It's a New Year. A New Start. A New Beginning. . . So Make Today Count.

Tina Brigley is a 2023 Biz X Award nominee who is a force to be reckoned with! Under her business, Tina Brigley Coaching, she works with frustrated business owners who are sacrificing their life to grow their dream business to give them clarity and the confidence to create on their terms. She offers various programs, such as Unstoppable Confidence that helps entrepreneurs clear the mind chatter; develop unconditional self love and unleash their personal power to create businesses that impact the world. And her Unstoppable Leadership Mastermind program unites entrepreneurs and gives them specific tools and strategies to get to their next level results.  Photo courtesy of Heike Delmore/Delmore Creative Photography (DelmorePhotography.com).

By Sherrilynn Colley-Vegh

In the past seven years Tina Brigley has helped thousands of people unleash their confidence and maximize their potential, earning respect as a coaching leader on the global stage.

This powerhouse has shared the stage with Marissa Peer (world renowned speaker, author and Rapid Transformational Therapy trainer) and Daniel Priestley (best-selling author, international speaker and entrepreneur).

Brigley was the co-founder of an international coaching company, and after her departure, she launched Tina Brigley Coaching with clients all over the world. And now as of January 2024, a merger with High Performing Coach (based in Europe) has taken place.

For our first issue of 2024, Biz X magazine is featuring this amazing disrupter, who is changing the coaching industry and sharing tips with our business readers.

“Are you happy or are you comfortable?”

This is the million-dollar question Brigley poses and hopes that all individuals will be willing to answer honestly.

During our interview she shares her insights on what led her to follow the path of entrepreneurship. A former teacher, Brigley left her high paying job (with paid vacations and a great pension) filled with guilt.

Guilt — but no remorse — as she knew that coaching was what she was always meant to do.

While growing up, her dad ran a small business, which seemed very appealing to her. He would come home with cash money, make his own hours and do his own thing. Brigley realized she possessed this same entrepreneurial spirit and wanted to be her own boss and decision maker.

She reveals how she was doing prep work one day at school when a pop-up appeared on her computer. It was a 45-minute presentation on becoming a health coach.

Growing up, Brigley always wanted to become a psychologist, but it seemed unreachable, as she was living on her own at 17. She had to give up a dream that required years of schooling to focus on working just to eat and live.

Brigley started her career in education in 1999 as a Child and Youth Worker then graduated from teachers college in 2005 and began teaching right away. She taught from 2005 to 2017 in the area of Special Education.

Coaching now looked like an avenue to fulfill her dream of helping others. Her first step was to take a course and shortly after she began a coaching business after being certified as a Coach in 2017.

Brigley’s personal coach asked her: “Do you want to be a teacher or a coach?” She knew the answer, but who would give up a secure teaching career for the unknown? Well, someone with courage because six weeks later, she was all in!

“When I was making the decision, I prayed for a sign to let me know I was on the right track,” Brigley recounts. “I picked up my library book and the words: ‘You’re meant for greater things,’ popped off the page. I got in my car and turned on the radio and Fight Song by Rachel Platten was playing, and in that moment I felt I was being guided to choose my dream.”

Walking into her principal’s office to give her resignation, Brigley admits she was terrified. She recalls her principal questioning her sanity because her actions came at the same time that she was in the middle of a divorce. The experience was overwhelming, and she recalls feeling like she couldn’t breathe. Debilitating fear crept in.

“Nothing felt confident after the words ‘I quit’ left my mouth,” Brigley expresses. “The fears and doubts immediately consumed me and I had to remember to keep breathing until this feeling passed. I started to take one action at a time and never looked back because I knew that living with regret would be way worse than facing this temporary fear.”

As a result, Brigley has three teachings lessons that she learned from that experience.

The first — don’t wait for the whispers to turn into bricks.

The whispers are subtle messages that your purpose is bigger than you can see. You may feel like you are meant for more, or you aren’t where you’re supposed to be.

Pay attention, because eventually those whispers — when left ignored — will become bricks that feel heavy.

Find peace in your quiet thoughts. The answers you need are inside of you. Slow down to hear the whispers or you will be forced to stop from burn out, exhaustion or poor health.

She continues by explaining that the brain is not wired for change and it defaults to thinking what there is to lose, and rarely focuses on what there is to gain.

This auto programming makes us look for all the reasons and excuses why we can’t do something, instead of why we can do it.

For example, when thinking about starting a small business, the brain will load up on all the ways it will go wrong. It’s your job to interrupt the thoughts.

Ask yourself: “What if the opposite thoughts are true?” The opposite might inspire you to get over your fears and even excite you to take that first action.

Brigley’s second lesson is that you must be willing to let go of the belief that having needs and desires is selfish.

Women (the majority of her clientele) have been programmed to put themselves last and their desires go on the back burner of life, until the kids are grown or — the famous line — “I’ll do it when I retire.”

Tomorrow isn’t promised. Challenging this belief allows women to look for solutions to have it all, while honouring their commitments to all important areas and people in their life.

“I never really thought of my needs, I was so used to serving the wants and needs of others,” Brigley discloses. “I learned I needed to be willing to have the courage to go for it by focusing on what matters to me and my life. Some people believed I was being selfish by leaving education to pursue my dreams, because I was a single mom and it was too risky. Now I never miss a school trip, I can take them on vacation when we choose and sometimes my daughters and I play hooky just to spend time together — and there is nothing selfish about that!”

She mentions how the fear of letting others down and lamenting that we don’t have time for ourselves, is the ultimate form of self-sabotage and is an outdated strategy from an old broken system and gets us nowhere.

Instead of living life feeling guilty for putting yourself first, you can see it as an opportunity to create next generation patterns of self-love and self-respect.

The last lesson is the one that impacted Brigley the most in her entrepreneurship journey and it’s this — when we can be 100% responsible for the life we get to create, we will have access to a power beyond our wildest dreams.

If something is not working in your life, whether it’s your health, relationship, finances, you and only you can change that! You have the power to move mountains when you see your power, strength and resilience.

“The only difference between fear and excitement is the exhale — remember to breathe,” she advises.

If what you really want seems a little beyond your reach, ask yourself this: “Am I really happy with it or really comfortable?”

Brigley points out: “Change does not happen inside your comfort zone and your comfort zone is anything but comfortable; it’s just where you spend most of your time. To get what you really want in life and business, know this, when you are willing to get committed to creating it, most of the time you can have it in 90 days or less. The discomfort you will feel in the beginning dissipates when you shift your habits. New habits create new beliefs and new beliefs create a new you!”

Remember that you are not broken and you don’t need to be fixed, and if you aren’t growing, you are dying, so embrace personal growth and let go of the guilt. After all, an investment in yourself is an investment in your future and your legacy!

With Courage, Anything Is Possible

For more insight and tips for personal development and business insights from this award-winning inspirational coach refer to: TinaBrigley.com