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You’re listening to the Get a 6-Figure Job You Love Podcast. This is episode 49. Another interview with my amazing client Carolina. Hey there. Welcome to the Get a 6-Figure Job You Love Podcast. I’m your host, Natalie Fisher. I’m a certified career mindset coach who also happens to want to skip all the BS and get to what it really takes to create real results for you and your career.
On this podcast, you will create real mindset shifts that will lead to big results and big changes in your career and your income. No fluff here. If you want to get a six-figure job you love and create real concrete results in your industry and make a real impact, you’re in the right place. Are you ready? Let’s go. If you’re feeling like you’re swimming in a little bit of self doubt, if you’re thinking, “I’m not really sure,” your belief is wobbly on what’s possible for you.
You’re like, “That’s nice for other people, but I don’t know about for me. I don’t know if I can do it.” If you’re thinking, you’re the only one who can’t. How you can go from feeling that to feeling completely self-confident and in the result you want and completely capable of achieving other results you want? If you want to hear about how you can do that, this interview is for you.
So, we’re going to talk about all her journey and her willingness to get coached, taking the bluntness, taking the tough love to create this amazing result that she has now. How much fun is this? So it really is fun. So, we’re going to drop the wisdom. I know that you guys love listening to the episodes. They’re some of the most downloaded episodes that I have on the client’s successes, and they get some of the most feedback.
So, thank you for those of you who reach out to me and let me know how much you’ve been inspired by these interviews. So, I’m going to let Carolina introduce herself and I can’t wait for you to hear this interview, and I hope that it inspires you as much as it’s inspired me to work with someone like her. Thanks so much. And I will play The interview.
Hello everyone. We are here today on the podcast with another amazing special guest, another client of mine, Carolina. She’s going to talk about her journey with coaching, and she’s a very interesting person in general. So I’m going to let her introduce herself. She comes from a very diverse background. So please go ahead and introduce yourself.
Hi everybody. So my name is Carolina Beaz. I saw Natalie and then that also like a LinkedIn and everything. And I said, “Okay, let me try it out.” And it’s been great. So a little bit about me. So, I was born in Dominican Republic. I came to the US when I was 10 years old, and had to learn English. And then after that then ended up going to Cornell University, being a mechanical engineer, then I did my MBA at the University of Virginia and I got married 2007.
My husband said, “Let’s go to Ecuador.” And I’m like, “Okay, take me for a …” repent myself. So we went into Ecuador in 2008, the black hole of 2008. And actually I was working at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at that time. So it was kind of like, we kind of knew what was going to happen. And so I said, “Okay, let’s go.” And so, we went there and we lived there for nine years.
I had two daughters there and then I decided that I needed to come back to the US because I wanted to do my corporate career here. I did start a couple of businesses there and I had my own consulting firm and did a whole bunch of different things to occupy my time. So I did a lot of consulting with family businesses and strategy operations, and IT as well, like VRP limitations.
And so when I came back in 2017 to the US, it was a whole different world with social media and things. I looked for a job, which was like, not exactly what I was used to. And so, I had to really start networking, start building my LinkedIn again, and doing all these things. And also my confidence was a little worn down, because it was taking so long to find a job. I wasn’t used to it.
 
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And so then finally, I got a job and then the pandemic hit and I was in a startup. And so, I ended up having to leave about a year ago. And so, took me about a whole year to find another job. Midway through, that’s when I hired Natalie and we were fighting to build my confidence back up and doing all these things.
Yeah. So, thank you so much for that introduction. So, the thing that’s really interesting to look at is you have all these degrees, you have traveled to different countries, you’ve had two kids, you’ve done all these things and had all these experiences, and it’s still possible for things to happen, where it affects your confidence. And someone hearing about your background and someone hearing about all these things that you’ve done, you’ve worked even for some big companies.
And it’s not about all of that. It’s about how you’re approaching the new situation and your day to day mindset in it, which is what’s going to create your results moving forward. So, I think it’s just really important for people to hear that because there’s so many people in that same situation who have these lists of accomplishments and are like, “Why can’t I make it work? Why can’t I do this?” So, excited to dig into that with you today, about how you found that journey and overcoming it. But there’s always that new level of growth.
I agree with you. On paper, you’re like, okay, people are like, “Oh, that’s great, you did all these things.” But then you’re like interviewing and not getting an offer. And you’re like, “Am I worthy or not?”
Yeah. And then the confidence starts to go down when really, your value is all there. It was always there for sure. So, tell us a little bit about some of the main kind of mindset shifts that you made when we were working together, kind of some of the things that helped you to turn your confidence back around.
