When the world came to a standstill, Debi Kinney found her true stride. Swapping her event planner's clipboard for a health coach's guidebook, she joins us to recount the transformative journey that has not only reshaped her career but also the lives of those she touches. Debi's story is a beacon for anyone feeling stuck, a reminder that embracing change can lead us to a path more in tune with our values and passions. Our conversation meanders through the realm of identity and resilience, offering a glimpse into the heart of a woman who crafts wellness with the same precision she once dedicated to her events.
Connect with Debi
https://hellocoaching.info
IG @debikinney
Connect with Heidi
Work with Heidi
IG @realheidisawyer
If you enjoyed the show, please leave a review!
Checkout the Heart First Leadership Podcast with Ryan & Heidi Sawyer
When the world came to a standstill, Debi Kinney found her true stride. Swapping her event planner's clipboard for a health coach's guidebook, she joins us to recount the transformative journey that has not only reshaped her career but also the lives of those she touches. Debi's story is a beacon for anyone feeling stuck, a reminder that embracing change can lead us to a path more in tune with our values and passions. Our conversation meanders through the realm of identity and resilience, offering a glimpse into the heart of a woman who crafts wellness with the same precision she once dedicated to her events.
Connect with Debi
https://hellocoaching.info
IG @debikinney
Connect with Heidi
Work with Heidi
IG @realheidisawyer
If you enjoyed the show, please leave a review!
Checkout the Heart First Leadership Podcast with Ryan & Heidi Sawyer
I'm excited to bring you this interview with Debbie Kenney. She talks about how, during the pandemic, she had some changes take place in her career that surrounded around events and event planning, and how she ended up finding health coaching and moving into a place of working with women on really helping them to align with different areas of their life. One of the things that I want to highlight in this conversation is that she really realized that she was able to prioritize the things that mattered most in her life, like being present for her family, which brings to mind that sometimes we don't recognize that we are out of alignment with our priorities until we've decided to make a change. Question for you to contemplate as you listen to this episode is is there somewhere in your life where you're ready to make a change and bring yourself into further alignment with your priorities or with the truth of who you've come here to be? I hope you enjoy my conversation with Debbie.
Speaker 1:Debbie, welcome to the show. Thank you so much, heidi. I'm excited to have you here. Before we dive in, can you give everyone a little bit about you?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. My name is Debbie Kenney. I am owner of Hello Coaching. I've been in business for over three years, but I have been a student and an advocate of health and wellness since I was a teenager. I'm a mom, a wife, a dog mom, and just love helping other people. It's my passion and my purpose. I have to ask you, what kind of dogs do you have? Or dog? I have a yellow lab, but he is freakishly large. I actually took him to the vet yesterday and he's 119 pounds. Oh my word, he really tall. He's not like big. I walk him about six to eight miles a day. So even the vet was like I've never seen a lab this big. That doesn't have like a weight issue. She's like normally I'd be having the conversation about you know, pulling back on the food, but she's like he's like solid, just a big boy. Yeah, big, sweet baby. Do I assume you have dogs?
Speaker 1:I do. I've got two Australian Labradoodles so they're fairly small. My biggest one's like 55 pounds.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's still pretty big.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, he ended up way bigger than what we thought, so that was a fun surprise.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I say I call his name's Cruz, but I call him Clifford the big red dog, because he just keeps growing in our life, all right.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So you know, the show's all about reinvention and I want to really just dive into the deep end here and hear about what was that moment for you in your life where you decided something needs to change. I'm ready to do something different.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. I am one of those weirdos out there that really embraces change. I love change. I'm always doing different things. My husband makes fun of me because I'm always reorganizing something in the house, but for me, with my career and my physical health, I had two drastic transformations and pivotal moments.
