This week our featured mompreneur is Becky Wolfe of Beckie Wolfe Consulting!
Watch the Interview Here!
Meet Becky
Becky Wolfe is a Leadership Coach, Health Coach and Physician Assistant. She has 15 years experience in medicine as a PA, but felt the biggest impact she could make on the world would be through coaching.
She started Health Coaching after hours at a Cardiology Clinic 10 years ago and fell in love with helping people achieve their goals. Her patients were able to stop their medications and lose weight which was their ultimate goal.
Becky has been obsessed with personal development since that time. She took a leadership course in 2018-2019 which helped to give her a voice as to why she loves coaching and in 2020 she jumped in full-time with coaching. She now helps her clients find confidence in who they are by understanding their personality, identifying their strengths and helping them work through negative mindsets that have held them back to achieve their health or life goals.
Interview Transcript
Introduction
Amy: Hello and welcome Newsymom community! My name is Amy Traugh and I am a content contributor for Newsymom, the founder of Moms on a Mission, and owner of Simplify Me by AT. Moms on a Mission has teamed up with Newsymom to bring you this exciting series featuring local mom-owned businesses. With me today, I have Becky Wolfe of Becky Wolfe Consulting. Hi Becky! It’s so great to have you with us today.
Becky: Hi Amy. Thanks so much. It’s a pleasure to be here. I really appreciate it.
Becky’s Story
Amy: Becky, tell us a little bit about yourself. We want to hear your story.
Becky: I am a mom of two boys, a 10-year-old and a seven-year-old. I’ve been a Physician’s Assistant for 15 years and started initially in the ER. I went to cardiology and worked there for seven years and then transitioned to emergency care. While I worked in cardiology, I actually became a health coach. I had lots of my patients ask me how to get off medications, how to get healthy, how to lose weight.
And I didn’t have time to tell them how to do it. People that work in medicine have a very limited amount of time with our patients. So 20 to 30 minutes isn’t a lot of time to go over lab results, diagnostic testing, and their conditions. I just found myself at a loss with how to help them.
So I researched careers and opportunities at that point and found a health coaching as a possibility to help people. I got certified and talked to the doctors that I worked with and asked them if I could pull patients after hours and work with them and they were on board. So I had the opportunity to work with just small groups of patients and really dive into their lives with their habits and the goals that they had and talked to them about diet and exercise.
The Start of Health Coaching
What I found, was that when you get into the thick of things with people, they start to make changes and they are able to see the reality of what they want. That was super exciting for me. I had one patient come back in particular that I’ll never forget.
He was in room four and was being seen at the cardiologist’s for his six-month checkup. The doctor came and got me and they said, “Hey, room four, can you go back and stop and see him?” I was like, yeah, sure, no problem. I was an hour behind in my office day and I didn’t eat lunch.
I remember taking a deep breath and I go back into room four and see this patient. I sat down and I looked at him and I said, “Hey, how are you doing today?” He said, “Becky, I want you to know what you’re doing matters.” And I was like, okay, I see patients every day, what’s different about this? He was just like, “I want you to know that you heard me and you helped me lose weight. I have lost 35 pounds. I’m off all my medicines but one. I just want you to know what you’re doing matters.”
That was so impactful. At that moment I knew I would come back at some point and be a coach full time, but I had no idea what that looked like. So fast forward a couple of years. I had my second son was unable to keep up with the demands of doing some extracurricular things, um, after work and just had to give up, um, coaching.
A Time to Pivot
About a year after having my second son, in 2015, the office closed unexpectedly or else I probably would still be there because I loved to see my patients. I loved working cardiology. But, it wasn’t in the cards.
So I ended up going to urgent care and then found leadership coaching. Actually in 2018, I was pulled into it by a friend who was doing this group coaching for a year long immersive experience and signed up, not having any idea of what I was signing up for. It was completely transformative for me.
Just understanding who I am, how I’m wired, why I have the tendencies that I have. I just knew at some point that I would come back to that, but had no idea what.
We love all the things, right? But it’s so hard to make time to dedicate to actually follow the things you enjoy. Towards the end of 2019, my husband and I ended up going to get a divorce.
That was the pivotal point in my life when I realized I wanted to chase something that was really impactful and important to me. I found a company to work for initially for health coaching. So I just dove in and started doing coaching calls. About a year into that, I was like, you know what, it’s time for me to get certified as a leadership coach because it was something that was really impactful for me.
Hidden Opportunities
I think when you step back and you look for an opportunity, or you just have the space for it, it presents itself. I started running at the same time and then the guy that was coaching me was a consultant for medical practices. I started talking to him about this and I said, “Hey, what would it look like for me to come in and do team coaching with a couple of your offices?”
He said, “You know, I think that’s a great idea.” That was my first foot in the door to start my own business. I absolutely loved the opportunity and I saw transformation within teams and individuals. I was able to marry both of those situations and it was such an incredible experience. Impacting the workplace and culture is what drives me.
So that’s how I got started. It’s a long story of how a perfect storm of opportunity comes in and then you just get to attach yourself to something that you’re passionate about.
