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#168 - Why I Renamed the Show — And My Journey from Teacher to NourisHer and LeadHer
361 Plays6 days ago
After 167 episodes, the Kate Hamilton Health Podcast has a new name — and in this solo episode, I'm telling you exactly why.
This isn't just a rebrand. My world has expanded into personal development, business, and leadership, and I want this podcast to reflect that. So welcome to The Kate Hamilton Podcast.
I also go right back to the beginning — the full story from qualifying as a primary school teacher in 2007, discovering fitness, finding clarity during COVID, completing my Precision Nutrition qualification, and eventually resigning my permanent teaching post to go all in on what is now NourisHer Coaching.
I get into what actually moved the needle, and I introduce LeadHer — my business mentorship for women. Anti-hustle, application-only, and built for women who are ready to build something sustainable and profitable.
This is a longer one, but I hope it gives you the full picture of where I've been, where I am, and where we're both headed.
Links & Resources:
- Apply for LeadHer business mentorship here
- Learn more about NourisHer coaching here
- Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here
- Access my FREE calorie calculator here
- Connect with me on Instagram here
- Connect with me on Facebook here
- Connect with me on TikTok here
- Connect with me on YouTube here
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with friends who might benefit.
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Transcript
Podcast Rebranding and New Focus
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Kate Hamilton podcast. So you might have noticed a little change there. So instead of the Kate Hamilton health podcast moving forward, I have made the decision to rename the podcast the Kate Hamilton podcast.
00:00:16
Speaker
Just because I feel we've done I think 167 episodes as the Kate Hamilton health podcast and we've covered so many areas of health. I've interviewed so many experts, so many interesting people with interesting journeys and interesting stories. And there's been so much to learn in relation to health and what this journey has done for me, my own health and fitness journey, my own career change, my own business journey, my own podcast journey with all of the people that I've learned from along the way is that it's developed into something so much more.
00:00:52
Speaker
So although I will still be talking about health, don't worry, because it's something that I feel very passionate about. And I think it is the foundation of everything else, every other passion and every other you know goal we have in life.
00:01:04
Speaker
You know, our health is the foundation of it. So don't you worry that the health content will be still coming. and But there will also be a lot more and because I think this podcast is very much reflection of me and my learning and my journey. And although I'm very passionate about health and fitness, I'm also very passionate about personal development. I'm very passionate about business and I'm going to be bringing a little bit of more of that into the podcast now, as well as the health and fitness.
Holistic Health and Personal Development
00:01:34
Speaker
I hope you'll stick with me because one thing I've learned on this journey is whether it's business, whether it's fitness, whether it's life in general, whether it's relationships, it's all personal development. And I didn't want this show going down the route of it becoming like a fat loss podcast because fat loss is only relevant
00:01:55
Speaker
when it's health related, in my opinion. And, and you know, if we're just doing fat loss for the sake of fat loss, we don't really need to be losing fat. That's not where the focus should be. And spending our whole lives feeling like we need to lose body fat is not where we should be either. And we need to look at the whole person. We need to look at the whole body, the whole life, the whole mind. And That's not done by just focusing on calories and protein.
00:02:20
Speaker
And although if you are losing body fat for health reasons, calories matter and protein matters very much so. And there are a lot of episodes there where cover all of those
Empowering Women in Business and Leadership
00:02:30
Speaker
basics. So what you'll find as we move forward with the podcast as the Kate Hamilton podcast is we'll be going a little bit more in depth. And we've been looking at why we do what we do and what's stopping us. What are the limiting beliefs? Why are we falling into the same cycles again and again? And how do we really learn how to thrive? It's another thing that I've learned from all of the wonderful people that I've and interviewed in this podcast over the years.
00:02:57
Speaker
There's been so many inspiring people, knowledgeable people, and fantastic business people. And this passion for business that I have that came out of nowhere from just building this little health and fitness coaching business that I built. and I just thought I'm going to share a little bit more about that because I know it will help others. Some of you listening might be in positions of leadership within a company, you know, within your career. Some of you listening might be looking to start a little business on the side. Some of you listening may already have a business and
00:03:33
Speaker
I feel really passionate about women in leadership roles and women in business and how underrepresented we are and why that is. And I'm going to be interviewing some really amazing people in the coming episodes as well, which I'm also excited because I haven't actually interviewed anyone since before Christmas. I'm recording this as of May 2026 and I haven't interviewed anyone since December 2025. and took on a little bit of a solo streak while I just gathered myself. And i think that's a really important thing as well. When you feel like you're unsure of where you're going, it's really important to stop pushing and to just allow that space come in because the answers are in the quiet.
00:04:17
Speaker
So to give yourself that space and to slow down and to reach that quiet space so that you can actually think clearly and more importantly, feel clearly and connect with your body and connect with your mind, with your true self.
00:04:33
Speaker
like What do I want? What direction
Podcast History and Personal Journey
00:04:36
Speaker
do I want to go? And this is what happened to me. This is what's happening to me now as I'm in this kind of pivotal stage of my business career. And this is what happened to me back in 2020 as well when I first started building a business. and So I wanted to talk a little bit about that today.
00:04:55
Speaker
So any of you who've been listening to this podcast from the start will know my whole background story about I did a whole episode. Episode number one, I think, is all about me. And I really kind of went into the details of my confidence, my weight loss, my having my kids, my anxiety, all of that personal stuff I covered very early on in the podcast. If you haven't listened, please do feel free to go back and listen. My podcasting skills were very, very underdeveloped. They still are, let's face it. I contemplated writing notes for this episode, kind of bullet points, because I find it difficult to actually even recall the past six years in the correct order.
