Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Laura Heath, Owner of Your Highest Self Coaching, located in Belleville, ON, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I am the owner of Your Highest Self Coaching. My passion is coaching women who identify as emotional eaters to help them heal their emotional relationship with food so they can achieve permanent weight loss without restrictive dieting. Expert coaching, combined with holding space for these women, gives them the tools they need to move toward food freedom. I use the power of group and private coaching to teach emotional eaters how to decrease the chatter around food and focus on their own self-worth. I truly believe that permanent change comes with learning how to love yourself fully. I teach you how to change your thoughts, resulting in the ability to change how you feel. When you fuel your actions from a place of positive, believable thoughts, then you will take actions that will drive the results you truly want.

Tell us about yourself

I am a Registered Pharmacist, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Advanced Level Whole30 Coach, and Certified Wellness Life Coach specializing in the psychology of emotional eating. After spending 20 years working as a hospital pharmacist, it became abundantly clear to me that I needed to shift my focus and help provide my patients with the tools they needed to avoid getting sick in the first place instead of just teaching them about their new medications, managing their side effects and preventing serious drug interactions.

Being a witness to the life-changing transformations that I get to see in my clients is what motivates me every single day. As I coach a group, dig deep with a 1:1 client, or present corporate wellness workshops, I am amazed at how this "work" doesn't feel like work at all.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

As a business owner, my biggest accomplishments come when I least expect them. The serendipity of a large corporation seeking me out to present corporate wellness workshops, the special designation by Whole30 of myself as an Advanced Level Coach, interviews by Pharmacy magazines and other pharmacists in media, and being recruited by numerous Symposiums, Summits, and Masterclasses to present as an expert on the topic of stopping emotional eating. All these opportunities have helped me expand my reach, validate my coaching vision and continue taking risks every day.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of the hardest things I had to learn as a business owner was to own my power as the ultimate decision maker, program developer, and risk taker. Working 20 years in a publicly funded hospital system, I had always worked in an environment where somebody else dictated the schedule, the scope of work, and the job duties. Though I worked independently as a hospital pharmacist, I reported to a Director of Pharmacy and ultimately the CEO of the Corporation.

Now, I constantly work on coaching myself as my own CEO. Owning the confidence to make decisions, create without boundaries, and grow in ways I had never even imagined as an employee takes work. I teach myself every day how to compassionately yet powerfully create my vision.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

For anybody looking to start, run and grow a business today, I'd offer the following tips:

  1. You're going to be scared. Do it anyway. Fear can easily disrupt our ambitions and personal growth. Stop avoiding the state of transition. This is the state that ultimately leads to transformation and progress.
  2. You don't need a business degree to run a business. I'm a pharmacist, not a business major. I had to tell myself that "I'm figuring it out." And then I'd figure it out! Sometimes that might involve hiring an expert, and sometimes you are going to become the expert, but either way, you need to trust that you are capable.
  3. Fail forward. This was a very new concept for me as a pharmacist. In pharmacy, you "can't" make mistakes. Everything I ever did had to be right. In business, I trained myself to "fail forward." If something works, I learn something. And if something doesn't work, it's a learning opportunity.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

I invite you to learn about the Japanese term, Ikigai, which means your "reason for being." 'Iki' means 'life,' and 'gai' describes value or worth. When you find your ikigai, you've found your life's purpose. Ikigai combines what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. If you have a business that accomplishes Ikigai, you're golden!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://yourhighestself.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourhighestselfcoaching
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/your_highest_self_coaching/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_highestself
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-h-726950175/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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