My Life Coach Journey — From Survival Mode to Purpose-Driven Business Coach
Why I Became a Life Coach for Women Entrepreneurs
Hi, I’m Dr. Barbara, a business coach, life coach, and a guide for female leaders ready to live and lead from clarity with a faith-based business coach who’s walked this path.
I launched my first practice at 29 with fire in my belly and unrelenting passion in my bones.
Eighty-nine days in, I was serving 180 visits a week. Everyone called it success. I did too. That momentum surged. I employed five Associate Doctors, four Massage Therapists, three CAs, and an Office Manager.
But I wasn’t leading. I was reacting.
I carried the weight of the machine I built. The money came. The
influence followed. From the outside, it looked like I had it all.
But behind the scenes, my children were paying the price.
They didn’t want prestige. They wanted presence.
And I was too blinded by the shimmer of success to see their pain.
The Rise: Overcoming Work-Life Imbalance
The 56 Day Chiropractic Boot Camp to Double Your Business wasn't born out of a spreadsheet or a strategy session. It was born out of fire from the life coach journey I was walking myself.. I wanted to bring chiropractic ballers together; those ready to lead with power, grit, and purpose. All of us under one flag.
We called ourselves The Boot Camp Tribe, and together, we grew like wildfire.
Within two years, we eclipsed seven figures.
But the climb came with cost.
I got wrecked, first by a brutal snowmachine accident, then by a kind of personal anguish I'd never known.
They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Cute line.
But here's what I learned:
What doesn't kill you, humbles you.
Cracks you open.
Teaches you to surrender.
The rise came at the expense of my health, my peace, and my alignment. Even while I was wearing the title of work-life balance coach, still untangling what that actually means, it became apparent that in order to get myself healthy again, I was going to have to commit to being completely UNbalanced.
That’s a harsh dose of reality for a “never quit” driver-type to accept.
My coach kept showing me how slowing down was the way to speed up. At first, I thought she was out of her mind. That gentler rhythms wouldn’t work. But she was right.
Our coaching brought about the most profound changes, which rippled through every part of my life. We strategically rewired my brain to align with deeply-aligned thriving instead of exhausting striving and fragile survival.
And now, I’ll never go back. Peace, joy, freedom, and love are my constants and they are wired to stay.
The Rebuild: My Entrepreneur Transformation Story
My path back to health wasn't paved in hustle or grind. It was paved in grace.
This was the turning point in my entrepreneur transformation story, not just in business, but in identity.
I shed 80 pounds, most of them emotional, and restored relationships that had been fractured by my addiction to proving myself to everyone but me.
For the first time in my life, I chose peace over pressure.
And peace chose me back.
I've walked away from the hamster wheel.
I've walked away from the lies that say you're only as valuable as your output, your bank account, your status.
I've seen the carnage left behind by success defined by the world's standards.
Is this where you find yourself now?
Running fast but going nowhere?
Achieving but not experiencing?
Succeeding by the world's standards but failing at what matters most?
Today, I serve as an brain-based, online business coach for women, guiding them to reclaim peace, purpose, and profitability, on their terms.
My life now is defined by something deeper:
● Obedience to God's call.
● Unshakeable joy.
● True freedom.
Faith, Family, and the Life That Fuels It All
My husband, Ben, is my forever muse and the love of my life. He runs his thriving general construction business here in Alaska. He has built not just with skill, but with soul. Through it, he's turned boys into men, teaching discipline, accountability, and grit the old-fashioned way: by doing the hard things with heart and a ‘never give up, never give in’ attitude.
Marriage? It's messy.
It's the best and harshest teacher.
It'll crack you open in all the places you tried to keep hidden
and then, if you let it, it'll pour in more grace, more growth, more love, and more connection than you knew was possible.
We've raised three incredible kids, Samson, Mycah, and Baylee, and gained two more through love: Libby and Braxton.
My soul’s wildest joy is being “Grammie” to Ezekiel, Nathaniel, Blaise, Wesley, and Makenna.
When we're not working, you'll find us deep in the Alaskan backcountry, off-grid at our remote lodge: hunting, fishing, 4-wheeling, or snowmachining, with family and friends. It’s the place where we live what I now teach as a faith-based life coach: presence over performance, clarity over chaos.
We worship together at ACF church in Eagle River, where our faith fuels everything we do.
Life Coach Timeline
This work didn’t come from theory. It came from walking through fire, learning from every pivot, and choosing to lead with integrity in every season.
Each phase of this journey, whether through my work as a life coach, through private coaching, events, or immersive retreats, has been forged by real moments that shaped the tools I now teach.
This is the roadmap. A timeline of grit, grace, and God-led growth.
Every offer I make is anchored here: in the lived wisdom of a life fully claimed alongside decades of experience.