Speaker 2:So with work, I was a veteran in the hospitality industry. I was in corporate event planning for 25 years and when the pandemic hit I live in Las Vegas. And when the pandemic hit I started to mentor other up and coming event professionals because we weren't producing events at the time and it was my way of still staying connected and trying to help. But after a couple of months of that and events not returning, it got a little bleak and sad and I didn't really know what advice to give. At that same time, I was actually approached about becoming a coach and it was something that was always in the back of my mind. I had practiced health and wellness in my own life. I started teaching group fitness at 13 years old and kept that with me throughout my life. Even when I left teaching and went into corporate hospitality, I still personally was working out and eating clean and all of that. So when I was approached, it just resonated with me and thought this is it, this is my way to really help people.
Speaker 2:At a time when the pandemic people went one of two ways they either really embraced it and got healthy and went walking and did what they could, or they sort of let it take over and kind of became couch potatoes and rightfully so.
Speaker 2:None of us knew how to respond or react, and there's no wrong answer, but a lot of people were suffering and so that was my way to give back. So I started coaching, just kind of as a side hustle. And about six months into this side hustle I was just sitting in my office one day and looking at numbers and I called my husband and I said I think I can leave and do this full time, but please check my math. Wow, yeah. And so he checked, he's like yeah. And so that was a big shift for me, because so much of my identity was caught up in being an executive in the hospitality industry. So it's a completely switch and it took me a few months to really mentally embrace that. So that was a really pivotal moment for me to realize like wow, I'm living my passion and my purpose and I can actually live off of that too. That was, that was a game changer.
Speaker 1:So what was that period of time like, when you were making that transition and you said it took some adjustment, and I think it's. You know, it's interesting because we look at our identity and our self concept and it oftentimes revolves around something that we're doing on the outside. So did you have some shifts internally that kind of led you to, in a way, disengage with identifying so strongly with what you were doing?
Speaker 2:It took time, for sure, and I can remember I'd be out hiking with my dog in the morning and really struggling because the hospitality industry I always say it's in my DNA Like I love planning events, I love planning period, and that industry really raised me and made me who I am today and in fact a lot of the process involved in event planning is very similar to what it is with physical and life transformation, and so it's very similar. And I think once I sort of had that aha moment. That was a big shift for me. But I was, you know, I wondered what people were thinking of me.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to insult people in the event industry because I love that industry and I didn't want them to feel abandoned or like I thought badly of them or that. And so, yeah, there was. There was a lot of internal dialogue going on for quite a few months. It took me a while to really embrace it and I mean, if I look back at my social media, you can really tell I'm kind of dipping my toe in the water and backing out and dipping my toe in the water and backing out, and then I get a little bit more bold and then I back out, and so it is.
Speaker 2:It's a process and that's okay. We don't have to be all or nothing. Both can be true. And I still love planning events and I still love being a coach, and, again, both can be true.
Speaker 1:I think it's important to like. One of the things that is unique about your story is that you were in your mid 40s when you decided to make this shift, and so many times people have been in careers for 20 years, 25 years even and it's like how could I think of leaving this? I've worked so hard to get to where I am. What advice would you have for someone who's in that position, where they're like you know, I think there's something else for me, but is it too late?
Speaker 2:Right. Well, it's never too late. You know, I know people that have switched their careers much later than I did. But yeah, I mean that midlife 45, like halfway point it. It is scary and it's almost like is this a midlife crisis? Am I not really meant to do this?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, there was a lot of questioning, but what I share with people as I'm coaching them and people that I consult with, is really identify why you're being pulled in another direction. Is it truly your passion and your purpose and it's something totally different that you're drawn to do? Is it something within the company that you're working at? Is it the culture of the company isn't really resonating with you, but you love your role and so maybe you could do that for a different company with a different culture. Or do you not love the role at all, but you love the company, so could you stay with the company and shift into a different role?
Speaker 2:So I think really digging deep and figuring out what's not sitting well and what you're being drawn towards, that really will give you some insight in terms of what next steps that you should take, and it's different for everybody. Some people take that deeper dive and realize, oh, I'm actually really happy where I'm at. I just want a little bit more fulfillment in X, y and Z, and some people are like I can't believe I spent this long in this career. It's not who I am or what I want to do and I'm going to take the leap, but it's important to identify where that's coming from first.
