Welcome to Business Innovators Magazine…Please introduce yourself and a brief thumbnail sketch of your background.
JB: Hello, my name is James Beeman, my journey into becoming a career and life coach is full of ups and downs and twists and turns. When I was in high school, and people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I told them that I wanted to be a concert pianist, a movie score composer, or a music theory professor. And so for I studied music for several years, graduated with my bachelor’s in music, and student-taught advanced music theory courses after I graduated. What I learned in that year was priceless. Yes – I absolutely loved music, but more importantly, I loved working with and motivating people. It was right about that time that I learned about coaching and began my work as an Academic Life Coach – helping undergraduate students get clear about what they wanted out of school, their life, and their career. Then, about three years ago I was introduced to Susan Whitcomb – the premiere career coaching in the USA – and the rest is history. I absolutely fell in love with career coaching and thoroughly enjoy watching my clients make transitions in their career and life that they only dreamed of being possible! In short, I love coaching because it’s about developing people to be the very best that they can be.
BI: What would you say is the area in business that you are most passionate about and why?
JB: I am most passionate about leadership. John Maxwell says that “Everything rises and falls with leadership.” I truly believe this. I believe that the bottom line in leadership is developing leaders who can develop leaders – it’s all about people.
BI: How are you different than your competitors?
JB: Some of the things that differentiate my company from competitors is that my coaching comes from a place of knowing what it’s like to be completely stressed out in a job and not exactly sure how to make this change from a place of integrity and power. Because I took all of the conflict at work to heart, the stress of my job actually started to impact my relationships and my health – I ended up in the hospital thinking that I was having a heart attack. I enjoy working with clients who feel stuck in their job and aren’t sure how to make the change – because that was me – I was stuck. I worked with several mentors to help guide me to a place of freedom and joy, and I love being able to give back to the next wave of people who are miserable at work. I’ve been there. I’ve done this. I found a way out, and I can help my clients get out too!
BI: Please tell me about any recent business accomplishments that you are most proud of and why?
JB: After working with one of my clients for about nine months, he was able to make a job and industry transition into a Fortune 500 company making significantly more than he was previously and in a culture that is enabling him to thrive and not simply survive. I’m so proud of all of his work!
BI: What Leadership qualities in Leaders do you most admire and why?
BI: To me, leadership is about integrity, honesty, and trustworthiness. I believe that we are living in a Trust Economy and that that is the REAL currency, not simply money. People do business with others that they know, like, and trust, and I enjoy working with leadership like Ryan Yamane the COO of Lumerit Education, Mary Verstraete of the Center for Coaching Excellence, or Susan Whitcomb of The Academies because I trust them. That’s the definition of great leadership in my book!
BI: What has been a key element of your success?
JB: The key element of my success is understanding that when you approach everyone at work from a perspective of “how may I serve?” this changes your entire life and career. Your own success depends very much upon the success that you enable others to achieve. Put others first and your success will follow.
BI: What are some of the business projects that you are currently working on that you are excited about and why?
JB: My mentor Mary Verstraete and I are working on a book that’s due to come out in 2017 about how to start a coaching business. After transitioning from being a full-time employee to full-time entrepreneur in less than nine months, we both thought it would be a great idea to share my story and other coaching professionals like me with the world.
BI: What are 1 or 2 things you would like to say to a prospective client who stumbles across this interview?
BI: Dare to make your dreams a reality. I know you think it’s impossible, but you’ll be surprised what you can do when you know what you want, believe you can achieve, and are somewhat open to how it eventually comes to you. You may be in the messy middle right now, but keep your eye on the prize and it will come to pass.
BI: To wrap this up, what are you most excited about in the upcoming months in your business?
JB: Absolutely love the opportunity to guide people into meaningful careers. I love watching the sparkle in their eyes, the spring return to their step, and the weight comes off their shoulders as they realize what is possible. I am also very excited about continuing to learn more of the NeuroPositive Coaching methodology from Dr. Donald Johnson of the Applied Neuroscience Institute.