00:05:33
Speaker
And then I was like, no, if I do that, if I put notes together, it is going to take away from the authenticity of this episode. And I want this episode to be fairly raw and I want it to be me recalling it while I'm talking to you. This is harder to do in a solo episode than if I was interviewing someone or someone was interviewing me and we were talking about my story. It's easier when you're you're talking to someone. So at the minute I'm sitting here at my little desk And I'm talking to a camera and I know I'm talking to you who's listening. And and this pivot that I'm taking, it's a slight pivot, not even a pivot, kind of a taking on it and the second road, that second parallel road alongside my health and fitness coaching. And I want to be quite vulnerable about and I want to be very open about it. And I want to share as I go. And I want to share what it means in relation to me.
00:06:22
Speaker
health-wise, fitness-wise and, you know, family life, business, the whole lot. So my point here is that episode that I did at the very start of the Kate Hamilton Health Podcast will give you a real insight into my personal background. I i presume I dipped into a bit about my career change as well, but I want to focus solely on that now and kind of give you a bit of a background on me where I started in relation to business and where I am now and where I'm hoping to go and what I've created to help others. And yes we're going to take it right back, which I'm excited about. Apologies now, this could be a little bit all over the place, but I'll try and give you the general gist and hopefully you'll find it helpful.
00:07:10
Speaker
So my background is in primary school teaching. I went straight from secondary school into primary school teaching to teacher training college. And I did a three year degree in St. Patrick's College in Roancontra. And I graduated college with an honors degree in 2007 and straight out of college I did a couple of interviews. One of my first interviews that I did was in Ashford National School, County Wicklow and i got the job and at the time it was for a temporary job.
00:07:43
Speaker
which I was covering. and There was a teacher out on career break, so i was covering. And I went in at 21 years old and I had fifth class and I absolutely loved it. And I think about it now, like that was 2007. So September 2007 is when I started my first teaching job and those kids were 11.
00:08:01
Speaker
So it's now 2026. Wow. so That's 19 years ago. And so they're 30. So those kids are kids must be 30 years old now. I was only 11 years older than them at the time.
00:08:13
Speaker
I think if I'm correct. Yes. Sorry. They were they were about 11 or were they 12? 11 or 12. And I was 21. So yeah, I was yeah maybe even only 10 years, 10 years older than them. So I went straight from school to college to working.
00:08:32
Speaker
And after that first year of teaching that in the temporary position, I interviewed and got, I think I did a second year temporary and then I got a permanent job there.
00:08:48
Speaker
And I taught in Ashford National School for 15 years. So from 2007 up until 2022.
00:08:58
Speaker
And it grew up there. You know, I was 21 years old when I started. When I started, i had my kids while being a teacher in that school. My older two kids went to primary school for the early years of primary school.
00:09:13
Speaker
in that school and i made some amazing friends and were surrounded by some of the most empowering women and amazing men. And I really look back fondly on those years in Ashford. the When I was teaching in Ashford, as far as I was concerned, i was there for life. You know, I was, I was content.
00:09:36
Speaker
I liked the people that I worked with. I wouldn't say I was the most passionate teacher. Like you wouldn't have found me preparing resources at 11 PM. But when I was in school, I was present. I enjoyed spending time with kids. I didn't enjoy the admin side of teaching.
00:09:48
Speaker
because teaching is a very, you know, you have to be present. You're giving a lot of your energy that like that presence is really, really important for good teaching. And then you're kind of expected to do an office job on the side where there's a lot of planning, and lot of correcting, which obviously is important to the teaching role. Lots of kind of department related admin that makes teaching more difficult. They really are doing two jobs. It was very all consuming. And I had my kids quite young. My my eldest son was born when I was 23.
00:10:17
Speaker
So I was, you know, a young teacher, a young mom, and it was all very all consuming. So I would come out of school and the kids would be there and I'd be home and I'd have small kids at home all day. And it was just it was nonstop.
00:10:32
Speaker
And I genuinely know didn't question my life. You know, my mum was a primary school teacher. She worked at the same school for 41 years, I think. And she was an amazing teacher. And my dad and worked as a Garda.
00:10:46
Speaker
I was the daughter of a teacher in a Garda and didn't really know much about entrepreneurship. I was taught when I was growing up. that it was about security, safety, family and really important values that I still hold quite close to me, particularly the family values that they've given me and the ability to work hard and why it's important to give your best to everything that you do. You know, I get that from my parents and that it's really important not to show up and half ass something. So my work ethic.
00:11:17
Speaker
And my family values is definitely what I got from my parents. But somewhere along the way this little seed of entrepreneurship just kind of grew in me. So I had small kids at home. and I was teaching all day and then I was coming home looking after my kids. And, you know, then we had swimming lessons, we had football, we had gymnastics, we all the different extracurricular activities and life was busy. And I never really questioned my life. I was like, with you know, that kind of life that is like everything's just taking a long grant.
00:11:45
Speaker
You're getting paid well enough, pays the bills, you're your grant, you know. But I wasn't lit up. But then I often look back now and I'm like, when your kids are small, are you lit up? You're just fucking tired, aren't you? like
Shift to Health and Fitness Career
00:11:59
Speaker
And it's when my sister has young kids now and herself her husband are at that really full on stage. You know, they both have full time jobs. They have two small kids and life is busy. And I know a lot of people listening will relate to that, whether you're in that stage now or you remember it. And I think that women who are able to build businesses in that early parenting stage are absolutely phenomenal because I i don't know if I would have been able for it at that time, at that stage. But what happened was i started to get into health and fitness, as you know, from me talking about it before. and Late 2015, I started really getting into health and fitness. And into 2016, I was really finding myself, you know,
00:12:42
Speaker
really enjoying, you know, giving myself that kind of focus and that that self-care and that connection. I started reading a bit of personal development at that stage as well. Then I got pregnant with my youngest boy and that he was born in September 2017.
