IT STARTED AT A DRY CLEANERS IN BROOKLYN
How I Became A Coach, A Reflection by Megan
Long before I became a coach, I was learning how to see people.
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a family-owned dry cleaning business that still stands today, established in 1963. Some of the most important lessons of my life happened inside those four walls.
I watched my parents know people by name. Ask about their families. Remember what was going on in their lives. Lend a hand when someone needed one. Work incredibly hard in a seven-day-a-week business. Do what they said they were going to do. Treat every person who walked through the door like they were part of the family.
The Values That Shaped Me
My mother has always called New York the melting pot of the world, and I got to grow up right in the middle of it. Her exact words:
“We live in the melting pot of the world. Don’t ever think you are above or below someone else. We welcome everyone in this home.”
She’s the do no harm, always extend a hand, but take no bullshit kind of mom.
I learned how to talk to anyone.
How to listen.
How to be curious about lives that looked nothing like mine.
I learned that being in service can change two lives at once.
That something as simple as eye contact can make someone feel seen. That a hello to a stranger can change their day. That the greatest gift in life is the impact you have on others.
I had no idea I was learning how to coach. I thought I was learning how to just be a person in the world.
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The Moment Someone Named It
Years later, I found myself spending countless hours helping people. It was an unpaid passion hustle. I loved it.
And as I sat across from a friend named Tim in a cafe in Dumbo, he said, “Megan, you’re my coach.”
The lightbulb went off.
Someone saw something in me, and in that moment I didn’t brush it off. I took it in.
I went ALL IN. I studied. I practiced. I let those moments and experiences light a fire to chase excellence in a craft I had come to deeply love, and I did it my own way.
Eventually, I found myself sitting across from and coaching billion-dollar founders, Fortune 100 executives, pro athletes, and leaders who trusted me with some of the biggest moments of their lives. Building businesses. Navigating change. Leading teams. Figuring out who they were and what they wanted.
And so much of what I brought into those conversations started inside those four walls at the dry cleaners.
I’ve always known I was meant to help people. The dry cleaners taught me how to show up for them. That moment with Tim helped me see that I could build my life’s work around it.
What I Want For You
That moment with Tim is something I want for you. To see something in yourself and take it seriously. To recognize what you bring and give yourself a chance to do something with it.
My why behind my book, Get Your Mind RIPE, is to help you stay in motion, know yourself and honor that person, and lead your own life so you can build to your own potential.
At the end of your life, I hope you can say that you squeezed everything you could out of it. And that this book played even a small role in helping you do so.
WE GOT THIS.
Dolce
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