02/19/2026
When I started JM Goldson, I was trained as a preservationist and community planner by education and experience. But one thing I was not was an entrepreneur.
And yet, I became one. I built something from nothing and grew it over the last 20 years into the company we are today. When I began hiring planners to assist me, it hit me that I wasn’t just responsible for my own paycheck anymore. I was responsible for theirs too! Yikes!
That moment came with a deep sense of responsibility and pushed me to uplevel my skills so I could lead with confidence and intention.
In 2018, I enrolled in my first business coaching program with Uplevel, a company out of Asheville, North Carolina, led by . Thank you, , for the introduction. That experience helped me realize how much clarity, structure, and support can elevate not just a business, but also the person leading it.
Now I attend a quarterly program in Toronto through .coach I learn with other entrepreneurs. It is a chance to step out of the day-to-day and refocus. In many ways, it mirrors what we help our municipal clients do. We help them step back from the urgent to reflect on the important, so that every effort contributes to long-term impact.
Whether you are a municipal planner, local board member, or consulting partner, here is what I have learned. Making time to reflect and reframe is not a luxury. It is a strategy. When we take time to see the bigger picture, we make better decisions today that shape stronger communities tomorrow.
This short video captures a few scenes from the streets of Toronto and the walk into the Strategic Coach offices. There is a quote on the wall from Dan Sullivan that sticks with me every time I visit:
“Our eyes only see and our ears only hear what our brain is looking for.”
Coaching, just as community planning can do for our clients, helps me tune my brain to what really matters.
