From Retirement Blues to Coaching

I'm Maureen(Mo|) Chaloner and I am a Holistic Life Coach and Personal Development Life Coaching Master.

I am a Mum of three and a Great Grandma, and I live in Wiltshire in the UK with my lovely hubby Jim and our two cats Belle and Honey.

In the past I worked in a few different roles, as a freelance journalist( I have a BA( Hons) degree in Journalism), in public relations, in sales and marketing and also in accounts, and after retiring, became a companion/carer for some lovely elderly lady clients. Now I am a Life Coach and love it...and it all happened by accident.

Here's how it happened..

After retirement I stayed on working for a local company as a sales and marketing executive and was quite happy. Unfortunately due to government cuts, the company folded, and I was suddenly out of a job at 68 !

I didn't know what to do. I applied for a number of positions in marketing, but nothing came up. In fact one recruitment agency told me in a subtle way it was my age that employers were noting, not my qualifications.

The woman at the agency only backed up what I already knew from past experience, as a 60+ woman, I was 'past it '( what a cheek)

Meanwhile, a good friend of mine worked in Social Care as a self employed Carer/Companion for the elderly, and she loved it, and persuaded me to give care work a try.

I took her advice and began the journey to learn new skills, and take qualifications ( 15 different relevant Care modules in total)

The ladies I took care of were amazing, all having their own life stories to tell and all with vastly different needs and personalities that made the job so interesting. But after 5 years of taking care of my ladies I developed arthritis in my left knee and had to retire from care work.

Now what was I going to do? I was well past retirement age but not ready to give up work altogether!

So I got to thinking. During my time in the corporate world I witnessed the positive and negative aspects of the corporate culture. The worst aspects that I experienced more than once, was how older women were very often not seen or heard in team meetings, in the boardroom and elsewhere.

I was appalled at this age and gender bias because older women have so much to offer in the workplace and it seemed such a terrible waste of talent. Even if a female employee HAD a good idea to share, they were reluctant to voice it for fear of the idea being talked over and dismissed by male colleagues ( this was some time ago, but from recent research it seems it is STILL going on in many industries)

Over the years I had witnessed ageism and biased attitude by employers and even employment agencies towards older women and realised something needed to change. Men were certainly not discriminated against in quite the same way.

I spoke to many older ladies and did some research and realised this attitude towards older women often extended to their personal lives as well, and in particular in families. Older women in their late 40s, 50s and 60s + are still the main carers for elderly loved ones, and are expected to hold down a responsible job, care for elderly relatives and run a home, as well as maintain a good relationship with their husband or partner. Many I spoke to were exhausted!

I knew I needed to help these ladies change and cultivate the skills, courage and confidence to stand up for themselves at work, set boudaries in the workplace and in their private lives, and ensure they had time for themselves. But I had no idea how.

A friend recommended a life coach she knew and suggested I spoke to her. She was great and worked with me over several months.

We went over all I had achieved in my life up to then, and we come to the conclusion that I would make a great life coach myself having such a wealth of knowledge and life experiences. I have worked with many different people from all walks of life.

I thought about it for a while, and eventually decided to give it a go.

I started by training to become a Holistic Life Coach and then went on to become qualified as a Life Coaching Master. I specialise in Holistic Personal Development Coaching and I work with businesswomen and busy Mums and Grandmas over 40 and help them transition from Invisible to Invaluable..

I want to change societies perception of older women in the workplace. My passion is to empower older women by cultivating the necessary skills, tools and stategies to overcome this biased view by society and succeed in whatever area they choose to work.

Using coaching tools and techniques in my Holistic Personal Development Coaching programmes that includes mindset shift, building inner confidence, and cultivating positive self belief, I help older women transform from being unseen and unheard to totally unstoppable!

To book a free 1/2hr- 3/4 hr Discovery Call to see if we can work together to change YOUR life click the button below:

Book your call here

Mo Chaloner