Your Career 2.0 Launchpad Episode 106 with Brian McNamara and Sophia Gibbs

In this episode, Sophia Gibbs describes how she shifted her career focus to involve her family while outlining the process with career coach Brian McNamara.

From the article https://entrepreneurssource.com/blog/... on The Entrepreneur's Source Blog https://entrepreneurssource.com/podca...

Mother-Daughter Dynamic Duo

Happy Mother’s Day! In honor of all of the invaluable women who provide nurturing, guidance, and love, The Entrepreneur’s Source® is highlighting a mother-daughter team who are following a new path and pursuing business ownership together.

After spending more than 15 years working in healthcare, Sophia Gibbs was ready for a change. As associate director of clinical operations at Weill Cornell Medicine, Gibbs garnered a wealth of management experience, including recruitment, finance operations, and communications. Despite achieving a successful career in Manhattan, Gibbs had a desire to get back to the basics of customer service.

“I enjoy my job, but it does not focus on day-to-day care. It’s more administrative. I wanted to make a positive impact on people’s lives,” Gibbs said.

With three children beginning to enter the workforce, Gibbs’ primary focus was on helping them achieve a successful future. She had her sights set on business ownership to provide a legacy for her children. “I wanted to have a business I could pass down to my kids,” she added. “Business ownership is the best thing I can give them. It serves as a trust fund for down the road.”

Gibbs worked with Brian McNamara, a Career Ownership Coach™ for TES, to help achieve her entrepreneurial goals. TES coaches use education-based tools to help people set goals and explore possibilities at no cost. Coaches focus on helping people determine their Income, Lifestyle, Wealth, and Equity™ goals to chart a new course. TES coaches hold people accountable to their dreams and help them attain financial freedom.

“Brian gets to know you as a whole person. He is very available and very resourceful. He made us feel as if we had a partner during this journey,” Gibbs added.

Career coaching helped Gibbs decide that business ownership through franchising offered a low-risk, high-reward path to achieve success for her family. Franchising allowed them to operate a proven brand with the training and support needed to succeed.

“Sophia is extremely kind, caring, calm, cool, and collected. Through that, she’s achieved great success in life,” McNamara said. “We started working together last September, and by the end of the year, she’d decided on not one but two businesses.”

Having an aging parent exposed Gibbs to the gaps in the home healthcare system. Confident a better alternative existed, Gibbs signed a franchise deal to open a ComForCare location in nearby Jersey City, New Jersey, and immediately gave the leadership reins to her 26-year-old daughter, Sierra Graham. ComForCare offers an in-home care solution for the elderly.

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Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:03):
Welcome to your career 2.0 Launchpad hosted by the
entrepreneur source. My name isMike toper. I've got two
fantastic guests joining metoday Sophia Gibbs and Brian
McNamara. And first, we're gonnastart with Sophia just one wants
you to give a brief introductionabout yourself, your role, and
maybe one interesting fact.
Hello, everyone. My name isSophia Gibbs. I was born in the

(00:25):
West Indies, immigrated to theUS when I was four, raised in
Brooklyn, New York. At an earlyage, I was drawn to the medical
and science field and have hadthe good fortune to be able to
work in that field for my entireadult career. I am an avid
animal enthusiast, and I lovereading and learning new things,

(00:46):
especially differentfoods. Alright, and Brian R. T.
Yes,coach. Brian McNamara. I've been
with TS now just under twoyears, Cornell alumni, which
Sophie and I have in common, andmy passion has traveled. So I've
been to 35 countries and thatdoes not mean in the airport and
out of the airport. That meansexploring. So discovering new

(01:06):
food, new places, and kind ofgetting off the the over trodden
tourist route. So that is thatis my passion. And that's part
of what brought me to this isthe flexibility of lifestyle
that I have, as a career coachallows me to take on more travel
adventures that I've had with atraditional 40 hour week job.

