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How to Take Risks with Dr. Kim Foster

 

Today’s conversation is going to be transformational for you. She Sells Radio listeners are like so many of the women I serve. You have big goals, dreams, and visions for your life but they also feel scary and uncertain. Remember that everything you want is on the other side of fear. Our guest today reminds us that stepping over that line into what is uncomfortable and uncertain can lead to achieving our biggest goals and dreams.

 

Dr. Kim Foster is an MD turned coach and business mentor for health coaches and wellness entrepreneurs. After having nearly 20 years experience as a family doctor and experiencing the frustrations and limitations of the conventional healthcare system and then discovering the incredible potential of wellness coaching, she now helps health and wellness coaches build their businesses, find freedom, and make the world a healthier place. Kim is also a founder of Wellness Coach Academy where she helps to start a successful career in health and wellness coaching. She is on a mission to help new and emerging coaches create and market their signature programs, serve more clients, and find true fulfilment. She has been featured on multiple TV, radio, and print media outlets, and is also the host of the podcast Marketing and Mindset for Wellness Coaches.

 

Although her niche is specific to health and wellness coaches, her story and inspiration go beyond that. She took that brave leap from an already successful career to something less certain but more fulfilling. That’s what entrepreneurs do, right? Listen to her story and how she made these life changing decisions.

 

Show Notes:

[1:01] – Welcome, Dr. Foster!

[1:48] – Kim explains the feeling of inner and outer conflict that built up into making a change.

[3:01] – As a teenager, Kim made the decision to be a doctor. She shares her background and why it made sense for her to go to medical school.

[4:00] – Kim admits that she had an identity crisis but suppressed her need to change paths due to external validation.

[5:42] – Thinking back, Dr. Foster explains that she isn’t sure if she would have made a different decision because it shaped so much of who she is today.

[8:02] – As a mom of two young boys, Dr. Foster needed to change priorities and became disillusioned with the medical profession and the flaws of the healthcare system.

[9:39] – Kim developed an auto-immune condition that she sees as her wake up call.

[11:06] – As things piled up and she gained more confirmation that a change was needed, Kim explains what she did to coach herself through this stage.

[12:09] – Kim gave herself permission to open her mind to a totally different way of living.

[13:09] – You have the ability to create happiness in your life.

[14:00] – She knew she needed to make a change, but there were still a lot of things standing in her way, specifically when it came to telling others about her decision.

[15:17] – Society tells us that when we make a career choice, we stick with it. But Dr. Foster describes the frustration in limiting choices at a young age.

[16:08] – Becoming a doctor was Kim’s whole identity which made the need for a change very scary.

[17:50] – Being a doctor had a very clear path while entrepreneurship does not and that kept Dr. Foster stuck for a long time.

[19:06] – Kim describes the moment while listening to a podcast that she decided to go from dabbling to pro.

[21:01] – Journaling was crucial to Kim’s journey.

[22:27] – Working through the struggles she had with her identity was a really long process.

[23:24] – Kim shares how surprisingly emotional she was when she left the medical profession.

[24:48] – After leaving her career, Kim journeyed into the wellness approach and ventured into helping other coaches build their businesses.

[26:09] – Her coaching business lights her up in a way that medicine never did.

[27:16] – It all comes down to listening and trusting your inner voice.

[30:09] – Dr. Foster hosts her own podcast called Marketing and Mindset for Wellness Coaches and offers a masterclass called How to Chart a Path to Your Dream Career as a Wellness Coach.

[32:17] – When you’re ready to claim more in your life but are scared to make a change, Kim gives her advice to tune out the noise and listen to your inner voice.

