Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP 340: Teaching Autonomy, Growth Mindset, and Grit Before It’s Too Late

• Sophia Yvette

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What makes Hannah Curtis with LifeTalk a good neighbor?

School teaches a lot, but it doesn’t teach everything. We sit down with Hannah Curtis, child and adolescent coach at LifeTalk, to explore the missing pieces—executive function, healthy conflict, self-awareness, and the practical tools kids need to navigate a noisy world with confidence. Hannah shares how LifeTalk blends clear structure with compassion to help ages five to twenty build a future-focused mindset, and why the best outcomes often come from pairing therapy with coaching rather than choosing one over the other.

Hannah’s signature “toolbox” approach turns big challenges into doable steps. From time management and planning to setting boundaries with friends, she shows how kids can practice small, repeatable habits that compound into resilience. We dig into the power of walk-and-talk sessions in nature, where movement lowers anxiety and opens conversation, and how this format helps teens rehearse scripts for tough talks, use breath to steady nerves, and leave with skills they can apply the same day. Along the way, Hannah talks about normal signs that coaching can help—procrastination, last-minute homework blowups, social friction—and breaks them down into trainable skills like task initiation, shifting attention, and self-monitoring.

We also unpack common myths: coaching isn’t just for kids in crisis, and it isn’t a replacement for therapy. It’s a practical, forward-looking partnership that teaches autonomy, grit, and growth mindset in real contexts. If you’re curious about simple tools that make a real difference—a fanny pack of strategies your kid can grab when life throws a curveball—you’ll find a lot to use here.

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To learn more about LifeTalk go to:
 🌐 https://www.lifetalk.info/

LifeTalk
📞 503-610-8303

SPEAKER_02:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a child and adolescent life coach? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Hannah Curtis, with Life Talk. Hannah, how are you today?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm so good. Thanks so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, pleasure to have you on. Now we're excited to learn all about you and your business. Can you start off by telling our listeners just a little bit about your company?

SPEAKER_00:

Of course. Yeah, so I started Life Talk about a year ago, and it's child and adolescent life coaching, as you said, very rooted in life skills and just executive function, helping kids kind of fill the gaps in education, things they don't learn in school these days that are so important in navigating our very chaotic world.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, that is very important, especially in this day and time. Now, Hannah, how did you originally get started in this business?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so it's kind of a long saga. I'll shorten it up. But um, I was actually on a walk with my mom when I was like 12, and I remember asking her something about like taxes or insurance, something boring that I was like, huh? How do I navigate this? She's like, and I asked when I would learn it in school, and she was like, Oh, you kind of don't. And I was like, wait, what? You know, that was my problem solve for the things that didn't really make sense to me. And I was a pretty good student. And so figuring out like what else we didn't learn in school has always been my passion. And I just kind of always felt drawn to like, what about all the stuff that we don't learn, including relationships, self-awareness? You know, how do we find our passion and do that for work and try to make money in that? And, you know, healthy conflict. There's a myriad of topics, but that was really where it started. And I kind of just constantly felt drawn back to like, but what about the things we don't learn? So that was really the genesis of it.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, that's amazing. Sounds like you're a really smart child.

SPEAKER_00:

I think I was just really curious, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

I asked Curiosity is always good. Now, what is the most common myth or misconception you come across in your industry on the day-to-day?

SPEAKER_00:

So a lot of people ask me, you know, like what's the perfect client for you? And I think although I have a lot of kiddos who are ADHD or, you know, like they're just kind of struggling with these executive function skills, that's perfect and awesome. But I think in a preventative space, any child can benefit from this type of coaching, primarily because although, you know, therapy is super important as well. And I always say I think the best scenario is having a coach and a therapist for any human at any time. Um, but coaching is really like future focused. And how do we see the things that we struggle with and see these barriers in the road and along our journey, but like keep going and building those resilient muscles and just like navigating in problem solving. I always say building our life skills toolbox is kind of my specific niche, you know. Like I tell them to picture a fanny pack, you know, and I'm like, I can't prevent the world from throwing barriers in your way. But what I can give you are tools in your toolbox so you can open that little fanny pack and pull out a tool that day and use that, you know, so you're not completely just just stuck by whatever conflict may come up that day because you never learned those skills, you know. So I think that's yeah, that's primarily the main myth. Everyone can build it.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and every time we face a new obstacle, we gain a new perspective and that opens a new door to life for us. So it's all for the best at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. And building our, you know, growth mindset, I think too, is a huge part of it, our autonomy, all of those things. Very, very, very big part of my framework.