(01:27):
That's excellent. All right,well, let's get right into the
nitty gritty. Sophie, I want tostart with you. Can you tell us
a little bit about your careerlife before you got into contact
with T? Yes,I've always been in the
healthcare realm, either on theresearch side or wetlab, or
administration. Currently, Iwork focusing on the ambulatory
clinical operations at WeillCornell. And I spent most of my

(01:49):
time working on differentinitiatives, onboarding new
doctors, working with patientsand helping them solve issues
that have been plaguing thehealthcare realm for a long
time.
And I believe it's been, I'vebeen there for over around 15

(02:11):
years, correct. Mycareer has been 15 years been at
Weill Cornell now about sevenyears in different occupations a
way different hats. I startedout as a clinical manager when
there was a merger with anotherlocation. And since then, have
been a divisional administrator.
And now I'm a social director ofcollaboration for the Department
of Medicine. Soyou're a mover and shaker. So at

(02:31):
which point did you decide andwhat inspired you to kind of go
searching for something now.
So even before COVID, I startedrealizing that I was not really
engaged in what I was doing. Iwas just doing everything pretty
robotically. I knew what I wasgoing to do at least, I had an

(02:52):
idea of what's going to dotoday, but next week, and it
just got to be kind ofmonotonous. And then I also
realized that I like to travel.
And then when COVID hit, it kindof dawned on me that I was only
traveling where I needed to forwork, I would take the family
with me, they would have a greattime visiting museums, amusement
parks, pools, and then werejoined the end of the day, and

(03:16):
I had nothing to contribute. Butoh yeah, the lecture was great.
Or I learned about a new way toimprove revenue cycle or HR
management, I really wasn'tengaged in my family or my own
life, especially when COVID hit.
So there's got to be somethingelse out there a different way
to have an impact. But the sametime we captured from time to

(03:39):
time for myself, I needed moreflexibility. And then I happened
upon Mr. McNamara. And sincethen he showed me a way that I
can actually have all the thingsI want and a life for my family
for myself career, but stillhave time for myself where I can
actually travel and enjoy thetravel.
And obviously, he's a man whoenjoys some traveling itself, as
he told us So Brian, how did youmeet Sophia? And what was your

(04:02):
impression of her initially whenwhen you guys got in contact?
So Sophie and I met through aLinkedIn connection. And my
first impression that initialcolleague recall, I was quite
honestly blown away by herpositivity towards the world
around her during a time thatwas very difficult for all. So
during COVID, you know,everybody had similar stresses,

(04:24):
regardless of where they live,but living in the greater New
York area and working Manhattancertainly post its own unique
set of challenges. But again,very level headed and put on a
very positive attitude, despiteso dealing with, you know, a
late surge didn't seem to fazeher from my perspective, that in
her commitment to businessownership, it was September, she

(04:45):
said, I've made up my mind, Iwould like to be in business or
own a business by the end of theyear. I said, Whoa, the audits
kind of that's kind of fast.
Let's talk about but the waythat she engaged, you know, her
commitment to the process ofdiscovery looking at new
opportunities for decisiveness?
Yes, I like, let's move on orNo, I don't allow her to

(05:06):
actually achieve that goal. Soby December she was she was on
with a couple of businesses thatshe decided to move forward
with. And certainly there wasmore to come after that. But she
stayed true to her. Hercommitment commitment of
December, I am now convincedthat this is the right
opportunity for me, let's go.
And she did this. In a matter ofweeks when we first met, it was

(05:27):
it was pain, Sophia. So what didyou you know, what were you
looking for? What did you sharewith Brian, you know, say, Hey,
this is where I want to put myfocus. This is this is where I'm
leaning. I mean, you must havehad a couple of areas are
already kind of help unpeel thatfor you a little bit.
I would definitely say he helpedme focus. I have three major
passions, health care, shelter,education, and also animals. So

(05:52):
he said, Okay, how about wenarrow it down, because that
seems to be too broad of fieldsfor you to try to jump into
immediately. We had severalconversations. And so when he
presented a few health carecompanies for me in different
realms, and I said, Okay,Comfort Care speaks to me,
especially now that I'm tryingto go through the same kind of
pain points that others aregoing through taking care of

(06:14):
their aging parents. So that wasputting in that note, and they
do go above and beyond doing alot more planning a lot more
services than the typical homehealth care company does. And
just to show that he presented acompany that I kind of fell in
love it because they marriedjamboree with a steam program.
And I said, You know what, Ilove the concept. And he said,

(06:36):
great, so how about you get onthe phone with these people,
talk to them and see if it'sreally a good fit. And luckily
for me, it wasYeah, and that's tumbles and
great family connection here.
Your daughter will be workingwith you are working for comfort
care in your plans to have yourson working at least part time
for tumble. So you mentionedmore family. Well, that's
getting them involved. AndBrian, in in listening to what

(06:59):
she was looking for in herpassion. How are those two
comfort? Karen tumbles? How'dyou land on those? Or was it
just kind of presenting someoptions?
I think Sophia was right. And interms of it was it was
listening, having theconversations around what she
was passionate. And as it turnsout, she had a personal
connection to both which Ididn't know. But through life
experiences, she had aconnection to or in a greater

(07:21):
understanding of what it takesto care for an elderly parent or
loved one. And then her son alsoattended steam learning, which I
was not aware of. So it justhappened to be by coincidence
that she knew a lot more thanthe average person would know
about those two industries.
And Brian, what was it likementoring Sophia and kind of
going along this processtogether?

