Posted Under: Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Jason Weberman, the next guest in “Our Heroes” series, had over a decade of corporate experience in the IT field at major financial and pharmaceutical companies and was climbing the corporate ladder very well when he realized that it was not what he wanted out of life. Jason now a business and life coach, uses his corporate background and expert coaching skills to help clients access their own inner strengths and motivate them to take powerful steps towards being effective leaders. Let’s dig to find out what happened in his transition from employee to business coach…

DD: Who are you and what kind of corporate job were you at?

JW: My name is Jason Weberman. Prior to becoming a business coach and opening North Star Coaching, my own practice, I had many different careers.  Over a ten year period I tried my hand in Public Relations, Marketing, Business Sales and Information Technology.  I spent the majority of that time working in Information Technology as a Desktop Support Specialist.  In that capacity I worked in various types of companies; financial, telecom, consulting and pharmaceutical institutions.  As a Desktop Support Specialist I got the chance to meet many interesting people from all walks of life.  Whenever I started with a new company, it didn’t take long before everybody knew who I was.  As I spent more time with these people they began to open up to me.  They shared their unhappiness with their jobs; their feelings of boredom, being over-worked, underpaid and underappreciated.  It didn’t take long before their negativity started to rub off on me and I was joining in on the bitch sessions. What I noticed was that the majority of the people I encountered were not getting satisfaction from their work; they were only tolerating it out of the need to survive.  Even though I was making more than enough money to survive, I was not happy with my career and this leaked into my personal life.  What I knew deep inside myself was that this wasn’t the way life was supposed to be and that happiness must exist somewhere.

DD: What made you leave the job? When did you realize that you wanted to be an entrepreneur & why?

JW: It was at this point when I had a fortuitous meeting.  My girlfriend Jennifer who later became my wife introduced me to her friend Danny.  Danny had battled with cancer in high school and won.  Unfortunately the battle had cost him his leg.  When I first met Danny I felt bad for him having only one leg.  As I got to know him I was amazed at his positive outlook on the world and how happy he seemed.  There was something magical about him that made me start to think that fulfillment was possible.  He told me about a program that he had taken known as Landmark Education.  He explained that Landmark’s philosophy was that anything you want for your life is possible.  As a result of participating in their programs Danny began to pull fulfillment into his life.  The more he talked the more I became mesmerized with the possibility of happiness.

DD: How did you prepare yourself for the employee to entrepreneur transition? How were the initial days/ months/ challenges?

JW: I decided that I was going to do the same program he did because if I could get ten percent of what he got I would be a lot happier than I was.  So I attended Landmark and went through their entire program.  The last program they had was called the Self Expression Leadership Program (SELP) that spanned over three months.  During this program I received a coach who would help guide me in my life and through the program.  After I completed the program I felt more fulfilled than I had since college, but I wanted more. So I decided to volunteer as a coach for the SELP.  I was given five participants to coach.  They each came with different areas of their lives they wanted to work on, but they all shared the same desire to bring happiness into their lives.  As the weeks went by and I coached these five people I witnessed tremendous growth in them.  Together we overcame obstacles and developed strategies to achieve success.  As a result, their personal lives and relationships with their family, friends and loved ones were getting stronger.  They were getting more satisfaction out of their work lives.  Essentially their perspectives were shifting towards fulfillment and they were achieving positive results in all areas of their lives. What I noticed about myself was that through coaching them I was feeling amazing about myself.  I felt passionate and connected with the world.  That was it, I was hooked.  I knew that I was destined to be a professional life coach. So, I went back to school and studied at the Coaches Training Institute (CTI), an accredited program with the International Coach Federation (ICF).  While going through my program and mastering my craft I began to understand what happiness really was and how people could bring it into their lives and businesses.

DD: How are you now? Are you still in the same business, and how do you feel?

JW: Since then I have opened my own business; North Star Coaching.  I work with small businesses and entrepreneurs helping them achieve success by removing obstacles so they can achieve their goals faster and more effectively than they can do by themselves.  The reason most businesses do not do well in today’s economic climate is because they are reactive and not proactive.  Most businesses think that by doing more of the same in their business practices they will achieve greater success.  However in this downturn it is imperative that businesses adjust to the times and implement more effective strategies that will put them above their competition.

In order to be successful, a company must have a strong foundation built of solid leadership. Through my coaching and corporate background I have helped my clients access their own inner strengths and motivated them to take powerful steps towards being effective leaders.

DD: Wow! Thank you so much Jason for sharing your story with me! I wish you the best of luck in the future with North Star Coaching, and keep on doing what you do and helping people become more satisfied with their lives! What a great journey!

JW: Thank you, Devesh, for listening to my story and for understanding the importance of personal and professional happiness. By making other people happy I fulfill my own needs, and that really is a beautiful thing. Thank you for believing in entrepreneurs like me.

DD: There you have it folks, Jason Weberman, entrepreneur and founder of North Star Coaching. He used his prior experience and the quality of life of his former colleagues to realize his passion for professional life coaching.