A glimpse into my life … 

Interview and photos by Verica Nikolic

“Using one’s unique talents gives you all the extra abilities.” 

Quiet, with powerful inner energy, Nadine is able to help you knock down that invisible wall that you have built to protect yourself. By establishing a heart to heart connection she will let your inner self shine out!

IB: Hello Nadine! It is a pleasure to see you again! It would be great if you could start by telling us a bit more about your work as a personality and business coach and consultant.

NH: Well, my work always reaches into the deepest inner self, the essence of a person, a product, a service or of a company to connect it to its purpose on this planet. My task is to support, encourage and empower people and organizations to find and walk this path, to live their purpose and passion and realize their full potential.

It sounds easy but to find it a person needs to face all the challenges of such an intense inner and outer journey. By living according to one’s true purpose you become a pioneer of defining your unique way. Only your inner compass can guide you. You will need the maps and routes, which suit you the best. In the end you have to take responsibility for every step yourself. In that way we succeed, finding joy and a light flow where everything comes together.

IB: Your field of work is very wide yet also interconnected. The way you work makes it seem as one part cannot exist without the other, there is no beginning or end. Is that how you see it?

NH: Exactly. By finding deep inner clarity and focusing on your own development, you become very conscious of the whole and the interdependencies. Using one’s unique talents, gifts, knowledge and experiences gives you all the extra abilities, entrepreneurial strength and support to encounter the pioneer’s challenges.

IB: Exactly … And to be closer to yourself, your true self, you chose Ibiza as a base. How did that come about?

NH: Coming to Ibiza was part of my journey. For about 25 years I had been longing to live by the sea. The ocean is my biggest source of power, it gives me inspiration and the feeling of oneness. It is my biggest love and what makes me feel loved most. I had never planned to go to Ibiza. I had had a look at Mallorca as a new home and work base and had approved it. A friend living on Ibiza asked me to visit her on that occasion. And there it happened. Within the first minutes here the island took hold of me and kept me. It challenges and nourishes me deeply making me clearer, stronger and more independent of outer social beliefs and perspectives.

IB: I can understand that… You have undertaken many different roles during your career. What were your drivers? Were you searching for new challenges, wanting to further develop yourself? It seems to me, from our conversations, that you were looking to develop a form of work which is part of who you are. Do you agree?

NH: Two things are the thread through my life: following my inner voice and a desire to bring my potential into the world. This can also apply to the potential of good products or people. This is the core of my marketing profession.

And yes, I have a very strong drive for my own development. I grew up in a little village of 2.000 people near Münster/Westfalia in Germany, spent three years of my youth with my parents and brother close to New York City. When I came back I knew I want to extend this international experience and live up to my potential while doing it. Developing to understand things deeply and achieving high quality results always drove me. If I felt I was getting rusty, not being challenged enough or wasting my energy in malfunctioning big companies, I followed my urge to find opportunities to move on. I always wanted to live up to my potential in surroundings that support it.

I had discovered that I love to and am able to work from home whilst I was building up a new company site for a diabetes product supplier in Berlin/Brandenburg. In 2003 I stepped into self-employment as Marketing/Communications Consultant and Coach, loving the freedom and at the same time facing all the challenges it brings along. Five years later I had done a wide-range study within Germany’s consultants, trainers and coaches of this topic and written a “how-to” book on how to face the biggest challenges as entrepreneurs. The readers love it.

So, yes – what I support others in today has always been my own path and I guess I will always be walking it, facing all my own personal and business challenges whilst guiding others and offering them my gifts, knowledge and experience.

IB: It is amazing how you develop yourself, taking on new challenges after completing the previous one. Do you surprise yourself at times? How hard is it to constantly push yourself? Are your previous experiences helping you now to lead and assist others with their businesses?

NH: Good question – did I surprise myself sometimes? Yes. My courage and actions surprised me several times, mostly in extreme situations during my life where I was immersed in emotions and in the complexity of thoughts. Then, suddenly, a clarity and deep knowledge came to me. Somehow I knew what to do next. I developed strength, endurance, abilities or “miracles” that I had never experienced before. There was always something that kept me going and even activated more power within me. 

Now I can say, however bad or tricky it looked, life always went on and supported me. Now I have the inner calm and strength of not being afraid. Or let’s say, of handling my fears. This is what makes me free to really go my own way – no matter what. The most important thing is that I do not lose myself, that I stay true to who I am. From there I am able to deal with anything and everything that is on my soul path.

My clients understand that my advice is grounded in a deep knowledge and my own experience. And if I do not have a solid reply to what they wish to know I state that clearly, too.