(07:41):
Just a pleasure. Every day. Infact, we still touch base and
pretty much on a weekly basis,absolute pleasure. And just I
haven't had a client likeSophia, quite honestly, and all
aspects of positive aspects. SoI've had clients, I would say
that about different people indifferent fashion, but just
again, engaging a veryprofessional. Again,

(08:03):
professional means both in thethought process to doing the
homework, doing the research,but also just showing up and
being engaged despite the factwhat's happening in the hallway
just down from where she'ssitting. Now, all the craziness
that she's surrounded, she wasfocused on the entire
experience.
And that's, that's awesome. Andobviously you had that built in,
you know, a little bit low upfor travel. And you know, having

(08:25):
gone to Cornell together, youguys kind of have a little bit
of that connection. I mean, didthat play a role Sophia in you?
Or was that just kind of like anextra Hey, a little familiarity
here.
I think it helps me connect withBrian. As far as mindset, he
understands, like, I have workedwith a few other Cornell alums
here, we all have the same sortof mindset, we set goals, we

(08:49):
stick to it, we try to keep eachother accountable, which is what
I really appreciate with Brian.
And you know, he kept me ontrack, and focus most
of all, excellent. And so foryou, Sophia, can you tell us?
What is the process been like?
And how has your life been? Asyou start getting both of these
ventures going here?

(09:10):
It's been absolutely. For me,fantastic. I like to be busy, I
like to be engaged. I've beenmore exploring of New Jersey
than I've ever thought I wouldfind in different places,
looking at how it's changed andappreciating all the different
changes and nuances. I've metsome really fabulous people and

(09:32):
I'm working with I've beensharing this with my children
and they're actually gettingmore excited. They're looking
forward to not even just workingwith these two companies, but
maybe one day getting their owncompanies they realized that
life isn't about just getting upand doing a nine to five you can
have much more than that youcan. The whole American dream

(09:53):
could have it all. You know,work play success, and they
understand that you're onlygoing to Add as much as you put
into it. So I think right now,like early days are
understanding the drivedetermination that it takes. The
beauty of this is I can alwayseither sell the businesses later
on or pass it down to them. So Ithink quite another
understanding what it takes tomanage things, grow things, and

(10:16):
to be completely invested insomething that you have a lot of
skin.
Yeah, that's so fantastic. Andjust one last question for Brian
here. Can you tell us what kindof satisfaction you get? And I
see the energy coming out whenyou talk about this, but what
kind of energy or satisfactionyou get from from being able to
help Sophia, and you heard, youmet her back in September, and

(10:38):
now you're seeing this roadprogress? I mean, what's that
like for you to know that you'replaying a huge role in this?
So I get satisfaction out of myclient satisfaction. And in this
case, I'll give you a greatexample. She mentioned she loves
to stay busy and does not liketo be bored. And she went in and
she said, Oh, I was even aftersettling on one. She said, kind
of subsequent call, you knowwhat I was thinking about? I

(11:00):
think I'll even do a secondbusiness. And that's what will
tap the brakes, right? Tap thebrakes on this. Are you sure
what's happening around you?
I'll just happen in your life.
Are you sure she's Oh, yeah, I'mfine. I'm fine. But I was
actually going the opposite way.
Like, perhaps we start one. Butthen later down the road, you
can do another. And sure enough,she did too. But you know, I was

(11:20):
trying to make it. So that wasin her best interest. Knowing
that starting one is not easy,by itself. A second is even more
complex, right? You're dealingwith different industries and
different locations and allthat. But with the help of her
family, I think it's become ateam effort. And you know, she
has troops that have assembledaround here that can that can
help get this done. And, youknow, I couldn't be happier with

(11:43):
the decisions that she's made.
And I'm looking forward to goingout to Jersey City at some point
and visiting in person as thesebusinesses actually have the
ribbon cutting here.
Yeah. All right. Well, I mean,you know, go team Big Red. I
want to thank you guys forjoining us here by McNamara.
Sophia Gibbs, thank you so muchfor your time. And thank you for
sharing that story. That's asreally incredible. And hopefully

(12:05):
get some inspiration those whowatch that again, my name is
Mike Soper, and thank you forwatching your career 2.0
Launchpad