 

Connect with Dr. Kim Foster:

Kim Foster MD & Coach Website

Instagram  |  YouTube  |  Facebook
Health Coach Squad Facebook Group

Marketing and Mindset for Wellness Coaches Podcast

 

Links and Resources:

Instagram  |  LinkedIn  |  YouTube

She Sells with Elyse Archer Home Page



Tweetables and Quotes:

 

“Why did I get this education to limit my choices? No, that’s not why I did it. Right. I didn’t do it to only give myself one thing that I could ever do for the rest of my life. You’re committed to this. Now, the thing that you decided when you were 17, you would have to stay in it until your death.” – Dr. Kim Foster

 

“There are loads and loads of other physicians who think similarly. But it is really tough to step away because it just gets so imbued to your identity. So it’s terrifying to be considering, ‘Well, if I’m not doing that anymore, who am I?’” – Dr. Kim Foster

 

“Journaling totally transformed everything for me because I knew I could figure this out even without a safety net. I knew that I was going to be absolutely fine.” – Dr. Kim Foster

Elyse Archer: (00:02)
Welcome to she sells radio. So I think this conversation is going to be so transformational for you. And one of my favorite quotes is that everything you want is on the other side of fear. And if you’re like so many of the women who I serve, then you have big goals and big dreams and big vision for your life, but those can also feel really scary and uncertain. And so my guest today is the embodiment of somebody who went for her big goals and dreams, even though they felt scary and has had so much success along the way. And she made the very brave leap from a traditional successful career as a medical doctor, to more of a non-traditional successful career as a coach and a business mentor for wellness entrepreneurs. So Dr. Kim foster, welcome to chew cells, radio. We’re thrilled, thrilled, thrilled to have you on today.

Dr. Kim Foster: (01:01)
Thank you so much. I’m so happy to be here and I’m really excited to talk to you.

Elyse Archer: (01:06)
Yeah, it’s going to be so great. And so here’s what I want to know and what I bet other people want to know too, is what take us back to before you were doing what you do now, and I’m imagining you’ve got this quote unquote secure, cushy job as a medical doctor you’ve been doing for 20 years too. You know, something, tell us about what was in you that was making you want to make that change and what that process was like, um, when you made that leap to, to becoming a coach and mentor for wellness, um, professionals as you do now.

Dr. Kim Foster: (01:39)
Yeah. Um, yeah, that’s a great place to start. And it is a w it was a long and convoluted journey because there were, I mean, there was just a lot of reasons why, I mean, I just, there was a ton of inner conflict, outer conflict. Like there was just a lot of stuff that was keeping me where I was, because exactly like you say, you know, I was, um, in a well-paying well-respected very conventional, um, you know, um, successful career, right. It’s not easy to start to tune into the voice that says this isn’t for you anymore. Maybe it was, you know, but it’s just like, it’s, it’s really hard to swim upstream in that way. And so that was, that was a big sort of underlying factor that was going on. But yeah, we’re talking about like,

Elyse Archer: (02:30)
I want to pause you there. How did you know? So, so kind of take us back. So you’ve been this medical doctor in you, like when did this voice start, how did it show up? Did you try to suppress it for a while? And what made you, what made you start to tune into

Dr. Kim Foster: (02:44)
It? Yeah, so I actually graduated medical school in 1997, so it was a long, long, long time ago and did my residency in family medicine. And I, when I look back on it now, I actually that voice way, way back, like first year medical school, because, you know, of course I decided that I wanted to be a doctor when I was 17. Right. When I was in high school, that was, I mean, I was a baby. I didn’t know anything about anything, but, but being a doctor is a very, you know, I was good in science and I was good in school. And so there’s all kinds of reasons why it made sense. And I got a lot of approval from, you know, anybody who I would meet about. Yeah, that’s amazing. Like, you know, it was just like a dopamine hit every time I would mention what I intended to do with my life.

Dr. Kim Foster: (03:34)
Like adults are always asking you, what are you going to do? So there was all of that. But as, and so for me, I’m very achievement oriented. I think I always have been. And so setting my sights on getting into medical school was a big, um, it was, it just gives a structure to my whole life as like a young woman. And so that was what I was on the train to get into medical school. And that was my whole focus. And then once I arrived at med school, that, that first year I, I had a bit of an identity crisis. I started to think, what is this, actually, what I want is this actually, you know, now I’m here now I’ve achieved this thing that lots of people attempt to achieve. And, you know, it’s competitive, all of those things. And I, I had a really tough time in the first six months or so of, of medical school.

