"I studied to be a lawyer. I worked as a lawyer for three years in India. I wanted to change my career from law to something else.
I wanted to
get into marketing which is why I went ahead and did my MBA in Marketing and
Strategy.
It didn't work out. So, I worked as an Operations Manager. Currently I work as an Assistant Operations Manager in a charity in UK.
I've moved
countries over the past two years and I've moved roles and functions. Well, I
had been applying to a lot of roles, and not really getting either any
response, or even after interviewing, I was getting rejected.
I think one
real problem I was facing was that I was an outsider and did not have any
London experience. Another thing was also that I did not know how to navigate
the London market.
And also, I
myself was not very sure about where I wanted to be, what I wanted to do, my
industry function, etc. I was very anxious.
[I was] anxious in the sense that I would start working on one work stream and then jump to another. And my mind was always in an overdrive and very unsettled.
The course
was very expensive for me especially I had not been earning for two years. So
that was one big obstacle. Another obstacle also was I had tried this career
coaching with someone else.
I was in the
midst of it and it wasn't working well. It had been two, three weeks that I'd
been working with that person and I was not getting the support that I needed.
I'd had a
really bad experience.
When I spoke to Silviu, it was not just about working on my CV or to work on some techniques and tactics. It looks like Silviu could solve my problem of also answering what I want to do.
And also, I
saw of course that you were carrying out the whole thing. But you were also
associated with Steve. And I saw Steve's credentials and I saw that he has
worked for 20 years or so in this field.
And he has
done a lot of work, written books, collaborated with a lot of people.
So that gave
me confidence that although I don't know you people, you guys have something
solid versus a random guy off the internet.
What did
surprise me were a lot of personal qualities about Silviu. And by personal
qualities I mean the kind of support he was giving.
Silviu was
working very hard to support me. I saw that he also recognized that timelines
are tough when you're in the actual job market.
The program is
for people who are wanting to change, or do something and define what that
something is.
It's very
different for people who are very clear about what they want to do in the future.
It’s not just a career coaching. It is a mixture of life coaching and career
coaching.
"I've always seen work as a tool to get money and then live and be happy kind of thing. And that's like how I grow up also in my country and my culture and everything. And now it's more like I'm not very happy with our landscaping job.
I have always been a fighter against myself like I don't
find my purposes. I don't have a passion. I like a lot of things but I don't
have one thing that I'm super passionate. That's super selfish actually because
I'm just thinking about my happiness.
I really want to change that and have other career paths for
myself and to come back to my background in Columbia. I need the mindset that
I'm going to work this season with them. I am here because this is going to
give me this opportunity to save some money and then I can pay for this study.
Now I have a better mindset that this is not forever. The
other thing is learning how to appreciate work as a way to contribute to
others.
It's a totally new concept for me and I'm learning a lot
with that. And that helps me also with the mindset because that makes sense.
The whole mindset is giving me another view to come back. I'm
going to keep going with all this adventure I guess of searching in myself and
hopefully I will get a good plan at some point.
For now, just work and make money and serve people in their
houses with their lawn and their gardens.
The best learning that I have had in this course is to
rethink about what's my relationship with work or job."
"When we were having our conversations back in October, I was totally lost in my burnout. I always felt like I'm stupid. I'm like a five years old and I was telling myself 'what the heck'?
And now I think I'm doing really good. I’m really busy, but
it's my dream job. I've never been happier in my life. It's a perfect thing for
me. It's all everything I wanted to do.
I get paid well which is important for me, to feel that I'm not being taken advantage of whatever. It was good. I've never gotten so much money. It was almost double what I was making at G**** and it’s a good market price.
The team is great. They're very nice people, hardworking but they're also very supportive and collaborative. It's a team effort, has a very safe culture, gives feedback and people listen. They don't become defensive. We are contributing.
I feel like I fit in and I can contribute and it's totally
aligned with what I wanted to do and where I want to go. I'm afraid but I'm
really, really happy.
What I’ve learned in the program is, the magic is there inside of us. We just have to bring it out and believe in it. You just have to trust that, going after your passion makes sense in the adult world.
