Mindee Gilmer

I attribute my success to believing there was more for my life than what I saw growing up in a poor family in the Midwest. My family wanted me to be a Taco Bell manager - they didn't believe in sales or big money - but I believed there was more, so I took a big jump and moved to California when I was 19. I didn't know what I was good at, I just knew how to work hard, and that's all I did. That hard work led me from salesperson to store manager to running the number one store, and eventually to Director of Training at age 25. The pivotal piece of my life was getting that job at Sleep Train under Dale Carlson, who believed in hiring great people and taking good care of them. He created a culture where I could thrive, and that taught me how important it is to work for a good culture versus a bad one. When COVID hit and I had to move back to help my sick parents, I kept receiving calls from people wanting coaching and mentorship, and I knew that was my calling. All those years of developing people, training thousands of salespeople, mentoring agents, and serving as president of Women's Council of Realtors had prepared me for this. Now my success comes from helping people realize that growth happens outside your comfort zone, and that small tweaks can create massive change in their lives.

The best career advice I’ve ever received is that I can achieve anything I set my mind to, as long as I step out of my comfort zone and commit to being a lifelong learner.

You can have a career in a field that you love and be able to help others. But I'll be honest with you - I was the only female of 23 people on the leadership team at Sleep Train, and I felt like I needed to learn more because it was a boys club. As a D personality female, I was constantly critiqued and coached and bullied because I was too direct, too loud. I had to learn that there are more S personalities out there than D's, so I had to make adjustments in how I deliver my information to appeal to the masses. Young people today want to say 'I want to be an individual, they should love me for me,' but you have to understand the world and that stereotypes apply. If you want business, if you want to be seen, if you want growth, you're going to have to make adjustments sometimes and not just show all of you. The joke is, I give everybody 10% Mindee until I figure out how much they can take. You also need to develop your soft skills - young people today are upset about AI taking their jobs, but they don't know how to look you in the eye, smile, say hello and engage. The one thing you have that computers don't is your personality, so work on that. And remember, 76% of people in leadership roles have been given zero training for leadership - they just got promoted because they worked hard. Don't be afraid to seek out the training and tools you need to succeed.

The biggest challenge for me right now is being able to get my name out there and get recognized in Kansas City, Missouri, where I'm currently living. I have my network in Northern California, and the majority of my business is actually coming from the West Coast because of my influence on those people. But I moved to Kansas City during a pandemic, so I haven't been able to get credibility in the Kansas City area. I need to get seen where I live now and prove that I'm not just a one-off, but that I come with 25 years of experience. I also have to deal with the baggage of Midwest people hating California, so I'm trying to brand myself with my own identity where I'm not attached to the West Coast - I'm just attached to helping people grow. Beyond my personal situation, I see a huge opportunity in the field right now because so many people are struggling. There's so much broken in the workforce - people think job postings are fake, companies are laying people off unexpectedly, and young people don't have the soft skills they need to compete. People need to work on themselves and create safety for their careers. If you can't control the environment or the workforce, you need to find another outlet. That's where coaching comes in - helping people realize that small tweaks can change their lives, and that they don't have to move mountains to get where they want to go.

The most important value to me is being able to provide the help needed to those who need me the most. My absolute favorite moment is helping people decode who they are and become their true self. So many people think there are these big boulders they're going to have to move to get where they want to go, but so often it's just the way they phrase something or the way they start their path. Helping people realize that change is real, actionable, and attainable - and that it won't take as much work as they think - that's what drives me. This isn't like being a fitness instructor telling you to work out every day for two months. This is all about personal intention. If you have a perspective of growth and you want to work on yourself, you can make change really quick. You just have to want to. In my personal life, I value being a wife of 28 years and spending time with my adult children. I'm a mother of two adult children now, and trying to make time to see them is important to me. My husband and I just went to Toronto and Niagara Falls for our 28th anniversary. I also believe in being a giver - I love helping people whenever I can, even though I need to make sure I charge for my services more. When I put myself out there for the greater good, the right people will see me.