From Cancer to Coaching; What I’ve Learned Through Uncertainty and How to Stay Inspired as a Health Coach-Preneur
It’s been a year of change for health coaches everywhere. I’ve been in your shoes, and I know the frustration and anxiety that can accompany change. I know that coaches across the country are feeling the heat of layoffs, global economic uncertainty, and a growing shift in our industry. I’m here to remind you that good things are out there for certified and passionate health coaches ready to make a difference in their clients’ lives.
My Story
Let me take a step back. I discovered health coaching during a period of vast uncertainty. I’d just gone through chemo, radiation, and a whole host of surgeries throughout my breast cancer journey (and how apropos I’m sharing this with you during Breast Cancer Awareness Month!). As you can imagine, I was feeling ALL the things—fear for my future; pain for what I’d lost; and overall exhaustion with the experiences my family and I had just been through.
It was through this same uncertainty that I discovered my passion for health coaching. As a patient, I felt as though I needed someone to accompany me on my journey beyond the doctor’s office. Someone to help me enact and retain health habits that would continue my healing physically, mentally and emotionally. Health coaching gave me all of those things.
I didn’t just need a health coach, I became one. I fell in love with health coaching and now I’m on a mission through YourCoach to empower health coaches everywhere so that everyone can have access to a health coach.
I believe in this profession. I’ve directly benefited from it, I’ve seen its impact firsthand and I am confident that we’re just at the start of an exciting Health Coaching Revolution.
So what does the Health Coaching Revolution mean for coaches?
Health coaches are overcoming two major hurdles, especially in the last few years: education and accessibility. The NBHWC and other organizations have made major strides to share the science of health coaching with the broader public. We’ve done our part as well, joining podcasts, conferences like the upcoming Frontiers Health conference, and hosting events of our own all to spread the word about health coaching and its efficacy. Publications like The New York Times are asserting bold and valid claims, “We could all use a health coach.”
And industries are listening. Health coaches are now becoming integral members of patient care teams across healthcare communities; they’re becoming embedded in digital health companies; corporations large and small are incorporating health coaching into their corporate wellness offerings. This is just the tip of the iceberg (and stay tuned for our health coaching report next week for full data on this expansion and state of the industry!).
Though some opportunities have shifted in the industry in the last year, leaving many talented health coaches without their previous jobs, we’re seeing the growth of another exciting trend: The birth of what we’ve coined, The Health Coach-Preneur.
What is a Health Coach-Preneur and why you should become one!
Health Coach-Preneurs are health coaches with independent and often hybridized businesses. They may have their own practice and client programs and also serve as a health coach within a large digital health companies. They may work part-time within a doctor’s office and also support a company’s corporate wellness offering.
Health Coach-Preneurship is the best way to survive and thrive in periods of uncertainty because your livelihood is dispersed over industries that may be changing at different rates. And YourCoach is THE PLACE for Health Coach-Preneurs.
Not only do we provide an end-to-end practice management platform for you to practice with your clients, plus a gamified pricing model to lower the cost of the platform to just $10 a month, but also we provide you with real client opportunities through our industry partners (no, really—we’re providing these opportunities as we speak). All along the way we offer educational opportunities, chances to earn CEU credits and grow your skills, through our many events.
I want every health coach to succeed because I am certain that every human needs and deserves access to a health coach. Health coaches, the world needs you! And health coaches, YourCoach is here for you.
Download the platform today to start your journey as a Health Coach-Preneur. I’ll be there cheering you on every step of the way.
– Marina, CEO & Founder of YourCoach.Health