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

Jennifer, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Even though it doesn’t seem like a very complicated name, a lot of thought did go into it! “Success Coaching with Dr. Jen” came about after I considered some other options. Ultimately, when I’m working with my clients, our shared goal is their success. There are numerous life coaching niches, and I’ve found that sometimes we get in our own ways when it comes to pursuing success. When clients come to me for coaching, we are working toward that success. With that in mind, I decided Success Coaching with Dr. Jen would be the name of my business.

Jennifer, 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?

I came to life coaching in a unique way! Befored life coaching, I was a college professor, and I have always been someone who likes to fix things for other people. As a person who tended to swoop in and fix things, I realized that wasn’t beneficial for students. I needed a better way to help. I had the opportunity to take a life coaching course as a professional development opportunity. I took the course and loved it. Fortunately, the course was led by an absolutely amazing coach who became my friend and mentor. That course led to me studying for and earning my credential from the ICF.

Since becoming a life coach, I have focused on working with clients who need help making their businesses successful, clients who struggle with prior trauma, and, of course, those in educational fields. I have greatly enjoyed working with a non-profit for entrepreneurs called Black Business Boom. I love to learn, so I’m constantly taking courses to learn more about my fields of specialization outside of the time I spent in them.

Life coaching brings me joy, and seeing my clients achieve their goals makes me proud of them! It is an honor to be part of their lives and to have their trust. I try to ensure that coaching is accessible to everyone by offering some slots at reduced rates because everyone should be able to pursue success!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn was getting in my own way. I had to stop doubting my abilities, and then I had to make creating my business a priority. I had to unlearn all the negative thinking that sometimes happens, and I did that by working with my own coach. I realized, in those sessions, that many of us get in the way of our own success, and coaching can help us overcome a lot of that! Through working with my coaches, I was able to complete my Ph.D. dissertation, earn my ICF credential, and set up my business. Coaching isn’t always huge milestones like this–there were so many little successes along the way.

By unlearning all the negative stories I tended to tell myself about why I couldn’t do something, I found the reason and purpose for Success Coaching with Dr. Jen.

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

Throughout my life, I’ve had to develop a strong sense of resilience. In high school, I had a teacher who said, “If you get knocked down 9 times, you’ve got to pick yourself up 10 times.” At the time, I thought it was corny, but it stuck with me and it has become something I live by. There have been so many times where I’ve been knocked down, but I have learned to count on myself, know my resources, and figure out how to handle almost any situation. Most recently, in November 2022, I was laid off (along with many others) very unexpectedly from my full-time job. In the moment, it was terrifying and shocking. When I told my husband, his response was completely different in that he said, “Good, that place was never worth it, and now you can focus on coaching.” I realized that losing a job is scary, but I had other income streams and good relationships that I could utilize, and, yes, I could work on building my coaching business.

That unexpected “loss” turned out to be a major gain. I had time to focus on taking professional development for coaching, honing my credentials, and building my business. I have had so many amazing opportunities arise since that time, and if I had still had that job, I wouldn’t have been able to engage with them.

While I don’t look forward to setbacks, I know I have resilience, and that’s part of what I help my clients with in Success Coaching.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://successcoachingdrjen.com/

Image Credits
The image with the green shirt is by Leah Kelley Photography (with permission).