Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an entrepreneur.
I am a Professional Coach helping experienced corporate professionals find their next job, helping people stuck in their career and develop a strong, rock solid mindset. I help people overcome challenges both in their professional as well as personal life.
I am the Founder and CEO of Exuberant Coaching International operating from Sydney and currently serving people in several countries including Australia, India, US, UK, Canada & Middle East. I offer multiple programmes depending upon the issues a person is facing and the kind of customised solutions required to resolve them.
The Entrepreneurial journey:-
The seeds of starting something of my own were sown years ago. I worked in the Corporate for more than 2 decades.
After completing my MBA, I worked in IT, Sales & Marketing & Finance Industry.
My rich professional experience included working in Product, Services & Consulting divisions, from Fortune 100 companies in the world to startups, from Junior to senior positions and working in multiple countries with exposure to several different work cultures and people.
And although I earned well with a well established career, I never felt happy and truly proud of my achievements in life and never felt confident that I was truly employable and excel fearlessly in my career.
I always tried sticking to the organisation I worked for due to the fear of not getting another job, not being confident to face interviews, not dealing with tricky situations etc.
My life continued to go in a downward spiral with challenging experiences until one day, I broke down. My pride otherwise would’ve stopped me from asking for help, but this time I reached out for it with an amazing Coach.
After undergoing multiple transformation programmes and with a lot of consistent efforts, I set myself up the path of a pivotal mindset shift like never before.
That’s when I also realised,
– I never seriously looked back at my life for enough learning.
– I realised all through my career of more than 20 years in a variety of sectors, I was always mentoring and helping people, whether it was their work, work relationships or personal life.
– That working in a variety of sectors, different cultures & ethnicities, hierarchies, several types of work environments had enriched me with unique capabilities! That I had experienced and faced several types of pressures and incredible situations!
– That I was a guide, mentor, confidante for people around me and my colleagues found me very helpful, approachable, reliable and trustworthy.
– It became clear to me that by continuing to work in a job, I wasn’t doing enough justice to my tremendous potential, my passion, skills, creativity and the constant desire to help others.
– The idea of quitting my corporate career and becoming a full time Coach was born there. After completing multiple trainings, certifications and lots of rigorous practice, I started with my own world class coaching business.
The satisfaction, excitement and joy of becoming a contributor for someone’s success in life is unparalleled!
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
- I wanted to reach out to a maximum number of people without any boundaries in place. A Corporate job meant interacting with limited number of people, being able to help limited set of professionals. Entrepreneurship would’ve enabled me to expand my reach.
- Helping out people in need is what excites me! Coaching people dedicatedly would’ve been possible through entrepreneurship rather than being in a Corporate job.
- When you become the reason for the amazing changes in someone’s life, the sheer joy and satisfaction of witnessing that is beyond words ! Coaching someone needs dedication, constant engagement and connect. That is easier to do as an Entrepreneur rather than as an employee in Corporate.
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges?
My passion and my mission are to help thousands find their next job, overcome their professional & personal challenges & live an abundant, powerful life. This becomes my fuel to keep going whenever I am faced with challenges in my profession.
I have learnt to keep myself positive, solution oriented and driven using easy, practical & powerful techniques & methods which are part of my subconscious now. They keep me going, always!
On a personal side, I enjoy spending time with my family, interact with other inspiring people, doing fun activities, playing badminton, listening to music and meditate. And that keeps me excited about life.
How did you come up with the name for your business/startup?
The biggest force in human life is energy!
The most impactful energy is the Youth energy and that’s what ‘Exuberant’ refers to. The abundant youthful energy that is created through my coaching programmes to power your life like never before!
You can achieve anything with this, when channelised in the right direction & with the right guidance.
What difficulties which you have faced or you are facing?
Difficulties are a part of any business. Foreseeing them and taking steps to manage them is the key.
Talking about the difficulty from a social angle, my concern was about adjusting to the ‘Coach life’ as opposed to the ‘Corporate life’ with respect to social interactions. As a working professional, you get to interact with your colleagues without taking much effort.
But when I compared being in a business against being a working professional, the benefits of being an entrepreneur far outweighed the corporate life. Besides, I wasn’t now restricted to interacting with just the team I was working with.
Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of.
It is hard to point to just one, as there are several exciting accomplishments. There are several clients’ success stories. From securing their dream jobs, promotions, career decisions, beating stress & anxiety in professional and personal life, developing a super strong mindset, each client experiences incredible moments & results! But I have always felt humbled when people have tears in their eyes during the coaching sessions. The tears are of joy, relief from the sadness, frustration when they acknowledge and realise what was going wrong. Such moments are simply invaluable.
How many hours a day do you work on average & can you describe/outline your typical day?
My priorities decide my schedule and I decide my priorities! Sometimes a client needs urgent attention. In such cases, I keep my other work aside and give my total attention to the client’s urgent needs. A typical day involves client programme sessions and coaching activities apart from customised plan preparations for clients and other research activities & responding to calls, messages and emails.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
My strength is I take utmost interest in my client’s wellbeing. I have a habit of totally putting myself into the shoes of my client (just like a good actor starts to live the character of the role). This helps me super connect with my client and see things from his/her glasses. It becomes easy for building a natural rapport with that person then & the client is more inclined to understand you, since he realises you understand him!
My weakness is my interaction with my friends is somewhat reduced due to more client interactions. But I have worked out a plan to resolve it and I am already implementing that as you read this 😊.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Direction, focus and consistency!
You have to make an effort to find out what direction you want your life to go!
Don’t just fit in. You are way more powerful than that!
Don’t just keep reading the success stories of others! Become a success story yourself!
Focus! I cannot emphasise more. Especially in the technology driven era, there are tonnes of distractions & temptations. Having a focus and staying away from distractions IS NOT boring! It means finding fun in the right things!
No use if you do it once or twice or intermittently. Successful people do things consistently! Practice is progress.
Become fast decision makers! Don’t sit on it and over analyse. Your mind will play tricks and paralyse your thinking otherwise. You Can Do This ! is my Mantra!
Connect here,
Email – abhijeetkulkarni@exuberantcoach.com
LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/in/abhijeetkulkarni1
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/abhijeet.kulkarni.90834
