Some walls are made of concrete.
My parents helped tear one down. Leipzig, 1989. The Montagsdemonstrationen. Marching in the dark toward something they could not yet name. They were not watching history on television. They were making it.
Then they packed everything into a car with a map they had never needed before and drove West. No job. No plan. Just the belief that what was on the other side had to be better than what was behind them.
I grew up watching people who refused to be invisible.
And somehow I still spent twenty years hiding.
Hiding in corporate jobs I left because I could not play the politics. Building things I did not put my name on. Sitting in meetings with the answer and saying nothing.
I know what it costs to be invisible. And I know what it takes to finally step forward.
This is Mama What’s Next. A podcast for women building somatic and purpose-driven holistic businesses who are brilliant at what they do and done being the best kept secret in their industry.
Every episode we sit with a woman who is building her practice. Honestly. Imperfectly. On her own terms.
Because being visible online should never mean becoming someone you are not.
I am your host. A girl from East Germany who learned that the wall outside falls faster than the wall inside. And that the bravest thing you can do is put your name on what you built.
Welcome. I am so glad you are here.
Before we get into today’s episode I want to tell you about The Sunday Shift.
It is my weekly newsletter for women over 40 who are done being invisible and ready to be found online. Without the camera performance.
Every Sunday you get one woman who made it work and what you can take from her. One framework you can steal for your own story and positioning. And one question that gets you one step closer to the right people saying yes.
It lands in your inbox on Sunday. You read it over the weekend. You start Monday different.
Now. Today’s episode.
Anna’s Hippie Years – Holistic Business Coach Story
I want to talk about Anna.
Anna is a holistic business coach. She left corporate in 2013. And she did not have a plan.
She took a sabbatical. Traveled through South America. Discovered coaching. Lived what she herself calls her hippie phase.
She was not earning much money. She was single. No mortgage. No one depending on her.
And when I asked her about that time she said something that has stayed with me.
She said: “That was the luxury, I suppose, of being very slow to come round to what actually it looked like.”
Most of us think we need to have it all figured out before we make a move. The business plan. The client pipeline. The financial runway. All of it mapped out perfectly before we take a single step.
Anna wandered for years.
She tried digital marketing consulting first because that is what she had done in corporate. The easy transition. Then she discovered coaching. She traveled. She experimented. She earned very little for a while.
Twelve years later she has a six figure business working twenty hours a week, term time only.
The wandering took her exactly where she needed to go.
When women leave corporate or make a career transition there is almost always a long stretch of figuring it out. Testing. Learning what you actually want now that you get to choose.
It takes longer than you think. It looks messier than you would ever post about.
Women who have come through it say the same thing. They wish someone had told them that the messy middle was part of it. That trying different modalities, testing different niches, not quite knowing what the thing is yet — that is what the process looks like from the inside.
I am doing it myself right now with my portfolio career.
I thought I wanted a solo business. Then I realised I felt lonely. I need a team quicker than I can grow one. I also missed brand work.
So now I am working simultaneously as part of a global agency supporting EMEA marketing for a premium tech brand while running in person group workshops for job applicants helping them market themselves on video while also building a direct to consumer offer.
And I have never been happier.
What I needed looked nothing like what I planned. And that turned out to be the point.
So here is the framework I want to give you today. Because most advice about leaving corporate or starting a service based business makes it sound like a six month journey.
Month one and two: get clear on your niche. Month three and four: build your website and offers. Month five and six: get your first clients.
That is fiction.
Here is what it actually looks like — based on Anna’s journey and what I see with women building coaching and service based businesses every day.
Phase one is the exploration.
This is anywhere from six months to two years. Trying different things to see what fits. Getting certifications or training. Working with beta clients, often for low fees or free. Still figuring out who you want to serve and how. Income is probably inconsistent. Possibly very low.
Phase two is the focusing.
This takes another one to two years. Getting clearer on the ideal client. Refining the approach and the methodology. Building a network and visibility more intentionally. Income slowly increasing but still inconsistent.
Phase three is the building.
This is two to five years in.
Regular clients and regular income starting to appear. Positioning established and reputation building. Referrals coming in. The business model being shaped around actual life.
Anna’s timeline looked like this.
2013 she left corporate. 2013 to 2015 the hippie phase — the exploration. 2015 to 2018 getting focused, building credibility. 2018 to now the established business — refinement and sustainability.
Twelve years to get where she is.
Not six months. Twelve years.
And she will tell you it was worth every single wandering step.
Now. If you are at the point where you are ready to stop wandering and start getting visible — and you want someone in your corner helping you articulate what you do, position your story, and get found by the right people — that is exactly what I do in my one to one work.
I support women going through a career transition, especially women building somatic and holistic businesses, to put language to their expertise in a way that creates visibility and trust — without requiring them to become constant content creators.
If that is you, the link to apply to work with me and find the link to build visibility authentically
And here is your question for this week.
What phase are you actually in?
Exploration. Focusing. Or building.
And what does that phase actually require from you right now instead of rushing to the next one.
Sit with that. Write it down if you can.
And I will see you next Sunday in The Sunday Shift.
