Creating success with purpose: Women entrepreneur stories

Entrepreneur stories, episode 3 : Monia Pyraki, Swiss based life & business coach

In this episode I have the honour of talking to another Swiss based fellow coach about creating success with purpose. Her name is Monia Pyraki, she is a mum of two,originally from Greece and based in Zürich.

The topics we talked about in this talk are all very close to my heart.I love how Monia is helping her clients not only with her coaching, but also with her creativity and positive energy. 

She has also created a very interesting product inspired by her coaching. The story behind the creation of her product is so cool. I invite you to read or watch our talk to learn more about it.

You can watch the interview here or read the blog;

About Monia : From corporate employee to self-employment

Thank you for having me, I really enjoy your work and connecting with you.I’m originally from Greece. And I have a background in event management. 

But also, I’ve worked in retail because my family owns a business in Greece, where I come from. 

I have worked around the world for big sporting events, including the Olympic Games. 

My last job was in Qatar in Doha, a place which is close to my heart.I always say it’s my second home. 

And while I was there, I also started to be a life coach with the ICF. 

I always had this love and passion for helping and supporting people. And that’s what I was actually doing in the sport events apart from the event planning part. 

I was organising training programmes, volunteer programmes, anything that would support teams to perform better. So then we moved with my husband and twin boys to Switzerland.I’m also a mom of twin boys that are almost four years old, that keeps me very busy!

That was almost three and a half years ago. And when I moved here, everything was quite difficult for me. 

Creating success as an expat woman in Switzerland

I didn’t know anyone, we moved to Zurich, specifically, I decided not to go back to corporate because I also wanted to spend time with my kids. And then I started building up my coaching business. 

My coaching business has a lot of influence around goal-setting,planning and supporting women to connect with what actually brings them joy, and gives them space to also do other things. 

That’s what I was missing in my life to actually find the balance between my family and having a business and feeling that I can make an impact. And it was a challenging journey because I realised that I was missing community. 

Creating a support network

So I started working a lot on building community, meeting people, connecting with people and one of the people I first met here in Zurich was Julie from our happy place. 

If you don’t already know her, follow her, please do!

She has created an amazing community and membership and through her and that place,I started connecting with other women and like minded people. 

Slowly, I am in the place to say that I feel very grateful for this community, for the people here in Zurich, and for my business as a coach.

What is the biggest challenge for your clients?

One problem is lack of time. 

Another could be motivation.

Another could be money, because a lot of times we want to do things but some of the clients are moms that are not working and they don’t want to or maybe they’re not sure if they would like to invest in their growth.

Because coaching and working with coaches is all about personal development and growth is like really connecting with yourself and looking inside of you to move forward.

So that are some of the things that people feel stuck with in order to achieve their goals.

About creating priorities

When I work with people to set goals,when we actually work on getting clarity on what goals they want to achieve, I always say that you need to choose one or two goals for the next 90 days. 

And why is that ?

Because we want many things as human beings, and we want to achieve everything. 

But one thing I’ve learned in order to be able to make things happen is to prioritise. 

So see based on what you want from your personal life, and from your work or business life, at this moment, be honest with yourself. 

Know your WHY

And I always ask my clients and even my friends, to sit down and write, why do they want this goal? That’s very important, because that will keep them through challenging times.That will make them go back to why they want that. 

So it’s easy to say I want to run a marathon. But if you’re not a runner, you need to start from somewhere. 

Why do you want to run a marathon? 

You want to feel accomplished? 

Healthy? 

Do you know your “why”?

What makes you do this?

We start with the end goal, but then we always work on small steps that will take you there. If you have never run, you might as well want to start researching fitness shoes or running shoes, because your normal shoes might not support you. 

Then maybe you want to check an app that is called “from the couch to 5k” , I say this because that’s one of my own goals for the next 90 days!

It’s all about starting slowly.That’s all!

It’s all about taking these small steps. 

And then you know, it’s the same with losing kilos,it’s the same with wanting to make money. 

And it’s also about working with SMART goals. A lot of us have heard this term :making goals Specific, making goals Measurable. So being able to connect your goals with something that actually makes sense. And that has an end date, Achievable, like something that you think you can achieve. 

Why we need SMART Goals to create success with purpose?

Because if you want to lose 10 kilos in one month, that’s not achievable. 

And then Relevant. So is it relevant to your “why”.

Is it connected with what matters to you most?