Yeah. Value was one of the big things. Like I said, I always like your analogy of if you give someone $100 it’s still worth it if they don’t take it. And so, is that thing of like, no. Once you start doing this and you go month by month and not getting something, and then you feel super let down, but you have to keep pushing out the mountain and being as sane as next. You only need one yes. You only need one yes.
So, you have to kind of build yourself up. And some of the things that I did, I started like talking to people on LinkedIn, talking to people and in Slack channels and just like say I’m helping other people and I have value. And you kind of have to start believing in yourself. I think one of the things that I struggled and that we worked on a lot was that I wanted outside validation. I wanted other people to tell me that I was doing a good job. And instead of building that self-confidence within and really believe it inside me.
Yeah. Exactly yeah. And tell people some of your thoughts about networking because that’s a really good thing that you’re good at, is connecting with people, networking with people. And I think people could benefit from hearing your thoughts about networking and connecting.
Yeah. So at the beginning, like I’m also an introvert, so it’s not always an easy step for me to just cold calling, reaching out to people. But once I had that mind shift of not saying that I’m asking them for a favor, but I’m actually trying to help them with something they need. It was more about giving than taking. And then once you switch that, you don’t feel like a salesy person, or you don’t feel like you’re bothering them, you feel like, “I’m going to add something to their life, to their value.”
One person that I met through this process and actually, eventually letting me to the job I got. It’s that she said, “We’re all friends that don’t know each other.” Yeah. So, I was like, “Oh, okay. That’s cool that we’re all friends,” if you think of it that way.
Yeah, for sure. And I think that those are keys that led to your success throughout the process, which was just maintaining those thoughts of like, yeah, we’re all friends and we can talk to each other. We can help. And I think taking the focus off yourself for sure. And just putting it on, what can I add? And for
 
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that to happen, you had to really believe in your own value and what you had to offer and bring that to the surface. For sure.
It’s definitely a process. It’s a stepping stone each way, and it’s the growth curve every time.
And so good for you to realize that and embrace the process of feeling like, I’m here for it.” You were such an amazing client, always showing up, always having things to work on, always taking it in really well, and understanding what was going on inside your head, and having the willingness to go through that process, for sure. And so, before we talk about like the amazing result that you created and stuff, let’s go back and talk a little bit about what challenges you were experiencing before working together? What was kind of a day to day, what was going on in your head?
One of the biggest things I think blockers for me was the fact that I had been out of the country, the U.S. for nine years. And then I was getting people saying like what I did in South America was not worth it, my experience was not. So then I got this thing in my head, like maybe I should have never left. All my peers are like way higher than me. And I said, “That comparison thing, that’s awful.” Because it’s like, you just go in your head and you’re like … it’s a downward spiral instead of up.
So, it was holding me back, and it was also holding my confidence back even more, because then I was like, not believing that I was in the place that I needed to be versus my other peers or I didn’t have the right experience, when … and then you start going down the rabbit hole, I need more certifications, or I need something else. So, you start seeing things on LinkedIn, like Coursera and whatever else comes my way.
The mentality.
And you just spent so much time doing that instead of actually doing what’s actually going to get you to the finish line.
Exactly. And it’s the mentality of like, I’m not enough as I am. I don’t have enough. And it was completely not the case specifically for you, because you had all these results, you had all these things, and it was just, yeah. So it was just kind of showing you that. So, the things we work on in coaching is reframing your past, realizing when there’s no upside to doing something. So like you said so eloquently, you got to spend the time doing the things that are actually going to lead you to the result. And we often want to get distracted away from those things. So, how do you look at those challenges now versus how you looked at them then? Do you still have those thoughts come up, and how do you handle it?
I think we all suffer from some type of imposter syndrome at some point. And I think that was another thing that we worked on was, you can feel things or feel disappointed because you’re human, but you dwell on it when it gets bad. So now it’s just like, “Okay, yeah. I’m not happy about that, but how can I get over it quickly and go on to the next step?” [crosstalk 00:11:44].
Yeah. And then you start to do that. You start to get really good at that. And I remember that you got really good at that. And it was just embracing the process. Embracing the process and understanding that sometimes there’s going to be failure along the way and that that’s not a problem.
At the beginning, it was hard. I said, “This was hard. I can’t do this.”
But the difference between you and someone else is, yeah, it’s hard, but I’m going to put in the work to embrace it and overcome it and ultimately get on the other side of that and conquer that mountain and that determined this. So, what was the biggest fear that you think you had to overcome saying yes to working with me?
Because I had been out of work for so long and then I was starting to get … and obviously I have a family, I have things to take care of. I have a house and so, financially it was too much for me and I was going crazy. I’m like that, [“somewhat not” 00:12:40]. I was trying to decide, is this really worth me
 
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getting in more and more instead, or pay you for the service? And so, that was kind of my biggest hurdle.
