Janet Sanders went to law school because she wanted to exercise her philanthropic muscles. After reading an article in Time magazine about a parent/child support center, she aspired to open a similar facility in her native Philadelphia. By pursuing a law degree, Janet thought she would gain the skill set and professional competencies necessary to realize her dream. She did in fact hone these transferable skills, but her career went in a different direction than she had planned.

It’s Not Worth Losing Body Parts!

Law school is tough enough but Janet earned her JD while raising her two small children, who were 1 and 4 years of age during her first year of the program. A mother and top student, she succeeded at litigation and won several trial competitions and the esteemed American College of Trial Lawyers Medal, which led to a competitive summer job in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Post graduation, Janet was recruited to work at a prestigious Philly law firm where she discovered her knack for computers and was put in charge of automating a very high profile case.

While Janet was earning accolades at the firm she was also starting to get physical ailments that were taking a toll, not to mention trying to raise her kids with the stresses of a billable hour legal career. She developed pancreatitis and asked the senior partner at the firm if she could work part-time to take care of herself. The response was not favorable after it was put to a firm-wide partner vote and one of the partners remarked, “You can expect to lose a few body parts working in this profession!”

That was a deal breaker and Janet began working with a career coach, Doug Richardson to make a transition in a new career direction.

Just Because You are Good at it Doesn’t Mean You Like Doing It

Janet’s work with her career coach began with self assessment and a full scale reflection about what she valued in her life and career. Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and other assessment tools, Doug asked Janet to think back to her childhood and reflect on what she liked to do as a young girl. This strategy helped Janet come to terms with the fact that she did not like conflict, a conundrum for a litigator, and helped her realize that just because you are good at something doesn’t mean that you necessarily like doing it. Janet gave herself permission to let go of the parts of her work world that did not align with her values and move towards new positions that fed her passions.

She pursued several jobs playing to her strengths as a consultant, project manager and litigation support specialist. But these new positions required travel and were high stress, which caused Janet to lapse into an unhealthy lifestyle. Not having the time to prioritize her health, she was back where she started from by not valuing work/life balance and wholesome eating habits at work. In 2001, she was diagnosed with adult onset Type 2 diabetes. This was not a complete surprise as her brother was also diagnosed as an adult so the family history was clear.

First, Take Care of Yourself

Janet did not take her diabetes diagnosis lightly. She went to an Integrative Health doctor to turn her entire life around quickly. From her brother, she knew the frustrations many people have with controlling their blood sugar, planning for meals, and how difficult it can be to establish healthy eating habits. So, Janet was determined to succeed as her own change agent and begin a new and healthy life that she was in control of.

If you visit Janet’s home you will see 100’s of cookbooks adorning her shelves. She has always loved to cook and became a certified macrobiotic chef. Janet turned this passion for food into a plan for handling her diabetes. She developed a system of action steps to control emotional eating, utilize the power of whole foods, stock her pantry with healthy choices and develop strategies to handle the special event occasions when she was not at home.

Her doctor was so impressed with the speedy turn around and diabetes reversal that she started referring patients to Janet so she could share her healthy strategies and put them on a similar road to recovery. Janet quickly became known as a Change Management Coach.

A Door Closes and a Window Opens

This unexpected career opportunity turned into a part-time venture that Janet pursued on the weekends. She considered becoming a Registered Dietician to further credential herself in this new area but instead found The Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York and became a Certified Health Coach. This school was the perfect combination of teaching, counseling, and business building that Janet needed to launch her new entrepreneurial venture. Guest lecturers included leading health care and mind/body/spirit experts like Andrew Weil, MD and Deepak Chopra.

Janet has since become an ambassador for the school and in this role spreads the word about the program while sharing her personal and professional journey to good health. While Janet was able to reinvent her health and well being, her day job took an unexpected turn and she was laid off from her firm over a year ago due to cut backs in the economy.

As the saying goes, a door closes and a window opens and this serendipitous opportunity gave Janet the freedom to pursue her passion full-time. Now known as The Diabetes Coach, Janet has built a business to provide hope and resources for those who struggle with this Type 2 diabetes.

It is projected that without a change in current obesity rates, 0ne in three children born after the year 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes at some point in their life, and Janet is on a mission to give a human face to this disease and empower her clients to live fuller lives. She is tapping into her former life as an attorney to write a novel called “Diabetes on Trial” to give a voice to those who live with this disease.

The Mission of a Great Life

Janet’s current book “The Diabetes Coach Approach” is an easy to follow, self-paced program that shows her clients how to unleash the power of whole foods to control blood sugars, how to manage weight without dieting, and how to make healthy lifestyle changes. Her eight steps to change management, empowers those with Type 2 diabetes to live fuller, healthier lives.

But Janet’s career transition was not effortless. She utilized two business coaches to help her visualize her Diabetes Coach business and determine how she could make her livelihood from this new venture. She worked to develop a brand and multiple streams of income including her coaching sessions, e-books, recipe cards, public speaking and webinars. Her latest product, the Diabetes Tool Kit is targeted to become a sought after resource for national health care providers.

By walking the walk herself, Janet is living her mission of a healthy life. She is the ultimate role model for her clients and can relate from experience to the day-to-day challenges and realities of this disease.

A Team of One

For her entire professional career, Janet worked in large organizations with sizable teams so the transition to being her own boss took time. She is celebrating her passion for helping people and enjoys having control of her own time but the challenge in the beginning was finding the discipline to treat this new venture like a job. Janet enjoys what she is doing so much it often seems too good to be true that this is her new profession.

There are emotional ups and downs to starting a business as well. When Janet gets stuck she calls on her team of coaches to find solutions and plan a strategy. At the end of the day, she says looking out her home office window onto her beautiful garden brings her great joy. She never looked back to the days of the billable hour and is focused and determined to make this new business a success.

Janet to Janet

You never know who in your network will turn out to be influential. Janet Sanders had been watching Philly TV news anchor, Janet Zappala for years before she had the opportunity to meet her in person at a charity event. Zappala is also on a nutritional mission and authored the cookbook “My Italian Kitchen” featuring delicious and healthy foods. Janet Sanders was showcasing a diabetic friendly chocolate product at the event when Janet Zappala approached her booth. The two Janets became fast friends and ultimate colleagues and they feature each other on their respective websites.

Building a personal advisory board has been very helpful to Janet as she launched her business. She continues to tap into this valuable resource and also looks to pay-it-forward to others who can utilize her strategic alliance.

The future is bright for Janet Sanders and she has new programs in her pipeline for stress eating solutions and stress management for lawyers, among many other projects. A career reinvention and a health renovation have given birth to Janet’s great new life.

Janet’s Advice and Action Steps:

• Develop a plan, and assemble your advisory board of mentors, resources, and people who will share candid feedback.

• Be good to yourself.

• Make yourself accountable for all your actions, it will motivate you.

• Join networking and social groups for support and camaraderie.

• If you aren’t ready to go “full time” with a new venture, start slowly while employed, with the goal of building your business with a phased plan for success.

Quote: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi

Resources:

The Diabetes Coach http://www.diabetescoaching.com/

The Institute of Integrative Nutrition www.integrativenutrition.com

Janet Zappala www.janetzappala.com