And the last one is Time-bound when you have this date to have the end date. 

And there’s another thing, the end date needs to be scheduled!

If you have a planner, a life planner or diary, write it down time, give yourself time, like when do you want to achieve this goal?

It’s so important and so powerful to be able to schedule these goals. 

And then after you’ve done that, you have to see what motivates you. 

Is it really something that you want to achieve as a goal? 

Or does your family want you to do that? 

Or does society want it for you? 

You know, a lot of these are some of the things we sometimes don’t take the time to think or reflect upon. 

Honestly, I’ve realised in the past few years that if I don’t set a goal that brings me joy,I will not achieve it!

How does the 90-day plan help you create success with purpose

I always work with quarterly goals because they’re less overwhelming. If you see that in these 90 days, something is not working for you, you can always change it. Then you can work on focusing on these two things that you want to achieve.

I’ll take either two or four goals in work life and do the same in personal life including health and everything else. 

I always include the personal and health in my coaching.In my philosophy around life I think one supports the other. 

Certainly being healthy supports you to be productive.

Meditating for five minutes a day supports you to create more focus.

And then you know, working on habits, small little habits behind the goals that will actually support you to reach that goal. 

So imagine you want to wake up and meditate, and you’re complaining you don’t have time. 

But then if you sleep at 12 o’clock at night or one o’clock, how can you wake up at like 6.30 am? Or 7am? 

Of course, other things are happening after you have kids, or even if you don’t have kids, if you’re busy.

What routine are you incorporating? 

What routine are you willing to create to be able to make these positive habits? 

Again you need to know “your why”. Yeah. 

Why do you want this? 

Who will you be as a person?

The coach you can carry with you!

Last year, I was working with a few clients. And I always created worksheets for my clients or templates.

That way they could fill in their goals and actions to take. It included things like priority or to do list, wish list, dream big list, vision, all of these things. 

One day, a client of mine said: Monia, I love your work so much,but I have papers everywhere.

Wouldn’t it be so nice if all this was in one document?

I said, Wow, this is a great idea. 

I’m a big stationery lover. I love planning and I love writing and journaling.It has kept me on track. 

This is how I can actually achieve so much while being a mom and being new here(in Switzerland): 

I am often very clear on what I want. 

Of course plans can change!

And one thing COVID taught us is that, of course we need to be flexible.But it’s always good to have a plan. 

So after that point( my client’s request) I started thinking:Oh, it would be so great to create my own planner, which would include goal setting and all the things I like to do and help my clients with. 

But then I was procrastinating!I was saying :but who would buy my planner?

I’ve never done this before. There was fear of failure. 

That is something else that stops a lot of people from taking actions towards their dreams and goals. 

Something inside of me was saying no, try it out!

You have to do it. It’s something you really want.

So it happened towards the mid-year last year.

I had the idea from the beginning of the year. I had it written but I was doing nothing about it because of procrastination.I was feeling that it would not work.

But then something happened!

Success with purpose: A product born on vacation  

We went for a holiday in Greece. And then in Greece, everything is so much easier because my kids were with their grandma .So I had a lot of time to sit down and write and put things together. 

I was taking my laptop to the beach, having my favourite hot or cold coffee we’re having in Greece and spending one hour or maybe two hours maximum per day, writing down the things that I wanted my planner to include. 

And then I created this planner !

I worked with a lady who is a designer. I had the full idea but I couldn’t do it all.

That’s another thing!

Sometimes you just need to find an expert in a different field. Like I needed a designer to support me to create the planner in a way that looks nice. 

So my Life Planner started coming into life. It was making me feel so excited. 

I became who I wanted to be

I was becoming a person that would like to help others through a tool.

But I was feeling inspired,excited and creative.

Creativity is one of the values I have, I want to be creative and feel creative. 

Once it was almost finalised, I went through a lot of ups and downs, a lot of crying!

Asking myself Is it something I would sell or I would lose so much money? 

And then you know, I decided to just print it out,create a list and share it with the people that are on my list.

I started selling my planner and it got sold out. 

And after you know it got sold out so many people were asking me about copies.

So I had to reprint and then unfortunately for now, I don’t have any more planners. 

But I am grateful that it went so well.

I love products!

And I know that you also support people with launching products.That’s how we actually met having this discussion about your experience about this type of products,and how to use e-commerce and all the things you are very knowledgeable with. 

What’s inside the life planner?

So My planner came to life and it’s a life planner and a diary. 

