We were lucky to catch up with Michelle Goss recently and have shared our conversation below.
Michelle , appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
It was the end of 2020 and Covid was starting to release its stranglehold on the country. I found myself at a job that just wasn’t working for me. I was miserable day in and day out. I struggled until March of 2021 and I took a huge risk. I walked into my work and handed in my electronics and my badge and quit on the spot. I had decided that I needed to figure out how to get my business back up and running after Covid closed it down. I have been pretty much self employed all my life and I wanted to get myself back to where I was happy running my own business and doing what I loved to do the most. Help people transform their lives by working with horses through Horse Guided Life Coaching. So I walked out of the building feeling free and scared to death all at the same time. But I was determined to make it happen one way or the other. Quitting is not in my vocabulary. So I started finding any free marketing sessions, anyone who had any knowledge of how to market a business in the 21st digital age. And anyone I could learn from about business in a post Covid world. I have never been much into social media but I knew it was going to important for my business and something that was free to do besides my time. And I had A LOT of time on my hands. So I committed myself to posting on my 4 social media platforms every day, no matter what, for 60 days. It was a challenge to say the least. But I managed to do it and create following and interest in my business, Spirit Mountain Healing Services. At that time it was Spirit Mountain Healing Center which was a for profit business. In April of 2022, I relaunched (again) as a 501c3 non profit organization. It took at least 6 months for me to start getting enough clients to start at least paying for the horse feed. Not much else as far as income. I found a marketing woman who was willing to work with me on pricing and to make payments every 2 weeks rather than all at once. I found someone who wanted to volunteer their time to redo and update the business website for the non profit. I just kept pushing along even though there were so many times when I felt defeated, alone, discouraged, disappointed, and frustrated beyond belief. And yet, I started learning what not to do, what things didn’t work out as planned, and started focusing on what was working. Even if it was only one client at a time. I kept at it. And now I am nearing the 2 year mark, and I am doing quite well with Spirit Mountain and looking to expand into new areas of the non profit in 2023. It was a huge risk to quit a job and not have any idea if I was going to be successful or not. But it was something I was and still am passionate about, so I felt the risk was worth it. I felt it was too much of a risk to stay someplace where I felt I didn’t belong. And I am very grateful for the risk I took. It wasn’t always easy. The path wasn’t always easy to see. But to me it was well worth all of the effort. And I am looking forward to the future expansion of Spirit Mountain Healing Services in 2023.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My story starts when I was a little girl. The joke in my family has always been the first word out of my mouth was not “Mom or Dad” but Horse. I have always had a deep love and passion for horses. Anytime, I could be near a horse my life was good. I went on to get my first horse when I was 10 years old.
She was amazing and then shortly after she had her first foal, she died. I was crushed. I had her daughter who was just a couple of months old but I had no idea what to do with a young horse. My life felt like it was ending. And then my parents divorced and I found myself moving to a different town with my mother.
Now several years had gone by and the young horse was now 3 years old and I was a teenager with a driver’s license. I needed someone to help me train my horse and I found him in my local town. He taught me all I know about training horses and horse behavior. It was an amazing journey and one that I am grateful for. Fast forward. I have graduated from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls with my Bachelor of Science in Equine Science and my minor in Small Business. I had started a mobile training and lesson service while I was still in college.
I traveled to people’s places to either work with their horses or with them and their horses. I did quite well during the summer months because I was not able to work in the winter in Wisconsin. My name was becoming known in the horse community in Wisconsin. And then I move to Arizona and I had to start over in the horse industry. The horse industry is completely different than in Wisconsin because of the mild winters and very hot summers. I got a job at a local Arabian farm and started learning how things went with horses in Arizona. Within a year I relaunched my mobile training and lesson business and left the other job.
In a short couple of years, I had my own facility where at the peak of my training and lesson career I had 29 horses under my care and nearly 60 students a week. They were crazy times but I would not have traded them for the world. I learned much about horses, people, and relationships between horses and people. I know if I had not gone down that particular path when I did I would not be where I am at today. I had the farm for nearly 8 years and then the economy changed drastically. I had a daughter and then I found myself a soon-to-be-divorced single mother who was facing economic uncertainties.
It was at this time I stumbled across Equine-Assisted Coaching and Life Coaching programs (I call it Horse Guided Life Coaching). I went to a local clinic and experienced firsthand the amazing healing powers of horses. So, I decided that I wanted to pursue this incredible healing field. I chose to go back to school where I earned my Master’s of Arts degree in Counseling/Psychology in Equine-Assisted Mental Health. I was nearly 40 years old when I graduated with my Master’s. And I did it as a single divorced mother who went to school and ran her own business. I was proud of myself, to say the least, the day I was handed my diploma.
