You don't need to follow the yellow brick road or place your faith in a wizard, good people of Oz. You already have everything you require to live your best life. I just want to help you tap into it. Welcome, I’m so glad you’ve found me. My name is Eric L Cox and I’m a health and wellness coach and entrepreneur. My mission is to equip (women, LGBT+, and millennial) professionals with transformational tools to lead courageous, healthy, and fulfilling business and personal lives. You will have tools for finding your inner strength, building your self-confidence, and allowing for inner peace and balance you're looking for by harnessing your power. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and out of balance due to self-doubt, uncertainty, or low productivity in business or personal life, then I am here to help. I understand that asking for help can be difficult and scary. So please don’t feel alone. I’m here to support you and help you through your tough moments. Through coaching, I provide you with the guidance and resources that you need to find balance in your business and personal life. As a former executive leader in healthcare and two decades of practical experience helping others navigate business and personal life challenges, I am not new to supporting professionals feeling stuck or just ready to take it to the next level. Take a step towards balance and wellbeing today—connect with me today and let's get started on your journey to leading a courageous, healthy, and fulfilling business and personal life. Eric's Career Story: It was in my business-to-business (b2b) and customer-to-customer sales-based roles, aka door-to-door, that I tapped into my desire to lead a life and do work aligned with what fulfills me and not just what pays me well. From 16 years of age until age 26, I only worked in sales roles. Where I was actively selling a product for income. From retail and b2b sales, where I received bi-weekly pay checks with sales bonuses, to door to door sales and running my own sales office, where the only way I got paid was by earning a commission, it was only after watching a movie starring Justin Timberlake called "In Time" that my spirit prompted this question: "If you weren't getting paid to do the work you do now, how much longer would you do it?" I was working in a b2b sales role selling advertising space at the time, and I felt empty doing the role, though I had a "bright future", per my manager. I had to be honest with myself. The answer was, "Not even five more minutes." So I quit with no backup plan. And from that day on, I aimed to only do work that met these four criteria: (1) Does the world need it? (2) Am I good at it? (3) Do I love it? (4) Can I be paid for it? With my spirit focused on work that fulfilled me in this way, I found my way into healthcare, where I could help address real life-or-death needs for people. I’m so grateful for the skills I have competence in that were developed in sales (as a sales rep or sales district manager): Empathy | Communication | Problem Solving | Lead Generation | Lead Qualifying | Strategic Selling | Customer Success Management | Goal Setting and Execution | Networking | Closing Sales | Adaptability | Presentation Skills | Relationship Building | Objection Management | Product Knowledge | Time Management | Customer Engagement | Negotiation | Collaboration | Managing Teams | Self-Awareness | Leadership | Coaching These transferable skills were major assets when I went into my next chapter, in healthcare. I worked in healthcare for 11 years. During that time between hospice care and working with adults who struggled with the disease of alcohol and substance use addiction, I tapped into a different level of courage in my life. It was important for me to be myself and show up authentically in my work setting. I had not done that fully in my former roles up to that point. Though I struggled all throughout college, I refused to live out my professional life in the proverbial "closet". So for anyone who managed me or a team I was a part of, it was paramount to identify as LGBT. It was just a layer of authenticity and truth I needed to be transparent about for myself, so I did not have mental weights holding me back. Coming into the new healthcare work settings, those working at the companies could see that I was obviously black, which was enough mental toil at times for me to work through when working for predominantly white, male, heterosexual leadership. Not that anything racist was directed at me, which I am aware of, but more the lack of feeling like I truly belonged due to the low representation of people of color at the higher leadership levels. By showing up authentically as my black, gay self, it led me to be more courageous in other areas of business too. By challenging myself to show up as me, I was able to coach others to be more of themselves. And when everyone’s “armor” was off, we were more effective at collaborating on the important work. Moving up the ranks from year to year came from working hard, remaining connected to highly visible projects, and saying "yes" to assignments that aligned with who I was, even when I was not yet competent in the specific area of work. The "yes"-based decisions forced me to learn and grow in new roles and attain or sharpen skills. I became comfortable with being uncomfortable. And continued to excel because of that attitude and courageous approach I took to showing up in the workplace. It also helped having a good leader who did a great job of letting me know when opportunities were available. As a corporate leader, sometimes courage for me looked like admitting what I didn’t know to my team so we could figure out issues together. Or, it may have looked like standing up for my team members, who reported to me, to c-suite leadership by voicing concerns that were important to the team and challenging leadership to be more aligned to company values. I often said to myself, "I'll either get fired or promoted for being an ethical, fair, and courageous leader." My time in the corporate world came to an end in August 2022, when I separated from the company after nine years. Right after, I took a trip to Dubai and had much needed down time to reconnect with myself, reflect on the life I have lived and where I want to go, strategize for the next move, plan the steps, and then execute on building the life I actually want. While I loved the work I did in healthcare, I ultimately left myself and my own wellbeing behind. I had been living in a state of burnout and major fatigue for a couple of years, and it took a mental toll on me. I wasn't showing up for myself in a healthy and sustainable way. Of the nine years I spent at my last company, the final two years were especially hard. After separating from my role as AVP of Training and Development, I had a phone call with another healthcare company, asking that I build their training department from the ground up. The offer was for a salary of $150,000 with room for advancement. What a blessing to be thought of in this way! I humbly said, "Thank you so much for even thinking of me, but I care more about my peace and health right now. And I want to put all my bets on myself and go after what I want in life." I found that what I loved most about my roles in sales and healthcare were all the moments I was coaching someone else to grow and develop. I enjoyed helping others map their point of success and then encouraging them through accountability sessions to keep at it. Even if that meant adjusting the plan a bit to fit current conditions, the person was more likely to succeed in what they wanted for themselves. And that brought fulfillment to me. Based on over a decade of supporting clients as a coach or consultant for business projects, career development, or personal growth, coaching made sense. And it is where my passion, skills, and the need for my help have always been. So today, I am a health and wellness coach and entrepreneur on a mission to equip (women, LGBT+, millennial) professionals with transformational tools that have saved me so each can lead a courageous, healthy, and fulfilling business and personal life. I want to help you create the YOU of your dreams in your business and personal life. As a coach, my goal is to provide you with the tools and services you need to navigate the daily struggles of life, while building the YOU of your dreams. BACKGROUND: •I have over 20 years of practical experience in sales (door-to-door, business-to-business, and management), training and development, leadership, and coaching & consulting. •I received my BA in Communications from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville and masters in Organizational Management, with a project management specialty from Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa. •Certified as a life coach, accredited meditation practitioner and teacher, and learning and development professional, I work with clients to reduce stress and increase peace & productivity, so each can more clearly create the life of their dreams, using my 7 step framework for unlocking untapped potential, to set and reach goals. •In 2020 I published my first book, SIGN UP! (Set Intentional Goals Now to Unlock your Potential):10 Interactive Lessons to Take Your Goals from the Starting Line to Across the Finish Line •I also released 11 guided meditation tracks, available through my “SHOP” page or across all major music platforms •I plan on creating a few digital courses. The first “Handling Difficult Conversations” is available through “SHOP” page: EricLCox.com