00:12:57
Speaker
And as I've spoken about before, I ended up quite injured, needed a lot of physio work. I was quite overweight after that pregnancy. and really kind of felt felt quite rock bottom because i I wasn't in a great place. I kind of nearly had to reconnect with my body, re-trust my body and build up that strength and lose some body fat as well. and And that was kind of that was a difficult, difficult time then as well, because I had two school going age kids and then I had a baby at home. And so that I found that a lot, the third baby, a lot more challenging than I thought. And so again, we were just tipping along, tipping along, tipping along. March 2020, what happened?
00:13:37
Speaker
COVID. Suddenly everything stopped. And so at this stage, I was still a teacher. I had trained up in a CrossFit kids program. because CrossFit coach had come into our school and they were looking to to trial this this initiative where they were going to incorporate the CrossFit Kids program in with the PE curriculum where it would be teaching kids, you know, animal movement patterns and yeah the functional movements. I was really interested in that because I had an interest in health fitness at that stage and there was a few other teachers that took part in that. So we got to train up as CrossFit Kids coaches and we got to train in this CrossFit gym and that was amazing. And I think that was my first little spark that I wanted to be a coach. But at that stage, I just wanted to be a coach as a little bit of a passion side project. You know, I had no intention of ever leaving teaching at this stage. And I started to get into CrossFit then from this would have been 2019.
00:14:31
Speaker
And I really enjoyed it and I love the community aspect of it. And I love learning what my body could do And that's when it sprung something, something lit up in me and I'm like, you know, i was like jumping onto 20 inch boxes that I was terrified to jump on. I was hanging from bars. I was learning how to do pull ups. I was getting stronger. I was dead lifting weights that I didn't know I could deadlift. and I really started to build my confidence and I was around women that, you know, are just so strong and so fearless. And I was like, if I can do this, what else can I do?
00:15:01
Speaker
And I kind of had been doing the kids classes there. And I was like, I really love to work with adults. So I started just kind of testing it out with a group of friends. And guy who owned the gym used to let me use the gym after hours after their last class which was finished at 8 p.m so I was able to use the 8 until 9 p.m slot and was able to train people in person and it was such a cool experience but again I always thought it was just something that I'd do for a little bit of joy a bit of fun on the side of teaching and make it make it a little you know side hustle or whatever that was kind of my thoughts at the time but then when COVID hit
00:15:39
Speaker
and everything stopped and I really had time to think of those are early days of COVID that any new teachers out there, primary school teachers in particular will remember that it was like two weeks until the Easter holidays.
00:15:50
Speaker
So at those first two weeks, we were like oh, Jesus, we'll be back after the Easter holidays. All this will have blown over. So we kind of got away with not doing a whole lot, you know, just just giving the kids a little bit, a few sheets or whatever, you know, it was fine. Like none of the online teaching stuff was set up until after Easter. So those first two weeks were really nice. The weather was so nice. i don't know if you remember. and I say it was nice. My dad was in hospital with COVID and, you know, he he was in hospital for five weeks. So it was really, it was a difficult time emotionally that way. and Thankfully, he he came through it and he he is okay. And it was such a helpless feeling because there was nothing we could do.
00:16:25
Speaker
You know, we couldn't change the situation of being locked down. Couldn't go in and visit my dad or help in any way. So I just threw myself into my training. So we got, you know, we were given equipment from the gym, got some dumbbells to take home, which was amazing. And i just trained at the back garden in the sunshine. I went walking every day. And I think what happened was I had so little
Pandemic Reflections and Program Creation
00:16:44
Speaker
work to do. There was no go, go, go, go because there was nowhere to fucking go So suddenly,
00:16:49
Speaker
I had this clarity and I think the training and the walking, like going down to the beach every day and the walking, it was just this clarity. And I was like, I love this healthy lifestyle. I was like, this is just life changing, you know, walking every day, focusing on your training, looking at eating well, eating to fuel your body, eating to nourish your body. And that's when I decided I wanted to do a nutrition course because I was like,
00:17:15
Speaker
I wanted to learn how to fuel and nourish my body properly for me really more than anything else. and So I went and i I did the precision nutrition course and I did that through that first lockdown.
00:17:29
Speaker
And what I didn't realize as I was doing this course, I was doing it purely for my own educational purposes. And I would stay up until like 11 p.m. midnight doing this course.
00:17:41
Speaker
But I was just so passionate of what it was teaching was not just about nutrition and the science of nutrition, but also had to be a coach and had to coach the whole person. And it was a fantastic course. Anyone who wants to help people with nutrition, I highly recommend the Precision Nutrition course as a starting point because and I would recommend you even thinking of doing that before doing a personal training course, because you will learn more in that course.
00:18:03
Speaker
than you will in in any other course, in my opinion. But I did that course. And by the time I finished the precision nutrition course, I knew I wanted to build a nutrition program to help women. And that's when my program Nourish, Move and Shine was built. and It was built in my house during the second lockdown.
00:18:24
Speaker
And it was basically just like PDFs. I did a PDFs and I had like an eight week Nourish, Move and Shine program. You know, my plan was to start everyone together and we worked through one theme at a time each week. You know, we'd have a weekly call.
00:18:40
Speaker
We'd have a WhatsApp group and it would just be a little bit of community, a little bit of connection and just getting healthier, feeling better and losing weight if weight needed to be lost. And yeah, and getting fitter and getting stronger. And that's what it was about. It really was just being like this passion inside me. Like it was, you know, I couldn't stop creating it. I was staying up late. I was getting up early. I obviously at that stage had schoolwork to do as well.
