Ozarks Profile - Paula Shumaker Yount

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What is your job?|ret||ret||tab|

Paula Shumaker Yount is the owner-editor of Monday Motivation, a weekly one-page bulletin e-mailed to businesses "to challenge, inspire and motivate people." She added, "I also just returned from The Coaches Training Institute to be a life coach to help people discover and develop their dreams and goals. In my new coaching practice, I'm going to specialize in baby boomers, since I am one."|ret||ret||tab|

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Please tell us about your company.|ret||ret||tab|

Yount started Monday Motivation in 1992 because she once had a motivation and training business called Under 1 Roof and Perpetual Motivation where "People would come in on Mondays and say, Motivate me!'" The life coach seemed a natural direction, she said, "based on my goals to help people stay motivated to discover and develop their dreams."|ret||ret||tab|

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What prepared you for work in your business?|ret||ret||tab|

"Somewhere around 9 or 10 years of age I realized what a difference one thought, one word, one person could make," Yount said. At age 21 she actively began studying and pursuing her purpose in life. "Everything from my first job in show business, selling candy and popcorn, to being executive director of Junior Achievement a job I loved because the kids I worked with showed me that our future is in good hands everything I've done has prepared me for now. Continual learning, whether traditional or through seminars, books and tapes, is the best motivational tool."|ret||ret||tab|

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Are developments in the economy having any effect on your field?|ret||ret||tab|

Yount said that recent economic developments reinforce the idea that now is all we have. "No one has guarantees," she said. "The good news is that if you've been thinking about changes in your career or your life, now is the time to quit thinking about it and do something positive to get what you want."|ret||ret||tab|

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What trends do you see now and anticipate seeing in your field?|ret||ret||tab|

According to Yount, coaching is "really coming to the forefront" in the field of personal development. "It's like having a good buddy, a coach, a taskmaster, too not to hold you accountable, but really to hold out a picture of your best self. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.'"|ret||ret||tab|

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What's the best part of your job?|ret||ret||tab|

"The best part of my job is when someone e-mails, writes or calls to let me know I made a difference in their job or personal life. That's what motivates me," Yount said. |ret||ret||tab|

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Can you tell us something about your personal life and family?|ret||ret||tab|

"I'm married to Bob Yount, who has three grown children, Kevin, Michele, and Aaron, and one grandchild, Michele's and her husband Jodie's son, Wyatt, who just turned 2. Kevin is married to Alicia. Aaron is still in high school in Aurora. And I have one daughter, Stacey Scrivener."|ret||ret||tab|

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How do you like to spend your leisure time?|ret||ret||tab|

"What is leisure time?" Yount said. "Just kidding. I like to read and write and spend time with family and friends. I like to go to the lake. My husband and I like to go dancing. Plus, I still like going to the movies."|ret||ret||tab|

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