We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauran Kerr-heraly a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lauran, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?

The best investment I have made as a business owner is in business support groups. As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to feel lonely and like you have no idea what you’re doing. I like being able to bounce ideas off each other, get targeted mentorship, and have a place to rant.

Currently, I’m in a group led by copywriter and coach Stacy Braga. When it comes to copy, most of my training and practice is in academic writing, which is miles away from copywriting for marketing and sales! Having someone teach me how to write this way as well as review what I create has been a game changer for me.

Lauran, 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’m an executive function coach helping students and families improve their executive function through skill building and emotional awareness.

Executive function – the set of mental processes that helps you get things done – is a common thread through my life, my teaching, and my family. Post-COVID, I saw a drastic decline in organization, motivation, and time management in my students. At the same time, my spouse and kiddo were diagnosed with ADHD, and we started learning new ways to address and implement executive function skills.

I’ve been an educator for over 20 years and a college professor for half of those. I wanted to use my expertise in the field of education to help students with underdeveloped executive function skills.

So, I started my executive function coaching company, Altering Course, to help my family and help others deconstruct negative mindsets and then work on skill-building strategies so that students and families can thrive.

I knew that a lot of people have tried subject tutoring, test prep classes, therapy, and a lot of searching on the Internet but still weren’t seeing a difference in their child’s happiness or academic progress. That’s where executive function coaching bridges the gap. There are not enough executive function coaches to go around, so I knew there was a massive need.

I’m really proud of creating a supportive program that helps people see results. It’s the best when clients tell me they got a positive email from a teacher, got reinstated to university classes after academic probation, or finished their to-do list four days in a row! We celebrate every win.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Email is the primary way I keep in touch with clients. Twice a month, I send out a free executive function newsletter. It addresses one common executive function struggle students have and offers two practical solution. I include stories from my life and classroom that illustrate executive function struggles in the real world, share learning science and psychology, and outline practical tips that students can implement right away. I want to offer a lot of value so that current and potential clients feel I care about them. This helps foster brand loyalty.

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

Educators are trained to work themselves to the bone. You put the students first, you pivot on a dime to accommodate changes in curriculum and schedule, and you never take a break.

This made me a bad teacher!

I had to learn that you can’t help people if you’re not whole yourself. You can make small, impactful changes without reinventing everything. Rest is not a waste of time; it’s vital to your productivity and happiness.

These lessons serve me well in leading my business and I wouldn’t still be going without applying them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alteringcourse.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/altering.course/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurankerrheraly/
• Twitter: https://x.com/ProfessorLKH
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlteringCourse

Image Credits

Annie Mulligan