5 Ways Having A Coaching Business Can Help You Feel Better with Chronic Illness?

Why You Should Listen:
In this episode, we delve into how the unique skills developed through managing chronic illness can be the cornerstone of a successful coaching business that not only generates income but also promotes personal healing.

In This Episode:

• Introducing the Heal Me Fund: We're launching a nurturing initiative to support your wellness and growth, transforming challenges into opportunities for healing.
• The Real Me Framework: Discover a gentle approach to reshape our lives and businesses through Reset, Embrace, Align, & Leverage, crafted to honor our experiences and capacities.
• 5 Healing Benefits: Learn how creating a coaching business can offer therapeutic advantages, providing structure, community, and meaningful work that aligns with your healing journey.

Join me as we discover how embracing entrepreneurship can bring peace, purpose, and healing into our lives while making a liveable income.

Chapters

• 0:00 Empowerment Through Chronic Illness Coaching
• 12:31 Feeling Better With Chronic Illness Business
• 26:02 Empowerment and Healing Through Community

Transcript

Nikita Williams: 0:00

Okay, I'm super excited to be talking with you all about this episode on the five ways having a coaching business can help you feel better with chronic illness. Now, so many of us are just trying to feel better with chronic illness. So many of us are just trying to figure out how to make it through the day-to-day living with chronic illness. Now I wanna give a slight trigger warning. If you are in the phase of your journey where the idea of someone saying that your pain is valid and you can choose joy and you can choose empowerment and you can choose to find ways to not feel as limited as you feel right now, if those things trigger you, if those things frustrate you, you may not be in the season yet for this episode. And I say this with all love and kindness and true empathy and compassion. I have been there. I have been there where people used to say you know, be positive or think positive, and instantly say don't you think I've tried that? Don't you think I've done that as best as I could, until I realized that those well-meaning people were not trying to invalidate my pain. They were offering another way for me to view my pain. It didn't mean that my pain wasn't real and it's taken me a long time to get to this place. And, yes, granted, there are people who really do think you can just think your pain away completely and you are blissful just by thinking positive thoughts. Yeah, that's not what we're talking about here. I truly believe that feeling your pain, dealing with your trauma, moving through your trauma and accessing joy and positivity and finding ways to feel better with chronic illness is possible, but I definitely think it is more a mindset game than anything else. It doesn't mean that my pain doesn't happen, it doesn't mean that your pain doesn't happen, but it does mean that I have the ability to access joy, peace, excitement, happiness and feeling better, because I have found ways to think, believe and truly move through all of the crappy stuff and see the good stuff as well. Life is not about only the pain. Life is also about the joy. It's kind of 50-50. That's where we are in this world.

Nikita Williams: 2:38

If you're thinking about listening to this episode as a trigger warning, if you're like girl, I'm all for it I just want you to be prepared for what I'm going to share with you. These are very much mindset slash, practical tools on living with chronic illness, to feel better, and I have found all of these because of my business. They have all been the reasons why I have found another layer besides my spiritual, my deep spiritual routine and hope and faith. These other five things have truly made living with chronic illness so much better, and I wanted to share it with you. Now I want to introduce you to the thought that your business can lead you to what I consider your heal, you fund, and, as you've heard in the trailer and in the intro, I believe that healing is just a way of feeling more whole and having more completeness in how you live your life, whether you have chronic illness or just life hurdles in general, right. And so in your business, one of the powerful tools you have is the ability to have control over so much more than we would if we had given our lives and our hands to somebody else right. And so I have found it truly amazing how I have learned so much just by having my business have made my life living with chronic illness so much better, and this led me to, this year, talking about how that might look like for those of you who are starting and want to start and grow a business, and you're thinking about it from the financial side, but I want you to also think about how it could be a tool to you feeling better with your chronic illness, having more better days with your business, because of having what I call a heal you or heal me fund.

Nikita Williams: 4:48

Now, in this fund, this is literally where you're going to start learning the skill of making money so that you can take care of all the things you wish you could take care of. That is so important to you and for most of the chronic illness warriors I talk to. Some of those things are mostly holistic in nature, mostly in management in nature. So massages, naturopaths, acupuncture, float tanks, any and everything so many different tools. And once you start adding a lot of those things up, it can be expensive, like legit right, and so I have found that you can run a business that helps you take care of your everyday needs to function, surviving and do what you got to do. But you can also start a Heal Me Fund because of your business so you can feel better living with chronic illness and you can add to this fun at any given time, based on your cadence of how you're growing your business. You can add money to it. You can take money out of it, you can plan for how you're going to increase it, how you're going to use it all because you have this fun as an intention of your business, and so that alone, having that as an option or as a vision or as a goal, makes you feel better, because you feel like you're giving yourself more options and control, and that, to me, is literally priceless. Okay, so another thing and we're not even getting to the five things yet. These are just other things.

