9 Careers Tips From A Business Coach

A significant issue I frequently encountered throughout my career was a lack of support and adequate resources available to women. My eventual decision to transition into coaching was further prompted by the noticeable trend of women leaving the fashion industry in their 40s and 50s. Recent data shows more women left the workplace last year than in the previous two years combined. Women don't feel they can discuss their unique challenges, such as managing family responsibilities alongside professional duties. I saw that becoming a certified coach would enable me to mitigate this talent drain by offering support to individuals both within and beyond the fashion industry. Today, my focus is on transformational rather than therapeutic approaches, which aligns with my lifelong passion for actualising customer needs. I have identified clear parallels between recognising fashion trends and finding ways to deliver them in a timely manner, and assisting women in discovering and realising their emerging potential.

Women often face significant challenges in achieving a balanced life. They are frequently required to do the ‘double shift’, managing both professional responsibilities and domestic duties concurrently. It means balance is an ongoing practice that requires constant attention. Sometimes life will be challenging, but you can create counterbalances. When facing extreme moments, look at balance from a month-to-month perspective rather than expecting perfection daily. Life is incredibly difficult for women trying to build careers while creating fulfilling personal lives. Throughout my career, I've watched talented people burn out and give up entirely. Santalan's mission is to help them optimise future opportunities with support. My entire life, I struggled with balance, treating it like a place I could eventually reach. Every time I left a job, I told myself the next position would give me better work-life balance, but it never did, because mentally I wasn't approaching life in a way that would create balance. I've come to understand that balance isn't a destination – it's a daily practice and lifelong effort. 

One of my biggest mistakes was believing career success would make everything else work. You can run a £5 billion company but if you're burning out, it's not sustainable. Success isn't getting a promotion if you haven't seen friends for weeks, nor is it having endless fun if you're not earning enough. External business coaching provides a safe space for honesty. Leaders can admit their struggles without fear of judgment. At Santalan, our coaches bring legitimate business experience – in my case, 30 years of fashion commercial experience across organisations from start-ups to multibillion-dollar corporations. This combination of safety and expertise allows leaders to address skill gaps and develop capabilities that might otherwise remain undeveloped, resulting in more effective, confident leadership – and a more well-rounded life, both professionally and personally.

Ask yourself – are you pursuing success that genuinely makes you happy or following other people’s expectations? By defining what success means to you, you might discover it looks different from what you're currently pursuing. At Santalan, our focus is on taking actions and seeing results that are defined by each participant rather than by external standards. Women have historically measured themselves against benchmarks that may not align with their authentic desires. Our aim is to assist each woman in clarifying her own definition of success and constructing a roadmap based on her personal criteria. You also need to celebrate everything you achieve, even if it’s imperfect. Giving yourself credit creates motivation to continue building sustainable success and balance.

The four pillars of the Santalan programme are deliberately interconnected. Health and wellbeing form the foundation – because without physical and mental energy, nothing else is sustainable. Personal brand then connects internal identity with external perception. This is a pillar ambitious women can no longer overlook in today's digital world, where your reputation precedes you and how you present yourself significantly impacts opportunities. Business and career development focuses on strategic advancement while maintaining alignment with personal values. Relationships encompass both professional and personal connections, so they’re essential for sustained success and fulfilment. Santalan isn't about fixing something that’s broken – it's about elevating what's already working and transforming good into extraordinary.

Women deserve to love their work, lives, and themselves but workplaces often fail to provide necessary support. Business coaching offers women a space to address these unique challenges while maintaining both career trajectories and personal wellbeing. Recently, I worked with a woman in her late 40s struggling in a new organisation where everyone was younger. She was ready to give up, feeling she no longer belonged. Through coaching, we helped her recognise that her 25 years of experience represented ‘golden skills’ that younger colleagues needed. We created opportunities for knowledge exchange, positioning her as a valuable resource while colleagues helped update her skills, benefiting everyone involved. The UK currently lags in coaching adoption for two key reasons: organisations view it as remedial rather than preventative, while individuals associate it with counselling, focused on past failures rather than performance enhancement. I've always gravitated toward addressing emerging needs and women's specialised coaching represents one of the most significant upcoming workplace trends – where professional development intersects with wellbeing.

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