Speaker 1:When I think of different pivotal moments in my life where I made shifts and I'm in my 40s now and it's like you do start to look at your life and go, ok, what is this next chapter going to look like, and how do I want to create that? Because we do have the power to create our own experience and what we want that to look like. But I think about times where I was in a career and when I would think of leaving. Did I feel relieved? And there's always going to be things that you miss Everywhere, that every transition you make, whether it's a relationship or a career or anything else it's easy to see the good things on the way out, and being self-employed isn't necessarily for everyone. So how did you transition from having a full-time career to being self-employed? What was that transition like for you?
Speaker 2:So I was very blessed I remained employed throughout the pandemic and so I was able to build this as a side hustle full disclosure to my current employer at the time and really explore it and understand where I was going and what I was doing and how I wanted to approach it. And I think for me that shift was about my priorities. It became less about me in that moment. But I have a 13-year-old son, who was then 9, 10. And my husband is a very, very busy department chair at a university. Here I was a busy, busy executive at a corporate event planning firm, which you know it's nights and weekends, and for me that pivotal piece was my priorities and I didn't want to fight with my husband over who could pick up the kid and who could be home at night and I wanted my son to really have our presence because he's I mean, he's our now 13. He's like, can you guys like go out on a date night or something and leave me alone? So you know, but at the time he wanted us around all the time. That was a big priority for me and so that's how I really came to that conclusion.
Speaker 2:But then becoming an entrepreneur so Hello, coaching is actually the second business I've started in my life. I started my first one at 25, so 20 years ago or 23. And so I had a little bit of a foundation of knowing myself and how I like to do things. I'm very process-oriented. In fact, I work with a lot of startup nonprofits, businesses to help them put their processes, the foundation into place to grow, and so that actually I'm lucky that that's very familiar to me and that's a role, even in the event planning capacity, that I was able to embrace and carry over with me.
Speaker 2:But you know, you walk away from a steady paycheck, you walk away from paid vacation, and so there were those sort of extraneous pieces that I had to really wrap my mind around in terms of lifestyle and what that adjustment would look like. But I think it's really important to have a solid business structure and it doesn't mean that what you start with on day one and that you're utilizing in month three and month six is what you'll be doing in year three and year six, but really establishing that foundation so that you have some consistency in your life that you can then see what works. If it works, great, build on it. If it doesn't work, try again. I think that's really important as an entrepreneur is to keep that foundational structure but also be able to flex and morph with how your business is growing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember what a company that I worked for years ago. One of the leaders of the company would always say probably 80% of what we're doing is wrong right now, and that's a good thing to be curious about. It's like how can we continue to innovate and improve? The question that I have for you is what are some of the biggest things that you learned about yourself?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, resiliency. I didn't realize how resilient I was because when you're in an entrepreneur, every deal is the deal right. Like they always say in sales, you're only as good as your next sale. Well, when you're in an entrepreneur, every piece of business matters. It becomes a little bit personal, which in one spectrum is really good because you care so much about your business and your clients and helping other people when you're a coach. But on the other side of the spectrum, you don't want to get so wrapped up in it that it's devastating if you don't end up working with that client or that business. And so that resilience and that ability to care without getting too personally invested, and that's like a real funky line to try to dance across.
Speaker 2:But I definitely think resilience, I think knowing that there's good and bad ways to do things, yes, but really there's no right answers and I can be a little bit of a black and white thinker. Like I said, I'm very process oriented you start here, you go there, you go there. And so for me, realizing that you do need to learn to flex and change and kind of go with the wind a little bit and see and keep trying, just because you do something one time and doesn't work doesn't mean it's a bad thought or idea or process. It just means you haven't given it time to grow legs. And so really, patience has been a big learning piece for me, because I'm typically like go, go, go, high achiever type A personality. So I think the patience to create and put out into the world and to connect with people and let that run its course has been just a drastic change for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, patience is so huge, especially when you're first starting to grow your business and figuring out what your niche is, who you're helping, how you're helping them. How is that different from what everyone else is doing out there? Because the coaching space is loud, there's a lot going on. If you've ever looked at an ad on social media for coaching, you're about to get 10,000 more.
