We recently had the opportunity to talk to John, a personal coach, writer, and founder of the website WholeParenting.Org. During the interview, John discussed his journey to becoming a guide for those dealing with divorce and single parenthood. He also shared his vision for the future and some personal coaching resources he finds helpful.
Here’s a transcript of our conversation (edited for clarity):
ME: Can you tell me a little bit about you and what you do?
JOHN: I am a a blogger with a number of books out that all have to do with being a single parent. And that’s the focus of my coaching as well. A lot of it is relationship-based, too. I’ve had the blog for nine years. It was syndicated on the Huffington post for a while, and it gets around 15,000 views a week.
I’m also in the process of completing an online community that will back the blog and putting a membership site together.
ME: How did you get started with that?
JOHN: My first blog, I started when my wife asked for divorce. It was as much a cathartic place for me as anything else. Whereas the new one, my intention was 100% positive, kid friendly, and mom friendly. It was a different voice and actually transformed my relationship at the time. As I started writing, it started changing my life. I began to realize my responses are 100% up to me, and the more I can put them in the positive column, the more I’m bringing in positivity. It sort of changed my life just to launch it and to write always trying to put the positive spin on stuff that wasn’t always positive.
So anyway, that’s kind of where I’ve come from. I also do digital marketing as a career, but I’ve been in the pivot mode towards the coaching as my sole income for about two years.
ME: What are some of your goals with coaching?
JOHN: I give a free 30 minute coaching call to anybody that wants it, and I get around one to five introductory calls a week right now. I’d like to get five calls a day instead of a week so that I can start looking at different models of coaching. Like group coaching, speaking engagements.
ME: What are some people or websites you follow to keep up with your industry?
JOHN: I’m a big fan of Brené Brown. I’ve written a ton on my blog about braving, and it’s one of the key fundamental skills I use in coaching people in relationships. It’s powerful stuff. The Good Men Project, of course, and various channels in Medium. Each day I get a summary of the top three or four articles in different topics. I kind of keep myself away from the coaching stuff because that’s just not my thing. I’m much more organic. If you read my books or you read my blog, you’ll know I want authenticity and human connection and let’s start there and see where it takes us.
ME: Thank you for sharing! I think what you do is really great and necessary for a lot of people.
JOHN: Yeah, I get so jazzed knowing that this is what I’m supposed to be doing. I get so much joy even with these 30 minute calls. I’m like – I’m honored to be talking to you and I’m sorry you’re going through a tough time, but I can give you hope. That’s all I do. I bring hope to the picture.
If you want to learn more about John and what he does, you can visit his website here: https://wholeparentbook.com/
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