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From Therapist to Life Coach: How Sam Synett Left the System, Beat Burnout & Built a Better Life · Six Figure Certified

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Why are women running into this internal battle of life?
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I should be a martyr when I know I want something else.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Do you resonate with that and did that ever come up with you like this feeling of guilt?
• 0:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh.
• 0:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: sister.
• 0:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was crying like every night for months at the thought of leaving that job.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I actually have a video that I reported of myself.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think I've ever told you this.
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Basically saying goodbye to that part of my career because I felt like I had to get it out.
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think at the end of the day as women, period, we have an insane, ungodly amount of pressure put on us by
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: everyone in the world.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: We carry so much, but then when you are a woman who decides to go into the helping profession, you feel like you must be able to carry it all without sweating at all times because so many people quite literally depend on you to show up to work.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: Welcome back to another episode of Six Figure Certified with one of my favorite guests and humans of all time, Sam Sinette,
• 1:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: thank you for having me back.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you are the person that we need to speak to today because if I get another email asking how to go from therapist to life coach and not having an answer that's simply like sending a link to this podcast I'm going to go crazy.
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: So before we get into the hacks, if you will give us a little intro to yourself for people who may have not listened to your other episodes before.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, hi, everyone.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: My name is Samson at my pronouns or she, her.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am what you would call a rare coach therapist hybrid.
• 1:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: I combine trauma informed expertise with proven business and sale strategies and I help business service based or help women service based entrepreneurs and female leaders both profitable and resilient businesses that actually work work for them without the burnout or them sacrificing their mental well being in the process.
• 2:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wow, yeah, deep.
• 2:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: deep it gets deep on brand for who you are and how you got here but we need a little bit of the backstory so a lot of people in helping careers are like you know we've talked to teachers we've talked to HR directors we've talked to nurses are another really popular one but I have to say I think social workers and therapists are some of our top people that are starting to explore coaching as a profession for a variety of reasons one being like annoyed with insurance,
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, they kind of need or want a different modality that doesn't require some type of diagnosis or, you know, different reasons, but like what led to you here and why was this kind of like natural or became your natural next step.
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: That is the complete opposite type of a work life and environment I am and now and what led me here was really a combination of a few different things I think first and foremost.
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was tired of the red tape holding me back from being able to do things for my clients that I really felt like they needed in order to fully heal and recover.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I believe in the work that I was doing.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am proud of the work that I did, but at the end of the day there were a lot of things that I wasn't able to explore or offer or suggest because it
• 3:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: wasn't allowed, essentially.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that was a big part of it.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think number two was generally the lack of this was my personal experience.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just the lack of support that I had.
• 3:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: I had a fabulous boss and I had fabulous co-workers, but the system I was operating inside of was definitely not set up to retain me long term.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: We cranked out
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: mental health professionals at a very rapid speed because of the case load, the productivity demands.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: The just
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: how great the need was and how little of us there were.
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I started to burn out to the point where I was beginning to experience compassion fatigue.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think this is something that mental health professionals, we might talk about burnout, but we definitely don't often talk about compassion fatigue.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because there's this shame component to it where when you no longer can be empathic and listen deeply, the way that we're trained, what does that mean about you as a person?
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: So like that lack of support was a second thing.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then a third thing was simply because I realized I, with my personal life circumstances at the time, I needed to literally make more money and the trajectory that I was on despite having a good paying job and for, you know, where I was out in my career and like the benefits package, if I would have stayed there for 10 years.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: And in comparing it to where I'm at now, it would have taken me at least 10 to 15 years to do what I'm doing now financially as a business owner.
• 5:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think I just got curious because of the pandemic, like there had to be a better way to live life and work and.
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, I just started exploring options and that's what led me here.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: The red tape, just the lack of support that I had, especially for the burnout piece and then just.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Logistically needing to make more money to live the life that I desired along with being there for my family and the way that they needed to.
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: They needed me to be back at that time.
• 5:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, one of the things I talk to.
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: with women who are leaving traditional helping jobs like therapist teacher nurse for example.
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: There is a level of guilt that I have heard when they actually declare like you know what like I don't want to be a martyr to this job anymore and while I'm grateful for this job like I want more for my life.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm wondering if at any time you felt that or almost like a hesitancy in saying like I actually want to make more money for the life I desire and maybe I just want to be a happier person who's less burnt out and less drained like why are women running into this like internal battle of life, but I should be a martyr when I know I want something else do you resonate with that and did that ever come up with you like this feeling of guilt.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: sister.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was crying like every night for months at the thought of leaving that job.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I actually have a video that I recorded of myself.