Speaker 2:This is a saturated market. Everybody out there is a coach. It's a coach of a coach. It's a very saturated market, and so I think that's another learning piece is, whatever market you're in, really learning to differentiate yourself and understanding what you bring to the table that's different from the other coach or the other bookkeeper or whatever profession you're in. Is that differentiation, that uniqueness, is your superpower.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and let's talk about what you said with holding it lightly, wanting the best for a client. I've experienced this too. They've got to make the decision for themselves and we can't take it personally if we're not the right timing or fit or whatever that is, and I think it's important to a lot of times people in business especially when it is a personalized business like coaching we can get really graspy with it and it's like we have to be able to separate our self-worth from a client making their own decision and exercising their right to choose what's best for them. Absolutely. I think so many times that's the pitfall that people fall into is like, well, I must not be a good coach or I must not be explaining this well, or whatever it is, and it's also just probably not the right timing for that person. You might be such a good coach that they're not ready for what you're offering yet, right, and they need to go somewhere else first.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Movie stars, celebrities. There are movie stars that are out there that people absolutely love Brad Pitt, everyone fones over Brad Pitt and I'm like I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, your flavor, yeah not my flavor and that's totally fine, and that's the same thing with coaches. But again, you're absolutely right, I had to really come to that realization of, ok, they weren't ready, we don't have. I'm really a go, go, go achiever, step by step kind of a person, and they need a little bit more fluff and I'm not always fluff and marshmallows, I'm very like. I'm going to hold you accountable and I'm going to do it with love and compassion, but we're going to keep moving forward and so it has to be. That dance has to be very dynamic and it has to flow and if it doesn't, it's not meant to be. And that's, I think, the realization I walked away with that If it doesn't work out, there's probably a reason for it and I should be grateful. And then it freed up time for another project or another client or they aligned with someone else that's going to be a better fit for them and get them to their goals quicker or in the way that they need to get there. It all works out.
Speaker 1:It does, yeah, so tell me about what are you working with women on primarily, or is it primarily women?
Speaker 2:So I have a few different under the umbrella of hello coaching. I have different services. So for my health and nutrition coaching I have coached men. I have coached women in their 20s, Primarily with health and nutrition coaching. My niche is women, 35 to 60 years old. That is the majority of who I have helped. You know we attract the like and so that's kind of in my wheelhouse.
Speaker 2:Then I am also a certified personal trainer and I don't train. I'm certified to train. I call them Gen Pop, the general population, but I don't. So I can advise on fitness as part of like my health coaching. But for actual personal training I focus on special needs kids and senior citizens, because they are all three are very underserved markets and so that's really where I choose to focus my time there. Then with life coaching, again back to primarily women. Us women face a lot of pressure and challenges and whether that's self-imposed or community or culturally imposed, we feel like we have to have it all together all the time, and so I work with primarily women on creating systems and processes and organizing their life so that they can feel like they're getting it all done while they're still taking care of themselves and not sacrificing their mental or physical wellness. And then I also do some business consulting too, and that's primarily nonprofits and startups.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's fascinating.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of different areas that you're involved in, yeah, a lot of variety, but I love that because it kind of means no, two days are the same, which I love.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and well, that's the event person in you. Like, that's the event Totally. Like. No client is going to be the same. Their events are going to be totally different. Yes, it's always a surprise and a relief. I've done event coordinating as well and it's like a relief at the end when it's over, and then here you go right into the next one. So it's kind of like that adrenaline that you get from it.
Speaker 2:Totally yes.
Speaker 1:Which is really fun.
