Helping Individuals Transform their Personal & Professional Lives for the Better
October 7, 2022
Laura Rinnankoski
Laura Rinnankoski is a Certified International Life & Relationship Coach, a Certified NLP Practitioner, a Motivational Speaker, and an author. From a very young age, Laura was exposed to many different nationalities and cultures, which gave her good people skills and an understanding of communicating with different people. She also has a background of working with leading advertising agencies in Miami and Dublin, where she successfully managed client relationships. Therefore, communicating with people, patiently listening to their issues, and wanting to help them succeed comes as second nature to Laura.
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“Life Coaching combines three things that have always been very important to me; helping people, communication, and spirituality,” shares Laura. “As a life coach, my dream and vision are to use my international background and proficiency in 5 languages to help people all over the world!”
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The Journey to Becoming a Life Coach
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Laura was born in Helsinki, Finland, on a beautiful sunny winter morning. Soon after turning 5 months old, Laura and her family moved from Finland to Venezuela. Getting quickly adapted to the changes, new people, diverse environments, and different cultures was just the beginning for Laura. She grew up in Venezuela, where she studied in two American international schools. After shifting to Boston, she enrolled at Boston University to pursue a major in Mass Communication and Advertising and a minor in Psychology. She became a Life Coach in Ireland with the Irish Lifecoach Institute. Currently, Laura resides in Dublin and gives one-to-one sessions in person and over Zoom, as well as group workshops & courses in English, Spanish, Finnish & Italian.
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“I love helping people find their own answers and become more empowered with all the new awareness they gain in our sessions together,” says Laura. “It is a joy to witness a client gaining new understanding and awareness of themselves, taking full responsibility for their lives and realising that they are the only ones that can change their lives for the better.” Apart from life coaching, Laura is an expert relationship coach. She helps clients develop better relationships with themselves, resulting in positive relationships with others in their lives.
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Overcoming the Toughest Coaching Challenges
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As a life coach, Laura sometimes gets too involved with her clients and the issues that they are working on. However, for a life coach, the most important thing to keep in mind is that it’s good to care, but they also need to have space and boundaries with clients. “I remind myself to take a step back so that I don’t get compassion fatigue,” asserts Laura. “I also make my own self-care a priority.” Some self-care routines include going for walks, listening to music and inspirational talks, going out with friends, journalling, singing, and dancing.
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Steps to Building a Customized Training Program
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Just like every individual is different, their challenges, needs, and goals in life are also different. For this purpose, Laura structures the contents of a training program depending on the client’s requirements. The first step involves understanding the client’s background and determining what they want to work on. Once done, Laura and the client write down the end goal and devise a plan with action steps to reach that goal.
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When it comes to implementing coaching techniques, Laura uses the SMART method for the desired goal to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timebound. She also carries out a story-writing exercise with the client to figure out what stories they are telling themselves about the goal they would like to achieve. For a goal to be achieved and manifested, many different levels need to be aligned; an individual’s thoughts, beliefs, words, and actions. Likewise, she uses the Wheel of Life exercise to understand how balanced a person’s life is. “One of my favourite exercises is creating a Vision Board.” shares Laura. “Here, the client creates a collage of images of what their ideal dream future life looks like.” Given their nature, vision boards are very powerful and can help manifest amazing things.
Moreover, Laura explains that one needs to believe that everything they want is possible and that they are worthy of achieving it. She adds, “You don’t need to know how things will happen because when you are aligned within yourself, you will attract the right people, events, and circumstances to help you achieve your goals.”
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‘Breakthrough to Love’: The Most Successful Relationship Course
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In all of Laura’s coaching career years, the most standout training initiative has been her ‘Breakthrough to Love’ course. This course aims to improve the relationship with oneself, which in turn will improve all the relationships in a person’s life. In this course, Laura talks about self-love, self-acceptance, self-talk, personal stories and how one can change them, forgiveness, letting go, gratitude, and manifestations. “I know the training was successful because I received very positive testimonials after the course from the participants, and many found new relationships as well,” reveals Laura.
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Celebrating the Career Highs
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In 2015, Laura introduced her 6-week Breakthrough to Love course to a room full of participants for the first time. She was anxious and nervous about how it would turn out. However, she had nothing to be worried about. Not only did the participants give positive feedback after the course, but they also felt more empowered and aligned and were excited to continue manifesting amazing things into their lives. This was one of her biggest milestones as a relationship coach.
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Another massive milestone for Laura was getting interviewed on the highly-acclaimed, The Elaine Show in July 2019. She had previously done over 10 radio interviews and hosted a radio show for a while. But, the opportunity for a TV interview came to her unexpectedly and synchronistic way, leaving no room for Laura to prepare anything for it. “I was in a waiting room where the Elaine Show was on the TV, and then they called me from the Elaine Show!” gleefully shares Laura. “The interview happened so fast that I didn’t have time to prepare anything, so all I could do was be myself, and that’s what I did.”
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Taking Valuable Lessons from Past Mistakes
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Over the years, Laura has conducted several workshops where she teamed up with other practitioners to facilitate the sessions. Most of them had a large number of participants attending them. However, in one workshop, she collaborated with a practitioner with a large ego. This led to causing trouble between them during the workshop. “This experience taught me that I have to pick my working partners better and that it needs to be a person who is aligned to me,” implies Laura.
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A Day in the Life of a Life Coach
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Beginning her day early, Laura likes to listen to motivational talks in the morning and think about what she is grateful for. It is the time for a refreshing cup of coffee and breakfast, followed by planning the schedule for the day ahead. Checking the calendar, noting down the sessions, making calls, and doing any necessary research is Laura’s order of the day.
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Regarding handling pressure, Laura keeps things in perspective and reminds herself that everything has a solution. If she gets overwhelmed by a situation, a couple of deep breaths in and out with some tapping calms her down and retains her focus. As for unplugging from work, she enjoys a leisurely stroll, having a pleasant conversation, singing, dancing, and writing.
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Empowering Individuals through Coaching
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As a life & relationship coach, Laura wants people to realise how incredibly powerful they are and how they can change their lives if they want to with the right tools. She also wants individuals to feel happier and more empowered, have a sense of inner peace, and make a positive difference in the world. “On a spiritual level, I want people to realise how connected we are in this world and that we are not alone,” states Laura.
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Pearls of Wisdom for Aspiring Leaders
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“Stay true to yourself and your values and always prioritise people because they are your biggest asset and value.” shares Laura. “You can be a good leader and be kind at the same time.”
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Ongoing Projects
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Currently, Laura is looking forward to the book launch of ‘Quiet & Badass: Visionary Women Embracing Their Uniqueness To Create Epic Impact’ where she is one of the 18 women from around the world who have come together and shared their inspiring and motivational stories. The book is available to buy on Amazon from 23rd September 2022. Apart from this, Laura is also working on two other books; one based on her life journey and the other focused on coaching.
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