• 6:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think I've ever told you this, basically saying goodbye to that part of my career, because I felt like I had to get it out.
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think at the end of the day, as women period, we have an insane, ungodly amount of pressure put on us by
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: everyone in the world we carry so much but then when you are a woman who decides to go into the helping profession you feel like you must be able to carry it all without sweating at all times because so many people quite literally depend on you to show up to work.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so yes, I have felt that.
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, that resonates with me.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I ended up giving a three and a half months notice because I felt like any less time for my workplace to prepare and for me to be able to prepare my clients was not ethical looking back.
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think almost a quarter of a year was necessary, but at the time that's what I needed for my own.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: piece of mind that it was okay for me to make this decision for myself.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: That was such a good question.
• 8:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I haven't thought about that in a long time, but it was really good.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: It comes up a lot, actually.
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, and I remember experiencing that and someone saying to me, like, well, if you're encouraging like every nurse and teacher to quit their job and I'm like, I am not.
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: encouraging every nurse and every teacher, for example, to quit their job.
• 8:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: But what I'm saying is, when is enough enough?
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And some people, and I've banged my head against the wall trying to be some people who are content with normal jobs, I wish I was sometimes.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think entrepreneurship is easy.
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think that like having these insane dreams and visions that like,
• 8:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: You don't even know how you're going to bring to life is like any less stressful.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's just a different kind of stress and it's a different kind of busy and it's a different kind of hard work.
• 8:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: But if there are women who are feeling like how you felt and how I felt like there has got to be more to life and I don't want to die knowing that I didn't pursue anything else.
• 9:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: Eventually, I think you have to just get over it, get over the guilt because like you said at the very beginning of this, they were churning in new mental health professionals on a regular basis and just like in teaching, we were, I mean, the turnover rate was so high, so high, and I mean even now, like the teacher shortage, the demand, like there's always going to be more teachers, there's always going to be more people to, you know, take that on, but it's like, why do you have to be?
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: a martyr.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: You actually don't.
• 9:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: You absolutely don't.
• 9:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: You absolutely don't.
• 9:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: You absolutely don't raise to just be grateful to have a job, you know.
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
• 9:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, literally, and that was some of the feedback that I was getting when I did start telling a couple people, you know, I was poking around at coaching or I was considering making this pivot was like, why would you do that?
• 9:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like you literally, you have it made you're working for the federal government, unless you royally do something, it's really difficult to be fired.
• 10:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 10:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, but it's interesting because that like me being a teacher, which is these jobs are great jobs.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're noble professions.
• 10:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're honorable professions.
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Our community needs these people.
• 10:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: And also where I was from being one of the first like college graduates and my family.
• 10:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: And like it was like so amazing that I had this job.
• 10:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: But like it was an amazing to me.
• 10:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, and I'm similar, I was a first-gen college graduate and so me doing anything at that professional of a level was an incredible accomplishment for myself and I always say my parents too because of the choices and the sacrifices that they had to make to put me in a position where I was able to pursue that.
• 11:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that that's important to acknowledge both and
• 11:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: look at me being a social worker.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Both and you get to have other dreams.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: You get to have other desires.
• 11:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: You do not have to accept bare minimum standards for your life.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And certainly your career when you spend the vast majority of your adult life inside of your career.
• 11:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: So when it comes to I love that you're wearing your scrubs that have a title on them because I'm always like to get a little bit of dyslexia when it comes to the acronyms else the sw slash therapist why so I guess like how did you figure out what coaching even was and then how did you decide like this makes a lot of sense for me.
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my goodness how did I figure out what coaching wise.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: I, I guess I figured out how coaching was through a couple different sources, you know, I was, I was already looking into how to make extra money as a therapist, so I was Googling things like.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: what else can therapy do and I don't even know like what else can therapist do?
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, so many things.
• 12:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, anything service base that you could possibly think of.
• 12:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like anything else that you're serving people right you're providing a service.
• 12:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: But um, so I was Googling that and then I I my realm of and they're not traditional life coaches to me.
• 12:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: But like my realm of coaching and fluents is at that time that I wasn't really tracking on was like Mel Robbins and what's his name?
• 12:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't even think Tony
• 12:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't even think.