Dr. Kim Foster: (04:22)
And, um, but I suppressed it exactly like you said, right? Because there were so many external, um, you know, validation of, and my peers and my family and, you know, everybody was in support of doing this thing. So I suppressed the doubts and I suppressed that intuition that maybe this, you know, there were some things that weren’t really in alignment with who I wanted to be in the life that I wanted to create for myself. And I just kept on, I put my head down and I just kept on doing the work through med school, through residency, through building a practice, like all of that stuff. So

Elyse Archer: (05:01)
Pause you there, like with the, with the perspective you have now, because I want to go into more of the story, but I think what you said there, Dr. Kim is so important is that you suppressed your instincts and your intuition. And that’s actually when I’m, when I’m working with women on their sales process, that’s the number one problem that I see is that they’re suppressing their instincts, their desires. I did that in so many ways for so many years. So looking back on it now, what would you have told yourself in that moment?

Dr. Kim Foster: (05:32)
It’s such an interesting question and I’m not sure, you know, I have thought about this a lot and I have actually wondered, should I have stopped right then? And there, should I have dropped out of med school and pursued a different path right. At that point? And I have to say it’s actually a little hard for me to, to answer that because I’m not sure that I regret getting the, and having an, starting to work as a physician, because I mean, it was talk about your transformative experience, like medical school residency, working as a physician. I mean, it had, it was an incredible thing. And I learned so much about myself, about the human condition, about people, about life and death. And like, there were so many things that, I mean, it just shaped so much of who I am today. So it’s hard for me to, to say, I should have just cut and run at that point. Um, but what I will say though, is that I did stay in medicine for way too long. I really, you know, the signs were all there. The signposts were there that this was not, you know, maybe it was a decent foundation for where I wanted to go in life, but I really stayed in it for too long. Um, and there’s lots of reasons why that happened, but

Elyse Archer: (06:53)
Yeah. Yeah. And I appreciate you sharing that too, because I think even the things we can look back on now with perspective in our lives and say, well, even though maybe now I would do something differently, it was all happening for me. Right. Cause it, it helped shaped you to be who you are now. So tell us about, tell us about when I guess the voice started getting really strong that it was time for you to leave and what that, how you trusted yourself. Cause I know you said there was internal conflict, there was external conflict, which regardless of whether a woman is looking to leave a corporate career or not, you know, there’s, there’s situations in our lives that no longer serve us in a certain way, whether it’s job, career, relationship client. Sometimes we take on clients that we, you know, we think we need the money. So we take out a client that we just know deep down, we shouldn’t, and, and that voice gets louder and louder. So tell us about what some of those, but so those inner and outer conflicts were that were going on for you that made it, that made you stay longer and then how you ultimately decided to make that leap.

Dr. Kim Foster: (07:58)
Yeah. So, okay. So, so then fast forward, I guess, from where I completed all my training and everything, and then I had been practicing for several years and I like to describe it as it was kind of a perfect storm of things that happened to me all in a fairly short period of time. So for one thing, I was a new mom. Like I had very young anyway, I had two boys, they were very young at the time. And so my priorities had shifted hugely of course. Right? So like, you know, my priorities as, uh, you know, 20 something medical resident were different than when I was a practicing physician with kids at home who I, you know, wanted and needed to prioritize, but I was found myself in a career that really was not in support of that. Right. Um, also professionally I really was, you know, so disillusioned with the medical profession, right?

Dr. Kim Foster: (08:50)
The healthcare system has so many flaws, you know, we don’t to get into the nitty gritty of that, cause I’m sure that many people are aware, but you know, it, it’s just, there’s so many things that are broken about our system and I was, you know, functioning deep inside it and having to uphold a lot of principles that no longer, uh, that I didn’t believe in anymore. And so professionally I was really disconnected from what was going on and what I was expected and meant to uphold. Um, so personally, you know, I had, my, my priority was my family professionally. I was not on board anymore. And then also I had my own health crisis, of course, as we all do, that’s the thing for so many people, you know, talk to so many women who have had, you know, a total pivot and change in direction.

