To kick off 2020, Life Coach Path and the National Coach Academy are conducting a Coach Interview Series showcasing professional coaches from all across the country and from all different backgrounds and specializations. The purpose of the series is to provide a window into the world of coaching and to show aspiring coaches what this career entails and looks like in the real world.

Today we are interviewing Katrina Julia. Katrina is a Wellness and Lifestyle Transformation Coach based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the creator and CEO of FIT Life Creation.

Life Coach Path: Can you describe your coaching practice and the kinds of clients you typically work with?

Katrina: My business is called Fit Life Creation. We are an all-in-one lifestyle brand with health, wealth, and business in one. How we serve clients is typically in three focus points:

One is the online program. We have various programs ranging from a creation club mastermind to an influencer course. In that, people get tips, tools, and technology, hands-on.

The second way that we serve clients is in live events and retreats. Also with hands-on activities around health, money, and business. Clients also get online programs and courses included in those experiences.

The last way that we serve clients is on a brand basis. With brands, we will work on retainer, whether that is for a month, three months, or a year-long period. That is focused around the same areas: wellness, media, lifestyle, and travel. Helping brands create the exact same thing that we’ve created in a lifestyle brand model.

Life Coach Path: In working with your clients, what would you say is the most rewarding part of that process and on the flip side of that, what is the most challenging aspect of the work that you do?

Katrina: The most rewarding aspect of my work is tied to my word last year. I read a book called Get One Word about four years ago. Ever since then, I get very tied to a word spiritually for the year. Last year, my word was freedom. As the year unfolded, I became very clear, both for myself and others, that the driving factor for all of us is freedom. That means freedom of expression, freedom of time, freedom of location, freedom of community, and freedom financially.

The biggest thing is walking in passion, in purpose and in potential myself, but also seeing people evolve, almost like a flower or a butterfly. Using that same analogy, say I’m an orchid and you’re a tree. People grow at different rates. People grow in different ways, so it’s about giving people the freedom to grow at their own pace. Some people will come to us and they’re all in on, let’s say, a brand engagement. Sometimes it’s on a more extensive course or a live event. Sometimes it’s on a freebie, or a podcast or social media. The most rewarding is seeing the growth in real time. Hearing people change their language, change their actions, change their results in every area of life.

I’m so grateful and so proud of one of our students and community members. She has been part of our community for over a year. Within that year, real time, I saw her grow in that freedom of expression. I saw her improve her health. I saw her improve her mindset. I saw her get out there more and talk about her business as an entrepreneur, as a course creator. Her money improved and she ended up launching two courses.

To see that level of growth in less than a year, to see clear evidence points every single month, to see that our accountability is working, to see the volume of content that’s going out there in the programs, to see that the tools are working, that my teaching style, my expression style is resonating — it’s huge. That is definitely what’s rewarding.

I highlight her because I think sometimes we get lost in the numbers. What is important to come back to in any business is that the one matters. You’re not going to get to the ten, to the hundred, to the hundreds of thousands, to the millions, if you don’t take care of the one. I think that a lot of times in our instant gratification, we get lost — myself included. We see the vision but it’s like, “Wait a minute. Take care of the one. Take care of the two. Take care of the ten.” Make sure they’re taken care of every single step of the way.

I’m also very proud of creating a community, so that it’s not just me. It’s other people championing other people, whether it’s on platforms or in person. That everyone’s celebrating one another’s dreams and desires and there’s no competition. There’s no scarcity. There’s no perfectionism. There’s progress. It’s “Done is better than perfect.” It’s “Okay, let’s make this happen now and be proud of myself now for executing this, knowing this is version 1.0 or version 5.0.” I tell people all the time that our website is on version 13.0. We would have never gone to that if I didn’t start with version 1.

On the flip side, what I get frustrated by and the biggest lesson of my life — is turning pain into purpose. Transformation is not easy at all. The mindset work, health work, money work, business work, freedom work. Wrapping your head around the mindset of freedom and location freedom and financial freedom. None of that is easy. No different than a caterpillar. A caterpillar goes into a cocoon through his deepest transformation time and emerges a butterfly and flies like a butterfly. And studies have shown that if you take a caterpillar out of the cocoon too soon, it will not develop the muscles to fly.

I believe our own journeys are the same. Yes, it’s been hard as hell to walk through losing 55 pounds. To figure out how to build an online business. To figure out how to set up retreats. To figure out how to set up brand engagement and retainers and have the confidence to reach out. Someone once said that when you have a child or a husband, it’s like your heart is walking around outside of you. I think our businesses are a lot like that, too. It’s our dreams. It’s our baby.

What can be painful is the growth and the patience. It’s the getting up one more time, getting up again as the new version without taking it personally and without equating your progress to your self-worth. In some of the darkest financial times I’ve had, without equating my net worth to my self-worth. It’s that process of turning pain into purpose.