• 12:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tony Robbins.
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tony Robbins.
• 12:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah.
• 12:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Same last names.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 12:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's why we never really realized that.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like those were people that I had heard of or that were kind of orbiting around, right, out that time.
• 12:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then one day I was, I was sitting with a friend who's really business minded, like a finance friend, and they were like, and I got a text on my phone.
• 13:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: a Facebook message from someone that I don't really have a big relationship with like a random of wins and they were like asking me all these life coaching questions and I kind of crashed out in the moment and I'm like the number of random questions people ask about how to do things and where to go and how how did I do X Y and Z I said it's so much all of the time and they said my friend said you know there's a whole field for that and it's called life coaching and it was like
• 13:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, and then I just deep dove, you know, and I found you all.
• 13:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it was my curiosity.
• 13:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was poking around.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: I also think I had.
• 13:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was positioned to the universe to God to be like, what else do you have for me?
• 13:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then just that little interaction at the right place right time, if you will, is what, you know, gave me the aha moment.
• 13:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: But then, you know, you asked like, how did I know this was something I could transition to or.
• 14:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's so many skills that we have as social workers or as therapists, again, if you're an LPC, if you're a PhD, if you're a CID, if you're an LMFT, they will know all these things.
• 14:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's so many things y'all that we naturally have that can make it so easy for you to do this career and have so much more.
• 14:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: freedom of choice and time and money.
• 14:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: So a couple of things that come to mind is number one, we are the literal best listeners.
• 14:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are the best active listeners in the game.
• 14:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are so good to we are so great at listening to what is beneath the surface and this translates seamlessly into coaching conversations when you have someone who's
• 14:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: coming to you for a specific problem that they've been beating their head against the wall with and you're like, well, what's happened really happening here.
• 14:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we can do that at a really high level.
• 14:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think also we have this understanding of human behavior and also what we call person and environment that helps us see again a holistic view of someone and how they got to where they're at and how what they need to shift or
• 15:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: How they need to kind of rearrange things or organize things in a way that will get them to where they want to go.
• 15:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we don't just look at, we're strength space.
• 15:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: We don't just look at the problem.
• 15:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I guess depending on your discipline, I think psychology.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: They tend to look at symptomatology first, but like in general, a mental health therapist is going to look at the person's strengths first.
• 15:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: What do you have going for you?
• 15:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's very forward moving in the realm of coaching.
• 15:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: What can we use?
• 15:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: that you already have within right coaching is evoking the answers from someone within and we're already doing that and I think the the last two things would be we're so resourceful and we're so creative by nature we know how to do a lot with very little teachers are very similar as you know
• 15:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so, again, when you're getting into that, you're helping the client kind of problem-solve and figure out creative solutions and helping them determine, you know, a method for accountability, you can really get creative with it in a way that they've never been able to envision before that gets them from point A to point B.
• 16:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: And naturally, we're advocates.
• 16:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: we are not going to let someone give up on the thing that they want because we believe in their highest well-being.
• 16:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: We believe in everything that's possible for them, which is why often we are also willing to get into the most difficult parts of someone's life because we believe they can find their way out and through.
• 16:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think all of those things, it's such a natural transition.
• 16:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like it's a note, it was a no-brainer for me once I started putting those pieces together.
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: So why also, on the flip side of things, there's this group of mental health professionals that know they want to expand, know they feel restricted by the, you know, red tape as you called it.
• 16:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: know they want to just kind of like venture into other modalities, I've even seen some kind of going into like adding a little bit of rakey or spiritual type of things into their coaching and all of that.
• 17:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: But then there's also this other crowd who is so resistant to coaching as being almost like competitive to therapy.
• 17:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I know you know this group too that's almost like wants to discredit coaching because you know coaches did not get as much training as a therapist and you know that these these arguments like what is your response to the mental health workers that are hyper resistant to coaches?
• 17:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well you've never you've never been coached.
• 17:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: So how can you
• 17:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: How can you make an assumption or an assertion about something that you've not received in and of yourself?
• 17:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And also, it is okay to be so proud of the work, the energy that effort, the years, the money that you have to put in to earn these little letters by my name, and it is not the only modality that can help someone change their lives.
• 18:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: and coaching compliments therapy and I would encourage you to really expand your thinking about what help someone to heal.
• 18:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Healing isn't just about processing and revisiting and making peace within making sense of.
