Susan Hum is a thought leader in the space of conscious leadership and a successful entrepreneur, with more than 25 years of international business experience in a variety of industries including health, fitness, and financial markets in North America, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
In 2003, at the age of 34, she made the scary decision to walk away from a thriving career in Singapore to return to Canada for the potential of love. She returned home with no job, went back to school, took some time off, and recreated herself from scratch.
In 2016, after 10 successful years as a business development professional in one of Canada’s top bank brokerage firms, she retired from the corporate world to pursue her passion for helping people transform and breakthrough self-limiting beliefs. Her acute ability to be attuned to her clients’ unique strengths and core truths has been the major contributor to her success in taking people through shifts and massive transformations very quickly.
In 2020, she was called to pursue her mission on a mass level, to contribute towards positive change in the world by creating the Steel Rose movement, a conscious leadership platform for all women who are inspired to create the life of their dreams and collectively elevate each other to become better versions of self.
She has repeatedly made the impossible possible in her own life, and she has the simple formula to guide people to do the same!
Susan lives in Montreal with her husband and stepson.
What is Steel Rose all about?
My core business is my coaching practice. I help successful people achieve their goals in life. The foundation of the work aims to help you come out with your full truth. It’s all about self-mastery, being able to see all aspects of yourself without judgment. If there are parts of you, you are rejecting, a big chunk of your self-love is not there. Come out of the cave and into the light. You need somebody who can see in the dark, and I will be your night vision goggles. A Steel Rose woman is in the light because dignity is a space of light.
Tell us a little bit about your personal background – how you ended up in this career?
When I was 29, I had to move from Hong Kong to Singapore, to take on a big position. I was way over my head, managing a team of 17 or 18 sales and marketing people. I was the youngest, and I had to figure out a way to succeed in the three years of my contract. I had to impact the sales team, and the only way I could do it was to help them achieve something in their life that they couldn’t, instead of training them on how to sell, because they knew how to do that way better than I did.
I could see what was stopping them (usually it was their life). So I life-coached them so they could get out of their own way, to bring results. I was able to influence and impact them to achieve higher levels in their job, without teaching them how to do their job.
I realized then my ability to impact people’s lives. I kept doing that and I became known as the go-to person for anything and everything. That experience made me realize how important it was for people to simply hear themselves and how quickly they came to the simplicity of everything, and how they could uncomplicate every situation by speaking and hearing themselves.
What was the biggest problem you encountered starting up and how did you overcome it?
I only started my coaching practice proper in 2016, but by then I’d been coaching people in one form or another for about twenty years. I just didn’t charge.
My biggest struggle was to start charging people for my worth. I was already making a lot of money in my corporate career so I wouldn’t settle for the fee that most coaches start with. Monetizing my purpose was my biggest struggle because I don’t like putting a dollar sign on the help that I can provide. But I also knew that I was worth more than most coaches who are just starting out. This is how I was able to make a lot more money in my first year than most coaches do when they first start. But I had to convince others that I was worth that kind of money. I always had people come to me, and I already had a reputation. But I had to work through a lot of guilt, asking myself: Am I really worth this much?
What are some of the Dos and Don’ts of being a business/success Coach?
DON’T be an imposter. Don’t tell a client something you don’t believe in yourself. They’re going to see right through it, and you’ll lose all credibility.
DO the work. Whatever you tell others to do, make sure you’re doing it yourself at the same time, because we’re never perfect, and we’re never beyond doing that work ourselves.
DON’T fall into ego. It’s easy to think you’re better than your clients. But it’s hard to do your own work. Doing it, however, translates into quality. We can’t see in others what we can’t see in ourselves.
DO trust yourself. Imposter syndrome is one of the hardest things to get over for coaches. But you can’t be an imposter if you come out, and lay it all on the table: it is what it is, I am who I am. When you come out with your empowered vulnerability, the fear of being judged quickly diminishes.
Do you have any other projects or businesses you are working on?
I run several businesses but my biggest project is Steel Rose because it is helping the world come out, be heard, and be seen. If you stay in the dark, you’re all alone.
Steel Rose is my passion project. My goal with it is not to make a living but to give back. It’s the last project I will bring to success until the day I die. Through Steel Rose, I will help push back the mental health issues that are insidiously killing humanity. People need to know that it’s okay to be themselves, whoever they are, that’s okay!
If you come out into the light, you just come out, and we’re just gonna have to deal with you as a whole person. That’s how I raised my stepson, and, that is how I teach people to raise their kids.
You can’t lead if you’re merely following what everyone else is saying. Not seeing kids for who they are is just repeating old destructive patterns for humanity. That’s why, with Steel Rose, I want to publish more books in which people come out with their whole truth and their whole self.
How do you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business?
I am fortunate to have been conscious enough to choose the right life partner because without the right partner, there’s only so much you can do alone. So I chose the right person to spend my life with.
