Meet Nancy Bleeke Noël | Sales growth consultant, coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nancy Bleeke Noël and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nancy, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Work life balance. It seems to be what everyone thinks should be a goal. But there’s something I learned from 26 years of being a business owner…you can never have this balance if you don’t define what it is!

As you can imagine, in 26 years I have been through several cycles of “life” – I started my business when my youngest was 2 years old!

I eventually became a stressed out mom of 3, and a challenging business consultant at times because I never “felt” balanced.

That changed when a mentor of mine said, “What does balance look like for you? Write down specifically what has to be happening at home and at work for you to be balanced.”

Game changer! I defined specifics that I could evaluate each week and have some evidence of balance. Home: Home made meals and dinner with the entire family 3 workdays a week. Being the “room parent” for at least one child every school year. Etc.

I flexed this throughout the years to put the emphasis on what was most important. The year I wrote my first book, I changed a lot of my “metrics” about balance.

Now that I am a single empty nester, I found myself getting too far work focused and not enough “life” focus. Recently I realized that I had not defined what this stage of work life balance should be. I’m working on that now and trying out some options for it.

One thing I did was to get an office outside of my home for the first time in 26 years! After just 6 weeks I can already tell I have more separation of work and home. I am loving it! Though I am nearly finished with my second book, Conversations That Sell for Financial Advisors, I’ve kept some good boundaries. And know that the next few weeks I will have to put more emphasis on work, but that it will be temporary.

To sum it up, work life balance means having clear descriptors for each of those areas, having ways to measure/evaluate each week, and flexing it to match changing priorities!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I founded Sales Pro Insider to serve businesses in the “people” part of their business. Over the years I’ve focused specifically in financial services.

Starting a consulting practice focused in financial services in the late 90s as a young woman was not easy. As an example, for my first large opportunity, I was told I needed to bring in an older, gray or balding man, who preferably had a military background.

I worked within these “norms” for a few years and then decided to be ME! That’s why all my training courses are branded with “Genuine” at the front. Each of us needs to be our genuine self, adopt best practices, and then make them our own!

Then 18 years into business, with the help of a business coach, I made the tough decision to downsize my business! That meant moving away from the large financials, reducing my team, and focusing on the “small firms and businesses” that I could personally serve.

While revenue is down with this change, my life is UP! I love what I do every day. I am often asked what I will do to scale and I politely say that isn’t my goal!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Art district Gramps for burgers and the BEST smoked drinks!
And then I head north to my backyard – Boca Raton!
Luff’s Fish House – Pit Bull and Zac Efron both visit it when in south Florida – it is that good!
Biergarten for fun and music
Uncle Mike’s – always great bands and a fantastic old fashioned!
Lots of beach time
Kayaking, paddleboarding anywhere on the Intracoastal from the south to the north.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to my mentor and colleague, Alice Kemper who showed me the way in business!

Website: www.salesproinsider.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancybleeke/

Twitter: @salesproinsider

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salesproinsider

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SalesProInsider