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

Alright, Krystal thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I live with bipolar disorder. I have been diagnosed for over 15 years. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that exists between depression and mania and the spaces in-between. I tend to lean more toward mania and hypomania – I get euphoric, excitable, and energized.

When I am manic, I become super productive (up to a certain point before it extends into incoherence) and hyper focused on my creativity. During one manic episode, I incorporated two businesses. I had these grand ideas for how little-ol’-me was going to change the world. I was excited to get to work doing just that – changing and improving the world. Then, the mania came down and my enthusiasm subsided.

But I wasn’t wrong or misguided. The ideas – even in the light of day, in the light of a more even-keeled mood – were still great ideas. Ideas that could improve the world. Or my corner of it. I dissolved one of the businesses, but I kept the self-care one.

Even though I created TLC (Total Life Care Coaching) during a manic episode, it has been one of the best decisions of my life. I get to speak about the importance of self-care and community care – whether one has a mental health diagnosis or not. I get to share about my own mental health journey, and hopefully dismantle some stigmas about bipolar, mental health, and which communities are impacted (spoiler: it’s every community).

My mission is to empower heart-centered professionals to prioritize their own needs too. So often they put their clients/customers/organizational needs above their own. So committed to the mission, they often forget themselves in the process. And this is a recipe for burnout, exhaustion, and unhappiness. Self-care and community care are not the only answers, but they are a way that we all can exercise some control and agency.

Krystal , 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?

In addition to being a self-care coach, I am an educator and a licensed social worker. I have taught middle school and high school English – and I love all things words, writing, and books. I believe this is why I am so drawn to encouraging messages and affirmations in my self-care work. I also used to blog for a few years about my mental health journey with bipolar disorder; I was published on The Huffington Post, The Mighty, The Root, and the International Bipolar Foundation.

I got into facilitating self-care workshops because I love facilitating! It’s the educator in me. Facilitating lights me up more than anything else I’ve experienced professionally.

In addition to facilitating workshops on the topics of gratitude, workplace wellness, financial self-care, and community care, I also sell self-care products. I sell a gratitude journal, a financial self-care journal/planner combo, affirmation stickers and affirmation coloring pages.

My genuineness and enthusiasm set me apart from other coaches and facilitators. My own personal experiences with my mental health journey – and my current 9-year run of mental stability – make me relatable.

I hope to infuse all parts of my identity and experience into my work with TLC. To show that all parts of us are valid, important, worth acknowledging, and crucial to who we are in this present moment.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Two books that I’ve read recently have transformed how I think about self-care and how I run my business.

The first book is “Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included)” by Pooja Lakshmin, M.D. This book helped me to conceptualize my own ideas around self-care more clearly. And to figure out what I wanted to say in a more succinct way. Hearing the personal stories of Lakshmin and of some of her clients was helpful in seeing self-care put into practice in concrete ways.

The other book is “The 12 Week Year; Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months” by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington. My business coach recommended this book and it truly lit a fire under me to work with more urgency and fervor. Instead of trying to tackle multiple goals simultaneously – and diluting my focus and impact – I’ve learned to choose fewer goals and to identify the most high-impact actions that will move the needle in the direction I want.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I knew that I wanted to create self-care products to help deepen my clients’ self-care practices. A fellow social work entrepreneur offered a “how to create a planner” workshop that I attended. She shared so many resources, from graphic designers to printers. So that’s where I started. Once I selected a graphic designer, a fellow woman of color, I also asked her for suggestions on printers. I ultimately went with an on-demand printer. This was preferable for my business so I didn’t end up with a lot of stock that I couldn’t sell.

From that first planner I created, I have now added three more journals to my store. I have The Weekly Self-Care Planner, Acknowledge The Good: A 90-Day Gratitude + Happiness Journal, The Ultimate Teachers’ Self-Care Journal, and The Prosperous Planner: A Financial Self-Care Journal.

Along the way, I have learned that it helps tremendously to conduct market research on what types of products your customers and clients might want. As well as to have a clear vision on what you want the product to look and feel like. I create mockups in Canva to send to my graphic designer and then she takes what I’ve started and really runs with it. It’s cool to see my vision brought to life.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.TotalLifeCareCoaching.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/TotalLifeCareCoaching
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/TotalLifeCareCoaching

Image Credits
Madeline Cedeno