Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a master at managing transition and time management. In just eight years, she worked at three corporations, a non-profit, a small business, and started two businesses: Grace Communications Inc. and Real Life E® . (Plus she got laid off and resigned from a job.)
Elizabeth brings all of her corporate and entrepreneurial experiences to her coaching for women in professional transition. Plus she is PASSIONATE about work/life balance and practices what she preaches by aiming to run two businesses in just 40 hours a week. Her mission is to help women make the choices and use the time strategies that can empower them to excel in business and in life.
INC magazine, The Chicago Tribune, NBC, WomenEntrepreneur.com, and many other media outlets have featured Elizabeth. She attended Drake University on a full-tuition scholarship, studied magazine journalism, interior architecture, and business, and graduated summa cum laude.
When’s she’s not working, Elizabeth loves traveling (next stop South America!), spending time with friends and family, and dancing!
Brought to you by Elizabeth Saunders
Elizabeth Saunders
Elizabeth Saunders-Time Strategist
How are you feeling… energized? focused? 100%? Do you have the emotional, physical, and spiritual capacity to not only do what you want to do but also be who you want to be?
If you’re feeling burnt-out, you don’t need to be alone anymore, and there’s hope that you can succeed in business and in life.
Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a full-time entrepreneur who went from working—or feeling guilty for not working—all the time to supporting herself running two business in just 40 hours a week. Through her work/life balance coaching, Elizabeth helps you:
* Realize–How to define and organized responsibilities into large projects and daily tasks
* Lean–Discover what to eliminate or consolidate in your schedule to improve efficiency and personal productivity
* Empower–Develop clear systems of personal and peer accountability to create lasting change in your time management
To help you through this transition, Elizabeth supports you as a friend, understands you as a colleague, and advises you from experience. Programs range from 1-week schedule makeovers to 4-week tough decision coaching to 12-week life transition plans.
If you’re interested in more information about how you can restore your brilliance, you can go to www.RealLifeE.com or contact Elizabeth at esaunders@RealLifeE.com. Also, see below for advice on whether you should refer a friend to Elizabeth.
I look forward to helping you be brilliant TODAY!
Elizabeth Saunders-Time Strategist
Do Your Friends Need Help?
If any of your friends fit the profiles below, you can contact Elizabeth for sample e-mails to introduce them to coaching services that could help.
Burnt to a Crisp
Your girlfriend just called in tears… again. She’s only been sleeping three hours a night, her dog just got sick, her (fill in the blank) is driving her crazy, and she feels completely and totally overwhelmed (for the second time in two days).
You want to be a good friend–really–but you’re just not sure what more you can do to help. Send her to Elizabeth. She’ll walk her through the process of regaining balance so you can go back to being a friend to laugh with, not just a shoulder to cry on. (Contact esaunders@RealLifeE.com for a sample e-mail to send to her.)
Stuck in Transition
Every time you see your best friend, she tells you how unhappy she is with her job or that she wants to start a business or that she would like to re-enter the workforce. And every time she shares these thoughts, you say, “That sounds like a great idea. Why don’t you go for it?”
The next time and the next time and the next time…and the next time you see her, you experience a re-run of this conversation. You want to see your friend happy, but you’re just not sure how to encourage her to get out of the rut that gets deeper every month or every year. Send her to Elizabeth. We’ll work on defining her goals, coming up with specific actions, and building in accountability so the next time you talk you can hear about all of the progress she’s making! (Contact esaunders@RealLifeE.com for a sample e-mail to send to her.)
Brought to you by Elizabeth Saunders
My Story From Burnt-Out to Brilliant
Part II: Laid Off Before College Graduation
Continued from Part I: The Classic High School & College Overachiever
Six weeks after I began my first “real job,” I was laid off. I was devastated. I cried. And I graduated from college without a job---exactly what I did not want to have happen.
During these five months of unemployment, I went through somewhat of an identity crisis. What does someone who has grown comfortable wearing the adorning adjectives of “smart” and “successful” do when she’s a jobless graduate? It practically felt like being naked! I could no longer define my worth by what I achieved in school or at work so I had to find out what was left when I removed myself from these comfortable, yet confining, systems.
This was a big step in the direction of defining myself by who I am, not what I do.
In a spate of frustration at the incredibly slow job search process and a longing to see the world, I headed to Europe for a month-long, solo trek through the continent. I love the fact that I gained a first-person understanding of Big Ben, The Eiffel Tower, The Coliseum, El Prado, and many other iconic European sites. Despite the less-than-desirable bathrooms in hostels, I don’t regret my trip one bit! I learned that I was capable of great adventures and that there were always little guardian angels watching out for me. While I was in Europe, I received an e-mail from the HR department at my former employer enquiring about an open position.
A week after I returned home, I interviewed for and received this corporate job. But before I went back into the office, I took advantage of the outplacement classes that had come with my severance package. These sessions lead people through the process of discovering what they wanted to pursue and finding new employment.
All around me sat men and women who had been at their companies for 3, 12, 33 years and all of the sudden—had been let go.
They were devastated. They felt betrayed.
They had lost everything because they had invested everything in a job that could disappear in an instant.
In my 21-year-old mind something clicked.
And I said to myself, never again would I give up everything for a company. Never again would I sacrifice my friends, my family, my health, my interests, and my sanity for achievement. Never again would I prostitute my life in exchange for money.
To be continued in Part III: From Corporation Lover to Accidental Entrepreneur
Brought to you by Elizabeth Saunders
My Story From Burnt-Out to Brilliant
Part II: Laid Off Before College Graduation
Continued from Part I: The Classic High School & College Overachiever
Six weeks after I began my first “real job,” I was laid off. I was devastated. I cried. And I graduated from college without a job---exactly what I did not want to have happen.