Bedford, MA- Don Vinh tried the do-it-yourself approach to finding a fulfilling career but kept coming up short changed. After working with VIP Coaching, no amount of money could really value how happy and satisfied he is working in a job he loves. Don believes if you can put a dollar amount on that, it’s really a huge amount of money.

Below is an interview conducted by VIP's administrative partner, Angee Robertson, with Don, who realized having it all doesn't mean you have to sacrifice for one path.

Listen to the RealAudio version of Don's interview, click here. (NOTE: In order to listen to the recordings, you will need Real Player installed on your computer. To download a free version of Real Player, click here)

A: Can you tell me how you found VIP Coaching?

D: I wanted to really take a hard look at my career and where I would be going. The way I found VIP Coaching was through a professional career coach. She knew a career coach and highly recommended her.

A: How did you make the decision to work with VIP Coaching?

D: I choose to work with VIP Coaching for a few reasons. I am in a mid-career transition, so that’s what I wanted to focus on, and I wanted to find a career coach who specializes in the mid-career transition. After reviewing VIP Coaching’s Web site and looking at the types of testimonials and the different services she offers, she’s was the ideal person.

I’m was also looking for someone who is very responsive in terms of my needs, somebody who would be able to get back to me and who is just very much on my team, working with me.

A: What type of career did you have before you started working with VIP Coaching?

D: I was working as a product marketing manager for a software company. And while in that position, I realized there are certain things I really enjoy doing and certain things that I don’t enjoy doing as much, and frankly I’m not good at. And therefore, I wanted to focus on the things that I really enjoy doing, the things that I am, by nature, good at. I wanted to work with someone and actually identify what my natural abilities were and what my possibilities were as far as a career path.

A: How long would you say was the time between this realization of your need to find a new career path to search for a career coach?

D: It was kind of a long process, actually. It was probably like five months. And the reason why it was long was because I was trying to do it on my own. I’d taken a lot of tests before, like the Myers-Briggs and other types of tests, and I thought, I could work it on my own and figure out what’s the right path for me. Then I realized that I was spinning my wheels, and that’s when I decided to find a coach.

A: What has been the greatest benefit to working with a coach versus trying to do it alone?

D: I think there are three. The first one is focus. You are focusing on the path. What coaching helped me do is to get there a lot faster. She knew exactly what needed to be done so that was the most helpful thing, is to have somebody who could help you really focus and get to where you need to go in the shortest period of time.

The second thing is to have somebody who is really holding you accountable. This is not easy work, especially if you are working full-time. Having somebody who will hold you accountable for doing the work you need to do to invest in your career is something that VIP Coaching does very well, and it really helped me make a lot of good progress.

And the third thing is the cheerleader, somebody who can really believe in you, cheer you on and who can help give you the self-confidence to really make a career change, because career change is really a difficult thing.

A: What part of the program that you’ve been doing with VIP Coaching has been the most successful for you?

D: I would characterize the whole program. But if I had to pick the one thing was most helpful, it would have been taking the Highlands test as well as doing the Life Experience Inventory. So I think both of those things together helped give me a very clear idea of the career path that I would like to follow.

A: Now, you’ve done similar tests in the past, such as the Myers-Briggs. What do you feel the difference was between that and the Highlands?

D: Well, the first thing is the rigor of doing that. The test was very thorough in terms of testing. The second thing is that it’s a test that you cannot cheat on. Because you can take a Myers-Briggs test, you can take a career test, and a lot of it is really asking what type of things you would like to do. And you kind of read into the questions and answer the question the way that you would like to answer it versus the true way you should answer it. For the Highlands test, you can’t cheat. You take the test, it’s either you have it or you don’t. And so I think it gives a very accurate view of your natural abilities.

The proof in the pudding was that when I completed the test and the evaluation came back, I thought the evaluation was very accurate. There were things in there that I knew that these are my strengths and these are my weaknesses, and other things that I really didn’t know, wasn’t fully aware. And once I thought about those things, it became very clear.

A: Was coaching worth the investment of your time and your money?

D: It is worth the investment, because if you think about not just the amount of money you make, but really how happy and satisfied you are working in your job, and you try to put a dollar amount on that, it’s really a huge amount of money. I think in terms of getting you there it's really worth the investment.

A: What are you doing now for a career?

D: With the insights that I got, I’ve shifted my career from being a product marketing manager to a financial analyst. I didn’t change companies, but yet the function and the working environment that I’m in right now are a much better fit for me than my previous position. You don’t necessarily have to make huge career changes in changing your career path. You can make an incremental career change that would be a much better fit with you than what you had before.

It’s very tempting to make an incremental change, to say, well, I’d really like to stay with the company, maybe I just switch boss or maybe I will just switch a job. But that’s not where you start. Where you start is at the ideal job. What is your ideal job for you? Staying with the same company, working a different function was not the first option. The first option was something that was very different and would involve a drastic change. And really exploring those opportunities, but yet an opportunity come along that was a good fit, and it also provided me a foundation for me to move my career to other positions later. The most important thing is to really have an ultimate career path in mind. Getting to that ideal career may be a journey, and you may take a first step toward that journey by making incrementally small steps.

A: What do your friends and family think of the changes that you’ve made? Have they seen any significant changes in you?

D: Well, I can tell you that my wife feels that there has been a big change in my life. I used to come home very stressed with work, and that would kind of manifest itself in my relationship with my family. With this new position, my wife has seen a real big change in me. I come home not as stressed. I've actually felt rewarded in terms of the day so it’s really improved my relationship with my family.

A: What are your goals for the next five years?

D: I think that’s always a good question in terms of what’s next. And I had some thoughts in terms of where I’d like to go next with the skills that I have. I would say that it’s not so much of knowing what are you going to do next. It’s more important to know what you want to do eventually. Because once you have the end of the journey, then opportunities that would come up next, you will look at it and say, "is this an incremental path for me to get to where I want to be?" And if it is, then great, take that. And if it’s something that is not, then don’t take it.

A: Is there anything else that you would like to add that maybe could help someone that’s in the same place that you are or is maybe thinking about working with a career coach?

D: I would say that looking for a new career path is a serious investment in time. You have to be committed to it, because it will require a lot of energy from you, as well as it can be emotionally draining. But the reward of knowing exactly what you’re made to do, who you are, what are the things that you feel are rewarding, is valuable knowledge. And to start out with a career coach, you really need to be in a frame of mind that this is something you take seriously.

VIP Coaching does a wonderful job in terms of helping, coaching, guiding and holding you accountable. She will also give you some tremendous insights in terms of who you are and what you’re looking for. One of the things I really like about her is that I can sit here and I can spend half an hour just telling her everything about me, and then she will be able to take all this information on pages of notes and summarize very succinctly who you are, what you’re looking for, what are the things that you like to do and the things that you do not like to do. I think she is naturally gifted with the ability of being able to put focus on something that is unfocused. With a career coach, you can really get there a lot quicker than you would have gotten there by yourself.

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To contact Don Vinh or for more information on Don's career coach, VIP Coaching, send an e-mail to info@vip-coaching.com or call 207-439-4280.