Escaping the 9 to 5 with Kristyn Caetano

intuitive business coach Kristyn Caetano

This month’s interview is with Kristyn Caetano, who abandoned her horrendous commute to the office for a more flexible and purposeful career as an intuitive business coach and lifestyle strategist.

From facing her own challenges to navigating the desire to do it all, Kristyn shares how she worked with a business coach who helped her clarify and focus on what she really wanted to do. Now, she helps her clients overcome blocks, find clarity, and create success using a range of practical business-building strategies on the one hand and more spiritual tools as well as a big dose of love on the other!

Watch the full interview or read on for the highlights of Kristyn’s story!

Intuitive business coach

Kristyn CaetanoKristyn Caetano spent more than 20 years in public health, specifically in women’s health, managing non-profit health clinics and doing a lot of health-related community work. Having found herself fed up with an awful commute and seeing no further advancement within that career, she decided to start building her own business. There have been a few twists and turns but, through the help of a business coach, Kristyn found a way to combine her healing work with practical business-building strategies. Today, she helps spiritual entrepreneurs build a thriving business that allows them more freedom and prosperity in their life, while also making a positive impact in the world.

1. At what moment did you decide it was time for a change?

Kristyn Caetano Group
Kristyn’s favourite part about her work now is knowing that she’s helping people express themselves creatively and make an impact in the world

I always had jobs on the side and was always doing some kind of healing work. My whole adult life, I was on this quest to find my ‘aligned work’ in the world and knew that I wasn’t quite in it yet, even though there were pieces of what I was doing that felt right.

A bunch of certifications later, I finally arrived in my early 40s and I was in a very damaging, toxic, miserable job. I was a bit stuck because there was nowhere really to go within my public health career. I was driving to this horrible job every day in a treacherous commute, and every day I would either be crying in my car or feeling sick to my stomach, or angry. I felt like, “I don’t even recognise myself; this is not me.” I was just done.

Finally, I said, “You know what? I’ve got to do this thing for real.” So I set up a brick-and-mortar side business combining my hypnotherapy and life coaching. I knew I wanted to do online work, but I was just throwing everything at it. I thought, “I want to do online and in-person and maintain a full-time job!” And that wasn’t very practical.

After a while, I realised that this business model was never going to liberate me from my day job, so I needed to figure something else out. The other thing I realised was that I really liked to work with people in this deeper, longer-term way. Then the third thing I realised was how I loved doing this inner work – but something was still missing.

I finally hired a business coach who changed my life pretty much immediately and helped me get a giant breakthrough, which was realising that I actually loved the business coaching itself – the practical side and the teaching – and so I pivoted and combined those. My coach also helped me remove some blinders, and I built my path slowly and steadily on the side as I gradually reduced my time at work. I went from five days to four days to three days, and I finally quit at the age of 44. I’ve never looked back! And I’m never going back. Ever.

2. What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the change?

I believe that business can be our medicine. What I mean by that is that you’re going to be faced with all your stuff, all your limiting beliefs, all your childhood wounds; so I think of building a business as a healing modality in itself.

I would say for my challenges that I was incredibly fearful and terrified about the stability piece, that “Am I going to be able to eat?” kind of thing. That’s such a basic human lizard-brain fear – I think we all have it.

Another challenge was in the form of my money blocks, one of which was a deeply subconscious scarcity belief, which came from my parents and their parents before them.

Those are just a couple of examples of the things that I’ve had to really work through and overcome.

3. Where did you get the support you needed to make it happen?

I’ve always had support from different coaches, therapists and spiritual healers to help me move through my blocks. To be honest, I think my path was slower than some other people, and it took me several years to work through that incredible fear that I was feeling. On a practical level, I set myself up well because I saved a certain amount of money to have a ‘cushion’ and I built my business up to a certain place before I took the leap. But that inner journey is ongoing: once you get to one level, there’s always the next level of limiting beliefs or fears that you need to unravel.

To be able to form relationships, friendships, and supportive collaborations with fellow entrepreneurs and people in my mastermind community has been an absolute game changer; that’s actually something that I’m looking to build more of this year. I’ve suffered from what I call the ‘independent woman’ syndrome: I haven’t been good at receiving help, and always think I can do everything myself. I don’t want do that anymore! It’s still not easy for me to actually ask for and receive help, from peers or even people who are a little ahead of me. We absolutely can’t do it alone, so I encourage everyone to find mastermind buddies and so on: people who believe in you.

4. What’s the best part of your lifestyle today?

Kristyn Caetano
Kristyn’s favourite part about her work now is knowing that she’s helping people express themselves creatively and make an impact in the world.

I think the best part of my work is that I know that I’m genuinely helping people move the needle on their dreams and create their fullest expression in the world. There are so many people who are unhappy in their desk jobs and so many people who are trying to find their ‘purpose’. That’s kind of a buzzword, but there is a reason for that. I believe that we do have a purpose and there is a massive feeling of dissatisfaction when you’re not in your right, aligned and joyful work.

So my joy is to actually help all the coaches, healers, guides and mentors be able to create a structure that supports them financially, consistently, and actually also allows them to creatively express themselves and do good in the world. What’s better than that? Who doesn’t want that?

