IIN is celebrating International Women’s Day all month long by featuring graduates who are using their IIN education to build impactful businesses that focus on improving the health of their communities around the world.

Martina Fink, Class of 2017, shares her story in an incredible video below. To learn more, check out her website: Perfectionist Rehab.

IIN: If you had to choose one word to describe your IIN experience, what would it be?

Martina: Life-changing because it was literally the catalyst to changing my career and my entire life.

IIN: What inspired you to enroll in IIN’s Health Coach Training Program?

Martina: After working with women on makeup and more on outside beauty and confidence, I soon realized that the majority of them were struggling with their skin, stress, and self-confidence. I wanted to learn more about how our lifestyle affects our skin health and was looking to learn more about nutrition with another school. But something just always held me back from signing up; I can’t say what it was. In hindsight, it was likely my gut telling me it wasn’t the right choice.

One day, my best girlfriend talked to me about IIN, and the link to it magically landed in my inbox. I signed up within 24 hours without a shadow of a doubt! I just knew this was the right thing for me.

IIN: How has IIN helped you build and grow your business?

Martina: Besides all the valuable and insightful knowledge I learned at IIN, I appreciated most that I actually learned how to be a coach, how to ask the right questions, and how to help people transform their lives – because knowledge alone doesn’t. Otherwise, everyone would be healthy because you can Google pretty much everything.

As a practicing Health Coach, I specifically help perfectionists overcome overwhelm, turn self-doubt into self-confidence, and love and accept themselves fully so they can live a fulfilled and what I call “glowing” life. While healthy food and movement play a part in my practice, over the years, I have specialized in mental and emotional health and how our daily habits, beliefs, and lifestyle impact our overall well-being. IIN has shown me that these aspects of health are even more important than just eating your greens.

I was a hard-working store manager until 2015, was often overwhelmed mentally, and felt emotionally empty and drained. Even though I loved my job, I was completely unbalanced and my focus was only on work.

I’ve only been able to grow my business once I started believing in myself. When I was a young girl, I was bullied and had that deep wound of not being “good enough.” This clearly translated into my business in the beginning, and I always thought I didn’t know enough, I couldn’t help people, and my services weren’t worth the money.

After going through some deep healing around self-worth, self-love, and learning to speak up for myself, I’ve been able to truly step into my power, get my ego out of the way, and become that powerful vessel to be of service to other women.

Today, I work with high-achieving professionals, as well as entrepreneurs and Health Coaches, to help them overcome their own internal barriers, leave overwhelm behind, grow their confidence, and love themselves.

When I run my retreats and events, I love highlighting the sisterhood aspect of life. Being able to share about your struggles in a safe space can be so healing, and you realize you’re not alone in this and literally everyone struggles with something. Having powerful connections with other women who are also on a mission with their businesses has been very powerful and supportive for me. To this day, I am connected with many other Integrative Nutrition Health Coaches, which I love.

The programs I offer are Perfectionist Rehab, a 30-day program to heal perfectionism and love yourself; a Business Mastermind; 1:1 Coaching; Luxury Glow Camps, which are self-love retreats; and Reiki Healings combined with health coaching.

IIN: What advice do you have for women entrepreneurs?

Martina: Your success truly depends on how much you love, value, and appreciate yourself. The better you can take care of yourself, the better you can be of service to others and, therefore, the more successful you will be.

Also:

Stop trying to be perfect.

Stop comparing yourself with what others are doing.

Stop thinking you need to read another book or take another course to be “ready.”

Stop looking for the perfect strategy to help you set up your business.

Stop doing things you think you “should” do.

Instead…

Start trusting yourself.

Start trusting your higher self, your intuition, and your inner guidance.

Start listening to your heart, and only do things that truly excite you and feel good.

Start doing things your way.

Once you can authentically be yourself, things will just fall into place. Trust me. You can glow. Allow yourself to do so because you deserve all the success, clients, love, and abundance you desire. It starts with you believing this as well!

IIN: Anything else you think the IIN community would love to know?

Martina: Sometimes, people online make it seem like setting up a business is super easy with a certain strategy and that you can get to consistent $10k salary months in just a few months.

This was not the case for me. And it may or may not be for you. I had a part-time job for almost three years when I first quit my full-time job. I am not an overnight success – my success is the result of perseverance, determination, discipline, and a strong belief in myself and in my dreams.

I urge you to remember that building a business takes time. And as you grow, your business will grow. You want to build a business that is 1) sustainable, 2) authentic, and 3) truly yours and not just a copy of somebody else’s. In the end, we are here to make a difference in people’s lives and make an impact on this planet. The compensation will follow. Focus on being of service and enriching people’s lives.

And don’t forget yourself along the way. You are the most important person in your life AND in your business. Make it fun! Make it so you love waking up in the morning. If there’s something that doesn’t feel that way, outsource it, change it, or stop it.

It’s your business – you can literally do whatever you want to do with it. There are no limits except the ones you set for yourself. Try new things, and trust your ideas and inspirations. Explore and see what happens. There’s no failure, only feedback. If something doesn’t work the way you want, you can simply adjust it or discontinue it!

Dream big. Believe. Allow yourself to be you and explore who you truly are. For you are so beautiful.

Want to join this amazing global community of change makers? Get our free Curriculum Guide to learn more about the program that can jump-start your health transformation and help you create a lucrative, fulfilling career.