Meet Dr. Patti Gonzalez | Retired Chiropractor, Transformational Business Coach & Somatic Breathwork Practitioner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Patti Gonzalez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Patti, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I have changed a lot over the last 17 years in business. When I first started in practice it was just my husband and I so it was very easy to work longer hours and pour more of myself into my business. I was working 6 days per week, 12 hour days and my husband was also working and in school at the time so we made as much time for each other as we could with the way our schedules kept us busy. As I poured into my business, more and more success came and I attended the 2012 London Olympics and work with the USA Judo players. I volunteered my time early in my career and went on several mission trips to Nicaragua, Ghana, Africa and served in my local community with refugees. To be honest there was not much balance in my life at that time between work and life. It was something that both my husband and I were comfortable with and we were both very focused on our careers. We did make time for each other and often found ourselves talking about work and how to continue to grow. This was a big season of growing in our work and it felt good to create the life we had focused on our careers.

Once we had our daughter, 7 years ago, things began to shift and we desired more time to pour into building our family legacy. Actually, when I was pregnant I was still working 5 days a week and mostly 10-12 hour days and near the middle of my pregnancy I realized things had to change. I cut down the number of hours I was working each day and my longest days were 3 – 10 hour days in the office,and 2 half days and some Saturdays. After my daughter as born, I changed my schedule to 2 longer days and 2 half days a week in the office. Also, because I owned my practice, I brought my daughter to the office for the first year of her life. I feel very fortunate that she was in the office with me because not a lot of women have that option. Honestly, I did struggle with guilt a lot in the early years of being a mom because part of me really wanted to just focus on her and be with her at home to watch her grow and learn. I was so torn because I also really loved my business and wanted to continue to pour into it the way I had for so many years. The truth was I simply couldn’t spend the amount of time I wanted on both so it led to an internal tug of war that I think so many mom’s face.

As she got older and my husband’s job changed we wanted to create even more time with our family so I changed my schedule again when my daughter was 3 years old to working 2 -6 hour days and 2 half days which allowed for us to spend more time together as a family. We found our desires changed over the course of the last 10 years to spend more time together and also do work that we love so that meant my husband changing the company he was working for and ultimately starting his own business.

As we wanted to shift the pendulum in our life to have even more time with our family and create a life that we didn’t feel like we were running around all the time, so I decided to sell my practice and pursue coaching full time. Before I sold my practice I had started coaching other business women and realized I was really passionate about helping them create a life they loved and find a balance that both allowed them to be home more with their family and excel in their business. I started a podcast called The Journey to Alignment as a way to talk about the challenges mom’s who are business owners face because I navigated so many of them. I am also writing a book with the same concept. I am currently in process of creating business owning mom’s collective called AlignHER as a place where business women who are mom’s can come together to share success, challenges and truly have a place where they can feel supported in all that it takes to juggle the work, life and family. The truth is finding balance is difficult and there are so many things that come with being a mom and owning a business and there really are not enough places where women can find support.

What should our readers know about your business?
One of the things that I am most proud of in business is the fact that I was able to build scale and then sell my practice after 16 years. There were a lot of ups and downs throughout the journey of building and scaling my practice and I learned a lot the hard way and my goal now is to be able to help other women navigate their businesses and find balance, sustainability, and success.

I worked with a lot of coaches along the way and in that was able to navigate a lot of the challenges of growing my practice. I also learned that my business doesn’t have to look like what anybody else says it should. I found the most satisfaction when I truly took a step back and began to ask myself the question of what I wanted my business to look like.

I truly believe that everybody’s version of success is different and that’s why I have created my coaching business. I was told for a long time what success should look like and I ran after that and I got really burnt out. So I want to create a different story for other women especially the moms out there who own businesses and want to find joy, success and fulfillment in all areas of life. I created the HEART Method to help women find their way back to their heart and really discover what it is that they want.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love when people come to visit and take them to all of my favorite places. First and foremost, we would definitely have to go up into the mountains and see Vail and Frisco then definitely eat and drink at the variety of different restaurants there. HItting the hot springs in Glenwood and eating at the great restaurants downtown.

We would also be sure to visit Cherry Creek and some of our favorite restaurants there like True Foods, North and El Sol. Of course also going in an out of boutique shops, and to furniture stores like Room and Board, CB2 and Design Within Reach.

We would also hit up some of the big tourist spots like Garden of the Gods, Manitou Springs, Red Rocks, Boulder and the 16th St. Mall in Denver.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have worked with a lot of coaches, read hundreds of books and listened to countless podcasts over my 17 years in business and feel some of the most powerful work has been done in the last 10 months that have made the biggest changes in my life are due to the work I have done through The School of Sustainable Self-Mastery and The Break Method. Bizzie Gold is the founder and creator of both and I am very thankful to how her work has impacted my life and in turn is allowing me to help others on their journey.

Instagram: drpattigonzalez.ig

Image Credits
Rachel Spelman Rosa Cisneros Alfonso Gonzalez Jessica Wiltshire