invite CHANGE

Invite CHANGE

Be The Cause!

Edmonds, WA — Welcome to 2011 everyone! What change will you invite in this New Year?  A group of 14 inviteCHANGE participants from our Certified Professional Coach program will be celebrating their achievement of this important certification on January 28.  Each individual has completed a rigorous learning journey across 18-20 months that also includes:

  • building a professional coaching practice as an entrepreneur or as internal coach for an organization; as well as
  • building confidence competence as demonstrated by both a written examination and an oral demonstration of coaching with two faculty examiners. 

Earning the CPC certificate is a remarkable achievement, and every one of these graduates will be the cause for good in ever more powerful ways.  Please join in me in congratulating these accomplished individuals. 

To learn more, we are sharing an article prepared by one of those graduates, Tara Raj, who gives all of us some insight about this powerful learning experience:

Tara Raj

Tara Raj, CPC

My journey into life coaching began sometime in early 2009 while I was working from home for a private insurance company based out of Orlando, FL. By this time, I was going on five years with this organization, married for eight years with two small kids in tow. I had grown increasingly restless. I was yearning for a change, but I thought it was only in my work. I had become the “go to girl” for my co-workers from personal challenges to professional ones. I trained our accounts and staff on how to follow policy, procedures and communicate effectively in order to work as a unit to move forward.

In my personal life, many friends and family members leaned on me for support in a variety of ways. I started taking notice to how much I enjoyed watching people find clarity and happiness. I felt proud knowing that something I said or a certain way that I supported them was a catalyst for their inside out awareness. My sister suggested I look into coaching and so the investigation started.

After interviewing four schools and four coaches, I thought my mind was made up, until I got a call from inviteCHANGE. I was blown away. They had taken the time to ask me questions about why I wanted to coach and what that looked like to me. They wanted to know what kind of learning I was looking for and what my coaching practice looked like.

No other school had even cared to spend five more minutes on the phone with me and one school even told me to look at their website! The questions that inviteCHANGE asked were questions that I was asking myself and then they explained what I could expect out of their curriculum. I was sold, enrolled and on my way!

By the time I started my first LYV (Living Your Vision) class I had read through Co-Active coaching and departed ways with my employer. I knew if I was going to do this it would serve me best to start learning how to face my fears and gremlins. I was all in! Through LYV I noticed a huge difference in my personal growth; I was more aware of my thoughts and what they meant to me, how I communicated with others, how I wanted to live and be in the world, for myself, my husband (and best friend) and for my kids. I knew I was acquiring tools to move me forward and think more positively. I strongly believed and still believe that, had I not done something to grow personally, I would not have grown professionally either. I longed for more learning and growth experiences outside of my class time, so I joined my local ICF chapter. It was not long before I raised my hand to join their board as the Marketing Director.

Being out and amongst all types of coaches from different learning backgrounds, niche markets, and experience levels I saw three themes that corresponded with what I and my peers were experiencing; lack of coaching confidence, more business building know how and the want to deepen our coaching skills. My mind started churning around ideas on how I could create a mastermind group for coaches to explore their coaching skills, be messy, learn more about how to build their coaching practices and gain confidence.

Through the platform that inviteCHANGE uses for delivering the program virtually, I had the opportunity to connect with genuine people who are awesome coaches that I may have never met. Actually, I asked three of my peers to collaborate on a coaching website. A year later, I went into business with Michelle Whitman (in the inviteCHANGE program with me) and my sister, Arianne Ortiz. My sister, in fact, was the bug in my ear that turned me on to coaching in the first place!

I loved the set up inviteCHANGE provided and the connection that it allowed us to have that made our time together more personal. I appreciated the feedback and support from my peers and facilitator, Jan Berg. The opportunity to be in my coaching shoes, ask questions, and really stretch myself was priceless. The round table I constructed in my mind encompassed all of those elements and more. I mentioned this to my business partners. Immediately they loved it. Jan Berg mentioned this being a great mastery project. We wanted to test it out, thought since the idea stemmed from my experience through the inviteCHANGE program why not? And the bonus? We got to actually use the platform!

After dotting all the “i’s” and crossing all the “t’s” we were ready for our pilot group. September 18, 2010 we launched our Round Table Peer Coaching Program™ (RTPCP™) pilot group and what a 12-week ride it turned out to be! It was more than we ever expected and everything we ever wanted! I facilitated the group with four participating coaches; each being coach and client; two hours every Saturday morning with real life topics and challenges with coaches from Kansas to New York! We were rockin’ and rollin’!

I want to thank inviteCHANGE for my learning and growing experience. When other coaches ask me about my training I proudly tell them how far I have come and how resourceful I am. I strongly believe that had I not gone through the program I would not have learned so much about myself and the kind of coach I aspire to be. My partners and I have many plans in the works to grow our business from the Round Table to workshops to military family coaching to wellness retreats. The sky is only the beginning and a point for us to focus on.

Tara Raj, CPC
Life Vision and Purpose Coach
Our Circle of Friendz, LLC