• 18:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's also doing all of that and then making a decision, making a choice,
• 18:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: to move forward into the future and a way that honors all of that lived experience, but also says, I am not that same person and that's where coaching comes into play.
• 18:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so me, again, as this like hybrid, I have
• 18:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: therapist in my network who refer clients at the end of therapy to me for coaching to for help with taking those big steps because when you heal, like when you're actually healed on an emotional and psychological level from mental health challenges, it is like seeing the world through a new pair of glasses literally the world comes back into color and you're like able to dream and imagine in ways that you couldn't before when you were you were so bogged
• 19:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so coaches, it's like we get to, we get to help people navigate this new world.
• 19:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I would say like bring ethically trained, credentialed coaches into your practice.
• 19:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even if you don't want to do it yourself, bring them into your practice, connect with them, find them in your community and use them as the next step or resource for your clients.
• 19:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: That would be doing them.
• 19:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: the highest possible service.
• 19:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Both are so valuable and I think if people are, you know, ambivalent, it's because of it's probably from this place of pride or confusion about how coaches become coaches in the first place, which there's so many pots that you've done on that really trying to explain to people what makes a trained credentialed coach like something like what we go through an IGC so vastly different from these influencer style coaches that we find online.
• 20:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 20:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, and I'm completely at the, I used to kind of be like, it's okay if you're not certified.
• 20:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm completely anti non certified or credential coaches at this point.
• 20:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: I just have nothing positive to say, I don't recommend that you hire them.
• 20:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't recommend that you start.
• 20:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Trying to change someone's life without any idea how to do that.
• 20:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Obviously if you come from a background of like therapy or even education or health care and some capacity it's a little bit different.
• 20:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I just don't see how you can even be taken that seriously at this point unless you have some type of certification and credential and I got into a little bit of a
• 20:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: really low level argument in a tick.com and the other day Sam with a guy who was like coaches are ruining people's lives, especially therapists.
• 20:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, well, I'm sure that some coaches have, you know, ruined people's lives.
• 21:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I think humans in general tend to ruin other people's lives, whether they mean to or not sometimes.
• 21:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, but I believe that when you pay, you know, five, 10, 20,000 dollars to get professionally credentialed as a coach and you do, you know, minimum of 60s usually upwards of 125 hours of training plus practical and plus evaluations plus take a test plus pay another $1,000 to get the international credential.
• 21:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: You are not.
• 21:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: trying to ruin someone's who puts that much money time and effort in to be like, oh, let me just steal your money on the internet.
• 21:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, literally, I mean.
• 21:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, and I'm constantly I am I'm in a lot of different mental health, you know, Facebook groups that you have to be licensed to get into like they're not just for everyone and and it's so interesting whenever a therapist who is a little bit more nuanced right and forward thinking asked for recommendation for a coach it's primarily I see career coaches and health coaches that are being sought after in the therapy world that makes sense.
• 22:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I come in and say, well, I'm both.
• 22:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: And duh, duh, duh, duh.
• 22:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: And every time it never fails, there's always someone that's like,
• 22:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: you know throw in shade or whatever the case is, but I will say it again, you can't endorse what you don't know.
• 22:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 22:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: So instead of like any other problem we would face with a client or in our professional career, seat consultation, get some other opinions, do some research, go have coffee with someone who's a credentialed coach, virtually or otherwise and really seek
• 22:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: hundreds of thousands of people's lives are changing every day because they have invested in a very incredible life coach.
• 22:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: And many of which like from our community.
• 23:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: So well, and there's there's bad apples in any industry in any business like from contrast.
• 23:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's horrible therapists that people never returned to the helping profession because
• 23:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: re-harmed by a therapist.
• 23:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: So yes, when you, in general, typically when you commit a lot of time money and energy into something which is a lot of also what you're saying about like kind of clinging on to your letters on your name, like you do take a lot of pride in that and you don't want to ruin your reputation.
• 23:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I genuinely believe there are a lot of forces in our society
• 23:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: social media, a lot of toxins, food, porn.
• 23:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I could go on and on, but genuinely in over 10 years of working in the coaching industry, I don't know one coach personally that has ever not had pure intentions and working with clients.
• 24:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Have they made mistakes?
• 24:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 24:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Have I made mistakes?
• 24:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 24:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: But have I ever been like,
• 24:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: trying to hurt.
• 24:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I know it's not always about intention.
• 24:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's about impact.
