We were lucky to catch up with Joanne Bell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joanne , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

Several years ago my life had fallen apart. I had been through a heartbreak, had burnout in my career as an English teacher and ended up in a deep depression.

During this time, I was going on holiday to New York, a city I adore. I knew I would be distracted enough throughout my time away, however, I felt deeply anxious about returning home. I wrote myself a letter which said: I don’t need you to do anything. You don’t have to feel good or go back to work, I just need you to stay here and breathe. It was the first time I had talked to myself with such unconditional love and when I got home and found it on my pillow something shifted.

During counselling, I became more aware of my fierce inner critic which, without knowing it, meant I had been putting myself down for decades.

As I’ve learnt again and again on my journey once we bring things to the light we can start to work with them. Instead of being harsh and resentful my self-talk transformed into a self-compassionate and loving space which both supported my recovery and built my resilience. I soon saw how the women around me spoke to themselves: criticising their weight, appearance or things they said and I felt called to spread what I knew. I started holding journaling workshops, a business which blossomed, but knew I wanted to support my clients more deeply. After investing heavily in myself for two years I trained to become a coach.

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 support women who know they are made for more to stop playing small and criticizing themselves, take powerful action and become their very own ride or die. The work goes way deeper than mindset: it’s shifting the subconscious – accounting for 96% of our behaviour – by healing our deepest, darkest parts. Often, clients come to me with a pattern they can’t break: people-pleasing, perfectionism, procrastination, imposter syndrome. Underneath, is a wounded inner child holding on to a limiting belief and terrified of failure, rejection or further hurt. I lead clients through a process of reparenting themselves by helping the little girl inside to feel safe and secure. This is combined with somatic dearmoring, releasing stuck trauma in the body and working with the nervous system to expand our capacity for life. 

So much of our suffering comes from believing we are somehow broken, different and unlovable; this work brings us back home. My proudest achievement as a coach is building a community of women who see, hear and love on each other. We need more of this in the world. 

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

There is one way to do things, and if it isn’t working out I’m failing.

At the beginning of my career I looked to everybody else for answers, something I had learnt to do early in my life instead of trusting my own voice. In our culture we can be bombarded with information, from books, podcast and advertising and it’s certainly the case that when you become a coach you are surrounded with offers on how to create a six-figure business overnight. I tried doing it the way I saw other people do it, but instead of being a method to propel my success I went round in circles.

Eventually, I threw everything away and focused one thing: creating value for my audience every single day. It feels good be of service and this is the energy I want to fuel my. business with.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

My favourite, and most effective strategy, had been client referrals.

Once women have experienced the transformation for themselves they bring in their friends, which is such an honour. It not only allows each of them to be on their personal development journey, but creates a shared context and fuels community. In a similar vein when I meet people in person they often become either clients or advocates of my business. Although I enjoy all of my of my other channels and they definitely have a place my business is now, and shall remain, one with high touch interaction at its heart.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joannebell.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamjoannebell/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannebell/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@iamjoannebell
• Other: https://iamjoannebell.substack.com

Image Credits

Claire Waddell