One year ago I sat in my office at my fathers building and contemplated a question that bogs the mind of every young adult fresh out of college, “what should I do now?”
I was twenty two years old, one year out of undergrad, working in the family financial services business, having just completed the LSAT exam and was beginning the process of applying to and looking at law schools. Most would say I had a lot on track and that I was headed in a very stable direction, but as anyone close to me knows, playing it safe is not the way I do things.
Without knowing it, I had fallen into the very trap that we strive to help our students surpass throughout their collegiate experiences. At The CCC we call it “The Awareness Gap”, and what it is, is the window between leaving high school and graduating college, where students are not properly guided to create an individual vision for their future goals. I went through my undergraduate years with the somewhat ignorant expectation that I would figure out what to do next when the time came. It wasn’t until I found myself working outside of my conative zone that I realized how vital that planning is before reaching the finish line. It was in that moment of panic that I thought about the way I was personally coached through my educational history and decided to utilize some of that tutelage to get back to working with my unique strengths.
There were certain tools (that we now use in the C3 Roadmap), that were monumental & influential parts of my self-discovery growing up. I was so enthralled with the way that they helped me to learn about who I am (and why I do things the way I do), that I decided to fly to Chicago to become certified in their trade. While there I began to realize that though they had captured a vast amount of markets with their coaching strategies there was one giant hole that I believed could benefit from their unique processes more then anyone else, and it was then that The College Confidence Coach was born.
There are so many people who I have been truly blessed to to have met this year. All of which have helped shape and mold me in one way or another to become ready for the responsibility of building this tremendous program and business. If you happen to be one of them reading this now: THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, I could not have started this journey without you.
It has been by far the most defining year of my life. From July 2013, to today, there have been so many milestones that this company and I have reached and passed that it would take an entire book to elaborate on them all. Rather then focus on each detail individually, I am choosing to collectively reflect on the significance of all of them and announce the results of what passing each of them has brought.
So without further ado, here are the major announcements from The College Confidence Coach 1 year Anniversary.
1. WE HAVE A BRAND NEW, BEAUTIFUL, REDESIGNED WEBSITE!!!
I couldn’t be more proud of the new website that has been built for us at www.thecccoach.com. Steve French and his team at infomatix have absolutely rocked this project and I cannot thank them enough for their tremendous work (and patience for dealing with me throughout the creation).
The website is a tribute to the first batch of students who have enjoyed our work and the infinite amount of future students who we hope to meet, coach, and mentor in the very near future. With an expedited and expanded growth potential on the very near horizon, It was time for us to take our technology to the next level and that is exactly what I think we’ve done with the new site.
Not only did we build this beautiful new public website, we are also in the process of completing our brand new private website for students and families who embark on new journeys with us. The new client website will be launching soon and we cannot wait to show it off to our highly valued clients and students.
2. WE HAVE A FANTASTIC NEW STRATEGIC PARTNER!!!
There are certain people who intersect your path in life who were undoubtably put there for a reason. Steve Loflin was that person for us this year.
Steve is the proud founder and creator of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS), who are celebrating a monumental milestone of their own this year, their 20th year anniversary!
When I first contacted Steve in July of 2013, CCC was still more or less an idea that I wanted to grow with and knew that he would have some highly valuable insight on how to make it work. Steve shared with me his own entrepreneurial story of how he hatched NSCS from a “crazy idea” and a lasagna dinner, into the prestigious organization it is today.
After multiple conversations and a few trips to DC where his offices are located, Steve and I have come to an agreement that will make him the primary advisor for The College Confidence Coach. I couldn’t be more excited and optimistic for the opportunities this will bring to my own “crazy idea”.
As our new advisor Steve will be a tremendous asset in creating strategic alliances, building candidate lists, giving introductions for business development, advising the development of our new workshop program and promoting CCC and its services.
We know that with Steve on our team the future is brighter then ever. We cannot wait to start implementing Steve’s distinguished unique strengths into our program and I personally can’t thank him enough for believing in me and The CCC.
Which leads us to our final and BIGGEST announcement
3. WE ARE OPENING A BRAND NEW OFFICE IN WASHINGTON D.C.!!!
It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with DC. Each time I went out there this year I found myself getting more and more wrapped up in the idea of launching this redesigned business in this place that had everything going on. I saw both the Ed-Tech and start-up communities booming throughout the area and it seemed like the perfect place for us to be affectively disruptive.
After a handful of discussions with my advisory board and a strong instinctual pull in that direction, I have decided to move to DC to launch The College Confidence Coach in a brand new market with a brand new office space. I couldn’t be more eager to get the ball rolling down there and seeing what we can grow this tremendous passion of mine into.
“Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That is where the fruit is.”
~ H. Jackson Browne
That is our quote as we venture into the second year of this journey. The first has been a year full of both tremendous blessings and challenges for me and I would not trade any of them for anything in the world. As we celebrate the 1 year anniversary of The College Confidence Coach, I reflect on everything that has happened to get me to this leaping point today and ponder into the future as to how the 2 year anniversary report will look. I am ecstatic to go out on this limb to find out. I would like to once more thank everyone for all their continuous love and support this year, it truly makes it all worth it.
Here’s to another tremendous year of discovery and passion,
Evan