Laura Simms is the Founder of Your Career Homecoming and a Certified Equity-Centered Coach (IECC) with 15 years of experience guiding high-performers through meaningful career transitions. She has helped over 450 professionals choose careers with both meaning and money, and her clients have come and gone from places like Google, OWN, NPR, Fortune 500 companies, the FBI, Broadway, and HarperCollins. As the creator of the WHOLE Method, a holistic career change strategy, Laura brings a unique approach that integrates purpose with practicality. Her work has been featured in U.S. News & World Report, The Business Journals, CEO Weekly, Women’s Journal, and Training Journal, among others. She holds degrees from Furman University and The University of California, Irvine, and has taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Based in Atlanta, Laura enjoys thrifting, interior design, and walks in the woods.
Company: Your Career Homecoming
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company
Laura Simms: I’m Laura Simms, founder of Your Career Homecoming. I’m a former actor with an MFA in acting, not a former HR person or corporate exec, which is a little unusual in this industry. I started this work after my own career crisis, when I realized that therapy, assessments, and self-help books were all giving me pieces of self-knowledge but never actually helping me make a decision. So I built the thing I wish had existed for me. It’s called the WHOLE Method, and it’s a structured, eight-week process for people who are successful on paper but privately questioning whether the career they built still fits the life they actually want. I’ve worked with over 450 clients now, folks who’ve come from places like Google, NPR, the FBI, Broadway, and HarperCollins.
What were the most significant challenges you faced during the scaling process, and how did you overcome them?
Laura Simms: Scaling has felt like rowing a boat while simultaneously adding a 2nd deck to it. Keep the business you have going, while also adding to it. That’s a capacity issue for a business scaling from a company of one. I’ve built a small but mighty team that is values-aligned, working from their strengths, and connected to the mission of the business. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a team member to be as bought in as the founder, but having people who care and are intrinsically motivated is a standard I set that I never want to deviate from.
How did you ensure that your company culture remained intact as your business expanded?
Laura Simms: The work I did with Trudi Lebron from the Institute of Equity-Centered Coaching set me up to scale not just the business capacity, but the business values and culture. Before I brought anyone else on, I had a formal written culture plan to help hold me accountable to the vision, goals, and culture of the business. That document is part of onboarding for new team members, but it’s not a “read it on Day 1 and forget about it” thing. Our culture lives inside our policies and procedures across every aspect of the business, from operations to marketing to sales to client services. It shapes how we make decisions on emergent issues, and how we handle conflict.
What strategies did you employ to maintain quality and customer satisfaction while scaling rapidly?
Laura Simms: I wouldn’t say I scaled rapidly (my pace tends to be slow and steady), but here’s what worked:
1. Martin Scorcese says that 90% of directing is casting, and I think that holds for a business. 90% of leading is hiring. It took some trial and error for me to develop this skill, but hire the right person and you’re 90% there.
2. Clear documentation and training. This makes the expectations clear for everyone, so it’s easier to know if someone is doing it right or not. You have to set people up for success by letting them know what success looks like.
3. Asking customers what they need. We have several live and automated check ins with all of our clients so they have ample opportunity to give us feedback (anonymous, if desired) to make sure we’re on the right track and folks are getting what they need
Can you share a specific turning point that was crucial for your business’s successful scaling?
Laura Simms: Back to thinking of scaling from a company of one as creating more capacity, one of my first hires was a career change strategist who could help carry the load of client work. That shifted several hours a week off my plate, made my schedule more predictable, and meant I could focus on growing the business instead of doing all of the deliverables work. She helped row the boat so I could build the upper deck.
How did you manage the financial aspects of scaling, particularly in securing funding and maintaining cash flow?
Laura Simms: Because I’ve never taken outside funding, I’ve had to manage cash flow deliberately rather than lean on a runway. My largest ongoing costs, like payroll and advertising, go out every month regardless of who enrolls that week. Two things keep it steady. First, I hold a substantial cash reserve that I don’t touch. Revenue naturally ebbs and flows month to month, but the reserve means those swings never turn into stress or reactive decisions. It smooths out the experience even when the timing of income doesn’t cooperate. Second, I’ve learned to stop measuring the business one month at a time. Some months the profit I’m aiming for lands right on schedule, and other times it takes a full quarter to show up, but it gets there. Thinking on that longer horizon is what keeps me steady and clear-headed.
