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Colin's Story: How Working with a Career Coach Helped Colin Land a Full-Time Role and Live His Creative Dreams

Most young people I talk to want two things: To make more money and to prioritize their passion. Often, these things can feel at odds. Colin is an example that they don’t have to be—and that your full-time job can support your passion.


Sloane and I were sitting across the table from each other at Panera for her biweekly life coaching session. Her phone rang, but she let it go. Then it rang again, and she answered. It was her husband, Colin.


I could tell that whatever she heard on the other end was good news. Once she hung up, she shared it with me: 


COLIN GOT THE DREAM JOB!!!! 


We totally happy-cried together. We probably even high-fived. This was huge. 


Why was I SO excited? I always celebrate my client’s wins, but in this case, I wasn’t just coaching Sloane. I had also been coaching Colin for the last few months, and this job was the culmination of all he’d worked toward.


Colin Before Career Coaching: “I was struggling with what to prioritize.”


When Colin and I started working together, he was in an internship at Disney World. He had a background as a financial analyst, but he was underutilizing that skillset.


Colin is a great guy with a warm personality and a steady work ethic. But because he was a few years out of school and still working in an internship, he started feeling lost.


“Life was paycheck-to-paycheck and day-to-day. We didn’t have a whole lot of systems established yet. I wasn’t sure what the next step was, but I knew I’d get there,” Colin says. 

He didn’t know where to start. He saw the success his wife Sloane was having through coaching with me, and when she suggested he try it, he signed up.


He knew he wanted a full-time corporate role, and he missed having a creative outlet.


“I had shelved a couple of my passions, music being one of them,” he remembers.


Colin During Career Coaching:“Life coaching helped me set priorities.”


Colin and I started coaching in person every other week. After we took stock of his life, we worked through five areas he wanted to grow in.


1 - Setting Goals


It’s easy to take life one day at a time without giving much thought to the future. When we started coaching together, Colin says that’s how he approached life. 


“Before working with Ali, I was thinking very short-term. Coaching taught me you have to look at what you want to accomplish—because if you don’t, it will pass you by.”

So, we talked through what he wanted in five years and in ten years. Then, we brainstormed how he could bridge the gap between where he was and where he wanted to be. In his case, he wanted to transition from working as an intern at Disney World to a corporate role in finance as an Imagineer.


Together, we set tangible goals for his career—and those goals gave him a sense of accomplishment as he met them.


“Right before I got my job offer, I remember talking to Ali about how far I’ve come. My goal was to move forward and be stable. Then when I did get the job, it was even sweeter. “

How Working with a Career Coach Helped Colin Land a Full-Time Role and Live His Creative Dreams


2 - Making Decisions


Colin realized that his next career move wasn’t just going to happen: “It would be a decision I would make,” he says. 


Like everyone, Colin struggled with limiting beliefs. For him, those sounded like:


Am I qualified enough to be an Imagineer? Have I taken too long of a hiatus to jump back into music?


But we worked to reframe those questions.


“[Working with Ali] taught me to frame things differently if I’m not getting what I want, instead of giving up. She helped enable me to make the decisions that I needed to make.”

3 - Landing the Job


One of those big decisions was having a conversation with his boss. But asking his boss if there were full-time opportunities felt intimidating. So, we laid out a strategy.


Instead of asking if there were more opportunities, he’d be transparent. In a one-on-one, he’d tell his boss that he’d love to keep working for them.


“That made it a lot more comfortable and reframed it in a positive light. My leader took it as a cool way to look at it—and I got the job and right after,” Colin says.

4 - Balancing Work and Life


Even when you choose a major life change, it comes with an adjustment period. Full-time work requires a balancing act.


When Colin landed the full-time role, we did time management work to help him balance it all: Working 40 hours a week, exercising, preparing meals, spending time with his wife, and pursuing music. 


“Ali helped me look at my schedule as a whole and put things into buckets,” he says.

5 - Pursuing Passions

We spent most of our coaching together talking about Colin’s career move in finance. But then, in the second to last session, he shared something more vulnerable:


He told me that he loves to sing and play guitar—and not only that, but he has written songs, gotten paid to do it, and wrote a song that was number 1 on an album. (No big deal!!) In college, he started writing country music. He had tried to produce some of his music, but hadn’t released anything.


Colin clearly needed a musical element as part of his life, and it needed to be consistent. His life was all about his financial analyst position. Music got buried under everything else. 


“I didn’t know what I wanted. I just did [music] for fun—I had this talent, I loved it, and I felt really pulled to it,” he says. “But ever since COVID, I had hung it up, and I wasn’t sure what the point was.”

Colin also wasn’t sure how to integrate that passion into his life. We talked through what it would look like for him to hire someone else to do the production, and Colin took the next step:


“I put [my song] out there to be bid on by different producers, and I got contacted by someone who does professional work with Dan and Shay.”


(Again, no big deal!!)


Colin Now: 


“I’m excited, and I feel accomplished. It’s really cool looking back and seeing the journey that I took.”


Today, Colin is thriving. He took huge strides professionally since we started life coaching—but he already had everything he needed. I just helped him to see that. 


“When I met Ali, I was an intern. She helped raise a lot of questions and helped me guide myself. Now I’m a full-time Imagineer in the finance department of Disney with a great salary and benefits—all within 6 months of doing life coaching.” 

And he’s also taken huge strides with music:


“I’m working with a producer out of Nashville. We go next week to record vocals on one of the songs.” 


I’m so proud of Colin and all that he has unlocked in the last couple of years—but more importantly, Colin feels pride in himself and in his work.


“I’m excited, and I feel accomplished. It’s really cool looking back and seeing the journey that I took. I hope this helps someone else make a decision and make their life better.”

 


Certified Life & Career Coach in Central FL Ali Goodin

Ali Goodin Certified Career Coach in Central FL


I'm a former Disney employee, graphic designer turned career coach, and job transition expert. I created Ful Life Coaching to give professionals of all ages & stages a safe space to navigate career transition. My passion is equipping professionals with the tools and confidence they need to transition in their careers – from launch to retirement – so they can live happier, healthier lives.




 


Are you ready to do work you love so you can live a happier, healthier life?



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