From Couch Potato to Seven-Figure Entrepreneur: Carol Elizabeth's Journey of Transformation
In a coaching world full of strategies, frameworks, and polished personas, Carol Elizabeth offers something refreshingly different: unfiltered truth, fierce self-love, and a willingness to go deep.
As someone who has interviewed many brilliant leaders in this space, I’ve come to recognize the unmistakable energy of someone who truly embodies their message. In this conversation with Carol, that resonance was clear. From her no-BS approach to identity and alignment to the way she speaks about frequency, joy, and transformation from the inside out, it felt like we were speaking the same language.
Whether you’re a coach just beginning your journey or a seasoned leader navigating your next evolution, what Carol shares here will move you, shake you, and remind you what’s real.
Let’s dive in…
The Beginning of Transformation
From Stay-at-Home Mom to Entrepreneur
Jonathan Carroll: From stay-at-home mom with no career to multi-passionate seven-figure entrepreneur and from couch potato to fitness proβ€”what inner dialogue did you have to overcome to even begin?
Carol Elizabeth: I wish I knew then that there was inner dialogue to overcome. Honestly, I had a few what I like to call "gifts of desperation" moments. I had a "where did I go" moment looking in the mirror when I was about 37 years old. I was spending my time thinking I wasn't happy because I had extra weight on me, and the inner dialogue was "I'll be happy if I lose weight, if I look like this person." At 37, I remember thinking I was old and all the good years were behind me. But I started to move forward for my health, and when I went through my first divorce at 41, I saw alternatives to the traditional job path because the pain of being where I was was greater than the fear I had. One of my superpowers is I don't really think very much, and it's served me pretty well most of the time.
I had a "where did I go" moment looking in the mirror when I was about 37 years old.
The Magic Carpet Ride
Jonathan Carroll: What was the moment you knew the life you were living no longer fit, and what did you do next?
1
Recognizing Discontent
Carol Elizabeth: That's a continuous thing for meβ€”more rapid fire lately, the more I'm tapped in. I call it a magic carpet ride. When I stopped feeling good and had thoughts of "Is this really all there is? Is this what I'm here for?"
2
Finding Unexpected Inspiration
One of the most fun things about my fitness journey was searching for fitness motivation videos. They'd put Les Brown and Tony Robbins tracks over fitness content, and I stopped looking at the videos and started listening nonstop to the motivational content.
3
Mind Transformation
I thought I was doing it for the body, but I completely transformed my mind, which changed everything. Those thoughts propelled me forwardβ€”I would hear "Do I want this? Am I worthy? What are my actions and results and beliefs?"
4
Learning to Pivot
When I didn't have an answer for why I was doing something, I would just pivot and switch.
Beyond the Perfect Body
Jonathan Carroll: So you've achieved the perfect body and hit all the goals. What did those wins reveal and what were they hiding?
Carol Elizabeth: So much. For a long time, my first coaching was fitness coachingβ€”I called myself "the mom who got it done." The crazy part of the fitness world is the amount of attention you get is next level, and if you've never had attention, you eat that up. But I realized very early on that what does it matter if I'm first or tenth? My body didn't make me happy, it didn't fix my marriage, it didn't fix the way I thought about myself. The journey of getting that "perfect body" did nothing to fix me that I wanted it to. The real journey became going inward and asking why do I need others to tell me I'm good enough? In the last three to five years, massively, I've become my biggest cheerleader. I gotta help women be their number one fanβ€”we're kickass and badass and amazing, not because of accolades, but because we just are.
"The real journey became going inward and asking why do I need others to tell me I'm good enough?"
Reclaiming Health and Identity
Jonathan Carroll: There's a line you crossed in July of 2024, reclaiming your health and identity. What changed inside of you?
1
Fitness Phase
After my fitness phase, I had a moment where I got off a stage after delivering what I thought was a soul-stirring speech, but all anyone said was "Oh my God, your shoulders, your body."
2
Identity Crisis
Subconsciously I started thinking I can't be fitness Carol and mind-blowing transformative speaker Carol. So I stopped going to the gym as much and started putting on weight.
3
Health Challenges
Then I had breast cancer, and then the pandemic years happened.
4
Drawing the Line
In January 2024, I said I want to be incredibly fit and healthy and happy at 90β€”I want to be running with my grandkids, hiking in Portugal. I had to say to myself, "You can't say you love yourself if you're not nourishing this body that survived cancer."
5
Integration
So I drew a line in the sand and went all in on me. While releasing the fat, I released so many lies I was telling myself. It brought everything back together, except with the new elevated soul leading and not ego.
The Power of Identity
Jonathan Carroll: What role has identity played in your transformation and how do you help women shift to theirs?
ZAP
When you get that zap of excitement about a new possibility
SPLAT
When reality hits and you realize it's not going to be easy
GROW
When you do the work to become consciously competent
FLOW
When you're just operating in that space naturally
Carol Elizabeth: I am obsessed with identity. I learned about the cycle of transformation about 15 years agoβ€”inception, deception, transformation, and identity. I made up my own words for the cycle because I like making things simple. Identity is the foundation of all transformation. It's not the programβ€”whether you do macros or steps or CrossFitβ€”it's the person you are being when you're doing the thing that creates the result. If we're not willing to do the inner work on us, we're going to be in the loop of always looking for the next thing that's going to work.
