Kaitlyn Nicholson

I would say my mom. I mean, that's kind of the obvious answer, right? Because our parents are so supportive, and they're how we get here, but my mom is unique in that she is an entrepreneur at heart. I grew up watching her run businesses, her own businesses. She has an MBA, she's smart, savvy, very business savvy. I don't think I would know the business end - I'm very kind and compassionate, and so I feel like I wouldn't have had the structure I needed to survive in the business world as much as I have if I wouldn't have grown up watching her. Just bounce, balance books, and go to the shops early and make sure the business had everything it needed. It's just, I grew up watching her basically be a boss, and I fed off of that energy a little bit, which was helpful.

Probably my very first supervisor - it sounds so silly, but she had this saying, 'What do you know is true?' I used to get so caught up in, like, well, what was my client's experience like? Or, this person said this online, or just getting caught up in all the energy around me, or, like, oh, this is the role I'm meant to play, whatever it may be. She just would stop me in my tracks and say, 'Okay, under all of that noise, what do you know is true?' She got to the point where she would cut me off, and she'd be like, 'Well, what do you know is true?' So, I actually have 'truth' tattooed on my arm because it became an anchor I leaned on for a while to get through grad school. It's like, what do I know is true? And I think it's ironic that now the work I'm so passionate about is helping people be true to themselves. But yeah, that's the best advice I've ever gotten, and it was actually a question.

I would say listen to yourself and follow your own body and your own needs. I was very caught up in what success looks like, based on just societal pressure, conditioning, expectations. I really wanted to be able to hold an 8-5 job, and I felt a lot of shame when I couldn't. And I wanted to be able to see more than 3 clients a day, and felt a lot of shame when I couldn't. Human design and coaching and all of that, my whole goal is the personalization piece, for people to realize that all of our nervous systems are different, and sensitivity is a scale that we all are on, it just depends where we fall on that scale. Some people just need more support than others, and there's nothing wrong with that. So that would be my advice, is to work in a way that works for you.

Well, I know challenge-wise, for me, as a therapist, I was really struggling with feeling tied to one state. Like, as a therapist, I was licensed in Tennessee, and so I could only work with clients in Tennessee. It's been a beautiful experience moving into the coaching world, and I can have a client in Thailand, I have a client in India. I think just being able to work on a more global scale, at least for me, feels really good. That was a challenge for me. They are trying to make adjustments - they gave us, during COVID, a two-year window where if a client needs to change states or whatever, like, to go back home, you can still keep seeing them. So we were allowed during COVID, but then when that passed, the counseling field is really scrambling, trying to figure out what to do. They just came out with this thing called the Counseling Compact, which basically you can become a member, and then if you're approved, you can counsel people in different states. So basically, money. I'll just kind of get out of all of this so I have more freedom - I can just do my own thing and see who I want to see when I want to see them.

Well, authenticity, I think, is the main thread, or alignment. I kind of use those words interchangeably, but just being in alignment with who you truly are, and how you're designed to be in the world. I think that creates flow and sustainability. So that's at the root of all the work I do. But I would also say peace. Peace and just well-being. I'm a very gentle soul. People who have worked with me say, even though I'm very intellectual and focused, I'm very - I just want to see people. There's a compassion to the approach that I have, where yes, we're here for a purpose, but I'm also gonna hold space for you. I think that can be really hard to find in the coaching world. It's almost like I hope to blend both - counseling is beautiful, it's a sacred space where you're being held, but there's not a lot of direct direction and practicality and what does this look like in creating change right now. And coaching, I feel like there's some of that directness, and you can get to the root of things quicker, but I've seen some coaches missing that compassion, and just the humanity of the work. So I pride myself on offering both. But yeah, me, personally, it's peace.