Ruchi Parekh is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) focusing on Life/Executive Coaching, Self/Professional Development and Career Coaching with Leadership Development.
Her main objective is to help clients move forward and find fulfillment and success in all the roles they play. Guiding individuals through a transition is part of this process, making them feel empowered and accomplished.
Her coaching style is result-oriented, ensuring clients experience a paradigm shift that allows them to do well in their professional and personal lives. She guides clients on a journey of self-discovery, focused action planning to leverage strengths and address developmental gaps.
She provides her clients the impetus and inspiration to take action. Ruchi uses powerful coaching tools and methods to create awareness and help clients deliver results more effectively taking them to the next level.
She is determined to help people live their lives courageously and passionately. It is this belief and commitment that keeps her motivated and was a big reason in her switching from being a Lawyer to a Life Coach. Her training as a lawyer and her years of practice in India and Hong Kong have helped her along this journey.
You can find more information on her website www.ruchiparekh.com.
What motivated and inspired you to start your own business?
I loved being a lawyer and enjoyed every minute of working in the various law firms across the cities. During this time, I was often the sounding board for both colleagues and friends for troubles in both their professional and personal lives (and I enjoyed being Agony Aunt too).
With my first child coming into our lives, it gave me the chance to re-think priorities. I wanted more flexibility over my time and wanted to do things that I would love to continue doing over the foreseeable future – I evaluated various alternatives over the next year and not surprisingly ‘Life Coaching’ appealed immediately and I found my calling, enabling me to make a positive impact to lives around me and this while being a mom-entrepreneur aka mompreneur.
Tell us about your business.
Life Coaching is a fairly new vocation and increasingly becoming prominent with both corporates and individuals. Clients seek Life Coaches as an external, dispassionate and objective sounding board helping them grapple with situations that are breaking new ground or too complex for them to deal with. Most Life Coaches go through a long training period where they become experts in the this process and have hours of live practice before they get accredited.
I like to call myself a ‘Change Facilitator’ and a ‘Growth Catalyst’ because my aim is help my clients grow and break through all their mental, self-imposed barriers!
Are you currently running any promos/contests/giveaways that you would like our readers to know about?
I am offering a FREE Session worth SGD125 to everyone who signs up for my newsletter here.
Send me an email on hello@ruchiparekh.com to confirm your free session.
List awards/certifications/accomplishments.
- I am also a Lawyer having practiced in India and HongKong.
- I am now an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) certified by the International Coach Federation.
- I was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the International Coach Federation for my work towards the coaching community in Singapore.
Where is your business based?
I am based in Singapore, but I have clients all over the globe thanks to various technologies making connections easier and simpler.
What were the first few steps you took to get your business up and running?
The first thing I did was to get myself out there was talking to people, networking and building contacts. Then I worked on my website, my social media presence and spent a long time reading, researching and connecting with other entrepreneurs to get more visibility. I also hired a business coach to help me streamline and set up my business.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness of your business and getting new customers?
Social media marketing has done wonders for me to create awareness about my business and get me new clients. However, the single most powerful marketing mode remains word-of-mouth. Happy clients become the ambassadors of your business.
What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Putting yourself out in the world and getting people to trust you and seek your expertise is tough work. As an individual, technology is the key enabler in this journey and technology has been my biggest challenge so far.
I used to call myself technologically challenged until I decided to break out of my comfort zone and set up an online business so that I could reach people all over the globe. To do that I had to do the very thing I hated and was afraid of! However, I like to practice what I preach and hence I decided that I had to overcome my fears and just jump in!
How did you overcome these challenges?
I first started learning on my own, spending time reading articles, blogs and talking to more experienced people to get a grip on things, but that could only take me to the basic level. I then hired professionals to teach me how to work with technology and use it to my advantage!
How do you keep motivated through difficult times?
I am a very motivated person but being human, I too have my low/dark days. On such days the one thing that always comes to my rescue is journaling. I am a firm believer of the fact that journaling is the most powerful tool we have at our disposal and I use it to motivate me amongst other things.
How do you distinguish yourself from your competitors?
I practice what I preach and I walk my talk! I put my heart and soul into my clients. Their victories are my victories and nothing else gives more joy and satisfaction than to see my clients succeed.
What is the best advice you have received recently?
Only you have the key to your joys and fears, its up to you, which door you choose to unlock.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Everyone was a beginner at some point.
What are your favorite business tools/resources and why?
What is a good article or book you have read recently?
“Becoming a Professional Life Coach” by Williams Menendez is a treasure trove of learning and inspiration.
What are you currently learning about for your business or looking for help with?
I am currently working on scaling up my business to the next level as well as creating online courses for my clients that can help them with the added luxury of accessing them as and when they please.
What are your goals for the next few months and how are you striving to achieve them?
While I continue to build my client base for individuals, my goal for the next quarter is to get more traction with corporate clients. Given the challenges with scaling up a business centred on an individual, my aim is to increase automation to allow me to focus on the key aspects of growing my practice.
Am also working on creating online courses for clients that cannot access the one-on-one sessions.
What social media outlets do you use? List them below.
Facebook www.facebook.com/ruchparekh/
Instagram @coach.ruch
LinkedIn: Ruchi Parekh
Website www.ruchiparekh.com
Email hello@ruchiparekh.com