Member Spotlight: Ally Sprague

Ally Sprague transitioned from leading Product teams at tech startups, to part-time consulting, to becoming a Leadership Coach! She now pours her energy into helping high-achieving leaders gain clarity and confidence to create fulfilling work lives.

Her clients typically come to her at some sort of transition moment — stepping into a new leadership role, making a career change, etc — and they come to her to clarify what they really want (as opposed to what they “should” do) and to gain the confidence they need to create it.

She was kind enough to share some of her leadership tips with us!

Give us some insights that may help our readers

How do you coach your clients?

Coaching is about listening to someone more deeply than they've ever been listened to before, asking provoking questions, and holding them accountable to the person they want to become.

What are some areas that you help your clients with?

The most common topics I help my clients with are:

• Confidence -- My inner critic/imposter voice is really loud and I can’t get away from it.
• Clarity -- I don’t know what I want. What is actually most important to me?
• Energy -- I want to feel more consistently energized day to day. I want to know unequivocally that I’m building a life I’m proud of.
• Peace -- I’ve always been a really high-achiever but always striving for better/more is exhausting, I want to find some balance.

I often see clients spending a lot of time articulating what they don't want (I don't want to feel drained, I don't want to second guess myself, I don't want to do x anymore, etc.) but not much time articulating what they do want.

They'll often say it's because they don't know what they want, but after some gentle nudging, it's almost always because it's freakin' vulnerable to say what you want aloud! We tell ourselves that we don't know when in fact we usually have a pretty good sense because it keeps us from having to be accountable to that desire. In other words: owning what you want requires courage.

One of my favorite quotes: “Energy Flows Where Attention Goes.”

If you put attention on what you don't want, you'll stay stuck. If you instead pour energy into what you want, you'll move toward it.

What’s an important lesson you would share with new Mylance members?

The single most impactful thing you can do to find fulfillment in your work life is explore your inner world! Learn what limiting beliefs hold you back, clarify who you want to be and what life you want to live 10 years fro m now, start listening to that inner voice/intuition. If you don't already, start working with a coach or therapist who can support you in your exploration! (perhaps self-serving, but also one of my truest, deepest beliefs 🙃).

Leaving her full-time job to give herself the space to explore the solopreneur life

How has going independent affected your life? What has the flexibility enabled for you?

My primary purpose for leaving my FT job to start consulting was to give myself the time and space I needed to explore what I wanted to do next.. and it worked! In my first two months of consulting, I found my path to coaching. I think of consulting as the bridge I used to help me cross into my future career.

How many hours per week do you work now and how does your income now compare to when you were fully employed?

I work ~30 hours per week between consulting and coaching and earn the same as when I was FT.

What drove you to become a Coach?

The energy I feel after a client session is unlike anything I have experienced before. My husband says he's never seen me as high on life as after I hang up with a client.

Being able to hold space for folks to explore their most honest thoughts and feelings feels like an utter privilege.

How has Mylance helped you on this journey?

I've met people in this community that have been wonderful, supportive companions on the solopreneur journey!

How you can hire her as your coach

Email her at [email protected] to say hi. You also connect with on her LinkedIn.

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