He made me a mom—and lit a new kind of fire inside me.
Earned Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Logan College
The calling was confirmed.
Hired my first business coach before I opened my doors.
I've believed in mentorship from day one.
Launched Simple Solutions for Success, LLC—private coaching begins
Debuted 0-180 in 90 Days or Less teleclass series
Coaching called. "I answered and never looked back."
The industry took notice. I kept building.
The business soared. Behind the scenes, so did the storm.
Recognition confirmed the mission. I stayed the course.
What was meant to destroy me became the soil where new strength took root.
Then blindsided by flagrant adultery. Everything I'd been building was shattered in a moment I didn't choose.
The fracture was instant. The fallout, unrelenting.
The land that matches my wild heart!
He's my forever muse.
The Tribe was born. Momentum became an undeniable movement.
Ben adopted Samson (20) and Mycah (18)
Our family became whole.
Founded the Women's Chiropractic Leadership Summit at Life University
First Interview with Mike Michalowicz
Engaged in the first Cash Cabin Experience with Garrett Gunderson & Rich Christiansen
The spotlight widened. The mission deepened.
Only female named to the ICA Practice Success Academy
Named Chiropractor of the Year by Sherman College of Chiropractic
Coaching client Dr Robin Ellsworth breaks 7-figures while working 35 hours/week
Hit 7-figures in my own coaching business
We weren't just growing—we were multiplying impact.
Became Grammie to Ezekiel (my heart!)
Added second rental property
Even in a global crisis, we rose.
Coaching client Dr Elizabeth Hoefer hits 7-figures in under 3 years of practice
Crashed my snowmachine in the Alaskan wilderness
Added two more rental properties
Purchased our remote, off-grid dream cabin on a private Alaskan lake
This year tested everything—and proved what's unshakable.
What began as a risk became a ritual.
Legacy grew roots generations can stand on.
Launched Business Brain Boot Camp, first-of-its-kind, neuroscience-based business training for teams
Launched Forged On Purpose
Lost Lake Race with Team Ruggedly Sophisticated Female
Rooted in Love: Wanderlearn in Aruba
The vision is clearer. The mission is louder. The work matters more than ever.
My body aligned with the life I was called to live.
About Me
This Isn't About Me.
It's About You.
If something in all of this stirred a quiet knowing…
If success feels heavier than it should…
If the view from the top feels surprisingly hollow…
If “There has to be more than this” keeps whispering when the world goes quiet…
Then pause.
Just for a moment.
Not to figure it all out,
But to hear what your soul’s been trying to say.
This moment, the one where the ache meets the honesty—
That’s the beginning.
Not of a breakdown.
A breakthrough.
A return to the person you’ve always been beneath the proving, the striving, the performing.
This is what it means to lead with clarity, not chaos. And why leadership coaching that aligns is about coming home to yourself.
If that next version of life is calling you forward,
Answer it with everything you’ve got.
Say yes.
And let this be the moment you never look back.
Your Next Steps
Not sure where to dive in? Here are four paths forward:
Read Two Streets Named Hard
The book reshaping how high-achievers define success and reclaim what matters most.
Join Forged On Purpose
The book reshaping how high-achievers define success and reclaim what matters most.
Explore Business Brain Boot Camp
Explore neuroscience techniques for alignment and sustainable business practices.
Work 1:1
Private coaching provides a personalized approach for leaders to quickly advance and develop unique visions.
Need Deeper Support?
Craving deeper support, bigger moves, and an immersive, life redesign? If you're ready to go all in, I offer a limited number of private business coaching spots for entrepreneurs building legacy-level businesses.
This isn’t for everyone. It is for high-performing entrepreneurs searching for a private coach who delivers more than strategy; someone who brings soul-aligned recalibration, radical clarity, and the kind of support that actually matches the broad, bold moves you want to make to soar like never before..
Let’s reclaim what success was always meant to feel like.
Choose expansion, not exhaustion. Lead with clarity. Build with purpose.
There comes a point when strategy isn’t enough. When the only way forward is full alignment. Instead of chasing more, pivoting to reclaiming
what matters most: Peace. Purpose. Presence. This comes from building a business that rises with you, instead of resting on you. If that’s the
shift that you’re craving too, YOU’RE NOT ALONE. You’re in the right place. Let’s start your transformation and build what last
Choose expansion, not exhaustion. Lead with clarity. Build with purpose.
There comes a point when strategy isn’t enough. When the only way forward is full alignment. Instead of chasing more, pivoting to reclaiming
what matters most: Peace. Purpose. Presence. This comes from building a business that rises with you, instead of resting on you. If that’s the
shift that you’re craving too, YOU’RE NOT ALONE. You’re in the right place. Let’s start your transformation and build what last
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