It has a lot of content around setting vision, quarterly goals, and weekly priorities, weekly tasks, gratitude, habits, or well being.

It has a lot inside! 

And it’s made in a way that will not overwhelm people,that you could plan your tasks in a way that is simple and joyful. 

And I have also included an end of month reflection because I always believe in reflecting on what went well.We tend to forget this!

 Is it a small or a big achievement we forget to celebrate. 

So the planner helps to get clear on your wins. 

Don’t only plan! keep track of wins

Maybe also your challenges, so you can see what you could change next month.

It seems all good ideas come to us when we are not in the office!

Now that the printed planner ( the physical version) is out of stock and many have asked for it I have it now on my website on a PDF document.

So people can buy it from there, and they can print it for themselves. 

In 2023. I’m going to start working on it in the second quarter,meaning from April.

I have now learned my lessons!

Last year was the first time, so I didn’t know how we could go about this.I might start some activities earlier. 

So if you haven’t seen it this is how the planner looks! 

I have been writing inside it myself, It has a lot of space for reflections for writing. And if someone wants it, please go to my website. And you can get a PDF. That’s the only thing I could offer right now. 

But there will be another one in 2023!

The life planner is like your mini life coach

The planner is like a mini coach. It’s like having these tools that support you. 

And the main intention behind creating it was to reduce overwhelm, to support people to plan,prioritise and get clear.

Success with purpose:Creating a minimum viable product and testing it

This is what I did very organically! I had read a lot about launching and I followed, a launch that was soft worked around my schedule. 

It was a product that was related to who I am. And I had worked a lot the year before on creating this community on sharing my message and what I do. 

When people actually came to buy this product online, they trusted me and bought it without even having the opportunity to see it in a shop.

I feel very thankful and grateful for that. 

I always say that success, or something that works out doesn’t happen overnight. And a lot of times, people compare themselves with others. 

So if I would compare myself with someone who creates and sells 1000-2000 stationary products,I would be overwhelmed. 

So I worked for my own success.I never knew it would be so successful. 

But I worked around what would work for me with my schedule.

Once you create a product, then it doesn’t stop there: 

How I could actually sell and promote this product? 

You also have to think about deliveries, pickups, and other extra costs like packaging.

So I didn’t know all these things, I can say that now I feel more confident around all of these. 

Success happens step by step.

What does success mean to you? A question to ask yourself

It’s important to define what success means to you. It is different for everyone. 

Like for someone it might be to earn 10k CHF per month so that they can consider themselves successful. 

For someone else it might be creating freedom and quality life together with running a successful product or service business.

Resilience: What keeps you going

I have been through many difficult times. And one of the things that keeps me going is my “why”. It’s why I do what I do. 

It’s my family,important people and friends in life I can talk to and trust.

And knowing that if you don’t manage to do it all or if you’re going through a challenging time, it’s okay. 

You can always pick yourself up. 

And you know, start again. You can always start again.

How is it like to run a business while being a mum of young twins?

I have twin boys. It’s challenging, but also fun!

One thing I’ve learned throughout this past year is that I involve them in many things. 

So when the Life Planner came into life(and it was a physical product) ,when I had the samples to choose paper, I gave them one sample planner each

(because the other pieces were very valuable!) 

They were proud to say this is my life planner!

I’ve also learned to separate work from my days with them. So when I’m with them I have to be present. 

They go three times a week to Kita (Kindergarten). So these three days, I’m focused on what I need to do. 

And then the days that I’m with them,I am just with them.

Involving them, talking about everything to them, and also accepting that they are part of who I am as a person. 

And as a coach, they’re teaching me a lot!

How can we find you online?

You can find me on Instagram. My account is @monia_pyraki as my name . 

And there, they will find all the details for my website.

If you go through my link in bio on Instagram,they can get a free copy of my weekly planner. That’s one piece of paper. And it’s like, how to plan a week, what to prioritise, and a few other things so they can get that for free.

Monia’s website: https://monia-pyraki.com

Monia on Instagram :@monia_pyraki

Did you like this article? Are you inspired by Monia’s story and want to start a business in Switzerland? then make sure you check this blog posts:

Sidepreneurship: The new way to start a business without quitting your job

10 lessons I learned after 4 years of self-employment in Switzerland

How To Become Self-employed In Switzerland : Business Resources For Women Entrepreneurs

Goal setting: How to set goals that cultivate your entrepreneurial spirit