Joanne Baker is a Lifestyle Coach whose passion is working with women by assisting them to achieve success in all areas of their lives. She is highly creative, intuitive and professional in her approach.
As a mother of 4 children aged 16 to 10, Joanne has been able to combine the needs of a growing Lifestyle and Personal Development company with the needs of a growing family.
Joanne’s life has taken several unexpected turns, such as negotiating her way through a difficult divorce, being a single parent of 4 children ranging in ages from 9 to 3, fighting her own self esteem demons, as well as discovering what it means to trust someone again and have a fulfilling relationship, all of which has given her first hand experience to draw from. Joanne’s mission is to connect with, teach and inspire other women by being a warm, passionate and motivated individual who shows others how to turn their lives around and be optimistic about their future.
Joanne works with her clients to help them energize and balance their busy lives, deepen their personal connections and establish purpose in their lives and work. Joanne is passionate in supporting her clients as they go about creating the change in their life.
Joanne’s qualifications include Certificate IV in Life Coaching, Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, NLP Performance Coach, Time-Line Practitioner and Trainer of Coaching.
Have you noticed lately as you look around, more and more people appear lost. It might be in their job, their relationship, where they live or their lives in general. They don’t spend enough time doing the things they want to do because they are so busy doing the things that they think they have to do. Well this was me. Just going through the day waiting for it to be over so that I could go to sleep and forget the nightmare that I was living.
You see, like so many other girls, my self-confidence growing up was almost non-existent. I doubted my abilities, had little faith in my potential and questioned my personal worth. The choices I made reflected my self-image. After I finished high school, I attracted a man with the same low self-esteem. In spite of his controlling ways, at the age of 19 I decided to marry him. I still remember my dad whispering to me before walking me down the aisle, “It’s not too late, Jo. You can still change your mind.” My family knew what a terrible mistake I was making and it wasn’t long before I knew it too.
The marriage began to deteriorate almost immediately. As soon as we moved into our marital home, things began to change. I became the good wife and did as I was told and he became the husband who ruled the roost. Over a period of 11 years, I had handed so much of myself over to him that I had become practically unrecognisable. Over those 11 years, we managed to have 4 amazing children. I suppose that most mothers say that their children are amazing but as time went on, all that got me through the night was having those children hug me and tell me that everything was going to be okay. But I knew that it wasn’t going to be okay. I knew I had to make some changes – if not for myself, then for my children.
I’m not really sure what it was, but something gave me the courage to change. My mother was unwell at the time and had to go for some blood tests. The lady that took the blood samples mentioned that there were some jobs going at her head office. She gave me the person’s name and contact number and within 2 weeks, I had a job and 4 weeks after I started, I packed up the children and we moved out.
Through work, I was able to rediscover who I was and what I could do and within 8 months of being there, I was promoted. Other areas of my life also began to improve. I had new friends. I began to go out and socialize. I was making my own money, my own decisions and my future was mine to create.
Although it appeared that my life had turned around, it was not until some time later that my life took another direction and I started what has now become my life’s work. I had attended several personal development workshops and began to work with a Life Coach. This prompted me to enrol in a Life Coaching course. Just a few short weeks after commencing my course, I was working with clients. This work quickly blossomed into a full-time career. I found that with my life experience and the skills that I was learning I was able to show my clients how to be okay with not being okay. Something that was always a struggle for me.
What we do at Believe is help regular people find their compass and help put them back on the path to living a better quality of life. We show them how to clear out the mess and the clutter and replace it with real strategies and tools to help them have a more purposeful future.
Why do I do this? Great question. Someone actually took the time to sit down with me and opened my heart to the amount of love I had in my life. They didn’t give up on me when it got hard. And it did get hard. The hardest part of this work is being open and suspending the judgments that you already have created. You see, I couldn’t see myself as anything but a victim. It was “Poor me this, poor me that.” They showed me that the unbalanced, lopsided perception that I was running around with was actually stopping me from living a life filled with love and acceptance. Not only did they shatter the illusions that I was running, they obliterated them. What I was left with was an open heart filled with love.
There is no doubt in my mind that if I hadn’t met this person, I wouldn’t be here today. I am here to do for other people what was done for me. In doing this work, I recognize that it doesn’t matter what pain you have experienced in your life or how bad you think it has been or you have been, you are worthy of being loved. You are being loved, right now, beyond your comprehension and it is my life’s work to show as many people as possible just how much they are being loved.
Human beings will do more to be right than to be loved. Ask yourself the question: Am I right or am I loved? Let go of being right because being loved is so much better.”
To speak with Joanne about where you are at, where you want to be and how you are going to get there, contact her for a no-obligation chat. This chat is to get to know each other and to see if there are opportunities in working together.