Speaker 2:It is. It's super fun and it's. You know, like I said, I still love planning events, but it got to the point where I was like I'm not even enjoying this anymore and I didn't want to feel that way. You know when it would come to time to plan my son's birthday party, even you know, I was like I just didn't. So now I have the fire again and I theme everything out and I go over the top because it's fun again.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, and it is about finding that balance between the things that you like to do in your personal life, what creates some meaning for you and purpose in the work that you're doing. I think it's really important to have meaning and purpose behind what you're doing, for your vocation as well.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and that's something I share with my clients too. When, when they come to me and they talk about you know if it's a health or nutrition coaching client, you know, hey, I want to get healthier we really dive into what does that mean? And if it's really just, I just need to see this number on the scale I will actually turn clients away. I'm not a diet coach. I'm all about lifestyle and healthier habits, and it's not just about the number on the scale, it's how we're feeling, it's how our confidence level, it's our minds, that our mindset drives everything. So far, mindset isn't healthy. The rest of us can't be. So that is something I really explore with my clients is what are they after really and why? And once we have those established, oh my gosh, the transformation. It just comes.
Speaker 1:My biggest driver right now for my, my health and the way that I eat and the choices that I make has so much less to do with what I'm seeing in the mirror. But it's actually that cognitive function is more important to me. It's like having the stabilized blood sugar throughout the day, feeling even emotionally in it, like you know, experiencing the emotions but not writing those extreme highs and lows that come with that up and down of the insulin and the hormones and everything that's going on there.
Speaker 1:So for me it is so much more mental and emotional side of things than it is the physical.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And in our, in our age bracket, that becomes really important because our bodies are changing so much and, frankly, most people don't realize the blood sugar and insulin spikes and drops that they're. They don't know what it feels like not to have those. So I, when I'm working with clients, they're amazed because they're like I just feel so much more steady or consistent. I don't, I don't have cravings like I used to, because my body's getting what it needs when it needs it. So, yeah, that's a really great point is and I'm very much similar Like I contune so much more into how I feel after I eat certain things than you know if it makes me bloated or how I feel the next day looking in the mirror that that is so much more important to me at this stage of life. So I think, the more we can talk about those spikes and dips and the regulation of nutrition, it feeds your mind, it feeds your body, your muscles and so important what we're putting into our body, yeah, and I think I read somewhere that women are losing.
Speaker 1:What is the number?
Speaker 2:The muscle mass 3 to 8% muscle mass every decade after 35, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's actually, I just started taking EAAs, which are essential amino acids.
Speaker 2:I started taking them in August. I tested them for a full month. I was like I geek out about this stuff again process, but I kept a journal every day of how I felt and what I noticed. And now, like, I recommend them to all of my clients because they help with muscle retention, they help your body to process the proteins that you feed it, they help with muscle soreness, they help with aging and, you know, collagen for your hair and nails. So there's some like vanity benefits too.
Speaker 2:But they were a game changer and I am not a supplementer. I have an autoimmune disease and so when I've tried to supplement in the past, they made me super sick, so I was very skeptical. So I was happy to find something that worked to combat that, because it's a real thing. And then you hear about people that are more mature in age and you know they fall and break a hip or they're having so much like joint and bone pain because they're losing that muscle mass and so their bones become more brittle. It's, it's yeah. So it's good for us at this time in our life to get ahead of that.
Speaker 1:I read that recently and then it was even this morning. You know, you got to pay attention to yourself, talk when you're working out and everything. And I'm like okay, all right, girl, get that heavier weight, go, get that heavier weight. You've got to maintain your muscle at least.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love that self top. That's so good.
Speaker 1:That's so great.
Speaker 1:My challenge to myself lately I do bar classes and so my challenge is to be the most encouraging person, the person with their smile on her face, and but that comes from within, and so that's the energetic address that I keep tapping into and keep returning to over and over is that place of like I'm so blessed to be in this body moving. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by all these incredible women who are here to work on themselves. Yay Us, you know just this energy of, and then you feel you know you have those thoughts come in, like I think I'm dehydrated. I went in the sauna, you know all this stuff and it's like no, no, bring it back. So it is like you said, everything is about mindset. It's about deciding what that default setting is for you and feeling through and processing through whatever is going on, but not getting so caught up in those thoughts. Yes, limitations People fight for their own limitations so hard. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like harder for their limitations than their actual opportunities, which when you think about it, when you say it out loud, it's like really, but you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1:The comfort zone isn't always comfortable. I say it's like the known zone, it's just what you know. It doesn't mean that it's all that's possible for you, but it's it's where we default back to. So it's like about changing those default settings and that's always what I'm working on. So I love that anyway, kind of going off on a tangent there, but that was my thought process with learning, about learning, that stat about women losing muscle and like, okay, you can do this, you've just got to maintain that's it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maintain and then start to build so that you actually offset what that natural loss would be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you're, you're absolutely right. Change that curve Right, change the curve, yes, and change your mindset.
