Purposeful Branding & Niche for Coaches, Part 2

The Everything Life Coaching Podcast, featuring Lumia Coaching founders John Kim and Noelle Cordeaux, is a deep dive into the experience and business of being a life coach. Subscribe to get new episodes weekly!

A conversation with Lumia Coaching instructor, Joyce Chen 

‍Joyce Chen helps purpose-minded individuals feel empowered through their stories. She is a passionate storyteller, wanderluster and professionally trained Brand Marketing Professional who lives life through the lens of curiosity. She has a fondness for developing brand strategy, an insatiable curiosity for understanding how people engage with brands and is passionate about helping individuals grow into their Personal Brand of self. 

‍With over 15+ years of corporate Brand Strategy & Marketing Experience, Joyce has launched and developed a variety of commercial & lifestyle luxury brands. She grew up in California after moving from Taiwan to the U.S. and attended the University of California Berkeley studying Mass Communications & Public Policy. To learn more about Joyce’s work, visit https://joyloveandwanders.com/.

‍‍What does Joyce teach in the Lumia coach training program? Intro to Branding and Exploring a Niche

Purpose-Driven Branding for Life Coaches

What follows is a summation of the podcast conversation between Joyce and Noelle. Listen in for all the details! If you missed Part 1 of this conversation, you can tune in here.

‍Noelle: You’ve had a really robust marketing career, and were very successful at it from very early on. You’ve also developed a successful side hustle as a coach! What’s your story - how did you become the coach you are today?

‍Joyce: I got certified through the Lumia program 5 years ago, and eventually did the Signature program as well. I had many phases early in my coaching. I initially thought I’d want to do purpose and empowerment coaching, and divorce recovery coaching for millennials. 

During my first year as a new coach, I found that the work was fulfilling but also emotionally exhausting for me. One of the things we talk about in my class, Exploring Your Niche, is that the work should both inspire and fill you up. So I knew I needed to let go of the divorce recovery work.

In moving from new coach to baby coach in my second year, I found that people needed help branding their own stories and bringing those stories to life. After teaching a branding workshop for Lumia that year, I developed the confidence to really lean into helping other people tell their stories.

As I moved to a space in year three where I no longer used modifiers for my coaching practice, I really embraced where this was going. My journey has been one of experimentation and trying things on.

I’ve been able to apply these lessons in my corporate job as well. Coaching and the skills we learn here is so valuable in cultivating the wisdom of the people on my team. It’s a great feeling to have these tools to be empowered.

Noelle: I love how your story illuminates how the path to becoming a coach has a lot of layers to it. Lumia offers a place for our students and alumni to try things out, like you did with that first workshop. (She's humble about her day job, but Joyce is a Big Deal in the world of hospitality branding!)

Can you talk a little about what an Agile Team is, and how coaching is used in your corporate life? I know you also use Lovemarks and personal branding at work. What’s the evolution you’ve seen?

‍Joyce: Anyone who works with me knows that I’ll ask “What’s your personal brand Lovemark?” Meaning, what three words would you use to describe your personal leadership brand. What would you want people to say about you?

On my teams, we do a personal brand board with three words and some visuals that correspond to those words. This helps anchor individuals in what kind of leader they want to be. It also allows for some vulnerability, and the invitation to get to know one another on a human level before we start working to tackle corporate tasks. 

The Agile framework is a way of thinking about how to work, and how to do the work. What it comes down to is mobilizing and empowering the team. You set up a structure that allows people to problem solve. As leaders, this framework requires us to coach people rather than provide them with the answers.

A lot more companies are using Agile, especially in the tech industry. These coaching frameworks start from the assumption that employees have the answers. You just need to provide them with the process and framework that allows them to arrive at those answers.

‍Noelle: What you’re describing with the vision boards is the science of priming, which comes from sports psychology. When we create vision boards, it’s been shown that we’re more likely to track to that behavior. This is a great example of how coaching can lend itself to so many facets of life!

Becoming a coach impacts every aspect of who we are. When you start to enact these ideas, worlds transform. How did you get better at becoming a coach in all these different spheres?

‍Joyce: I am constantly a student. That’s my mindset and mentality. I practice a lot. A lot of interactions offer an ability to continue tapping into that coaching mindset. What I love about the Lumia program is that we had a lot of peer practice and mentor hours. It’s so important to continue to be a student.

I hope I’m a really good coach, and I constantly aspire to get better. To learn new tips, tools, and ways for people to tap into their agency.

What it really comes down to is that practice makes perfect.

‍Noelle: The embodiment of that stance of “not knowing” requires humility. That’s one of the pieces of coaching that doesn’t get the spotlight. We live in an achievement-based world where we’re required to go, go, go… to show and tell.

The deeper I go with my coaching, the more interested I become in reflection and self assessment. I’ve gotten a lot slower and more quiet over time. What’s your experience with this as you deepen your coaching practice?

‍Joyce: What I’ve noticed is that it puts your ego and achievement in check… in a good way! As I’ve continued on, my work as a coach has helped me look back at my own ego and need for achievement. It redefined what achievement means to me. 

What’s come to the forefront your job is not your purpose. Instead, it’s your job to find your purpose within whatever scope you're operating within.

Coaching has helped me become more thoughtful and empathetic. It’s really exciting for me to see a client have an “a-ha”. The outcome I look at now isn’t the number of clients I served, but who did I help, and who is thriving as a result of my work?

‍Noelle: With everything going on in the world, the idea of finding your Purpose with a capital P can feel daunting. It’s possible to find purpose in many smaller ways. What gives me a lot of hope is that as we all take small steps to do our small part in small ways, that creates exponential ripples throughout the world.

Now let’s talk about your private practice. What do you offer in the coaching world?

‍Joyce: In my coaching practice, I help clients build their purpose-driven personal brands. That’s tactical around brand building, leveraging my corporate marketing background. In personal purpose coaching, I help others find their own agency.

I focus more on 1:1 coaching than group work. That’s where I feel I have the most impact. I do package sessions with individuals in addition to the classes I teach for Lumia.

It’s OK to evolve. My practice has evolved for sure. At different seasons in your life, you’ll want to help people in different ways. I remind students that the niche doesn’t define you - you have to be a great coach first. Our students have the tools they need, and it’s up to each one of them to discover how it shows up.

‍‍Want to Become a Coach?

One of our values at Lumia is that we dare to be different. Our coaches like Joyce ignore the expectations society tries to impose on them, and seek to live from their own truth instead. If you are ready to step into your power as a coach, come check out Lumia Life Coach Training. Grounded in science, our ICF accredited program features authentic instructors, a robust curriculum, and business instruction to prepare you for liftoff.

‍Lumia Coaching: Vibrant community. Evidence-based life coach training. Lifetime support.‍