Today we’d like to introduce you to Marisa Cotton.
Hi Marisa, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
When I started my HR career in 2003, I had a goal to become a Director or VP of HR by the age of 35. I accomplished that goal by the age of 30. The higher I got in my career, I found myself caught as the middle man in employee relations matters where oftentimes the employee felt that they had no voice vs us the employer/ management.
I found undesirable management practices that I had to swallow as it was unfair to the employee. While I understood who my employer was, I also understood that I was a child of God and that God doesn’t like bullies.
In counseling employees in performance and personal & professional development, I found that I was coaching them towards better. Whether it was in their job/skill or in something that wished to do outside of work. This developed into me becoming a life & business coach.
Paired with my dual experience in HR and Finance, I started building my business by helping entrepreneurs to start, build, and scale their businesses, while also helping them to map out their 9 to 5 exit strategy from their corporate job.
I am now a 100% self-employed business owner and the President of Your Star Power Solutions, an operational management firm that offers business start-up and growth solutions, professional development, financial strategy, and strategic consulting to entrepreneurs and small businesses.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When my father passed away in 2016, I found that my drive for anything works slowly started to dip. He was my Superman and my biggest supporter.
I found completing school harder. Dealing with difficult people and situations is harder. But, my husband helped me to quickly shape up and get myself together and continued to push and build up as I know that’s what my father would have wanted me to do. By the way, I’m a daddy’s girl if you can’t tell.
The decision to go full-time in my business came after the birth of my second daughter one month before COVID hit. COVID coming and shutting down the world provided me the opportunity to really test drive the theory of me going full time in my business and really deciding if it’s what I really wanted to do.
I was already perfecting the framework to do so by helping others, so I used the same framework for myself. And being the mother of a toddler and newborn definitely made it no easier for me. But I have awesome support that helps to make things easier and more manageable for me.
My Mother and God Mother have been instrumental in helping me to navigate this new world. I would be totally lost without them.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Your Star Power Solutions?
Your Star Power Solutions is a Strategy and Operational firm that offers business start-up support and professional development, strategic consulting, coaching programs, tax preparation & bookkeeping to entrepreneurs.
We specialize in putting Entrepreneurs in a position to exit their 9 to 5 for their business full time while providing strategic operational and financial solutions to corporate businesses and entrepreneurs.
With my 2 signature programs for entrepreneurs, I teach you how to properly set up a successful and credible business, and then I teach you my formula to successfully leave your 9 to 5 for your business and be able to sustain your living.
In our digital library, Everything Business Academy, we offer several digital products for the newbie entrepreneurs to the advanced entrepreneur. We cover areas dealing with Everything Business 101 to Everything Business 501. Our toolkit series offers direct support and knowledge in specified areas of business including Entrepreneurship, Bookkeeping, Business Plans, Taxes, Nonprofits, and more.
Our 9 to 5 Exit Strategy Workshop is a client favorite, as it walks you through a proven framework that assists you in creating your 9 to 5 exit strategy. In this workshop, we take 6 weeks to build your 9 to 5 exit strategy that is perfect for you and your situation.
There is no one size fits all solution when leaving your 9 to 5 for your business, so let’s create a solution that fits your situation, goals, and desired goals. Our 9 to 5 Exit Strategy Workshop helps you to discover the alternative to failing after quitting your job with no real plan.
What sets me apart from others is that no one is teaching this 9 to 5 exit strategy framework. Other coaches are teaching you how to brand yourself, how to market yourself, and how to build “6 figure brands and businesses”, but no one is giving you the keys you need to properly exit your 9 to 5 for your business.
I mean sure, you can wait until you have a certain bank account number and just up and quit, but what kind of sustainable strategy is that? You risk failure at its finest, and not because you’re not good at your business, but because you didn’t properly plan.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Advice to anyone looking for a mentor or coach, find someone who coaches in the area that you are currently in your business. If you are a beginning entrepreneur, you don’t need a coach teaching you how to build a 6 figure empire or how to sell out a webinar.
You need a coach teaching your business basics so that when you are ready to scale your business, you have a solid and credible business to build upon. If you are horrible at marketing and have no audience, you need a marketing and branding coach. Not all coaches are one size fits all in your business, so move accordingly.
Think smarter, not harder. In addition, you don’t need 2 marketing coaches. Get a good one and follow their method. If you are mixing marketing coaches’ methods, you will soon find yourself confused and all over the place. And be sure to build a strategy.
Stop waking up and throwing stuff out there all willie nillie. Focus and build a strategy, and then execute the strategy.
Pricing:
- Everything Business Academy – Digital products ranging from $27 to $297
- Corporate / 9 to 5 Exit Strategy Workshop – $925 and $2497
- The Entrepreneur Toolkit – $67
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yourstarpowersolutions.com
- Instagram: Www.Instagram.com/YourStarPowerSolutions
- Facebook: Www.Facebook.com/YourStarPowerSolutions
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/9to5ExitSlayer
Image Credits
Marisa Cotton, AEH Web Design, Media Grease, Jasmine Madison, and Sahara Of The Lyons Den
