My Career: Being a coach is very rewarding

Name: Aisling Vaughan

Age: 31

Lives: Clonakilty, Co. Cork

Job title: Professional coach and mentor to women in business

Salary bracket: €60,000+ (like anything, the more you work, the more you get rewarded!)

Education background: I originally studied for a degree in Irish and Music at UCC, followed by a professional Masters of Education at NUIG. I also trained as a personal trainer with a qualification in nutrition during this time which led me into coaching. I most recently went back to college this year and completed a Professional Diploma in Professional Coaching and Mentoring with Kingstown College.

Hobbies: Anything outdoors, especially if it involves the ocean. I love to swim and enjoy being out on the boat with my partner, Paul. Eating out in some of the nicest spots in West Cork. I also play Irish music, sing Sean Nós, and speak Irish so anything to do with those communities, I love!

Describe your job in five words: Rewarding, challenging, enlightening, holistic, fun.

Describe yourself in five words: Talented, intelligent, grounding, happy, ambitious.

Personality needed for this kind of work? Everyone likes a different style of coaching but I definitely feel you need to be a good listener and to empathise with people to be a good coach. It also helps to be strong and self-assured in yourself so that you can lead others to their best potential, too.

How long are you doing this job? Almost seven years.

How did you get this job? Having originally trained as a secondary school teacher, I decided I wanted to work in the health and wellness space when I moved to Australia at the end of 2017. I started work in a gym in Sydney at the beginning of 2018 and learned how to be a good coach and business person from my employer at the time.

The following year, I went out on my own and founded an in-person training business in Sydney CBD, training mostly working professionals and corporates both one-to-one and in a small-group setting. I employed two other Irish women out there and grew that business until covid came on the scene. I was also awarded ‘Trainer of The Year’ in 2019 by Anytime Fitness which was also a real sense of achieve-ment for me, especially after changing careers only the year previous.

With gyms being closed due to restrictions. I adapted my business and brought it fully online. I created an online health, wellbeing and mindset programme and community for women called ‘Ayrie’, coming from the Irish word, Éiri meaning ‘to rise’.

This was a very successful business with hundreds of women from all over the world being part of the programme and community. Ayrie was the first of its kind to combine physical training, a holistic approach to nutrition and wellbeing, personal development with a specialised mindset course and a psycho-education programme. It helped women become healthier, more confident and more at peace with themselves, which served them massively in their personal lives at home and at work.

It also provided a spiritual development opportunity for those who wanted to connect more with themselves and their spirituality via another sister programme called ‘Ascend’, which was highly rewarding and successful.

I decided at the end of 2023 that I wanted to have a smaller, more intimate business due to a shift in personal values and life circumstances (meeting my partner, Paul, and wanting the time to be part of renovating our cottage had a large part to do with this) and so I started working with a small number of individuals on a one-to-one basis only.

Now, I typically work with women who run businesses and want someone in their corner to support them personally and/or professionally with the growth of their business. My clients consist of women just starting off on their business journey, many of whom have decided to pack in their corporate jobs and follow their true passion. Some of my clients are also well into their business journeys and running seven figure businesses, but want help with finding work-life balance, making decisions that align with them, being better leaders for their teams, etc.

I also run an intimate business coaching and mentoring group called ‘Business Brilliance’ where I teach and support women in growing their business while also keeping themselves well and thriving in the process.

Changing the model of the business and downsizing was one of the most challenging times in my business journey to date but I’m so glad that I honoured what I needed and followed the nudge!

Do you need particular qualifications or experience?

Yes, you need a qualification for whatever style of coaching you want to get into. I would personally recommend the Professional Diploma in Coaching and Mentoring with Kingstown College if you want to become a professional coach.

Describe a day at work?

My weeks look different depending on whether I’m client-facing or working on my own business!

I typically coach clients on coaching calls fortnightly and on those weeks, I’m working with them either one-to-one or in the small group coaching programme, Business Brilliance. I also provide WhatsApp support to my one-to-one clients throughout the whole coaching process so I’m very hands-on and involved with the people and the businesses I work with.

