Our main objective here at the National Coach Academy is to enable aspiring coaches to reach their full professional potential. One of the most effective ways to educate students about the world of coaching is by offering them a window into the world of real, practicing coaches and showing them all the different ways coaches make a difference in the lives of their clients.
We hope today’s interview adds another insightful glimpse into the dynamic world of coaching.
Today we are interviewing Heather Page. Heather is a Life, Wellness, and Relationship Coach based in Saint Petersburg, Florida.
NCA: Can you describe your coaching practice and the kinds of clients you typically work with?
Heather: I provide life and relationship coaching. I typically work with people who have been struggling in their relationships, often due to infidelity or betrayal and making the decision to heal the relationship or move on.
NCA: What initially got you interested in becoming a coach?
Heather: I’ve always been super intrigued by the human psyche and learning from other people’s perspectives. When I was going through my own personal struggles, I kept searching for something to help me heal and help me figure out how to change things. And I just couldn’t find it.
When I was meditating one day, life coaching kept coming in my mind. I wasn’t even thinking about my career and what I wanted to do with my life. It was something that naturally came to me. When I started researching schools and how to make that possible, everything opened up for me. I was like, “Oh, yes. This is what I need and this is what I’ve wanted.” Then I made a decision to create this, so that other people struggling out there don’t have to search so hard.
NCA: In working with your clients, what would you say is the most rewarding part of that process and on the flip side of that, what is the most challenging aspect of the work that you do?
Heather: The most rewarding without a doubt is when you’re in a session with someone and you can feel the shift that has happened for them by asking them a question that they’d never been asked before. You know that question changed how they’re going to operate in a beautiful, healthy way. Then having that feedback a couple of weeks later like, “Oh my god. This has been life changing. I didn’t really believe that I can live this way and feel happy. I thought that it was just you live life and it was crappy and you did it anyway.” I never get sick of that feeling. I’ve always loved helping people. I’m like a proud little mama when they’re doing something that’s empowering themselves.
The most challenging part is, as with anything when you’re working with people, you’re attracting the people that have either been in your shoes or you need to learn something from them. I need to make sure that I stay healthy and keep myself motivated so that I can keep doing that work. When you are a healer and you are helping people through some painful and emotional stuff, it can be challenging not to put yourself back in that place that you were.
Those self-doubts are going to come up and surface themselves when you are trying to run a business, especially a coaching business. You have to be okay with marketing yourself and you have to be comfortable with your story. That is what is going to attract the right people that you’re meant to guide.
NCA: Can you think of any mentor or coach who was most vital to your success as a coach and in what ways did this individual help you thrive in your career?
Heather: Tara Brach was probably my biggest push to heal and give myself complete radical acceptance. By following her and dedicating my time to hear her messages, it really opened my eyes and made me deal with the insecurities that had plagued me and that I had been replaying my entire life. She’s been and she still is somebody that I listen to when I get a little lost or need to clear that energy from a client.
Another source of guidance is where I got certified, Health Coach Institute. The two founders there are completely inspirational women in the way that they have set up their programs and the heart they have for the student body. It’s something I’m still very involved in. They shared their own stories and taught me how to coach people so that they can have really powerful transformations. They made us do it ourselves before we could get certified. They have been monumental in my coaching journey.
NCA: One of the most common challenges new coaches face is self-doubt. Some coaches call it Imposter Syndrome, where early on they feel somehow inadequate to take on the role of coach. What is one piece of advice that you would give to somebody who is in the beginning stage of their coaching career and dealing with these doubts in their mind?
Heather: To accept it, honestly, because it’s going to make you grow and it’s going to make you a more powerful coach. Those self-doubts are going to come up and surface themselves when you are trying to run a business, especially a coaching business. You have to be okay with marketing yourself and you have to be comfortable with your story. That is what is going to attract the right people that you’re meant to guide.
If you’re not comfortable with all of who you are, you’re going to keep hiding and let those self-doubts prevent you from talking in front of people. Even telling people that you’re a coach, going into networking groups, posting on social media — all of those things — you’re going to have a million doubts about. You have to accept it and plant those seeds and trust that you are doing the right thing.
