We recently connected with Gina Gatlin and have shared our conversation below.
Gina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.
I had a job as a corporate finance manager and I was doing everything I set out to do. I spent years climbing the corporate ladder and doing work that I felt made me important. I decided to get my 200-hour yoga teacher certification and from that moment on, I was committed to my personal growth. I took on more training exploring energy working, healing modalities, and coaching to gain even deeper knowledge about myself and what made me tick.
After five years of teaching classes and connecting with others in sessions, I knew that this was where my heart came alive. One day I decided that clocking in 40 hours a day just didn’t feel aligned with what I wanted for my life. I decided to make the leap into doing what I love which is making meaningful connections with others and helping others align with their purpose.
I went to my husband who was in grad school at the time and said “I want to quit my job” to which he responded, “we’ll figure it out”. I threw myself into more growth and through LOTS of growing pains, identity crises, and tears, I have never felt more alive. I learned that you just have to figure it out on your own, let go of expectations, and trust that I am much more capable than I ever imagined.
Gina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Before I opened my business, I decided to start reconnecting to who I was at my core- what I wanted my life to live into and how to create a life worth living. I opened Quantum Wellness Co to support others like me who felt like they were successful but that there was something missing. I felt stuck in many ways and it was through self-inquiry, somatic experiencing, spiritual connection, and energy-healing modalities that I was able to find myself.
I offer a WHOLE body approach to healing using meditation, breath work, energy healing, and reconnection to self. All of these tools offer healing to feel more balance in daily life. I offer 1:1 energy healing, embodiment, and spiritual mentorship and guided community platforms for deep dives into who we are as humans and a safe space for inquiry work.
I LOVE PEOPLE. I wanted to hold space for people to unfold into the best versions of themselves and feel like the
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When I opened my business I discovered that for YEARS I had allowed my worth or value to be determined by the number of spreadsheets I can complete or the things I could get done in a day. Once I opened my own business, I had to learn how to self-validate. Self-validation has been one of the hardest lessons I had to learn and truly unlearning external validation.
External validation looks like crowd-sourcing people’s opinions for every direction in life- what to do each day, where to spend my energy, the structures of my day, and needing it to be validated by someone other than myself. I found that when I would wake up, without the structure of punching a clock, I had to learn what I wanted to do and how I wanted to spend my life. My passions and fears all came to life.
Learning who I was a something I was thrown into head first. Which felt like an amazing and daunting environment. Having navigated through it and learning what I liked and what I didn’t truly brought out my creativity, and passion and I found new loves I didn’t know existed.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
I think finding others with the same growth mindset and who share the same interests is important. It’s important to find a community of people who feel supportive and people you can bounce ideas off of. I think the number one piece of advice I would give would be to find a mentor or coach in your field to inspire you and help you grow and shift when you need to. Even people who are in the same industry as you can help you learn how to do things a different way.
Also, the thought that sometimes it is worth paying someone to do something you can do yourself simply out of effort and ease. I started so hesitant to spend money on marketing, websites, and apps to grow when needed to help my life be more creative and easy. I was focusing on an “I am a small business, I don’t have those resources” vs “I know where I want to go and what is needed to get there is a team rather than one person”
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Image Credits
Madison Nicole Imagery- first 6 pics