This story is part of our 1,000 stories campaign. What’s your story?

Name: Elaine Wellman

Business: Elaine Wellman Worldwide, a marketing and PR-pro coaching and consulting entrepreneurs

Industry: Coaching & Consulting

Location: Weehawken, New Jersey, U.S.

Reason for starting: My entire life, I was searching for my purpose. There had to be more than promoting products I didn’t give a crap about as vice president at a global public relations firm in New York City. I’d spent over a decade building a career that I came to loathe and left me feeling hollow and dejected.

I desired freedom. I craved happiness. I wanted to help make the world a better place and change lives, especially mine, somehow. I needed to save myself. I needed out. Thanks to a reality TV show, I discovered the world of coaching. The deep transformations the women on the show experienced stirred my soul. I wanted that kind of metamorphosis for myself. And, I wanted to learn how to help other women change their lives, too. After decades of searching, I found my passion.

Next was to make the change. When I graduated, I had no idea how to start a business. So, like most people, I put my dreams on hold. I did nothing. I stayed at my job. For years. Finally, the universe gave me a push. When clients at my job started disappearing, even as number two in the company, my hours were cut to part-time. I realized if I was ever going to do this, this was the time. Scared as hell, I jumped into the ocean of entrepreneurship.

Related: Read about another coach consulting female entrepreneurs here. 

How do you define success? Success is being able to do the work that I love, touch lives, earn what I’m worth and have the freedom to live life on my own terms. There’s nothing like witnessing my clients blossom, discover their passions and enjoy their own triumphs.

Biggest Success: My biggest success is starting my own business and being brave enough to fight through my fears and go deep into my psyche to figure out my crap.

What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it? My top challenge has been getting in my own way. Starting my personality-based business, with me as the brand, has been the greatest personal growth journey of my life. And, one I couldn’t have predicted. I’ve learned that I have to go through the fear, feelings and emotional struggles to clear the mindset blocks I created. Now, I help other women entrepreneurs, and gals ready to leave corporate to start their own business, master their mindset and marketing so they can live the life they desire.

Related: Do You Have What It Takes to Start a Business 

Who is your most important role model? I admire all the female trailblazers that came before me from Rosa Parks to Hillary Clinton. Oprah is my most important. (How many of us are naming Oprah?) She embodies the values I hold dear: living life consciously and full-out, always learning and growing, being real about my journey, helping women live better and giving back to the world.

[box_light]Website   www.elainewellman.com
Twitter   @elainewellman
Facebook   www.facebook.com/elainewellmancoach
Pinterest   www.pinterest.com/elainewellman[/box_light]

Tell us your story!
Read about another Coaching & Consulting entrepreneur here.

Edited by The Story Exchange