December 3, 2025 • 12 mins
What if burnout isn’t about how many hours you work, but how you recover and perform under pressure? We sit with high-performance coach and licensed mental health counselor Emily Heird, founder of Vantage View Coaching, to unpack a practical, science-backed approach to thriving in high-stress roles without sacrificing health, relationships, or purpose. Emily draws on her years in mental health and her love of sports and performance psychology to teach tools most professionals never learn: attention control, time management, motivation and commitment, self-discipline, mindfulness, and leadership culture that supports sustainable excellence.
We walk through her pivotal shift from therapy to coaching, where root causes like chronic stress and poor recovery often masquerade as clinical problems. Emily explains why coaching is an unregulated field and how to vet a coach for credentials and fit. She also challenges a common myth: your coach doesn’t need your exact job title to help you win; they need a robust playbook for resilience, pressure management, and consistent execution. Her story includes a powerful wake-up call at home that pushed her to rebuild her habits and ultimately focus full-time on this mission.
You’ll hear concrete steps for designing recovery into your day and week, building resilience skills that travel across careers, and shaping team norms that prevent burnout while preserving high standards. Emily works one-on-one with clients and delivers workshops for organizations across the U.S. and abroad, offering virtual and in-person options. Ready to find your baseline and take action? Explore her mental performance assessment and book a complimentary 30-minute consult to turn insight into momentum. If this conversation resonates, subscribe, share with a colleague who needs it, and leave a review to help more high performers find sustainable success.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Skip Money.
SPEAKER_02 (00:12):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast of East Tennessee andWestern North Carolina.
So today we're fortunate to havea very special guest with us in
the studio for the first time,and we're thrilled to have her
and learn all about her and heruh business.
So I'm sure you will be as wellbecause today I have the
(00:32):
pleasure of introducing yourgood neighbor, Miss Emily Hurd,
who is the owner, operator,president of Vantage View
Coaching.
Emily, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00 (00:42):
Thank you, Skip.
Thank you very much for havingme.
SPEAKER_02 (00:45):
Well, like I said, we're very excited to have you
and uh all excited to learnabout Vantage View Coaching.
So if you don't mind, why don'tyou start us out by telling us
about your business?
SPEAKER_00 (00:57):
Yeah, so um at Vantage View Coaching, I am a
high performance coach and aburnout advisor for individuals
and organizations.
Uh so the mission of my work isto help high-performing
professionals who work under uhstressful conditions uh continue
to thrive in work while notsacrificing what is the most
(01:22):
important, which is theirhealth, their relationships, and
their life.
SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
Wow, that's super important.
Um and that's a big need, andespecially in the corporate
world.
Yes.
Um so uh interesting, Emily.
How did uh how did you getstarted in in the uh coaching
business?
SPEAKER_00 (01:41):
So my background is in mental health.
I am a licensed mental healthcounselor and I've been in the
industry for 15 years.
At one point, I had um startedmy own private practice and I
grew that from just me to threeoffice locations and a staff of
about 20 and an internship site.
(02:02):
Um and I experienced burnout inthat time period, which was part
of my mission to start acoaching company to essentially
try to help prevent burnout, um,especially around workplace
stress.
And in about 2020, I noticedthat I had started working with
(02:24):
a lot of high-achieving clients,particularly attorneys.
They were coming in for therapy.
Um, but I also noticed thatreally the root cause of their
anxiety or depression or reallyeven substance use issues wasn't
necessarily organic mentalhealth issues, but it was more
the chronic stress that theywere under, and that they didn't
(02:45):
have the psychological skillsnecessary that would equip them
with resilience, with umlearning how to perform under
pressure in a in a sustainedway.
And so I took that experience myexperience, uh, that knowledge
working with clients.
I'm also married to an attorneyand my dad's an attorney, so I'm
(03:06):
very familiar with that worldand combined it with uh my love
for an education in sportspsychology, sports and
performance psychology.
And so when I started combiningkind of my mental health
knowledge and expertise with thesports and performance, and
started working on all kinds ofskills that people don't
necessarily get in traditionaltherapy, like time management,
(03:30):
motivation and commitment,self-discipline and control, uh,
mindfulness and meditation,leadership skills, culture
building in an office, how tobuild resilience and capacity,
that my clients saw really greatresults in their mental health
as a result, had better livesand more career success.
