Meet Mira Simon of Coach Mira

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I spent over 25 years in the radio broadcasting industry in sales and management and what I loved most throughout my career was coaching and training salespeople to inspire and motivate them to maximize their potential.

That is what motivated me to get my coaching certification in 2010 from iPEC – an ICF accredited coach training program. Upon graduation, my first clients were adults who were looking to make a change in their career. We talked about their values, skills, and interests – both current and present – and how to utilize all three to explore and discover what was important to them, WHY it was important and HOW they wanted to choose to put it together to find their next career. Several of my clients asked me if I could do the same with their sons and daughters who had graduated from college and had no idea what they wanted to do, and I was thrilled to do so!

I loved working with these amazing young people, and the more I worked with them, the more I asked myself how I might reach these wonderful and talented young adults sooner. How great would it be to have these discussions in high school? What would it be like for students to understand how they can use the choices they make about their activities and classes to explore their values, evaluate their interests and develop skills to choose the colleges that will best help them build on that?

My wondering was rewarded when I was asked by a few parents if I might work with their high school teens! They explained how this pressure was causing their children to pull back from the process – to feel lost, overwhelmed, frustrated – which was creating frustration for the parents. The more they would try to help, the more their child would be annoyed, upset, roll their eyes and procrastinate.

We began by focusing less on “which college are you looking at” and more on their thoughts, goals, and visions. The more we talked about who they were, what they loved and how they could integrate and expand on that through their college experience, the more college became something fun that they choose to do, rather than something scary that they had to do. The more the pressure of making the “wrong” choice, or “going to the best college” was replaced with the opportunity to discover what was perfect for THEM, the more excited and engaged they became in the process.

I then decided to integrate my passion for coaching with college planning and preparation. I received my certification from UCLA in college counseling in 2013 and started Coach Mira, working with high school students and their families to go through the college planning, preparation and application process without overwhelm, so that they can explore their skills, interests, values, and strengths and use that to find the college and pathway to get there that works best for them.

Has it been a smooth road?
It was both smooth and bumpy. The bumpy part was that I had worked in a corporate career for 25 years and had never started or run a business. That was a huge transition. I remember the first time my printer went down, and I realized I couldn’t just dial up someone in the IT department to help fix it – I WAS the IT department. I was also accounting, HR, sales and marketing!

The smooth part of the road was that I absolutely knew that I had found my purpose and absolutely loved what I was doing. That is what kept me going, especially as I was working 2 or 3 jobs while I built my business.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Coach Mira – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I think that what I am most proud of is what sets me apart – that I approach college consulting from a coaching foundation. What that means is that it is important that my students learn FROM the process as well as complete the process. It is not just about getting in to college, it is what they discover about themselves that they can use in college and in their life.

Some of my favorite moments are when my students discover majors that fulfill skills and interests that they remember having as a kid. Or that they learned that time management is more about priority management and understanding that there are only so many hours in the day, so it’s about the choices they make about what to do and when to do it that makes the difference in completing homework or projects. I love that!

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Where do I start? I remember coming to San Diego as a kid on vacation and wishing we could live here one day and now I am! I love the beaches, I love the food, I love how it’s a big city, but it is also a bunch of communities and neighborhoods with different personalities and vibes. I absolutely love the weather.

If I had to pick something I like least about the city, the increase in traffic would probably be the one thing.  Although, I love that even though the traffic has definitely gotten worse in the last 20 years that I’ve lived here,  you can still get from one place to another during the day or evening. You could never do that in Los Angeles. There is traffic all the time.  In San Diego, there are still windows of opportunity during the day where  I can be in Point Loma for an appointment and get to north Carlsbad if I need to.