelling some of the myths around overnight success.”
She says two parts of the course have helped her: “It starts with the personal development and who you are … then it extends to if it’s a match to creating your own business.
“You have everything you need to be able to succeed. You just have to have a big enough why.”
Asked by Matt how she’s grown personally, Claire didn’t hesitate.
“I used to let fear stop me from taking risks, and trap me into thinking I couldn’t chase what I wanted because I didn’t have the right support and resources.”
The Coaching Institute gave her not just a community of like minded people, but the skills to “feel the fear and do it anyway”, Claire said.
Now, she “embraces” fear: “The personal development for me was really being able to have a better relationship with vulnerability.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, Claire has seen adversity as opportunity and has a stack of great things to look forward to in 2020.
Talk to us! “There’s a lot of things but particularly to prove to myself I can,” she said.
“I’m super excited about taking my coaching to the next level, particularly around running webinars and going external and being able to help more people who perhaps don’t even know they need help yet.”
Given that she’s already found what she needed within herself and in a career—contribution on a greater level, crushing her personal fears, setting up a business—Claire has advice for anyone considering following in her footsteps.
“Listen to your gut,” she said.
“I remember the day I joined and the apprehension I felt in my stomach because I was making a decision completely for me, and that was outside my normal capacity.
“Yet I backed myself … oh my gosh, there was fear, but it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Our real achievements in life come when we embrace what’s not comfortable.”
Claire White is a former primary school teacher turned coach who lives in Coffs Harbour and is "passionate about helping people achieve their goals and live their dreams."
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