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

Sloan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the best advice you ever gave to a client? How did they benefit / what was the result? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

I had a client once who was looking to regain their confidence; they had kind of lost touch with who they were and their power, and this translated into not feeling confident. They were doubting every decision, every action, they over explained, over thought and felt the need to justify everything all the time. It kept them stuck and overtime became unbearable. I had seen this a lot in other clients, friends and even myself. We, as humans, have this inherent need for connection and it is balanced with our innate drive to survive. And while this is an advantage and a beautiful part of being human, it can also cause issues sometimes. We prioritize that need for connection in a way that ends up looking more like people pleasing, which to me is just one way we give our power away. Over time we continue to give our power away in small ways, we choose others over ourselves, we sacrifice ourselves (or our time, our well-being etc) and this leaves us with nothing left for ourselves. This can end up feeling like we have lost ourself, we look in the mirror and we don’t recognize the person we have become, we wake up in the morning thinking ‘how did i end up here?!’ or ‘i feel so stuck and trapped’. It can also end up feeling like a lack of confidence, because we are so used to doing everything for the approval of or for the happiness of other people, we don’t remember (or know) how to validate ourselves, we are completely externally motivated, our worth as a person becomes dictated by someone or something else instead of ourselves.

So, the advice i gave was that they needed to look at all the ways they give their power away, all the times they choose others to sacrifice themself. It’s a combination of looking back with intention; we don’t just want to wallow in all our ‘mistakes’ we want to look back at our past and even our present with intention and discernment. They needed to find all the ways they had given their power away, all the places they left a piece of themself behind; and almost like a recovery mission reclaim and recollect those pieces and their power. I could see the wheels turning internally, they were making the realization that the only one who could ‘save’ them, the only one to resolve this problem was them. And while that sometimes can be an overwhelming realization, in most cases it is incredibly empowering.

We began the process of looking back to find those lost parts of them, and we continued moving forward addressing those situations as they came up; little by little reclaiming those lost parts, reclaiming that power and them finally coming home to themself. And the funny thing is, they were always whole but we get tricked into believing that we aren’t and that false idea is what leads us to give away our power. So know that you are whole, you are worthy, you are enough as you are; and through that realization reclaim your power, your confidence, your SELF.

Sloan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Sloan Randolph, founder of Wae Collaborative. WaeCo was founded on the idea of putting your Wellness Above Everything and provides you the tools to do that so that you can feel whole, alive and expansive. I became an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach in 2019 through IIN and started WaeCo that year. Over the years i have expanded my own healing and knowledge, receiving a trauma informed certification with Mastin Kipp which allowed me to do deeper healing within myself as well as make WaeCo a trauma informed practice and expand my offerings. I am also a yoga and breathwork facilitator.

I help you feel whole, alive and expansive; reconnecting to their essential self and creating a life that is the truest expression of yourself. I work with clients 1:1 and in group settings, and i have an online studio with meditations and other wellness practices. (I also have BIG plans for 2023 around how i serve clients & my community, so make sure you stay connected to learn more). I think what makes WaeCo and myself different is my philosophy and approach to wellness. I think you are whole, worthy and enough; as you are, right here, right now. There is nothing you need to do, have or change about yourself to achieve wellness or well-being. I think most of wellness is about UNLEARNING that patterns, beliefs and ideas that led us away from our truth and our alignment. For me, the work i do is about coming back into that sense of wholeness, of worth, of your truth and building a life that is an authentic expression of that. I work with people who are looking to maintain their overall wellness, and i also work with people who want to dive into healing, growth and expansion work as well. There is no one-size-fits-all anything, especially not wellness or healing!

What i love most about the work i do is the connection. WaeCo is more than just my business, it is a space for holding space and really is about connection, community and co-regulation. I am honored to be a safe space for people, to hold space for healing and growth work. I have always had this really deep connection to and relationship with myself (which actually came from trauma) and through my own healing i was able to deepen that connection with myself but also translate it into deeper connections with other people, both personally and professionally. I think we all are looking for connection, true, authentic connection; and the work i do is a way of cultivating it. Coaching is a vulnerable process that requires trust and safety to create that connection, and it ripples out into all your other connections and relationships; and that to me is the most beautiful part of my job.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Being REAL. When i first started coaching i had it in my head that to show up i had to be perfect, i had to embody the ideal that my clients wanted to be. But the truth is we’re all human, even the ‘healed’ ones are still just human. When i was able to share my own story, my own experience authentically and honestly, when i was able to be transparent and real with my audience; that is when i built credibility. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, (simple does not always mean easy) it requires you to be really honest with yourself, and do your own work to tap into your truth, your authentic vibration. And once you have a sense of yourself, your values and what is the true expression of your Self, then its about sharing that in the most honest way you can. I think, especially as a coach, the best thing you can do for not only your clients but anyone watching you is to be real, be human and be messy. Because no matter how much work you do, no matter how much healing you go through, at the end of it all you’re still human, so let yourself BE HUMAN.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Taking care of your clients. When you focus on all the clients you want or don’t have yet, you will lose sight of the clients you do have. I have found the best way to get new clients is to ensure the clients i have NOW are satisfied and taken care of. Yeah marketing and branding and strategy is great, but honestly you can build a successful practice without any of it; if you take care of your clients. Its funny because this idea really applies to life in general, don’t get so caught up in the life you want to have that you end up missing out on the one right here in front of you.

Make service a priority, connect deeply with your clients, care about them wholeheartedly, and you will never have a shortage of clients and business.

Contact Info:

• Website: waecowellness.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/sloan.waeco