Latest / The Comeback Career Podcast with Fexingo: Returning After a Gap, Stay-at-Home Re-Entry / How a Career Gap Helped One Parent Return as a Leadership Coach
Transcript
- Lucas: So let’s talk about a specific path that I think a lot of our listeners might not have considered: becoming a leadership coach after a career gap. I’m not talking about life coaching or general wellness — I mean professional coaching focused on helping people navigate their careers inside organizations. Luna: And you have a specific story in mind, I assume. Lucas: Yeah — a woman named Maya. She was a marketing director at a mid-sized consumer goods company, took six years off to raise her two kids, and then came back not as a marketing executive but as a leadership coach. She now has a practice that brings in around $120,000 a year, working with about eight clients at a time. Luna: That’s a pretty specific number. How did she get there? Lucas: She started during her gap. In year three of being home, she enrolled in a coaching certification program through the International Coach Federation — that’s the ICF. It’s about $3,000 to $6,000 for the program, plus 100 hours of practice coaching. She did it all over two years, while her kids were in preschool and nap schedules. Luna: So she was essentially building credentials while she was out of the paid workforce. That makes the gap feel less like a blank space and more like a deliberate investment. Lucas: Exactly. And that’s the angle I want to explore today — the idea that a career gap can be a period of intentional skill acquisition that directly feeds a new professional identity. Maya didn’t just wait to return; she used the time to pivot into a field where her life experience becomes an asset. Luna: So what was the specific moment when she decided on coaching? Lucas: She told me it was during a playdate. Another mom was venting about a toxic manager at her tech company, and Maya found herself asking questions that were essentially coaching questions — ‘what’s the outcome you want?’, ‘what have you already tried?’, ‘what’s the smallest next step?’ She realized she actually enjoyed that conversation more than any marketing meeting she’d ever been in. Luna: That’s such a relatable scene. And I imagine she tested the waters before she fully committed. Lucas: Oh, absolutely. She did pro bono coaching for about six months while finishing her ICF hours. She reached out to former colleagues and offered free sessions. That gave her a portfolio of case studies and testimonials. By the time she was ready to charge, she already had a track record. Luna: And what about the financial side? That’s often the biggest fear for parents returning — can you actually make money doing this? Lucas: She structured it smartly. She started with a part-time schedule, three clients a week, charging $150 per session. That’s about $1,800 a month. Her husband’s income covered the household basics, so she could reinvest everything into building her business — website, liability insurance, continued education. Within eighteen months she was up to eight clients and charging $300 per session. Luna: So about $9,600 a month at that point. That’s a real income. Lucas: Yeah, and she told me the key was niching down. She didn’t market herself as a general coach. She focused specifically on helping mid-career professionals get promoted internally — writing promotion packets, preparing for leadership interviews, navigating office politics. That niche came directly from her own experience as a marketing director. Luna: So she combined her pre-gap expertise with the coaching skills she gained during the gap. That’s a powerful mix. Lucas: Exactly. And she says the biggest advantage of having a career gap was that it removed her from the corporate ladder long enough to see the patterns she’d been blind to. She could now coach people through the very dynamics she used to be caught in. Luna: I think a lot of our listeners might be wondering — do you need a certification to do this? Or can you just start coaching? Lucas: You can start without a certification, but Maya’s advice is to get accredited if you want to charge premium rates. Corporate clients and HR departments often check for ICF credentials. Also, the training itself teaches you a framework — it’s not just asking good questions, it’s about structure, ethics, and boundaries. Luna: And the time commitment? She did it over two years while parenting. That’s not nothing. Lucas: She said it was about 5 to 8 hours a week — reading, recorded coaching sessions, peer feedback. She did most of it during naptime and after bedtime. And she joined a cohort program, so there was accountability. Luna: One thing I find interesting is that coaching is a field where life experience actually adds credibility, whereas in many corporate roles a gap is seen as a liability. So a career gap might be an asset if you pivot into coaching. Lucas: That’s the core insight. Maya says that when she tells clients she took six years off to be with her kids, they don’t see a gap — they see someone who has perspective, who’s not burned out, who made a deliberate choice. It makes her more trustworthy as a coach. Luna: I can see that. If you’re getting coached on a promotion, you want someone who’s actually navigated corporate life but also has some distance from it. Lucas: Right. And she also developed a skill during her gap that she says she could never have learned in an office: deep, patient listening. When you’re parenting young children, you learn to hear what’s not being said. That’s a core coaching competency. Luna: Speaking of learning, one thing we try to do on this show is share insights that actually help people make decisions. And we keep this podcast ad-free because we think that helps you focus on the content. If you’ve ever gotten value from an episode like this — maybe it helped you think about your own gap differently — and you want to support that choice, there’s a simple way. It’s at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, it’s a small gesture that keeps us independent and lets us keep the show exactly the way it is — no sponsors, no ads, just the conversation. We really appreciate anyone who chips in. Luna: Alright, back to Maya. She also told me about a specific client success story that really validated her path. Lucas: Oh yeah? Tell me. Luna: A woman in her late 30s, a senior manager at a bank, who had been passed over for promotion twice. She was frustrated and thinking of quitting. Maya worked with her for about four months on how to articulate her impact, build sponsorship, and prepare for the promotion panel. She got the promotion. Lucas: And that’s the kind of tangible outcome that builds a coaching reputation. Maya told me that after that, she had four referrals from that one client. Luna: So her client base grew organically. That’s the dream, right? Lucas: It is, but she also invested in a simple website and a LinkedIn presence. She posts twice a week — not self-promotional, but sharing frameworks about how to navigate internal politics. That’s how new clients find her. Luna: I want to ask about the emotional side. When you’re returning after a gap and starting your own practice, there’s no guaranteed salary. How did she handle the uncertainty? Lucas: She told me she set a six-month runway — saved up enough to cover her personal expenses for that period. And she set a minimum number of sessions she needed to book per week to break even. Once she hit that consistently, she felt she could breathe. Luna: So she treated it like a business from day one. That’s key for anyone thinking of this path. Lucas: Absolutely. And she also joined a coaching community — a peer group where coaches share referrals and best practices. That network was crucial in her first year. Luna: Is there a takeaway you want listeners to hold onto from Maya’s story? Lucas: I think it’s this: your career gap doesn’t have to be a detour — it can be a training ground for a whole new career that actually values the skills you built during that time. Parenting teaches patience, empathy, negotiation, prioritization. Those are leadership coaching skills. Luna: And the coaching field is growing. The ICF reports that the number of coach practitioners globally has increased significantly over the past decade. So the timing might be right. Lucas: Definitely. And if you’re listening and thinking about this, start small — take one course, coach one friend for free, see if you enjoy it. You don’t have to quit anything to start. Luna: I like that. No pressure, just a step. Lucas: Exactly. And Maya’s final piece of advice was this: don’t wait until you feel ready. She says she didn’t feel ready when she started charging. She felt ready about two years in. But she started anyway. Luna: That’s a good note to end on. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. That’s our show.