Success Story

A Life Coach and her Butterfly

Since she began coaching in 2000, Susan Longley has always reserved a coaching session on her calendar for a pro-bono client. In July of 2004, the Georgia Coach Association offered their coaches a chance to volunteer for a pro-bono coaching program through Chayil, Inc. and the Cobb County YWCA.
The Y shelters battered women, and provides a year-long post-shelter transition program for them. Chayil has designed a personal coaching program to give these women additional support and encouragement during this critical time. 
Susan attended a planning meeting at Chayil with the other volunteer coaches, and Heidi Day, Founder and Executive Director of Chayil, provided everyone with biographies of the women who were eligible for the coaching program. Given Susan's background in teaching English as a Second Language in Atlanta and Japan, it seemed obvious that she should coach Manami, a Japanese woman.
Susan met Manami, and was surprised to find that she was looking for small business coaching as well as personal support from her coach. Manami dreamed of establishing herself as a successful painter.
So Susan designed a major portion of Manami's coaching around that goal. Because Manami knew very little about the American business system, Susan included a significant educational component to Manami's coaching, referring her to an accountant to learn about tax and her tax obligations as a business owner. She also studied Marketing 101, which covers the basics: define your target market and tell them what you do, over and over and over again! Manami started out by carrying paintings around in the trunk of her car to shops and restaurants, and then decided she would be better off with gallery support, and was able to secure an exhibition at Inner Space in Sandy Springs.  Since then she has started producing prints and greeting cards as well as paintings, and regularly shows her art at local venues and festivals.  She also developed a website, www.manamiart.com, where you can go to view her wonderful portfolio!