Many of us have fostered the feelings of disappointment, regret, and downright failure when life forced us to start over with our goals and dreams and in our personal and business relationships. Some of us were just destined to do so because we were either so ambitious that we rushed our strategies or just weren’t focused enough to pay attention to the small details that earn a go-getter success.
If you are anything like life coach Dr. Nicole’s clients, you have had it with not seeing your visions for your businesses and personal lives materialize or evolve. She is the CEO of Volition Enterprises Inc., a development firm whose prime directive is to formulate personal and professional plans for those who are ready to align themselves with their aspirations of success. The New York native, whose platform is “Advocacy Plus Action and Accountability Equals Results,” has been coaching people to their destinies for more than 12 years. She has mastered becoming one with each and every one of her clients and instantly adopts their life aspirations as her own. Most people find it a challenge to maintain their life alone, but she has managed to juggle the many lives of others not to mention her own.
It’s hard to imagine that a CEO and life coach would have much time to do anything, but nevertheless, rolling out was able to catch up with the author of life changing books such as A Woman’s True Purpose: Live Like You Matter and Choose Yourself: A Journey Toward Personal Fulfillment for Women where she informed me on who she is, what she stands for, and how her client relations come about.
Give us an elevator pitch version of who Dr. Nicole is.
I’m a success strategist and basically what I do is help people get behind the driver’s seat of their businesses and their own lives using an action-oriented model which ensures they reach their goals, their targets are strategic and they achieve their desired success.
How do you know when you need a success strategist?
When a person is in a crisis situation and they want to see things move in a different direction, they need advocacy and that result-driven accountability to help turn things around. It can be in either the business realm, in their relationship or in other aspects of their personal life.
Either, it’s on a leadership development side where people want to maximize what they’re doing in business. They want to be able to gain better market share or turn their business model around. They see the opportunity to have someone as a coach walk alongside them and help them do what they really get done in that situation. It’s either with a team, a business or on the executive coaching side where they’re evaluating, “How can I maximize my leadership and effectiveness?” “How can I be most productive and make sure the people who are following me are doing it in a way that will lead us toward the vision that I have for the company or the vision that I have for just my life in general?”
Or, it’s just that awakening to leverage the opportunity they have to get results. They know hiring a coach or a strategist can help them be most successful.
What does the first meeting look like? What is that experience like?
For me, a lot of it is about chemistry, which may be a funny thing to say. You really have to feel like you can advocate for that person. You understand what their vision is, what their goals are, what the situation is that they’re trying to tackle and get success in. So, in that first session you assess what it is they want, what is their greatest desire, and are they really ready to make the moves, change the behaviors and solidify actions that will get them to their goal. For me, it’s about what does that chemistry look like. Do they feel that they can trust me as their coach and advocate? Do I feel like they’re ready for some of the things that they’re saying they want to achieve? And, is there a fit? If that chemistry at that first meeting goes well, you buy into what they are saying that they want to do. When you feel like you can help them be successful at it, then it’s, kind of, off to the races after that.
Typically when someone comes to you to become their advocate, they’re usually looking to make a change. Is it, on average, financially, or is it because they have a different passion because they want to be passionate about their work and they’ve lost the passion, or does it vary?
It’s across the board. It can be if a business woman or man that’s seeking to change how their business is running. It can be someone trying to make a life change; they’re seeking to end a relationship and they really want to figure out how to be most strategic about making sure there is the least amount of casualties in that decision. It really can be across the board. I think the thing that’s so powerful about it is no matter what the goal is, if it’s important to the person that is seeking to achieve that goal, that’s what makes it relevant. There’s no judgment from me as to whether or not the goal is one that they should achieve. The greatest judgment that I have in the process is whether or not I can help them achieve it. The goal really comes from the person and it’s up to me as a strategist to say, “Yes, I think I can help you achieve that and why don’t we make it bigger because it seems a little confined or why don’t we make it more focused so that we make sure you really hit that out of the park?”
It’s not for me to say it’s a good goal or not a good goal. It’s really for the client to be able to express what it is that they’re trying to achieve and me to align with them.
You recently made a move to Atlanta, so you’re available in both L.A. and Atlanta? Or are you national?
I am pretty bicoastal. The great thing about what I do is, with technology, being able to connect with people through Skype and on the telephone. It’s pretty interesting because contrary to popular belief, most people really enjoy fueling their coaching work on the phone with a lot of the flexibility. A lot of my clients travel and have very busy lives. They’re running companies and doing some pretty amazing things. It affords us to connect and do what we have to do without the restriction of geographic boundaries.
What was your “Aha” moment when you decided that this is where you wanted to take your career?
I figured out probably about 10 years ago that what gives me energy and what makes me really excited is helping people win. That was just a moment of clarity being able to say what I really love is championing the effort of another person. This made the most sense to me, because it gives people the opportunity to be safe, to speak their truth, and for me to speak mine in relation to what they’re trying to do. It’s a lot of fun, because between myself and a client, there’s “no holds barred.” We speak the truth. We are very authentic in our exchange. I push when it’s necessary, and pull when it’s necessary. They know I am there for their absolute best intention and I’m behind them 100 percent. So, there is no feeling of being judged. There is no feeling of whether or not they will be able to accomplish the goal, because we’re very intentional about, We’re going to win at this. We’re gonna make this happen.
With me by their side, they know their livelihood hitting that target has just catapulted 100 percent. It’s internally fulfilling to see them get what they want to get done.
Any final thoughts?
I think one of the biggest platforms that I’ve used is Life is a gift; Living is a choice. A lot of times, I see people who want things, and they want to do things differently. They want to see a change, but they’re afraid. They’re afraid of simply making the choice to go down a different path to get a different result. The most powerful thing about what I do is the ability to show the person, the client, this is really about what you choose. If you have life, then you have the opportunity to make a different choice than you made yesterday. That’s your greatest gift, the ability to wake up in the morning and say, “OK, I’m alive. Now what am I going to choose to do with the gift of life that I’ve been given?”
[Success starts] just by making the call and standing outside of their paradigm of what they think they can do, what they’re afraid of doing, what the past looks like, what their history looks like, what their failures or perceived failures look like … or making the decision to say, I’m going to try something new. Winners usually have coaches in the background helping them to be strategic about the moves they make. Looking at it from a purely positive development perspective, many of the people I admire can honestly say there were people in the wings helping them to be successful. To think outside of the box, think through their thoughts and strategies so that they can be clear on how they will move forward and deliberate on how they’re going to achieve things. The full coaching area is something that really helps people to achieve results faster and use that to leverage other opportunities they may have not even thought about before. People should definitely investigate it and give it a try.
If you are interested in keeping up with Dr. Nicole to gain more insight on what it is that she does or to receive tips on how to strategically win in your overall personal and professional lives, you can visit her website at www.askdrnicole.com, follow her on Twitter at @ASKdrnicole, or like her Facebook page, Ask Dr. Nicole.
–tiara lamm
(Interview conducted by Yvette Caslin)
