Ep. 5 Interview– Erin Coupe
Transcript from the show:
Amanda: Welcome to today’s episode of “Female Fractionals”. I'm your host and fractional CMO, Amanda Nizzere. On today's episode, we have Erin Coupe, founder and CEO at Authentically EC, a mindset coach and transformational speaker. Erin has spent over 17 years in three global companies, including Goldman Sachs and CBRE, prior to launching Authentically EC in February of 2020.
Leading to the formation of her business is Erin's journey from self-sabotage to self-actualization after discovering a thirst for learning and mastering non-conventional methods to navigate stress, anxiety, and overwhelm. Erin dove deep into progressive studies in neuroscience, quantum mechanics, and spirituality.
She now brings the sum of her whole life experience, credible corporate background, and transformational knowledge and guidance to the professional world through her work. Erin offers a lot of great content on her website at authenticallyyou.com, where you can subscribe for insights to align your mind, heart, and soul—and unlock your best self.
I hope you enjoy this conversation with Erin. She has an incredibly inspiring story that she uses to help others, including many entrepreneurs.
Hi Erin, welcome to the podcast. It’s so great to see you.
Erin: I'm so glad to be here, Amanda.
Amanda: Where I always love to start is having guests tell everyone a little bit about their background and how they got started as a personal and mindset coach. I'd like to just throw a little caveat in there that if our listeners haven't heard Erin's full story—although she'll share it a little bit now—you also have to listen to episode one of her podcast, The Erin Coupe Podcast, because it's an incredible story.
She'll share it now, but also tune in to her podcast because she shares a little bit more there too.
Erin: Well, thank you for that. I go pretty deep in that first episode.
I would be remiss not to start with just a little bit about my upbringing, because it's a big part of what has shaped me and ultimately really shaped the grit and the perseverance that I think are just in my DNA.
You know, I grew up in a family where there was a lot of financial stress and trauma. We were a very, very poor family. My dad was terminally ill since I was five and disabled, so he could not work. And he passed 13 years later. So, the family that I was raised in—my mom was gone a lot because she had to work multiple jobs just to put food on the table for my siblings and me.
But even with that kind of lack of structure and dysfunction in my childhood home, I always knew that there was a possibility and a belief in myself that I could build my own life.
But as I got older, I realized, you know what? If I put myself in college, that could be my ticket to creating my own life—getting a really great education. I was a very smart person. It just seemed like something that was a no-brainer, even though no one in my entire family had gone to college—like aunts, uncles, you name it.
So I was the first in my family to even get to that step in life, and I did just that. I moved to New York City after college and I started working in the finance industry by way of working at Reuters initially. Then I was recruited to work at Goldman, and that is a pivotal moment. That is where I essentially sold my soul.
I didn’t realize what I was doing at the time, but as a poor person—the way that I grew up—being offered a job and being recruited by Goldman Sachs was like the Holy Grail to me at that point. It was like, “Wow, what an opportunity for me to really make some money.” That’s kind of where my mind was as a 24-year-old woman.
Amanda: And yeah—living in New York, nonetheless.
Erin: Exactly right. I just wanted my own space, and that was going to help me do it.
But you know, I really lost myself when I was on Wall Street. I lost myself in not only the cutthroat nature of that environment that I was in, but in comparing myself to people around me, trying to be someone I wasn’t, being who I thought I was expected to be—sounding that way, looking that way. And it was just really hard.
And I think I always was feeling this sort of lack of authenticity within myself when I was trying so hard to be someone else. And so that is such an important part of how I ended up on this journey of authenticity—this journey of coming back to myself and understanding: Who am I? Who am I without the job, the title, all the things that society told me to go and get that equal a happy and successful life?
And I started to question that in my mid-thirties. You know, I’m like, “This doesn’t feel good. Something’s missing.” And that was the journey of figuring out—what is it that’s missing?
It was me. It was my connection to who I am that was missing.
Amanda: What an inspirational story. Do you remember the moment in time where you were like, “Enough. I’m taking the shackles off. I’m making a huge shift and pivot.”? Can you tell me a little bit about what that was?
Erin: Yeah. There were actually two of those.