Now I can see the whole steps. I can see my steps, my career plan because I am on the right path.
Silviu and Steve help me on that path."
"I used to look at the problem as a logistical issue. It's
more about, I'm going to go back to London, and I need to find a job. And
what's the best way to apply for jobs, and how should I think about things like
travel, and should I just stay in my current lane?
The moment I decided to apply for the program, I definitely
took into consideration the amount of experience which was being offered by
Silviu and Steve. So I did a little bit of research about them.
I think that was the most important factor at the time I
needed to decide before the deadline ran out.
Having someone like Steve with decades of experience, I know
that he knows what he's talking about.
It was really good to have someone like
Steve and Silviu on The Aha! Moment academy because this process has to be done using
methods which are tried and tested.
I've had experiences with similar services
previously, and I never got that feeling that the coaches were actually interested
in my success.
When I began doing The Aha! Moment program, there were so
many challenges while doing the exercises throughout the program. But at each
of those moments, you have people on board who have seen it all.
Talking to Silviu, I really got the impression that you were there
for your clients and you were really passionate about it.
What The Aha! Moment did for me was an understanding of how
important it is to connect with your essence.
Number two was actually having a method, which I thought was
tried and tested.
And since our last session, I've actually already landed one
interview and that's just from one attempt I've made. That's quite a good
breakthrough and it's in a role which I didn't think I'd get an interview for.
Anyone who is on the fence of joining this program, I would tell
you of the importance of having people who have been through the process.
Steve
and Silviu has so much experience applying and refining their method and have
mastered the process and bring that depth of experience into coaching you and
helping you.
They've set it up for me and I can't express how grateful I
am. They have definitely over-delivered.
This is stuff was missing in my previous experience with
coaching. All of this stuff which I paid the previous person for - The Aha!
Moment Academy delivered 10 times more value."
"Before the program, I'd owned my own business for
about seven and a half years. It was just a small retail shop. I just felt like
it is time to move on for several reasons. I've been working hard at trying to
actually sell the business and get out of it, and then I finally got out of it
and I thought I would know what I was going to be doing. And it ended up that I
had no idea what I was doing.
The first couple of modules were probably the most challenging in the program.
Going out and talking to people and exploring a lot of those personal assumptions was very difficult. And it wasn't exactly the most fun. It was hard to get through, it was challenging.
And looking back, there were surprising
amount of things I didn't expect. Some of the actually smaller exercises that
we did like the five clicks for me was really weird but that was probably the
biggest AHA moment of the entire thing. It was like everything just snapped
into focus.
By the end of it, I feel like I have a completely
different outlook altogether with just how I approach things is dramatically
different than before.
Before it felt like when I was applying for jobs, I've just got the kind of get this done and hurry up and just get whatever you can and just go for it.
Whereas now, I need to actually take the time and think about what jobs do I actually want.
And then it is a much more almost I get to the enjoyment of choosing now instead of being maybe they'll choose me. Now I get to go out. I can thoughtfully and very carefully plan my application and I have trust that I know what I'm doing now and that I can actually get the job done.
Also before, I thought I knew what I was doing and what
people were expecting of me, but now I have a much clearer understanding of
where I'm going, what I'm doing and getting rid of a lot of those personal
assumptions on this whole process.
So rather than trying to assume that I know
what I'm doing or assume I know what they're looking for, I actually go out and
actually explore and understand what they're looking for.
Having the clarity and having the tools to go through those
assumptions feels awesome. The best word to describe it would be just freeing.
I recommend the program because it really does
build on everything that was in the beginning and it's very difficult to see
how it really comes all together at the end, but it's absolutely worth it. A
hundred percent worth it, and it will be hard, but you should definitely do it."
"I've never had a clear idea of how I am professionally. I think that's why it's always been a matter of changing one course to another or one avenue to another.
I'm creative.
I'm outgoing, I like talking to people. I feed up other people's energies but
I've never had a clearer idea of what I want to do in my life.