Nikita Williams: 6:33

Before I give you the five things that I really think for me personally, that has made me feel better with chronic illness. Having my business made me think and look at my life, living with it, of how I got through it. So over the last couple of months I've been having some market research calls and a lot of the women have experienced this thing of like when they were working in a corporate environment or when they were transitioning out of corporate and going into a different job or field or a business. They often ask themselves I don't know how I did it. I don't know how I did all of that while dealing with my ebbs and flows, ups and downs, roller coasters of living with chronic illness, and I think for all of us, that is a question you must answer in order to feel better with your chronic illness, living with it. In the context of trying to start a business to make some income, it is literally the key, the key to you having a more successful business and a business that is much easier for you to actually operate in.

Nikita Williams: 7:39

So for me, I did this for myself, when I had to really look at like, how did I, how did I get through some of the hardest times of my life with chronic illness and what mattered, and how did it have ripple effects for so many other things. And that's where I came up with my framework that I use for myself and then I also use for my clients in order to really create profitable and sustainable businesses that helps them not only do that but also feel better with their chronic illness. What I love about my framework of using this is it literally just came from my journey of living like surviving and then learning how to thrive with chronic illness. It literally came from that. It did not come from necessarily business things. Now business things are added into that framework because now I've just made it interchangeable.

Nikita Williams: 8:32

But this is the powerful thing about when my clients get to work with me. They come to me and they get to not only grow their businesses but they also start to feel better with their chronic illness. Like that is the byproduct, and it happens sooner than most of my clients thinks. Usually, within the first 30 to 90 days, they have a mindset, they have a hold or a grasp on how powerful they truly are and some of the tools that they've tapped into, that they may have had to be refined through the fire, if you will, but they start to see how, because of them going through some of this stuff and also like they wouldn't have chosen to go through this, but how, now that they're looking back, how they get to use them in a way to leverage not only how they thrive in life but also how they thrive in their businesses. And so my framework consists of something called the it's just called the real me. It really is.

Nikita Williams: 9:31

Many of us with chronic illness lose sight of the real us in so many different ways because we go from especially if you were diagnosed midlife, you go from living your normal life to, all of a sudden, not, and you start like letting go and letting go of some of the things you really cared about, really love, really wanted to do to now having the opportunity to kind of look back and seeing, like, can I do those things, is it possible? Sometimes we also go through the process of like trying all of the things, doing all of the things, and this happened for me when I realized that I needed to figure out a way to really reset and to like just get back to some of the things that I even give myself permission to even dream and think about again, and that is where so many aha moments, so much clarity came from. This is also where I got super clear on how to advocate for myself in any given situation with my doctors, with my naturopaths, with my family, my friends, all of those different kinds of things. And it's still something that I do regularly. So within my framework it's called something that I do regularly. So within my framework, it's called the real me or the real you, and it encompasses, like a process of resetting, a process really, of embracing, like really embracing all of me, not just parts of me, really aligning things that I would have wanted or wanted both or before my chronic illness, and things that I want even after or even during that, just look different. And then how to like leverage all of the things I've learned through this process and that framework has literally been the framework that has allowed me to grow my business and to help other women do the same, and these are things that I do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly. These are these things that I need to do all of the time, and there are tools that I get to use at any given time, and all of this framework really has helped me to feel better. So one way you can start to feel better having a business and if you're like I don't know if I can do this is just look at how you've already done it, because chronic illness is so much harder. Living with chronic illness is so much harder than running a business. I'm going to say that again Living with chronic illness and multiple is so much harder, in my opinion, than running a business. Running a business doesn't have to be that hard. So those are just two things. So the Heal Me Fund and learning how you have survived and how you can turn that surviving into thriving is a really great way to learn how you feel better with chronic illness. Doing that through your business, all right. So those are like two bonus at the top. So these are the five that I really wanted to talk to you about.

Nikita Williams: 12:31

There are five ways that you can feel better having chronic illness by having a business. When you have a business, you have more control. Number one, of your capacity and energy. Right, you have way more control over your capacity and energy, and those two things are currency. They are how we operate in the world in general. We can't get time back necessarily, but we can add to our energy and our capacity. We can use it irresponsibly or we can use it in a way that allows us to soar, and when we learn how to tap into what our energy and our capacity looks like, by pacing by boundaries, by our strengths and our passions, we literally learn how it's possible to feel better with chronic illness. It's hard to feel better with chronic illness when you don't have control over those things. Right, and when you have your own business, you do. You absolutely do.