Outside of this, I continue to develop my own coaching skills and programmes, while also keeping up with my own marketing, especially on Instagram where most of my clients come from. I also get a lot of clients through word of mouth so I’m a firm believer in doing a good job with the people you work with so they will be your best cheerleaders, too!

And as any good business person knows, you need to have an eye on finances, the books, your sales, taxes and the overall running of the business. I’m lucky to work with a good financial team who help me with this, so it’s not too time-consuming.

I also love in-person connection with clients. I often meet clients for their coaching sessions in Cork and I also run community events for my business owners to bring them together and develop extra value. They definitely take some time to organise and execute, but it’s one of the reasons people love working with me and being part of our community, I feel.

How many hours do you work a week?

This really depends on what’s happening in my business and the time of year. I had a lot of free time during the summer to do more training, swimming and chilling myself. I also sometimes get drafted into the house renovations and am needed for physical and moral support!

But ultimately, I work normal office hours of 9-5pm, Monday to Friday. I make my own working hours so I have a lot of flexibility and choice when it comes to how I want to spend my time.

I do spend a lot of time thinking about my clients and how to make things better in our community too though, so maybe it would be more if there was a meter on my mind, lol!

What do you wear to work?

I’m pretty casual in the office. I like to wear comfortable, warm clothes this time of year. I’m wearing cord pants, a shirt and sneakers right now! I don’t dig the stereotypical workwear stuff, so even when I do have to turn myself out for a speaking event or client meetings, I like to put my own stamp on how I dress and keep it funky.

Is your industry male or female-dominated?

In fitness, it was very male-dominated. I work with a lot of coaches, holistic practitioners and people in the wellbeing space who are female so I feel this has changed in recent years. When it comes to professional coaching and mentoring or life coaching, I feel it’s more balanced.

Does this affect you in any particular way?

Yes! When I was in the minority in the gyms and fitness networks I was involved in in my early coaching career, it motivated me massively. I wanted to prove that females could absolutely be excellent coaches and also high earners in that space.

Is your job stressful? How? Rate it on a scale of 1-10: Maybe a 4? I have lots of practices that keep me grounded and keep my stress levels at bay. I have come to a time in my life and business that if it gets too stressful, I won’t put myself in that position long term and make changes pretty quickly. I don’t do drama.

Do you work with others or on your own? I used to have a team in Sydney and also the online business with Ayrie. Now I work on my own but I work from an office in a co-working space, Mix Co-Working, here in Clonakilty, which gives me the best of both I feel.

When do you plan to retire or give up working?

Ask me in another few years, haha! Honestly, I don’t see work as a punishment or hassle by any means so I’m sure I’ll be happy to keep working as long as I continue to have freedom and flexibility in my business!

Best bits:

Getting to work with such amazing, ambitious and wholesome women who I very much align with. I have a lot of fun in my work while being able to help them. Having freedom of location and time with my business being mostly online. Hosting my in-person workshops and community days. Getting to spend time with all of my clients in one room.

Being a finalist in and winning some awards for my business over the last couple of years. This includes ‘Emerging Business Woman of The Year 2023’ with Network Ireland, “‘Most Inspiring Member’ with The Club for 2023, and being a finalist for ‘West Cork Young Business Person of The Year’ in 2023 with the Southern Star.

Worst bits:

Adapting my business and having to start pretty much all over again when covid hit. My own wellbeing took a big hit with the stress and long hours of that when I was needing to save my business!

Advice to those who want your job?

Entrepreneurship is not an easy road, but neither is working in something you hate or that keeps you trapped.

Being a coach is a particularly rewarding job that will see you continue to learn and grow as a person yourself. So, for that reason, I would highly recommend it as a career.

Any other comments?

If you’d like to follow along the journey, you’ll find me over on Instagram @aislingvaughan.com_ or drop into Mix Co-Working, Clonakilty and give me a shout!

If you would like to feature in My Career in our Women on Wednesday please email mary.corcoran@theecho.ie