The Real Path to Growth
Jonathan Carroll: What do most women think they need to do to grow, and what do they actually need to do?
Carol Elizabeth: The saddest part is I don't think most women know that they can grow. They don't even have themselves on the list, let alone at the bottom of their list. That's a lot of my missionβ€”to wake up and shake up and say we've got magic inside of us that's been buried. I think they're too busy looking for the steps, the right way, the certainty, and instead the real secret is surrender. Surrender to allow and listen for our soul and follow. There's so much to that that is scary because a lot of that might be "you shouldn't be in this marriage" or "maybe your kids don't fulfill you completely." It's asking us to question the path we've been on for 30, 40, 50 years.
The real secret is surrender. Surrender to allow and listen for our soul and follow.
Shifting Your Story
Jonathan Carroll: What would you say is another big block for women that they don't even realize they have?
Limiting Stories
Just the stories they're telling themselves. Living in the low vibration of "I can't" and "this is just how it is."
Reframing
Shifting your shit is shifting your story, shifting your belief system from can't to capable.
Choosing Joy
My only job is to make myself happyβ€”not to worry about all the things, but to just be in joy and do the things that make me happy.
Transformation
When I started to do it, everything changed. It really is this simple, even though it sounds like it cannot be.
Carol Elizabeth: If I can help you reframe your story, it changes everything.
Energy and Frequency
Jonathan Carroll: You speak a lot about energy and frequency. What does that mean in practical terms for a woman building her life or business?
Carol Elizabeth: You get in life the energy that you are. Everything in our life we are responsible for, and that stings sometimes, but when you're willing to let that be the doorway into understanding youβ€”if we get in life the frequency that we are, when we're talking about problems, we get more of them. I started testing it and realized I can use my control freak tendencies to literally control the universe by the energy I am. The energy we give off, the universe gives us back. Everything I get, I get to create in the way that I am and take full responsibility for that, even in the hardest times. My number one thing is helping people find joy in every day, regardless of what's going on in life.
The energy we give off, the universe gives us back.
The Power of Being Selfish
Jonathan Carroll: What's your biggest non-negotiable for living in the frequency of more?
Hearing
Being quiet, journaling, listening to my soul write
Healing
Healing why I'm scared or think I'm not enough
Honoring
Following those nudges, those dragonfly moments, those signs
Carol Elizabeth: Being selfishβ€”meaning what do I need, what do I want? Dancing, sunsets, nature, laughter. I make "selfish" into three H's: self, then your inner soul hearing, healing, and then honoring her. It's never going to make sense to anybody else, but that frequency of more comes by being selfish and honoring ourselves.
Alignment Practices
Jonathan Carroll: What practices keep you aligned when life gets messy or overwhelming?
Carol Elizabeth: Journaling, journaling, journaling. Catching myself when I doom scroll or thoughts keep spiraling, I'll stop and journal or get it all out. Going to the gymβ€”I used to think I didn't have time for that, but now it's a non-negotiable. Making sure the people in my world are my kind of people and having no fears about not spending time with people that no longer match. A lot of alone time and a smaller circle.
Journaling
Getting thoughts out when spiraling begins
Physical Movement
Going to the gym as a non-negotiable
Intentional Relationships
Surrounding herself with aligned people
Solitude
Prioritizing alone time and a smaller circle
Ongoing Growth
Jonathan Carroll: What's something you're still healing or learning?
Learning to Fully Surrender
Carol Elizabeth: How to truly believe that I can fully surrender. I surrender, but I'm still holding on a little bit. There's still elements of the "mama got it done" version inside for sure. She's still like "I'll get it done, I'll do it."
Asking for Help
Surrendering some elements to teammates, asking for helpβ€”one of the gifts of cancer was receiving help and that people wanted to help, and that it wasn't a sign that you can't do it.
Humbling Leadership Moments
Jonathan Carroll: What was your most humbling moment as a coach, and how did it shape your leadership?
Carol Elizabeth: The most humbling moments have been when people don't like me or it wasn't their jam, because everyone likes me. I coached and led from "look at me, look at what I've done"β€”full ego. Moments where a person said "you hardly let me get a word in" really impacted me. Not being everyone's cup of tea allowed me to know it's better to be all me. I'm going to swear because that's who I am. The more me I can be, the more I can help the person I'm meant to help.
"Not being everyone's cup of tea allowed me to know it's better to be all me."
The Shake and Hug Approach
Jonathan Carroll: You say "I'll shake you, then hug you." What does that look like in your coaching containers?
The Shake
I'm a straight shooter. If we use the example of women and their stories, I'm not letting them ramble on. I'm going to grab them and be like "we're not talking about this anymore." The shake you is like "we don't need to do this anymore."
