Today we’d like to introduce you to Devin King Jones.
Devin, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My story begins when I was a senior in college at the Stanford Design School. The d.school (as we affectionally call it) is a world renown innovation center and the epicenter of some of the best innovations, companies, and designs that we use every day. While at Stanford, I learned about design thinking, a model of thinking about problems through a designer’s point of view. This model is built upon five keys elements: empathy, define, ideate, prototype, test. With this model, we can approach virtually any problem–even the big “problem”: “what do I do with my life?”
I use Design Thinking every day to help people answer that question–what do I do with my life? In my work as a Career Coach at Point Loma Nazarene University and as a Clarity Coach at devinjones.co, I help my students and clients to better know their strengths and values so they can choose a career that brings them joy and allows them to make a meaningful impact on the world. We all want to make a difference–I’m here to show people how.
I didn’t think I would ever be a Career/Clarity Coach, but I absolutely LOVE my job. Every day, I get to talk to people about how amazing they are. I get to learn about their strengths, their interests, their passions, and the difference they want to make in the world. It’s truly inspiring. Just today, I was speaking with a student who spent two summers teaching math in Tanzania. In middle school, she actually struggled with math before she found a great tutor, and now she’s about to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics! She feels called to be a math teacher to help kids believe in themselves and fall in love with math, again. My clients also fascinate me with all that they’ve accomplished and are determined to do. I work with entrepreneurial women and I love that they are always talking about possibilities, business ventures, and ideas that they want to bring to fruition. I feel that my role is to be a sounding board, a confidant, a co-creator and a champion for my clients and students. Sometimes, you just need someone who believes in you to help you find your courage, your clarity, and your calling.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road. In early 2015, I was about to interview for my dream job (the coaching position at PLNU) yet, ironically, I found myself in the fetal position on my boyfriend’s couch.
Surprised, because he had never seen me that way, he asked, “Devin, what’s going on with you? I’ve never seen you like this. Are you… afraid?”
I was afraid. I was terrified because up until now, this concept was just a dream. Getting this job, I was so excited about didn’t feel like it was even close to the realm of possibility.
Just a few months earlier, I had invested $7000 (made up of savings and credit. gulp) to become a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach. I had no idea what I was going to do as a Coach, but I knew that I believed in this method and that I wanted to help people.
Now, I was in final-round interviews for my dream-job where I would get to be a Strengths coach for all 2700 undergraduate students. I would get to be the person that I needed when I was a college student.
Somehow, I had made it through the first two rounds of interviews without losing it. Now, I was losing it.
I CONTEMPLATED CANCELING THE INTERVIEW.
I was making up reasons why I couldn’t do it. My interview was less than 24-hours away and I still needed to create a 20-min presentation to deliver to a panel of directors at the University. Double gulp.
“I’m a fraud, they’re going to see it. No way I can do this. I’m not qualified. They’re going to see right through me. I’m only 23 for God’s sake, how could I think I can teach this stuff. I’m barely out of college myself.”
Imposter syndrome set in. My fight or flight response turned on and I was ready to fly like the wind in the opposite direction.
WHAT I WANTED WAS WITHIN REACH AND I WAS ABOUT TO LET IT OUT OF MY GRASP.
Why? Because of fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of failure. Fear of being seen. Eventually I went to the interview (killed it) and got the job, but the process definitely wasn’t pretty.
Someone once told me, “your message is in the mess.” My mess was my fear, my lack of confidence, my own self-doubt. After this experience, I realized something needed to change. I committed to my process of improving that confidence and have grown immensely through years of therapy, mindset training, coaching, mindfulness, and even now hypnosis.
Today, I help women break free of their own fear and limitations—like those I had—to live whole and empowered into their purpose.
I teach people to take their life into their own hands, dive deep into who they are and what really matters to them, so they can create their own definition of success–rather than living out someone else’s dream. I show them how to get off the couch, go crush the interview and get the dream job—their Soul Career.
My biggest piece of advice is this: do it afraid.
Going after your dreams takes a boatload of courage. So many of us wait until we feel “good enough” or ready or “qualified” to take a chance on ourselves. I see so many women pass up on their dreams because they lack confidence. Little tip: no one is as confident as they seem. If they seem always cool and confident–floating along like a duck on a peaceful pond, just know that underneath their little fins are flapping for dear life.
So, don’t be a duck pretending it’s all ok. You can admit that you’re scared and that you’re afraid of failing. But you know what, everyone fails. If we’re not failing, we’re not trying hard enough. So, don’t wait until you feel “ready” to take the leap into that grad program, or job, or new position, or business venture, or to invest in yourself with a certification or program, or to move to that city, or take that pottery class. You’ll never be truly “ready”, but if your soul is calling you to it, I say, “do it afraid.”
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
My clients say that I help them find a sense of confidence they didn’t know they had. I help them discover that confidence within themselves because it’s there–it just needs to be cultivated. I think my superpower is encouragement–I love being able to show people just how wonderful they truly are and that the world is in need of their gifts, voice and bright ideas.
In mid-March, I’m launching The Soul Career–an incubator for career & life transformation.
This will be a 4-month program where together as a community of 20 women, we will learn to ditch the “quarter-life-crisis”, rise to your leadership and love your soul career.
The program will have video training, live coaching, worksheets, guest mentors from all over the world and a safe space to wrestle with our purpose. The Incubator will break down step-by-step the process of uncovering your inner genius, stepping into your worth, communicating your unique contribution and clarifying your dream career.
This has never been done before–a career coaching community experience like this–so I’m thrilled to bring this into the world and see how the women participants rise to their calling and through the process, lift up one another! If you’re interested, I’m running a free challenge called, “The Clarity Challenge” during the first week of March. You can sign up at www.theclaritychallenge.com
Do you have any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general? What has worked well for you?
Rather than “find a mentor”, I encourage people to “look for their wisdom-givers”. Finding a mentor can be a tall order, because people expect mentors to basically be their friend/coach/therapist/
Contact Info:
- Website: www.devinjones.co and www.thesoulcareer.com
- Email: devin@devinjones.co
- Instagram: @_devinjones
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/devinjones.co/
Image Credit:
Photography by Samerica Studios: http://samericastudios.com/
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