As I went through the process, it was also like the scarcity mentality, not coming from a place of abundance. So I was like, “Okay then, I’m going to put my time in me. And it’s going to work out.” Believe in what’s going to be the future, my future self, where I’m going to be. So that was my biggest obstacles when I was trying to hire you or not.
And what was your thought that made you bet on yourself and say, “Yes, I’m doing this.”
And I think you said something along the lines, like, “What’s the truth. Had things worked out in the past?” And I said, “Well, yes.” And at some point, something is going to be not in the negative, but in the positive. So I said, “Okay, I’m going to take the bet and I’ll bet on myself that I have that in some difficult situations before, and I’m going to do it again by meaning this.” And hopefully with some help, I can do it faster.
Yeah. And you went all in. Showed up for everything, did everything, and it paid off. And I think that’s the important thing is you believed in yourself to make that work. And that’s where it kind of has to start. And you had so much evidence of being able to do all these things in the past. And it’s just that you’d forgotten about that along the way, which is normal because that’s what happens sometimes with our human brains.
Very selective memory.
Yeah. Yeah. Unless you have someone there watching your brain and telling you what’s going on, it’s very easy to get into that low confidence and go down that rabbit hole. So, very important to notice is that you believed in yourself to be able to do it and you did it, and you had a lot of evidence to prove that before as well. So, what specific results or improvements did you experience tangibly and intangibly while working together?
I just started to really I guess self-analyze my thoughts. So, really looking into the why of the why I’m thinking that, is it true, or is it not?
So good.
Is it me being like low, not bumping myself out or it’s like what is the evidence that that’s true or not? And so, being like very self aware of what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.
Yeah. And looking at the facts, is this really true? And then deciding, yeah. And I remember one conversation we had, you were helping your husband with something and then you were like, “You know what, my husband should be paying me more for this,” or something. You were joking, but it was kind of like that realization of like, “I’m really valuable. I am saving a lot of time and money here.”
Yeah. And I was giving my time for free to him, to other people. Well, I did projects with other people and then I was like, “Yeah, I just want to be experienced.” And you’re like, “Yeah. You could get paid.”
Yeah. I remember that too. Yeah. So, that was another kind of indicator of you weren’t seeing your full value. And that shows up in behaviors, that shows up in things and you weren’t realizing it because you were totally justifying, like I want to, and I used to do the same thing, so I get it. All these things that we wouldn’t have noticed. Really well said. So, what do you think you’ll use moving forward, going into your new role from what you learned from the experience?
I just think that self-advocacy like being very clear on what my next goal is, what my next role was going to be, where I want to take my career growth to, and just being clear on myself so that I can be clear to the other person, which was another thing that I also struggle with because I thought that people didn’t really understand what I was saying or I wasn’t communicating my value correctly.
 
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And so, once you believe that you are valuable, once you believe in yourself, then, okay this is my goal, this is what I want. I’m already like planning out my next 30 days, what I’m going to learn. I’m starting on Monday. So just trying to figure out, meet everybody, figure out who the stakeholders are, and to map out my future in this new job.
Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Really well said. You getting clear on your value so you can articulate it to someone else. Super important. And I think that’s something a lot of people struggle with too, and they don’t even know it. So, that was really well said. Getting clear on your own value so you can articulate it clearly to someone else. And then knowing that you can 100% achieve your next goal. Just having the confidence, basically it’s done. You already know you can, because you did this one and looking back about the others. So what does life look like now after working together? Like on a day to day, your thoughts, feelings, anything different?
Yes. I also decided to do some stuff for myself. I downloaded this app, which also was based on psychology and thought, which is really funny. It was about losing weight, fighting with … there was a lot of similarities in the way that they talk to you about psychology and what things you do and also being mindful of what you eat and all these things. So it was an interesting transition into that app that I’ve been doing for like in the past three months and actually lost 17 pounds. So I’m really happy.
Oh wow. Yeah. The goals kind of going hand in hand, you have these tools and you could do everything. Yeah.
So applying it to different parts of your life, this one part was really my career, my professional part. But now, I’m trying to apply it to my personal, to my health, and different things like that to go above and beyond what I thought I would do.
Yeah. Absolutely. And so good to hear. So what was your experience while working together and did anything surprise you?
I was surprised you were very blunt.
Love it.
But I like that. I really need to hear that. Okay, fine. It was like, okay. But I needed to hear it. It’s good. It’s tough love. It’s good.
