888 275 7125 SDWM 844 SDWOMAN (844 739 6626)
888 275 7125
SDWM
844 SDWOMAN
844 739 6626
Achieving Success with Erica Nitti Becker
By Judith A. Habert
When you experience a near-death experience, life changes forever more. Suddenly a new understanding of how precious life is, and how fleeting it can be, develops and the need to make your time here as fruitful as possible blossoms. For Erica Nitti Becker this experience was one that molded who she was to become and what her goals would be.
At the age of 13, Erica was in a horrific car accident in Seattle and had to be airlifted to Harborview Trauma Center, however before arriving she was pronounced dead in flight.
“Miraculously, I pulled through, after I had been pronounced, and slipped into a comma. When I awoke a few days later, I vividly remembered everything that had happened in that helicopter. After I came out of the comma, I immediately went into surgery. My parents and I were told I would never live an athletic lifestyle, or worse, never walk again. I should also expect to have lifelong problems with learning disabilities-due to the brain trauma."
That hospital had no idea with whom they were dealing. Erica is a fighter, a hard worker and a positive individual who was not ok with their diagnosis. The local newspaper referred to her as the “Miracle Child,” being discharged just one week later. “Having a near-death experience changed me. From the moment I woke up everything was different, I knew I was here for a reason, a purpose, and I had a strong desire to do everything. I was just so gung-ho on life.”
Erica would go on to pushing her physical and mental limits through adventure races and marathons. It was a hunger for her to prove her body and mind were not going to fail, and to beat the odds.
Erica later found her way to San Diego" It was at this point that I discovered my true calling in life, and began to study personal development" Erica's father was a Master Coach who worked with over 3,000 clients including some very notable Celebrity figures. Erica was no stranger to how it was to know yourself and use your talents to improve your life. “I am a success coach. I know that there are so many different ideas about what that means. What I help people do at the end of the day is to thrive in life, to be consistent, stay on track, and live a life by choice, on their terms.”
The concept may sound simple, but I couldn’t help but ask Erica how she does that, because as we all know, this is not as easy as it sounds. “Getting people to stay on track is difficult. Through coaching sessions with my clients, I listen to what they are trying to achieve, whether in their business or personal life. I have the ability to pick up on things as we talk. I am listening to what they are not saying, their language patterns, word choices, and tonality. It all means something. I become a mirror for them. I am there as this non-biased, non-judgmental person for them to talk with, and I ask very directed and mindful questions.” Erica’s clients often stay with her for years.
Having become certified through The International Coaching Federation as well as having gone through Tony Robbin's advanced coach training, Erica also holds additional leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and NLP certifications. She has completed over 8000 one on one coaching hours. Erica sees things that her clients can’t and sometimes won’t see for themselves. This frequently results in them having breakthroughs that they would never have had.
So, who are Erica’s clients? “Corporate professionals, entrepreneurs, and people building their side hustles. People come to me for business and personal coaching, one always leads to the other. For example, The CEO wants to make better decisions, have a stronger presence with their teams. At the same time, they are working on their personal relationships, their exit strategy, their health, or the life goal they gave up on ten years ago. Ultimately I work with anyone who wants more in their life, who knows that they are not playing as big as they could be. That in order to get to the next level it means they must break through their perceived fears. The closer you get to the top, fear creeps in where you would never expect. Ego is involved more than ever."
Often Erica's job includes a combination of hand-holding mixed with tough love through out the process. “I have to tell them the truth, the truth of who they are capable of becoming and what fears are holding them back. It can be very hard at times".
“What generally brings clients to me is that they believe they have a problem that is keeping them from living their best life, and they need help working their way through it. People come in and think it will be a year before they solve their problems, whether it is in their business or their relationship. Often within the first 3-4 sessions we can identify what’s really holding them back and will quickly have a plan in place for them. Most people want answers right away, but it is a process. Sometimes the biggest obstacle they face is lack of patience.”
We spoke of a few of her clients, no names of course. “I had one client who came because her husband moved out and she had children at home. Her reason for considering coaching was to gain clarity and decide if she wanted to stay in the relationship, and also to start her own business. She realized that she couldn't change the other person and that she could only work on making herself the best person she could be. Her confidence increased almost immediately and starting her own business became clear for her. After three sessions her husband called and said. ‘What are you doing with her. She has completely turned around.’ He was so surprised at her progress that he asked if he could become a client.
Erica finds that people will turn to coaching because they want something fixed or they feel stuck. “Clients will say ‘here is what I want, I know what I should be doing but I’m not doing it, now fix me." The most common question Erica gets is “why am I not doing what I know I should be doing." In order for Erica to take on new clients, she has to know that they must be coachable. “They must be open to the process, to doing the work, to hearing the truth and be ok with being uncomfortable. One client I’ve had was trying many different healing methods and had been on many medications. As we started talking, I realized she was ready for coaching. She was willing to do the work. Pain is often involved because you sometimes have to be able to break down before you break through. She had lost her son in a custody battle and wanted a career in music, but wasn’t finding one. I worked with her for two years. In the first 4-6 months, she gained a different awareness. She realized that she had a victim’s mentality and the way she perceived things were part of the problem. When she recognized this, she started to heal. She became an athletic instructor, started modeling, and began a new relationship with her son. She also accomplished one of her lifelong goals; she published her first song. I don't only help my clients through tough times; my clients often inspire me with the inroads they make. If you as a client are not willing to do the work I can’t help you. I truly believe everything is possible and if you set your mind to it, I believe you can do anything
Another client who Erica coaches primarily on Leadership and communications, directly related an increase of 10 million dollars to the changes her team was making.
“I had spent the first 20 years of my life all about me, living it to the fullest, being fearless, adventure seeking. For the next 20 years, I implemented everything into creating my own success and learning everything I could by surrounding myself with experts. Now, I feel it is time to give back. To share, to give, to contribute. I believe that’s the evolution of life. If I don’t give back, how selfish of me. What was it all for? ”
Erica's positivity and determination in life are contagious, and during our interview, I felt lifted into a place of positivity. It is easy to tell that Erica loves what she does and has plans shortly to write a book and will be teaming up with her Dad to provide events and products in which she can share her knowledge, inspire, empower, and reach more people.
For the time being, tune into Erica's podcast “Real Raw Truth," where she tackles the type of problems and issues she views every day with clients. Look for "Real Raw Truth" on iTunes or her website