You’re a Smart, Ambitious and Tenacious Entrepreneur
You’re hard-working. You love what you do. You’ve been pouring your heart and soul into your business to make it a success. Alongside it, you’ve been trying your best to juggle home life. But you’ve ended up losing yourself in the process.
Most evenings you collapse exhausted in bed. And yet instead of falling asleep, you lie there wide awake thinking of your overwhelming and never-ending to-do list. Somehow, you always fall to the bottom of that long list. And that’s if you even make it onto your list at all!
You have a vision for your life where you get to enjoy the freedom of running your own successful business. But one thing isn’t clear: how to get there.
You’re ready for a balanced life that allows you to do what’s important so you can have time and energy for yourself and to enjoy more unforgettable moments with your loved ones.
I can help you get the balance you need. Dreaming about the future is one thing, making it happen is another. Together, we can make it happen for you!
Hi, I’m Mira Rutter
I’m a coach for women who love running their established business but struggle to find balance in their life, so are burning out.
They take pride in the high quality of their work and want to do their best at home, too. However, they’re overwhelmed and losing sleep by having so much to do without a moment to themselves, and yet feel guilty for not being there enough for family and friends.
I help them structure their lives to create the freedom they crave, have time and energy for themselves, their hobbies, and the people they care about, all while having a successful business.
My Journey Here
Looking at how I got to where I am today, it hasn’t happened by coincidence. I’ve been fascinated by why we do what we do and how we can improve from an early age. I was in my early teens when my dad handed me my first personal development book by Dale Carnegie. At university, I decided to major in International Economics, but truth be told, my favourite subject was Psychology. If I were to pick up a book or a magazine in my free time, it was usually related to self-improvement.
My career has been one of following my heart. If you had told me 20 years ago that I’d be running my own business from home and helping fellow entrepreneurs, I wouldn’t have believed you. As a teenager, I saw first-hand from my dad how challenging and rewarding it is to run your own business. As a student, I instead dreamt of working for a big international bank and seeing more of the world by travelling for work. I loved the ideas of security and a steady salary associated with working for a large company, the opportunities to change jobs, having 25 days of paid holiday and being able to leave work behind when I went on vacation.
As an international student in the UK needing a work permit, it was tough to compete with thousands of other applicants for a handful of graduate investment banking jobs during the dotcom bubble burst in London. Despite all the odds, my determination and creativity got me my first breakthrough. I started out as an unpaid intern at an Investment Bank and quickly spotted a gap in the company’s market coverage. I created a new role for myself within the Emerging Markets Team, identifying assets that were undervalued and that had the opportunity to rise in value. After six years, I came to a point where I couldn’t see myself loving and thriving in this area for many more years.
I Had to Find My True Calling
It came as a shock to many colleagues and friends when I handed in my resignation without the security of another job to go to. I was 26 at the time, and I wanted to really think about the direction I wanted to take for my future, so I could make my one life into something that I truly loved. And what better way to clear my head and remove myself from the daily grind than making some of my dreams come true? I meticulously planned and organised all the logistical aspects of my two-month trip around South America in advance, so that when I was there I could focus on being totally present and enjoying all the amazing sights and experiences I had dreamt of – creating memories of a lifetime.
Towards the end of this enriching and eye-opening adventure, I realised that spending more quality time with my family in Bulgaria was also very important to me. So, I vowed to see more of them than the one or two trips a year that I had been making in the previous 10 years since I had moved to the UK.
Time away re-affirmed that when it came to work, I wanted to help people in a more personal and direct way. Capitalising on my previous experience, I joined a Wealth Management company as a Relationship Executive, helping affluent clients use their money more effectively. Being driven by providing great client experience, I saw flaws with some of the existing processes and started getting involved in projects, until eventually I moved internally to a Business Analyst role to help improve those processes.
It Was Time For a Change
Fast forward a few years. On the outside, my life looked great. I had just married the love of my life. I was surrounded by amazing friends. We went on fantastic adventure holidays and enjoyed a wide range of experiences, from dining to the theatre in London. Our house was only a short commute to the office. I worked for a forward-thinking bank where my experience was valued and I had opportunities to move internally.
If you took a closer look, you’d have seen that when I was at work, I was miserable. I had taken the passenger seat in my career and had let restructurings of the bank dictate its direction. So, I had ended up in a role that wasn’t suitable for my skill set, abilities or knowledge. Eventually, I reached a point where I was cradling my morning cup of coffee and already looking forward to lunch time. In the afternoon, I’d be clock-watching and running out of the office as soon as I could after 5pm. I’d count the days to the weekend and then, to our next vacation. And frankly, this was depressing because I knew I was wasting my life. I yearned to do something different.