Speaker 2:Like you said, I love that and I always learned. When you have those, you know we don't want to live in that toxic positivity of like the stepford wife smile on our face, right, you know, struggling through a workout, everything's great. It's like acknowledge the feeling and then give yourself some positive self-talk and a pep talk of like it's okay, you can feel weak in this moment and still know that you're strong enough to lift more weight or to finish the workout, or to smile at your, your neighbor across the wave from you, because encouraging them will encourage you, like I love.
Speaker 1:I love that whole, that whole process and you can, and I'm so big, too, on teaching your body how to feel it's like. Let me teach my body how to feel and then my thoughts will follow that, and I think so many times in the coaching world we hear all about like your thoughts create your feelings. It's a two-way street. It happens both ways, and there's lots of signals going on, and one thing that I challenge people to do is to try to skip and don't smile.
Speaker 2:Try it after this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you've got to try it. My kids are trying to do it all the time. They're like I can do it, I can skip and not smile, and they just crack the biggest smile because there's just something connected in the brain where it's like this is fun.
Speaker 2:This is joyful. It is. How can you not? That's so funny. I'm gonna try it.
Speaker 1:Challenge accepted yes, challenge everyone listening. Go skip, yes, your day will go better.
Speaker 2:Totally. I'm just imagining all your listeners getting up in the middle of their office and trying to skip.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like come on, I bet you can't do it. Yeah, you can't, nope. So I'd love to hear from you what's one piece of advice that you'd give to your younger self.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, so many things. I think the biggest thing that I would say is just to be yourself. I feel like I spent a lot of time and energy trying to fit in, trying to dress like other girls and be like other girls and not appreciating that I have a unique voice and I have my own experiences and my own story and it's okay to share them. And so I think, just really leaning into being who Debbie is versus and it comes back, you know, full circle with then, when I became a coach, it's like, oh, I actually want to stand out. Now I spend most of my time and energy trying to stand out and trying to be different and show how I'm unique. So I think that would be the message to my younger self would be it's okay to be yourself, embrace her and live out loud.
Speaker 1:I love it. That's my life's work too. That's my life's work is just like unhiding and peeling back those layers, layer by layer by layer, and going like wow, there's really gold here. Yeah, and sharing it with the world and I think that's what you're saying too is the more you show up in your truth, the more it attracts people to your radiance, the more they see this person is magnificent and they want to. They want to get involved with you, not because you're so magnificent, but because you projecting onto them their magnificence. You're holding up the mirror and saying like hey, here's a permission slip, you can be.
Speaker 2:They don't feel so alone. I mean, I think so many people in this world go through their days just feeling alone, or embarrassed of how they're feeling, or ashamed, and so the more we can normalize just being who we are and sharing our stories even if there's not the exact same story, there's going to be threads that are going to connect and we just we create a safe space, we create a community, and you're right, and then we attract more people to be able to help each other. I mean, coaching selfishly really helps me a lot too. You know, I learned so much from my clients and so it's definitely, like you said, a two way street for sure.