Dr. Kim Foster: (09:39)
And that’s often sadly the thing that kicks us in out of that status into, you know, what we really need to like a real wake-up call, of course, as cliche as it sounds, but that’s where it is. So yeah, the stress of, of all of that just really manifested in, um, an auto-immune condition that kind of came out of the blue. I’d been super healthy before. And then I had this really rare auto-immune condition that, that just descended upon me and changed everything. And fortunately it was self-limited it re and it resolved and I’m totally fine now, but there was a period of a couple of months there where, um, I was in real trouble and it really did a lot of journaling because I couldn’t get out of bed. So a lot of journaling and figuring out, okay, something really, really needs to change.

Elyse Archer: (10:30)
How did you, how did you coach yourself through that? Because I can only imagine in that moment, you’ve got the emotional stress of being disillusioned with what you’re doing and not feeling in alignment and then the compounded physical stress as well. Did you, did you have any, I know you said he did a lot of journaling and I’m curious, and I know we’re getting really specific here, but I want to really pull out some, some specific things that women can do if they’re kind of in that moment of like, oh my gosh, I know I need to make a change, but it feels scary. What were some of the specific ways you coached yourself through that?

Dr. Kim Foster: (11:06)
Well, I really immersed myself into a whole world that I really hadn’t, um, been aware of before. I just started reading a lot. I read a lot of books about happiness, to be honest is actually cause I was like, I’ve been so unhappy and this has this going, is threatening my life at the moment. So I need to figure out just really bare bones, how to be happy. So I started reading all these books about like positive psychology was this emerging thing at the time, like, you know, the ha happy and the happiness project hadn’t been published yet. Like there was just all sorts of stuff. So I immersed myself in thinking differently about things, because I had been trained with this paradigm, very masculine in medicine, very, um, you know, evidence-based, it’s all about those structure and concrete and what you can prove and what you can do. And you know, all of that. And I gave myself permission to, um, really opened my mind to a totally different way of living and choosing and experiencing life. So that’s what I did. Wow.

Elyse Archer: (12:18)
Well, and I love that you said that Dr. Kim, because, you know, one of my favorite, um, I don’t know if Abraham Hicks said it originally, but I’m a huge Abraham Hicks listener. And one of the things that they talk about so much as like, what is success and, and the definition that they give is it’s happiness, successes, happiness. And we think it’s something else for so much of my life. I thought it was a dollar amount, an accolade, a car. And you realize that you’re seeking those things because you think they’ll make you happy. When in reality, you actually have the ability to create happiness in your life, through your thoughts, through alignment, through getting out of those situations that no longer serve and learning that everything you need is internal. So I just, I love, I love that you shared that. Thank you for that.

Elyse Archer: (13:09)
Because I think when we can redefine success as happiness, then it’s like, we can have it now and everything else is gravy and everything else also comes when we are happier too. So, so that’s beautiful. So you did a lot of journaling, you focused on happiness. And then what did, what was that like, like when you told, I can’t imagine telling family and friends like, Hey, I’m, I’m leaving this and I’m going to go do this coaching thing. And there’s probably fear of judgment, fear of like, not making money, maybe. I mean, I don’t know, walk us through the fears that you have any fears in any judgments that you got from other people or from yourself about doing this.

Dr. Kim Foster: (13:46)
There were so many of those, um, yeah, that’s what I’m talking. Those were all the things. So, you know, I had all sorts of reasons to make a change. And then I had a lot of things that were standing in my way. So yes, the, you know, talking to people like to colleagues, I mean, I really, I kept it secret for a long time because it just really, wasn’t, it’s not an acceptable thing to talk about, um, or that’s how I felt anyway. Um, and, but the people that I did share, you know, just really, it was just bizarre lens. Like, why would you, why would you do that? Like, why would you leave this? And then people who were outside of the profession, like family, friends, honestly, anybody who I would have a chance to talk to about this, who I happened to, you know, share this, this journey that I was on, where it was, there was just a total disconnect.

