IAM1297 – Wellness Coach Invites Her Clients with Empathy

Kara Simon founded Loving Heart Holistic Wellness in 2016 in Bedford, Indiana. Currently located in Arlington, VA, Loving Heart Holistic Wellness practices Mindfulness, Meditation, Reiki, personalized Yoga and weekly Yoga classes, Emotional Freedom Technique, Sound Healing, and other healing services. Kara believes in compassion and sustainability and provides classes and services that are trauma-informed, and accessible to all. She is passionate about promoting resilience, nourishment, and enrichment for your Mind, Body, and Spirit.

• CEO Story: Kara started her journey as a coffee vendor at a yoga class, then started attending the class which changed her life. It was the first time that she felt quiet and clear. From there she practiced it at home along with a natural and holistic approach using essential oils.
• Business Service: Virtual yoga classes. Physical space for meeting clients. Doing workshops. Hosted a book club.
• Secret Sauce: Spent a lot of time in personal growth and personal development. Services that are trauma-informed and accessible. Meeting people where they’re at and inviting a space of compassion.
• CEO Hack: Book recommended: Claim your power – taking a look at what’s limiting your beliefs and how to step into your full power and the exceptional person you are. Brené Brown books. App mentioned: Medito is a tool for meditation and sleep stories.
• CEO Nugget: The power of your mindset is huge. When your mindset matches your action, energy, and motivation that is the key to manifesting your life.
• CEO Defined: Being compassionate to the community, to one another. Being exceptional, being ahead of the game. Making sure meeting people where they’re at. Staying open-minded, willing to learn more, receive more. Willing to give and balance your own self-care. Staying open to possibilities, resources, and accessibility to people.

Website: www.lovingheartwellness.com

Facebook: lovingheartholisticwellness

Instagram: lovingheartholisticwellness

YouTube: Loving Hearth Holistic Wellness

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Transcription

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00:48 – Intro 

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

01:15 – Gresham Harkless 

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Kara Simon of Loving Heart Holistic Wellness. Kara, super excited to have you on the show.

01:26 – Kara Simon 

Yeah. Thanks so much, Gresham. I'm really excited to be here as well and appreciate the invite.

01:31 – Gresham Harkless 

Yes, absolutely. I appreciate all the awesome work that you're doing. Before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Kara so I can hear about some of that awesome work. Kara founded Loving Heart Holistic Wellness in 2016 in Bedford, Indiana. Currently located in Arlington, Virginia. Loving Heart Holistic Wellness provides Mindfulness, Meditation, Reiki, personalized Yoga, weekly Yoga classes, Emotional Freedom Techniques, Sound Healing, and other healing services.

Kara believes in compassion and sustainability and provides classes and services that are trauma-informed and accessible to all. She is passionate about promoting resilience, nourishment, and enrichment for your Mind, Body, and Spirit. Kara, super excited to have you on again. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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02:15 – Kara Simon 

I am absolutely ready. Thank you.

02:17 – Gresham Harkless 

Yes, absolutely. Appreciate you as much too. And before we jump a little bit more into it, I wanted to kick everything off by rewinding on the clock a little bit, hearing a little bit more about how you got started, what I call your CEO Story.

02:28 – Kara Simon 

Yeah, definitely. So, it's actually a fun story. I was, working in a coffee shop in 2014 selling coffee. And I was a vendor at a yoga and music festival so I was born with generalized anxiety and taking this first yoga class was like the very first time that my mind felt quiet and clear. Probably for the first time in my life, I was like, what is this feeling? What, I didn't know this could be a thing. I didn't know I could live in this headspace of not chatting all the time and feeling calm and centered.

So that's really where my journey started. From there, I just found my own practice at home. I had always been into kind of natural and holistic medicines in general using essential drive for things that maybe were not taught in this Western culture, which I have found really to be beneficial and soothing and supportive for my own life. And that's how my journey got started.

03:46 – Gresham Harkless 

Nice. Well, I appreciate you sharing that so much, and it's so funny how often we get led to different places in our life and on our journey as you said so well, and we don't sometimes realize the impact that it has on ourselves, but it ends up it sounds like in your case as well too, it's had an impact on a lot of the people that you've worked with as well too.

04:05 – Kara Simon 

Yeah, definitely. Doing this work is really phenomenal, getting to just meet people where they are and reach clients in a way that helps and benefits them because these are all things that I received a benefit for myself first. So I know that's my mission and my drive because I know the benefits that these services provide because I also receive them.

