Facilitator, Writer, Coach, Guide…
Joan Friedlander launched her coaching business, Lifework Business Partners, in 2000. Through individual coaching and group programs, she has coached over 600 self-employed professionals, company managers and small business owners in a variety of industries throughout the U.S, in Canada and Europe.
]While pursuing her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, Joan started studying alternative models for understanding and maximizing one’s full potential. She brings her diverse business background - 21 jobs before launching her coaching business in late 2000 – and various studies to her work with her clients.
Joan started her first business at the age of 14, her second at 27, and her current business when she was 45. Between entrepreneurial endeavors she worked in a variety of industries, including retail management, employee benefits, health care and for nonprofit organizations.
Life Events
Joan knows what it is like to find that fine balance between family, self, health and career. At age 36 all four life areas were significantly impacted when she went from being a healthy woman on the rise in her profession to a sick woman who, within 7 months, was demoted because she could no longer effectively manage her 3 roles at work. (Bookstore manager, training manager and acting district manager). It’s not that she didn’t try. Like many of us, it took a few more valiant efforts and disappointing setbacks before she found the “right” mix of professional fulfillment and healthy lifestyle choices.
Happily, after 14 years of trial and error, I did find my way and was able see my Crohn’s symptoms go into remission. Nonetheless, the challenges I experienced staying gainfully employed while dealing with my symptoms, raising my son and navigating my personal life, too, has most certainly impacted my point of view about the “health” in today’s business world.
Joan, a native of California, recently pulled up roots and moved to Northern Virginia with her husband, 2 dogs and a cat in early 2009. Her son, now 26, lives in New York, while her 2 step-sons remain in California.
Publications
Joan is the author of several business programs. Her first programs, the Master Calendar Solution and the Delegation Planning Kit, have been re-written and are included as modules in the upcoming 6-Module Home Study Program, Grow UP Your Business. She is also co-author of a book for women who have been impacted by one of the sixty-something autoimmune diseases, “Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease: Keep Working Girlfriend!” (© 2008, Demos Health).
Community Leader and Volunteer
Joan served as the Director of Training and Licensing for Get Clients Now! ™ from 2005-2009 and as president of the Orange County chapter of the International Coach Federation in 2004. Since moving to Virginia in 2009, she has been volunteering her time to assist the staff of the Green Business Network department at Green America in Washington DC, and helped launch the business-to-business volunteer mentoring program in 2010.
Speaker and Workshop Facilitator
Joan has been invited to speak at professional organizations such as NAWBO-Orange County, eWomen Network and Green America to talk to their members about work-life balance, marketing, productivity and delegation strategies. She’s been been a keynote speaker and break-out session presenter at the annual conferences for several companies, including Showhomes(R), Pet Butler and EDSG. To find out more about Joan’s speaking topics, click here.
