If not now, then when?

Tineke Tammes is an an ICF credentialed career change coach (ACC). After a 25 year career in corporate she transitioned four years ago to running her own career (change) coaching business. She now supports experienced professional women in creating careers with freedom, flexibility and fulfilment. Tineke has been recognized as one of the Top Career Coaches by Coach Foundation .

Tineke was originally working as a Business Change Manager. She had been doing that for a long time. From the outside it was a GREAT job: good money, lots of variety, engaging with people from the C-suite to people on the shop floor. It was also the 9 to 5, or – more precisely – the 6. 30 am to 7 pm, door to door. Leaving not a lot of time for anything else. And there were a LOT of other things she wanted todo. Reading. Writing. Getting involved in women’s equality and feminism. Drawing and painting (portraits, mainly). None of which involved a long commute. Or being tucked away in an anonymous office block on a soulless industrial estate.

The Transition from 9 to 5

Her transition took a LONG time. Almost 4 years in fact. From recognizing that her unhappiness wasn’t going to go away. That changing jobs, or industries was not going to do the trick. That she was responsible for her own happiness and the negative emotions that she was spreading around her workplace and at home. “I made a decision. To be happier and do more things that I loved (even if I had to cram that into the weekend and the odd 20 minutes here and there).To find out who I was and what I WANTED. To change my career.”

She spent quite a bit of time reading all the self-help books (you can find all the book reviews on her website). Doing all the exercises. Talking to people. Experimenting. And finally taking steps towards – first – an interim job, retraining as a coach and finally setting up and moving into her own coaching business. “I am now working as a Career Coach for professional women, helping them to make career transitions into careers with Freedom, Flexibility and Fulfilment with my CareerFreedom coaching programme. AND I run my own community Pick ‘n Mix – for creative, multi-passionatewomen. And LOVE it! No commute. No alarm clock at ridiculous o’clock. Just working with professional women who want to do what I did: transform their lives, do work they ENJOY and be HAPPY. (Oh, and I incorporate my drawing in my work too, with my own Visual Coaching sessions)”

A Rough Start

Tineke started her business literally 6 weeks before lockdown. She had to go back to a J.O.B for a while to make ends meet, but
has been fulltime in her coaching business since August 2021. “I like the fact that I don’t have to set an alarm clock. I don’t miss the 6.30 am train to London, nor the overcrowded journey back. But most of all I value being able to take a Escaping the 9 to 5 day off when I want, being able to see my family when I want to and generally get to know my neighbors (even though I’ve lived here for 10 years) and see friends.”

Marketing continues to be a challenge. She’s learned a lot since she started and she is continuing to learn. She is taking a “wait-and-see” approach when it comes to AI, but otherwise she tries to keep up with most trends. The market is always changing so she tries to adapt with her marketing approach. “I’ve also learned a LOT about myself these last few years. Me as a business owner (I’m shaking my head when I type this. Me as a business owner, who knew!). Me as a coach. Me as someone who has to decide on – well – EVERYTHING. Me as the director, strategist, coach, chief marketing, bookkeeper, general dogs body. But also me as the person who KNOWS what Career Freedom can feel like, and helps clients – professional women stuck in corporate – feel that too!”

Three Lessons

There have been three GREAT BIG lessons for Tineke in her career change:

Happiness is a CHOICE

Tineke was miserable and grumpy. Frustrated and restless. “I did what I always do: read. Which is when I came across this book ‘Happiness is a choice’. It changed my outlook on life. Because it talked about how you could –
well – CHOOSE happiness. That your general level of happiness can be higher if you choose it to be. I learned LOTS about happiness, about practicing more positive emotions, about being able to manage my emotions. I won’t say I became
happier overnight, but it was an eye opener and a lesson I apply every day.”

You don’t HAVE to choose

People at her work were amazed to hear about ALL the things she did. Whereas Tineke was surprised. She didn’t think she did ENOUGH! “I resented the 9 to 5. The fact that I couldn’t do painting and drawing and reading and writing.
That I couldn’t attend to the 23 projects in my house. That I never got to see my family. I never knew there was a word for what I was feeling. Until I saw a TED talk (during my commute) and realized I was a ‘multi-passionate’ and didn’t
HAVE to choose. The relief was ENORMOUS! I am – yes – now working as a Career Change Coach for professional women, but I also (takes deep breath) run a community for creative, multi-passionate women (called Pick ‘n Mix), read 3 books at any one time, do graphic facilitation on request, paint portraits for fun, write blogs, posts and am starting to write a book (I know!), make sketch notes about books I read. I think that’s it.”

Change happens by taking ACTION

She was always action-orientated. But now she sees clients hiding. “Scrolling job descriptions. Reading career change stories (I see you). Dreaming about ‘living your best life’ in a hammock in Bali (even if you
don’t even like hammocks). Hiding. All of it. Even sending off your resume or CV randomly is hiding. Because nothing will change. Change requires you to take ACTION.”

What’s Next?

The next big thing for Tineke will be to bring her coaching programme Career Freedom to a wider audience. She is building an online course and a group programme. All of this is taking place in her community Pick ‘n Mix – for creative, multi-passionate women.


Primary URL: www.tineketammescoaching.com