Seeing the bright side: Emily Socha’s story on creating a safe and reliable virtual space for her clients

The Block Advisors’ Small Business Resilience Series celebrates small business owners who have persevered through challenging times to find success.  In this spotlight we feature, Emily Socha.

Meet Emily: Life coach and wellness guru

Emily Socha is an Inner Self Coach and movement specialist based in Arlington, Massachusetts. She combines a degree in applied psychology with credentials as a mobility specialist (FRCms), certified personal trainer (CPT), corrective exercise specialist, registered yoga teacher, certified health coach and Inner Voice Facilitator.

Emily’s focus is to help clients reach unattainable health and fitness levels. Her work centers around creating the safe and healthy space necessary for clients to return to their inherent strength, both emotionally and physically. She practices a constraint releasing approach, believing that we all have everything we need inside of us. We just need to be reminded of it every once in a while.  

These gentle reminders come in the form of mobility work or joint-specific strength training, where clients remember how their body was designed to move and be strengthened. Along with inner self sessions where clients tap into and create a relationship with the wisest part of themselves to feel confident, free of anxiety, and unstoppable when building the life they feel called to live.

Emily’s goal with each client is for them to walk away with a greater sense of who they really are and all the confidence and strength (emotional + physical)) that is associated with returning to that version of ourselves, as opposed to the one we were told we’re supposed to be.

Creating a virtual space for her clients to feel empowered

In her words

Pre-pandemic, I had a little studio where I would see clients. When quarantine first hit in March 2020, I was very adorably like, “Okay guys, we will close for a week and I’ll see you soon.” But of course, you know how this story goes — I never took a client back in that studio again.

I hold my clients near and dear to my heart, and because of the work I do, I build one-on-one relationships with them, so they’re like family to me. I’m super lucky that my work translated easily over to virtual calls as I know that’s not the case for everyone. My clients and I just made the switch to virtual meetings and that was that. I’m a problem-solver and my clients are the main reason I got into entrepreneurship in the first place, so in a way, I always knew I could figure it out.

I’m also lucky enough to have a support system of other coaches around me. I’m a business of one; it’s just me working alone, so I rely on social media to keep me connected to other coaches. Social media sometimes gets a bad rep but seeing what other small business owners and coaches were able to do and how they pivoted so quickly to virtual sessions was a big help and support throughout the pandemic.

A group of other coaches and I were starting a certification program right as the first lockdown started, so when we finished, we were all right in the middle of it. Going through that together, we created a community of coaches with the same goal to help each other.

I think it really was the entrepreneurial mindset of, “Okay, here we go, we’re not going to let this stop us,” that kept me motivated to keep going.

From quarantine and the pandemic, I’ve actually been able to connect with my clients more consistently and frequently, building deeper connections. The shift to virtual sessions gives them, and me, the freedom to travel and go places that we didn’t have before. Since the calls are virtual, we can call in from anywhere, so even if they have a family vacation scheduled, we can still make our weekly meetups. What a novel idea this was!

I’ve also started recording my sessions for future use and reference. I record our sessions, edit them down, and now the client can use them for future workouts without having to schedule a call with me. In many ways the pandemic has helped optimize my business, which is so cool but also shows resilience. Some people would have just thrown in the towel, because it was hard and it was, dare I say, unprecedented.

A big catalyst for me was thinking, “What’s next? What if this never goes away? What if more digital life keeps happening?” From those questions I can figure out how I can best show up for my people and serve them the best I know how.

Like I said, I’m a problem-solver.

Her thorough tax pro, Flor, has kept Emily loyal

Emily has been a Block Advisors and H&R Block customer since 2019. Emily went with Block Advisors because she felt they were consistent and trustworthy. Her small business certified tax pro, Floraida Avila, in Arlington, Massachusetts, made Emily feel confident in her decision and she hasn’t looked back. Flor made sure Emily had a good experience — and now she is a trusted supporter for all things small-business-tax-related.

“I decided to start working with a tax professional when my business expenses started increasing, and I wanted to make sure I was filing things correctly. I met Flor two years ago and we hit it off. She asked me many questions about my business, which I appreciated, and she was lovely to chat with. This year I happen to be living in Iowa, but I went back to Flor and asked if we could work together remotely because of how much I enjoyed her help and attention to detail,” Emily says.

Block Advisors by H&R Block has small-business certified pros available both online and in-person to help with small business tax, payroll, and bookkeeping needs.