Nikita Williams: 13:39

Don't let anyone tell you that in the beginning you have to sacrifice everything in order to get to whatever dollar or goal amount that you have. I would beg to differ. That the reason why many people feel that way and why, once they get there, they want to burn it down, is because they haven't seen the power of how they need to identify how their energy and their capacity is really a tool for their freedom, and if they learn how to build a business on that and how to make money based on that, they will have a long-term business that's sustainable and help their life and everything else feel better. All right, number two these two things. So energy. Number one energy and energy and capacity are currency, and so is community. So number two you don't have to do this alone. I have found so many tools and resources and people and information that I am so thankful for because I have a business. It put me in places, it put me in contact with people in so many different ways, and I'm going to tell you the last of the five.

Nikita Williams: 14:54

That makes living with chronic illness, how you can feel better, so much powerful, and why a community is currency. Because one, they say and help you when you're not in a room. They are the people that will shout your name from the rooftops, will refer you, they are people who will help you find the answers to the things you need living with your chronic illness. They are your research team, they are your sales team. They are the people that you really can depend on in a lot of different ways, as long as you're building it based on authentic connection. So community is your other place of currency, but it's also a thing that adds to your energy and capacity when it's the right community, and all of those two things helps you feel better with chronic illness.

Nikita Williams: 15:49

I cannot tell you, when I'm in a flare or I've got a new something or something's going on, how good I feel, knowing that I have spaces and people that I can reach out to, that are not going to shame me, that are not going to gaslight me, that are just going to listen and also offer me resources Powerful way of how you can feel better with chronic illness and doing it through a coaching business. Coaches are just naturally trying to help people, so they're naturally always keyed up for listening, for ways they can support someone else in their life or in their business to be better, to feel better. So that's another reason why community is awesome. Another thing that's connected to community is resources and tools as a coach.

Nikita Williams: 16:42

So many things I have learned as a coach that has helped me, just in general, feel better of like knowing how to manage the mindset stuff, the mind-body connection issues, or the connection, the mind-body piece of things. So, for example, when I started using essential oils, that's a tool I never would have thought would have helped me in the management of feeling better with my chronic illness, but I learned that through a coach. Same thing with journaling I always journaled but I never learned how or knew how journaling would help me in that way, from a way of being like way more aware and connected to what's happening and when it's happening and how it's happening. I also didn't understand the power of breathwork. I didn't understand the power of the nervous system. All of these tools, all of these things I learned, these are resources and tools that I learned through coaching that literally gave me a whole nother toolbox other than Western medicine and just like good vibes quote unquote to help me through some of the hardest times, whether in the hospital, whether with a new diagnosis or just other life things. It literally has helped me literally feel better with chronic illness because of having coaching and the resources and tools I've learned through it.

Nikita Williams: 18:05

Number four so we've done space space or energy and capacity. Number two was community is currency. Number three was resources and tools that you learn through other coaches and through other programs just things you just didn't know about your mind, your body. Number four turning skills that you've learned living with chronic illness into actual money making assets is a powerful tool. It's one of the like, my favorite things to like think about and helps me to feel better with chronic illness because you know when you're going through the things you're going through with your chronic illness.

Nikita Williams: 18:46

Oftentimes we just feel helpless. We feel like we don't have the answers, we feel like we don't know what we're doing and we feel often unheard, unseen and all of that jazz right. But when I started my coaching business, I started to see how so many things that I've learned that, of course, if I didn't have to go through the life that I've gone through living with chronic illness I would be OK. I think I would figure out a lot of things, a lot of other things to get to where I'm at, figure out a lot of things, a lot of other things to get to where I'm at. But I am thankful for the fact that I've seen how I can use these challenges in a way to actually make money. So remember that framework I was sharing with you at the beginning on the reset and leveraging the real me, where I said you know I answered the question how did I survive through some of the hardest times of my life with chronic illness? Well, when I answered that question and I discovered the reset that I did, as well as seeing how I leveraged some of the tools and things I've learned, I literally started learning how to use that to make money in my business. So, for example, when I was feeling stuck or there was a new algorithm change on the Instagram or on the podcast of ways like the way that I saw the industry going as far as the clients I was serving, I always did not have any fear around.