One happened right around 30 years old when I decided to leave finance as a whole. And it’s not easy to resign from a place like Goldman—especially when you’re a younger person. You’re supposed to just grind it out, climb that ladder, make the money, get the titles, and then figure it out later in life.
But I saw the writing on the wall. I was part of this accelerator program for female associates at the time, where like 100 women globally were selected for a six-month entree into what partnership at Goldman Sachs looks like. And it was an honor to be a part of it. But every partner that talked to us—male or female—was talking about how you can do this too.
“I have four nannies. I’ve got nannies for the weekends. I’ve got nannies for night. I’ve got nannies for the day. I’ve got a house manager. I’ve got a partner who stays home…”
It was just so surreal to me, and I was like, “That just doesn’t feel like the life that I necessarily want to live.” And I feel like my soul was speaking to me at that point and just kind of saying, “Hey, that’s not really you. And that’s okay.” And I fought that for a while—internally. I definitely fought with myself over that.
But I made that decision. Burnout was definitely settling in, and it was time for me to move on. I changed my career completely to going into commercial real estate and just thought, “You know what? I’m really good at business. It doesn’t matter necessarily what business I’m in. As long as I am client-facing, I’ll like it and I’ll do okay.” So I did that.
Amanda: I think you're hinting at a topic that comes up often. I think that some of the listeners to the podcast are people that are either experiencing burnout or they're thinking about potentially taking the leap to a fractional role, or even starting their own business for many reasons. It could be burnout. It could be that they just feel like they're not in the right industry. Maybe they're in a different phase of their life now because they've had a child, or they're in the sandwich generation. There are so many different reasons why we are seeing this shift now. And I think women are so much more open to talking about it now too.
I was just having this discussion with a group at Chief the other day, where we were talking about how women are so much more open to talking about and being vulnerable—about sharing that they are going through a period of burnout or something like that.
I would imagine in your practice that you help women in a variety of capacities, and having gone through many of those experiences yourself, it’s helpful. But I think for people that are listening that might be going through a transition or are thinking about a transition, and they're doing it because they’re coming from a place of burnout or a toxic workplace or any other reason—do you have guidance or advice or a framework or steps that they can take to kind of start stepping into that transition?
Erin: Yeah. I get asked this a lot. You know, the number of people that reach out to me specifically on LinkedIn—they see the success and the growth, and they can feel the energy of what it is I put out just through my words. And you know, energy is in every word.
What I always say to people is: you see the tip of the iceberg, right? And we know that, but yet it's hard for people to really understand that's what's happening. And so you need to ask questions and you need to look at what all is behind that. How much hard work does it really take to, for example, have a successful business?
Like, it's not, “Okay, I'm going to leave corporate and I'm just going to do this.” It's going to be so easy. There’s no easy button in anything in life—and certainly not in our careers. It's going to be hard.
One of the things that I always say when people ask me for advice—I don’t willingly just throw it out there—but when I'm asked for guidance or advice on that topic of transition: start doing what it is you think you want to offer before you throw in the towel in whatever it is you're in.
If I look at my own business, the work that I was initially doing for about a year and a half on the side before full-time launching my business—it changed and iterated over the last, you know, I’m just now in my sixth year of official business, right? So in seven and a half years, what I’ve been offering is very, very different. It’s grown, it’s iterated, it’s moved with me and evolved with me as I’ve changed and I’ve grown and I’ve learned and I’ve failed—all those things.
And so, you might have an idea of what it is. Great. Start to offer it. See how it goes. Do it for free for a little while and just see—what do you like about it? What do you not like about it? What is super draining? What is super uplifting? I mean, you’re going to learn so much just through that trial and error, and you can do that. You can fit that in on the side and let it give you some energy because you’re excited about it.
And actually what I have found is that when I was doing the stuff on the side—maybe five, six hours a week—sometimes I was just working on my own website initially (which is not the website that I have currently, of course), and other times I was actually with somebody, talking to them about their life, sharing my stories and tools and helping them. Sometimes I was giving a talk at a corporate retreat or an offsite. Whatever it was—with every piece that I was starting to do, I was picking something up.
