Site-wide photo credit: In Her Image Photo
Practicing courage is my expertise. Teaching others how to powerfully practice courage is my vocation.
I stand for righteous integrity and ferocious love, all in service to living life on your own terms and being a force for good. This I know to be true: start practicing courage, and you get unstoppable.
I offer:
1.) The Courageous Living Program — every tool I’ve ever shared with a life coaching client is here, in one guided program. Take this day by day, a piece at a time, and you’ll make what matters to you most the central priority of your courageous life. No settling. Pure courage.
2.) The Coaching Blueprint — for life coaches (and acupuncturists, therapists, and others in client-centered businesses), The Coaching Blueprint is your go-to for creating a fulfilling and successful practice. Anyone can teach you how to market what you do. The Coaching Blueprint teaches you proven, effective approaches to marketing your coaching or consulting practice…without feeling like a greasy-haired slickster.
3.) Consulting for life coaches who are ready to quit hanging out in the “kinda sorta” place. When you’ve got some business basics under your belt, but now you’re looking for individualized support in taking your business to the next level, it’s time to invest in targeted feedback. Get solid on how to clarify your message and monetize your offerings, cutting through the overwhelm so that you can see your practice really take off.
4.) I rally crowds: invite me to your business or event, and we’ll talk about how working with fear instead of against it will have you, or your employees/co-workers, playing a revolutionary new game. Small business associations and chamber of commerce organizations will love my take on how brick-and-mortar businesses can use social media to increase business–without spending hours (or thousands) on marketing consultants.
I’ve Been There
Today, my life stuns me pretty regularly with its generosity, simple elegance, and its capacity to offer love. Wine country sunsets, vinyasa yoga, time to breathe, books tumbling off of shelves, two adorable cats and one handsome Italian husband are part of the deal, not to mention a successful business doing work that I love.
And–I know what it’s like to go through the motions, pay the bills, wear your seat belt, show up for work, and smile when required…yet know that something pretty big is missing. That was my life, and I’m acutely aware of the fact that if I didn’t consciously choose courage as a lifestyle, it could be my life, again.
I tried about a gazillion 1-2-3 step plans before I figured out that digging deep, getting to the core issues, telling the truth and telling it clean, and living my life with integrity had to be core courage practices. The most powerful and exciting work that I’ve done is the work of radically reframing my relationship to fear and choosing to practice courage.
I now understand how fear works–all the tricky ins and outs and disguises and internal narratives.
When you understand something, it becomes your friend.
It’s for this reason that I walk my talk. I’m not going to bullshit anyone. Real change takes real work. The people who decide that they’re not going to live another day settling automatically up their joy quotient by, like, a gazillion. Hang around here long enough and you’ll see that I’m a straight shooter with lots of hard-won wisdom, pragmatic tools, and a ton of ferocious love–love for you, that is. Big visions and world changers are welcome.
I’m a contributor:
I’ve written guest posts for, collaborated with, been interviewed for, or contributed to all of the following places (and a few more, but this graphic was getting out of hand):
FAQ / GUEST POSTING / INTERVIEWS / COLLABORATION
Do you accept guest posts?
Not at this time.
But I’ve seen some guest posts on your website.
There have been a few times when I knew that I was going to on hiatus for a bit, and at such times I’ve reached out to coaches that I knew well. Those are in the archives, but at this time, I don’t accept guest posts.
Do you still take on life coaching clients for personal coaching?
Not until Fall of 2013, if I have openings. For the past year, I’ve had a wait-list for sessions.
Do you do any business consulting?
Not until Fall of 2013. To learn more and to reserve a fall session, head to the Blueprint Sessions page.
Can I interview you?
Yes–get all the details, here: http://www.yourcourageouslife.com/interviews.
Is “Courageous” really your last name?
Nope! But I do have it tattooed on my right shoulder, in sanskrit.
Let’s collaborate on something! I’ve got a (workshop, retreat, e-book, course, interviews series) to tell you about.
