What Makes Me Tick

I’m complicated - and so are you!

I’m a: Workplace communication trainer, Gallup-certified StrengthsFinder coach, storytelling and public speaking coach, professional musician, mother, spouse, dog mom, avid traveler, angler, hiker… and so much more.

Like you, I’m more than one label, multidimensional and complicated.

So how can I be sure people see me in my complex humanity - and at the same time - be able to introduce me to my ideal client, job, or partner?

Through stories!

Strengths

Even if you’re not familiar with CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder), you can probably figure out how I approach projects, problems, and people when you hear my top 6 talents: Strategic, Activator, Ideation, Command, Adaptability, Woo.

My instinctive response to life is to find the fastest, most efficient route and hit the gas, and I love to take others along for the ride.

The combination of Activator and Adaptability is the key to my variety of interests and experiences. I love to jump in headfirst, and my comfort zone lives in uncertainty. That’s why, when I was 40, I started singing in a rock band for the first time in my life.

Experience

From the beginning of my career I’ve always had a side hustle. This won’t surprise you if you’re familiar with the Adaptability talent.

While implementing the PeopleSoft program at NSA, World Bank, and the Federal Reserve in Washington DC, I started a small catering company. My favorite memory is when I served fajitas to 75 guests for a 50th birthday celebration with the help of my (then) boyfriend, now husband. I had been planning events since I was 10 years old (a surprise party for my little sister), and incorporated that experience in my jobs and my catering business.

When we moved from DC to Montana I started Elkins Consulting, providing in-home and in-office computer training to help individuals become more proficient with navigation and function use. I worked with local artists, professionals who realized they needed to improve skills to keep relevant, home-schooling parents, seniors, and stroke victims.

As I gained skills in meeting facilitation as a project coordinator with the Montana University System, relationship-building, data collection & analysis, and reporting skills as a compliance officer for the Montana State Library, and communication and diplomacy skills as the first public information officer for the city of Helena, Elkins Consulting transformed into providing a variety of services, including customer service training, strategic planning session facilitation, and event planning and coordination.

Starting in 2015 I became active on the LinkedIn platform, building and nurturing a community of smart, generous professionals to learn from and contribute to, and in February 2017 I hosted the first No Longer Virtual Summit. 23 strangers who met on LinkedIn gathered in Atlanta, Georgia to shift our relationships from online to an in-person community of supporters, encouragers, and business partners & referrers.

NLV is an ongoing gathering with 20 - 40 guests meeting in Denver (2018), back in Atlanta (2019), Chicago (2020), Park City, Utah (2022), back to Chicago (2023), Missoula, Montana (2024), and 2025 in Austin, Texas.

My years of experience implementing technology and improving internal and external communication in the public sector prepared me to be an effective & motivating guide as a coach for executives to communicate more effectively. I've found that not everyone speaks the same language, even if they speak the same language. That's especially true when it comes to translating among technical and non-technical people, and communication among leaders and employees.

Education/Certification

After researching a variety of coaching certification options, I selected Gallup’s CliftonStrengths and became certified through their program. The StrengthFinder assessment appealed to me because it seemed relatively simple to apply to improving communication through thorough self-reflection and acknowledgment of the value of diverse ways of thinking. The intensive training and rigorous certification process has been a game-changer for my coaching and my business.

My bachelor's degree in Business, with an emphasis and Human Resource Management, came from Colorado State University, Fort Collins. I was the only business student who didn't wear shoes for most of the year. Immediately upon graduating from CSU, I was selected from a pool of more than 30 applicants for a paid internship in Washington, DC for Commissioner David Rohr at the US International Trade Commission.

I completed my MBA from Western Governor's University, an online program based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Time Magazine called it "the best online university you've never heard of."

If you think you can separate your personal and professional brands, you're delusional. I share my thoughts on this via Instagram, @sarahlynnelkins.