00:19:08
Speaker
And, you know, we were still locked down. We weren't and we weren't in school at this time. or I think we had gone back to school and then we got locked down again. It consumed all of my time building this. And then what I did was with Nourish, Move and Shine, I tested it on my group of ladies that I had been training in the gym. And we weren't because we could we had no access to the gym. like i think people forget we didn't get access to the gym for a very, very long time.
00:19:35
Speaker
after COVID, like I think like the gym lockdowns, the gym restrictions were there for year, a year two years, really, as far as I can remember. Again, my dates are so hazy at this stage, but I went We went back to school in September 2020. So we were locked down all of that time and all of the summer was off. Obviously, we went back in September 2020 and I think we did end up locking down again. That's right.
00:20:05
Speaker
And that's when I was really building focusing on building up that program. i was doing it outside of school hours as well. I had decided by the time I'd started school in 2020, I knew that I wanted to job share the following year. And this is the wonderful thing about and being a teacher is that you can job share. This is an option. Obviously, it's at the discretion of the board management, but I knew the following September. So September 2021.
00:20:31
Speaker
that I was going to job share and there was another teacher in the school and she wanted to job share too. So we kind of we decided quite early on in that 2020 to 2021 school year that that's what we were doing the following school year. and So I just worked really hard as you know, doing and working on my program in the background, making sure i was qualified, doing a personal training course.
00:20:52
Speaker
It was actually May or June 2021. remember it now. is when the gyms reopened and I secured myself a job in a local small group personal training gym to gain experience in training women in person.
00:21:06
Speaker
And that was amazing. And then I was able to use that space to PT people in person. It was amazing to have that space. And the great thing about job sharing as a teacher is because the tax brackets, you're doing half the time, but you actually come out with two thirds the salary. So I only needed to supplement and I was able to supplement the rest with my personal training and and my wages as well, which was amazing.
Career Transition to Full-time Coaching
00:21:27
Speaker
So what i noticed during this time was that I felt so alive on my days when I was working in the gym and I was working on my program and the days that I was in school, I was just
00:21:43
Speaker
I was just wishing that I was in the gym. And don't get me wrong, that last class I had, that year that we job shared is the last year that I ever taught.
00:21:54
Speaker
September 2021 until June 2022, I had second class and they were, i would arguably say, my favourite class that I ever taught. They were absolutely wonderful kids. I really enjoyed that year. The teacher that i worked with was amazing. and The S&A that was in our class was amazing. And the kids that I worked with were beautiful. So I enjoyed my time in the classroom, but it was you the other stuff, the paperwork, all the other stuff that needed to be done. And I was just like,
00:22:25
Speaker
This is not for me anymore. So I knew by the time I had started the job share like it within a couple of months in, I was going to take the risk and I was going on a career break. So I and following September, I took a career break. Another perk of being a teacher, you have the option to take unpaid career break. and what that means is you take full year off, you don't get paid, but you maintain your position on the staff, your seniority and your pay. That's not the word level. Same step on the pay scale.
00:22:56
Speaker
and And you just slot back in the following year. and And so lot lots of people use it to travel or, you know, if they've got a lot going on in life or like that, they want to just try something new. So I took a career break and that following year and that career break then ended up in to a second year career break.
00:23:13
Speaker
And by the time I came to Christmas of the second year career break, I knew that I wasn't going back teaching. And I i remember having a conversation with my sister And, you know, I'll talk a bit more about the fitness kind of journey I took now in a minute, but I was working minimum wage jobs. I was doing my own personal training on the side, taking on a certain amount of online clients, but not but charging enough for it.
00:23:42
Speaker
And I remember saying to my sister, I really want to take away the safety net. I feel like it's time to leave teaching. And she was like, look, what's the worst thing that could happen? Like, you know, she's like, you'd be very hireable. You'll get another job, you know, like the worst thing, like, you know what? You need to go subbing or whatever. I was like, if the worst thing that could happen to me where I am now, after all the work I've put in, all the study, all the building would be ending up back in the classroom.
00:24:12
Speaker
So I went to my principal and i resigned. i gave up my permanent job, my full time permanent job and said I wouldn't be coming back after career break and the safety net was gone. And when I tell you it was fucking terrifying, like it was terrifying, but it needed to be done. But what I had learned in my time was that I was very much capable.
00:24:35
Speaker
i I built this confidence in myself. i was like, I have the skills. I was like, I have the life experience. I'm, know, at the time, what was I, 35 years old or whatever. I'm 30 something years old.
00:24:48
Speaker
have two, three children. I have 15 years teacher teaching experience with experience of, you know, managing classrooms of kids, dealing with parents. You know, I had all these skills. I had my age on my side.
00:25:02
Speaker
And from working in in several different gyms, I learned as well. People value my age, they value my experience and they respect us. And it made me realize I'm very hireable.
00:25:16
Speaker
If everything falls apart, I will get a job in a gym or I'll get a job in an office. But I know that the teaching chapter of my life is done. And that sorry the the primary school teaching chapter of my life is done and that whatever happens, I'm meant to take that path. And I knew it. I knew like I could feel it deep within me. There it was like this fire in me. I knew i was on the right path. I didn't have it all figured out. And like for a long time, people were like, oh you wouldn't give up teaching. What about your pension? This, that and the other. and My parents were very worried about me. But I knew I knew that I was going to be OK. And keep in mind.
00:25:54
Speaker
being 30 something you years old with three kids in school and having a mortgage to pay. have a very supportive husband, but there was lot responsibility there. And it was like, how am I going to support my family and follow my passion? But I knew that I had to do it. at That journey of personal training people in person, working in the small group personal training gym, then moving to kind of a commercial gym and working behind the desk. And that in those days when I was working,
00:26:23
Speaker
in Go Gym and Greystones. I loved it. I loved working in Go Gym. I loved the people. i loved the members. i loved the crack.
