From Cubicle to Calling: My Journey to Becoming a Health Coach
I’ve written about the transition from corporate to purpose in musings of blogs past. But it’s been a good while since I really thought about that time I left my very stable, very comfortable, very good-healthcare-benefits corporate job.
It’s an important part of my story. So here’s the quick and dirty.
In 2013, I was working at the worlds leading media investment company where, “We make advertising work better for people” was the tagline. I had just moved my life across country, from the land of Jersey. Weehawken, to be exact. I still miss that view.
I had worked it out so that I could work remotely from my new home in San Francisco, CA.
Everything was great until I broke my work laptop. I can’t remember if I put my fist through it or I dropped it. Memory is funky now. Probably because back then, I had to get my story straight. I wasn’t about to get in trouble for destroying company property 😬 🤫 .
It turned out that I had reached my max. I literally hit a wall, and, in the processs…my laptop! That moment of rage signified the beginning of the end. Not just the end of me in that job, but the end of me having to put on a show — where everyone can see that I’m a bad actor. I was done faking the funk.
Luckily, I had a boss who was very understanding and supportive. I get moved every time I think about how he responded to me when I told him I was done.
“Nan, I support whatever it is that you want to do. So if that means becoming a spin instructor, then I just want to be able to say that I had a hand in helping you do that.”
COME ON!!! WHO SAYS THAT?! (CUE UGLY CRY) Talk about someone having your back. (As I’m writing this on Sept. 11th, 2024, I am honoring my 11 year “spinnaversary” — throwing it back to teaching my very first indoor cycling class!)
I was able to wrap up my corporate responsibilities over the next 6 months, and they even flew me back for the end of year holiday party. It was so great to say goodbye, in person, to my work homies. A lot of whom I’m still connected with to this day.
So you might be asking, how did I make this jump?
The short answer is a combo of mentorship + leadership coaching, financial planning, and faith.
Now, let me preface by saying that I’m not someone who has benefitted from having a safety net from mommy and daddy. (Shooo, I wish!) So I couldn’t just jump off the cliff with out having SOME kind of plan. Here’s how it went down.
On the heels of working 1:1 with a life coach for 7 months, I put myself into a leadership program when I first arrived in San Francisco. This was in large part so that I could be in community with likeminded people in my new city and also keep building on the new muscles that I had grown and developed with my coach. It was inside of that leadership program that I declared, like I literally made a declaration, that I would be one of the top indoor cycling instructors in SF.
I’d never even taught before. I just really LOVED taking classes. But I was empowered AF. My head coach nudged me and said, “You should talk to Jae.” Fast foward, I’m working with Jae as his apprentice/first hire at J Bodyworks, a nuerophysiolgy based training space. JB happened to also share space inside of a beautiful, state of the art cycling studio. This is where I did a bulk of my learning, studying, and testing out. I had amazing teachers: Jae, Missy Bunch, Dr. Cobb, and Jennifer (who owned the beautiful space).
One of the biggest reasons why I was able to take such a bold risk is because I had saved enough money for me to live off of which allowed me to feel SAFE ENOUGH to try out this new role. The new income was very low at first, but I had my saving to live off of so I was mostly fine. The hustle would soon pick up!
In the spirit of transparency, I had about $40,000 in my savings account. I’d been saving since I was 14 and I never knew what I’d use that money for. It all came together when I decided I needed to step out into my passion and purpose.
So, having mentors, having money, and most important of all: FAITH.
I really believed in myself. I had to. I was really doing something that I LOVED, and attempting to have people pay me to help them too! My mindset had to be on point. My connection to Source (God) had to be unshakeable. And it was. There were so many moments where I could have thrown in the towel when it was hard. And I never ever did. I always (and still have) had a knowing that the universe is on my side, and it’s got my back. What I desire also desires me.
Eventually, I would soon do what I set out to do, and that is becoming one of the top indoor cycling instructors in San Francisco! As well as becoming a very successful movement specialist/personal trainer helping so many people transform their lives, not just their bodies.
Cut to today, and I’m doing a similar thing, just a bit different and in a way that is more sustainable and allows me to have more time for myself and my loved ones. Being an online health coach for women truly is, my life’s work.
It’s an honor and a privilege.
Thank you.
-Coach Nan