And so that's
why I think finding a career that really fits me has been a very hard to quantify thing. That's why when the pandemic hit, I did have
a lot of questions in my mind.
Before I
joined the academy, I was working for a sustainability consultancy. I was
working as a senior consultant for a lot of hours. I was probably doing 50-60
hours a week.
A lot of pressure, getting in early trying to get ahead of deadlines. Working late, sometimes working through the night. A lot of pressure dealing with young trainees and junior consultants as a senior consultant trying to manage 10, 15 projects and a lot of pressure and feeling often overwhelmed.
I was doing a
role that I wasn't really recruited for. I was meant to be out and about
visiting and working with companies and those projects weren't coming through.
I was doing primarily a project management role, writing a lot of reports,
being very desk based, which I hate doing, and then being pressured into that
role as well. Then I got furloughed.
I had so many
limiting beliefs about what I could or couldn't do or what I should and
shouldn't explore even to the point of who could or couldn't help me.
So I've done crazy
career change of different things and then I was thinking about who I could
approach to ask about lecturing.
Before joining the program, Silviu said, ‘Don't judge who can and can't help you or who will or won't be the people to open up the doors for you. You tell me what you're working on and we will see where we can support you. All I care about is that I will have enabled you to professionally flourish.’
After hearing
his words ‘If you have professionally flourished, then I will have done my
job.’,
Joining the
program, I was afraid that the money I was paying for is not going to deliver. I
had quite a lot of expectations. Whether it was going to be something that
would really make a difference.
And looking
back, I would say it was absolutely worth the investment. It was worth the
investment on not just a get another job but an investment in terms of my
mental health.
What was really important for me is to have a family and to have a support network to say that this was something I could use as a positivity.
And having an
outside perspective and Silviu’s advice - ‘if you do the same thing, you get
the same outcomes’, is a proof that taking alternative approach is
definitely worth it.
I know what I
can say yes to. I know what my manoeuvrability is meant that I was still hated
doing the negotiation. I still found it really difficult. But I think I had confidence
that I knew my worth and I knew what I was and wasn't willing to accept.
To do a 12-week
course where the structure of it is far more about who you are and what you want
to do and what makes you happy. And then the career element to that, you've got
so much out of it.
I’ve got so
much out of it that I think I realized what I needed to do. It was more of how
would I really keep the motivation and the focus.
The
best word I can about the program is energizing.
I've been so glad of the support and the network and the structure and the solidity. That's given me an energy to feel this is doable and I can work on this.
Also, it is empowering
because it's gives you the ability to think I can do this. And so often it
feels insurmountable.
There’s
always reasons not to do something. But I think having someone who's an expert
and is going to give you a hug when you need a hug, and also gives you a bit of
a kick when you need a kick. And it's hard to do that on your own."
"Before the program, I just had a normal life as anybody else would think. You have a job. You go to your job. You earn your money. You pay your bills and then you have your holidays and days off for what you actually want to do and enjoy. So that's what I had.
I was working in customer service in hospitality and I was
happy but not necessarily with the companies that I worked for. I was happy
because of the people that I worked with.
I was never really into any company's vision or any
company's long-term views. And I never really thought about purpose driven
workplace or my contribution.
I was just going with the flow basically and not necessarily
super happy but was just okay with it because everybody does this so I'll just
do the same.
My original purpose was to help big cats to increase their
numbers in the wild by improving their habitat. So that's still I would say the ultimate goal.
Obviously, the plan would change and I'm okay with it
because I still rediscover new topics and new ways of doing my purpose and to
contributing.
I know that this will be probably very challenging and
difficult to do again, but it just shows how many different ways you can
actually approach it.
Joining the course, the biggest Aha! moment for me was not on only during the
program, but also after the program that I'm realizing even now is that it
actually changes you as a person, your mindset.
Even though it's a career transitioning program, it's not just
about career but it is about YOU and getting to know yourself and accepting
yourself.
I think that's the biggest Aha! moment for me because I never
would've thought that getting into a problem for career change, I would
actually rediscover myself and even get emotional in some of the exercises.