In a world that often values stability and linear career paths, Stacy Musgrave proudly introduces herself as “a quitter.” But this Colorado-based coach’s story isn’t about giving up—it’s about the courage to let go and make space for what truly resonates with her heart and purpose.

Growing up in a small town, Stacy was surrounded by doubt and limited expectations. “I grew up in a small town, a lot of doubt in myself and small dreams,” she reflects. “Yet I had this inner knowing that I really wanted something more.”

Like many of us, Stacy initially pursued a path that promised security. She enrolled in college for finance, seeking a degree that would “produce a good paying job” to provide the security and safety she craved. But she quickly realized that the corporate culture didn’t align with her values.

“I remember one of my professors saying, ‘You’re all here because you want to be CEO one day.’ And I was like, ‘Who is she talking to?’ No, I don’t,” Stacy recalls with a laugh. The emphasis on climbing the corporate ladder felt to her like stepping on each other to get to the top.

This realization prompted her first major pivot—transferring to the education school to become a certified teacher. It was the beginning of what would become a pattern in Stacy’s life: following her intuition, even when it meant changing course.

The Permission to Pivot

After college, Stacy moved to South Carolina and met her husband, who had entrepreneurial ambitions. While teaching didn’t feel like the right fit either, she initially resisted changing careers again. “What do you mean, is this what I want to do? I just went to school for it. I already changed my major. Yes, I have to,” she remembers telling her husband.

But life had other plans. When she didn’t get the teaching job she wanted—what she now calls “a blessing in disguise”—she took a leap into photography.

This began a series of pivots within photography itself: from weddings to boudoir photography, where she created “classy, beautiful, empowering photos of women” as a luxury experience in a small town. Through this work, she discovered something profound: “I realized that I healed a lot of my personal body image issues while I was helping women overcome their insecurities.”

Stacy describes herself as “the type of person that I’ll do something if it’s feeling good and then once it no longer feels aligned I’m like, got to go to the next thing.” Though she initially judged herself harshly for these changes, she’s learned to embrace this quality.

Finding Her Calling in Coaching

The path to coaching began organically when Stacy started teaching other photographers how to build their businesses. She soon realized that what she enjoyed most wasn’t sharing strategies but addressing the mindset barriers that held people back.

She recalls a pivotal moment when one of her students said, “Stacy, I love your program. I think what you’ve done is great. I already have a pricing sheet. I’m afraid to put it out there. I’m here for the mindset calls.”

This revelation sparked something in Stacy: “That’s my favorite part. I don’t want to talk to you about your strategy. I want to know why you feel you can’t go share this thing. I want to know why you feel you’re not good enough to go do this, because I’ve been there.”

Despite being in an industry where certification isn’t required, Stacy decided to pursue a coaching certification. “I want to master my craft. I want to be foundationally really supported and really good at this career.” This desire led her to the Health Coach Institute (HCI).

The Transformation Through Health Coach Institute

When Stacy enrolled in HCI’s Become a Health and Life Coach program in August 2024, she was seeking structure and validation. “The thing that sold me was, ‘Gosh, everything I have been looking for is this framework or system… you’re telling me that you’re going to give me a 12-week coaching program and I can just go teach it.'”

What she found, however, was something far more valuable. Rather than just gaining a framework to follow, she discovered confidence in her own intuition and abilities.

“I realized that I can take parts of this and I can follow my own intuition and I can follow the client,” Stacy explains. “I can trust my inner guidance to be a really effective coach for people because I really have the ability to meet people where they are.”

In a beautiful irony, “the thing I wanted became the thing that I realized I didn’t even need.” But what the program did give her was invaluable: “The peace that it gave me and the trust in myself.”

Without that validation, Stacy believes she “would have continued doubting myself and I probably would have mentally burned out because that’s a stressful place to be, doubting yourself.”

Creating Her Unique Coaching Space

While the term “niche” might feel limiting, Stacy has found her sweet spot working with high-achieving professionals who have already reached success but are seeking something deeper.

“These really high-achieving people who have the strategy dialed in, they’re successful in their career, but they don’t have space to feel seen,” she explains. “They don’t have space to uncover these feelings of ‘Wait, I haven’t felt imposter syndrome in so long and now it’s coming up.'”

Her response to clients experiencing imposter syndrome? “Because you’re doing something new, of course it is.”

Stacy describes her coaching style as being “a thought partner with someone who has already reached a level of success, but they want someone to lean on who sees them and who understands them.”

Her approach combines gentle space-holding with transformation: “I have a way of gently nudging someone to the next step. So our nervous system isn’t like, ‘My gosh, I need to go do this really big thing.’ It’s like, ‘What’s the easiest next step for you?'”

Embracing the Journey

Looking back at her winding career path, Stacy now embraces every twist and turn. “I’m so grateful that I quit all the things that I did. I’m so grateful that I overcame or acted in spite of the fear,” she shares.

Her personal growth has been remarkable. “I used to be cripplingly shy. I couldn’t talk to people. I remember thinking, sitting in moments of conversation, telling myself internally ‘just say something, say something,’ and then I would freeze.” That version of herself seems distant now.

To those considering becoming a health and life coach, Stacy offers wisdom from her own experience: “You desire this for a reason. And to put it simply, why not follow that desire rather than always wondering, always outsourcing the decision to someone else?”

She believes the world needs more people willing to hold space for others: “There are very few people who can do it really well in my opinion and who really care deeply.”

Stacy’s story is an example of the power of following your intuition, embracing change, and finding the courage to quit what doesn’t serve you in order to make space for what does. Her journey reminds us that sometimes the most beautiful paths aren’t straight lines but a series of pivots that ultimately lead us to where we’re meant to be.

Are you feeling called to become a health and life coach? Learn more about our Become a Health and Life Coach program and start your own transformational journey today.

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Health Coach Institute provides aspiring Health and Life Coaches with the tools, training, and support to make a great living transforming lives.