Interview with Cindy MacCormack, life, health, and mastery coach
Cindy MacCormack is a certified life, health, and mastery coach, and a graduate of the specialized teen coaching program Teen Wisdom Inc as well as a graduate and certified trainer of the CIJ Clarity Catalyst program for adults and teens.
Cindy has over 15 years of experience in the wellness arena as a personal trainer, fitness instructor, and baby fitness mompreneur and is the proud mom of two amazing teens. Here’s her story.
What is your career background?
My education is as an environmental engineer and I started my career in an environmental consulting firm. I worked in that field for a number of years and then shifted to sustainability consulting. My career in sustainability has advanced from managing projects to managing and mentoring teams.
Working in the consulting arena definitely teaches you to manage your time effectively and how to work with all types of people. As a side note, for many years in parallel to my career, I also enjoyed spending time at my “fun” job as a certified fitness instructor and personal trainer.
When did you get the idea for your business?
So, you might be thinking, how did a left-brain engineer in sustainability take a sharp right (i.e. into my right brain) and life coaching? That was a bit of a journey and a lot of self-discovery.
In the end, I realized that, although I enjoyed my career, I wasn’t completely fulfilled by it. I missed interacting and helping people directly. But I knew I didn’t want to move back into the fitness industry – I wanted to do something that was more multi-dimensional.
Working with my coach and mentor, watching my own kids and their friends, and researching the struggles of teens today made me realize that this was a space I needed to step into and help out. Becoming a certified life coach, and specifically, a life coach for teens and young adults has opened up a world of way less stress and way more happiness.
How did you move from idea to actual business?
Maybe this comes from my left-brain background but my first step was to become certified. I felt that, for me, having the credentials was important. Once I had achieved my certification it was really a matter of shifting from a student mindset to a business mindset. I reached out first to my friends, family, and other contacts.
I thought that maybe they would be able to help introduce me to their networks and communities. From there, I have been building based on referrals and networking in the community. Currently, I continue to work at my consulting position as I build my business. The ultimate goal for me is to be able to replace my consulting income with business income and eventually step away from consulting.
What’s your USP?
I provide empathy-driven straight talk to help teens and young adults make better choices so they stress less and their parents sleep more.
Teenagers are feeling more pressure and stress than ever before. Dealing with everything from trying to fit in, managing friendships, and navigating their future. It’s a lot! And unfortunately, in this quest to do it all mental health rates for our teens and young adults are at an all-time high.
I don’t want to see our young people struggling. I know I didn’t have the support I needed during my teen years and I just had to muddle through.
And I’m not unique. The reality I discovered during 20 years as a corporate leader and 15 years coaching people on wellness was that there was a common theme among us all.
And that common theme was “if only someone told me that sooner I’d…” (you fill in the blank). Be more confident, love me, and enjoy my job. What they all needed in their teenage years, young adult years, and even now was somebody who would give them the straight talk.
Well, guess what – I decided I’d be that someone.
So now I get to be the one to tell teens and young adults “that” with empathy and without judgment. I provide practical real-time advice, tools, and strategies that they can start using immediately to change their habits, get through the hard stuff, and lower their stress so they can thrive, not just survive.
Who’s your target audience?
My favorite thing to do is help teens and young adults! I have the joy and the privilege of joining young people on their journey to understanding and appreciating the amazing person that they are. I see stress, fear and uncertainty go down and self-belief, motivation, energy, and confidence go up!
I want to help your teen and young adult wake up every day with a smile on their face and more excitement about the way they look, the way they live, and the way they love.
How do you spread the word about what you do?
Right now I am focusing on connecting with communities and organizations that provide services to teens and young adults. I get really excited about opportunities where I am able to collaborate and partner with other people and groups to move the needle on addressing teen needs.
What has been the biggest obstacle you have had to overcome?
The biggest obstacle I’ve had to overcome is perfectionism. Especially early on, I found it very easy to focus my time and effort on making sure everything was “just so” before I would load a post on social, write an email, or reach out to a potential client.
What I found was that I spent a lot of time procrastinating and not a lot of time actually developing the business. Now I really try to hold to the idea that progress is better than perfection. Start with version 1.0 and continue to evolve it as you and the business evolves. But just start.
What is your proudest moment so far?
Reaching out to, and partnering with, a youth center in our community called The Grove. Their focus is on giving our youth new skills, new tools, and new ways to reach out for support.
This will be the first-time coaching will be included as part of their support program and it will be amazing to see how we can bring different facets of support to the youth to meet differing levels of needs.
Why is your work so important to you?
Seeing a teen or young adult find their confidence and their true self is incredibly inspiring and humbling. Having the opportunity to help them to find what is already inside of them so they can thrive and succeed is not something I take lightly.
My work is important to me because of the impact it can have on their lives and also for the impact it has on mine. In coaching, we like to say we receive as much as we give and I have learned so much about myself and life through the eyes of the teens and young adults I’ve worked with.
Who inspires you?
The teens and young adults I work with inspire (and amaze) me every day with their creativity, new perspectives, resilience, and zest for life. My trainer and mentor Tami Walsh, founder of Teen Wisdom Inc, is also a huge inspiration in her unwavering devotion to the empowerment of teen girls and young women
How do you balance your work with your home life?
Honestly, some days are better than others. When you enjoy your work it’s sometimes difficult to turn it off and step away. I work very hard at setting boundaries for myself and honoring them. I’m a big fan of time blocking to help me both visualize and manage the time I have.
I really value and prioritize my time with my family and make sure that I am carving out quality time for them.
What are your top pieces of advice for someone wanting to do similar?
Don’t be afraid to fail. Failure is something we have been programmed to try to avoid but it’s really part of the journey. It’s where we learn the lessons we need to succeed.
Rid yourself of the either/or mindset. We always think things need to be all or nothing. I can either be a successful business OR I can be an amazing mom. Start thinking about how your life can really be a series of both/and scenarios. I can work on this article AND I can chat with my kids over dinner.
The last one I tribute to Judi Holler. It’s made me really rethink how I deal with clients, friends and family. Try to incorporate more “yes, and” and less “but” into your conversations. ‘And’ supports. It contributes and is positive.
Saying “yes … and” forces you to contribute and allows you to add a little something that is supportive in nature of the original statement. Which will make a bigger impact on the person you are talking to because now they are open and engaged.
Find out more about Cindy MacCormack.