It was from that day forward that I started working on developing Spirit Mountain Healing Services, a 501c3 non profit organization. It is because of my varied paths in my life, amazing experiences with horses and people in relationships, and my extensive education that has helped make my unique skills and abilities a reality in being able to help people connect with their true selves through horse guided coaching activities with myself and my horses.
Over the next several years I went through the process of figuring out what didn’t work in my life with such things as relationships and business. And then the biggest struggle hit me and it hit me hard. I lost my mother in December of 2017 and I became lost without her.
As I struggled with the loss of my mother, it was my horses that helped heal and support me in my journey to discover what my life was going to be like without my mother. And it is because of all the struggles I have endured during my lifetime, that I find myself able to share the amazing healing powers of my horses with those who are looking for relief from their life struggles.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a Horse Guided Life Coach who offers programs where horses are integrated into the life coaching process with clients. There is no riding of the horses therefore there is no experience necessary to participate in this amazing form of coaching/healing. Clients work with horses (to their level of comfort) to help reveal issues in their lives that are not working well for them. Most people know that “something isn’t ‘right’” but have no idea what the actual issues are.
Horses have the innate ability to reflect our emotions to us. This is where my years of experience working with all types of horses and people allow me to help my clients be able to “see” their issues from a different perspective. And having a different perspective of an issue is the first step in making sustainable life changes. You cannot change what you are not aware of. To me, the next step of the healing process with horses is a client can choose what he/she wants to work on with the horses. Let’s say the client wants to reduce her anxiety around social events. I would have the client work with the horses in different activities.
I would process with the client about what she felt worked for her and what didn’t work for her in regards to learning how to reduce and manage her anxiety. The horses give her instant feedback as she interacts with the horses in different ways. In essence, the client gets to “see if the shoe fits” at the moment and then make decisions on what works best for her. Where else can you practice a new skill at the moment and get instant feedback on how effective that skill is for you? This is the power of horse-guided coaching. What sets me apart from others is my extensive working knowledge of horse and human behavior both individually and collectively, as well as my broad education in both horses and counseling/coaching.
I have been working with horses and people for over 35 years which has allowed me to be a pioneer and trailblazer in offering people a powerful time and cost-effective way to learn how to find relief from things like anxiety, depression, traumas, and other life issues. My unique personal and professional journey is what sets me apart from others as I have done my healing with my horses and I know I would not be here today if it weren’t for my horses.
My horses have saved my life many times over and now I am grateful to be able to share my horse’s unique and powerful healing with others who are looking to connect and make peace with themselves here at Spirit Mountain Healing Services.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Other than training/knowledge, I think the most helpful things for succeeding in my field, or any field for that matter, is determination and perseverance. No one tells you the actual truth of running your own business. It is not always easy to say the least. There are many times you feel like giving up. Like you just want to run away and forget everything. There are days when it seems nothing is going right. And you start to question yourself and wonder “What was I thinking?” And yet, somehow, you continue to keep putting one foot in front of the other. One day at a time, one step at a time. And one day you stop and look around and realize you are doing it. You have made it through the tough days. Now that doesn’t mean that there are never going to be any more tough days, quite the contrary. There will always be tough days, but now you have developed your determination and perseverance skills that will help you manage those tough days ahead. To me, determination and perseverance have been the most helpful for myself succeeding in my field of equine assisted learning and life coaching.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I think my story that I shared at the beginning of this article demonstrated my resiliency not only in my professional life but in my personal life as well. I have built my life professional life that I have now in a post Covid world that is uncertain and not totally stable and most likely will not be stable any time soon. And yet, I held onto my resiliency to help me navigate relaunching not one, but 2 businesses in a world where the economy was less than stellar. Where people were nervous about what the future was going to bring both financially and physically. Where uncertainty lurked around every corner. And yet, I am making it. I have been able to overcome huge adversities in my life and still create a business I am proud to own, manage, and work at. I am looking forward to the future projects and expansions of Spirit Mountain Healing Services in 2023.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.spiritmountainhealing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spiritmountainhealing/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/spiritmountainhealing/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-goss-a20226209
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh45tbRBPQxr5qVcD7RdQg
Image Credits
Michelle Goss