And I was also going back into my corporate job a way happier person. It was really interesting how it works, because I was like, “Wow, I’ve got this other thing that is giving me so much energy.” So when I’m in this corporate job that doesn’t give me a lot of energy, I am able to show up as a better person there.
So I think that is such a key factor. People want to just throw in the towel and then start over. But no—just find your ways. Find your moments to start to do it on the side.
Amanda: Yeah, I think that’s great and such good advice. I also think it’s interesting that people are just reaching out to you, jumping into your LinkedIn and essentially asking a stranger for help. It’s because people have a really hard time giving themselves permission to take action. It’s like a little bit of an imposter syndrome situation.
How can people get over that mental piece of giving themselves permission to get started?
Erin: I have a client—I work one-to-one with about five to ten people at a time—and I call this personal coaching because there are a lot of different aspects of life that it hits. You know, it’s not just executive coaching. It’s not lifestyle. It’s not nutrition. But there are all these different things that end up being a part of it.
This one woman in particular—she's trying to grow a coaching business on the side of her corporate job—and in one of our first sessions together, she was like, “I just need clarity so I can take action.” And I was like, “Oh no, no. It’s quite the opposite. You just need to start taking action so that you can gain clarity.”
Even writing that down—I had her write that down and put it on her mirror, on her computer, in her notebook. I'm like, “I want you to just look at that.”
The key is intentional action. Don’t just start throwing darts at the wall and hoping that they’re going to stick. Be intentional with where you’re giving your time and your attention when it comes to whatever this thing may be. But be intentional with those actions, and you’re going to gain new information with every action you take.
That’s how you move forward.
Amanda: That is very good advice. I love all of the little post-its I’m gathering. I feel like every single one of my guests gives me something—I’m going to end up with an office full of amazing little inspirational quotes from the podcast. I love it.
I think the inner voice is something that a lot of women tend to struggle with, and I'm sure that that is something that you happen to coach people around quite a bit. Is inner voice something that comes up a lot? And are there other themes when you meet with entrepreneurs that you tend to see come up?
Erin: Yeah, I mean, that inner critic is a big one because fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of uncertainty, ambiguity, complexity—those are fears that are actually not real. But in your own mind, they seem real, right? Because you’re the star of your own movie. So you’re the star moving through this scene of potentially going into a zone that you don’t know, and like, what’s going to be there? Are you going to be eaten alive?
So it’s like the brain is doing this thing—that’s a very biological response—but it’s not real. And so that inner critic, I always tell people, it’s like the inner critic is just trying to create the most sellable story in your mind. It wants to create this villainous, crazy story. And it doesn’t have to be like that. You can create your rom-com in your own mind.
So understanding that that voice is not who you are, but it is just fear that’s trying to speak to you and fear that’s trying to hold you back—I always like to give people the tool of dissociating from it. You don’t need to be that voice. Disconnect from it. And the way you do that is you give it a name. It’s very simple. People have heard this tool before, but they don’t practice it. You have to practice it.
Even for myself—I’m writing a book—that voice is creeping in a lot. And it’s all this self-doubt, and it’s asking me why I’m doing this, who’s going to read this, and all these crazy things. And her name is Erica. I’m like, “Erica, you don’t have a spot here right now. I understand what you’re trying to do, but I’m going to stay focused on where my heart is and what I know I want to do.”
Because if I listen to that voice, I’m not going to move forward on any of the things that I want to do creatively.
The other thing I would say that comes up in entrepreneurship is just believing in yourself. I think that confidence—more so than, and I cannot stand the word “syndrome,” I don’t say “imposter syndrome.” I call it: you feel like an imposter, or you feel inauthentic to yourself. Because that’s really what it is. No one’s causing this. It’s that you don’t actually feel authentic within your own being.
Amanda: Oh, I like that.
Erin: Yeah. So I go about it in a totally different way. And more so than the imposter scenario, it’s a lack of confidence, which leads to not believing in your own idea or in the fact that you can pursue something that you’re really passionate about or interested in.
If you don’t believe in yourself, no one is going to want what you offer. I don’t care if you’re creating the next product or the next service or whatever it is. If you don’t believe in it—or believe in you first—it’s not going to work. So you’ve got to work on you, so you believe in yourself, in order for the business to work.