Business Learning and Family Balance
00:26:31
Speaker
And, you know, what I was doing was, you know, sitting behind the desk. A lot of the time, you know, like doing memberships and, you know, greeting clients coming in and and we'd be teaching a class or two a day.
00:26:44
Speaker
And then it was cleaning down machines, hoovering, cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning the toilets and the showers. And I actually have a photo of a selfie, selfie of myself in the last day of when I knew I was leaving Go Gym. i' have a selfie of myself at the mop in at the showers. I used to love that time because what I did was I used to put my earphones in and I listened to business podcasts nonstop. I'm sure from the outside, people were like, oh, my God, Kate used to be a teacher. And now she's cleaning bathrooms and dusting down machines.
00:27:11
Speaker
Didn't care. What is it that Jim Carrey says? If you're not willing to downgrade your life for one year to upgrade it for the rest of your life, you don't want it to enough.
00:27:22
Speaker
But the funny thing is that's even from the outside. I didn't see it as a downgrade. I loved it. And, you know, even when I decided that I was leaving teaching, I was like, If I could work in Gojim for the rest of my life and be paid and i'd be paid enough to pay my and mortgage, I would. I loved the sense of community there. It was a really, really good time in my life. I learned a lot from just really immersing myself in business podcasts and business audiobooks and really learning the game.
00:27:49
Speaker
I really think that I didn't realize how crucial that time spent was. So it was really just utilizing my time so well. But during these times, this is where a lot of my mom guilt came in because obviously I needed to make enough money to make up the teacher wage so that my household would survive. So i was he working gym hours. I was personal training people. I was doing gym classes.
00:28:12
Speaker
I was working a day. I got back out at nighttime. i was building the online business as well. So it was all consuming. And i had very little social life, very little friend time.
00:28:24
Speaker
at The times spent with my kids wasn't as much as it was. And I felt very guilty about that at the time. I look back in it now and I'm like, they got to see me build something great. And like, I think kids,
00:28:37
Speaker
do what they see, know what they're told and they know they can see what hard work looks like, what dedication, what passion looks like. at The time that we did spend together was quality time during that time. But I just don't want to give off the the impression that, you know, everything was balanced. You know, when my training was getting done, I was keeping my body composition, but my quality of food probably wasn't the best because I was tired. You know, a lot of coffee, a lot of sugar, like still get the basics in, but, you know, lots on top to keep it going. not enough sleep and just, yeah, not enough social connection outside of my family because the only spare time I had, I had to give to them. So and I think I sacrificed a lot as a person at the time, but didn didn't feel like sacrifice.
00:29:21
Speaker
It felt like I have to do this. So when I talk about like looking back on my teacher days, i'm oh I only really have the capacity to do that now. And I look back at it, it kind of makes me sad sometimes because I'm like, there's a whole life there that where I grew up and i I don't get to talk to people as much anymore. And, but you know, and it's like I need to reach out to people and and reconnect with. And I think that it's funny because the entrepreneur entrepreneur journey can be very lonely.
00:29:51
Speaker
And even then, you know, for my go gym days and when I left go gym and I went all in on the online business, that was a really scary time as well because I'd taken away that supporting salary. And i was suddenly like, shit, kate you need to make all your own money yourself.
00:30:10
Speaker
And that put a lot of pressure on the business. And then what happened was the pressure that that put on the business, it that I can see this is where people can self-sabotage because that fear is very real and it can take away the creativity. It can take away the enjoyment. It can be very all consuming that is there enough money to pay everything this month? Is it all going to go bang? And you know, if you're not willing to feel that risk a little bit and do it anyway, yeah yeah entrepreneurship is not for you because that risk is there. i i think kind of Probably was even more than three months. I can't remember. I was like, okay,
00:30:46
Speaker
I didn't have savings. I didn't have savings when I made these decisions. I just knew I had to make them. So probably quite irresponsible, but I did it. It worked out. And how many entrepreneurs have you heard stories of where they've taken these risks because it felt right? They've learned to lean into the fear and do it anyway.
00:31:06
Speaker
And know that there are periods where things will be imbalanced, but it's important then to bring things back into balance because you can only stay in an imbalanced situation for a certain amount of time before burning out. And this is all the type of stuff that I'm going to be working with people that I'm coaching with that burnout and that self-doubt and that imposter syndrome, which is huge. When I built the online business, and it was really important to me that I didn't lose my message. So my message...
00:31:32
Speaker
was very much to help women live their healthiest, happiest lives and through health and fitness and through community, really. And that's so Nourish, Move and Shine then eventually developed into KHH Coaching, which eventually developed into Nourish Her Coaching, which is where we are now. And Nourish Her Coaching is absolutely thriving. I've managed to get Nourish Her Coaching to a stage where there is myself and three staff members. so There's four of us running Nourishour Coaching now and we have hundreds of amazing clients and we have an absolutely incredibly supportive community where we're focused on sustainable long term fat loss and long term health habits. We've but had one particular client who's actually reversed type two diabetes, for example. We've had women who have recovered from cancer and are are now living healthy, balanced lives. So they joined us after their cancer treatment to, you know, so to come and bring their healthy lifestyle to reality and to move forward in the next stage of their lives. you know, plenty of women dealing with perimenopause, menopause, and people going through very difficult personal situations. And being able to hold those people in a safe community has been the most fulfilling work that I will do, that I've ever done and will continue to do. Teaching women how to grow sustainable, fulfilling businesses.
Business Growth and Mentorship
00:33:01
Speaker
This business will will still very much be in operation. with input from me still as it's my heart, it's my soul and inertia coaching and all the lessons inside it and our weekly group calls. Like it's my whole soul that I've given to it and my whole experience. And I intend to do the same in relation to helping women with business as well alongside. So I'll have two businesses going at the same time. But the work that went into raising that child and that's what it is. Your business is kind of like...
