Entrepreneur to Watch: Mirit Murad of Live Your Vision Now

Mirit Murad is a life and parent coach with Live Your Vision Now, a coaching practice that supports individuals, couples and families in creating their visions for change, setting up a plan, implementing it, and achieving their goals.

What inspired you to start your company?

A few years ago while working as a teacher, I was sitting in a parent teacher conference and witnessed this irony: A father was yelling at his daughter that she should behave better in class and be more polite to her teacher. He became so enraged that it appeared he was close to hitting her. At that moment I realized that the learning curve is as high for parents as it is for children in many situations. A couple of months later I chose to leave my teaching position in order to dedicate my life to instilling open, trustful and respectful communication between parents and their children.

What is your company all about?

My company is all about supporting people to realize their vision and to act on it, be it a personal vision, a professional vision or one for their family. I believe that there exists in each of us an immense power to change what ever needs to be changed and to live the way we desire to. My company also focuses on families by supporting parents in achieving open and respectful communication and relationships with their children of all ages. An open and trusting relationship sets the stage for a child’s emotional and physical safety. From this type of a relationship, children feel safe in knowing that parents can be trusted to support them when they need guidance. Children will be more likely to share personal information, ask for guidance and to work together in problem solving. This also will be most useful in counteracting negative or misinformation learned from peers.

What’s your vision for your company?

I view my company as a leading resource for families and educational institutions for addressing their coaching and communication needs, personal and staff development, goals for excellence. I envision my company as a skyline message boasting two of the most important core values: respect and integrity in interpersonal relationships and one’s relationship with self.

What excites you about what you’re doing?

I love working with people and receiving inspiration from them. Watching my clients become hopeful, resourceful, confident, optimistic and determined to follow and act upon their vision is like watching magic happen. This fills me with tremendous joy.

What are some early examples of success?

Last year, 8 mothers participated in and graduated from my “No more yelling” workshop. It had such a tremendous positive effect on them, their spouses and their children, and to this day we continue to meet monthly for follow up. Each meeting differs in that it now focuses on the sharing of successes, reviewing some of the tools and the strategies taught in the workshop and supporting each other in facing new challenges.
Another success story relates to a client of mine who was in the process of finding her passion and transforming it into a successful career. Following a year of coaching she moved to London, got married and registered in both art and law schools in order to combine two of her greatest passions.

Another is the e-distribution of a monthly newsletter in which I share an article about parenting and coaching complete with tips and other information. I have received very positive and enthusiastic feedback, which warms my heart, as I would like to reach as many parents as possible with the aim of supporting them in becoming the best parents they can be.

What about challenges?

One of the biggest challenges for parents and educational coaches, myself included is to make our educational system acknowledge the important contribution of coaching to children, parents and educators alike. Schools have a long history of using counselors and are hesitant to bring coaches into play. I personally believe that any school that uses both approaches will enhance its population’s social and academic achievements and all involved will benefit greatly from this innovative combination. The big challenge is to make this important and needed change happen faster in big organizations.

Another major challenge lies in the fact that most of us parents use coaching services when something goes wrong or there is a big problem in the house. Parents wait until the relationship with their children is severely unsatisfactory and worrisome at which time they seek help from a coach. I would like to spread the message that effective parenting is proactive; you want to learn and employ the best strategies of communication and behaviour in order to prevent getting to that that point with your child.

What’s next for you?

My focus over the next couple of months will be on promoting my workshops, which will begin in February. Some of the workshops are for parents and will take place at the Jewish Community Centre in Vancouver and others for high school students. I am also planning on resuming my free presentation evenings to parent groups, day cares and schools in the greater Vancouver area as well as continuing to work on my monthly newsletters.