The Walk
It's all with love and passion to help walk across the bridge of transformation with them. I used to be on the other side saying "come on," or pushing them up the bridge, but now I'm walking alongsideβ€”maybe with a grip, like pulling.
The Hug
I'll say things like "everything in your life you brought in," and that shakes people, makes people angry, but I'm willing to say it because without us getting into that, we're not going to move anything forward.
Pain as Purpose
Jonathan Carroll: How has pain shaped your purpose?
Carol Elizabeth: I say my mess is my magic. Every painful moment has caused all of the transformations. I couldn't change any of it. Going through a second divorce has caused me to go so deep on myself and know what I'm really worth. Every lessonβ€”I talk about the level of joy I live in being a direct reflection of the level of pain I felt. I choose to live up here, and the contrast shows me what's possible. I know I can get through anything because I know the steps to takeβ€”not blocking it out, but doing the inner work.
My mess is my magic. Every painful moment has caused all of the transformations.
Authentic Visibility
Jonathan Carroll: What's your take on visibility, especially for women who fear being too much or not enough?
Authenticity Reduces Fear
I think when you're doing something you know you want to do for that moment, you're not as scared to be visible. When you feel fake, you are scared.
The Not-Enoughness Trap
It comes back to not-enoughnessβ€”people think they need credentials or enough of this or that to be seen, rather than just themselves. But they don't even know who they are yet.
Age Is Just a Number
I'm 55 but I feel like my life's just getting started.
True Calling vs. Cool Idea
Sometimes people think they want to be a coach or speaker, but they don't really want to beβ€”they just think it would be cool. If you're really meant to do these things, you will be called to them more and more.
The One Truth
Jonathan Carroll: If you could shout one truth from the rooftops for every high-achieving woman to hear, what would it be?
Carol Elizabeth: You don't need anybody else to tell you that you're badass. If you can't look in the mirror and think that you're the most awesome sauce version of a human on the planet, all the achievements in the world aren't going to make you feel good.
The Magic Carpet Ride Continues
Jonathan Carroll: What's next for you, and what version of you is being born now that the world hasn't met yet?
Carol Elizabeth: I'm just as excited as the whole world to find that out. I have a "you three" frameworkβ€”inner critic, inner coach, and inner guide. Inner guide is our soul, and she's been leading since February 2024. I'm literally just letting her lead and leaping and doing things that don't make sense. I'm on my magic carpet ride and going wherever the magic takes me. I've learned there's zero reason to put effort into figuring out how it's all going to happen, because it's never going to happen that way. So I'm surrendered and letting it go.
1
2
3
1
Inner Guide
Soul
2
Inner Coach
Wisdom
3
Inner Critic
Fear
Advice for New Coaches
Jonathan Carroll: If you could give one piece of advice to a new coach entering the industry today, what would it be?
Trust Yourself
You're enough now. You don't need the credentialsβ€”I mean, those things are great, but you have your own life experience.
A Few Steps Ahead
You are a few steps ahead of somebody else, and that's all you need to be, plus a desire to help.
Value Your Experience
Stop thinking you're not enough because you don't have all the things. You have a desire to help and you've gone through somethingβ€”you can help somebody that's not there yet.
The Power of Alignment
Out of all the conversations we've featured inside The Coaches' Chronicle, this one left me especially lit up. Not because Carol said something I had never heard before, but because she lives it. Her path reflects a truth many of us already feel deep down. Our power does not come from credentials, followers, or perfection. It comes from alignment. From the willingness to stop performing and start being.
Carol's story is a powerful mirror for any coach who has felt the tension between who they think they need to be and who they truly are. And if you have ever doubted that your story matters, that your energy leads, or that your raw and unfiltered presence is enough, this is your reminder.
You are not here to play small. Your soul did not come to whisper. It came to lead.
– Jonathan Carroll | Editor-in-Chief, The Coaches' Chronicle
Our power does not come from credentials, followers, or perfection. It comes from alignment.
Watch the full interview with Jonathan Carroll and Carole Elizabeth below (52 min).
Jonathan Carroll
Editor-in-Chief, The Coaches’ Chronicle
Jonathan Carroll is a visionary leader, masterful facilitator, coach, mentor, retreat host, author, and the Editor-In-Chief of The Coaches’ Chronicle, a premier publication for conscious, heart-centered coaches, healers, and visionary leaders. With decades of experience guiding transformational leaders toward authentic alignment and full expression, Jonathan curates The Coaches’ Chronicle to be more than just a magazine. It is a movement, amplifying the voices of those redefining success through purpose, integrity, and deep inner work.
As the founder of The Dragonfly Clubβ„’, Jonathan has built a global community dedicated to conscious evolution, blending spiritual wisdom with real-world impact. His expertise in intuitive business leadership, energetic alignment, and authentic expression makes him a sought-after mentor for those ready to embrace their soul’s highest calling.
At The Coaches’ Chronicle, Jonathan continues his mission of elevating the coaching industry beyond fleeting trends, fostering a space where depth, wisdom, and transformation take center stage. Click on Jonathan's photo to follow him on Facebook.
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