IB: So, now you are helping others to recognise their own potential. But to return to your own background, how hard was it for you to recognise yourself, to trust to yourself, to tell yourself “oh yes, I can do it”, or to tell yourself “yes, this is me, this is my way”. Did you have a plan for your career?

NH: Well, that’s a tricky question. Did I have a plan? Yes and no. Because it might have felt like my life was following a plan but most of the time things ended up very differently than I had imagined. Currently I feel I am being trained not to plan anymore but to live within the moment. My aim is to keep bigger visions, purpose or wishes in mind, not have a concrete plan and to trust that whatever happens in every-day-life is perfect as it is. 

I feel my task is more than ever to let my mind and its perceptions and ideas be free and open up to what it cannot grasp or imagine, giving space to what wants to evolve from within. My path has been very winding and I have encountered many learning experiences which means that I really know how to help others to avoid pitfalls. As I see it , it is hard to step out of the system of “normality” and live one’s very own life, especially in my generation and culture. I hope that living one’s passion, purpose, potential and uniqueness will become the new “normal” way to do it. I see this as my path, to take part in spreading this new “normality” – or new culture 5.0 as I call it.

IB: One of my greatest impressions about you is that you are absolutely free of any egoism, which is quite rare these days. You worked as a manager in a large company. How did it feel to be a woman in the corporate world?

NH: Well, I was proud and it motivated me to manage marketing and PR budgets of 7 million Euros. Having big financial goals still energises me. But today it motivates me because I see how I can reinvest, make my life easier and more joyful and have more positive impact on the world. Back then in the business world it did not make sense to me to spend that much money just to convince people that my product is better than the one next to it on the shelf. Spending millions on it felt like nonsense to me. To sum it up, I learned, experienced the business skills and tricks and then moved into using them in a way that it is positive for the planet and its people.

My ego is more subtle I would say. That was one of my biggest disciplines: to clear my ego and be more and more able to steer it, use self-leadership to live a conscious and deeply value-driven life. That is what makes me happy and strong on a deeper level than ego-driven actions. 

IB: I sense that empathy is a dominant part of your character. How do you maintain the balance between being strong and yet sensitive? I am pretty sure that many women will recognise themselves here and that they are looking for answers and support and I believe that your experience can help them. What would be your advice for all sensitive and ambitious people out there?

NH: High empathy often has two sides to it. In the past I felt more about others than myself. It is my biggest gift and biggest challenge. Up to today I am still learning and training a lot to take at least as much care of myself as of others. This is something I like to pass on. Because the old patterns of self-exploitation and diminishing ourselves as women, lie deep.

I believe that self reflection, realising, cleansing ourselves of limiting belief systems, and building tools and support to work with whatever comes along is so important for us. And also to have at least one person to support us on our unique path. I also believe it is best to have a trained person who is not as close as friends or family. She/he should be able to see you and your potential and support you through whatever happens or to whatever you are working on.

IB: Yes, I agree… Can you share with us a little about your journey in reaching this stage of your life? When were the moments of your awakening, achieving self-awareness, making the first fundamental changes, that moment of clarity when you found out who you are and what you want to do?

NH: Well I married fairly young in my twenties but quite soon realised I was living for the needs of others, their world views and beliefs, more than mine. I started to question what I actually wanted and started diving into different experiences, exploring structures and positions within the corporate world alongside as getting to know my inner self.

Bit by bit during my 30’s I started stepping into what I really wanted, trying to harmonise it with the partners but I realised finally we needed to go our separate ways so I could achieve full independence and full self responsibility on all levels. I said goodbye to the marriage, some long-term business partnerships, and even several friendships – and now, also out of the German country, moving from the northern-European culture to the freedom of Ibiza.

IB: And today do you feel you have reached the level of self-awareness and happiness that you have aspired to?

NH: No. Every time I think I have found it, I either realise that there are deeper levels to it or something else comes up. What I seek is living love, lightness and abundance. Sometimes I am there. Then I can be de-railed by an old challenge coming back to haunt me or a brand new one. Once one level seems to be mastered, the next more difficult level pops up just like a computer game. It is like standing between two worlds: being within the matrix which draws us into its game or being able to step out and see it from above and play it like a game with a healthy detachment. 

I see and sense the truth of living a life based on oneness and abundance. Living it fully is another story of course, but I am looking forward to it. That is what I am here for.

IB: In the name of love, in the name of freedom, to be who you truly are I strongly recommend that you follow this pioneering woman, Nadine Hamburger! Thank you!