Sarah Cooper

Age at time of shift

35

Gender

Female

Education level

Postgraduate

Universities attended

Durham University, Chester Colllege of Law

Shifted from

Marketing manager

Location

London

Salary

£30,000-£40,000

Years in old career

8 (different jobs within the same sector)

Shifted to

Career and Personal Coach

Location

Beijing

Salary

undisclosed

Years in new career

1

Year of shift

2006

What was your role in your old job?

Scoping and implementing the first phase of a large-scale change project, which set ambitious growth targets impacting on all areas of the charity - fundraising, communications, service delivery and business systems.

What is/are your new role(s)?

I coach, run workshops, write and speak about leading the life you really want.

Why did you change?

Although I loved the organisations I had worked for in the voluntary sector, the head office marketing roles had never felt a very good “fit”. I knew that I wanted to work more closely with people to help them to lead happier lives, and to able to witness this difference at first hand.

I had also always wanted to live abroad for a period of time, so I started to look into the possibility of overseas field work with the organisation I was currently with.

I then fell unexpectedly pregnant. I would be a single mother, so this effectively closed the door on the field route I had been pursuing. I felt like I had messed up my work and life and couldn’t see any positive way forward.

After a period of adjustment I realised that actually many exciting options still existed if I was prepared to be bold. I decided to make the living overseas part of my dream happen anyway, and to figure out the job change later.

So when my daughter Elsa was 3 months old we boarded a plane to Beijing! As I was still on maternity leave and the cost of living in China is very low, I calculated that I could live there for several months, and get used to being a mother, before needing to find paid work.

I hired a professional coach based in the UK and through a series of phone coaching sessions understood that, ironically, helping other people make successful career and lifestyle changes was what I really wanted to do.

Are you happy with the change?

I am very happy. For the first time in my life I feel that, even if things aren’t always easy and I don’t always have all the answers, I am finally on the right path.

What do you miss and what don't you miss?

I miss living near to my parents and having them see my daughter grow up at close hand – though we make frequent visits home! As a very social person, I thought I would miss the comradeship of colleagues but strangely I don’t.

How did you go about making the change?

Once I moved to Beijing the career change did not happen all at once. I took a marketing job at first to pay the bills. Then once I knew the direction I wanted to go in, I started my coach training and took a job with a management development training company. However I soon realised that I really wanted to work for myself.

What was the most difficult thing about changing?

Being sure that it was the right thing to do. Although part of me was extremely excited about helping people find fulfillment in their work and personal lives, I was scared of making another wrong career move (before working in the voluntary sector I trained as a solicitor).

In the end I realised there are no guarantees, and I just had to go for it.

What help did you get?

Coaching really helped as it provided momentum and made me think more deeply about what I wanted. Knowing I had to check in with someone forced me to take action in areas I had put off before.
I was also lucky to meet a lady who had just started a business running personal and professional development workshops. She gave me a lot of inspiration and support.

In retrospect I would say this isn’t really luck - once you start down the right path you meet many like minded people.

What have you learnt in the process?

In my “old life” I would never have thought of myself as someone who could start their own business. I have learnt that we are capable of much more than we think. It is our own selves not circumstances that hold us back.

What do you wish you'd done differently?

I try not to think that way. You do the best you can at the time and if you make a mistake, you learn from it and move on.

What would you advise others to do in the same situation?

To know that is it always right to follow your heart, and that whilst it takes courage, it is less frightening than you think. Set yourself a bold course and you will find you rise to it.