Entrepreneurs
How Joanne Muturi Built her High-Flying Job to Start a 7 Figure Coaching Business
When it dawned on her that she had a potentially life-threatening tumor embedded in her abdomen, Joanne Muturi knew she had a decision to make: It was either LIFE or DEATH!
She chose the former. The energetic, bubbly and enthusiastic lady fought tooth and nail and is extremely grateful that God gave her a second chance at life. It was time for her to truly live!
Joanne is a life coach and mentor for women who are stuck and need a life makeover. She seeks to help them release and realize their life purpose based on their unique talents, their giftings, their strengths and passions even as they go through life’s transitions. Her main focus is on corporate women whom she helps craft a corporate escape and transition plan which she realized after working for over 15 years in the corporate world.
Before starting her business, Joanne worked at the United Nations office in Nairobi – a well-paying job which she quit to engage her full potential. Her work in the corporate world entailed creating an unforgettable customer experience in the financial sector. She interacted with very many people and realized that the underlying cause of most people’s problems was mainly due to financial distress and difficulties.
“A lot of financial decisions that people make are based on the circumstances prevailing in their life at a particular time or season. Such times include when someone is about to get married, going through a divorce, has lost a loved one or is about to get a baby. In such situations, many opt to take out a loan or a credit card for some immediate financial reprieve”
Joanne realized that there had to be better options rather than getting into debt to solve some temporary problem. She could counsel people in her office while still at work. That was her light bulb moment. It hit her that she had been solving people’s life issues effortlessly. That she had been advising them on making better decisions for their personal lives without so much as a struggle.
Her empathy, love, concern and good communication skills worked well for her at this “new-found” role. She was not only contributing to the well-being of her colleagues but also to those of her clients.
Authenticity is key. Joanne was real and cared about her ‘clients. Genuinely concerned! Unlike most people in the corporate space, she did not treat her customers as statistics. No, they were people who had lives to nurture and to build. People with real needs who did not just want financial rescuing but also needed life advice. She had to advise them on their personal matters and helped them make better choices all around.
In her current position, as an entrepreneur, Joanne teaches women on how to unleash the incredible power within them. Her target market is mainly women in the corporate world who know that it is time for them to spread their wings beyond their jobs and want to transition with a plan.
A twist of fate
In August 2014, Joanne was diagnosed with the cancerous tumor which led to her operation in the following month of September. After the operation, she resumed official duties in December. She continued to work as she got her treatment which ended in April 2015. It was during this period, that she began getting the serious discomfort in her career. She felt that she wasn’t fully accomplishing what she was created to do.
In the same year, after a couple of years of dating and courtship, she and her fiancé tied the knot in October 2015. Her husband was living and working in the United Kingdom, and Joanne made the decision to resign and join him. January 27th, 2016 was her last day with the United Nations, a place she had called home for 13 years. This left her with more questions to answer and decisions to make.
Joanne, her Husband and Equity bank Group CEO Mr. James Mwangi (center)
Joanne Muturi with Her husband having a light moment with Equity Bank Group CEO Dr. James Mwangi (center)
It was a tough period of serious adjusting. She had too many lifestyle transitions that would also have been distractions. Her biggest concern and cause of sleepless nights was the yearning for her life purpose. She chose to focus on finding out what exactly on earth was she created to do. “Focus,” she says. “Life is full of distractions; but what you focus on expands.” From the gifts and talents that she carried, she gradually stepped from her comfort zone. The eagle’s egg had just hatched! It was time for her to SOAR!
“Many of us have gifts and talents that we never utilize. We give excuses, this is not for me, and it’s for someone else.”
She began chasing her potential. She knew she had to go up. And the only way up was out!
She works with women in the corporate world as a life coach and business mentor. Her life’s mission is to grow and nurture and many women as possible into entrepreneurs. She has noticed that most women tend to be in businesses as a hobby. She states that one should choose whether the business is a business or just a hobby.
“You have to make a deliberate choice. If you want it to be properly scaled up, you must quit treating your business as a hobby and nurture it into a sustainable and viable business.”
Joanne works with corporate women in helping them create an exit strategy that transitions them into either full-time or part-time entrepreneurs (depending on the exit strategy) they decide on with the client.
She has taught people to begin and know what to focus on and prioritize. “Most people are starters and not finishers.” She says. “By having one project at a time, one gives it the full attention and concentrates on it. Whatever you begin, make sure you finish.”
She uses her name as her brand. From the name she uses on her website www.joannemuturi.com to how she markets her business. This means she is the face of her own brand and company.
In her coaching sessions, Joanne concentrates on elements such as having a corporate exit strategy and having crystal clarity of life purpose. She helps one successfully incubate, conceive then launch their business linked to their passions, giftings and personal strengths.
“You don’t engage in a business simply because it makes money,” Get into business in an area you are passionate about. When you start with passion, the money will definitely follow.”
When you are passionate about your business, despite the lows and dips that life throws at you, you will always have the grit and resilience to do it. However, if you are doing it for money and it doesn’t show up when you expected, then you have no other motivation to continue working. You will leave that business feeling completely deflated and demotivated.
Currently, she is working with clients in four regions: the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States of America and Kenya. The bulk of her clients are based in Kenya. Thanks to technology, she does her business online and is able to have her coaching calls with the client’s easily right from the comfort of her home office. Each coaching program costs from Ksh 250,000 per person.
Joanne (on the left) with some of her clients
When you choose to work with her, you choose either one-on-one model which is individually themed and totally bespoke to the client’s needs; or through her a group training programme dubbed “REFOCUS”. For the one on one personal coaching, it is based on the client’s individual needs. The shortest program takes 12 weeks while the longest goes up to 1 year. Her group program is relatively shorter. Refocus takes eight weeks whereby she holds weekly meetings on video with the clients. Then an additional two weeks whereby she meets with them individually to know what extra help they may need outside of the programme with the intention of helping them scale up.
Other than the personal benefits, these classes are life-changing and totally transformation. Once you get a life make over, your life is looked at from a holistic perspective, from finances, spiritual, your home environment, family and friends, your significant other, your career and / or business. Every aspect of your life is carefully considered. And thereafter an action plan is devised to work on the areas that need immediate attention alongside much needed mentorship and accountability. At the end of it all, the client has a suitable roadmap and vehicle to carry them from where they are to where they want to go. The vehicle in this case is the coaching and mentorship. So far, she has a 100 percentage success stories of people who have passed through her classes in a bid to move from corporate to launch their own businesses.
