316: Coaching as Your Encore Career: Building a Practice Inside or Outside Your Company

There's a question a surprising number of senior women in tech carry quietly for years: could I actually be a coach? Sometimes it surfaces after the promotion that didn't feel like you thought it would. Sometimes it's the realization that the mentoring conversations are the part of the week you actually love. Sometimes it's simpler: twenty years of hard-won experience, and a growing desire for work that's more yours. In this episode of Leading Women in Tech, Toni Collis takes that question seriously. What a coaching second act really looks like, inside your company, alongside your career, or as the next chapter entirely, what it pays, what it demands, and how to know if it's for you.   What's covered: ➡️  The quiet question — why so many senior women in tech wonder about coaching, and why the instinct deserves more respect than "maybe someday" ➡️  The three shapes of a coaching practice — the internal coach-leader, the portfolio builder coaching alongside her career, and the full second act, and why you don't have to choose today ➡️  What you already have — why decades in tech are an asset most career coaches would kill for, and the credibility math nobody tells you about ➡️  What you don't have yet — the honest gap: mentoring instinct is not coaching skill, and why the leap from "good with people" to professional coaching needs structure, practice, and feedback ➡️  The "can I really do this?" objection — answered properly: no prior coaching experience needed, practice hours built in, mentoring from Master Coaches ➡️  The business reality — what building a paying practice actually involves, and the brand-new How to Build Your Coaching Business / Side-Hustle bonus announced today for the September Ignite Coach Academy cohort ➡️  The timeline — enrollment closes Friday 11 September, cohort starts Monday 14 September, certified and practicing by year end   If the question has been sitting quietly in the back of your mind, this is the episode that takes it out and looks at it properly.   Useful links Ignite Coach Academy — final enrollment for the September cohort closes Friday 11 September: tonicollis.com/ignite-coach-academy Book a complimentary chat with Toni about whether Ignite is right for you: tonicollis.com/lets-chat