00:33:32
Speaker
your child. It's kind of like and like I'm not ashamed of saying I love it like I love my children. I do. Because it came from me, like ah everything that was inside me, all that fire that was inside me, just like shining out and spilling out onto pages and brainstorms and Like I'd never taught myself a creative person and all of this creativity just came out of me and all of these thoughts and opinions. And it was incredible. And then to watch it grow and, you know, getting to the stage where I had so many clients that I had to hire someone for the first time. And then Lindsay came into into my world. And and it was that was a real universal alignment moment with Lindsay as well. I had thought about her. I knew of her from the gym. I knew she had qualified as a personal trainer and
00:34:18
Speaker
i when I was putting out an advertisement for the job, I remember in my head thinking Lindsay would be perfect for this, but I didn't want to reach out to someone and ask them in case they didn't really want it. And I put out the job considering me and Lindsay didn't really know each other. We'd never had a conversation. We said hello to each other in the gym. That was it. And followed each other on Instagram. And I just knew from following her on Instagram that she was a newly qualified personal trainer. And when I put up at the ads, Lindsay,
00:34:47
Speaker
was like, Kate, I would absolutely love this. And we met and we had a chat and she's like, I manifested this. And I was like, no, stop. I manifested this. And here we are years later now. And like Lindsay helps me run Nourish Her.
00:35:02
Speaker
You know, she's my right hand woman. She's she's effectively my business partner here in Nourish Her. She does so much. She's helped me me grow it and shape it into what it is now. And and we have wonderful Charlotte and Sarah as well, who do so much work within us as well. And I'm so lucky that I have staff that really care.
00:35:23
Speaker
You know, we have a team that really care about our clients, really care about our message, really care about our community, really care about the impact that we're making on the world. And that's what's really important. And as I've but i' as i've grown the skills to grow this business, what I did, obviously, initially in the early days, and I had no fucking money, and I was all paying my mortgage, was the bug the podcast, listening to business podcasts, listening to business audiobooks, and then mentorships.
00:35:51
Speaker
Mentorships are such a valuable investment in your business if you get the right one. OK, so I in the early days when I was about to go on career break. I signed up a Brian Keane and he was doing a mentorship. think it was a four month group mentorship at the time.
00:36:12
Speaker
And it was my first experience of business mentorship. And Brian taught me all the basics. You know, he really taught me all the basics, how to practically make that work in health and fitness coaching business. I was an in-person business at the time with a little bit of online He helped me learn how to transition to being fully online. And I learned so much from him, built so many connections from him in those early days.
00:36:34
Speaker
And then after that four month mentorship was done, we went our separate ways and I continued building my business, working with my clients. And I remember it was It was October 2023. October 2023, I had just finished up in Go Gym. So I had gotten rid of that safety net. I no longer had any salary coming in. It was just me and my little nourishment nourish, move and shine business at the time. And had no staff, just me and my clients.
00:37:06
Speaker
And I thought, know, I think I'd had a really good September. And then I was launching another program then, October or whatever, and the intake wasn't as good. And I was like, oh, my God, everything's falling apart. And I remember it was October 2023 because it was my niece, Poppy. It was her first birthday and we were at the zoo. And I remember crying to my sister. i was I was so upset. I was like, okay get it together. It's your niece's first birthday. Like, you know, it's not about you. But I remember hurt my sister asking me, was I OK? And I was like, everything's falling apart.
00:37:42
Speaker
I think I'm going to have to get a job again. And my sister and consoled me and said everything would be OK anyway. And I was able to put aside, go and enjoy my niece's birthday. But that was September 2023. And I had an interview to be a coach with another online coach. I won't name him.
00:37:58
Speaker
But i I went to the interview. I got the job and I was going to start with him. And then i just realized I was like, I have I'm building something here, although I don't believe I can do it yet.
00:38:11
Speaker
If I take this job, I won't have the time and the capacity to do it. And it just something in me didn't feel right. And I had to message him and be like, I'm so sorry, I cannot take the job. And that was a really hard conversation because I really, really respected him. And so I still do really, really respect him and his business. He was very kind about it. And he was like, thank you for telling me before we're a few weeks in of actually you starting.
00:38:35
Speaker
But I didn't take the job in the end and after initially accepting it. And, you know, it wasn't something I was proud of at the time because I felt like it wasn't I was messing him around. But I really wasn't. It was just I wanted the job. But then I was like, this isn't what I'm supposed to do. And i just knew deep down that I was supposed to follow my own path. So I continued on and I had a certain amount of money there.
00:38:58
Speaker
And I invested that money in a business mentorship that I had been watching online that was coming up. with the Power of power of Instagram and Facebook ads. And this mentorship kept coming up on my feet. And I saw coaches that I recognized in this mentorship and I joined it.
00:39:17
Speaker
And within one month, of joining this mentorship and I don't like to talk about figures so I'm not going to talk about exact amounts of money that I was making and but what I will say is that within by the end of December I joined at the end of November I think or the start the start of December 2023 by the end of December 2023 I had made the most money I'd ever made in a whole month And January 2024 was the same February 2024. And by the end of 2024, my business was making six figures.
Social Media and High-Performance Insights
00:39:53
Speaker
2025, my business was making multiple six figures. I learned so much from these guys, like so much. I learned how to put systems in place. I learned how to charge. what my coaching was worth.
00:40:06
Speaker
I learned sales. I learned marketing. I learned like endless amounts of stuff that I learned from that that business mentorship, but also what I got from that business mentorship was lifelong friendships and and connections. and meeting a lot of people in the industry, going to events. i One of my best friends and came from that mentorship and em me and her are still so close to this day. i invested thousands and thousands in that business mentorship and it was worth every cent to me. I will be forever grateful to those those business mentors for what I learned in a social media mentorship, which I will name, which is the social circle. I learned so much. I learned how to structure a reel. I learned how to grow online.