Yeah. Thanks. So good. I don’t think I’ve ever been called that before, but that’s one of my company values, is always tell the client the truth. Always tell the truth because that’s where the growth is. So, I just want to honor you for taking that in and hearing what’s hard to hear and then using it to your advantage and getting to the results. So how would you say … yeah, go ahead.
Yeah. Moving out of a lot of books and all the things say wing out of your comfort zone, expanding your comfort zone. And if you don’t really take constructive criticism, then you’re never going to move out of your bubble.
Yeah. It’s such a good point. Yeah. I’m glad you brought that up. Because a lot of people ask me, they’re like, “Well, how do you know if you’re taking constructive criticism or if you’re just people pleasing?” And I think that, well, once you fired a coach to tell you the truth, to show you what you can’t see on your own, to do it so you’re going to take that differently. You know they have your highest service at heart. So, that’s why I do that for my clients.
And then, to tell the differences, you know you can take the words, even if they’re hard to hear, if you know they come from a loving place. So kind of in a work situation, if somebody is telling you something and it doesn’t feel good, how do you kind of discern that whether or not now it’s constructive criticism or whether it’s just somebody’s thoughts?
 
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Yeah. I’ve had both prior experiences at work, people that tell you, “In order to be more sort of … you need to think that you’re pushing through and you’re an army and you were just hitting people and getting through.” I’m like, “But that’s not me.”
Love that.
I understand being commanding of the environment and the atmosphere and whatever, but you have to be true to yourself and do it in a way that is comfortable to you because otherwise you’re taking the constructive criticism, which is like commanding situation, but not really taking the people pleasing of doing it exactly the way they say to do it [crosstalk 00:21:16].
Totally, yeah. And I love that you said that it just shows how much you’ve grown. You’re like, “Well, that’s not really me. That doesn’t really work for me.” And I think that a lot of people need to learn to say that in just a loving way. Like, “It’s nothing against you. Thank you so much for the advice, but that’s not me.” And I totally encourage my clients to take what they need from our relationship, use it.”
And if something isn’t right, to let me know and be like, “No, that’s not really what I meant.” Or, “That’s not really me,” because ultimately, you’re the one who’s living this life. You’re the one who’s deciding, you’re the one who’s going into it. And you got to feel comfortable with what you’re doing. So absolutely, really well said.
Yeah. You have to fly solo at some point.
Yeah. And at the end of the day, you’re going to be the one who’s executing, you’re the one who’s making the decisions. So there’s a difference between like feeling a bit uncomfortable with it and knowing that it’s right for you versus feeling like, no, this is totally wrong. So discerning that and getting to know yourself, which I think you’ve kind of reflected on yourself as far as like, this is who I am. This is where I want to be versus, “No, that doesn’t really feel right. That doesn’t really work for me.” The difference is really important. Yeah. So what would you tell someone who’s on the fence about working with me?
I think that if you really believe that you’re going to make the change and you really believe that … maybe you don’t believe in yourself right now, but you want to that you’re ready to take the next step and really work on yourself, then that’s when I think that it’s the right match. If you really are not going to put the work or you’re not really sure that you’re going to do it, then keep on being exactly in your bubble, and not out of your comfort zone.
Yeah. It’s a process, like you said. Belief is a process. You can’t just go the next day … you into your way closer to that belief, to the point where you get the results as you have. So tell us about your new role and what you’re going to be doing.
Yeah. So, it called Dell Boomi. It’s a part of Dell technologies. And so, it’s what they call iPaaS or integrated platform. So what the company does is do all the integration behind all the cloud implementations and any other software that the company has as an integrative platform. And so it’s actually the leader in the industry … they actually started this iPaaS category. And they actually just got bought by a venture capital company.
So they’d to grow than they were. Now they’re valued at four billion. So it’s pretty good. Actually, it was one of the things, because I like the tech space and I like the entrepreneurship part, but my last job couldn’t get series B funding. So that’s how when COVID hit them, they just couldn’t get in. And they were not in a good financial situation. So I’m actually very happy about this, being in a very sound financial situation.
And so, like I said, I had met this woman, a slack channel from this Latin and tech type of slack channel. And she just reached … I just went full blown, said, “I’m looking for this and this channel,” out in the
 
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open. And she reached out to me and we had a chat and then we just kept talking on and off. She decides that she liked my vibe and we kind of hit it off. And then she, who’s going to be my boss now, she reached out to him and said, “She’d be great for your team.” And so, I actually had any review with … he didn’t know what he wanted at that point. So I actually had two meetings with him and pretty much helped him write this job description.
I remember this guy. I remember you’re adding so much value for this person. Because you were asking questions that he was like, “Oh, that’s a good question. I should know that, I should figure that out.”
