Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michelle Goss. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Michelle , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

It was March of 2020 and my horse guided life coaching business had taken a huge hit because of Covid. I lost all of my clients due to them losing their jobs and other issues caused by the pandemic. I found myself with having to pay for the feed for my horses and no clients. I spent most of 2020 “trying to figure out where I fit in the job world.” I have owned and operated my own business in some form for over 35 years. Finding a job that would work for me was nearly impossible. And yet I needed money to maintain my horses. It was not easy and I found myself moving from job to job. And my depression was becoming worse as I did not feel like I “fit anywhere.” It was in February of 2021, for a couple of weeks, I found myself hearing a “voice from above” each time I walked into the job that I felt I “had to take.” I kept hearing this “voice from above” saying “If you are going to work this hard, go work for yourself. You know what you are doing.” I heard what this voice was saying, however I was scared that I “wouldn’t make it financially” and I could lose my horses. Losing my horses was not an option for me. But this voice kept saying the same thing every day. Finally, I realized I could not keep ignoring this “voice” and I decided on the spot that I was quitting this job and I was “going to go big or go home” in regards to my horse guided life coaching business. And that is exactly what I did. I quit the job, and immersed myself in learning about marketing in the 21st century. I learned how to utilize social media and I got connected with an amazing marketing woman, who has not only helped me with my business but has supported me in personal ways as well. I was scared taking this risk. I didn’t have much capital to work with and my personal life was less than stellar. I had no family to support me so I had to go out into the world and find my family. I started learning about how to network and create connections. And in this process I met someone who helped me apply for nonprofit status. I applied in July of 2021 and was told it could take upwards of a year to find out if I was accepted for nonprofit status. So, I continued on with developing my for profit business and making connections. I was finally at a place where I had paying clients and my finances were improving. The on October 6, 2021, I received the letter from the IRS stating I had been approved for nonprofit status! I was super excited and shocked at the same time. I decided to continue with the for profit business until after the first of the year and then merge everything into the nonprofit. On April 1, 2022, I launched my nonprofit horse guided life coaching business called Spirit Mountain Healing Services. It was close to a year that I had taken a HUGE risk to get back to being self-employed and doing what I love to do. It has not been easy, however, it has been worth all of it. I am now pushing forward with the nonprofit and my huge goals and dreams for myself and my business. I know it will take time but looking back at what I have accomplished in just a year, I know it won’t be long before I am closer to my goals and dreams of being able to teach people how to manage their lives better through horse guided life coaching. Onward and upward as my mom used to say!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have always had a passion for horses. Ever since I was a little girl. As I grew up I knew that I wanted to do something with horses professionally but was unsure as to what to do. I went to work for a local stables and the owner, who was the trainer, became my mentor as I had a young horse who was not broke to ride at the time. He took me “under his wing” and taught me about how to teach horses how to carry a rider. It was at this time in my life I realized I wanted to become a horse trainer and riding instructor. I earned my Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in Equine Science and a minor in small business. I had already been working with local horse owners and helping them train and work with their horses. Shortly after I graduated I moved to Arizona and within a year and a half had my own small “farm” where I was teaching riding lessons. It became clear very soon that I needed a larger facility and so purchased a 2 and 1/2 piece of property where I developed my full service boarding, lessons, and training stables. I was there for 8 eight years and learned a lot of how to run a business well, improve my skills as a professional horse back riding instructor and trainer and the general management of a working horse facility. It was demanding work, but I loved it so. Then life through some personal changes at me such as my divorce and economic changes and I was facing the fact that “riding lessons were now a luxury item and not a necessity item.” And I had to be able to put food on the table and a roof over my head. I learned about equine-assisted learning from a former student of mine who was a licensed social worker for a local school. She introduced me to equine-assisted learning at a clinic in southern Arizona and I was hooked! I knew this was my calling. This is what I had been working for all my life. So I applied to Prescott College and 3 years later graduated with a Master’s of Art degree in counseling/psychology in the field of Equine-Assisted Mental Health. After gradation, I took time to learn exactly what I wanted to do with my knowledge and expertise. After considering many different names for my business I came up with Spirit Mountain Healing Center. this name came about because of the loss of my mother in December of 2017. She had an amazing spirit and so do the horses. I grew up camping in the mountains and my mom and I loved to be in the mountains as much as possible. So I combined those 2 things and came up with Spirit Mountain Healing Center, which was a for profit business. Over the course of the last year and a half, I was able to get my nonprofit status from the IRS. Now I have Spirit Mountain Healing Services, which is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. The Center has been absorbed into the nonprofit. But the foundation for Spirit Mountain Healing Services is still the same. The nonprofit status is another stepping stone in the journey of myself and my business. As I have gone on this journey, I developed the name Horse Guided Life Coaching because that is exactly what I do. I help people learn to live a better life through working with my horses. I help people develop self-awareness, self-confidence, self-respect, leadership skills, and much, much more. I have been able to combine my 35 years of working with horses and people into an incredible, individualized, and very powerful way to be able to help people be empowered through horse guided learning. My journey to this point has not been easy, but has been worth all of my efforts. I have had many set backs both personally and professionally and had to learn many things “the hard way.” However those challenges that I have faced and overcome have helped me be the unique person I am today. And without those experiences, I would not have the specialized abilities to be able to combine my passion for horses along with my passion for helping people in the distinctive and unparalleled ways that I offer people through Horse Guided Life Coaching at Spirit Mountain Healing Services. I give people unique and powerful experiences with my horses to give them hope, help, and learning through horses. Learn, Grow, and be Empowered.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what helped me build my reputation within my market both as a horse back riding instructor/trainer and a horse guided life coach is my willingness to get out there and network and connect with others who I can help and who can help me. I know I am very tenacious about making things happen, even in times when I feel discouraged and beaten down. That is the part most people do not tell you about owning and running your own business. There are going to be a lot of times where you feel like you are not going to make it and you feel like given up. This is the time that you take care of yourself and give yourself some grace about how far you have actually come already. I know many people have told me that I have determination and drive to get things done. However that also means I need to balance that with down time for myself so that I do not become burned out. I also know that my openness to learning new things especially around branding/marketing/reputation has helped me tremendously. I also know that my openness to knowing what my strengths and weaknesses are has helped me to not overload myself with things that I am not good at. This is where my network and connections comes into play. I may not know what I am doing with “x” but I do know someone who knows what they are doing with “X.” As my grandfather always used to say, “It is not what you know what who you know that is most important.” And I believe this has helped me the most to build my reputation within my market.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think the most helpful for succeeding in my field is my drive, determination, and dedication to pursuing my passion of empowering people to live better through horse guided life coaching. I know I have hit many challenges and roadblocks. Most of them were internal rather than external. In other words, I was getting in my own way and I had to figure out how to get out of my own way. This meant that I had to be determined to succeed and also know that failure did not mean the end. It meant I needed to learn what not to do again and stop doing to. I needed to learn how to be efficient with my time and energy and not waste it on things that didn’t and wouldn’t work. This is not easy work to do by one’s self, however, with the help and support of my horses I have been able to do just that. And I know it is because of my drive, determination, and dedication to my passion I am succeeding in ways I never knew possible. I have learned over the years about the things that do not work are not failures, they are just things that I don’t need to do anymore. And that has given me the energy and time to continue succeeding in my field of horse guided life coaching.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.spiritmountainhealing.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/spiritmountainhealing/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/spiritmountainhealing/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-goss-a20226209