We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gregory McKinney. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gregory below.
Gregory, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.
I started out with Pastoral counseling. I counseled married and engaged couples at my church. I loved it. I was still working a full-time day job, so I would counsel couples during my lunch, after work, and on weekends. I was never too tired to work with the couples. In fact, working with them energized me. I later left the church I was serving at and the couples would still want to work with me after the transition. So, I began counseling couples all day on my weekends. After months of giving away free counseling, I thought to myself I could make this a new professional path for me. It was a great decision. There is nothing else I would rather be doing.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a Life / Relationship Coach: I provide healthy communication strategies and relationship building sessions for individuals and couples I help each client feel a deeper connection with themselves and more satisfaction within their relationships.
My Life Coaching services caters to individuals or couples who feel stuck and desire to
overcome mild or major past hurts, offenses, and misunderstandings. Also as a Motivational Speaker, I speak at schools, churches, corporations, and local organizations seven days a week. My goal is to transform and empower the audience to live the dream that is in their heart.
Services I offer include:
Life Coaching
Relationship Coaching with an expertise in rebuilding trust
Healthy Communication & Listening Tips
How to manage Stress with Grace & Ease
Health & Well-Being Strategist (focuses on physical, mental, and spiritual strategies)
Goal Achievement Accountability Partner & Motivator
The Pursuit of Happiness Strategy Coach (Defining who you are & where you’re trying to go)
The thing about what I do that I am most proud of is offer men an opportunity to expand their emotional intelligence. So many men do not have an outlet to learn and develop emotionally. I strive to be a catalyst for men to understand and communicate their emotions in a healthy way that gives them healing and clarity.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
The interesting thing about what I do is I feel like I didn’t choose it, it chose me. Coaching is in my DNA. I can remember back in high school before we had the term “Coaching” I was always a listening ear. I felt fulfilled with helping people express their emotions and set new goals for themselves. I felt like an emotional detective. I wanted to get to the root of the problem and then help facilitate a positive change in the lives around me. I think no matter what other ambition I might have had I still would have wound up doing what I do now. It is the thing that comes most natural for me. When I did try to work for corporate America, I usually felt out of place. Like I was forcing myself to be someone I was not. That’s one of the ways I know that I am called to be a coach, because I can be exactly who I am without compromise.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson that I had to unlearn was that you don’t have to have it all together to be of service. I like to tell my clients “Broken crayons still color.” The biggest challenge I had with doing what I do was comparing myself to others who seemingly had it all together. I thought since I didn’t grow up wealthy, have powerful connections, or the best clothes, so on and so forth that I was unqualified. I have since learned that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Every life experience a person has had is a lesson that can be shared to help someone else. Our entire lives are a classroom. Learn what you are to learn from your experiences, learn how to share that lesson with others, and help someone else. That’s what I think the purpose of life is. To help someone else not to stumble over the same issue you once stumbled over.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.GregoryMcKinney.net
- Instagram: GregoryInspires
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GregoryInspires/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorym-lifecoach/
- Other: https://therapyforblackmen.org/coaches/mr-gregory-mckinney/