Yeah. Then that happened. And then it took a couple of months and then I had like a three hour panel interview, but then I didn’t get that job. I think that he thought that I was too expensive. They didn’t give me a chance to negotiate anything. But then like a month after that, he had the recruiter reach out to me and say, “Ask her if she’s still available.” And it’s like, “Yeah, yeah.” “This job is more in line to your skills. And we can actually meet your salary expectations.”
Actually went above what I wanted, but it was great. And so, I’m going to be leading this program management office, a newly created program management office and I’m going to be leading that. So it’s great. And I had wanted 150, we went up to 155 and then I get 50% bonus. So it was like 178.
So fantastic.
So I was like, “Yeah.”
Yeah. And it feels like I’m talking to a different person when I first met you, because like you knew it, but you didn’t really know it yet. And now you’re like, “Well of course. Of course, I’m going to be able to deliver far more than this value,” that they’re even offering you. And they gave you more than you wanted, which is just such a testament-
And I negotiated.
… to like what you believed, and you negotiated. Yeah. So did you have any hesitations about negotiating at that point or you kind of had already knew, you’re like, “I’m going to negotiate?”
At that point because they actually gave me more than I actually asked for, I was a little hesitant of like, “Should I, should I not?” And then my husband’s like, “Come on, just do it.” And when you go like, it’s like, “Yeah, year. Of course. Let’s do it.” He was like, “I want like-
“There’s nothing to lose.”
… 10K above thinking that it will be meeting me in the middle, and they did meet me in the middle, it’s like, “Oh, we can do this.” I was like, okay, get five K more.
Yeah. There’s nothing to lose. Yeah. And I always say to people like, you got to try. And then if at the end of the day it doesn’t work out, you can always say, “Okay, thanks. I thought I checked, but I’m going to go ahead and accept anyway.” So yeah, totally, nothing to lose. So many congratulations to you. This is so awesome. So, I always like to ask people this, because a lot of people haven’t been coached before. They don’t really understand what to expect or what it is. So how would you describe coaching to someone who’s never, ever been coached or experienced it before?
It’s not really therapy, but somewhat. I guess it’s therapy for your career. It’s really trying to figure out what is it that you believe in and what you can accomplish and really digging deep into your own biases that you built along the way and-
Yeah. The blind spots. Yeah.
Yeah.
And I’m glad you brought that up. Actually, a lot of people equate it to therapy and I like to say the difference is, therapy is more focused on the past and coaching is creating the plan for your future and
 
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moving forward. But then of course, the past always comes in a little bit and like you spoke about it in the beginning, kind of reframing your past and thinking about the past in a positive way, because there’s no upside in having regrets about the decisions you made and now-
And it holds you back. As you always say, “It’s not serving you.”
You were the best client. It was so fun to coach you because you learn so quickly and implement it so quickly. Yeah. And just from this interview, I’m like, “Wow, you really learned a lot more than I even thought.” Amazing. Well, thank you so much for sharing and being so generous with all the gems that you dropped on this interview. Is there anything else you wanted to add to let listeners know? Last words of advice?
It definitely is a roller coaster. Not only on the coaching, but on the job search itself. I always said, “I’m on the downhill right now. Today, I’m going off.” When you’re down, you just have to like take the impulse to go back up and it’s a tough process, it’s arduous, it’s mind … it’s draining and sometimes depressing. But once you get that one yes, it’s like, “Okay, that’s it. You’re done.”
And also, that’s the case with any goal that we want to achieve that’s hard. Because if it wasn’t, then it’d be like, “Okay, I’m done. That was easy.” Yeah, totally. The analogy of the rollercoaster is really good too. Because we just kind of expect that, then we’re like, “Okay, we know this is happening.” But at the end of the day, we know that the end result is happening. And that’s how I [crosstalk 00:30:05].
Well, the rollercoaster has to end at some point. [crosstalk 00:30:08].
Yeah. It ends and then a new one starts when you get into your new role and you go to your next goal. Yeah. But it’s, yeah.
And the only difference that you’re … one you’re not getting paid, the other ones you’re getting paid for. And that’s like-
Yeah. And the results on the other side speaks for itself. So it’s worth going through it. Awesome. Thank you so much for your time and for dropping so many great words of wisdom today, and thank you so much for being here.
Thank you for having me and I hope that my experience helps someone else as well.
It will. Absolutely. It’s been very inspiring. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to this episode of Get a 6-Figure Job You Love Podcast. If you’re ready to dive deeper into your career mindset and start creating bigger, more impactful results in your career, join me at www.nataliefisher.ca/getstarted. I’ll see you over there.