The Wise Words
One sunny day at work, I stormed out of my chair and rushed into one of the glass meeting rooms, shutting the door behind me. I stared into the distance from the 14th floor, listening to my phone’s dialling tone. “Hi Mira!” My eyes filled up with tears as I uttered, “Dad, I can’t stand this any longer!” My dad, in his calm, wise voice on the other end of the phone said, “Mira, you are not married to the bank. You can leave.”
Yes, but to do what? I had been exploring for some time already what I wanted to do next. I had been speaking to people with all sorts of different jobs, even outside of banking. I had been reading books, attending workshops, doing all sorts of exercises to help me figure out how to put my skills, experience and passions into something that I love doing and also paid the bills. I knew I wanted to help people, but I couldn’t decide exactly with what, and how!
And Then It Finally Clicked!
My husband told me he was going to attend an introductory training course on personal coaching. I decided to go as well so that we could discuss if it was a good course for him to pursue. That weekend, I fell in love with coaching. I still remember beaming in the room thinking, “This is it! This is how I want to help people create more of what they want in their life!” A month later, my husband and I signed up for the Personal Performance Coaching Diploma with The Coaching Academy and our journey began. We worked during the days and studied and practiced at the weekend and some evenings, but we still made time for exercise and our social life.
When I started reflecting on what got me excited at work, I realised that it was all the stuff I did off the side of my desk. My favourite time at work was helping organise events that helped people advance in their personal and professional development. I loved sharing tips with my colleagues about travel or how they could lead healthier lifestyles by fitting in exercise or other healthy practices in their busy schedules. In an environment where long working hours and eating at your desk were the norm, I was excited when the bank started introducing wellbeing initiatives because I was a testimony to the benefits, since I’d been practicing them throughout my 13-year banking career. So, I explored my options within the bank, but I knew I wanted more than just another job.
What I was really craving was more independence to be able to fly over to Bulgaria to see my ageing grandparents and parents or take a holiday without fear of being told that I can’t have that time off. I wanted to be able to start a family with my husband and have the flexibility to do work I love and find meaningful around raising a child without having to commute for hours when we’d move out of London.
This is why I decided to leave the corporate world to set up Rutter Coaching, despite knowing how tough it is to run your own business and having seen as a teen the many challenges my dad ran into when he started his own company.
Rutter Coaching was born
I brought my corporate experience and knowledge of analysing trends and spotting opportunities for improvement to my coaching practice. I realised that my skills in planning, organising and coordinating were invaluable when it comes to progressing at work but also in creating a better balanced life and achieving more of what’s important in life. I coupled those with my passions for health and wellbeing, personal development and adventure. And voilà, Rutter Coaching was born!
Living in London gave me easy access to events and trainings about various aspects of running a business. Then, I needed to decide what to do with the overwhelming volume of information I was learning and how to implement it. The business was my creation. It was such a big part of me (and it still is). It was my baby after all. So, naturally like a ‘young mother’, all I did was talk about my ‘baby’ and wondered what the best way to look after it was. I talked to my husband, who was also my business partner, about it – pretty much all the time we were together – on our way to parkrun on a Saturday morning, while dining out, on walks etc.
As much as my husband was my business partner, he also had a full-time demanding consultancy job that required him to work abroad most of the week and so when he got home he only had a very limited capacity to take on new information and help with decision-making.
Eventually, these things combined put a strain on our relationship. So much so, I feared I might lose the love of my life – the human one, not the business.
Luckily, when I started to feel this way we were about to go on our Christmas break. We both took time off to spend with my family in Bulgaria. While there, we had an open and honest chat about how the various pressures were affecting us.
So early on in my business, I realised that even though I was eating well, exercising regularly, still had breaks away, and was implementing other practices that had made me resilient enough to avoid burnout in times of huge pressure and overwhelm throughout my life, I wasn’t quite living the life I wanted to live by running my own business. I had cut down on my adventure holidays. And, of course, I had work on my mind nearly all the time and especially as I was working from home and work was always just there!
I Evolved With My Business
It hit me that this had to stop in order for me to keep my passion for what I do but also so I can experience more of what life has to offer.
I invested in a mentor. I hired coaches to help me work on topics that I’d normally dump on my husband. I joined paid communities where entrepreneurs talked and helped each other with their businesses. I started drawing more boundaries between home and work life. I started researching and experimenting with different productivity, time and energy management and self-care practices, in addition to what I was doing already. For example, I read about the negative impacts of multi-tasking and started focusing on one task at a time. As a result, my productivity greatly increased and I got more of what was important done, without feeling drained. It also helped me with being more present when with family and friends.
