Meet Shelley Siman | Trainer, Coach, & Adventure-Seeker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shelley Siman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shelley, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
While I am generally an overthinker and can research things to death before taking action, my business started very differently. There was not a lot of thought behind it initially. My business launched when I was laid off in 2021 from what was perceived to be a very stable, secure government job. I was 50 years old, and have been a single mother and the only household income for my family since my children were born 15 years ago. I was devastated; the career that I had been in for almost 30 years was my identity and I had catastrophic visions of losing our house and not being able to support my kids and the lifestyle I was working so hard to maintain for them. I ended up getting offered a couple of gigs in the months after I lost my job and loved the flexibility that being self-employed can offer. I also loved meeting and networking with people and creating opportunities. I learned that when you are self-employed, your income is correlated with your effort. When I worked more, I made more money, when I worked less, the opposite was true. I was so used to working in jobs where a lot of my coworkers were being paid the same as me, sometimes more, and were working less or producing lower quality work. If I wouldn’t have been laid off late in my career, I don’t think I would have started a business. It has been very rewarding!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My business currently consists of providing training and coaching for practitioners who work with veterans, people who are unhoused, and people who are involved in the criminal legal system. My partner and I really focus a lot on experiential and peer learning in our trainings, which sets us apart from other training programs. We are also very mindful that the work our participants are involved in is very challenging and exposes them to secondary and vicarious trauma. They experience a lot of burnout and compassion fatigue. We strive to guide them in a way that they can do their work while giving themselves grace and space to take care of themselves and shift more responsibility to their clients.
It was not, and still is not, easy to establish my business. I found after being laid off from a lifelong career at age 50, it was very difficult to let go of my “career” identity and battle the anxiety and depression I experienced from the layoff. At age 53, I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder in my life – balancing two teenagers, two jobs and multiple health issues which require major ongoing surgeries. Bouncing back from my layoff was a double-edged sword; I developed a newfound confidence that I could still be successful outside of a government 9-5 job, and I also developed serious imposter syndrome that chewed away at my confidence. What had I learned from a 30-year career in criminal justice? Did I have any skills that were transferable? What could I say I was good at?
To this day, I still find new clients from word-of-mouth and haven’t done any true marketing of my business. Most recently, I’ve been expanding into financial coaching and still testing this out as a new direction for my consulting work, possibly as a way of supporting single mothers. I partner with another woman who has her own LLC and am inspired by her courage daily as she was also laid off about the same time as has had to rediscover herself late in her career. I also dream of moving more into a creative line of work, as I am an artist and have been developing a unique theme in my painting over the past few years that I want to pursue more.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am not from Colorado, and so there are many places in the metro area and state that I have yet to discover. Because of my previous position with the state of Colorado, I can make the unique claim that I have visited every prison in Colorado, which means I have seen just about every corner of the state. Since I’ve been busy raising my two children, a lot of my outings would be to child-friendly places. I love the Anything Library system in Adams County. They are very family friendly and also have quiet spots as well, with games, computers, play areas, art and activity zones and some have coffee shops. Lafayette has been a great hanging spot for us. I love Chocolaterie Stam and Teocalli on North Public Road that runs through old town Lafayette and the WOW Children’s Museum in Lafayette is a great hands-on spot for kids. My favorite cuisine is Indian food and so I love Krishna Grocery, an Indian grocery store located in the District next to Otis Craft Collective in Lafayette (another favorite coffee shop with games and bright comfortable seating areas). Favorite restaurants include Bengal Tiger Indian Restaurant in north Thornton, and Tikka and Grill in mid-Thornton. If we were to take a long day trip, I would probably drive out to Rifle, Kremmling or Paonia, which have some of the most beautiful landscapes in the state. Being from the Midwest, I’m a little more partial to beautiful expanses of green rolling hills and lakes as opposed to the mountains that Colorado is more known for.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am dedicating my shoutout to my business partner and my life partner who both show me love and encouragement every day and every step of the way in life. I would also dedicate my shoutout to solo mothers who have brought their kids up without a partner. We do not give ourselves enough credit for this extraordinary life work which can be lonely, heart-wrenching and terrifying. My life has been focused on raising two beautiful children who are thriving and I’m dedicated to defying the depressing statistics and stereotypes that plague us as single mothers.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solo_mama/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleysiman/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shelley.siman