Meet Nicole Baker | Coach for Perfectionists | CEO of Life Coach Baker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicole Baker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicole, what’s one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?
“To be successful, you have to hustle.”

I have been on hundreds of calls with high achievers around the world and all of them had it in their head that if they’re not working hard 24/7, then they’re failing, they will never have success, and they are falling behind.

This way of thinking is no one’s fault, we live in a world that is overly saturated with praising the high achievements, from scrolling through social media and seeing friends or strangers hitting huge life milestones, to hearing about a 17-year-old prodigy on TikTok, or constantly feeling the “move faster” energy of the business world – it is impossible to go through this society and not feel the “go, go, go” push.

However what makes my blood boil over is when people believe that these achievements/successes are the only thing that will make them happy. Spoiler alert, you could be the most successful person ever, but if you don’t feel good about yourself, then true happiness won’t exist.

If we live life just chasing achievement after achievement, it creates this subconscious belief that we are never enough. Because if we say, “I’ll only be happy when X”, by the time we actually get to X, there’s a new goal, a new sight set on happiness. It’s a never-ending hamster wheel, unless you decide for success to mean something from within, rather than an external achievement. When we let go of the hustle and grind, we begin to work smarter not harder, make more progress (seriously), and, the real achievement here, we begin to enjoy the life we’re working so hard for.

What should our readers know about your business?
I’ve always been fascinated with the human brain. I grew up in a family heavily immersed in the personal development world, both my parents worked for some of the top dogs of the 90’s and early 2000’s and I was so fortunate to be able to attend seminars, listen to the audio tapes and start to grasp the personal growth language and exercises from a very young age.

But by the time I was in middle school, I started to become severely bullied to the point where something massive clicked in my brain that said, “if you’re not perfect in their eyes, you’ll keep getting hurt”. As you can imagine, this line of thinking changed my life for many years; I stayed quiet, didn’t get out of my comfort zone, and was always trying to please others long before I took care of myself.

Finally, it got to the point where I was told that I wasn’t going to graduate from my college because my confidence was so low. That’s when something clicked in me, “contact your dad”. My dad was a Life and Results Coach and I sat on the phone, crying my eyes out and begged him to coach me. Thank goodness he did because my whole life changed. Not only did I graduate (cum laude, might I add), but I became a completely different person. Someone who was confident, voiced her opinion, and started to show up powerfully.

Now, I’ve been a coach for 3+ years, helping others shed perfectionism, hustle culture, and that “need to achieve”. Through my coaching, podcast, and other free content, I’ve given thousands of recovering perfectionists the tools, exercises, and resources to step into their own power and enjoy the life they work so hard for. Was building this business easy? No, not at all. There were so many moments of “failure”, moments where I had no idea what I was doing, and moments where I was on the brink of quitting – but through it all, I held tightly to why I was doing this work and how I see the transformations of my clients, when I remembered that, the failures and hard days, were easy to look past. Being an entrepreneur is difficult, but nothing compares to a client saying, “I am so unbelievably happy”. That’s why I do this work, and I am very fortunate to have many messages from clients with these words.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The first place we would go after the airport is The Cherry Cricket (if you are a burger fan and haven’t been here, get ready to have your mind blown away by the toppings list alone.) Then a walk around/some shopping at Cherry Creek and stopping by Elevated for a roof top view and nightcap.

The next day after a yummy brunch at Snooze Eatery, we’d strap on our hiking boots and head to Boulder for a long hike at NCAR, then, most likely famished from a hike, we would make our way over to Pearl Street Mall (at most for the people watching) and have a happy hour at Hapa Sushi. Then heading over to the tucked away Telephone Pub in Lakewood for some Harry Potter themed drinks and trivia.

We’d close out our trip with breakfast at Lucile’s Creole Café, a drive-up to Flagstaff’s Lost Gulch Overlook and meal at China Gourmet (my favorite Chinese restaurant in Colorado for 20+ years).

Basically, I’d tell them to bring their appetite.

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 used to be someone who truly prided myself on my ability to “do it all alone”. However, the day I realized that this way of thinking was doing nothing to help me move forward, that was a life changing day. It really does take a village and I could write a whole book on the people who have helped me on this journey.

But the person I can devote the most amount of my growth to is my business coach, Delanie Fischer.

Before I met her, I was flailing about, making no progress, feeling like I was screaming to the masses and yet no one was listening. I was on the brink of burnout, and I knew I needed to make a change, so it came down to a decision; give up (which I desperately didn’t want to do) or ask for help. I chose the ladder and hired on Delanie Fischer. Within 6 months, my business felt simple, it was growing like crazy, I left my two day-jobs, and I was living my dream. I firmly believe that wouldn’t have happened (or at least not in that condensed amount of time) without her help.

Website: https://www.lifecoachbaker.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifecoachbaker/

Image Credits
All image credit goes to Heather Chavez with Heather Ann Photo Website: https://www.heatherannphoto.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heather_ann_photo/