We recently connected with Victoria Clark and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Victoria, thanks for joining us today. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.
When I began my practice in 2019, I already had over 10 years of experience within the mental health field and corporate America. I decided to start my own practice after I realized that I was not living a life that I loved, finding myself weighed down by the things in my life and mind that didn’t make me happy. Since then I’ve also worked within Corporate America at the executive level in management, insurance and recruiting arenas within the mental health and medical fields. Because of my extensive experience I felt confident moving forward on my own. However, I learned quick that owning and running a business is an entirely different animal.
I always felt that there was a missing link in counseling, helping clients survive, but often lacking the most important part to true happiness, not just surviving, but thriving. I knew that through a collaborative counseling and coaching process people can do amazing things they never thought possible. But, turning that passion and dream into a reality wasn’t as easy as I had originally thought.
The first year was hard, I was doing everything I thought the client would want to see, spending a ridiculous amount of money that I didn’t have on a gorgeous office space and website before I even had one client. I knew that ultimately my passion is people and I truly believed and still do in the innate strength and resiliency within us. But I struggled with how to make that passion a reality for myself. I also knew that if I couldn’t figure out how to do this for me then I definitely wouldn’t be able to successfully do it for others.
Again, I had to start doing what I preached and took a good hard introspective look at myself. Asking myself the question, “Why am I doing this?” I came to realize that I didn’t need to show off. I looked at those areas and cut back. I moved the practice to Telehealth, getting rid of that pricey office space and connected with new and old friends and friends of friends to find support and help in the areas I was lacking in, like tech.
Ultimately, once I was able to really focus on my initial goal and cut back on the flashy unnecessary aspects I was able to truly start providing the services that my clients needed. With this came growth, the ability to grow my practice and start a team. With the growth of the team came time for me to learn the areas that I lacked in continuing to grow in multiple ways.
Today, I can truly say that I practice what I preach after the ups and downs that got me here of course. So what do I preach? Ultimately, this is your life! You are the only one that has the power and ability to make changes in it. However, through collaboration, support and guidance your true path become clear and you can start to actively work towards the positive changes you are seeking, you can actually reach them. My growth is just beginning and I look forward to the journey of creating a life I love and helping others do the same.
My advice to anyone starting their own practice whether that’s in the mental health or medical field or maybe their own business in a completely different field. Remember why you started, keep the goal in mind, make sure that you are following Your true path towards Your goal and connect with others as you may be able to survive on an island, you will not thrive. If your goal is to help others create a life they love, don’t forget that it starts with you.
Victoria, 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?
Personally, I’m a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. At Inherent Strength, we are Counselors and Life and Relationship Coaches for professionals who desire to take that next step in reaching their full potential.
We’re not only Life Coaches here, we are also Licensed Mental Health Counselors in the state of Florida with over 10 years of experience working with individuals and couples. This allows Inherent Strength to incorporate Evidenced Based Counseling & Coaching Practices into our life coaching experience. This allows us to quickly identify and overcome roadblocks and obstacles that have been (and continue to be) standing in the way of you reaching your full potential.
With next generation coaching and counseling services, we do everything virtually to make it easy and accessible!
Although we are “next generation,” if you’re looking for a traditional Mental Health Counselor in St. Petersburg, we’ve got you covered with that too.
Inherent Strength is all about counseling and life coaching that assists you in identifying, utilizing and growing your Inherent Strengths to overcome all obstacles and reach your goals.
Our individual therapy sessions will put you on the path to finding the strengths within you to live your best life. When your mind and body are aligned, great things can happen. However, when your mind is led by negative thoughts and reactions to those thoughts we can lose sight of how to take control of our lives.
This can range from motivation to make small changes to major life decisions. Affecting not only our own bodies and lives, but those around us. We also offer great couples and family counseling services for those who are looking to get on the same page and work towards a healthier future with loved ones.
Products:
-Hit Your Goals – Digital Life Coaching Workbook: https://inherentstrength.com/
Goal setting is a huge part of finding alignment and happiness in life. By understanding what we value most, where we are in life RIGHT NOW and where we want to go, we can then start to define what our next steps are in order to bridge that gap and finally get to where we want to be.
If you already know how to create and hit SMART goals, great! You are off to a fantastic start. However the reality is that over 90% of people abandon their goals just a couple weeks after creating them.
This is the exact workbook that I use with my clients. And if you’re a self-starter with a clear understanding of why goal setting is important, this workbook might be exactly what you need to help you achieve your goals.
This workbook and my Hit Your Goals course is all about creating balance and alignment in your life. So you can expect to start diving in and organizing your goals for all areas of your life with this workbook including Health, Financial, Business, Relationships, Social, Fun & Leisure and more.
-Digital Goal Planner: https://inherentstrength.com/
This 3 Month Digital Goals Planner will help you stay organized and on track to hitting your goals.
Easily plan out and strategically map out your days with action steps that get you closer to reaching your goals.
This 3 Month Fillable PDF Planner Includes:
Life Wheel Worksheet
3 Month Overview
Weekly Goals, Task List, and Schedule
Weekly & Daily To-Do List and Lessons
Weekly Reflection Worksheet
Meal Planner
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Growing up I was actively involved in multiple sports, competing at the national level in Gymnastics. At 16 years old, along with winning nationals I underwent my third major injury. At that point I knew I had to stop, the risk was no longer worth the reward. Through personal experience and clinical training I’ve seen first hand how intertwined our physical and mental health is. When one is not working to its best ability the other will start to fail. I strongly believe in our power to overcome obstacles and to reach our goals whether those obstacles are physical or mental they can be overcome.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
When I started my company I did all of the things I thought I needed to do to look the part. Spending money I didn’t have to create the look of a business that was fully developed. The problem was, it wasn’t. I had just started out with a plan to fake it until I made it. Unfortunately or fortunately, that didn’t work.
Until I came to terms that I had to really ask myself who I was and why I was doing this did growth start to come. But not only did I need to answer these questions for myself, I needed to answer them for my clients. It took some growing pains and straight up being uncomfortable, getting outside of my comfort zone and being open and real about who and what I was.
Over time, I realized that clients don’t want to see or follow in the footsteps of a perfect person as that’s an impossible standard to reach. Instead they want to know the real you. They want to know that you are human, you go through similar situations that they do and although I may have some skills to help people live a happier fuller life. Life is hard sometimes even for me and that’s how you really connect. Once I got to a point of comfort with being more open and sharing my life with others that’s when true client growth started.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.inherentstrength.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inherentstrengthlifecoaching/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inherentstrength
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-schmick-distefano
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxP4zCx4EF0Lk9NJGcQSjIw
- Other: Email: victoria@inherentstrength.com