Welcome to the first post of our new “Small Business of the Month” series. The reason we started this series is to showcase small businesses around the country and give them an additional platform to share their services and products with the world (per our mission!). We hope you enjoy!

Our first business owner that we are featuring is Alina Bas, of Mind Terrain Coaching, and we think you will find her Q&A interesting and informative. Check it out below!

1. Tell us a little about your company and what makes it unique.

My company, Mind Terrain Coaching, helps clients create the world that they want to live in, and create it in a way that feels both peaceful and powerful. With training is in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, my approach combines insights from classical psychology with practical tools from Positive Psychology and ideas from thought leaders like Martha Beck, Barbara Sher, Pam Slim, Seth Godin, and Malcolm Gladwell, among others.

I use different vocabulary and tools with corporate leaders than with private clients, but ultimately, it comes down to people who want to wake up each morning looking forward to the coming day.

2. What made you decide to become a coach?

I’ve always loved listening to people’s stories about their journeys. I noticed that some people motivate themselves by their stories, and others bring themselves down. I had a deep desire to help all storytellers realize how capable, worthy, connected, and infinitely powerful they are, so that they would feel unafraid to go on any journey. In 2003, I read Martha Beck’s book “Expecting Adam: a True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic”, wrote her a letter asking if I can come to AZ to study with her, and in early 2004, I enrolled in her Life Coach Certification program that she just created.

3. What has been the best marketing tactic used to promote your business so far?

Many of my connections have come from Martha Beck, whom you may know as a best-selling author and a frequent contributor to the Oprah Show and O Magazine. Being a part of her tribe of bright, curious, powerful wayfinders has been super helpful both in terms of expanding a client base and in terms of my personal development. Another thing that has been very helpful is just consistently doing my work in the world: writing a blog, sending out a newsletter, teaching workshops – the word gets out, and new clients find me.

4. Briefly describe your ideal client for us and your process of working with them.

My ideal client is a strong leader with an engineering mind who is successful by a large definition, but isn’t fulfilled in his life.  In search for meaning, he looks for a new challenge to conquer, the next mountain to climb, a higher degree or title to obtain. None of these will bring satisfaction without an internal sense of peace, worthiness, and connection, but it requires tremendous vulnerability on the client’s part to acknowledge this. And feeling vulnerable is not something that he is used to.

So, we start by looking at things that feel safe: making daily decisions by using perception, imagination, attention and reason; looking at communication patters; exploring personal and professional interests. A few quick wins early on are empowering (for example, finding time to exercise, initiating meaningful interactions with loved ones, etc.). Then, we move to the deeper stuff, such as one’s definition of personal value and success and “catch 22” cases in his life. We address those by making safe, incremental changes. And finally, when things are starting to look really good on the surface, the big guns come out: the unfulfilled dreams, the fears, the hopes. That is s when we figure out how to create new, meaningful pathways in life. Sometimes all of this can all take place over the course one session, and other times, it takes months.

5. What advice would you give someone looking to make changes in or improve their life in a multitude of areas?

Start with these three things, and observe immediate improvements in life:

1. Focus on whatever is already working well in your life, because whatever you focus on – expands. For example, if you want more love, focus on moments of connection rather than on fights; if you want more joy, spend more time doing joyful things than stressful ones.

2. When searching for a new direction, focus on Doing rather than theorizing. For example, if you feel that your gift is to be a painter, but you are working 14 hours a day as a financial analyst, start by painting as little as 10 minutes a day. You are whatever you spend your time and attention on, so start Doing things that you want to be defined by.

3. Be kind to yourself. This is not a call to lower your standards, but simply, to start treating yourself the way you would treat a person you care about. When someone you love is tired, wouldn’t you allow her to rest? When she makes a mistake, wouldn’t you reassure her that next time, things will be better? When something doesn’t feel right to her, wouldn’t you honor her right to say “no”? Please treat yourself just as kindly, and observe how you flourish surrounded by the safety of your own kindness.

About Alina Bas/Contact information:

Alina Bas, M.A., coaches leaders to influence the world in a way that is peaceful and powerful. She is Certified Life Coach & Executive Coach with over 10 years of corporate experience in Organizational Effectiveness and Leadership Development., and a co-author of the book “Changes of the Heart”.

Website: http://www.MindTerrainCoaching.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MindTerrainCoaching

Twitter: @alinacoach

Email: Alina@MindTerrainCoaching.com