Today we’d like to introduce you to Wendy Hoerl.
Wendy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey began with my own personal struggle. Within 18 months, I got married, moved, changed careers, and had my first baby. What I now know, and what therapists recognize, is that this kind of rapid, compounding change can have catastrophic effects on mental health and well-being. For me, it was simply too much. I realize now that I was out of alignment with a thriving, empowered version of myself and definitely wasn’t living with clarity or intention.
Fortunately, I got help. And somewhere in that process, I decided that to experience the radical change I desperately wanted, I had to create radical change in my thinking and energy. I also discovered the practice of gratitude and it changed everything fast. Gratitude, energy and mindset became the foundation of everything I do today.
My therapist noticed the transformation happening in me and asked me to create a workshop for her clients and the community. I said yes, poured myself into creating something fun and impactful, and those classes took off. There was eventually a waiting list. Watching people’s lives shift in real time lit up my soul. I was hooked.
The workshops led to being asked to coach a very successful real estate team. That was over ten years ago. Since then, Gratitude HQ has grown beyond my wildest dreams. Today I work with business owners all over the world, blending intuition and strategy in a coaching approach that is genuinely unlike anything else out there. In recent years, I’ve also launched the Gratitude Advantage Assessment, a program that helps larger organizations evaluate how well they’re expressing appreciation to their staff and customers, then build and implement custom gratitude strategies from the ground up.
I get to change lives and make businesses better every single day. I love my work.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
For longer than I’d like to admit, I played small, questioning whether I had the credibility, the credentials, or the right to mentor and lead. Imposter syndrome was the biggest challenge early on. I see this same pattern in so many of the entrepreneurs and leaders that work with me, and I think that’s part of why I can meet them where they are.
One of the quieter, more persistent challenges has been building belief in my work before the people closest to me fully understood it. My husband and my parents still aren’t completely sure what I do, and I say that with love and a little laughter, because it’s just the truth. When your inner circle can’t quite explain your business at a social event, you learn to be your own biggest champion.
Like a lot of entrepreneurs, I’ve had moments of serious doubt. But the moment my first workshop attendee shared how much I had changed their life, I was hooked. Helping people became something I simply could not walk away from. My work is unique, and it took time to fully evolve into what it is today, but I couldn’t imagine a different path. That has been one of my greatest motivators. This had to work. And it has.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
My clients are smart, successful, and full of heart. They’ve built or lead thriving businesses and have the track record to prove it, but they’ve hit a ceiling they can’t quite push through. They’ve tried every strategy, every system, every productivity hack and time management tool. What they haven’t tried is treating gratitude, energy, and mindset as actionable business strategies, not just feel-good concepts, but real and practical processes for growth. That’s where I come in. Simple strategies. Extraordinary results.
When clients work with me, something shifts. Success starts to feel easier. The day-to-day becomes more energizing, not just the big milestones, but the ordinary Tuesdays. They start operating from a completely different frequency, and their results reflect that.
Twice a year I open the doors to The GEM Advantage, a group program that walks business owners, managers, and team leaders hands-on through building gratitude, energy, and mindset strategies tailored specifically to their organization. It’s one of my favorite things I do, and the comradery of each group makes it feel extra special.
For larger organizations, my Gratitude Advantage Assessment takes a close look at how a company is currently expressing appreciation to their teams, their clients, and their communities, and then we build a custom strategy to close the gaps. The ROI of genuine gratitude in the workplace is real, and companies that embrace it see it.
I also bring The Gratitude Advantage to the stage, speaking to everything from small business groups and Chambers of Commerce here in Kansas City to larger conferences and corporate events. I genuinely believe gratitude changes everything, and I love nothing more than putting that idea in front of a room full of people and watching it land.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I consider myself an extremely lucky person. Good things happen to me all the time.
Now, I don’t think that’s an accident. I believe luck is available to all of us, but it requires us to be open to it. Gratitude is what creates that openness. When you’re genuinely thankful for what’s already in your life, you naturally move into alignment with more unexpected goodness. You notice opportunities you would have otherwise walked right past.
I’m even raising my kids with this philosophy. We talk about gratitude and mindset at home, and now my kids are actively looking for good things that happen throughout their day. We call it luck. And they really are ridiculously lucky!
That, to me, is the whole point. Luck isn’t something that happens to some and not others. It happens when you’re open to it.
Pricing:
- Gratitude Advantage Keynote $2,500+
- Gratitude Advantage Assessment Corporate Program $5,000+
- GEM Strategy Session $297
- GEM Advantage Group Coaching Experience $1.350
- GEM Mastery Premium 1:1 Coaching $4,600/yr.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gratitudehq.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mygratitudehq/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gratitudehq/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gratitudehq
