Meet the Experts: Barbara Winter and Valerie Young

Success Stories

“I can’t even begin to imagine how long it would take for me to acquire all of this information on my own, and here you’ve put it right at my finger tips.”

Diane Kobrynowicz Austin, Texas www.ShapeSisters.com

“I decided to join the Changing Course Club to help propel my dreams into reality. Valerie has created a very special safe place for us to communicate our thoughts, our feelings, our fears and ambitions, so let the journey begin.”

Lizette Scotland

“I didn’t expect to find a ready-made community of kindred dreamers so excited about changing course that they reignited my own enthusiasm for change. Thank you!”

Patricia Robertson Wyncote, Pennsylvania www.TheVirtualCareerDetective.com

“You are doing a great thing for desperate cubicle-dwellers. You helped this one out of the quicksand of constant complaining and in to the take charge zone.”

Cattie Coyle www.CCoylePhotography.com

“When I came across your website, at first I was suspicious. After reading through it, I put aside my hesitation and decided to go for it. It was one of the best decisions I've made in a long time!”

Dyan DeNapoli Boston, Massachusetts www.ThePenguinLady.com

“Thank you all for the work you do. If you didn’t do this, more people like me would have let life happen to us instead of dreaming and creating the lives we want! I cannot thank you enough.”

Cindy Oman Mesa, Arizona

“Thank you for opening my eyes to new possibilities. Your course is so different than any other on the market, that the 'lightbulb' went off almost instantly.”

Francine Samadi

“It's amazing how everything seems to be connected and supporting the whole picture of who I am. I'm very excited and very happy. I got so much out of the Changing Course workshop!”

Sue Sullivan Rio Rancho, New Mexico

“You actually give concrete ideas and steps to take in pursuing your dreams (in addition to all of the motivating words of wisdom that are helpful and necessary as well!). Thank you and keep up the good work!”

Kim Wagner

“I came to get marketing ideas for my business. It met all my expectations and exceeded them.”

Rodney Washington

Meet the Experts

Barbara Winter, author of the bestselling book, Making a Living Without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating Work That You Love, is also a business owner, itinerant teacher, and self-employment advocate who found her own right livelihood after overcoming her early notions that work was meant to be drudgery.

It all began in 1974 when she founded The Successful Woman, a pioneering training and development company, which conducted programs on self-esteem and entrepreneurship for women. She went on to found several small businesses-all with the intention of passing along to others the lessons she had learned.

A former high school English teacher, Barbara has turned her considerable energies to the teaching of adults. Her popular seminars, including Making a Living Without a Job and Establish Yourself as an Expert, are regularly held throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Barbara also shares her passion for creative entrepreneurship in events in her new hometown of Las Vegas.

In addition, she is the editor/publisher of Winning Ways: the newsletter for people living and working with passion, the longest running small-business newsletter in the United States.

Barbara is the mother of an adult daughter, a devoted Anglophile, an intrepid world traveler and is ferociously committed to lifelong learning. She is particularly enthusiastic about being an inspired grandmother.

Valerie Young is the founder and Dreamer in Residence at ChangingCourse.com and an expert on turning interests into income Following the sudden death of her mother Barbara in 1993, Valerie left her corporate job and 90-mile-a-day commute to pursue her own dream of launching Changing Course. Valerie's career change tips have been cited in such publications as Inc. Kiplinger’s, The Wall Street Journal, USA Weekend, Reader’s Digest, Redbook, Glamour (UK), Cosmopolitan, Entrepreneur, The Chicago Tribune, The Globe & Mail, The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), and online at IVillage, CareerBuilder, and MSN.com

A popular guest speaker Valerie has delivered her How to Feel As Bright and Capable As Everyone Seems to Think You Are program to over 30,000 people from such organizations as Intel, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chrysler, American Women in Radio and Television, Society of Women Engineers, Harvard and MIT.

She is the contributing editor of the e-books Finding Your True Calling: The Handbook For People Who Still Don't Know What They Want To Be When They Grow Up and Yes You Can: The Inspirational Kick in the Pants You Need to Take Control of Your Life and Go After Your Dreams.