Meet Suzi Freeman | Mental Performance & Mindset Coach for Teens and College Athletes

We had the good fortune of connecting with Suzi Freeman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Suzi, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Risk, great question. Risk is my word for 2024. I decided 2024 would include some big moves in my business and personal life. Some choices have been extremely out of my comfort zone and required a huge risk (like selling large assets and going all in kind of risk); even though the payoff has yet to happen, we are getting very close. The rewarding side to taking these big risks is that my kids are watching how I navigate these risks and adventures, and they are learning that there is always time to go all in on a dream. I just turned 50 this year!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
For those entrepreneurs reading this, you will understand the next statement. Building a business that brings you the most joy and lands you in your sweet spot takes many iterations and years. I loved where I started, and I know it got me to where I am in the mental performance coaching space for high school and college athletes.

My passion for the younger generations’ emotional and mental well-being makes my practice unique and sets me apart from the competition. I am a mental performance coach for high-achieving athletes. While I work to get your kid to the elite level, I will do so while I work with them, teach them, and ensure that everything is done with great emotional balance.

One of my biggest differentiators is that when working with me in person, I incorporate red-light therapy, grounding, hypno-mediation, high-performance neurofeedback, and many other modalities to give these athletes the advantage over 90% of their peers. While working with them online, I utilize not only my certification as an MPC but I incorporate my Master’s certification in NLP to help keep the coaching unique and above and beyond what the others in the industry are doing.

I am mostly proud that I have found pure joy in my job. I love to attend a sporting event or watch a Saturday college football game and see one of my clients killing it. I love to receive messages from parents letting me know how life-changing it has been to have me work with their kids. Being a Mom of five, I get it – it does take a village to raise a healthy, happy, well-rounded child, and I am so excited to be a part of some people’s village. It is an honor, and it brings me extreme happiness to serve in that capacity for a family and an adolescent. But I will bring it back again to one of the most important things: what my kids see; they get to see Mom working in her dream space, living her passion, and helping others achieve their dreams! It doesn’t get any better than that.

I can’t say this wasn’t easy. Man, I have had some very hard times in business. The hardest part was the frustration that came with not loving what I was doing when I first got started. I knew that what I was doing was “good,” but I did not love parts of it. I was not serving others from a joyous place. It is the work and time it takes to get to the “joy” of your business and the frustration of working through all the iterations. The money spent (sometimes a ton of it wasted on the wrong things). That was the most challenging for me – it seemed like such a slow process to get to this point. But I know all of that, and all of the courses, certifications, and more I did were all to make me the best in the field I am now – all of that sets me apart from the average, basic mental performance and mindset coach.

My overall advice to new entrepreneurs is to ride the wave and see where the changes take you – it is probably for a better purpose. Like I tell my athletes, trust the process and don’t worry about the outcome!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am a native of Arizona, so this is a huge question. If I had a friend coming for the weekend during the fall, we would stick to the Area of Gilbert/Chandler where I live and work.

Friday:
Grab dinner at the Hidden House before we head out to a football game at Perry High School (my boys both played football and graduated from Perry High in 2015 & 2017).

Saturday/Sunday A=Food and Activities:
Coffee at The Coffee Shop at Agritopia or Maple House in Chandler; they both are amazing and offer a fantastic outside seating space.

Breakfast at The Farmhouse

We would explore the Riparian and stroll through the Hope Walk, a project I assisted on for the Gilbert Leadership Class in 2023.

We would visit the Farmers Market in Gilbert.

I would not let them leave without visiting the new upscale speakeasy in Gilbert called the Blue Heron; this place is fabulous!

If we could find a way to squeeze it in, and weather permitting, I would absolutely take them paddleboarding down the Salt River to see the wild horses.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This may sound cliche, but I first and foremost want to thank my kids for being so resilient and strong. For taking risks and doing hard things because they love it, they inspire me in ways they may never know! The kids are why I am in this line of work.

I want to recognize my sales and growth coach, Wendy Cornell, with Steady on Tech. Wendy believed in me when I thought it was just a pipe dream; she pushed me and made me strive for the best options possible. I trust and depend on my trademark and contracts attorney, Sarah Gilliland. Last but certainly not least, I am grateful for my Executive Coach, Olenka Cullinan. With all of these fabulous ladies, I know I am serving my purpose, and they are behind me, encouraging, guiding, and pushing me to stay the course. I am so grateful for them. I have a powerful team behind me, and I am unstoppable.

Website: https://www.teenwarrioracademy.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suzifreeman

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzifreeman/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeenWarriorAcademy

Image Credits
None needed these are all my photos