Dr. Kim Foster: (14:33)
Like, how could you, why would you do that? You, you worked so hard to get where you are, is the kind of things that I would say, or you put in all those years in medical school and getting where you are. And, um, why would you just throw that all away? And I came to hate that, like, I really bristled against that. It doesn’t make any sense. It really like, and what I see and I’ve thought about why, why is this, why are people keep, why do they keep saying this to me? Like, why is this the prevailing view? Is that just because I have achieved this thing and spent put all these invested years and time and money into this career, why did I get this education to limit my choices? No, that’s not why I did it. Right. I didn’t do it to only give myself one thing that I could ever do for the rest of my life. You’re committed to this. Now, the thing that you decided when you were 17, you would have to stay in it until your death. Right? That’s a great

Elyse Archer: (15:27)
Point. Yeah. That’s a great point because we kind of think about it that way, right? Like, oh, it’s the sunk costs. They’re going to put so much time and effort into it and that’s such a good point. You didn’t do it to limit your choices. So, so keep going. But I just think people can apply that to anything that they’re feeling stuck in. And that’s great.

Dr. Kim Foster: (15:43)
Yeah, absolutely. Anything. I mean, just because you have, you know, you took a certain path doesn’t mean that you are forced to stay on that path forever. If you are feeling called to color outside the lines and go a different direction, but it is not easy to do because, so I was going against, you know, all of that external judgment. And then also all of my own identity stuff came up. Of course, because I, since a very young age, I had identified as a physician, right? Like this was my whole identity. And that profession in particular, I’ve talked to a lot and worked with a lot of women who have changed their careers and the ones who have the hardest time letting go of it are doctors, other doctors who are, cause I’m not the only one there’s loads and loads of other physicians who are similarly, but it’s a really tough one because it just gets so imbued in your identity.

Dr. Kim Foster: (16:38)
It really becomes you just take it on, um, that this is who you are. And so it’s terrifying to be considering, okay, well, if I’m not that, if I’m not doing that anymore, who am I like? That’s a really scary prospect, right? Yeah. So that was tough. Um, and then practical considerations, specifically money, like it’s not easy to replace a physician’s income with something that is not, you know, as stablish in your, in the same way. Like what I often say to my clients who are doctors is when you decide you want to be a physician, it’s a very well worn path. You just follow along. You’re like, okay, this is what I do. This is I just stick, take this step, this step, there’s tons of mentorship, lots of role models, all of that. You can see clearly exactly what you have to do. Um, it’s a recipe. And then at the end of it, you’re adopter. And then you can function as a visitor. Like it’s just, it’s so clearly laid out, but doing something else, like building an online business, becoming a coach, like all that stuff is not, it does not have a path because it’s so much newer as a profession and it’s so much more like there’s so many other options and, you know, anyway, so that, that all of that stuff was scary and kept me stuck for a very long.

Elyse Archer: (18:01)
Oh, I’m sure. I’m sure. Well, and so when you, when you made that leap, what was that? So here’s what I want to know is I want to know what was it like the day you made the leap

Dr. Kim Foster: (18:12)
And what’s

Elyse Archer: (18:13)
Your perspective now on the other side? So, so T so kind of take us back to that day when you, when you finally did it,

Dr. Kim Foster: (18:18)
Let’s start there. Yeah. So the day was more like an internal shift than an external one. I think it wasn’t, um, because it still took some time for me to actually have my external world, you know, manifest in what was going on in my inside world. But the internal shift has to come first, of course, like it has to be an inner decision. Um, and, and so, I mean, really, it looked like me going for a walk in the woods with my, you know, phone listening to a podcast. I love

Elyse Archer: (18:53)
That as every big life epiphany happens, right. Either like in the shower or on a, in the woods. That’s great. Yeah. And I think