00:40:48
Speaker
And that was absolutely incredible. And I still have access to that mentorship, but I very much keep an eye on on the current, and what's up to date and what's current in social media, you know. And when I was actually growing my social media, I worked with and the amazing Joseph Yip and Joseph really that was a one-to-one coaching in relation to growing my social media so he helped me realize what was working what wasn't working what I need to do more of and I remember he'd be like Kate go live in Tesco he was like you know those Tesco videos they do so well and I i spent a lot of time in Tesco and I had a lot of Tesco videos and they were very helpful to a lot of people and they really did help me grow my social media following I massively like, you know, on Instagram, those videos have helped bring my social media following on Instagram to 160,000.
00:41:36
Speaker
TikTok, 70,000. And Facebook is over 400,000 followers and from a lot of the videos that he helped me learn how to structure and to provide value in a way that was helpful to the algorithm. So I learned so much from him as well.
00:41:54
Speaker
And then and one mentorship as well that I did and was incredibly useful to me was TMP, Total Mental Performance with Ciaran O'Neill. And, you know, if anyone asks me who have been the most impactful people in your business life, let's say, i would say Ciaran is nearly top of that list. What TMP is, is Total Mental Performance. So it's high performance coaching. for for business owners. And it's learning how to step into your potential, how to drop the limiting beliefs, to go back into your past. And so it's it's therapy sessions, but with a high performance perspective. And I learned so much about myself from him. I learned so much about business from him. So although he's extremely talented and knowledgeable in relation to you know, human connection and what's important. She's also an incredible businessman. I learned so much from Ciaran and from Charlotte, who was in TMP as well. ah The knowledge and the self-awareness that I gained from that. I spent thousands in that mentorship worth absolutely every cent. Then
00:43:00
Speaker
the mentorship that I'm in now. Full circle, I am back with Brian and his mentorship and we are really working quite closely together on building my business, building my Nourishur business to where we want it to be, but also to build my new business, which I'm going to talk about now in a minute. but My point in giving you the details around those mentorships that, you know, they say you need to spend money to make money.
00:43:25
Speaker
Then that's I know it's a cliche and I know I say from the podcast all the time. I'm such a fucking walking cliche, but you really do. You have to take the risks. We have to be sensible about what you're investing your money in because you don't want to be throwing money away because that's you don't how we can end up bankrupt. We don't want that either. But spending money that you earn from your business back into your business and back into yourself, it's the most sensible investment that you can make into your education and into your skills. and into your own personal development and you know because at the end of the day if you're making a profit who's going to take it from you the tax man so you might as well be spent especially in the early days
Launching Lead Her Coaching Program
00:44:06
Speaker
putting it back into the business so you're learning how to grow it bigger again and that's what I did so I spent like collectively between Brian Joseph the mentorship and
00:44:18
Speaker
TMP, between all of the different mentorships that that I have been in and some currently am in, I've invested tens of thousands of euros in my education and in my personal development. But what that's done is it has helped me develop into a strong confident entrepreneur and a knowledgeable one. And I take that with my teaching skills.
00:44:42
Speaker
So the 15 years of teaching, you know, I've learned communication skills. I know how to deliver information to people. I know organization and all of my skills, along with just being a woman who's 40 and is going through the hormonal difficulties that a lot of my clients are going through. Having a family that I'm raising, we're now into kind of teen territory, which is delightful. and Managing it all.
00:45:06
Speaker
and All my experience, all that I've learned from the people I have learned from, I'm ready to bring something to the world. And I'm so excited about it. And what it is, is lead her coaching, lead the lead her mentorship. And it is business coaching for women.
00:45:27
Speaker
And it is about stop chasing and start connecting. It is anti-hustle culture. It is anti-hustle. And to burn yourself out to achieve something that you think you want and then achieve it and then realize it's not what you actually want. It's about connecting with yourself, connecting with your purpose, connecting with what you need to do to get there and to continue connecting along the way with your clients.
00:45:50
Speaker
with your peers and I'm going to build an army of strong, confident, powerful women. And I am so fucking excited. I've been in a lot of rooms where I'd be the only female or massively in the minority. And i I learned a lot from being the minority, for being one of the few women in a room full of men with massive ambition, massive self-confidence.
00:46:15
Speaker
And I'm by no means bashing these young men. I think they're incredible. But what it did make me realize is why do us women doubt ourselves? Why do we doubt ourselves and compare ourselves in a way that these men don't do? Or if they do it, they don't fucking show it. And they don't ask permission. They just do.
00:46:32
Speaker
And I was like, why are we asking permission? Why are we not just doing? And I was like, for me why do I not feel worthy enough when this 23 year old boy Does.
00:46:44
Speaker
And there's nothing wrong with that But if a 23-year-old boy feels like he is worthy enough, which he is, to step forward and reach his goals and achieve his dreams and build his business, and he absolutely is, why would I doubt that I haven't with all my life experience and my education behind me?
00:47:02
Speaker
And it's been hugely empowering. Actually, even just talking about this and recording this podcast has been incredible.
Overcoming Creative Blocks and Entrepreneurial Advice
00:47:08
Speaker
hugely empowering for me because I felt a little bit stuck. I've, you know, we've grown nurture to where it is and it flows nicely. We have, we're full and we have, as clients leave, we're taking new clients in and it's running nicely and beautiful relationship with my staff and my clients and I'm involved the way I want to be involved but this lead her mentorship I've been slow to get going and I have the whole concept I have the foundations course planned out I know exactly what I'm going to teach you in this course I know exactly what that initial course is going to be and I've only as of recording this podcast I've only recorded two lessons of it
00:47:49
Speaker
And I have a lot of lessons to put in. And I think this podcast is really helping me getting moving. And I'm sharing this because if anyone's feeling stuck, it's really important to remember that you don't have to take massive steps. Don't look too far ahead. It's just like next step. So today I was like, I'm recording this podcast. I sat down to plan it. I was like, OK, don't plan it.
