Ramona Cazan is a highly motivated, ambitious and enthusiastic entrepreneur woman graduated with Honours in Communications, Culture and Media from the London University of Coventry, a Certified Confidence and Mindset Coach for career women and an Accredited Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner and Reiki Practitioner who took the challenge of building her own coaching business with a deep success.
From an early age, she knew that she wanted to make a difference and was aware of the power that encouragement and confidence have in achieving results. Her path to success, however, was not easy. During her three years of university, she worked almost 12 hours a day, studied during the night and tried to have a balanced life while continuing to gather efforts to increase her knowledge by reading hundreds of books and writing tons of articles. In 2012, she discovered her interest and passion for personal development and self-discovery, opening her life to a new way that would determine her professional future even without her knowing it.
After finishing her academics, Ramona fully entered into the corporate world. As a young ambitious career woman, she was determined to succeed and she kept her going with the appreciation from her managers but she realized that she was climbing up the wrong ladder. On a hectic day in the office, between lots of phone calls, an inbox exploding with emails and a general tense work environment, she realized how unhappy she felt and saw clearly the fine line between success and burnout. But, was that what success meant?
A year later, she said goodbye to her successful corporate career and her fancy titled job for her goals and ambitions and to invest in her personal and professional development to become an excellent coach and being able to help women like her to overcome the conventional fears and find their maximum potential.
Now it has been seven years since Ramona Cazan started and despite the sacrifices she had to make in order to start this amazing and challenging journey -such as facing the opinion of her loved ones, contradicting the wishes of her relatives, her free time, her stability and comfort or leading a ‘normal’ life- there’s an important thing that she has not sacrificed: her-self.
Ms. Cazan feels very closely the challenges and painful feelings that many career women have to face. Stress, self-demand, lack of confidence, feeling overwhelmed, exhaustion, entrenched negative thoughts, self-doubt, fear, critics from others…are some of the challenges that every enterprising woman can have and it is needed to have the weapons and abilities to control and redirect them.
Ramona knows how to make you achieve your goals with great precision and care through a hard work of confidence building, helping you to invest in yourself, with physical and mental health habits, setting limits, relearning you to listen to yourself and keeping you close to your inner child. A necessary career change can be translated into a big jump to success with the right guidance. But let Ramona be the one who enlightens us about it.
Are you making sacrifices being an entrepreneur?
Well…If you are not willing to sacrifice your comfort, your security, your wealth, etc because you’re too comfortable then you should never complain about how unhappy you are.
There’s a say which I love: “If you want to live an exceptional and extraordinary life, you have to give up many of the things that are part of a normal one.” -Srinivas Rao
Yes, I make lots of sacrifices! But I’d say I had made way more sacrifices in my corporate job than I do now.
Being an entrepreneur does not necessarily mean you have the best lifestyle in the world at all times. People often like to dream about how much you get when you open your own business but they never think about how much you have to give up when you leave the corporate world behind and decide to become an entrepreneur.
I sacrificed my ‘normal’ life, my free time and my stability. I sacrificed the successful corporate career that my parents were very happy about for my goals and ambitions.
But, there’s one aspect which I wasn’t willing to sacrifice and this is the reason why I decided to be an entrepreneur: I didn’t sacrifice myself for a corporate career that didn’t make me happy!
Where can women find you as a coach?
I can be found here: www.ramonacazan.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ramona_cazan_coaching/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ramonacazancoaching/
What was it like starting single-handed, how did you start?
Starting single handed is less painful and far easier than convincing my family that I’m going to be my own boss, but we will talk about that another time ☺
It all started seven years ago, in 2012, when I was a Communication and Media student at Coventry University. I was searching for answers in life and that lead me to personal development, self-discovery and coaching. I read tones of books, I invested a lot of time and money in all sorts of therapies and coaching sessions, I attended workshops, courses and I started practicing mindfulness.
What an amazing journey I was about to go down. At that time I had no idea how fortunate I was to be able to view things from a different perspective.
A few years ago I got certified as a Reiki Practitioner and after a while I decided to enroll into a coaching academy training in order to become an accredited coach. The coaching training was the best investment I have made in the recent years and brought me to where I am today.
I enjoy helping others and it fills a need in me. It’s crucial to me that my work is both enjoyable and rewarding. I became a coach to help other women like me. And instead, coaching has helped me in so many ways! I now live a happy, balanced and successful life that I love and I owe it all to this career.
Building a coaching business is no easy job, there’s a huge responsibility I take on my shoulders because I want to make sure that all of my clients achieve their goals while working with me. I’m a perfectionist…therefore the services I offer to my clients MUST be spot on.
From a business perspective, standing out in this crowded industry is challenging but I believe in quality over quantity.
Top 3-5 tips for happiness and financial freedom?
- Believe in yourself! I wish someone told me this when I was a teenager.
- Invest in your personal and professional development.
- Don’t be afraid of failure. It’s the best learning technique.
- Stop seeking approval from others, you are good enough!
- Work hard, do things with excellence! Money is a reward for your passion and dedication.
Top 3-5 tips for healthy & happy work-balance life?
- “Mens sana in corpore sano” – A healthy mind in a healthy body – Eat well, sleep well, exercise regularly and mediate at least 3 times a week.
- Confidently say ‘No’ to taking on more work when you are too busy in order to avoid burn out.
- Your boss is not God! He’s just a boss. For your mental health, don’t take him seriously all the time.
- Make sure you have set work hours and stick to them. You don’t owe anything to your employer.
- Hire a coach. He/she will help you get rid of limiting beliefs, wrong habits and will offer you alternative options.
When and how did you know the corporate life wasn’t for you and how can other women become aware of this same situation too?
Two years ago…it was a hectic day in the office. I had a few meetings back to back, lots of phone calls and my inbox was exploding with emails. I took a deep breath and looked around me…I could see the frustration on my colleagues’ faces. Everyone seemed to be so tired and fed up.
I was climbing up the wrong ladder…
I have never felt as unhappy as I was in that moment. I felt trapped in a career that fed my hungry ego but never fulfilled my soul. I realized I was climbing up the wrong ladder.
The mirage of success is so tempting that we often forget about our private lives and our souls. There is a very fine line between success and burnout and many successful women end up feeling overwhelmed, stressed and incapable of achieving work-life balance.
I looked back at the child who wanted to make an impact in the world, I looked back at the teenage girl who had that burning desire to succeed without knowing what success means…and finally I looked at me – the adult unhappy woman. Then and there I promised myself that in a few months time, my life will be different. And different it was…
Something changed inside of me in that very moment. Somehow I knew I was meant for a different path.
A year later, I said goodbye to my fancy titled job, leaving the corporate career behind and I decided to branch out on my own despite all the negative feedback and comments from my family and friends.
How can other women become aware of this same situation too?
I think many career women will resonate with my story. Below is a list of major pain points that can help them assess their current situation.
- Feeling overwhelmed and burned out
- Feeling that they are climbing up the wrong ladder
- Feeling unfulfilled & stuck in their career
- Working overtime and feeling overloaded with responsibilities but are afraid to push back and say, “No, I can’t take on more.”
- Feeling unappreciated and resentful
- They are full of negative limiting beliefs that force them to live below your their potential
- Living for the weekends and hating Mondays
- Dealing with self-doubt and lack of confidence in their abilities to make a change
- Feeling paralyzed by fear of making ‘wrong’ decisions
- Feeling scared of being criticized or judged by family and friends for their actions
- Struggling to achieve work-life balance
- Waking up when it’s still dark out and craving freedom and flexibility to create the lifestyle they desire