Amy: The closing of the practice sounds like it was almost a blessing in disguise because it launched you into something you’re so passionate about. I come from a healthcare background myself. It’s just crazy to me, in the amount of time that I was in healthcare, how much has changed. And so much of it is now insurance and time constraint driven.
Could you describe a little bit about your business. You said you offer leadership and health coaching. Are you focusing on one more than the other? Tell us a little bit more about it.
Leadership Coaching
Becky: I’m focusing more on leadership coaching at this point. What I’ve found in doing kind of both sets of coaching, is the more I dive into somebody’s personality, past history, what makes them who they are today, it becomes easier to really dive into habits.
Healthy leaders are people who are healthy in all areas and understand how to interact with people really well. They’re doing something they’re passionate about. So I’ve been able to kind of marry both of those.
I think the thought of leadership is kind of like the old hierarchy of having somebody at the top, but it’s not the way it is anymore. Leadership is more so about influence. We all carry some type of influence. It’s influencing your kids. It’s influencing your friends. It is being an influence at work.
I believe that if you feel confident, healthy, happy with who you are, you are able to lead people up the mountain, through leadership, and actually get them to where they want to be, by helping them create that positive influence.
I really focus more on leadership, because I understand somebody’s personality. As I was talking about health coaching, I was able to dive into people’s habits. Well, this gives me a little bit further understanding of who a person is. That’s what I love is really diving into who they are and helping them.
Amy: I love how you talk about that. It makes so much sense and once we really start to understand ourselves, we can have that positive influence on others. Now, more than ever, with just the stresses of life and trying to balance all of the things, it’s so important.
Challenges and Obstacles
You touched on it a little bit, but as moms, we face some very unique challenges. What challenges or obstacles have you overcome to get to where you are?
Becky: Yeah, so I think of when I first started doing health coaching, just seeing the opportunity and also having a one-year-old at the time. Balancing taking care of the home, my son, and my niece. All of those kinds of things that we have to do.
Then shifting into when I started my business this time and rebranding. I’m like a single mom and that is a whole new level of stress. I almost feel like at this point it’s been a little easier for me. Understanding that I’ve done it before and shifting into how to balance everything.
You want to be really good on all levels, but it’s also understanding that there are conversations that have to be had. Depending on how old your kids are, they can actually be a little more independent and they can help you.
Managing the Stress
The stress, I would say, is just trying to balance all things and understanding that there are seasons. If you have a startup of a business, you have to understand you’re going to devote a little more time to it. You just have to make your kids aware of what’s going to be happening in the next several months.
Aafter that things are going to build and slowly it’s going to be a little bit easier to manage. So single motherhood, a full-time job, and then starting a business. It’s a lot, but, it is so worth it.
Amy: It’s so inspiring hearing you talk about turning those challengess into such a positive experience. It is affirming to know that we don’t have to be stuck in the corporate nine to five job. You can be wildly successful doing these things and then being a mom at the same time.
I was just having this conversation with somebody yesterday about seasons. A lot of things were all going on at once. I have to remember to tell myself, that this is a season, it’s a crazy season, but this too shall pass. That’s something we all struggle with day in and day out as moms. It’s a juggle trying to find balance. I think that you have to give yourself grace.
Helpful Resources
So what type of resources have helped you as you’ve been developing your business? Are there any books or groups you can recommend?
Becky: I love reading books and I also love being part of communities and challenges because it inspires me if I’m doing something with someone else.
Having the ability to link arms with somebody has changed the way I think. I think that’s why this time I’ve been able to focus and actually launch something from the ground up and then make it my full-time gig it’s because I feel like I’m not doing it alone.
So if you can find a community of people also that are like doing the same thing, but you’re also willing to work with each other. I feel like that’s kind of a game-changer. Just having the support and knowing that somebody is doing the exact same thing that you’re doing and you can bounce ideas off of each other.
I would say that’s probably been the most helpful thing for me.
Amy: It all goes back to community over competition. We’re all in this together. Why not bounce ideas off of each other and share our strengths? It makes life easier.
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to share your story with our community. So how can we find you?
How to work with Becky
2022 Game Plan: This is the fastest way to see progress toward achieving your goals. With this game plan, I help you get crystal clear on the thought distortions that have held you back from really going after your goals. I help you optimize your daily rhythm so that you can stay present and productive with your goals and see real progress. Finally, I help you strategize your unique game plan to set you up for success year after year. This process is a framework to help you overcome barriers, find solutions and see success.
1:1 Coaching: I offer 1:1 coaching at a monthly fee to help you set goals and really go after them. Specialties: Health, better communication at home or in teams, confidence, overcoming thought distortions, leading your team at work, business.
Team Coaching: If you are leading a team of people and you are looking to create healthy workplace culture, I can help. Invincible teams happen with strategy, intention, and focus. If you are looking to set up strategic professional development in your teams or workplace, I can help your team become invincible with the help of a cutting-edge digital platform and performance metrics.
Follow Along
Thank you everyone so much for joining us.
You can find Becky on Instagram @beckywolfecoaching
and at www.beckywolfe.com
Be sure to watch our other mompreneur features on Newsymom.com
Follow along @Themomsonamission on Instagram
and follow the Newsymom Stark County Facebook Group
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