The following year was amazing. The business evolved. We had some fantastic trips away. I stopped filling up every moment with business talk and started living more in the moment. We supported each other through difficult times and celebrated the wins. Our relationship grew stronger and stronger. Our life since then has been once again full of special and unforgettable moments and experiences.
I won’t pretend that I am always perfect – I am human after all. I have nights when I toss and turn thinking about work. I sometimes skip my exercise or my mindfulness practice, but overall these things are a regular part of my lifestyle to ensure that I’m at my best throughout the day, every day.
The Reminder: You Never Know What’s Around The Corner
In September 2017, my husband and I had just returned from a week of visiting friends in Sardinia.
The following Monday, he flew to Zurich for work.
By lunchtime, he was feeling unwell and by the time he got to his hotel at 5:30pm, he was in so much pain and exhausted that he didn’t even have the energy to speak to me on the phone and he just wanted to go to bed.
He was unable to sleep that night. As he laid in bed, the pain in his stomach got sharper and sharper, his heart started palpitating and he was short of breath. He was scared, yet it didn’t even cross his mind to ask the hotel reception to call an ambulance or a doctor.
The next day, he found some strength and got himself to a medical centre. After a day of waiting for his test results, I got a call from him, “Hey Mira, I’m in a taxi being rushed to the hospital. I will let you know when I find out more.”
I waited and I waited that night until I eventually dozed off. When I woke up, I found a text saying, “I’ve just had a life-saving operation.” He had contracted acute appendicitis. His appendix had ruptured and was damaging his internal organs. Had the surgery been an hour or two later, I may have never seen him alive again.
Where I Am Today
Today, I get to help amazing women enjoy the freedom they want from running their own business, create a balanced life they love, carve out time for themselves, the people they care about and have the energy for what truly matters to them. I support my clients to structure their lives so they can experience more of what life has to offer while having a successful business.
I bring my wealth of knowledge, experience and creativity to help my clients incorporate practices that will enable them to achieve more of what’s important to them and lead a healthier lifestyle. To do this, I take everything that I’ve learnt at each step along the way, from my banking jobs, running my own business and my life’s lessons and experiences, and share this with my clients.
It’s so exciting and rewarding as a coach to see my clients achieve tangible results and the difference that our work together makes, not only on their lives but also the ripple effect it creates on those around them. I love coaching my clients to create and implement a step-by-step action plan that really works for them. I couldn’t think of work that’s more fulfilling and a better fit for my strengths, talents, superpowers, and passions.
I’m passionate about sharing practical tips to effectively and efficiently manage time and energy, so my clients can enjoy what’s important to them. It feels amazing to be in control of my own destiny and run a business from home that fits with what’s important to me in life.
I would love to hear your story. To learn more about how I can help you create a balanced life that you love, check out my Work With Me Page or send me an email.
A Few Highlights of My Professional Coaching Experience
♦ Life Balance Coach & Strategist
♦ Accredited Personal Performance Coach
♦ Well-being Coaching
♦ Resilience Coaching
♦ Financial Coaching
♦ DISC Personality Profiling practitioner
Client Results
Working with Mira totally changed my life!
Working with Mira on her one-to-one programme totally changed my life. I started implementing a few changes, and all of a sudden found myself happier and achieving more. I really enjoyed working with Mira as she is very friendly, professional and reliable, and knows when to push you.
Severine Menem – Nutritionist
My career now feels it has a strong future and direction.
Mira’s knowledge is broad and her fresh approach was welcomed. I cannot thank her enough for this opportunity, my head is clearer; my career now feels it has a strong future and direction. I can only recommend to all that a life coach really does give you the opportunity to press the refresh button. Thank you Mira and for your “Mira moments”.
Allison Kaye – Virtual Assistant
I now have a clear direction in my family and professional life!
Before I started coaching with Mira, I lacked direction in most aspects of my life. I was struggling to work out what I really wanted out of life and my career. My self-belief and confidence were low, I had no clear plan of where I was and where I wanted to be. I was procrastinating a lot and lacked the motivation to do most things that matter to me.
I now have a clear direction in my family and professional life. Friends are noticing changes in me and life at home is better than ever.
I am very thankful that I have you in my life Mira and I look forward to what the future holds. It was through working with you that I’ve managed to turn my life around and have been living my life by my dreams and goals, from a place of strength instead of fear! You helped me tremendously and for that, I am forever thankful!
Judith Sekyonda – Bookkeeper