Dr. Kim Foster: (19:01)
I was, I was listening to, um, a podcast about going pro um, the difference between like dabbling and going pro. Um, and because I had been dabbling for a while, like I, I had been sort of on the side, like secretly early in the mornings, you know, researching, what does it mean? Like, what could I actually do? How could I pursue this? You know, because I really wanted to do more like wellness, more coaching, less like medicine. Right. I’m really just do something completely different than clinical practice. Um, yeah, but I, so I had been researching and I’d been sort of like half stepping into it. Right. Like keeping one foot nice and safe and then kind of dabbling in the other. And this, um, you know, the guest on this podcast was talking about that, you know, most people are just dabbling and what could, what could happen if you actually decided to go pro like you invested in yourself, if you, if you invested in like energy-wise financially and just made that commitment to not dabble anymore, but actually go all in because it’s scary. Right. Because then we are risking, you know, we’re vulnerable, all of those kinds of things. But, um, and I just had that moment. I was like, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. I’ve been just kind of like playing at this a little bit and, and hedging my bets and, you know, being all safe about it and all sensible about it. Um, yeah. Yeah. So, so that, so, and I just, I said, Nope, I am actually, this is enough and I’m going pro on this.

Elyse Archer: (20:31)
Mm Hmm. And then you, I’m assuming, so, so tell us, like you turned in your resignation, you left, I know it wasn’t like an immediate process, but how long was that full process then of, of leaving medicine to go into your coaching?

Dr. Kim Foster: (20:45)
Yeah, altogether, it was a few actually that I went from like making that decision to actually letting the, the people like the powers that be my boss at the clinic, like all of that stuff. Um, no, that this is what I was doing. And so, cause I, and there was a lot of journaling that happens during that period.

Speaker 3: (21:05)
Always a lot of journaling, right? Yes.

Dr. Kim Foster: (21:08)
Yeah. And like working it out from like an identity perspective and what, um, and also from a practical thing too, right. Like figuring out the financials, can I actually do this? Can I actually make this happen? Um, and, um, yeah. And so, so that’s, that’s how that all went.

Elyse Archer: (21:27)
Tell me. And one thing that I’d love to just get your wisdom on now is the identity piece, because I think to your point, we get so wrapped up in, this is who I am. This is what I do. And whether that’s, you know, as a physician or as a, um, I hadn’t experienced several years ago where I was a partner in this eight figure international sales coaching company, and then had really built a strong identity around that and got a lot of satisfaction from that. And there was ego and there’s like all of that. And then overnight, it all went away because it’s corporate inner turmoil and feeling like naked and vulnerable. And who am I now? And do I matter now, how did you work through the identity piece? Because I think that’s a huge, that’s like you bring up a really good point that it’s not always something that we maybe are consciously aware of when we’re looking to make a big shift is like the thing that could be holding you back is you’re the unknown identity of who you’re stepping into. So how did you work through that for yourself?

Dr. Kim Foster: (22:27)
Yeah, that’s a good question. Um, and it, I mean, it was a really long process. It took a lot of time and, um, Ethan, even when I thought that I had actually come to terms with it, even when I thought that I was like, I am moving on onwards and upwards to bigger and better things. Um, I still surprised myself on my very last day in clinical medicine. So this was supposed to be like, hallelujah day. I had been preparing for this for years and years and years and years. And, um, and I, I thought that it was just going to be only like happiness and excitement. And I had to close my door to the car and cry my face off like ugly cry because I was, it was like a death. It was like a death, which is of course leads to the, you know, rebirth, but it had to happen.

Dr. Kim Foster: (23:24)
And I, even though I was so beyond excited, like I was giddy like that morning, um, I was like joking. I was like, buh-bye like, I was just, I was, you know, I thought that I was going to be nothing but thrilled. And I just found myself completely slammed with all of this emotion, like just bubbles right up to the surface that, that letting this go. And this has been a core piece of what you’ve been, even though on so many levels emotionally, I had let it go years ago, but there was still that remnant of like that it was like an umbilical cord still that I was still needed to be cut. And that was that moment. Like on my very last day, I had to close the door and just bawl my eyes out. And then, and then that I think was incredibly cathartic because I haven’t, since that day, I, I haven’t looked back. I have been, you know, it’s, it’s been nothing, but, um, you know, just, it it’s so validating I needed to actually, I needed to do it and clearly, and, um, and it’s been just so amazing, such an amazing journey since then. Yeah.

