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).

There’s no question that Crohn’s Disease (initially diagnosed as Ulcerative Colitis) created a significant disruption in her sense of confidence and well-being. It most certainly wreaked havoc on her career.

As it does for most people dealing with a chronic illness,  it took many valiant attempts and a few disappointing setbacks before Joan found the “right” mix of professional fulfillment and healthy lifestyle choices. After a great deal of trial and error, and a few job changes, Joan launched her coaching company, Lifework Business Partners, in 2000.

Lifework Business Partners

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. Clients have included  marketing consultants and web designers, freelance business writers, financial planners, unique specialty service providers, non-profit managers, scientists and other coaches.

Joan  is a trained, professional coach. She graduated from Corporate Coach University in 2004. When she began the program, Corporate Coach U was the only business-focused coaching program.

Joan started her business with an aim to help talented professionals engage with meaningful work on their terms. As a former certified Work Less, Make More Coach, Joan began by working with mid-level managers who were overwhelmed at work and wanted to start their own business. Since 2002, she’s been working almost exclusively with independent entrepreneurs already out of the workforce and on their own.

She became increasingly aware that she was not alone. Like her, a significant number of her clients were also dealing with health, energy and/or time challenges. Self-employment was a viable option for Joan, and she became increasingly committed to helping others succeed as authors of their destiny.

Lifelong Student

While pursuing her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, Joan began studying alternative models for understanding and maximizing one’s full potential. She brings her diverse business background -  21 jobs and 2 other businesses  before launching Lifework Business Partners – and various studies to her work with her clients.

Books

Joan is the co-author, with Rosalind Joffe, of “Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease: Keep Working Girlfriend!” (© 2008, Demos Health), a book to guide women in how to navigate their career while dealing while managing a difficult illness. Her new book, Business from Bed: The 6-Step Plan to Get Yourself Working Again after a Health Crisis (Demos Health) was published in December, 2012. In it, she addresses the common issues associated with rebuilding a business – or changing directions – after a life-changing illness.

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.

From 2009-2011, after relocating to the Mid-Atlantic from California, Joan regularly volunteered her time at Green America headquarters in Washington DC, and helped launch the business-to-business volunteer mentoring program in 2010. She also served as the co-leader for the Northern Virginia chapter of Women Building and Investing in Success in 2011.

On the Personal Side

Joan, a native of California, pulled up roots and moved to Northern Virginia with her husband, 2 dogs and a cat in early 2009. In 2013, finding the Mid-Atlantic not the best physical environment for her health and well-being, Joan headed back West to Sedona, Arizona, where she and her husband were married. Her son, now 28, lives in Seattle, while her 2 step-sons remain in California.

She is an avid reader of self-help, business development and select fiction authors.