(03:52):
And so that was the kind of theimpetus behind starting my
coaching business because Ireally love this work.
And in 2023, I sold mycounseling business to focus on
this full time.
SPEAKER_02 (04:05):
Wow.
Well, I imagine there's no thethe number of potential clients
are limitless, I would think.
Yeah.
Um after you know, I spent 40years in the corporate world
myself, and I can totally getwhy why this is necessary.
So um, so um can you think ofany myths or misconceptions in
the coaching business?
(04:26):
I don't know about specificallyfor stress-related, you know,
performance, but uh anythingcome to mind?
SPEAKER_00 (04:32):
Yeah, so um I'll give an answer for both of
those.
One of the one of the myths ormisconceptions, I would say
maybe just rather something tobe on the lookout for.
If you are interested in workingwith a coach, be curious about
their credentials, be curiousabout their experience, and make
sure that what they are bringingto the table matches what you
(04:54):
need.
Unlike the mental healthprofession, coaching is not a
regulated industry.
So anyone can say that they're acoach.
And I'm not saying all coachesout there are bad, um, but you
want to make sure that theperson that you are interested
in working with has thecredentials and the experience.
Another misconception that Ihear sometimes is that you
(05:15):
should only work with coacheswho have done exactly what you
want to do.
And so, like sometimes I hearlawyers say, uh, in particular,
you know, if if you're a lawyer,you should only work with a
coach who's also a lawyer.
Um, to that I say things like,you know, the the coach of
football teams may not have everbeen a quarterback, but they
(05:36):
have a different skill set andthey know how to, you know, uh
teach players, develop theirskills, bring out the best of
their potentials, develop gameplans, uh, and and that is the
expertise that they bring to thetable.
Um, and then in terms ofmisconceptions about stress and
burnout, one of the biggestmisconceptions about burnout is
(05:58):
that it's related to the numberof hours that you work.
And that's not that's not thecase at all.
I have clients that work a lotof hours each week.
Um the key is that there needsto be more recovery built in and
more um stress management toolsto to prevent burnout.
SPEAKER_02 (06:22):
Wow.
That's a lot.
Yeah, a lot of misconceptions,but you know, it's a it's a deep
subject.
So um it sounds like you'reworking a lot yourself, a lot of
hours.
Um, but when you're not uh inyour spare time, what do you
like to do for fun?
SPEAKER_00 (06:38):
Well, I have a a nine-year-old daughter.
Um, so I spend a lot of timewith her.
She just got a new mountainbike, so we've been enjoying
going on long bike ridesrecently.
I enjoy reading and cooking.
I'm a pretty introverted person,so after spending all day
talking to people, um, at timeat home, I like to do uh more
(06:58):
quiet activities for myrecovery.
And then golf is uh is a hobbyand a lifelong sport that I
enjoy.
SPEAKER_02 (07:06):
Very good and also very relaxing.
Yeah, can be.
It can make you angry.
Yeah, yeah, it can make youangry too.
But yeah, um, well, so let'sswitch gears for a second.
Can you describe eitherprofessionally or personally a
hardship or a life challengethat you've overcome and how it
made you stronger in the end?
SPEAKER_00 (07:26):
Yeah, so I I I I think probably the the biggest
challenge that I had wasexperiencing burnout.
And it is such a slow burn thatwhen you're in it, you don't
really realize what's happening,or you think, okay, when things
slow down, or you know, I'lljust I'll schedule a vacation
(07:46):
and then I'll be able to takecare of myself.
And I had one moment on a Sundayafternoon in 2019 with my
daughter, where we had thismoment and it was a huge wake-up
call.
Um, she fell into a bucket ofhot water.
She is okay.
Um, but in that moment when wewere in the bathtub, and I'm
(08:08):
sitting there with my tennisshoes on and cold water pouring
on her, and she's screaming atthe top of her head.
And I'm thinking, you know, thisloud voice came into my mind and
said, enough of this, Emily.
Like you have to change things,you have to take care of
yourself.
Um, and so it was a slowprogression of you know, redoing
patterns and behaviors that Ihad to invest in myself and my
(08:33):
well-being so that I could bethe type of mother that I wanted
to be, the type of employer, thetype of professional that I want
to be.
