Rasmussen MA CEC PCC Anchoring Small Business Owners in Leadership and Life
We are thrilled to introduce a new feature at Systems Business Coach®: Small Business Coach of the Week. With nearly 50 Certified Systems Business Coaches® located around the world, it’s time you got to know them. My dream of democratizing small business coaching is becoming real through these amazing humans who have said yes to you, the small business owner. They care as deeply as I do about helping you build a business that works.
Running a small business often looks enviable from the outside, flexible hours, freedom to call the shots, and doing work that matters. But any business owner knows the reality: inboxes that never empty, team challenges that appear out of nowhere, and the weight of being the one everyone turns to. Freedom can start to feel more like a burden than a blessing.
It’s my honour to present our very first featured coach: Kari Lotzien.
Kari Lotzien is a seasoned entrepreneur, Certified Systems Business Coach®, and host of the Be the Anchor podcast, Kari specializes in helping service-based business owners trade overwhelm for clarity, and constant firefighting for sustainable growth.
She doesn’t just coach small business owners to “do more.” She helps them reclaim their spark, their leadership, and their lives. Her work is grounded in a simple but powerful idea: leadership isn’t about captaining everyone else’s ship or calming the ocean’s waves, it’s about being the anchor. When business owners operate from a place of security and stability, they become the steady presence their teams and clients can rely on, no matter how choppy the waters get.
Walking the Talk: From Clinic Owner to Leadership Coach
Kari’s credibility isn’t built on theory, it’s built on experience. With a background in Occupational Therapy, she spent over 21 years founding, building and leading a private rehabilitation clinic. In 2022, she sold the business…without losing a single team member or client in the transition. It wasn’t luck. Kari knows firsthand what leadership with integrity, systems, and heart can create.
Having walked the path herself, Kari knows what it’s like to juggle a busy family, a growing business, client needs and a full team and to wonder if there’s a way to grow without burning out. She also knows the relief of creating systems and teams that work, so that you don’t have to carry it all alone. That lived experience fuels her coaching today.
Helping Experts Become Leaders
Kari specializes in working with service providers who are excellent at their craft but often underprepared for the realities of leadership. Her clients include:
- Healthcare practitioners leading clinics in physiotherapy, chiropractic, psychology, and more.
- Professional service providers like realtors, accountants, lawyers, and financial advisors.
- Online business owners such as virtual assistants, web designers, marketing companies and graphic designers who’ve built momentum and now want to scale sustainably.
What these business owners share is a deep commitment to their clients and the trap of doing everything themselves. Kari helps you step confidently into leadership, build accountable teams, and develop systems that finally make growth feel manageable.
Anchored Leadership: Where Systems Meet Sanity
Kari’s signature program, the Anchored Leadership Academy, gives business owners practical tools they can use right away—not lofty theory or one-size-fits-all hacks.
Her philosophy? Forget the 5 a.m. wakeups (unless you’re into that) and endless multitasking. Leadership doesn’t require superhuman stamina, it requires clarity, boundaries, and systems that align with your values. Anchored leadership means you become the calm, grounded force at the center of your business. Instead of being tossed around by every new wave, you’re rooted, steady, and able to chart a clear course forward.
Her clients describe their results as life-changing: breakthroughs in confidence, smoother communication, stronger teams, and, most importantly, businesses that finally fit the lives they want to live.
Compassionate, Candid, and No Cookie-Cutters
Kari’s coaching style is rooted in compassion and practicality. Her clients often remark on her ability to ask the exact question that unlocks clarity, or to uncover what’s really getting in the way.
As one client put it:
“I don’t feel my business has your fingerprint, but you shadowed me to create what I needed. You knew how to come alongside and make it mine.”
That’s the difference: Kari doesn’t impose cookie-cutter solutions. She partners with her clients to create strategies that reflect their unique values, strengths, and vision.
A Voice for Small Business
Beyond coaching, Kari extends her reach through her podcast, Be the Anchor. Each week, she shares grounded insights and practical tools for small business owners navigating the messy middle of growth. Listeners describe it as relatable, motivating, and refreshingly real. The show recently celebrated its second anniversary, a testament to the growing community Kari continues to build.
Anchored in Life, Not Just Business
Kari has been married to her high school sweetheart, Boyd, for over 25 years. Together they are learning to embrace empty-nest life while still making time for hiking, camping, and coffee fuelled mornings. For her, nature isn’t just a hobby, it’s a reminder that business is meant to your support life, not consume it.
Being anchored means knowing where your foundation lies. Family, relationships, and the life you’re building, so business success never comes at the cost of what matters most.
Why We’re Celebrating Kari
Kari embodies what it means to be a Certified Systems Business Coach®. She blends lived experience, compassion, and practical tools to meet small business owners where they are. Her journey reflects the heart of this global coaching movement: creating sustainable businesses, confident leaders, and stronger communities.
Small businesses are the backbone of communities, yet too many owners burn out before reaching their potential. Kari Lotzien stands in that gap, helping leaders move from exhaustion to empowerment.
She doesn’t just coach for performance, she coaches for sustainability, confidence, and peace of mind. Her mission is simple: to help business owners live the life they crave while leading with clarity, confidence, and stability.
You can find Be the Anchor: Strategies and Support for Small Business on all major podcast platforms.
Learn more about the Anchored Leadership Academy or connect with her directly to explore how coaching could help you build a business that works—for you, your team, and your life.
www.betheanchor.ca
Linked in – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kari-lotzien-1094b561/
Podcast – Be the Anchor: Strategies and Support for Small Business. Available on all major platforms.
Stay tuned each week as we introduce you to another Systems Business Coach® making a difference in the lives of small business owners worldwide.
If you have ever considered, or felt called, to help small business owners, reach out to learn about this journey at www.smallbusinesscoachtraining.com.
