We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jenni Grover a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jenni, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

The biggest difference is that I’m the only wellness coach I know of who works strictly with makers and other creative folks, to help them find the sweet spot of caring for their health/nurturing their creativity.

I’ve lived with chronic pain and chronic illness for more than 25 years, and I’m a creator at heart, so I know how much health woes can impact creativity. I’m passionate about helping my clients learn how to find balance so they can take good care of themselves in many ways, including creatively.

Also, many wellness coaches focus strictly on physical health, and many of them focus on helping people lose weight. My approach is different. I don’t focus on weight loss. If a client wants to lose weight, I can support them in that effort, but our work will center on gaining clarity of purpose, asking: Why are they losing it? Are they doing it in a healthy way? What outcomes do they anticipate as a result of it? How is it part of the bigger picture?

But my BIG difference is that I guide clients to examine FIVE areas of wellness: physical, mental, social, creative and spiritual. These five areas are all important, and all are interwoven. By treating all five areas, I’m able to help my clients feel an overall sense of wellness that helps explode their creativity.

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 came to wellness coaching after more than 25 years of living in a body with chronic pain and illness. As a professional patient advocate, I worked under the name ChronicBabe and served tens of thousands of people with education, advocacy and coaching. It became part of my identity. I even published a popular book, “ChronicBabe 101: How to Craft an Incredible Life Beyond Illness.”

In 2019, after 16 years of that work — and many years of my own personal healing work — I had a big a-ha moment. I was ready to shed the identity of “sick person.” Even though I still have all the same chronic conditions (fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression, PTSD, asthma, hypothyroid and more) I consider myself to be a well person — I aim to be as well as possible at any given moment.

I started coach training in early 2020 and shifted into being a wellness life coach. After some time, I decided to work with makers and other creative folks. I’m passionate about the intersection of creativity and wellness, and I love using my life experiences to help others learn that they are resilient — and can grow and change!

Today, after much intense healing work and focused learning, I’m happy to say my own mental and physical health are dramatically improved — and I have a robust wellness coaching practice. My own experiencing facing disabling health challenges, and learning how to create a beautiful life in spite of them, makes me uniquely qualified to coach.

I offer a diverse array of services to clients, at different price points, so I can meet them wherever they’re ready to work with me:

– 1:1 wellness life coaching for makers and other creatives
– a $10 monthly membership focused on community support for makers who want to improve their wellness
– a handful of on-demand digital courses about boosting creativity and crafting sustainable wellness practices
– in-person and virtual lectures and workshops for quilt guilds and other creative organizations

My wellness coaching approach is designed around the five threads of wellness: physical, mental, social, creative and spiritual. When we feel better, our creativity flourishes. When we nurture our creativity, we feel better. All five threads are woven together to create a powerful work of art.

My work is built on my concept of “creative resilience”: the place where creativity and wellness meet to yield strength, agility, flexibility, inspiration and motivation.

Why do I tailor wellness coaching for makers, specifically? Because I am a quilter, writer, sewist, jewelry maker, gardener, and more… and I’ve seen firsthand how all five threads of wellness are intertwined for us makers. And because I’ve known so many creative folks who are frustrated with their wellness on some level. And mostly because makers are the most fun to hang out with!

When clients come to me, they usually want help with at least one of the threads of wellness, but through our work they often learn they need to work on at least one more area. When we complete our work, clients routinely tell me they feel more creative, confident, adventurous, grounded and healthy.

I help makers with their physical wellness:
– Learning how to build the habit of exercise
– Practicing making better choices when it comes to nutrition (like healthier snacks at crafting retreats)
– Focusing on improving their sleep
– Learning how to pace themselves in the craft room
– Considering ergonomics and their impact on making

I help makers with their mental wellness:
– Learning time management skills that reduce stress and boost productivity
– Gaining comfort with meditation and relaxation exercises
– Building better boundaries (especially to protect creative time)
– Learning how to prioritize in a way that feels empowering

I help makers with social wellness:
– Gaining a stronger sense of self and what they need in order to thrive in relationships
– Learning how to make more meaningful connections (especially through craft guilds and other creative communities)
– Creating healthy boundaries in all kinds of relationships
– Finding a sense of place in physical and online communities that support their creativity

I help makers with creative wellness:
– Learning “Creative Resilience,” my concept for connecting inner strength with outward expression
– Building a deeper connection with personal meaning in each piece of work
– Organizing their creative space to encourage and support more making
– Identifying causes of creative ruts and burnout… and developing routines to recover (and prevent them from recurring)
– Gaining clarity on their creative mission, style and goals

I help makers with their spiritual wellness:
– Connecting with a deeper sense of purpose in their creative work
– Gaining a clear sense of themselves in the context of our world
– Learning how to bring spiritual beliefs and practices into creative endeavors (because every moment is an opportunity to pause and reflect)
– Rebuilding a routine of prayer, meditation, or mindfulness

My Education and qualifications:
– Associate Certified Coach (ACC) through International Coaching Federation and Certified Wellness Life Coach through Coach Training EDU
– Patient advocate and chronic illness coach since 2005 (through my ChronicBabe work)
– Self-employed entrepreneur since 2002
– Professional speaker since 1996
– Professional writer since the age of 16 (with more than 30 years of publishing experience)

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best clients for me are people who are: – creative – and excited to nurture that part of themselves

– creative – and excited to nurture that part of themselves
– introspective – they’re excited to get to know themselves and learn
– brave – and ready to look within and take risks to make big change
– financially healthy – have money to hire me for an amount of time that ensures success (12 sessions vs. three, for example)

Because I’m a maker myself — in particular, I’m passionate about quilting — throwing myself into volunteering, networking and leadership opportunities in that world has brought me many clients. Some examples:
– I have served on the board of my quilt guild, which gets me in front of potential clients
– I have a robust Instagram presence where I’m consistent and persistent, and clients are attracted to that
– I attend industry events (like QuiltCon, a huge international convention) where I hustle to meet people, give out cute marketing materials (zines instead of business cards)
– I freelance for a handful of quilting publications (print and online) which gets me in front of people

Because I’m consistent and methodical, I can get in front of many folks every week, proving my value and enticing them by demonstrating I’m living some of the lifestyle qualities they crave. I build trust and that helps folks feel ready to invest in my work — and in themselves.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In 2021, just as I had wrapped up my first round of coach training and launched my wellness coaching business, my husband was in a horrible accident. He’s fine now, but at the time, it was scary and devastating. I had to take off a few months of work to care for him and our household. Once he was on a solid healing path, I realized that *I* needed some time off to care for myself.

It was scary to spend a full year off, but I knew I needed the healing work. The time off paid off and I came back to work rested and ready.

Fear crept in, telling me “no one will buy what you’re selling because you disappeared for a year” and “your social media and work history have big gaps that make you seem untrustworthy” and other self-critical thoughts. But I persisted. Over the course of a few months, I built my online presence back up, launched my newsletter, worked with a developer to create a new website, and launched new services.

It was a humbling experience, and at times, I thought about giving up. It’s hard to be 50 and feel like you’re starting over! But I kept reminding myself that I wasn’t starting over — I was coming back. It’s an important distinction.

Ultimately, my fear didn’t get the best of me! My business is in the black and growing rapidly after six months back at work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://coachjennigrover.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachjennigrover/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamjennigrover
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachjennigrover/
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/coachjennigrover/

Image Credits
Alix Kramer