• 24:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: But that's anything else.
• 24:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's a whole other game.
• 24:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're not going there.
• 24:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I don't know anyone who has stopped professional credentialing in a professional development community of coaches who are trying to hurt other people.
• 24:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's just like therapy and if they are, they're dropping off y'all like they're literally leaving they're leaving the program in my first semester of grad school, three people in my cohort dropped.
• 24:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: They realize this is not for them.
• 24:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is going to be a lot more than they thought it was.
• 24:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And every once in a while in our space, we get those people too, but there's one.
• 24:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: But some of that, there's a reason that it is, it is a process, it is a commitment and it's a much easier process to become a professionally credentialed coach and more affordable than therapy because I think I get that's my biggest conversation and I'm having besides like explaining what coaching is and why it's, you know, whatever, it's also, well, you know, I'm interested so like which direction do I go, you know, for someone who hasn't committed to graduate school yet.
• 25:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so.
• 25:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: What's the most surprising part about coaching versus therapy, like in terms of you facilitating the service?
• 25:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love doing therapy, especially when I'm really in my zone of genius, and before coaching,
• 25:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would see the moment in a session with a therapy client where they would change their life.
• 25:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it literally felt like this cute little spark would happen.
• 25:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I would feel, and I'd be like, oh my gosh, wow, I just saw this person's hole.
• 26:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Their hole, like mine has shifted.
• 26:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 26:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then I would take that in and I'd go to my office, and I'd be like, okay, that was really cool.
• 26:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: And, okay, here we go, on to the next thing.
• 26:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I, in coaching, like I just have insane amounts of fun with my clients in a way that I,
• 26:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't having with my therapy clients and not just because of the content of the sessions, obviously talking about grief trauma loss all day every day is heavy.
• 26:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: But again, I'd see those little sparks and I'd be like, oh, and we're there to talk about this other stuff.
• 26:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I feel like just in coaching, I too have like come alive into a part of my personality that I didn't professionally, like I didn't know existed.
• 26:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I've gotten to like kind of redefine what being a professional is.
• 26:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, look at me right now with my tinsel in my hair and whatever the case is like, I just have so much freaking fun as a coach.
• 26:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I literally love getting up and doing what I do every day.
• 26:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, yes, the hardest part is is, yeah, some of the like business stuff that you got to do, but that's any job.
• 27:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
• 27:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just never had fun in the world.
• 27:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look at me.
• 27:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Get looking at me getting antsy because I'm just like, I literally have so much fun with my clients.
• 27:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I interviewed Sandy Patterson recently who went from teacher to coach will link that episode in the notes in case anyone is also new here and wants to hear that story, but it's very similar response.
• 27:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: She's like, I love it because I like want to go get Margarita's with my clients she's like it's the only job where I'm like getting paid to do what I love and I can be myself fully.
• 27:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I feel like leaving teaching for me too, there was so much restriction.
• 27:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: I loved teaching and like being theatrical and bringing in art and music and fun.
• 27:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: But we weren't allowed to do that.
• 27:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, and I, it was such a disservice that's a whole nother story.
• 27:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I'm like, I feel like all I do and I do see at this point is like teach mentor coach here and there.
• 27:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, in this beautiful podcast.
• 28:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I'm like, I am able to teach in such a different way.
• 28:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's way more fun, like I think the key to life is so cliche, but it's like a job where you're not counting down to the weekend, like a life you don't need a vacation from.
• 28:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I meet all of these people who are very miserable.
• 28:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: And even like in the dating world, this is a journey I'm gonna shake you on real quick, but they're like, I talk to these guys and they're like, oh, just can't wait till Friday and I'm like, I just don't resonate with that.
• 28:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, of course I love a weekend.
• 28:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I love Sunday football.
• 28:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: I love lounging around, but I do not feel that way.
• 28:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: I fucking love a Monday.
• 28:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: I like it's weird.
• 28:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, the most of you, what's the most surprising thing?
• 28:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sunday scary's only exist when you hate your job or you're not being supported at your job, like they only exist if you're not being supported or you hate your job or you're not being fairly compensated for the amount of work that you are putting into the job.
• 29:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're the most honest.
• 29:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 29:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: know, that is very valid too.
• 29:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think, and I hope one take away that people get from listening to this, too, is that they're shame around desiring more in your life is completely unworthy of you.
• 29:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's beneath you.
• 29:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's just no, there's no space for it.
