How alignment, courage and honesty supports Rhonda’s energy and passion as a transformational coach
Rhonda has ditched the notion of The Niche in favour of serving humans - and now her work lights her up, supports her wellbeing, and gets her excited each day!
Rhonda shares her business journey and the simple changes she’s made to ensure her business works for HER!
What’s your biz?
I'm a transformational coach and facilitator.
I help people achieve clarity, calm + freedom
I help people (and teams) let go of the past!
I help people convert what they know into behaviour change.
I help teams work better together. I help leaders get buy-in to vision, value and change.
I’m known for helping people and teams navigate complexity and change - within themselves, their relationships, and their organisations. My work combines strategic facilitation with human insight because I want people to remember what it feels like to trust themselves and each other again.
I blend leadership psychology, emotional intelligence, breathwork, mindfulness and my own lived experience.
Who do you work with?
I break all the rules here - I know I know I know I 'should have' an ideal customer. But honestly, everytime I attempt The Niche I come back to: they're human. Because I work mostly with someone's operating system, their title, role, and the symptoms of their problems are less relevant.
What matters most is helping people and teams to address the root cause, let go, get clear and move forward.
What sparked the idea behind your business?
The idea didn't come at this time, but I did have a very specific moment, at the bottom of a shower crying and fully clothed suffering from burnout. This was the panic attack version of burnout. I was wrecked.
I switched jobs thinking this would solve my problems. But of course the patterns, beliefs, blocks and habits just came with me!
And a few years later I felt myself silently creeping towards, dangerously close to, burnout again.
I went on a 2 week yoga retreat in France and came back and asked my boss if I could finish that week. I knew I had to make a change, connect with my values and offer something to the world from a place of service not compliance.
The first version of Our Minds Matter was born.
What does a typical day look like for you as a business owner?
I get up at 5.30am, spend 2.5 hours resourcing myself for my day (journalling, reading, meditation, breathwork and exercise) and take the 100m commute through my garden to my tiny home (a beautiful dedicated space for my coaching).
Some days my work looks like designing a breakthrough strategy day or guiding a team to rebuild trust and co-create values. Other days it’s helping a client face burnout, shift old beliefs, and reclaim a deeper sense of self. And on other days I might be preparing for or debriefing after a facilitation.
I balance work and personal life by holding myself accountable to what matters most for me (my health, husband and kids) and my husband helps me stick to my own boundaries too!
The BEST thing I ever did was structure my coaching into a 4 week cycle and every 4th week is a non coaching week where I reset, refresh and reconnect with myself! I have a responsibility to do this for my clients.
What are some of the key milestones in your business journey so far?
Key achievements happen all the time in terms of my clients success - when they have breakthoughs, I know my mahi is making a difference and this is what I measure the success of my business by.
But one of the most powerful milestones was funnily enough when I 'retired' from being a chartered accountant after 26 years... I had been coaching for 6 years at this point so 'letting go' of being able to say I was a CA (the "back up") was quote symbolic! Empowering.
And another when I designed and hosted a retreat for 10 beautiful humans in March 2020 - the weekend before lockdown. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my entire working career - I DID IT. I haven't done one since but it's planned for 2026.
What have been some of the biggest challenges you've faced so far?
Believing I didn't know enough: I did a great deal of deeper work around this to break the pattern of flipping from one learning journey to another, at great expense!!
Another challenge was ....cliche Covid, when I was required to shift from face to face facilitation to coaching.
Coaching qualifications took me 3 years BUT were so worth it. NOW, I trust myself. I also trust that I don't need to know everything.
What are your future goals in your business?
RIGHT NOW I am buzzing because I am about to host my Serving Sundays series - 5 (pretty much free - well, $50 to get commitment) an this is wherte I create the mini retreat exprinece, face to face for 5 Sunday afternoons. First one this April. S O E X C I T E D.
Plus - further refinement and exploration of what makes my offering unique - my lived experience, 26 years in corporate, my coaching practice and "me" - and wrapping this into an offering that ensures I am authentic, conscious and have the energy and passion required to do what I do. Honestly, this always feels like work in progress.
I am so energised when partnering with a leadership team which wants genuine alignment. We address elephants in the room, show up with courage and honesty, and do bloody amazing mahi together as a result! I'm also starting a group coaching programme, which focuses on relational and social capital, not just intellectual capital. We learn more in community
What’s worked best for you to build brand awareness and get customers?
SERVING. SERVING. SERVING. Coming from a place of service, always.
My business is 90% driven by referrals so building brand awareness has been all about having my own clients become my sales force and brand advocates.
This is the premise behind my Serving Sundays series. Service.
What is one of the important lessons you've learnt as a business owner? What advice would you share to someone starting out?
Come from a place of generosity - lean in to serving your clients in the BEST way you can, and afterwards, ask them for testimonials, referrals and reviews. When you do great work, you'll get great work.
How does being a part of She Owns It help you in your business journey?
SOI reminds me I'm not alone. It's as simple as that.
As a coach I am not surrounded by a team or experts but with SOI I am surrounded by a team of people who Get It.
You're my tribe.
⚡️ FAST 5:
1. One thing you’d tell your younger self starting out?
You already know, and you already are, enough.
2. Your favourite biz or personal development books or podcasts?
xchange in Ohio is my favourite business. One of my favourite books is 4000 Weeks, another The Slight Edge and a 3rd Healing Leaders.
3. How many tabs do you have open right now?
8 (on this computer!)
4. What's your go-to power song?
My sister created an ''Amazonian Rhonda" playlist for me once - I love the power, intent and love in this very bold and sometimes funny playlist. Thanks Holly!
5. A quote you love?
To choose ONE quote is like asking who is my favourite child!!?? Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. C.G. Jung. This plays out in my work all the time - people operating from a set of outdated misunderstandings, never their truths, and then wondering why they sabotage their own efforts to change. And if I can add another - an oldy but a goody - Winston S. Churchill — 'Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.' Because IT IS TRUE! I am a firm believer that there are literally no failures, only gifts to be mined from what didn't go well. And it speaks to the journey not the outcome.
How can people connect with you and your business?
021963793
Ourmindsmatter.co.nz is my ever evolving website!
Upcoming, in the spirit of serving (!) - I’m offering five Sunday afternoons this year as a way of giving back — and creating space for connection and transformation in community. Each Sunday will explore a slightly different doorway — clarity, beliefs, vision & inner blocks and identity — but the essence is the same: doing meaningful inner work in community, with gentleness, honesty, and one practical step forward. First one is 12 April in Tamahere, Waikato.
Here's my Done Not Perfect webpage - https://www.ourmindsmatter.co.nz/serving-sundays-2026/
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