As part of our relentless efforts to identify and share some of the meaningful stories from India and around the world, this week we invited yet another passionate women entrepreneur and coach Gurjeet Kaur for an interview with BrilliantRead Media. Gurjeet is a Trainer, Mentor, Coach, Image Consultant, Change Enabler and Founder of ImageWhizzGurjeet. Let’s read more about her inspiring journey, her background and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Gurjeet:
Talk us through your background and your journey so far, please.
Soon after my graduation exams I got engaged and thus began the journey of a girl to be a woman, a wife, a mother. However, something was amiss, expenses were rising with the extended family. Now being a mom of 2 kids, working and looking for a job was like climbing Mount Everest. Still, I managed somehow and joined a school on a contract basis in 2008.
Everything was new to me, sometimes I felt like an alien, knew nothing about the outer world, but was enjoying teaching, talking, and sharing my wisdom with those new teens. Soon I realized teaching and coaching gives me strength. People around me, especially kids, can connect easily with me, trust me. They would come to me for advice even on their personal issues.”
There I decided to be a certified teacher to help kids and their parents with their parenting issues. I pursued my Post Graduation2012 and Then B.Ed from Md University in 2014 and got My job as a PRT in a reputed School. Where I worked as a coordinator of the Junior Wing. Taught lesson Planning to the trainee teachers, Conducted counselling sessions for Parents.
Gradually It boosted my Confidence and gave clarity to the motto of my Life “To help others to perform their best in any circumstance with improved confidence, communication skills and interpersonal skills.”
Finances were a big issue all the time, so to handle it I started taking tuition along with my job and Family. And as soon as it was possible to join a course, I joined it. That caused a delay in my growth. However, the ray of hope, dreams of a better future and my motto kept me going.
Since the last 3-4 years I was searching for some other way to upskill myself and be much more in a position to help others. There I came to know about ICBI, and image management joined and completed the image management course and soft skills training course In 2021.
Also successfully completed my Train the trainer courses from NISD and Vskills.
Have Successfully organized webinars on Goal setting and now doing an internship with Knowledge Builders Academy.
Have also helped individuals with their dressing and grooming concerns. Looking forward to moving ahead and helping as many aspirants to possess the personality and confidence they desire.
What made you passionate about coaching?
Helping others is like food for my soul. My goal is to help individuals to understand themselves better, love themselves and live their life to the fullest. Everyone is unique and blessed with a quality to serve humanity, we just need to understand HOW we can be of worth first to ourselves and then society at large.
I believe we all are capable of making any change we desire for ourselves. By guiding and improving their overall appearance and certain skills like communication skills, emotional intelligence and other important skills everyone can perform their best. And as a coach, I can help them to learn about the area they need help.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
I believe hurdles are not to check your capabilities but to show your Strengths, I feel blessed to have a strong system. My kids and my sister are also my mentors.
I love reading motivational books and they help me to reboot the lost strength or zeal, hobbies like singing and dancing add colours whenever life seems cloudy.”
Treating others with the same integrity and respect as I would prefer helps me to understand that all people are shaped by their experiences and circumstances. And if you WISH for a change then Be that change as said by Mahatma Gandhi.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My biggest source of inspiration are my Kids. Since their birth I just wanted to be their role model, want them to learn the ethics of life, how to be strong, how to love and care, how to be worthy enough to leave a mark when we leave this world, this makes me smile even in hardest time, even when I am feeling little selfish, I think about them what they will learn from me.
As I strongly believe that this is the responsibility of being a parent to hand over a civilized person to this world by teaching them values which cannot be learnt just by preaching.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
Never to say die spirit, always ready to learn, Taking extreme ownership and responsibility for my actions, Courage, Ability to take risks & be creative, before expecting respect and love give others love and respect and listen to others carefully have helped me to grow as a person.
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
I feel every day is an opportunity to improve ourselves. Positive affirmations, mirror talk, dancing to my favourite tunes or watching cartoons or web series with my kids bring back the desired positivity.
I schedule my work and appointments. Habit stacking has given me the opportunity to add many small good habits that are very fruitful and satisfying along with reading motivational books. I keep a gratitude journal and write five things I am grateful for.
Also when I see a genuine smile, which boosts confidence on my client’s face, it gives me immense satisfaction and pleasure which motivates me more to keep going.
Please share with us, how do you motivate your clients?
Listening to the needs of our clients is very important, otherwise, thoughts cannot find their solutions. We at ImageWhizzGurjeet try to focus on understanding the client’s need, looking for the root cause and then giving solutions as per the requirement of the situation. By Guiding and helping clients to map their individual route of success whether personal or professional keeping in mind the individual differences and concerns.
Everyone is unique and Every heartbeat wants to be heard. That is our motto and motivation for our clients.
My work is to empower clients to take on responsibilities for their own self-development and show confidence in their abilities to achieve their goals.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
I will say it straight that there are many factors but if you really have to have the key elements then to me these are the ones:
1) Accepting & Loving yourself includes understanding your core capabilities
2) Taking responsibility for our actions
3) Eagerness to learn
4) Understanding that people behave the way they perceive themselves
5) Standing up for myself
6) Building knowledge and being Resourceful.
7) Hard work + smart work
8) Taking actions
9) Ready to accept Change
10) Patience for the desired outcomes
11) Keeping faith in ourselves and the almighty.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
> You should be able to identify the key skills and personality traits required to succeed in brand, media, digital, influencer, product, or any other area of marketing.
> Plan your route from acquiring skills and knowledge to job/startup
Share your Goal with the one whom you trust for advice and accountability. It can be your relative friend or a MENTOR.
> Do the proper Homework of What you desire to be and what type of job/position you want.
> Listen to your heart but work with your brain. Think about all the pros and cons in the long term.
> Most Important HAVE PATIENCE success comes to those who keep trying even after multiple failures as Thomas Edison said he failed 999 times before inventing Bulb, and those failures told him what NOT to try.
Don’t be afraid of Failures.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