But those years um leading up tothat moment were definitely
challenging from a stress andenergy and mental health
perspective.
And then the recovery was ajourney as well, but it has
absolutely fueled the missionfor my work today.
SPEAKER_02 (08:56):
Awesome.
Awesome.
The fuel for your work.
I love it.
Um so um if uh Emily, if youcould think of one thing that
you would like our listeners andour viewers to remember about
Vantage View Coaching, whatwould what would that be?
SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
Well, um the first thing is it would would be is
that uh I do one-on-onecoaching, but I also do
workplace trainings where I goin and either teach on topics
related to stress management,resilience, mindset, leadership.
Um, and it's in-person andvirtual.
(09:35):
So I work with clients all overTennessee, all over the United
States.
I've even had some clients overin Europe, and then uh I will do
virtual or in-person trainingsas well.
SPEAKER_02 (09:48):
Very good.
And not just for individuals,but for groups as leadership
groups, I would imagine.
SPEAKER_00 (09:52):
Absolutely, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (09:54):
Awesome, awesome, good to know.
And for those of us who, youknow, uh interested uh or in a
very high stress job and and uhthink, oh my goodness, this is
exactly what I need.
Um, how can we learn more?
SPEAKER_00 (10:08):
Well, you can visit my website,
vantageviewcoaching.com.
You can connect with me onLinkedIn at Emily Herd,
H-E-I-R-D, and then I'm onInstagram and um Facebook as
well.
I have a newsletter, I have amental performance assessment
that people can go on my websiteand take if you want to kind of
(10:32):
get a baseline with where you'reat, with your strengths in terms
of your psychological skills andmental performance.
Uh, then it will give you somerecommendations for areas to
work on and an invitation tobook a complimentary 30-minute
call for me to discuss thoseresults and give you a few more
strategies that you can put intoaction right away.
SPEAKER_02 (10:54):
All right, awesome.
And that's on the website.
SPEAKER_00 (10:56):
That's on the website, yep.
SPEAKER_02 (10:58):
Awesome, awesome.
I will definitely check thatout.
Great.
I deal with a lot of stress.
So, anyway, well, uh Emily, Ican't tell you how much we
appreciate you spending timewith us today to tell us all
about yourself, your journey,and uh about your company.
And we wish you and your familyand your all your clients all
the best living forward.
SPEAKER_00 (11:18):
Thank you so much, Skip.
SPEAKER_02 (11:21):
And we'd love to have you back sometime.
It's you've got a lot to talkabout.
SPEAKER_00 (11:25):
Yeah, I would love that.
SPEAKER_02 (11:27):
All right.
Thanks so much, and have a greatrest of the day.
SPEAKER_00 (11:30):
You too.
SPEAKER_01 (11:31):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on the
show, go to GNP Try Dash Citiesdot com.
That's GNP Try Dash Cities dotcom or call four two two two two
two two two two two two threeseven one nine five eight seven
three.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Skip Money.
SPEAKER_02 (00:12):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast of East Tennessee andWestern North Carolina.
So today we're fortunate to havea very special guest with us in
the studio for the first time,and we're thrilled to have her
and learn all about her and heruh business.
So I'm sure you will be as wellbecause today I have the
(00:32):
pleasure of introducing yourgood neighbor, Miss Emily Hurd,
who is the owner, operator,president of Vantage View
Coaching.
Emily, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00 (00:42):
Thank you, Skip.
Thank you very much for havingme.
SPEAKER_02 (00:45):
Well, like I said, we're very excited to have you
and uh all excited to learnabout Vantage View Coaching.
So if you don't mind, why don'tyou start us out by telling us
about your business?
SPEAKER_00 (00:57):
Yeah, so um at Vantage View Coaching, I am a
high performance coach and aburnout advisor for individuals
and organizations.
Uh so the mission of my work isto help high-performing
professionals who work under uhstressful conditions uh continue
to thrive in work while notsacrificing what is the most
(01:22):
important, which is theirhealth, their relationships, and
their life.
SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
Wow, that's super important.
Um and that's a big need, andespecially in the corporate
world.
Yes.
Um so uh interesting, Emily.
How did uh how did you getstarted in in the uh coaching
business?
SPEAKER_00 (01:41):
So my background is in mental health.
I am a licensed mental healthcounselor and I've been in the
industry for 15 years.