00:48:09
Speaker
Just fucking do it. And this has given me energy like you've no idea now that I'd be buzzing all day because of this. And my next step will be right next lesson. And it's not like it's difficult for the ideas to come out for me. There's something, probably a little bit of fear. And even in relation to producing content for this, This new venture, I've been holding back on it.
00:48:31
Speaker
I began probably a bit out of fear, a bit out of imposter syndrome, and but I'm stepping forward and I know that I can do it. And as I said, from, from all of this experience, from my teaching, from my life experience, from my parenting experience, from my health, fitness, nutrition qualifications, my experience working with clients, scaling a business to multiple six figures and two All that I've learned from others and the experience I've had interacting with others in the industry and in relation to business and in relation to health and fitness. I'm ready to bring Leadher to the market. I'm ready to help women.
00:49:12
Speaker
build a really profitable business. This is not going to be like, oh, just feel your feelings and you don't push yourself. like Building a business is fucking hard and it is going to take, you know, it is going to be a little one sided at times as we get the balance between the one sided and then bringing it back to balance.
00:49:27
Speaker
But as you're as you're putting in the work, It needs to be in the right direction. You need to be doing things because it's what you really want and not because of what you think you should be doing. You need to charge right for what's your work. This is your life's work.
00:49:41
Speaker
The people that you're going to help, it's going to be incredible. And you need most women under charge. And we need to look at that, your social media. If you're not sharing, what you've got to offer to the world, whether it is a jewelry making business, whether you are a breathwork coach, whether you are a nutritionist, a dietitian, whether you're a doctor, whether you are a carpenter who likes to share his things that he makes, and whether you are a health and fitness coach, whether whatever you are.
00:50:10
Speaker
If you don't put your stuff out in social media, you're the world's best kept secret, no matter how good you are. And always remember that. So, you know, putting it out there, not worrying about what other people think, focusing your chat to your ideal customer. These are all things that I'd be helping people with within the mentorship. So my next step now is to continue building the course. And I am taking clients on for the lead-term mentorship. So the mentorship is going to be a community-based mentorship where you will be on a weekly call with the most amazing group of business women. And this will always be by application only because I will be protecting that space and it will only be the right type of women that will be coming into this community and working closely with me.
00:50:57
Speaker
and the other women in the community. And and this business mentorship that I'm building will be access and time with me, really working on your business and building it from the ground up or building it from where it is up. And I'm so excited. And thank you so much for listening.
00:51:15
Speaker
I just wanted to give you an insight to just how hard it was to to grow the business. When I look back, I'm like, oh, my God, that was really exhausting. And there were times where I did very much nearly burn out. But it's also been the most exciting time in my life and the places I've got to travel to.
00:51:34
Speaker
the events I got to speak at, the events I've been invited to as a guest, the people I've learned from, the clients that I've worked with, everything that I've built, it's just been absolutely incredible and worth every minute. And the great thing a lot of business can do for you is it give you freedom.
00:51:51
Speaker
And if you you have an idea that you want to bring into the world, but you don't know how, or have a business that you want to grow, you don't know how, i just just take the first step. It's You know, it's incredible the freedom that it can bring you. And freedom doesn't mean doing nothing because I've learned that, you know, you outsource too much, then you have nothing to do. Then that's life is not fulfilling, but it's doing the stuff that lights you up.
00:52:18
Speaker
It's doing the stuff that lights you up and being able you being able to be the creator of your life and decide when and where you're doing what you're doing. And that freedom is available to you and that fulfillment is available to you. You just need to know the right systems. You need to work through your self-belief. You need to get your message out there. You need to be consistent.
00:52:39
Speaker
You need. If you need support, that's exactly what I'm here for. And I'm going to be having a lot more conversations around this. I'll be doing podcast episodes like this. I will be interviewing people who've done something similar to me. and I'm going to interview lots of entrepreneurs, but we're also going to have conversations around really working through the self-doubt and the imposter syndrome and the limiting belief of the comparison. And we are going to talk about health as well in relation to how important your body is as your business asset and how you very much need to look after it. And yeah,
00:53:10
Speaker
I'm excited. i hope you are too. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, please do share it with your friends, your colleagues, share it on your stories, tag me in it.
00:53:21
Speaker
ah Kate Hamilton Health as much as you can share. If you're not subscribed to the podcast, if you could, that would be so helpful as it really does make all of these things really do make a difference. And if you are interested in learning more about LeadHer coaching and if you would like to learn more about the LeadHer mentorship, I'm going to pop the application form below. If you want to just fill in the application form, we can see if we're a good fit.
00:53:44
Speaker
We can arrange a call. We can chat through. i will chat you through exactly what is involved. No pressure sales or anything like that and just to see if we are the right fit for each other. And we can have a little chat around your business. So I'll pop that application form in the show notes. And If you are listening and you are interested in some health, fitness and mindset coaching, then check out the link in the show notes for Nourish Her Coaching because it's still going strong and you will be able to fill out the application form below for Nourish Her Coaching also because, as I said, we're full. But with the amount of clients that we work with, there are always every month there's a couple of people that are finishing up and we'll have spaces for a couple of people coming in. So do pop your name into the application form if you are interested in Nourish Her Coaching. Lindsay will be in touch and arrange to have a chat with you and see if you're a good fit for nourishing and thank you so much for listening and I will see all on the next episode