JULIE TERRELL

I was a coach long before I realized I was a life coach. I had a large team (at that point around 10k women) signed under me in a rapidly growing direct sales company. One of the things I loved best about that business was the coaching calls I offered my team. Of course we would talk about their sales goals, trouble shooting products, etc. But 9 times out of 10, somewhere in the conversation, I would pick up on other themes. Negative mindset, marriage struggles, parenting frustrations, questions about God, wanting to achieve goals but not seeing the path, you name it. Going after those "side issues" quickly became my passion.

One day I was talking to a friend of mine who was a coach, author, and speaker. She said "Julie, you do realize that what you're doing is life coaching... right?" Actually, no. I had no idea! I just knew that as humans (and especially as women), all of our issues are quite intertwined with eachother. Your marriage issues may be exacerbated  by your negative mindset, which makes parenting even more difficult, which makes business goals absolutely overwhelming. Your questions about God have a massive impact on your view of yourself and other people, impacting your ability to interact or work with them. Untangling negative thought patterns or false beliefs has a ripple effect that will start improving every area of your life automatically. I knew this, and was practicing it, but didn't recognize it had a name. General Life Coaching.

After I left the Direct Sales world to focus on JUST coaching, I've had multiple people tell me I need to pick a specialty.  A few suggested that since I was at the top of the DS world and our companies compensation plan for several years, that should be my specialty. Helping women change their future through whichever company they had chosen to partner with. I certainly do love that idea, as that world changed our family in many many ways for the better. I love helping people learn to represent their company without destroying their relationships and sanity... but then what about marriage coaching?

Nathan and I have a very unusual story and have grown through incredible odds stacked against us. When we married at 22 and 23 years old we had zero conflict resolution skills. No idea about love languages. No clue how to set and maintain boundaries. Lost when it came to the concept of true reconciliation. Forget being able to teach our kids any of these things! Marriage is a huge passion of ours. We can't NOT do marriage coaching. Someone suggest we make THAT our sole focus. Okay... but then what about parenting?

 I have 4 kids, ages 18-10. Had 3 miscarriages sprinkled in there. My kids couldn't be more different if they tried! Seriously, I wonder sometimes if they sit around the table and discuss ways they could stump us with a completely new parenting challenge. Currently we have 3 teenage girls in our home... I'm sure that could be considered a specialty in and of itself, right?! I definitely don't have all the answers when it comes to parenting. We are obviously still in the middle of it! But like marriage, we have learned A LOT of lessons and one of my favorite things is sharing them with other desperate parents. Because I've been there. I know the panic. But I also know the practicality of God and the way He brings ideas and solutions to the table. People praying with me and brainstorming ideas with me were certainly catalytic moments in my parenting journey. So maybe I should specialize there?? Maybe. But then what about but spiritual life coaching??

My favorite thing is helping people grow in their relationship with God. I grew up in a DEEPLY religious system that was all about behavior modification. Not my family, but an organization I joined when I was 12. Rather than learning how to grow my own personal relationship with my Creator, I learned rules. Lots of masks and outfits to wear to disguise the broken person inside. Ways to look and talk and act like a good Christian... without ever learning to address the broken-ness inside. It will take a whole book to really cover the damage that did and the many wrong beliefs God had to undo for many years. I'll write that book someday. Until then, I love helping others identify things they're believing about themselves and God that are skewed. Because we can't usually see them ourselves... they're all we know! So there we have another potential specialty. See my dilemma??

Life is too connected and intricate for me to happily just focus on one piece. At least for now. Maybe someday I'll change my mind! Until then, just know that I'm here to help, no matter what you've identified as the main topic in your struggle. The ripple of effect of healing and growing is so awesome. I'm here for it. Let's work through it so you can add it to YOUR list of specialities!