• 29:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's no need for it.
• 29:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: It serves no one.
• 29:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't make you more noble.
• 29:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't make you more honorable.
• 29:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't make you more likable or palatable.
• 29:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: It literally makes you a victim of your own circumstances and not to say that it's not more difficult for some
• 29:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: you know, climb out of the trenches.
• 29:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: We've been there.
• 29:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: We've seen it and we've seen people do it.
• 29:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: However, feeling this shame or guilt about leaving something that you're 18 year old self decided she wanted to go to college to be XYZ and maybe she changed her mind 10 15 20 years later.
• 29:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's okay.
• 29:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's okay.
• 29:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's okay.
• 29:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank God we don't have everything we wanted when we were 18.
• 30:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let me tell you where I'd be folks.
• 30:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'd be in a very weird place, and it'd be that, okay?
• 30:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: I would not be here.
• 30:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
• 30:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: Before we wrap up, tell us what are some of your, you know, biggest wins as a coach?
• 30:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: What makes you most grateful?
• 30:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: And this is not about IGC.
• 30:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's literally just about anything that's based on this model.
• 30:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like what has been the biggest game changer for you, life changer for you, most exciting thing?
• 30:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, my brain always goes into places.
• 30:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's ever a version of that question.
• 30:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: One is for me personally, and then the other is for my clients.
• 30:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think for me personally, it has been the freedom of choice and just I can't really get into this because you know, it'll get weird, I'll get Terry, but it's just the freedom of choice and how powerful, yeah, just how powerful and impactful it has been in the last five years of what a weird timeline we're all living on right now, just to be able to
• 31:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: decisions every single day that are best for me and my family.
• 31:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 31:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: And knowing that nobody can tell me otherwise, nobody can tell me no to that decision.
• 31:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's been a big.
• 31:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, just the ripple effect of that.
• 31:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then agency over your life.
• 31:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, personal agency, person and autonomy over
• 31:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just, I see all their faces like a little flip book.
• 31:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
• 31:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think about the clients who were in statistically disempowering circumstances, I will say that.
• 31:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like the odds were truly not in their favor from a stats point from what we know about socioeconomic status and things like that and how with the right support
• 32:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: and a plan that actually works for someone that takes into mind their lived experience, but also their potential.
• 32:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, my clients have done tried and true total 180s in their lives, where we started coaching around one area.
• 32:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then it was like,
• 32:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: once they got traction in that area, the bravery and the courage and the ferocity and determination for them to make all these subsequent changes that actually is changing the generational lineage for their families and their kids.
• 32:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: That to me, I'm just like, I like literally don't know what is a better feeling than helping someone do that or knowing that
• 32:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I just think of all their like people who started here in the now it's like their light years ahead and like what I mean, I want to say they could have gotten there for sure on their own it would have taken a lot longer and a lot more struggle and strife and and whatever, but yeah, I just think at the end of the day when we can ourselves have that freedom of choice and and given that agency and then we can give that to others like.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: it it's just unmatched.
• 33:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's unmatched.
• 33:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: One thing I do appreciate about coaching is it's like not meant to be just you meet every week forever.
• 33:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like there's an end game.
• 33:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if you're down great coaching, it's like typically
• 33:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, not much longer than six to nine months, right, to see if not shorter, right?
• 33:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I mean, my goals always have major transformation the first 90 days.
• 33:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: And obviously, people come from different baselines.
• 33:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's always, you know, moving.
• 33:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I think the goal, and I've told everyone my clients is from the beginning, is like, I don't want to work with you forever.
• 33:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's not because they don't love you.
• 33:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's because I want you to get to a point where you can take these skills and take this self-accountability that you learn and you develop through coaching and apply it to every area of your life.
• 34:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you don't even know.
• 34:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like I think that's just also the magical thing about, I guess, any helping profession, I could even go back to teaching.
• 34:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's like, when you give someone the tools to change your life, you don't even, we will never know the measured impact of that, actually.
• 34:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, fascinating.
• 34:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
• 34:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: So what's your best piece of advice for a mental health acronym?
• 34:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know I literally listed them all, dude.
• 34:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was saying I'm trying to list them all.
• 34:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's my best piece of advice?
• 34:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think if you have this poll towards coaching, just like
• 34:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: every system you've had to work inside has really prepared you for this.