At one point, I had um startedmy own private practice and I
grew that from just me to threeoffice locations and a staff of
about 20 and an internship site.
(02:02):
Um and I experienced burnout inthat time period, which was part
of my mission to start acoaching company to essentially
try to help prevent burnout, um,especially around workplace
stress.
And in about 2020, I noticedthat I had started working with
(02:24):
a lot of high-achieving clients,particularly attorneys.
They were coming in for therapy.
Um, but I also noticed thatreally the root cause of their
anxiety or depression or reallyeven substance use issues wasn't
necessarily organic mentalhealth issues, but it was more
the chronic stress that theywere under, and that they didn't
(02:45):
have the psychological skillsnecessary that would equip them
with resilience, with umlearning how to perform under
pressure in a in a sustainedway.
And so I took that experience myexperience, uh, that knowledge
working with clients.
I'm also married to an attorneyand my dad's an attorney, so I'm
(03:06):
very familiar with that worldand combined it with uh my love
for an education in sportspsychology, sports and
performance psychology.
And so when I started combiningkind of my mental health
knowledge and expertise with thesports and performance, and
started working on all kinds ofskills that people don't
necessarily get in traditionaltherapy, like time management,
(03:30):
motivation and commitment,self-discipline and control, uh,
mindfulness and meditation,leadership skills, culture
building in an office, how tobuild resilience and capacity,
that my clients saw really greatresults in their mental health
as a result, had better livesand more career success.
(03:52):
And so that was the kind of theimpetus behind starting my
coaching business because Ireally love this work.
And in 2023, I sold mycounseling business to focus on
this full time.
SPEAKER_02 (04:05):
Wow.
Well, I imagine there's no thethe number of potential clients
are limitless, I would think.
Yeah.
Um after you know, I spent 40years in the corporate world
myself, and I can totally getwhy why this is necessary.
So um, so um can you think ofany myths or misconceptions in
the coaching business?
(04:26):
I don't know about specificallyfor stress-related, you know,
performance, but uh anythingcome to mind?
SPEAKER_00 (04:32):
Yeah, so um I'll give an answer for both of
those.
One of the one of the myths ormisconceptions, I would say
maybe just rather something tobe on the lookout for.
If you are interested in workingwith a coach, be curious about
their credentials, be curiousabout their experience, and make
sure that what they are bringingto the table matches what you
(04:54):
need.
Unlike the mental healthprofession, coaching is not a
regulated industry.
So anyone can say that they're acoach.
And I'm not saying all coachesout there are bad, um, but you
want to make sure that theperson that you are interested
in working with has thecredentials and the experience.
Another misconception that Ihear sometimes is that you
(05:15):
should only work with coacheswho have done exactly what you
want to do.
And so, like sometimes I hearlawyers say, uh, in particular,
you know, if if you're a lawyer,you should only work with a
coach who's also a lawyer.
Um, to that I say things like,you know, the the coach of
football teams may not have everbeen a quarterback, but they
(05:36):
have a different skill set andthey know how to, you know, uh
teach players, develop theirskills, bring out the best of
their potentials, develop gameplans, uh, and and that is the
expertise that they bring to thetable.
Um, and then in terms ofmisconceptions about stress and
burnout, one of the biggestmisconceptions about burnout is
(05:58):
that it's related to the numberof hours that you work.
And that's not that's not thecase at all.
I have clients that work a lotof hours each week.
Um the key is that there needsto be more recovery built in and
more um stress management toolsto to prevent burnout.
SPEAKER_02 (06:22):
Wow.
That's a lot.
Yeah, a lot of misconceptions,but you know, it's a it's a deep
subject.
So um it sounds like you'reworking a lot yourself, a lot of
hours.
Um, but when you're not uh inyour spare time, what do you
like to do for fun?
SPEAKER_00 (06:38):
Well, I have a a nine-year-old daughter.
Um, so I spend a lot of timewith her.
She just got a new mountainbike, so we've been enjoying
going on long bike ridesrecently.
I enjoy reading and cooking.
I'm a pretty introverted person,so after spending all day
talking to people, um, at timeat home, I like to do uh more
(06:58):
quiet activities for myrecovery.
And then golf is uh is a hobbyand a lifelong sport that I
enjoy.
SPEAKER_02 (07:06):
Very good and also very relaxing.