It’s our choice. We can stay in victimhood or we can become victors and take people along on the journey. We’re all human. I have scripts or stories that were created as a result of childhood, whether it’s things with my mom or dad or things that I observed — things that maybe I hadn’t verbalized as I do now. We’ll repeat these patterns over and over and over until we stop and say, “Wait a minute. I’m the only common denominator here. And yes, this sucks. Yes, this is horrible. Yes, coulda woulda shoulda. I wish I can go backwards, but I can’t. I don’t have a Back to the Future time machine (unfortunately not yet!).”

And part of the beauty is the experience. Part of the beauty is turning beauty from ashes. Then it becomes, “How can I help others walk through this?”

I’ll remind myself, “Okay, Katrina. A lot of people have these exact struggles. You’re a vessel. You’re a child of God. You’re an infinite being and people need your story. Look what you did in a decade, so imagine the next decade, step by step.

Life Coach Path: What is one piece of advice that you would give to somebody who is in the beginning stage of their coaching career?

Katrina: The first thing I would say is create. Because by creating, you start to free yourself and you start to uncover things about yourself. Recognize your own value. For example, a practice that I do every single day and actually all throughout the day is celebrate. This phone call, this interview is a celebrate. “Oh, wow, this person reached out to me, that found me somehow, someway on the internet of all things, and he thought I had a valuable message to share.” That’s a huge celebrate. Create and celebrate.

It’s reminding yourself along those same lines that you have value. For example, years ago, a massive thing I used to struggle with is dealing with imposter syndrome. As I level up in ideas, as I level up in creation, as I level up in community, as I level up in income, this comes up all the time and I feel it now. It’s interesting because I can literally feel the feeling.

For example, as I look back on the last decade — and I do this now every single year — I look back and I say, “Oh my God, I walked from fear to faith, corporate to calling, bondage to freedom, self-hate to love, devalued to purity. I overcame all of these things step by step.” And then I’ll remind myself, “Okay, Katrina. A lot of people have these exact struggles. You’re a vessel. You’re a child of God. You’re an infinite being and people need your story. Look what you did in a decade, so imagine the next decade, step by step.”

In those moments that are really uncomfortable, I start to get this weird heart feeling. It’s almost like a little child tugging on your arm and saying, “Listen, listen because this is important. If you don’t deal with this now, it’s going to come back up.” Years ago, I used to run over those feelings. Because I observed that my mom is very compassionate. My dad on the other side, no. He dealt with some trauma in Bulgaria with his parents and different things, and he learned how to cope by running over stuff or not dealing with it or burying it. That was a behavior I mimicked for years. And at the same time, I found my worth in external things like degrees, accomplishments, reaching certain levels.

Over the last several years, a lot of that was stripped from me for me to realize — and I think this is the core of humanity and of coaching — that you are and I am a priceless human being even if we don’t ever accomplish anything today. Just by breathing, living, being, smiling, interacting with another person, you’re adding value to the world. When you recognize the simplest things matter and you start to fill your cup up with, “Oh my God, I did this this morning. I had this experience in my morning routine. I met this new person that I interacted with,” and you start to release the external validation and then you’re celebrating along the way. What’s ironic is that’s when things start to flow easier and easier.

Another example from yesterday: I got a consult with a huge consulting firm on social media and influencer marketing. I was like, “Oh my God, this is literally me stepping into the next step of the process of going from the idea into the action, the belief and the alignment coming into play, and now I’m manifesting it.”

Then I thought to myself, “Why am I feeling Imposter Syndrome and all of these weird feelings?” The child tugging on my arm. But also paying attention to that child and saying, “Okay, Katrina, what’s happening here?” Paying attention to the 11-year-old Katrina that had negative words spoken over her by someone she deeply loved that she took on as truth and as a belief for years. And I said, “Oh, another layer is coming up of my worthiness. Another layer is coming up of my deservingness. Another layer is coming up of being afraid to manage money.”

So I stopped and I said, “Okay, what’s happening here? Little Katrina’s talking me that she’s feeling a little afraid.” That’s another limiting belief we have. It hasn’t happened yet, so it’s not going to happen. Or it’s happening then we self-sabotage or get upset or try to find something wrong with it and nitpick. And I said “Oh, it’s manifesting so I need to stay in a state of flow that I am worthy. That I am deserving.” I was repeating my “I am” statements. I prayed. I welcomed and I calmed myself down and basically made sure I was in an alluring and captivating and flowing state of energy where “Hey, this is easy. I’m creating what I love and I’m making money and this is easy. My vision for this year is we’re reaching a million dollars with our community in the flow. This is easy.”

There was no way last year at this time that I could speak like this or with this level of clarity. Some people think it’s going to be like a light switch, but it’s not. As you level up with the vision, the action, and the manifestation, there are things that will always come up because we’re human. It takes a lot of digging.