Elyse Archer: (24:27)
Well, and tell us a little bit about where you are now. So just for context and like how long you’ve been running your own business and where you’re at with that and where you’ve gone since, since that fateful day that you were crying with the office director.

Dr. Kim Foster: (24:41)
Yeah. So I have, I mean, I, my, my whole like journey out of clinical medicine, it started with, you know, I needed to get out of like the conventional medical paradigm of prescriptive, you know, patriarchal medicine and into more of a wellness, um, approach. And so I journeyed into what being was coach and then, because I was really enjoying it, although of course I was still working in clinical medicine at that point. Like that was, that was, those were my phases of like half and half kind of one foot in the world, one foot out. Um, so I was wellness coaching on the side of being a physician. Um, but then, because I was getting more and more into that world, really loving being, um, in that whole coaching just universe. And, and, um, that’s when I started just organically kind of helping other coaches too on their mentor, like building their businesses, you know, in first of all, I’m more of a peer kind of thing, but then it really evolved into, um, I decided that I needed to get more education into actually business and marketing and being a business mentor and being a business coach.

Dr. Kim Foster: (25:46)
So that is actually where that’s where I am right now to answer your question is that now my primary function is, um, my company is business mentorship and training for people who are, um, wanting to become wellness, coaches, wanting to escape, um, what it is that they’re doing right now, because there’s a lot of people who are unhappy in what they’re doing right now. And I can attest to that, um, and, and really feel called to move into pursuing that passion for wellness and building a beautiful career out of that. So that’s what I do now is that I help women who are really, you know, called to helping others and build a flexible freedom-based business in wellness. And so that, that’s how I fill my days now and I absolutely love it. And it just, it just lights me up in a way that medicine simply never did really like. Um, so I love it.

Elyse Archer: (26:47)
That’s beautiful. That’s so beautiful. And one of the things that I would love to notice as we start to kind of wrap here is what have you learned about trusting yourself along the way? This is, this is one of the biggest things that I am passionate about teaching women, how to do is to learn to trust themselves again. And no doubt. There was so much trusting and looking inward instead of outward in your journey and in your story. So what, what have you learned and what would you share to a woman who is wanting to learn how to trust herself

Dr. Kim Foster: (27:16)
Again? Well, so much of it comes down to like listening to that inner voice, right? Like the one that we’ve been, that we’ve talked about a couple of times here is just really listening to that voice, paying attention to when your, yeah. Your intuition, essentially like your inner world is telling you that something is off and out of alignment. And I know we all have it, but some of us are more powerful than others that’s suppressing it. Right. Um, and you know, and, but it really is a, it’s a practice. It’s a muscle really, to, to listen to your own intuition and trust yourself and have the faith that you are going to be able to figure this out. Like for a long time I had that, um, I needed a safety net. Like I really needed to know that if I was going to make this leap, I wasn’t just going to like leap out of a perfectly functioning airplane without a parachute.

Dr. Kim Foster: (28:14)
Like that was not, I couldn’t do it, but I, and again, like journaling, I know I keep saying this, but really is journaling totally transformed everything for me because I was like, well, you know, I can figure this out even without a safety net. I know that I’m going to be absolutely fine. There are people out there who have very successful careers who didn’t go to medical school, it’s okay for you to not be a practicing physician, you will be okay. Um, and I just had to repeat that and really like, feel into that. Um, and, and know that even without a safety net, I was still going to be okay. I was still going to be able to work it out, um, resourceful and smart, and I can figure this out.

Elyse Archer: (28:59)
Yes. Oh my gosh. Well, I love your story because I think it applies regardless of what the situation is, whether it’s similar to yours or someone just looking to, like we said before, you know, make a different type of leap in their life and make a scary, what feels like a scary decision. Even though I truly believe that we can trust our desires in life and know that what we want is safe and if we’re being called to do something that it is meant for us. And so I really appreciate how you shared your story of that because it’s, it w it took bold moves, right? It took, it took some help stuff coming up, but it took you tuning in and really being so bold and strong and brave, um, in taking that action. And you’re such a beautiful example of doing that and leaping into the unknown, which will in turn, I think really inspire and motivate, um, our listeners to do the same, but it’s certainly done that for me today. So Dr. Kim, I want to tell people where they can connect with you if they want to get involved in what you’re doing and find out more like, tell, tell them all the places they can connect and how they can know how they can work with you if they want to.

