How You Can Feel Confident Again! Career Coaching for the Empty Nester

Congratulations! Your kids are finally up and out of the house – either off to college or working full-time and supporting themselves. So, what do you do now? It can be tough to fill the void if your life has been primarily focused on your children. Instead of feeling like an empty nester, think of this as a new and exciting chapter in your life!

I remember when my last child went off to college. My husband and I celebrated tour newfound freedom to travel and do what we wanted, when we wanted. And thankfully the transition from working mother to empty nester was smooth because I had built my business while my youngest child was still at home. I had found my calling and was following it.

At the same time, I watched so many of my friends struggle. They were stay-at-home moms whose primary responsibility was raising their children. They did not want to or did not have to work. They spent their time volunteering for PTSA, sports programs, etc. Their lives revolved around their kids and when their last child was out of the house, they feel a little lost and empty. They didn’t feel needed or wanted and didn’t have the confidence to launch themselves back into the career they left when their children were young.

The good news is you can re-enter the workforce and be successful at any age!

Did you know:

• Louise Hay founded Hay House at age 60
• Roget invented the Thesaurus at age 73
• Colonel Sanders was 65 when he launched Kentucky Fried Chicken
• Oprah left the safety of the network to do her OWN programming at age 57
• I followed my intuition and started my own business at age 50

How to go from empty nester to doing what you love

Start by asking yourself the following questions:

• What do you want to do in your life?
• What are your dreams?
• What are you passionate about?
• What breaks your heart?
• What are your skills, gifts and talents?
• What are the things that you do as naturally as breathing and don’t even think about it?

Find yourself a good life/career and potentially, business coach

You want to find a coach that has experience in both life and career disciplines because they both will bring something different to the table and complement each other. If your dream is to start a business, it will be useful to have someone with business coaching experience also. The perfect trifecta.

• The Life Coach will be able to help you get past where you might be “stuck” or “blocked” or “not confident” and they will also add value to figuring out what makes your heart sing, what truly makes you happy. They will also help you build confidence and belief in yourself.  Some may be able to help you get in tune with your intuition or inner wisdom which is really valuable in this process.
• The Career Coach will also be able to help you figure out your passion and what steps you can take to be able to move into that field. They will be able to help you create a powerful resume based on all your old jobs and all your volunteer work. They can help you write influential cover letters and figure out the right job searching process that will work for the field you want to enter. They also can help you decide if you need to brush up on any skills or learn new skills.
•  The Business Coach is the perfect person to help you start a company if that is your dream and desire. They can help you decide on the viability, help you with strategy and logic. They can help design and plan a web presence that will speak to your audience. They should be able to help you create a plan and processes for launching. And they can connect you with other experts in the field from web designers to social media or marketing experts.

It’s hard to do this all on your own. Different people will need different degrees of support. Some may just need a session or two to work through issues or logically reason if something will work or not or just take the time to get another valuable opinion. Others may need or want help all the way through so they can learn the ropes and begin to stand in their own power again. A good coach will be able to ascertain exactly what you need and help you make the journey from the empty nest to complete fulfillment in the second half of your life.  It is NEVER TOO LATE to start all over again!