Start Here
Helping people move from Chaos to Calling.

Coaching for anyone looking for honest answers and clear direction!

Start Here

Personal & Professional Growth

You Can Go Your Own Way
(But Why Would You?)

Your Secret Weapon for Success

IMG_6009

Meet Sara

"My Creative Genius is helping people find theirs!"

I’m Sara Emmerson, a Certified Life and Business Coach (ICF PCC), mindset strategist, and founder of Sara Emmerson Coaching.

For over 20 years, I’ve been helping ambitious professionals, business owners, and leaders transform the way they think, lead, and live.

I believe success isn’t just about doing more, it’s about thinking differently.

My coaching helps you clear mental clutter, manage your mind under pressure, and take bold, strategic action toward what matters most.

Through powerful frameworks like The 3 Levels of Control, The Gut Check and The Smart CEO’s Decision Cheat Sheet, I guide my clients to move from overthinking to confident decision-making, from overwhelm to ownership, and from stuck to unstoppable.

Whether you’re getting unstuck, scaling a business, leading a team, or stepping into your next chapter, my mission is to help you:

  • Build unshakable clarity and confidence
  • Break free from thought patterns that hold you back
  • Take aligned, courageous action that drives real results

 

Clients often say I bring the perfect balance of strategy, insight, encouragement, and accountability — and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I live just outside of Chicago with my family and our Bernedoodle, Gunner. When I’m not coaching, you’ll find me cheering at a hockey rink or on a basketball court, savoring good coffee with friends, or dreaming up new ways to help others live boldly and lead intentionally.

Ready to shift from stuck to thriving?

Let’s work together!

What is a life coach?

They are professionally trained to use tailored tools & strategies to help you reach your goals. They are like a loyal, supportive friend and a trusted mentor all rolled into one.

Life coaches are skilled in knowing how to ask the right questions to get to the heart of your needs and desires. They help you identify your passions, hold you accountable to your goals, and provide support while encouraging you to become the best version of yourself.

What is Life Coaching?

A sports coach helps their team discover a goal (i.e., getting to the playoffs) and develops a plan to achieve it.

The same holds true for life coaching.

Life coaching exists between what’s happening now, what a person wants next, and closing that gap. A client and life coach relationship is a real-time conversation, not a stamped and mailed letter; it is a creative partnership, not a one-way street.

From the start of coaching, you will:
  • Be encouraged to discover your true self and grow
  • Create accountability to increase productivity
  • Identify, clarify and develop a vision
  • Use your coach's expertise to tweak your goals
  • Nurture a strategic plan of action based on what fits best with your goals, personality, and vision

We all need a little assistance sometimes, especially with self-discovery. If you have ever watched a video of yourself or heard a recording and thought, “is that what I look and sound like,” you know how hard it is to see yourself clearly.

It can be tough to figure out how to get from identifying your goal to actually going after and achieving it – that’s where a life coach (aka Sara) comes in. She can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses and overcome the obstacles that are holding you back.

Start Here

Who Needs A Life Coach?

All kinds of people use life coaches, including business leaders, creatives, entrepreneurs, executives, musicians, artists, actors, parents, managers, professionals, small business owners, and start-up pioneers. We all have a gap between where we are and where we want to be – life coaching helps you reach your goals.

If you thought “Do I need a life coach?,” coaching will benefit you!

Here are a few more signs coaching is for you:
  • Your inner self-talk is very negative
  • You have a fear of failure that keeps you from trying to reach your dreams
  • You've made a significant life change or endured a stressful event (aka a pandemic)
  • You have an unmet desire or goal and don't know where to start
  • You feel stuck in life
  • You have a dream but don't know where to start
  • Your life's work is on hold because you don't know where to go next
  • You are ready for change
  • You feel like you are a fraud, aka imposter syndrome

Why Coaching?

Research shows that coaching and training together are far more effective than training alone! Training can increase productivity by 22.4%, BUT combined with weekly life coaching, productivity is boosted by 88%!!!

Life coaching guides you on your purpose pursuit and allows you to maximize your potential in every area! Nothing is off-limits. BRING IT ON!

I love sitting in the “messy middle” of life with people and helping them see the remarkable life story that is being written for them.

Some of the most significant improvement areas clients see while working with me are:
  • Managing a significant life or business transition
  • Articulating core values
  • Identifying your purpose and living into it fully
  • Building professional and personal growth plans
  • Recognizing limiting beliefs
  • Achieving work, fitness & financial goals
  • Starting a new business or growing an existing one
  • Identifying goals and creating a vision for success
  • Working toward financial independence
  • Obtaining work/life balance
  • Learning to communicate more succinctly
  • Fostering more powerful connections professionally and personally
  • Improving relationships and communication skills
Start Here

Fans & Friends

Choosing Sara as a coach would be one of the best investments in yourself you could ever make. Sara is someone that is going to walk alongside you and let you know that whatever you are facing in life, you do not have to do it alone.

I truly cannot think of a better person to help you dream big and stretch your horizons to become the very best version of you. This is someone that you absolutely want on your team!
Emily Costillo
Emily CostilloKellog MBA Graduate
Sara thinks strategically, but in a uniquely creative way. Every time we talk I always come away with a new idea (or multiple new ideas) and ways to think about and approach things. Prepare to grow, be challenged to think differently, try new things, and get a whole new grasp on your purpose and who God has created you to be!!
Tim Foot
Tim FootSlingshot Group
To have Sara as your coach, don't expect to hear the things you WANT to hear. Sara will tell you the things you NEED to hear. Sara has the gift of discernment and knows the things to say at the right times. Also to have Sara as your coach will be the greatest joy. She will walk alongside you step by step and she will champion your goals and dreams.
Tim Kim
Tim KimWorship Leader
Sara played an integral role in recognizing and calling out my gifts and talents long before I was ready to see them. In moments of self-doubt and search, Sara has consistently, lovingly reminded me of who I am and who I've been created to be. I would not be in the role/work that I am in today without Sara's leadership in my life.
Jon Jorgenson
Jon JorgensonContent Creator
I have had the opportunity to participate in multiple meetings and events under the leadership of Sara. Words that describe her leadership include inspiring, inclusive, gracious, and fun. Sara creates a positive atmosphere and believes in the potential of individuals. She listens attentively and asks great questions. I highly recommend her as a coach.
Nancy Beach
Nancy BeachLeadership Coach
Author of Gifted to Lead: The Art of Leading as a Woman in the Church
Working with Sara has empowered me to better understand my gifts and gain confidence in bringing them to bear. Because of her, I am better able to express my ideas and understand where I need help. Sara helps people become the fullest version of themselves, and I am more effective, creative and communicative today because of her leadership.
Samantha Riley
Samantha RileyArtist and Writer

Next Steps

Join my email list for access to free tools and special offers.

Exclusive 100 x 100 Networking Tool

Learn More

Newsletter Sign Up

Free insights sent straight to your inbox!

Take the Quiz!