I also get a lot of joy out of the fact that I get to sleep in! I’m just being totally honest: I am not a morning person. Gone are the days where I had to wake up at the crack of dawn and drive forever in treacherous traffic to get to a horrible, soul-sucking desk job. Now I don’t schedule any clients before 10am and I love it. I also feel healthier. I carve out time for my yoga and myself and it’s really a joy.

It’s not perfect – there are good days and bad days, of course – but I feel so blessed and fortunate that I had the courage to design a different kind of life. That’s where a lot of people get stuck, and never make it.

5. What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big career or lifestyle change?

When you’re faced with that indecision or uncertainty, if you remain stuck in limbo land, it’s not only painful but you never get anywhere; you spin your wheels. And we know that action begets clarity.

I advise people to really ‘go inside’ to help them make important decisions.  If you’re asking yourself, “Should I do A or B?”, then close your eyes and imagine yourself doing A. Does it feel heavy? Does it feel buoyant? Get out of your head and into your body and just ask the question; be curious. Then try choice B. Does that feel good?

Nothing’s ever a sure thing. You might just feel, “Okay, this feels more buoyant to me, so I’m going to move in this direction.” I used to want to know for sure that it was going to work out before I took the step, but it doesn’t work that way. Know that this is an ever-unfolding journey and you’re not going to know for sure. You’re only going to know the next step that’s right in front of you; and you’re going to discover what happens after that when you get there.

Find out more about Kristyn and her work won her website, Elixify Your Life, or follow her on Facebook and on Twitter.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You might also be interested in these articles

“Everything you’ve ever
wanted is one step outside
your comfort zone.”

Book a free consultation

Get on the phone with Anna to discuss your unique goals and situation to determine the best programme for you, so you can start taking action towards creating the business and lifestyle you desire.

Get a free assessment of your business

Download this scorecard to review where you are on each of the 5 pillars of building a life outside of the 9 to 5, and get clear action steps to help you fill the gaps.

We will use and protect your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Looking to grow your expert business?

Download this FREE Business Assessment to identify the gaps that are preventing your growth so that you can take actionable steps towards building a more successful and sustainable business.

We will use and protect your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Outside of the 9 to 5

Anna continues the journey in her new book, where she details what’s needed to sustain your initial escape from the 9 to 5 in a guide to designing and building a profitable business that gives you more freedom, flexibility and fulfilment.

We will use and protect your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Privacy Policy

This privacy policy sets out how One Step Outside uses and protects any information that you give One Step Outside when you use this website (https://onestepoutside.com/).

One Step Outside is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

One Step Outside may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes.

What information we collect and why

We only ever collect the information that we need in order to serve you.

Generally, this just means collecting your first name and email address that you enter, for example, when you request a resource, register for a webinar, or submit a message via a contact form.

If you are a paying customer, we also collect your billing information including your last name and your postal address.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Contact forms

We use Gravity Forms to allow you to contact us via the website. We will use the information you submit for the sole purpose of that specific form and will explicitly ask you to provide your consent to allow us to do so.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Advertising and Analytics

Google

We use Google Analytics to track and optimise performance on this site as well as embedding video content from YouTube, and this means that your web browser automatically sends certain information to Google. This includes the URL of the page that you’re visiting and your IP address. Google may also set cookies on your browser or read cookies that are already there. Apps that use Google advertising services also share information with Google, such as the name of the app and a unique identifier for advertising.

Google uses the information shared by sites and apps to deliver our services, maintain and improve them, develop new services, measure the effectiveness of advertising, protect against fraud and abuse and personalise content and ads that you see on Google and on our partners’ sites and apps. See their Privacy Policy to learn more about how they process data for each of these purposes, and their Advertising page for more about Google ads, how your information is used in the context of advertising and how long Google stores this information.

Facebook

We use the conversion tracking and custom audiences via the Facebook pixel on our website. This allows user behaviour to be tracked after they have been redirected to our website by clicking on a Facebook ad and enables us to measure the effectiveness of our Facebook ads. The data collected in this way is anonymous to us, i.e. we do not see the personal data of individual users. However, this data is stored and processed by Facebook, who may link this information to your Facebook account and also use it for its own promotional purposes, in accordance with Facebook’s Data Usage Policy https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/.

You can allow Facebook and its partners to place ads on and off Facebook. A cookie may also be stored on your computer for these purposes. You can revoke your permission directly on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. For more guidance on opting out you can also consult http://www.aboutads.info/choices.

Who we share your data with

We use a number of third parties to provide us with services which are necessary to run our business or to assist us with running our business and who process your information for us on our behalf. These include a hosting and email provider (Siteground), mailing list provider (GetResponse), and a payment provider (Stripe).

Your information will be shared with these service providers only where necessary to enable us to run our business.

How long we maintain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

The main reason for collecting this information is to be able to send you resources, updates and, sometimes, information and products and services, as well as for internal record keeping.

The rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

How we protect your data

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure.

Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password that lets you access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential and we ask you not to share a password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Links to other websites

Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to this website so once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Changes to our privacy policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. Initially created on 18th November 2016, it was last updated on 23rd May 2018 to be compliant with GDPR.

Contact information

If you have any questions or concerns related to your privacy, you can get in touch here >>