Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jennifer Zach. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jennifer, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I felt like a best-kept secret. I started my coaching practice in 2009 after graduating from the world’s first coaching school, Coach U. I limped along pursuing my business while keeping my day job as a data analyst for ten years.

When I first started, I found myself not only marketing my business but also needing to educate people about what coaching was outside the realm of sports. Coaching beyond athletics was a foreign concept for many. It was hard.

In moments of frustration and despair, I would ask myself, “Why? Why do I keep trying to grow this business?”. In many ways, it made no logical sense to keep going. I would settle solely for my second love of analyzing data because I wasn’t sure if what I wanted to do was possible. I felt so lost and disappointed and, as a result, came extremely close to giving up.

That’s when I took a leap of faith and signed up for the Badass Business Bootcamp with no idea how I would pay for it. And here is the amazing thing that happened. Just as I was finishing the bootcamp, someone who had been referred to me a year prior for coaching services contacted me. I would not have been ready for this client had she contacted me before I went through the bootcamp.

So maybe what I really wanted to do was possible. I kept my day job until late 2019, when I took the leap of faith to full-time entrepreneurship, not knowing that in less than six months, we would be in the middle of a pandemic and that I would find myself fighting for my life for an altogether other reason.

I had hit a pretty good stride with coaching and scheduled speaking engagements. Then COVID came. Like a house of cards, I watched my speaking engagements fall into a pile of cancelations. In the same year, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Unbeknownst to my clients, they were my best medicine.

Unlike the first time I pursued my business, this time, I was marketing my business while simultaneously fighting for my life. I survived, and so did my business. New life had been breathed into me and my business.

I had to find a way to distinguish myself. Where there was a lack of understanding about coaching before, more people knew what it was by this point. In turn, there were considerably more practicing coaches.

That’s when I found the work of Peter A. Levine, Ph.D. Peter is the developer of Somatic Experiencing®, a naturalistic and neurobiological approach to healing trauma. At that moment, I realized something I have done for as long as I can remember, and that came as easily to me as my next breath was my differentiator.

With my eyes opened, I saw where I was offering my clients a unique approach to Somatic Experiencing without thinking anything of it. I wasn’t helping clients heal trauma, but I was helping them manage their fight-flight-freeze response and understand, build, and refine their influence by being somatically aware and integrating thoughts, feelings, and sensations.

In essence, my work is a spread of interventions outside of the therapist’s office to the innermost parts of leadership.

The more I started consciously using the language of somatic awareness in my work, the more I realized how unfamiliar people were with it. I knew I was on to something when I saw people quickly relate to everyday workplace examples within the context of somatic awareness, and I witnessed their aha moments.

My clients’ behavior affirmed my belief that centering my coaching practice on somatic awareness was worthwhile. Many have taken what I’ve taught them and taught their team resulting in higher team performance. For me, there is no greater affirmation than that.

And what excites me most and makes my heart sing is when a client tells me how somatic awareness liberates them and that to have a skill like this is everything to them.

Under my blindness, my uniqueness was always there, helping and guiding me through the peaks and valleys of life and business. Because I persisted, I found my footing and saw that what I really wanted to do was possible. And now, my biggest contribution is doing what I love in service to the business leader community.

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

Jennifer Zach is an experienced executive coach and L&D business partner. For over 14 years, Jennifer has been a noteworthy leader in the business leadership coaching space. You may know her for her contributions to ATD’s international magazine and online blog and as the VP of Programs for the ATD Hawkeye chapter in Iowa.

In addition to her primary career functions, Jennifer is a Rotary International and Toastmasters member and a true pickleball enthusiast.

Jennifer graduated from the world’s first coaching school, Coach U, and holds an integrative somatic trauma therapy certificate.

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

I had to unlearn the notion that I must see the whole picture before I take the next step. This thought kept me stuck and stifled my growth for quite a while until I reached a point where playing it safe cost me more than any real or perceived benefit I was getting.

The old me was overly cautious. I emerged from cancer with a new kind of confidence. Confidence to be seen, heard, and understood. And with this confidence came the willingness to trust the process and be active in it – one pixel at a time.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I’m writing a book to put somatic awareness on the map as an essential leadership skill. I’ve labored over my book proposal and submitted it to select publishers. Some I have heard back from, others I have not.

One I heard back from rejected my proposal upon further review. I was, however, furnished with helpful feedback and invited to contribute my content in other forms.

I took the feedback to heart, returned to the drawing board, and continued writing.

Months later, I approached the same publisher. They kindly reviewed my work and, despite being impressed with the latest version, turned down my proposal again.

A repeated no makes way to the eventual yes. Chapter by chapter, I write my book. Between chapters, I submit proposals and prepare to make known somatic awareness as an essential leadership skill.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jennifer-zach.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferZach2009/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferzach/
• Other: [email protected]