Let me tell you a story…

I’ve always been the dependable, “get shit down,” reliable and responsible girl. Even as a small child, I took on mothering roles (yeah, that includes some of the adults in my life). You know the type, you probably are the type: joining teams and clubs, stepping up to volunteer, leading group projects. Your typical overachiever. My first job was bookkeeping for my Dad’s construction company because I didn’t want a classic teenage job. I wanted something “career-oriented” and paid more than minimum wage (at least I sort of understood the value of my time). 

Cut to my early 20s where I worked as the General Manager of a Fitness Club. At 21, I was in charge of the largest gym on Vancouver Island. During my tenure, I completely turned around the team and client culture and boosted our sales to make the club the top-performing club in our franchise. I was made for this. I lived for this. I had the time of my life but I was also enormously burnt out and underpaid because I was too naive to understand the value I was bringing and used my young age against myself, so I just accepted what was offered. I mean, this was an incredible opportunity to give someone so young… They were doing me a favour, right? It was there that I decided I was ready to go back to school, crystal clear on the fact that I needed a degree in business. 

Mind you, I still managed the club and casually managed the bookkeeping of my family construction company. No big deal. I’ll sleep when I’m dead. Because it seems to be impossible for me to not go 100% in everything I do or to not say yes to something because it could be a good resume builder or make good connections or whatever else career girls say to justify saying YES, I joined the board of my Business Students Association, I was on the organizing committee for the Vancouver Island Leadership Conference and I was tapped to work with the Marketing Faculty to be one of 4 students they worked with to found a week-long conference that would become part of the curriculum. Oh, and I was so headstrong that I needed to complete my degree in the traditional 4-years. I also became a personal trainer somewhere in all that. 

It should come as no surprise that I had mono twice in my fourth year.

In every job I had post-grad, it was the same shit different pile situation. I could come on board, rise up through the ranks, excel in my results and then take on toxic corporate culture like it was my purpose on earth. I should also mention that my hobbies outside of my 9-5 job were launching a side-hustle boutique marketing agency with some friends and a volunteer event organizer for local charities. Yeah, I was completely insane. 

Cut to 2017, when I hit my lowest point (and then a few levels lower because the thing I’ve learned about rock bottom is there’s always room to sink deeper if you look for it). Up to this point, no one would have known the shit storm that was brewing inside me because I was a master masker and deflector. I actually convinced myself that I was proud of how little people could actually know me but still able to form what I thought were deep relationships. I was so skilled at letting people know just enough that they felt like they knew me but more importantly, were comfortable enough to lean on me. 

Anyways, The first 6-months of 2017 included losing my favourite human in the world, my Papa, to a 6-month battle with cancer, stepping away from a toxic relationship with my mother, burnt out from a job I hated and going through a breakup one week after my Papa’s passing. I felt like an empty shell of a person and for the second time, contemplated my existence. I remember this night vividly It felt like no matter what, I was always going to struggle and suffer. I played by the rules. Did things the way they were supposed to be done. Why the fuck did it seem like everyone around me got to enjoy living? This can’t be it. I will not survive. I had to make a choice. I chose to try it a different way. 

I started consuming EVERY self-help/healing thing I could get my hot little hands on: podcasts, books, blogs, email newsletters, Instagram accounts, Pinterest boards, YouTube videos, webinars, therapy, coaching, seminars, mediations and vision boards. You get it.  But the biggest change for me happened in 2018 when I went to a weekend seminar that my Dad had been trying to get me to go to since I was a child: Landmark Forum. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was my first experience with NLP in practice, and it was life-altering. 

In 2020, like everyone, my world changed. I was the Marketing Manager for the largest shopping centre on Vancouver Island–a total dream job (or so I thought). A place where I could see myself settling into my career for many years. Until that darn pandemic hit. I was so grateful I had financial security but lost my mind and identity without being able to actually do my job. I needed to take back my power, so I started a freelance marketing agency. Kind of. I bought the domain HeatherKatherine.co and spent 2 months trying to build a website, design my services and set my pricing. I’ve done this before, so it should have been so freaking easy, but I got nowhere. 

To try and pull myself out of the block, I bought a bundle of business courses, hoping for inspiration and motivation to strike. I started this one called “5 C’s of Consistent Income” by YES SUPPLY. Somehow, I ended up watching a masterclass about an NLP Coaching Certification. I was so confused about how I got there that I decided to see what it was all about, and let me tell you, it was the first time I actually sat through an entire 90-minute masterclass, fully engaged and feeling like Reese Evans from YES SUPPLY was speaking directly to me. 

A fire was ignited. I texted my bestie and told her about the program and how I thought everything had been leading me here. This is what I was meant to do. She shocked me with her response: “Duh! You would be amazing and basically already doing this FOR FREE with everyone in your life.” 

I decided to sleep on it. If I was still as excited in the morning, I would go for it and enroll myself in the program. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was the first time I actually followed my Human Design (if you’re curious what that looks like, you can take a peek at my chart). I woke up even more excited about the program, so I rolled over, grabbed my phone and enrolled. 

I made a commitment that I was going full time with my studies and would complete the program by September 1st. The plan was to launch part-time, build up my clientele and hopefully be ready to go full-time by January 1st, 2021. 

I spent the next 3-months being jerked around by my employer about a potential sale of the company, which only fuelled me to complete my tight timeline. 

Wouldn’t you know, by mid-August we got a call from HR saying the company was sold privately and our jobs were not included in the negotiations. We would all be unemployed as of September 1. 

I had actively ignored signs and synchronicities my entire life, but this felt like the Uni was dropping an anvil on my head. I said: “ I see you, I hear you. Looks like I’m ready and diving in with both feet!”

I received two job offers from the new owners, but I stood my ground and respectively turned them down. It was my time to say YES to the life I deeply desired instead of the sensible choice. 

On September 1st, 2020, I launched HK Coaching. A few days later, I signed my first client. One week after that, I signed my second client.

And I’ve never looked back.