Speaker 1:Talk about normalizing the human experience. You know, when you get in a coaching group I do a lot of group coaching too and you get these women together and they're like oh yeah, I thought I was the only one, oh no oh no, you're not alone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it reminds us too, as the coach, like, okay, yeah, this is all just part of it, and we can hold that compassion for ourselves and we can have a lot of curiosity and then we can have humor about it. Yes, Like isn't that interesting. What's going on here in the head? What's going on during the workout? What's going on you know every moment of the day when you put something on social media and you go back and nobody liked it. Like isn't that interesting Absolutely. And we just have to have that grace and compassion for ourselves and I love that. Just be yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because so many of us are afraid to be ourselves, afraid of judgment, afraid of what others will think of us, or once you say something you know you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, right? So then it's out there. And so I think, just knowing that by sharing whatever scary, embarrassing truths, you're gonna connect with other people and you're gonna help them. And as hard as it can be you know, speaking from experience as hard as it gonna be to put yourself out there, the feeling of helping other people, once you're past that point of sharing more than makes up for whatever you know, fear or embarrassment or shame you might have felt in that moment. It's a really empowering feeling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, debbie, what are you reinventing in your life right now?
Speaker 2:So I'm always reinventing my business Just as I go through. I'm really refining who I want to work with, who I'm attracting, the tools and the resources that I'm putting out into the world, the types of programs that I make available to clients and how I deliver my message. I think you know the business world is always changing and evolving. So just trying to learn that and keep up with that on some level, but also staying authentic to who I am as a coach and my experiences and my education, I am constantly trying to just present myself and my business in the most authentic way possible. And you know, when you first start a business, you're just kind of it's a little bit more generic, it's a little bit more general.
Speaker 2:And in the midst of starting my business, I actually went through a physical transformation where I lost 26 pounds and 12% body fat, and so people will look at me and assume a certain thing that I'm, you know, naturally thin and I'm tall, I'm five nine, so I never looked overweight to a lot of people. So I'll get a lot of those comments about like, oh well, you didn't need to lose weight, you looked pretty or you looked fine both ways, or whatever. But really focusing in on the health benefits of getting rid of 12% body fat and what that has done for my body, my mind, my workouts, my health, and so really refining those messages so that it's not just diet culture and, you know, diet coaching and all about weight loss, but it's a little bit more holistic. That's really the street that I'm going down and the message that I'm trying to help people understand is going from that quick fix mentality to more of that lifestyle, longevity, sustainability mindset.
Speaker 1:I think it's so important, especially in the industry that you're in with the health coaching. It's not about fixing. It's not about fixing you because there's something wrong with you. It's about stepping into the best version of you and the highest impact. We're truly the highest impact version of you, the one who's going to make a difference in the world. How are we fueling that?
Speaker 2:person, and that's actually my tagline is I help clients become the best version of themselves. So it's about the evolution. It's okay to be where you're at and it's okay to have dreams to go where you want to go. And how do we bridge that gap? And maybe there's some limiting beliefs or there's some self-sabotage or things like that holding you back. Let's look at them, let's define them, let's work with them so that you can get from point A to point B. But you're absolutely right, Definitely not trying to fix anything, just trying to enhance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, beautiful. And where can people get in touch with you if they want to work with you or learn more?
Speaker 2:The best place to find me is on my website at hellocoachinginfo. That links to all of my social media. I'm on Facebook and LinkedIn and Instagram and I'm on TikTok, but I'm really straddling the line there. I don't know what I'm doing, and so the hellocoachinginfo takes you to everything, but it's also got my blog, so free resources there.
Speaker 2:You can sign up for my monthly newsletter. It's called 14 Inches, not because it has anything to do with weight loss or body size, but because 14 Inches is the hypothetical distance between your head and your heart, and so that's what I really focus a lot on on the newsletter. And then soon there will be a couple of free new tools. So I just started a free Facebook page called Well, hello, because my business is Hello Coaching, and that page focuses on all different types of wellness practices. Today I talked about box breathing, talked about hydration and nutrition. So that's a great free resource, a great smaller community to get a little bit of coaching and accountability and information. And then I'll be launching a free tool next month that people will be able to download from my website. So that's kind of a little bit of a teaser to check in.
Speaker 1:Oh, awesome. Well, I hope they will go and follow you and get inspired to make change in their lives and one of the several areas that you can help with. So really enjoyed the conversation. Thanks for coming on today.
Speaker 2:Likewise Heidi. Thank you.