We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michelle Hibbert a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Michelle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

When a dear friend reached out, she was at her wits’ end, desperate to help her son transition into the real world. Freshly graduated with a degree in sports journalism, he felt lost and overwhelmed in his life. Despite having numerous internship opportunities in his final year, he didn’t take advantage of them and obviously started to have remorse as he faced an uncertain future. To make matters worse, he struggled with self-doubt and constantly compared himself to friends who had already landed jobs and were surviving on their own.

My friend, doing her best to motivate him while juggling her own full-time job, was also employing him part-time in her small business to help him get a foot in the real world. Yet, she realized she could only offer so much support in the limited time she had. What her son needed was a dedicated, nonjudgmental coach (not a therapist) to guide him through this pivotal moment in his life.

In just two out of our twelve coaching sessions, we uncovered his primary goals for the year: securing a job, saving to move out of his family home, and finding internships to advance his sports journalism experience and career. It quickly became clear that shifting his negative mindset was crucial to building the confidence he needed for job interviews and internships.

Throughout our twelve-week program, the transformation he made was remarkable. Through targeted strategies to cultivate a positive mindset, his self-confidence started to improve each session. By the end of our coaching program, he had secured a part-time job—an achievement that ignited his determination to save for independence. With his first paycheck, he meticulously calculated how much he needed to set aside to move out by the middle of the following year.

With his newfound confidence, he also landed an internship with a local newspaper, where he began writing weekly articles on high school sports. This opportunity not only provided him with valuable experience but also allowed him to showcase his writing skills. Before long, he was covering multiple sports events each week, contributing three articles and gaining recognition in the sports journalism community.

Watching my friend’s son flourish was incredibly rewarding. He emerged not just as a trainee sports journalist, but as a confident individual ready to tackle the challenges of adulthood with a more positive mindset. A few months after completing our coaching, I was thrilled to hear that he had been promoted to a supervisory position at his part-time job, recognized as one of the top salespeople in the store.

I was so proud that my friend’s son was now poised to thrive in the real world and that he now had the tools to deal with life challenges more positively.

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.

I’m Michelle Hibbert, a fellow Brit who has lived in Atlanta, GA for 18 years, and I bring a wealth of experience in both education and wellness. I have 18 years of teaching and coaching in the UK and USA across elementary school, middle school, high school, and community college settings in physical education and health, Guiding individuals toward holistic wellness is my jam to the extent that I’m a certified personal trainer through the American College of Sports Medicine.

My life coaching business was born from my own journey of seeking support to overcome struggles with confidence, setting boundaries, and stepping out of my comfort zone to achieve my ultimate dreams. Now, as a Level 1 Certified Life Coach, I empower clients to make transformative changes, helping them overcome anxiety, overwhelm, stress, and procrastination in both personal and professional areas. What sets my practice apart is my focus on the six elements of wellness—physical, emotional, occupational, social, spiritual, and intellectual—tailored to meet my clients’ unique goals. I also bring my dry British humor and my results-driven mentality because I want everyone to succeed. Witnessing my clients’ growth and fulfillment brings me immense joy, as they gain confidence, resilience, and lasting happiness.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Word-of-mouth referrals and networking events have been my most effective ways of attracting clients. The opportunity for face-to-face interaction allows people to truly understand who I am and the depths of my passion for helping others through my coaching programs. These personal connections provide a clearer picture of my commitment and I am able to showcase the results of my clients through storytelling, which adds more credibility to my work.

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

So, when I decided to “retire” from teaching in schools in 2017, I decided I wanted to open up a business. I thought it would be an easy transition to open up a travel agency business as I had traveled to a lot of countries and many of my friends would call me to ask my advice for travel and I would help them plan their trips. So I thought, let me get paid for doing it as my friends would use my services and support me.

Well, I was so wrong. Many of my so-called “friends” used my services to plan their vacations but they didn’t allow me to book the travel for them. Most of them went ahead and booked it by themselves. So all the time I spent planning, I was not reaping the rewards. Of course, this was a big learning curve for me as a new business owner and a “green behind the gills” entrepreneur to understand that my time and knowledge are very valuable and that friends are not your best clients!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://michelle-hibbert.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelleh.lifecoach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070001774408
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellehibbert/