Manasi Kakade

I started my blog a few years ago as a hobby. I would write the lessons I am learning at work and in life how it’s helping me grow as a professional and a person.

I was pleasantly surprised when I started getting some traction to it and also loyal readers. But I had never thought that the writing I did as a hobby will bring me my first requests for coaching. I made the decision to go for it full time when that seemed a LOT more interesting and adventurous than working for somebody else. That’s how my business started, less than a year ago.

The only decision I made was to open a business. My first clients decided what that business would be. That was a blessing! I didn’t have to do the market research or work on brainstorming what my offerings should be. So grateful for that!

But as I started actively seeking coaching and speaking engagements, launched my first online info-product, I began craving for more specificity in telling people what exactly I do and what makes me the best at doing it. I was looking to “package” my multiple offerings in a cohesive solution for my clients but I also didn’t want to be stuck in the identity that my first clients had given me. I knew, I can and do offer much more than just “Career Coaching” or “Job search advice.”

My clients raved about how much more they got out of it – inspiration, easy actions, and most importantly self-growth. But explaining all this to prospects or people who meet me for the first time wasn’t easy.

That’s why I was attracted to Marisa’s Start With You program. It promised to give me a way to share with others what exactly I do.

After finishing the program, I am happy to say I have not 1 but 3 ways to explain that.

I am not just a Career Coach, I am a Career Mastery Mentor.

I work with women who are early in their career and want to be C-suite leaders someday but lack the mentorship they need today to advance their career step-by-step. I teach them the skills they need to execute their next best action so they can take charge of their career, fast-track their success, and realize their true potential.

I am sure as my business grows and as I grow, I will finetune my offerings and hence my introduction. But I am enthused with the clarity the above statement brings. I not only understood how I can support my clients the best but also why they resonated with me in the first place, what their desires and needs are.  

Through this program, I also realized that there is a reason my career development advice was always rooted in self-growth. I DO care about succeeding at work but I don’t see it just as a tool to create wealth. I see it as a way to express our strengths, explore our potential, and be of service to others. My blog began as a self-growth advice. You can still read my first (amateur) posts there. But when I started getting career coaching type of requests, I thought that’s the only advice people want from me. My chats with my clients told me that’s not the case, but the marketer in me was still questioning it. After Start With You, I not only know why I was wrong in questioning it but also confident that my clients come to me precisely for that mixture of self-growth and career growth. I cannot and do not want to teach one without the other. And that’s a huge relief!  

All in all, I am happy to have come across this program and this clarity even before the first birthday of my business. My info-products and marketing messaging are only going to be clearer and clearer with such a foundation. Thank you, Marisa, and thanks to Start With You!