I would lurve that! I get overwhelmed by long, scrolling emails. Brevity is more inspiring. Email me at least a few weeks in advance of when you need something. I consider all requests. If I’m unable to do it or it doesn’t feel like a match, I promise it’s not personal and I think you’re up to good in the world.
Are you on social media?
Totes! Find me:
Who does your website design?
My husband, Andrew Rado. But like all professional graphic designers who have a degree in design and a healthy client roster, the bane of his existence are emails where someone wants “just a simple design,” which usually translates to (eep!) “I’m hoping to get great design, for bargain basement prices.”
Good design is an investment, through and through. Bargain-hunters are better served by a google search for free WordPress templates–that’s not a dig on bargain-hunters. ‘Tis the truth. No sense in paying for good design if it’s not something you value.
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Because it was the courageous thing to do, obviously.
What’s your background/degree/training?
I have a B.A. in English and in Sociology, with a minor in women’s studies. My M.A. is in English. My coaching certification comes from the Interchange Counseling Institute in San Francisco.
I like anecdotes and tidbits. Tell, tell!
Here goes:
- Stats: INFP or INFJ, depending on which online Meyers-Briggs test I’ve taken; definitely HSP; a Sagittarius with three planets in Virgo, which I’m told are the “get shit done powerhouses” of the Zodiac.
- I live in Sonoma wine country, about 45 minutes north of San Francisco, and I am utterly ecstatic about this fact, on a daily basis. The sunsets, the locally-grown produce, the slower pace of living, the seasons…it is pure sensuous delight.
- J’adore heated yoga. Vinyasa flow has been my latest kick. A few years ago, I was into Bikram and did a 30-day stint of consecutive classes (otherwise known as a “Bikram yogathon.”)
- To love me is to accept that I’m one of “those people” with an annoying number of food restrictions. Gluten-free and dairy-free are just where we get started. It narrows from there. Bitchy wait-staff are not my favorite.
- I started my first business, a boutique graphic design consultancy, from my dorm room in college. I secured VC funding from the college’s entrepreneur club after submitting a business proposal, and while my student cohort perfected their keg stands in their spare time, I went to chamber of commerce meetings where I rolled my skirt at the waist band, because I couldn’t afford to have the length tailored. The manager of the local Einstein’s Bagels would try to embarrass me in front of people at these meetings by saying, “Aw, isn’t she cute?” after I told someone what I did. It taught me a lot about not letting people discount you because of your age. Smarts and a shit-ton of hard work will get you far.
- I am positively addicted to all things endurance-related. Running magazines, reading about triathletes, all of it. I can’t compete worth a damn and seem to have a penchant for chronic injury, but I love racing environments, reading about endurance athletes, and the Ironman channel on YouTube.
- I am fascinated by the in-betweens and dichotomous relationships. For example: The fact that affirmations can be both ridiculously fakey-fake AND incredibly powerful. Or how you can love someone and not always act like you love them. Or how you can work with the varying shades of grey between striving, healthy goal-setting, and surrendering utterly to the fact that we have no control, whatsoever.
- My husband is my very best friend. Spectators have occasionally remarked that it’s like we have our own language. Our pet name for one another is “Lovey.” We forget ourselves and start calling out “Hey, Lovey!” across aisles at Target.
- Fashion and home decor are my guilty pleasures. “Guilty” only because they’re kind of surfacey, 1st-world topics that conflict a bit (here we go with the in-betweens) with the fact that I have a hugely righteous social justice streak.
- I have a hard time with… appointments canceled last-minute due to non-emergencies, wasted time, poor customer service, slapstick comedies, people who gossip or maliciously exclude and call it “healthy boundaries” when it’s really just an ego trip, even the most minor head cold.
- I’m lit up by… efficiency, getting shit done, spontaneous dinner plans, the sound of Italian, friendly cats, the 10-second count before a race starts, the experience of collective effervescence, people who practice courage, the raw truth-truth-truth, asking people, “If I really knew you, what would I know about you?”, how I feel after I run, and the moment when intuition joins practicality (that place where what you internally “know” pairs with taking action).
