"Life Coach Keeps Folks on Track"
Having trouble finding the perfect job or Mr. Right? Maybe you need a coach
By JoLynne J. Lyon - featured writer
Printed in the Herald Journal, January 12, 2003

Bridget Borgogna is a product of her times. She works out of her home, often conducting business over the phone or by e-mail. Her business has its own Web site. And she helps clients who are struggling with their 21st-century notions of success ‹ and how to get it.

She calls her business Impacting Solutions. In addition to training and counseling for small businesses, she recently added another component: life coaching. The concept takes personal training beyond physical fitness. Borgogna said she helps clients define their goals and then achieve them.

Chris, a Montana client who spent some sessions with Borgogna on the telephone, said life coaching has made a difference for her. When she started her sessions, Chris said, she knew something was wrong, and she thought it was her job. But her coaching sessions helped her understand that she had become so caught up in her work that it crowded out everything else in her life. "I was just so focused on my job that I ended up hating it," she said. When she began giving herself a life outside the workplace, she found herself liking work more. She has the same job today, she said, and she¹s happier there.

Both Chris and Borgogna agree that life coaching is not therapy. Chris said she has tried therapy, and she likes life coaching better. Her experience with therapy was too bogged down in blaming other people for whatever was wrong in her life, she said. Life coaching put the responsibility on her to make things better, and helped her to move forward. Borgogna asserted that life coaching is not consulting, either, since consultants give answers to the people they counsel. In Chris¹s experience, the answers had to come from her, the client.

Other clients have different issues, from weight management to growing a business to finding Mr. or Miss Right. Whatever the objective, Borgogna said she helps clients focus on their goals and prepare themselves mentally for the changes they want to make.

In an interview from her East Bench home, Borgogna looked like a focused person, right down to her red blazer. It was at harmony with her complexion and her home decor. But Borgogna said she prefers not to put too much emphasis on appearances. She likes counseling people by telephone, she said; on the phone she can listen to the client without being distracted by a client¹s surroundings or how he or she looks.

These services come at a cost; three 45-minute sessions cost a suggested $225 if done over the phone, or $250 if done in person. E-mail coaching runs $200 per month. The fees are competitive, Borgogna said. They are also backed by her experience; she was an educator for 27 years in the Georgia Department of Education, where she worked in the classroom and as a state administrator. She holds a master¹s in education from the University of Buffalo in New York, and has served as a trainer for the Stephen Covey Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and Lions International. Recently she started training for life coaching, she said, and felt that it was something she was already doing.

Up until recently she helped small businesses with the softer side of their operation: communication, interpersonal skills, time management. The work she has done has led her to believe that businesses often over-emphasize production, at the expense of their employees. Now, in addition to working with small businesses, she is looking to help individuals reach their goals both in and out of the workplace. Too often, she said, businesses and individuals won¹t give themselves the support they need to make lasting changes. That¹s where she comes in.

So has Borgogna ever had a period when she felt like she needed a change? Her first response was no: she has always been able to get what she wanted from life. But on second thought, she remembered a time when she felt burned out as a teacher. She gave herself two years to explore different avenues, she said; she started serving on boards and writing curriculum. When an opening came up in the Georgia Department of Education, she went for it, and got it. So she followed the advice she gives her clients: she made a plan and found a solution. For her, it was a way out.

Chris¹s story has a different path; she found a way to be happier in her job. But though her coaching sessions showed her that she needed a life outside of work, she said, they also made her a better professional. "Ultimately I¹ll be a more successful business person," she said. "This will help me go to the next level."