Darla Makela, Darla Makela Coaching
1 on 1 tells the stories of entrepreneurs and mentors working together to achieve success in our community.
Darla Makela
Owner, Darla Makela Coaching
Website: darlamakela.com
Phone: 507-995-7923
Jennifer Wanderscheid
Area Manager, Regus Mankato
Website: regus.com
Phone: 507-519-2271
After spending 27 years in the corporate world, Darla Makela needed a change. She knew others probably did too. And she thought she knew how she could help them.
“I started coaching ‘officially’ in August of 2017,” she explains. “I knew this was the perfect transition for me as I had spent many of the past 25 years loving and serving women in a variety of areas.”
Makela is a Certified Health, Life and Mindset Coach operating as Darla Makela Coaching.
“I am passionate about helping people live a more confident and empowered life and I do that with a variety of coaching tools and a strong emphasis on mindset coaching. Our belief system started when we were very young so it’s important to learn to transform those beliefs that are not serving us today and develop healthy beliefs that focus on truth of who we are today.
“My clients learn to believe in themselves again and many go on to do things they never thought possible before. Some thrive as they go through major life transitions and others have learned to be more confident leaders and business owners,” she says.
But as she tried to grow her business, she recognized she herself could use some coaching. She knew how to help others, but running a business proved to be a different set of skills. That’s when she discovered the 1Million Cups initiative in Mankato.
From day one I loved the environment of 1 Million Cups,” Makela says. “Everything felt genuine – like people truly believed in you as a business owner and there were no ulterior motives. They just want to see people thrive and grow in their careers. I also love that there are people in all different phases of success, from new business owners to retired successful business people.”
To see a room full of business and community leaders, mentors, was truly a special experience for Makela.
“This was a great way for me to be able to connect with people in my community and I wanted to get feedback on how I might be able to serve my community better as a Coach,” she reflects. “I made a couple of great connections – people I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to connect with.”
To other businesses, new and more seasoned, Makela highly encourages presenting or being a part of 1Million Cups.
“Do It!” she says. “If you are not confident in speaking, it’s a great place to start. My coach was great in helping me tweak my presentation as well as the audience is so kind. It’s a great way to get support in moving forward with your business. I had a great coach as I was preparing my presentation and I am very grateful for her support!”
Her mentor for 1Million Cups was Jennifer Wanderscheid, manager for Regus Mankato and an entrepreneur herself. Wanderscheid is eager to help others and has been attending 1Million Cups from the beginning.
“I love anything to do with business, networking and entrepreneurs so it was an easy choice to start attending. After attending for several sessions, I was asked to become more involved and immediately said yes. I love giving back and helping others,” she says.
When helping Makela put together presentations on her business, Wanderscheid had one piece of advice: be yourself.
“My best advice I always give is relax and tell your story. No one knows your story quite like you. 1MC is not about selling or anything like that. We want to know how you came up with your idea, what you’ve done so far, what you want to do next and most importantly, what can we as a community do to help you,” says Wanderscheid.
A seasoned business woman, Wanderscheid says all can benefit from having the 1Million Cups initiative here.
“I know 1MC is a national organization, but it just seems so very ‘Mankato’ to me. Every month you see people there that are young, old, new to business, business vets, entrepreneurs, business owners – just a melting pot of Mankato all coming together to help people. It’s a very friendly group and I always walk away feeling energized and like our town is doing good things,” she says.
1MC meets the first Wednesday of every month at 8:30am at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on North Riverfront Drive.
