Coaching transformation stories never fail to surprise us, because everyone’s journey with coaching is so unique.
Contrary to what people might think, not everyone enrolls for coach training to ‘become a coach’. In fact, when Victoria Sheer enrolled in Erickson’s coaching program in the autumn of 2020, she wasn’t planning a career pivot at all. She was five years into a successful career in product management, with a Master’s degree in Business Intelligence, and a solid trajectory in tech.
Instead, coaching was, at the time, something different - a way for her to grow, to stretch, to understand herself better during the strange stillness of COVID. What she didn’t know then was that the solution-focused tools she was learning would reshape not only how she communicated, but also how she led, built products, mentored others, and eventually found the inspiration to launch her own business program (more on that later).
As a self-described perfectionist, Victoria admits that she was skeptical that five months of training could make her truly competent. But Erickson’s practical, tool-based approach - particularly structured tools like the renowned Erickson ‘Coaching Arrow’ - gave her something tangible.
“By the end of the program, even by my perfectionist standards, I could coach people. And I could really see results.”
For someone trained in logic and systems thinking, the solution-focused methodology made sense. It wasn’t abstract psychology. It was structured inquiry. It was forward movement. It was measurable progress.
Learning techniques like practising active listening and asking powerful, open-ended questions helped Victoria to stay curious instead of reactive.
“Coaching helped me with communication, persuasion, negotiation… and honestly, just being liked,” she says candidly. “When I use these skills, people respond differently.”
In tech - where analytical thinking dominates and introversion is common - emotional intelligence can become a competitive advantage.
Coaching skills strengthened her ability to:
-Ask better discovery questions
-Understand underlying interests
-Create psychological safety in teams
-Separate assumptions from facts
-Facilitate clearer decision-making
While Victoria dabbled with the idea of doing coaching on the side, while still prioritizing her product management role, she experienced many of the frustrations that new coaches experience when trying to launch themselves.
“Marketing myself felt daunting, and it was quite draining doing it on top of a full time role, and I also realized that I didn’t want to coach ‘just anyone’, but I was also unsure how to go about attracting the ‘right clients’.
Basically, things didn’t unfold the way she expected. But instead of giving up on coaching, she did something very on-brand:
She applied her coaching skills and questions to herself, stepped back and asked herself:
-What do I truly want to build?
-Where can my strengths serve best?
-How do I combine product thinking with coaching?
That reflection led her to pivot.
Rather than ‘pure coaching’, she began offering mentoring and training for product professionals, weaving her coaching skills into a more structured, outcome-driven format.
In wanting to grow personally and professionally, and build a side business, Victoria pivoted first to what was most familiar to her at the time - training product managers. Then, out of her passion for networking and travel, she launched a travel community. And finally, she started an Agile Transformation consulting practice. For 5 years she was running all three of these businesses on the side.
During this time she saw that she started to get a lot of inquiries from her colleagues and other senior technical professionals on how she managed to start not one but rather three side businesses. It was here that she identified a real pain point - and it was one that she had experienced herself. And that led her to build and launch 12Brave - a practical program for senior professionals who want to diversify their income by starting a side business.
After 12 years in corporate product roles - launching million-euro products to international markets - Victoria made what she calls a ‘brave leap’. Along with Ekaterina Servetnik, her co-founder from Strategy Consulting, Victoria and Ekaterina started inviting successful entrepreneurs in the SaaS, coaching, and consulting arena to join the team on an advisory and mentorship basis. Together, they created an incredibly hands-on program that walks senior professionals through how to start their side business and get their first clients.
The program integrates:
Product management principles
Market research and positioning
Strategic funnel design
AI orchestration tools
Group mentorship
Coaching-based reflection and accountability
Marketing & sales tactics with no marketing spend for new businesses
Her program may be AI-assisted, teach their students how to use AI automations, but it doesn’t promise overnight AI riches.
“Tech is an enabler but there’s still much more to it, and that’s why AI alone won’t build you a successful business,” she says. “There’s strategic thinking and real work involved. We teach how to use AI to support the value chain - not replace it.”
The program is also different in that participants don’t just leave with a validated business idea, marketing strategy, a landing page, and even first clients, but also with new ways of thinking.
“So many clients have finished our program and said, ‘I changed so much as a person.’ I never even used the word mindset in the program - but that’s what shifted for so many of our clients. And ultimately, that’s one of the first things you need to work on when starting a business: your mindset. You need to believe that you can actually do it and not give up quickly. That is why our 12BRAVE cohort format really works well to provide support and networking with other entrepreneurs on similar journeys.”
Victoria believes coaching holds immense untapped potential in tech, positioned correctly.
Tech professionals:
-Want clear outcomes
-Think in systems
-Value logic
-Respect evidence
-Seek efficiency
When coaching is framed as vague self-exploration, it struggles to gain traction. Yet when it’s positioned as:
-A strategic leadership tool
-A communication advantage
-A clarity accelerator
-A performance multiplier
Then it becomes compelling.
“People in tech may not say, ‘I need a coach.’ But they absolutely have problems a coach can help solve.”
Her advice to coaches wanting to serve tech? Get specific. Get strategic. Build a clear niche. And think like a product manager about your positioning.
One of Victoria’s strongest beliefs is that coaching doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing leap.
“If you love your job and still have energy, build your coaching presence slowly. Five or six hours a week. Consistently. Don’t see it as a backup plan - but rather as a long-term investment and a way to set up the right foundations from the very beginning.
“Building your personal brand and your business is an investment - and one that can sometimes yield even better financial results than ETFs. And it’s something no one can take away from you.”
Her journey wasn’t linear. She didn’t build a six-figure coaching practice overnight. She experimented. She pivoted. She integrated. And in true Ericksonian style, she stayed solution-focused.
Working deeply with AI tools, Victoria’s opinions are clear: “There is a threat everywhere - but people still need human touch. Sometimes what they need is not knowledge. It’s support.”
AI can assist. It can accelerate. It can systematize. But it cannot replace trust, accountability, and human presence. If anything, as the world becomes more automated, the value of conscious, empathetic conversation grows.
Looking back, Victoria doesn’t see Erickson as a detour. She sees it as an important catalyst on her entrepreneurial journey.
It helped her:
-Understand her strengths
-Clarify her entrepreneurial drive
-Develop a solution-focused mindset
-Build conscious communication habits
-Take brave action
Would she have become an entrepreneur anyway?
“Maybe,” she says thoughtfully. “But all of these changes happened right after Erickson. And I don’t think that’s a coincidence.” Sometimes the most powerful innovation isn’t another product feature. It’s a better question.
To connect with Victoria on LinkedIn, visit her profile here, and to learn more about 12BRAVE, click here.
For more information on becoming an Erickson coach and learning the solution-focused approach, book a virtual coffee chat with one of our advisors here.