Yeah, can be.
It can make you angry.
Yeah, yeah, it can make youangry too.
But yeah, um, well, so let'sswitch gears for a second.
Can you describe eitherprofessionally or personally a
hardship or a life challengethat you've overcome and how it
made you stronger in the end?
SPEAKER_00 (07:26):
Yeah, so I I I I think probably the the biggest
challenge that I had wasexperiencing burnout.
And it is such a slow burn thatwhen you're in it, you don't
really realize what's happening,or you think, okay, when things
slow down, or you know, I'lljust I'll schedule a vacation
(07:46):
and then I'll be able to takecare of myself.
And I had one moment on a Sundayafternoon in 2019 with my
daughter, where we had thismoment and it was a huge wake-up
call.
Um, she fell into a bucket ofhot water.
She is okay.
Um, but in that moment when wewere in the bathtub, and I'm
(08:08):
sitting there with my tennisshoes on and cold water pouring
on her, and she's screaming atthe top of her head.
And I'm thinking, you know, thisloud voice came into my mind and
said, enough of this, Emily.
Like you have to change things,you have to take care of
yourself.
Um, and so it was a slowprogression of you know, redoing
patterns and behaviors that Ihad to invest in myself and my
(08:33):
well-being so that I could bethe type of mother that I wanted
to be, the type of employer, thetype of professional that I want
to be.
But those years um leading up tothat moment were definitely
challenging from a stress andenergy and mental health
perspective.
And then the recovery was ajourney as well, but it has
absolutely fueled the missionfor my work today.
SPEAKER_02 (08:56):
Awesome.
Awesome.
The fuel for your work.
I love it.
Um so um if uh Emily, if youcould think of one thing that
you would like our listeners andour viewers to remember about
Vantage View Coaching, whatwould what would that be?
SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
Well, um the first thing is it would would be is
that uh I do one-on-onecoaching, but I also do
workplace trainings where I goin and either teach on topics
related to stress management,resilience, mindset, leadership.
Um, and it's in-person andvirtual.
(09:35):
So I work with clients all overTennessee, all over the United
States.
I've even had some clients overin Europe, and then uh I will do
virtual or in-person trainingsas well.
SPEAKER_02 (09:48):
Very good.
And not just for individuals,but for groups as leadership
groups, I would imagine.
SPEAKER_00 (09:52):
Absolutely, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (09:54):
Awesome, awesome, good to know.
And for those of us who, youknow, uh interested uh or in a
very high stress job and and uhthink, oh my goodness, this is
exactly what I need.
Um, how can we learn more?
SPEAKER_00 (10:08):
Well, you can visit my website,
vantageviewcoaching.com.
You can connect with me onLinkedIn at Emily Herd,
H-E-I-R-D, and then I'm onInstagram and um Facebook as
well.
I have a newsletter, I have amental performance assessment
that people can go on my websiteand take if you want to kind of
(10:32):
get a baseline with where you'reat, with your strengths in terms
of your psychological skills andmental performance.
Uh, then it will give you somerecommendations for areas to
work on and an invitation tobook a complimentary 30-minute
call for me to discuss thoseresults and give you a few more
strategies that you can put intoaction right away.
SPEAKER_02 (10:54):
All right, awesome.
And that's on the website.
SPEAKER_00 (10:56):
That's on the website, yep.
SPEAKER_02 (10:58):
Awesome, awesome.
I will definitely check thatout.
Great.
I deal with a lot of stress.
So, anyway, well, uh Emily, Ican't tell you how much we
appreciate you spending timewith us today to tell us all
about yourself, your journey,and uh about your company.
And we wish you and your familyand your all your clients all
the best living forward.
SPEAKER_00 (11:18):
Thank you so much, Skip.
SPEAKER_02 (11:21):
And we'd love to have you back sometime.
It's you've got a lot to talkabout.
SPEAKER_00 (11:25):
Yeah, I would love that.
SPEAKER_02 (11:27):
All right.
Thanks so much, and have a greatrest of the day.
SPEAKER_00 (11:30):
You too.
SPEAKER_01 (11:31):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on the
show, go to GNP Try Dash Citiesdot com.
That's GNP Try Dash Cities dotcom or call four two two two two
two two two two two two threeseven one nine five eight seven
three.
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