04:32 – Gresham Harkless 

Yeah, absolutely. It starts to make I guess, provide a little bit more clarity sometimes to the reason that we kinda go through that journey and sometimes it's not just for ourselves. Obviously, it's for us impacting, many people as well too. And one of the things that stuck with me that you said is that it's not something that's always taught and I guess, readily accessible for people.

I love that you're able to kinda bring that to light because sometimes we don't know the opportunities and tools that can help us, to get to where we need to be. So, what I wanted to hear is, I guess, how you were letting people know, how you were impacting people, and drill down a little bit more to hear about your business and how you're, serving the clients you're working with.

05:11 – Kara Simon 

Yeah, sure. Right now, I teach virtual weekly classes through yoga. So I have, 3 days a week that I teach online yoga classes, which is really cool because even though my business was founded in Indiana and I'm now in Arlington, I'm still able to reach the clients that have been with me for the last 5 years. So, doing a 600-mile move wasn't as traumatic as maybe it would have been on my business. Had we not already shifted to an online world anyway? I see that being an offering for my future as well, just doing a hybrid of in-person and online services. I just got a physical space. So I have a space where I'm able to see private clients, whether that's for Yoga, tapping Emotional Freedom Technique, or Reiki. So really excited about that.

That just came to fruition earlier this week. Actually, so super excited about that. It feels like I have a little more, roots in the ground here, so to speak, than what I have the last couple of years that I've been in Arlington. So really, really excited about that. And I'm hosting other things too. Like, I've got some partnerships going on with some local businesses, doing a few workshops of my own. And, one cool side piece of my business is that everything I do is about connection. And so this year I launched a non-fiction book club, which I am super excited about. So it'd be a space for us to just gather in connection, in conversation, and in community.

I really just wanted to provide a space for us to discuss and to live in a space of community. I've done a lot of personal growth and personal development on my own and by myself through reading and, decided that in my 30’s, I really wanted to do that in a community setting. So I am hosting a book club.

07:19 – Gresham Harkless 

Nice. What I wanted to ask you now is what I like to call your Secret Sauce. This could be for yourself, the business, or a combination of both, but what do you feel sets you apart and makes you unique?

07:29 – Kara Simon 

Yeah. When I saw this question, I loved it. The reason I loved it is because I have spent a lot of time in personal growth and personal development. And something that's really important to me is providing services that are trauma–informed and services that are accessible. So in the yoga world, in the holistic wellness world, I think that is what sets me apart, from other studios, other teachers, and other places that are offering similar things because I have done extensive study and research on being trauma-informed and have done a lot with non-profits that are maybe working with people living with homelessness.

I was a board member of the United Way when I was living in Indiana and being somebody who can meet you or anybody exactly where you are so powerful. It puts the power in your hands, right? Like, it gives my clients the permission to be who they are to show up with whatever they're showing up with, whether that's mental physical, or emotional. And I'm really proud of that.

I'm really proud to say that I'm a business owner who can show up in the community to be trauma-informed and also provide services that coincide with other therapeutic services or other medical services that those clients might need as well. So that's my Secret Sauce is, meeting people where they're at and being trauma–informed and inviting a space of compassion.

09:06 – Gresham Harkless 

Yeah. That's so powerful, as you said. It starts to empower people to realize that no matter where they are, and what they've potentially gone through, they can be and have that accessibility to, each of the awesome things that you provide. So I absolutely love that, and I wanted to, switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO Hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have. What's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

09:32 – Kara Simon 

Yeah. So, I love reading as I've already shared, right? So, I wrote down a book when I answered this question. And, one of the most powerful books that changed my life is by an author called Masten Kitt, and the book is called Claim Your Power. And it's almost like a journal. It's like a workbook type of setting, in his book where you really have to be honest and, take a good look inside at what's holding you back. What limiting beliefs are you carrying? What's stopping you from being successful? Whether that's as a business owner or in your career, in your family, whatever aspirations you have, right?

Really take a look at who you are what that means and how to step into your full power and be the exceptional person you are. We're all unique, right? We all have our place and we all have our own power and the world likes to tell us otherwise sometimes. I'm also a huge Brené Brown fan. The first book we're gonna read in the book club is her new one, Atlas of the Heart.

