Episode #43: Allegra Stein – When is it Time to Quit the Business of Coaching?
How can we be free to do the work we love?
This is the fundamental question at the heart of my conversation with coach, community builder and eternal adventurer Allegra Stein, who is navigating a crucial turning point in her multifaceted career.
Following on from our first conversation on the podcast, in this episode Allegra and I tackle an issue faced by coaches at all levels: how to stay creative and uphold your values while carving out a viable business.
After more than a decade in which she has gone against the grain of the coaching industry and developed her own maverick approach, Allegra is seeking the freedom to coach without the burden of business.
The insights she shares as we reflect on her journey and look to the future will resonate with anyone who has found themselves craving more creative freedom or wrestling with the challenges of entrepreneurship.
As a high relater who loves to contribute to what’s possible, Allegra is brimming with energy and ideas as she anticipates a new chapter of her career and steps bravely towards it.
In this episode, we talk about:
The difficulty of being creative under pressure
The benefits of a strengths-based approach
Why offering something for free might not be helpful
Whether entrepreneurship is for everyone, and how to tell if it’s for you
The difference between running a food truck and being a chef
Allegra focuses much of her attention towards mentoring new coaches, and shares her experience of forming an energising new partnership that has transformed her approach to that work.
To learn more about Allegra, visit https://www.allegrastein.com/
For information about my wider work, my writing or to buy my books, visit www.robbieswale.com.
Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQg
To support the Coach's Journey, visit www.patreon.com/thecoachsjourney and to join the Coach's Journey Community visit www.thecoachsjourney.com/community.
Things and people we mentioned (that you might be interested in):
- The previous episode featuring Allegra https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-22-allegra-stein-how-to-flourish-as-a-coaching-misfit
- Gay Hendricks and the zones of excellence and genius https://www.thejoyofbusiness.co.uk/how/how-to-find-your-zone-of-genius/
- B-School https://marieforleobschool.com/
- The Prosperous Coach by Steve Chandler and Rich Litvin https://richlitvin.com/the-prosperous-coach/
- YouMap https://www.myyoumap.com/
- Mighty Networks https://www.mightynetworks.com/
- Patreon https://www.patreon.com/
- BetterUp https://www.betterup.com/en-gb/
- Robbie’s article on the six cycles of an entrepreneur https://www.robbieswale.com/the-12-minute-blog/2022/8/11/6-cycles-of-an-entrepreneur
- Katie Harvey on The Coach’s Journey Podcast https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-1-katie-harvey-14000-hours-of-coaching-being-part-of-the-uk-coaching-vanguard-and-being-a-generalist-coach
- The CliftonStrengths Online Talent Assesment https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx
- Tim Ferriss and Debbie Millman https://tim.blog/2017/01/12/how-to-design-a-life-debbie-millman/
- Mike Toller https://birkbeckcounsellingassociation.org/therapist/michael-toller-counselling-psychotherapy/
- Nicole Brigandi https://www.nicolebrigandicoaching.com/
- Gallup https://www.gallup.com/home.aspx
- Joyce Campbell http://charisnlp.co.uk/
- Catherine Ferguson https://catferguson.com/
ABOUT ALLEGRA STEIN
Allegra discovered her gifts as an ideator and an activator during a career she describes as ever changing. A love for trying different things – and doing them differently – has guided her through an adventurous life.
After majoring in wildlife biology and fishing conservation at the University of California, Davis, she spent a number of years doing fieldwork in the great outdoors. Her passion for environmental work led her to join the Peace Corps, which took her all the way across the world to Bulgaria where she worked in ecology at a nature park for two years.
Allegra pursued another calling when she moved into education, having been "captivated by the art of teaching". Completing the Teach For America programme in New York, she taught in the Bronx before taking a role outside the city where she met her husband, and together they started a family.
It was after the birth of her second child that Allegra discovered coaching, first in an academic setting, and then under the mentorship of Brooke Castillo. Upon becoming certified as a coach in 2012, Allegra's latest adventure began.
Reflecting on her experiences as a teacher, she likens the challenge of creating a coaching business to building a school in which to practice her craft. That school is Misfit to Maverick, a community for coaches who want to do things differently and strike out from the well-beaten path of coaching businesses that focus more on business than coaching.
Through Allegra's programme The Niching Compass, her community supports and nurtures unique talents, helping others to discover their niche and carve out an approach to coaching that works for them. Find out more about her work at https://allegrastein.com/