Amanda: Yeah, that’s absolutely true. I love the reframing of the imposter syndrome that you have just done. I think it is very important to reframe that and to change the way that people think about it so that they can work it and turn it into something to use toward their strategic advantage.
I know—I feel like we could do a whole podcast on that. But it really drives me crazy to hear people talk about it because I think there are so many things about it that we’ve externalized and we try to almost deflect and become a victim to it when we make it someone else or some organization doing this to me.
“I feel like an imposter because I’m in this role and there are all men around me.”
“I feel like an imposter because they promoted me and I don’t have a playbook to go by.”
And it’s like—why are you giving all your power away to all this other stuff out here, to people out here, when what this is really about is: where are you not feeling authentic within yourself? Where is that relationship showing you that you’ve got to look inward and do a little bit of work there so that you feel more self-assured and your sense of self is so strong and unwavering that no matter where you go, you’re good. You’re strong. It’s okay. You’ll figure it out.
Amanda: So much of being an entrepreneur is going to be about putting yourself into scenarios and situations that you have not experienced before. Pushing through and having that confidence is critical. It’s such a critical element of being in this situation. So I think that’s so important.
As a coach and someone that supposedly has to have it all figured out for others—what do you do in moments where you feel like maybe you don’t have it all figured out? What are the tools in your toolkit?
Erin: Oh yeah. I mean, and it happens often. You know, there’s no such thing as perfection—and I know better. As a recovered perfectionist and queen of self-sabotage, I know that is not the path toward happiness, nor success.
One of my major, major tools is meditation. And I don’t have a routine—I don’t believe in routines. There are reasons why—you’ll find out way more about that in my book—but what I do believe in is being so in tune with my body and with my mind that I know what I need, in the moment that I need it.
So for example, on a day where I’m pretty back-to-back, I know that that’s a day where I’m going to need to remind myself to breathe into my belly a lot more because I’m probably not going to be moving around and not be as mindful of where I’m giving my energy and attention throughout the day—naturally—because I’m going to be drawn into my screen most of the day.
And so even setting myself up for success in the morning by setting an intention for the day—how do I want to feel? I know this is going to be a busy one. Okay, no problem. I’ve got this. How do I want to feel at the end of the day? Do I want to feel completely drained, or do I want to feel like, “You know what? That was really productive, and here’s what I enjoyed about the meetings I had.”
A part of it is just getting my mind in the right place every day so that I know what success feels like for me in that given day.
The other thing that I would say is nature is my go-to. I mean, it’s hard with winter, but even just stepping outside for five minutes can work wonders. That cold air hits you, and it’s like—whoa. You kind of feel a little revitalized.
Like a day like today—I went out for a long walk earlier because I am not going to miss a 50-degree day in early March in Chicago.
Amanda: Exactly. I feel that. That’s what I’m doing right after this.
Erin: And I think it’s so important—and I said this earlier—but to find that space, create that space for yourself. Because I know, on the other end of running myself to the ground and saying, “I’ll get to that later. I’ll take care of me later. I just have to power through this”—all that leads to is anger and resentment. Because I betray me. And that’s not cool.
Amanda: If you were to think back to year one—or even year two—it takes a while to get things going and just really feel like you’ve got a really great foundation of a business. What is some advice that you would give yourself?
Erin: Oh, it’s so interesting because year one for me was COVID. I started in mid-February. Like, I resigned in mid-January and pressed play mid-February. And so it was before COVID was really a thing. And sure enough, within a month, the world is shut down. It was so weird.
Year one was a blur. And you know, I remember thinking, “This is either really chaotic timing or really divine timing.” And of course, hindsight is everything. So I’m able to say it was divine timing—but it definitely didn’t feel like that at first. All of 2020 just felt like, “What did I just do?” And then I was also grateful that I did it. It was very strange. It was like the emotional tsunami every day.
In year two, that’s when I was at that point where I was able to make close to what I was making in corporate. And that’s a really good thing. I think that people have to be realistic with themselves. I mean, unless you’re creating a unicorn—which was definitely not my plan—my goal is to create a nice business that I love and get to do what I love doing. Period. There’s no exit strategy here. I’m not trying to sell this thing.