I'm actually super excited to dive into that because I've read all of her other ones. But because I've read all of her other ones, I wanted to read this one in a community setting. Then the last tool I would say is there's a really cool meditation app that I love using personally. So, it's called Medito, M-E-D-I-T-O, and it's a free app.

It is run by a few different universities. So they upload different types of meditations on there. It's a really simple tool to use. There are no subscriptions. It's all free. They have some sleep stories on there as well. So it's just a great a great tool to have that's a completely free and accessible resource that really anybody if you have a smartphone, could utilize.

11:27 – Gresham Harkless 

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO Nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Something I like to say is if you were to hop into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

11:39 – Kara Simon 

Yes. So, what I would tell my younger business self and anybody listening to this, is that the power of your mindset is huge, to not write that off. And that when mindset matches your actions and your energy and matches your motivation, that is the key to manifesting absolutely anything that you want to manifest in your life. It took me several years to learn this, in my 30s now, so I guess I'm doing okay.

But it's just so true. And if you can, I don't necessarily like the term master, I really love the term claim and connect. If you can connect to a mindset that serves you and align that with your action, with your motivation, That's the key. That's the key to manifesting. That's the key to succeeding, whether that's professionally or personally, in a relationship, not just with others, but within yourself as well.

12:44 – Gresham Harkless 

Yeah, that's absolutely powerful. So, now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So, Kara, what does being a CEO mean to you?

12:56 – Kara Simon 

Yes. So, being a CEO to me means being compassionate to the community, compassionate to one another, and just living a life of compassion. It also means being exceptional. So being exceptional in the work that I provide, being almost ahead of the game, like being trauma-informed, really making sure that I'm meeting where the people where they're at. And then the last piece to that, the O, is staying open-minded, being willing to learn more, to receive more, being willing to give, and to balance my own self–care. So staying open to possibilities and, staying open to resources and accessibility for people.

13:41 – Gresham Harkless 

Yeah. I absolutely love that, especially that word compassion, because I feel like that encapsulates, like, so many of those aspects of meeting people where they are. You have to have that compassion to be able to do that of being open-minded and being ahead of the curve and ahead of the game.

You have to have compassion and understand that you can always get better and improve and learn more about people and everything in between and things that they've gone through. So I love that piece, and it sounds like you might have led with that because that seems like it'd be a very foundational piece in the work that you do and everything that you've been able to build.

14:13 – Kara Simon 

Yes, definitely. If you go to my website, you'll see right on the front that, one of the very first pieces I talk about is being sustainable, trauma-informed, and compassionate. Because that's really the root of my mission and my purpose in this business. And also the other side of that is my willingness to be authentic and my willingness to be vulnerable and my willingness to not just show compassion to others, but to myself because I'm human, right? I don't always have good days. I have bad days too. So really encompassing what that means and letting it be a lifestyle as opposed to just a word that is connected to a relationship.

14:59 – Gresham Harkless 

Yeah, absolutely. Not just being a buzzword but something that you live, breathe, and have manifested itself, but also understanding, and not I'm really big on saying, especially over this past couple of years, is giving yourself the grace to understand that we're not perfect. We live an imperfect life. We do imperfect things, but I think, a lot of times, you can get the idea of, like, where that foundational element comes from, what somebody is truly striving for. So absolutely love that definition.

Of course, that's a foundational element as well in the business and everything you do. Absolutely, Kara truly appreciates that definition, of course, and I appreciate your time even more. So what I want you to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and, of course, how best people get a hold of you, find about all the awesome things that you are working on.

15:45 – Kara Simon 

Yeah. Thanks so much, Gresham. So right now, I do have a few upcoming workshops. All of that information is on my website. That's really the best place I can send you. It has all of my contact information there, has more information about the classes, and the services, and you can also just book sessions straight from my website as well. So, that website is lovingheartwellness.com.

16:10 – Gresham Harkless 

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you tremendously. And just, the English major in me as well wants to know, is the book club information also on the website as well too?

16:21 – Kara Simon 

Yes. The book club information is on there, and I am holding an information session, coming up this Sunday, the 23^rd.

16:30 – Gresham Harkless 

Yes, absolutely. I appreciate that so much, and we will definitely have the links and information as well in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you, and find out about all the awesome things that you're working on. Appreciate you, Kara, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of that day.

16:43 – Kara Simon 

Thank you. Thanks so much, Gresh. Have a great day.

16:46 – Outro 

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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