• 34:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: You are overly prepared and I think coaching is just a chance for you to take all of what you already know in this skill set and expand on it and use it in a way that is future focused and deeply transformative not just for like not just for your clients but also you too and I'm not going to go down this rabbit hole, but like you are allowed to get something out of this process.
• 35:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 35:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not selfish to take something away from the work that you do.
• 35:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not selfish.
• 35:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, um, that was the only place that we can go with that, too, because as you're saying that I'm they're told literally literally in school that it's selfish to have anything
• 35:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I centric in a therapy session and and again, there's such there's such nuances to that but there's certainly we all know a room to disclose and this that and the other thing but but you are allowed to get something you are allowed to be like damn I did a good job today like well like damn I'm excited to get paid because I just changed this person's life you are allowed to have those kind of thoughts and like beam with pride over it and so yeah it's I just think if you're here you're listening
• 36:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: it's just not by accident and there's so many ways that you can still utilize your degree and in your letters if you will, creatively, you don't have to like just do a full drop of it.
• 36:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I will always be a social worker, always always have my core, but I also get to be all these other things too.
• 36:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I was going to say in like coaching really, and I say this all the time people are like, okay, Olivia, but I'm like coaching is the fastest and easiest way for women to get into entrepreneurship.
• 36:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: And when I say entrepreneurship, I do not only mean having your coaching business, I mean being able to diversify your income and really be an entrepreneur, which by definition means owning, starting and operating multiple businesses.
• 36:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I know you have like your next level,
• 36:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: scrubs on because you are part of a med spa.
• 36:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: You are opening a nail salon.
• 36:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: You are opening a mental health clinic.
• 36:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like you're able to expand from your coaching skills as a service provider, but I also think just being in the world of coaching opens your own eyes to so much possibility that it's like, why stop here?
• 37:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Totally.
• 37:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, that I
• 37:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm getting coached all the time because I hang out with coaches and I'm in a space that's always asking, you know, what else do you want?
• 37:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: What else are you thinking about?
• 37:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's you know, so yeah, I'm always I'm always brewing something, but never in a million years, what I be doing those other, never in a million years, what I be an entrepreneur, how do I not become a coach?
• 37:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, a great same, a hundred percent same.
• 37:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think coaching and then becoming like receiving coaching after years and years of therapy, which I'm grateful for, but you do get to a point where you're like, I'm not going to go through my mommy issues again.
• 37:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: I can't do it for another hour, I dread it going.
• 37:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's when I found coaching and I was like, okay, now let me
• 37:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'll memorize all of this, right?
• 37:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let me do something with it.
• 37:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And like you said, you don't have to lose the letters to embrace coaching as a service that you provide or embrace a coaching business as a next step that can broaden your horizons to more than you would ever expect.
• 38:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so Sam is a business coach.
• 38:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: She is a trauma-informed certification practitioner.
• 38:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: I took her course in that.
• 38:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: level of dynamic offers that say you're just truly an example of the possibility when you decide to kind of step into a next level, which I feel like so corny saying.
• 38:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's like, you're not going to see it, but
• 38:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: I just want to thank you for being here and for opening people's eyes to what's possible.
• 38:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: And for anyone who doesn't know Sam and some of her personal story, I don't hate me for saying this, but Sam is not some magical woman necessarily who had all of the cards stacked in her favor and you are not allowed to sit back and listen to this episode and think must be nice for her, but I couldn't do it.
• 39:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like Sam has openly shared about her personal
• 39:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: trials and struggles and grief and loss, and I am not just saying this, but literally if she can do this, I think any woman on the planet can, and I hate that you have to bear that level of resilience.
• 39:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: I really do, but I thank you for sharing that story.
• 39:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're going to leave all of Sam's social, so you can learn more about her and connect with her.
• 39:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: But beyond just like you're a great entrepreneur, you are a strong, strong woman, and I think a woman
• 39:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: just being in your presence and learning for me.
• 39:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
• 39:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think the same about you.
• 39:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think when we just, yeah, strong women breed strong women.
• 39:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like you know what I mean, you just, and I never, I didn't have strong women in my life before I came a coach either in the way that I do now.
• 39:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah.
• 39:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I really appreciate you.
• 39:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for being here.
• 39:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're going to leave all of Sam's info in the show notes.
• 39:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: Please follow her, get inspired by her, and leave her some crazy DMs that she can respond to.
• 40:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I'm having a respond to them now.
• 40:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have a response.
• 40:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have a response.
• 40:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,