We recently connected with Lara Days and have shared our conversation below.

Lara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I actually started my business by accident! I had been sharing my own health & wellness journey and experiments on social media, and some friends and acquaintances started reaching out to ask for help. At the time, I had no idea whether or not I could actually help them. But, I’d been thinking about getting a nutrition certification anyway, so I signed up for the Precision Nutrition Level 1 certification, got insurance, and started helping people! After two years of coaching people as a side hustle, I decided to quit my teaching job and make Lara Elizabeth Coaching my full-time gig.

Lara, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I used to think it was odd that I ended up full time in health & wellness, but it was actually a fairly natural progression. I grew up playing sports and music — I was a 4-sport athlete in high school while also taking private piano, violin, and voice lessons, and singing/playing in a variety of ensembles. I went to a conservatory of music for an undergraduate degree in voice performance and music education, where I also played softball my junior and senior years. I went to graduate school for voice performance, and without organized athletics, this was the first time I had to figure things out on my own when it came to my physical health. I found CrossFit, ran some half marathons, and got my yoga teacher certification.

As I’ve learned and grown over the past three years of running my business, I’ve seen a lot of coaches in the health & wellness space offering similar services: gym programming, macro prescriptions, meal plans, etc. I knew I needed to do things differently, and better. I take a lot of pride in the way that I serve my clients — the goal is to help them reconnect with their own body and intuition. Ultimately, their ability to take care of themselves lies in their ability to understand and honor what their body is telling them. If I do as most of these other coaches are doing and simply tell my clients what to do, I am disempowering their own sense of body autonomy. By helping them better know and understand themselves, they are empowered to make the best decisions for their bodies and their lives.

I want health coaching to be accessible for everyone, so I offer a variety of services ranging from $88 to $7500, and offer both group-coaching and 1-on-1 programs. I don’t believe in one-size-fits-all!

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Continuously honing my craft and serving my clients at the highest level. Marketing, strategy, and networking can certainly make a difference in growing our community, but ultimately, it comes down to ensuring that our clients have an exceptional experience working with us. A large number of my current clients are either direct referrals, or they’re repeat clients.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Honestly, I had to unlearn A TON of my conditioning around health & bodies. We grow up learning that small bodies are healthy and large bodies are unhealthy. We learn that “fit” and “strong” are aesthetics and not skills. We learn that losing weight is the equivalent of getting healthy. I 100% fell into this camp until I started doing this work.

Now I know that we cannot see health, fitness, or strength. Ever. Healthy, fit bodies look allllll sorts of different ways. My job is to help my clients achieve their HEALTHIEST body, which may or may not mean that they lose any weight. In fact, I was the least healthy when I was at my leanest, and many of my clients have experienced the same.

Health is deep and holistic, and it doesn’t have anything to do with what we look like.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.laraelizabethcoaching.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lara.days
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075746937796
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laradays/

Image Credits
Sam G Photography Gabby Marie Agency Kia Wright Photography