SPEAKER_01:

I could not agree more. And where does your love of helping children come from for you?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, I've just always loved babies and kids. Like it's always been my thing. I'm I I always tell my friends, like, I'm not the biggest animal person, like I do love them. But I would say, like, I'm walking and I notice babies and kids. I'm like, oh my gosh, hi, I want to talk to them and to hear about their world. And they're over there petting dogs, you know. I'm over there like, hi, how old's your kid? So it's just, I think I've always had a love for like helping kids grow and be their best selves. And I think no matter your age, I work with ages five to 20. Um, but no matter your age, you know, there's always things in pursuit of lifelong growth that we can learn and and build. And I think that that's a beautiful pursuit. So I just try to help them kind of, yeah, grow, grow that, grow that muscle and build that toolbox.

SPEAKER_01:

Most definitely. And I really could talk about that with you all day long, but we only have a limited time today. So let's switch gears. Now we know marketing is the heart of every business. Um, how do you currently attract your target audience?

SPEAKER_00:

So I'm basically just in a lot of networking groups. Um, and so I'm kind of, I would say like with people and direct, I need to, and I think the best way is to really explain what this um coaching looks like and how I work with kids. Cause it's, you know, in today's world, I think we know coaching as executive coaching, relationship coaching, but I think working with children specifically is a little bit more nuanced and a little bit newer. So I really like to explain that and give them kind of the details. And that's really where I see a lot of benefit and a lot of referrals coming. Um, so networking is huge. And I also do coaching in two formats, which I call life talk and life walk. So I have an office space that I use. Um, and so we market a lot there and do events. And then I do life walks in nature because we just need to be outside more. We're we're out of computers to watch.

SPEAKER_01:

I agree 100%. Now, um, have you ever thought of having your own podcast?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I actually used to. Um, I used to want to do a podcast called, I was gonna call it gap school because the gaps of things we don't learn in school. And each episode was gonna be like a gap in education. So that was kind of that was kind of the uh the it's still a goal, I would say long term. It just, you know, so many things on our to-do list.

SPEAKER_01:

Most definitely. And outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my gosh, so many things. I love recently I've taken up biking. I'm a big biker now. Um, and then I go to Pilates, like it's my job. I love Pilates. Um, just pretty much anything outside. I have attempted to take up golf, but it is a very difficult, very difficult. So we're all the different, I have my, you know, my my hands in all these different fitness pursuits, but we're we're growing, you know, trying new things, very important.

SPEAKER_01:

Always. Now, Hannah, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about life talk.

SPEAKER_00:

One thing they should remember. I just think that, you know, there's so many life skills that the education system doesn't not that, you know, teachers are doing the best they can with the tools they have, but I think there's so much more of these kind of more quote unquote soft skills that we need to be learning that we just don't talk about. And I think even just bringing the topic up of like, you know, how do you navigate relationships? What do you think about with your friends? And are you hanging out with the right people? Or, you know, how can we have a conversation that's a little bit more of a harder one in healthy conflict? Like having that topic even brought up is so beneficial to young people today. Um, and they're so much more resilient than I think we give them credit for. So I feel like that's a really big takeaway that I like to reinforce.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I sincerely could not agree with you more, especially when it comes to education and the importance of it and for our future generations. So, Hannah, what our listeners really want to know today is where can they go to learn more about life talk?

SPEAKER_00:

Great question. So, my website is lifetalk.info, and then I have all of my socials linked on there as well. But I'm on Instagram, it's at LifeTalk Life Coaching. So double life, don't forget. And then um, that's also Facebook, TikTok, and um LinkedIn as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Hannah, I really appreciate you being on the show today, and we wish you and your business the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfrisco.com. That's gnpfrisco.com or call four six nine two two one nine three four five.

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