After selling Long Tall Sally, the retail clothing chain catering to taller women she founded in the 70's, Judy wasn't ready to retire. She wanted to find a way to share her life experience to mentor other entrepreneurs; in the same way she had been supported when she first launched her fashion business.

"One of the things that I discovered on the training was that I had stepped into a role that felt like it was just where I belonged. It was like putting on a warm coat that you had worn for years and years and years and it just felt good. And I thought, Gah, this is really where I want to be. This is for me."

While training to coach, Judy learned what turned out to be some exciting lessons for her. "I learned that I didn't always have to have the answers for people. I didn't always have to solve their problems; that they were perfectly capable of doing that. And I learned tools and skills to enable them to answer their questions."

"Most of my clients are between the ages of thirty and forty. Even though your personal life experience doesn't directly enter into the coaching, it still shows up because that's who I am. They like my wisdom and my groundedness. They come to me because they know, I've been out there, and it's not my first day out."

Interestingly, though, Judy says the biggest impact she has on her clients, is to encourage them to have a good time and enjoy life: "I'm always surprised by how many people don't know how to have fun or to recognize that even things they're doing in their life is fun. Co-Active Coaching's great gift is the ease with which it can shift perspectives, so even the mundane parts of their lives can be recast in a much richer way. I love seeing that."