From that perspective, if that’s also what you’re looking at, this year-two scenario of making just about what I made in corporate was very reassuring. It was the reinforcement or the validation that I needed to just tell myself, “Okay, I knew there was product-market fit and it’s sold, and it’s working.” So that felt really great.
And then what also started to happen was repeat business started to come in. People were realizing, “Gosh, this worked so well with this team or this group, now we want to have you work with us.” Or it was like, “Oh, you coach these two executives of ours and they love the work they did with you—can you work with this team or speak at our town hall? Can you do our keynote for our corporate retreat?”
So that was really great too, because I started to see that repeat business happen, which again was that reassurance that I was really onto something.
So I think finding those moments—those celebrations for your wins—whether it is repeat business, or you equal your salary from corporate, or whatever it is… where you can start to say, “This feels good. I’m onto something. I believe in it so much that I’m going to keep going.”
Amanda: Outside of the work that you do with your clients, can you talk a little bit about other things that you’re doing—like the podcast? I don’t know how much you can talk about the book, but…
Erin: Yes, yes. Definitely. So, my book will be released in the September timeframe. Don’t have a set date, but pre-orders should be available in the summer. And I’m not sharing the title just yet because I’m getting some of the promotional assets together. But the real theme—the underlying foundation of the book—is around ritualizing your life. Really taking your life more to the flexible standpoint, rather than the rigid standpoint of “I have to get this done because I’m obligated to.”
Instead, shifting to: “This is what I want to do. This is where I enjoy giving my time and energy and attention. So I’m going to do more of that. I’m going to give more of me to that.” And so there’s a whole lot within that theme. But yeah—I can’t wait to put more of it out there.
And then, yeah—the podcast. Creatively, my solo podcast is short and sweet. These are like 15-minute episodes every two weeks. And really, it’s a response to being asked for more content. People and audiences—I mean, I have been in front of hundreds of thousands of people over the years now—and every time, there are so many people who are like, “How can we learn more from you? How can we engage more?”
And that’s a hard answer sometimes, where I’m like, “Uhh, you have to be in an audience again.” So now there’ll be the book. There is currently the podcast. So I feel like I’m giving people more ways to engage and learn and grow through what it is I guide, teach, and share.
Amanda: Yes. There are only so many hours in the day, right?
Erin: Yeah.
Amanda: I close every episode with rapid-fire questions. These are meant to be answered in one word or one sentence or less. What is your favorite productivity hack?
Erin: Time blocking.
Amanda: Best investment you’ve made in yourself?
Erin: This is hard… I’ve literally invested so much in myself. Personal development programs. Going to retreats.
Amanda: What’s a fun fact about you that’s not on your LinkedIn profile?
Erin: I was voted most likely to be a DJ in high school. I love music.
Amanda: Okay—early bird or night owl?
Erin: Oh, early bird.
Amanda: Most unexpected skill that’s helped your career?
Erin: Hmm… This is going to sound crazy, but I think it’s just my ability to draw people in. I don’t know if it’s a skill, but it’s a gift.
Amanda: Sauna or cold plunge?
Erin: Sauna all day.
Amanda: Most used emoji in professional texts?
Erin: Heart.
Amanda: What did you want to be when you were five years old?
Erin: I wanted to work for NASA.
Amanda: Thank you so much. This has been amazing. I feel like I’ve been following your journey from afar for a while, and it’s been so great to see and celebrate your anniversary of so many years of your business. It’s great to watch its continued success, and I’m excited for the book to come out. I know that it has been quite a labor of love for you.
So thank you, Erin, so much for coming on.
Erin: You’re welcome. Thanks again for having me.
Amanda: As always, please remember to follow, like, comment, and share. And don’t forget to head over to femalefractionals.com for a full transcript of the show and links to everything we talked about during our conversation. Thanks for listening.
Resources, Offers & Links:
💻 Visit authenticallyyou.com to download Erin’s free guide: Master Your Mindset with Authentic, Intentional Tools for Personal Growth.
Listen to The Erin Coupe Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Stay tuned for more about her upcoming book — pre-orders open this summer!
Interested in joining her next cohort experience? Listeners of Female Fractionals get $100 off if accepted.
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