We are pleased to be featuring Liz Francis as our Coach in the Spotlight in this week’s blog. After a successful legal career as a Solicitor in the hospitality industry, Liz pivoted to become a personal life coach! Since qualifying with The Coaching Academy, she set up and runs her own life coaching business where she helps women and mums to navigate change and uncertainty in their lives.
I am a people person! What lights me up is talking to people and hearing their stories. Before I qualified as a Coach, I spent over 10 years as a solicitor in the hospitality industry in London. Over lockdown I realised what truly motivated me was the clients themselves… the people. Throughout my legal career I loved getting to know the challenges they were facing and helping them find a positive way to move forward. A friend said I would be amazing at life coaching, so I registered for The Coaching Academy's free Introduction to Life Coaching webinar in July 2020 and the rest is history!
Enormously! I am self-employed (something I never imagined at all) so I get to work around my family now and I LOVE what I do. I am so passionate about helping women realise what makes them tick, think through what they really want from life, and empower them to reach their goals. My client’s successes are everything to me – I celebrate theirs as much as my own, if not more.
Put it this way, it was very well planned!! Because it had to be! I had a planner for each month setting out the training days, any other study sessions, plus my client sessions too. Then I added in my work hours and social activities to see where I had extra time - or needed to create some.
I needed the planner to give me the foresight from month to month as I was working as a lawyer 3 days a week; and thanks to lockdown I also had my then 4 year old and 2 year old at home. So I did all my study in the evenings and had practice clients first and last thing most days. It was intense because I was determined to qualify in 9 months!! But I loved it all!
The people I connected with – I have met some incredible people who are now friends (and colleagues) for life. But also I would say the huge realisation that the potential and options for my career really are limitless – I can create and seize opportunities anywhere.
I have my own business, EJF Coaching and I help women and mums to navigate change and uncertainty in their lives. When I work with my clients, I motivate, inspire, encourage, empower and celebrate them; so they can live a life that makes them truly happy! Over the past 2 years I’ve helped over 45 wonderful women achieve their goals – whatever they may be, these are just a few examples:
- Writing a book
- Starting a new career
- Going freelance
- Moving cities
- Getting more organised
- Returning to work post-maternity leave
- Dressing royalty!
At the moment I would say the relationship between Coaching and Applied Positive Psychology. Having done the Positive Psychology Coaching CPD course with The Coaching Academy on this, I’m looking at Masters courses now for further exploring this area in the future. I love the science behind helping people to flourish, it’s what I love most about coaching – seeing my client’s flourish.
Talk to as many coaches as possible, and just talk to as many people as possible in general to see if that lights you up! Coaching is a fabulous skill to have, so try a life coaching course out – it doesn’t mean you have to be a life coach – but I bet you won’t look back. The Coaching Academy's free Introduction to Life Coaching Webinar is a wonderful resource!
The Coaching Academy! I wouldn’t be where I am without them and their fabulous coaches and staff, and fellow students. I have made some great friends who I am partnering with now for work, it’s incredible. And books - I LOVE reading and I have spent a small fortune on coaching and self-development books. I love my bookshelves in my office and am always recommending a book or two to a client. I also listen to a couple of fabulous podcasts, “The High-Performance Podcast” is one of my favourites.
Thank you Liz for sharing your coaching journey with us!
If you are feeling inspired and would you like to have a coaching business you can run from the comfort of your own home, then do join us on our Introduction to Life Coaching webinar - choose from available dates here.
The Coaching Academy was established in 1999, and is now the world's largest coaching school.
In that time we have trained over 14,000 people to become life coaches.
We are accredited by the International Coach Federation and the Association for Coaching, and we're rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot.
