As the founder of Andrea Martin Consulting, Andrea has extensive experience navigating the corporate world before venturing out into entrepreneurship. As an immigrant, a mother of two, wife, people leader, and coach, she understands the dynamic of what it takes to wear many hats while still moving towards your goals.
Andrea holds a Bachelor Degree in Chemical Engineering, Masters in Business. Andrea is a Certified John Maxwell Leadership Coach, JMT DISC Behavioral Analysis Trainer, with training at the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching.
She combines her experience leading multi-billion dollar projects, large organizations and delivers a straightforward coaching perspective for her clients. As a coach, Andrea understands that it is not always easy juggling the list of daily responsibilities effectively. This is why you must have a structured and practical plan in place to avoid becoming overwhelmed and over-stressed. She has coached 100+ women on enhancing productivity, career development, and decision-making skills to create a more balanced lifestyle.
For more details, visit their website here.
Here we sit down with Andrea, to know a bit more about her journey as an executive coach.
Q. What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
Andrea: I notice how ambitious hard-working women do not have the support needed to identify gaps in their plan and adjust quickly. They are finding themselves sacrificing their values because they do not see another option.
After navigating working in male-dominated fields, finding my boundaries, my voice, and positioning myself as a confident, purposeful leader, I knew that my journey was not complete simply with my career. I become an Executive Coach to help ambitious professionals successfully navigate conflict at work, strive to find balance and stand up for their worth.
Q. How did you get started?
Andrea: I started by helping one or two women online, I slowly realized social media was a great way to support a bigger audience. It started with posting advice on Instagram and now I have a consulting firm that supports over 30+ executives per month
Q. What was your biggest startup challenge? What steps did you take to overcome it? What did you learn?
Andrea: There is a key difference between being a leader in the corporate world and being the leader/visionary of your own company.
It was important to trust my gut and know that leaning into failure would be the way to success. One of the biggest challenges was understanding what I should or should not do, learning to outsource appropriately, and hiring the right team by my side.
Q. What is the Most Memorable Thing You’ve Done Since you Started your Business?
Andrea: Last July, I fully transitioned into entrepreneurship and I am now building a second business in my portfolio. This allowed me to move closer to my family and my goals have only gotten bigger.
Q. What is one book you recommend, and why?
Andrea: I highly recommend the book Crucial Conversations. I read this every year and it’s one of those books that helps you show up better, raise awareness of critical topics with those around you and help create a safe place for conflict resolution.
Q. In terms of legacy, what is the mark you’d like to leave on the world?
Andrea: I want to know that my businesses are vehicles to help people reach their goals faster, increase their generational wealth, and know that they can truly do anything they want. My kids see this mission and I’m hopeful they notice that their mom is a go-getter and does not shy away from being outside her comfort zone
Q. In one sentence, what’s the best advice you’d give to someone just starting out on their entrepreneurial journey?
Andrea: Define what is failure early on and create a definition that will carry you to success not push you out of it.
To keep up to date with Andrea and her journey, connect with her on Instagram.