Today we’d like to introduce you to Edgar Butler, Jr.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Edgar. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My career experiences have given me credibility in my business. I worked in a warehouse job for 7 ½ years before I was fired. I learned a lot from that experience. I did a lot of things wrong, I did not know my value, and I overstayed my welcome. I did some self-assessing and it changed the way I viewed working as an employee. My next job was in another warehouse where I advanced from an entry-level role into leadership in seven months. I stayed with that company for 5 ½ years before joining one of the leaders in the insurance and financial services industry. In 12 years of being with the company, I have held eight different positions. I progressed from an entry-level position to five years later being in leadership. Two years after being promoted into leadership, I was leading a team that managed a multimillion-dollar book of business and handled half the country for the company’s business office policies. Two years later, I moved to HR for recruiting and hiring. The tagline of my career is I went from being fired from a Fortune 500 company to now hiring people into a Fortune 36 company.
At the time I was in leadership I had a leader come to me and ask had I ever thought about doing professional coaching. He thought I would be good at it from the way I led my team and how I helped to develop others. After self-assessing, I realized I was passionate about speaking life into others and helping others develop personally and professionally. I started researching how to start a coaching and public speaking business. I also found a coach to help me develop the skillset of speaking and to teach me how to create a speaking and coaching business. I began to create motivational videos and posting them on social media, and I started looking for public speaking opportunities. I became a teen teacher at my local church, and I also reached out to schools and colleges to ask for opportunities that would allow me to come in and speak. This resulted in opportunities for me to speak and share messages with different groups in different settings and created opportunities for me to coach others from them hearing me speak.
Being an HR recruiter also allows me to speak and do presentations regularly. So, as I continue to build my business on the side, I get to practice daily, sharpening my speaking, coaching, and presentation skills. Having the gift of speaking is just like having any other raw talent. To get to different levels, you must develop the talent into a true skill.
My career experience also led me to write a professional development book titled Clarify, Construct, and Control Your Career. The book provides practical principles to help you develop and advance your professional career as an employee. There are also practical principles in the book that can be applied to personal life.
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 has not been a smooth road. It takes a lot of persistence and patience to obtain coaching clients and to consistently book speaking engagements. One of the challenges I faced was blocking out all the noise of what everyone says you need to do to be a coach and a speaker. I started comparing myself and doubting myself. I finally embraced my experiences and my abilities and focused on being authentically me and what I could do to successfully help others.
Please tell us about your business.
My business is career coaching and motivational speaking. My clients are high school and college students preparing to enter the workforce, and employees that are currently in the workforce looking to advance in their career. I help students prepare for their careers through career consulting, resume reviews, and interview preparation. For employees already in the workforce looking to advance their careers, I assist them by providing strategies and helping them create development plans to serve as roadmaps to help them reach their goals. My employee clients range from entry-level to first-line leadership.
As a motivational speaker, I share my own stories of challenges I have faced and how I overcame those challenges. I believe I can help others by sharing stories of me and my wife facing the challenge of our youngest daughter being born with a cyst on her brain, continuing with life after losing loved ones, bouncing back from being fired, and overcoming having to short-sale our house. These are some of the challenges I have faced and overcame. Everyone has a story, but not everyone is willing to openly share their story.
The thing I am most proud of is the lives I have had the opportunity to positively impact and the different arenas in which this has occurred. I have had the pleasure of speaking and coaching individuals and groups in corporate, schools, churches, and the community. A part of my life’s purpose is to impact as many lives as I can for as long as I can. One thing that sets me apart from others is my ability to connect with people from all walks of life.
Pricing:
- Clarify, Construct, and Control Your Career! Book – $15.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.edgarbutlerjr.com
- Phone: 863-698-2257
- Email: info@edgarbutlerjr.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/edgar-butler-clu-278904113
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/edgarbutlerjr
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Edgar-Butler-Jr/100011757336768
Image Credit:
Grade A Concepts
Dr. Quinita Morrow
Emory Stroud
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