I make the right decisions on who I surround myself with, like-hearted people, all in the same mission. That’s how I get my motivation.
Coming from sales, staying motivated to keep on target is second nature to me, but I also know how to receive support, from my partner and others. I was fortunate to understand that from a young age. And I want to help people in their twenties see that making the right decisions right now will tremendously help their chances of creating a good life they are proud of when they reach their fifties. You can change trajectory, but it’ll be easier to be on the right course if you make that change early in life.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your career as a coach?
I wish I had known there are people like me out there, who are able to give me what I’m giving the world, and give me enough trust to guide me. But I had no one. I never had anyone to guide me in major decisions.
I never felt heard or seen enough to be given good advice. So when you give advice, make sure it’s right for the person you’re talking to. And on the receiving end of that, don’t jump on someone’s advice if it doesn’t feel right. So I wish I had known more about tapping into help.
I was never good at receiving help, and I learned that through my marriage. I chose my husband because I knew I needed that. I had to find somebody I could trust.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to gain new clients?
Go out there and be with people. Enjoy people. Be curious, be interested. And do not sell before you’re actually interested in somebody. Provide your value without mentioning your product, and then let them come to you. My greatest marketing strategy is to impact you with what I do before you even ask me what I do. Show, don’t tell.
If you enjoy speaking, make sure what you speak about is you. Nobody wants to hear an audiobook. People can do that anytime they want, and it only costs them twenty dollars. You better believe it costs a hell of a lot more to hear me speak!
Another part of this strategy is to show who you are on all levels, not just the good sides. But you don’t wanna be the tsunami of truth either. There’s a strategy to it. Find what truth will resonate with their heart. Don’t reveal everything that’s true. That doesn’t work. Find out about the person you’re talking to, what makes them tick, then find that truth within yourself, which will attract them to you.
When is the ideal time for a new entrepreneur to hire a business coach?
When you realize you have hit the limits of your skills and your ability to be resourceful, don’t wait. Then you need to think about which business coach to hire.
Make a list of criteria. Everybody says they’re good, but there are ways for you as the buyer to detect whether they are right for you. Most people are sold by what looks good, but it also has to sound good.
It’s about whether or not that person sees you more than you see yourself. Because salespeople always tell you what you can be, but you still need to remain true to yourself. You can be the next Warren Buffett! But do you actually want to? Don’t get sold into a dream that’s not yours.
What are some of the reasons you would refuse or stop working with a client?
If that person insists on living in their lie. If they are fighting their own truth, battling me, and constantly challenging me on how I work. Then, I would refer them to somebody else.
I share my business a lot with other coaches. The key is: Know your ideal client very well. You’ll have different styles of clients. Whatever doesn’t feel right, make a note of it, and compile a list of what you do not want. You won’t be willing to do some type of work, and that’s okay!
What is your definition of success?
Success is when you are thriving, and no longer merely surviving. It’s being able to have it all. But it’s about quality, not quantity.
In my life, success isn’t a success unless love is part of the deal. I could be a billionaire if I just focused on that, but I’m perfectly happy with the million I have because I have a love for it.
I want great relationships, career, life, I don’t want drama (unless it’s in a soap opera). What else do you need? So success is about getting yourself to a point where you don’t need anything anymore, and you’re ready to create. I’d love more money, but I don’t need it.
What are three things most clients have in common?
One, they don’t know what they don’t know. They all have something to learn and they are ready to see what they don’t see. They beg me to slap them in the face with some truth. They’ve been on an insanity loop for way too long, and they can’t help repeating the same cycles. Getting slapped with the truth is way less painful than continuing to live in darkness.
Two, they all have problems with vulnerability. Every single one. They don’t realize that everybody has a vulnerable side to them, and that it’s only when you own that vulnerability that you can take the power away from those who would use that vulnerability against you.
Three, they all want more love in their life. Even if they’re married, they want more connection with their spouse. But a lot of them are not strong enough to admit it. They’d rather pretend everything is okay.
What’s your best piece of advice for people who are just starting their coaching business?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: do your own work. It starts with taking stock of your entire life and asking yourself what led you to this point, both the ugly and the gifts. Have a tea party with the ugliness, because people are paying you to understand how you got out of the darkness. They are paying you for the how, not the what. You have to understand exactly how you did it yourself.
Stay in learning, all the time, for yourself. Do ego checks – every day. I am not better than anybody else. I just got a headstart in the race, and it’s my responsibility to stop in that race and wait for you to get to me.
Accept exactly who you are, and stay in that “me” space without letting everybody’s stories suck you in. One of the worst traps a coach can get into is getting trapped into somebody’s story. You’re not here to save them, you’re here to lead them out.
What is your favorite quote?
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
– Albert Einstein
How can readers get in touch with you?
You can reach out to me through my website and on my LinkedIn.
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