A Journey of Twists and Turns
MEMBER STORY
Amanda Barlow is one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet. She speaks with such grace, confidence and wisdom you can only wonder what she’s seen and experienced. Curiosity got the best of me, so I asked her to sit down for an interview.
Amanda is a wellness coach that specializes in nutrition and essential oils. Along with coaching she often gives corporate talks to firms to help employees be more aware of their nutritional and wellness needs. To adapt to the current situation Amanda has taken her business online through zoom. When a challenge is presented, Amanda steps up to the opportunity. She is an innovative entrepreneur that truly cares for people’s overall health. But all of this wasn't built overnight. It first began in a small Canadian city in the prairie’s.
Amanda’s journey starts in Saskatchewan. After going to a bizarre High School that didn’t legally give her the credentials to go to a real college, Amanda enlisted into another High School in the beginning of her 20s to get what she needed for college. Once getting herself set up for college she enrolled into an environmental sciences program, in a small town in Alberta. She soon learned that she hated environmental sciences after 6 weeks in the program and dropped out. She found the program was more geared towards being a conservation officer instead of a research position.
After dropping out she moved to Calgary. Her next venture was a goal set very high up in the sky. She set out to be a climbing instructor ! After 5 years Amanda unfortunately endured a terrible injury that caused her ligaments to rupture. The doctor treating her suggested she study to be a medical office assistant. Once more Amanda headed off to college.
During her co-op term at a pediatric plastic surgery clinic she was able to step in for the main office assistant while she was on vacation. Then when the main office assistant became incredibly ill and was stuck in the hospital, Amanda stepped in to run the practice whilst finishing off her Diploma. With trial and error she learned how to run a practice with a patient doctor.
This was the beginning of a 10 year long career that provided Amanda the opportunity to learn and expand. Once things got a little complicated because of long hours and management, Amanda’s was left with very few reasons to stay. Whilst working full time and carrying for her young son she needed a more flexible schedule. On top of caring for her young son, Amanda founded an online store with natural Canadian products for babies.
After leaving her full time job she began her second entrepreneurship project. Instead of paying for daycare, she became the daycare! Amanda opened up her first daycare to stay closer to her son and have more flexibility. After she put an advertisement on Kijiji her daycare took off with more clients than she could handle. She had chosen a niche market that was in high demand and she was in business.
Before she was able to expand her business, Amanda began to suffer from an undiagnosed illness. She had to stop working completely and put her daycare on hold. During this time she was going through her fertility journey. Amanda’s partner and her, were trying to have another child. The fertility treatments were coming to the point where it was ruining Amanda’s health. Celiac's disease was also contributing to the worsening of her health. After 4 years a Doctor revealed that the fertility treatments were doing too much harm to her body.
In 2015 a dear friend needed help in their chiropractor practice and of course Amanda rose to the occasion. This was where Amanda discovered wellness care. This inspired the entrepreneur to register into a program with the academy of culinary nutrition. While juggling a full time position, Amanda dove into her intense 16 week program and ended up graduating with Honours again.
Amanda made the big move to Winnipeg after graduating to work with a well respected Doctor in a Maxliving clinic . Through this office Amanda was able to attend many wellness and leadership training seminars across north america.
9 months into working at the practice, her workplace was flipped upside down due to unexpected events resulting in a loss of majority of their patients. As a team the doctor of the practice and Amanda decided to carry on by putting all they had into the practice and rebuilding the community.
After 18 months the two determined minds built the practice back up again. Teary eyed they celebrated their 300th patient visit. Through getting to this goal Amanda ultimately sacrificed her health and wellbeing.
The dismissal of Amanda’s health led her to develop terrible migraines and ultimately led her to leave the practice that she helped build. Emotionally a lot was built up. Amanda took a 6-8 week self discovery journey. Learned her boundaries, healed and worked to understand her enneagram number.
Now Amanda is planning her launch strategy. She continues to do Zoom classes for TableSpace, takes part in corporate wellness talks, for companies such as bold e-commerce. What you can take from Amanda’s story really ranges. Amanda’s story shows the truth and beauty in the struggle of life. At TableSpace we can’t wait to see what’s next for Amanda!