Living a life in service to others has always been a part of life for Coach Annie Nogg Jason. “It was just a part of my upbringing,” she said. “The ‘healing world’ was a part of my family and my culture.”  Choosing to spend more than 10 years in Workforce Development and Nonprofit positions was simply a natural extension of the values of her childhood.

In her work with nonprofits over the years, Annie found that moving up in the business was taking her further and further away from the clients.   As a growth-oriented person, she struggled with the feeling that she had “reached a wall”.  A friend had recently been to a workshop where a Coach was a presenter and had noticed that Annie was struggling with some concerns.  She encouraged Annie to go see the Coach.  A few years later, Annie took that advice.

“After just a few sessions, I understood where I wanted to be,” Anne explained; and several years later, when her first daughter was born, Annie began her classes toward becoming a coach.  She transitioned to a coaching career in 2016 and now works a 3 day a week schedule.

Working as a coach has led Annie to a different outlook on work.  In the nonprofit world, often the services provided were funded through grants or other revenue sources.  “But now I’ve had to get over not charging people for things,” she explains.  “I see coaching as a service.  I am helping people to get where they want to be. Business comes second.”  Recently, Annie learned of the various committees of ICF, and absolutely lit up when she learned of the ICF Foundation and their work in societal impact through coaching, mostly because of the potential ripple effect of positive change.

According to Annie, there are similarities between nonprofit work and coaching work.  Both provide services to clients and both create that ripple effect which ultimately strengthens the client and society.  “However, Nonprofit work is sometimes really emotional work and the workers can experience fatigue,” Annie notes. “They need to be able to fill up their own cups from time to time.”

Annie believes that in any high-stakes services the workers need to be in a “good head space” and can benefit from using coaches.  She suggests that Coaching can lead the nonprofit to be even more effective with the services they provide.  “I believe that Coaching can help build leadership capacity, provide a more expansive frame of mind, and lead to more innovation, more dreaming.  People, who are up to their ears in stress, don’t have the space to do things like that.”

Now that Annie is a parent of a second daughter and working as a Coach, she states that things have shifted for her.  “Being a Coach has put me in charge of my own destiny.  And I want moms to know that you can have it all and do the work you love.”

© by Molly Kate Photography 2017

Annie Nogg– the owner of Annie Nogg Coaching- is a Career & Life Coach and group facilitator.  She supports curious, high achieving adults in further aligning their work and lives outside of work with what is most important to them.  Annie coaches individuals and leads retreats.  With outside-the-box tools and her encouraging yet challenging style, she helps clients build lives that make them proud.