We recently connected with Rachel Rouse and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Naming my company was one of the more challenging aspects of starting a business. Did I want it to be something catchy? Did I want to use my name? What was the point I was trying to get across?

I knew I wanted my company name to align with my mission. Every time I saw my company name I wanted it to remind me WHY I was doing what I was doing. So the work began.

The first thing I did was sit down and re-evaluate my personal values, then took it further to determine what I wanted my company values to be.

So there I was, sitting on the floor of my living room with pages filled with value words – sorted together until I came down with exactly what I wanted:

Awareness. Balance. Connection.

Those three words would help me make every decision in my business going forward, including it’s name.

So I saw with my values and thought of the the reasons why those were important – why I landed on them specifically. What were examples of them in action.

With each story I found a common theme – people taking themselves from the dark space they were in, gaining information, and emerging into the life they had wanted.

This was exactly what I wanted to help my clients do, EMERGE from their feelings of hopelessness into a life filled with awareness, balance, and connection.

So, from that Emerge Coaching was born.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

From the time I was little I was heavily involved in education and therapy, primarily due to my brother who received quite a bit of care when he was extremely young. But this isn’t something I ever considered as a career, as a matter of fact, I went to school for marketing and psychology.

Then a job fell on my lap working in a Special Education department in the area I grew up. It allowed me to work closer to home, something I wanted since I had a small child at the time, and it allowed me to continue doing my marketing work online. By the end of that first year of being a paraprofessional my heart had been captured and I enrolled in a master’s program for Special Education.

Fast forward a bit and I moved back to the Twin Cities, through a few jobs in Montessori programs and working as a Special Education teacher in public school settings I noticed a gap. The parents of the children I was working with didn’t have the skills, information, or support to make their life easier. They were in constant battles with their children and felt exhausted and isolated. I wanted to offer them the support they needed and deserved. So I took a parent coaching certification and went from there.

Now I’m two years in and offer several different types of services:
1:1 coaching for families
Group coaching for parents/caregivers
Professional Development trainings for educators and school leaders and
Presentations for employee resource groups for companies.

In doing this I help caregivers gain understanding of how the brain works and best practices, create processes that work for them individually, and help them emerge into more joyful lives with their children/students.

One of the primary difference about me is I have worked with a lot of different families with a lot of different backgrounds – I understand that a “one size fits all” approach isn’t going to work. I support individuals in making plans of action that will be successful for their home/classroom/business. I may give suggestions, but my first step is always getting to know the people I’m working with individually. I’m not here to judge or give you advice that doesn’t align with your life – I’m here to support and find solutions so you can live more joyfully.

As a business owner I am very proud of getting in front of employee resource groups for major companies like Square, and Steris – being seen as enough of an expert to get in front of theme major organizations was huge for me.

But as a human being, and what I’m truly proud of, is the differences I see in connection within families and classrooms. Parents and caregivers deserve to feel supported and uplifted, they also deserve to not feel like every day with their children is a fight. Watching the transition from exhaustion to empowerment is what keeps me going each day.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

“If you want something done right – do it yourself”

I fully believed this and bought into this train of thought – but I had to unlearn it when I realized a couple things:

1) I’m not an expert in certain fields, it’s better to trust the experts even if I don’t fully understand the “why”

2) Maybe I would have done it in a different way that I would see as “right” but is that sustainable? Choosing what I take on and what I can pass on to others was a huge lesson I had to take in. Sometimes others know better, and even if I’m not sure they do – sometimes I need to be OK with good enough so I can keep the focus on the parts of my business that truly matter.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

“Beyond Happiness” by Jean Lim changed my life personally and professionally.

It gave me permission and encouragement to run a value driven company and served as a roadmap as to how I would want to be treated in the world and how I want others to be treated.

I think about it often when working with other businesses, and I think about it in the context of raising children and how being on the same page and seeking out happiness in all aspects of your life is an incredibly powerful tool.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.emergefamilycoaching.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emergefamilycoaching/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emergefamilycoach/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-rouse-57ab024a
• Other: FREE Hidden Triggers handout for parents/caregivers https://www.emergefamilycoaching.com/emaillist

Image Credits
Giliane E Mansfeldt Photography