Dr. Kim Foster: (30:07)
Yeah. Well, I mean, I, for one thing, I have my own podcast marketing and mindset for wellness coaches specifically, if you are a wellness coach and you’re trying to build your business, um, and on that podcast, I, you know, I talk about equal parts mindset and, you know, strategy, right. Cause they’re both so crucial. Um, and so that that’s a fun place to hang. It. That’s a place where I am in hanging out and come and connect with me there. Um, and also, uh, I have, uh, you know, for people who, cause I know the pain of being stuck in a thing in a career in a life that you it’s just not for you anymore, and you are being called for something more, something different, but it is really just without that clearly defined pathway, it can be unnecessarily scary. Right. And then you can, it’s easy to give into the fears.

Dr. Kim Foster: (30:57)
So that’s why, so I have, I created a training, um, you know, a 60 minute master class that, um, people can watch and sign up for. That’s called how to chart a path to your dream career as a wellness coach. And I just put everything that I knew could help a person who really wants to chart their path, but just doesn’t know how to make it all come together. So you can watch that at, um, you know, it’s Dr. Kim foster.com forward slash become a coach. Um, if you are feeling called to, you know, become, pursue that passion for wellness and become a wellness coach, but yeah, so that’s, that’s another, um, great place to learn from me, but, and I’m also on Instagram at Dr. Kim foster and I hang out there quite a bit too, so, yeah. Amazing.

Elyse Archer: (31:39)
Amazing. And so finally, here’s what I would, I would love to know from you just final piece of advice, and this has been so powerful. And so, um, just re it’s helped me kind of re anchor back into trusting myself as well, even more through those bold leaps. So I so appreciate everything you’ve shared. So for a woman who is ready to claim more in her life and ready to take big action, but feels scared. What would be your best piece of advice for her, for where she is right now?

Dr. Kim Foster: (32:14)
I would say that it’s about getting, it’s like a two-step thing. It starts with getting really quiet and really just shutting out all of the outside stuff, because it’s complicated and noisy out there. Other people’s stories, other people’s judgments, other people’s, you know, well intentioned fears for you, you know, all of that kind of stuff. And you have to tune all of that stuff out. You have to get quiet. You have to really turn the focus back in yourself and really get clear on what it is that you want and what your very next step is. And then the second part of course, is taking that step, right? It’s like actually taking the action don’t spin in, you know, just thinking about it, dreaming about it, fantasizing about it for too long. You do need to do that introspection, in my opinion, you need to have that inner work and then you need to immediately follow it up by actually taking action, taking that first scary step.

Elyse Archer: (33:17)
Yeah. That’s so powerful. Yeah. Nothing happens until you take that step. So I was so appreciative that you shared that and you’re, I just so encourage, you know, for anybody, you know, if you’re looking to make that shift and potentially go into the wellness space, go attend, um, Dr. Kim’s masterclass and then either way, like follow her on social, listen to her podcast. Um, just such a wealth of wisdom and inspiration for any woman who’s looking to grow their business, create, create great change either in their life and in the world as well. So, Dr. Kim, thank you so much for coming on today and for who you are. It’s been a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful conversation. I’m so grateful for you.

Dr. Kim Foster: (33:59)
Thank you so much. At least it’s been an absolute pleasure, so

Elyse Archer: (34:02)
Amazing. All right, my friend, thank you so much for tuning in today to she sells radio. I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did and come join again next week. As you know, if you’ve been listening for any amount of time every week, we have incredible, incredible leaders in the sales and business space coming on to share their best practices with you so that you can stale your sales to six figures and beyond in your life. And so I’m just grateful to have you as a listener. Thank you so much. Go out and share this episode with someone who you think is going to need it and have a beautiful rest of your week. We’ll see you next week. Bye for now.

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