Leanne Tickle is a wife and a busy mum of two. She understands that life as a mum is a complete balancing act and that making sure everyone else is looked after can be exhausting. Having had her own share of ups and downs in her journey so far, she found that once she started scheduling in some time for herself, she became kinder, nicer to be around and more able to handle everything that was being thrown at her. By prioritising herself, she became a better mum and was better able to show up for her children. Through Leanne Tickle Coaching, she helps other women to regain their spark, without feeling guilty about putting themselves first. Here she talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the passion behind what she does, how she balances work and family time, and the challenges she has overcome along the way.
The Passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
This has been a long time coming. I had always had a busy life and I had convinced myself that was what life was like for me. For instance, in the year I got married, I ran 10 half marathons, moved house, worked all the hours at work, organised the wedding and with a few helpers made all the invites, table centres, you name it. I’m exhausted just reading that back now. Then I had kids and I just kept doing more and more and I always came last. I’d had a wake up call at work and I thought, am I going to be here for another 30 years? Is this all my life is going to be? I knew I wanted to do something different, but I had never even asked myself what I wanted, let alone a massive career change. When Covid hit, I couldn’t be busy anymore. I had to slow down and that made me realise that I hadn’t dealt with my mum’s death very well nearly 20 years beforehand and some other family issues. I went to therapy and when he said, “I’ll keep your slot open”, I swore to myself that I was not going back to that phase of my life again – something had to change.
During my therapy, I started journalling and really got a lot from it. I’d also started listening to podcasts about high performers and reading personal development books. I couldn’t get enough of them. I joined a gym that helped with my mindset as well as food and exercise, and after a while, people started asking me what I had done, so I started helping them and I was drawn to some of the ladies that I saw myself in and helped them too. Before long, I was supporting various women, listening to them and realised I really wanted them to succeed and it meant a lot to me that they did. There are so many more women that I can listen to and help. The impact on them and their families could be massive.
The Launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
Originally, this was going to be a mixture of fitness and mindset coaching, so I ran a competition on Facebook for free coaching for 6 weeks. I picked 2 winners and one of them is still a paying client to this day. They came to me wanting food and exercise help, but what they really wanted help with was their mindset and being a more equal part of family life.
We worked together to help unpick the bad habits and instil some new ones and also make time for themselves as busy mums. After the initial free period, I was able to turn them both into paid clients, which was a great indicator for me.
The Innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
It was having a hysterectomy. I had no excuse other than to stop and recover in the months following my operation. I was in a lot better place by this point and I swore to myself that I wouldn’t spend all this downtime watching daytime TV. I would learn something new. So I did a coaching accreditation. Coaching is an unregulated industry, but it was important to me to have something to prove I could do it. It only increased from there and in July of this year, I finally left my corporate job to pursue coaching and I haven’t looked back.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
It’s important to me to be there for the school runs and the stuff that’s important to my kids, but my husband is a great dad and is always there to help where I need him to and his parents are great too. Me and my husband chat through what the week looks like, where we need to be for work and the kids and time to do the things we enjoy too. It’s sometimes a juggle but we always seem to make it work.