Nikita Williams: 20:11

Take a minute to reset. I believe you can reset and you gain way more momentum and create much more results when you give yourself permission to reset. That doesn't mean that everything has to stop and just like be quote, unquote, like stopped. It just means you have some time to like be with yourself while your systems and things are in place, running, while you take some time to like look at everything and decide what is still for you, what's not for you, and decide how you want to move forward and what ways you don't want to move forward. And that process alone has helped me in my business to increase my prices to attract my clients, to also have more choices. In my journey as a chronic illness warrior, it's allowed me to find holistic things to support me, all helping me feel better with chronic illness, because me being able to turn the skills that I learned living with chronic illness to survive into a way to make money and thrive in my life so that I can feel better with chronic illness and number five is my number one thing. Number five is my number one thing of how you feel better when you have a coaching business.

Nikita Williams: 21:30

Coaching is so much about helping other people in their lives deal with some of the most challenging things that they've got going on right. You ask a lot of questions. You help them find tools. You help them think outside of their box and unturn things and think about things differently and see new perspectives so they can choose thoughts that serve them to get to exactly where they want to go, versus staying in the places that they are. That's not serving them. And you learn to do that first by telling your own story. So long with my own journey. I kept my story kind of very surface level. I never really shared all of the details about things. I kind of was shamed about it. I kind of felt a lot of different kind of ways about it until I started opening up and telling my story and this alone helps you to not feel isolated anymore. Also, it helps you open up the option or the ability to receive again energy, capacity, community resources, seeing what you have done and what you have accomplished and how you've been able to do that.

Nikita Williams: 22:49

Telling your story alone can help you feel better. It helps you so much in so many different ways. One of the ways is like you don't know what you don't know. You might be telling your story to someone and it like highlights something that they experienced or they know about, resource that they respectfully ask if they can share with you. Or it puts you in a space where you're looking for an opportunity and you create one by just telling your story, where now you're working with consultant clients or a job that you want, or even having your own business right.

Nikita Williams: 23:29

Oftentimes, when you're living with chronic illness, we live in isolation in our own sick thoughts, pain thoughts, and we feel alone and we beat ourselves up so much. Isolation just breeds more and leads more to more trauma and triggering of our pain. But when you tell your story, you feel better and, as coaches, that's part of the reason why people come to you is when you're telling them about your story and how you have found tools and resources and energy and capacity that have helped you and you're willing to help others. That is why coaching, to me, is one of the best tools in your journey to fight and feel better with chronic illness. So I've shared with you a total of seven ways that having a coaching business can help you feel better with chronic illness. One number one, the bonus one, is that it helps you create a Heal you Fund where you can spend money that you may not otherwise have had, because you are adding it to take care of things, to do things like acupuncture, massaging. You've made an intentional plan in order to create a fund that supports you in your healing journey.

Nikita Williams: 24:51

Number two when you answer the question how have I survived to get to this point, to even think about having a business or coaching business or starting any kind of business, you unveil your framework for your business success and the rest of the things you've got going on in your life and that in itself is profitable and helps you feel better and empowered. Profitable and helps you feel better and empowered. Number three space and capacity. Energy and capacity. You have more energy and capacity when you have your own coaching business that you get to build based on your terms and that makes you feel better. Nothing feels better than being able to say I'm actually going to cancel these calls because I, or reschedule these calls because I can't, it's a bad day and don't have to. You know, think about anybody else Like you already have built the systems and the team and the resources to support you in that. Nothing feels better than being like I only work three times a week because this supports my energy and capacity, so I can feel better.

Nikita Williams: 26:02

Living with chronic illness Nothing feels better, okay. The next one was community is currency. You learn how to live better because of the community. You learn that other people need what you have, which makes you feel empowered, which makes you feel better. You learn resources and tools.

Nikita Williams: 26:20

That's the next one that helps you live better, that helps you function better, that helps you be a better coach, be a better wife, be a better friend, be a better sister.

Nikita Williams: 26:30

All of these things help you feel better living with chronic illness. The next one is that you learn you start to learn how to turn the skills that you've learned living with chronic illness into money-making assets for your business so you can add to your Heal Me Fund right. Nothing feels better than being able to turn some of the challenges you've experienced into ways that you can literally build the dream life or dream business that you want. And the last, but certainly certainly not least, is you feel better when you finally share your story and you finally let go of the shame and the insecurities and the just pain from just keeping silent about what you've gone through and how you've gotten through it. That in itself, all of that helps you feel better with chronic illness, and that is why a coaching business is the best way to go when you're living with chronic illness. All right, so that's it for this episode. I'll see you at the next one.