Alex Poeter is a leadership, career, and life coach, as well as a coach and trainer for nonprofits/NGOs. With over thirty years of experience in organizational development and management, Alex has spent the last decade coaching leaders, visionaries, entrepreneurs, and creatives to help them unlock their highest potential. His work focuses on fostering success in all aspects of life, including career, financial well-being, and relationships. Through his holistic approach, Alex empowers his clients to embrace their inner wisdom, build thriving organizations, and create meaningful impact in their personal and professional lives.
Could you elaborate on the nature of your business, highlighting its purpose and the ways it benefits people?
I use a holistic approach that allows my clients to create success in all areas of their life that matter to them. This helps them to create greater inner and outer balance.
Clients appreciate my unwavering commitment to their success. They also appreciate how I help them create new practices and routines that they can integrate into their daily life, work, and relationships. As a result, they enjoy greater career and financial success, but also greater success in their relationships and love life. And they develop a greater ability to trust and love themselves.
With the support of coaching, my clients have launched their own businesses and organizations to create a bigger impact in the world. They’ve been able to achieve greater financial well-being by increasing, doubling, or even tripling their income, or by creating different income sources. They’ve also found new romantic and life partners and have been able to create thriving relationships with family members, friends, and colleagues. They’ve also found greater happiness, inner peace, and purpose while learning to trust and love themselves more.
One of the big breakthroughs my clients get to experience is that they learn about their inner guidance system, which I often refer to as inner wisdom. This inner guidance system helps them to know what to do, how to show up, and how to respond when they run into challenges.
What inspired you to start your journey as a coach and entrepreneur? Were there any specific events, challenges, or people that motivated you to take this path?
People who are willing to face their fears to pursue audacious goals and dreams inspire me. I have so much respect for those who are determined to create powerful and positive changes in their lives and careers, the lives of others, and the world in general, despite the odds they see stacked against them. I also know how hard and challenging it can be to move from being stuck or having plateaued to creating exponential growth and a bigger impact. That’s why I have dedicated myself to helping leaders and visionaries live up to their highest potential so that they can take their work to the next level, expand their reach, multiply their impact, and create a legacy.
I was born in East Germany when it was ruled by a totalitarian one-party dictatorship that encouraged everything but imagination and self-actualization. This regime wanted everyone to follow orders and march in step, and it didn’t allow its citizens to travel to democratic countries. Needless to say, I grew up in an environment where I thought everything was limited. My mom, who raised me as a single parent, got separated from her siblings after the war when they were still children. Every time my aunts and uncles came to visit us, my imagination of once living in a free country kept growing stronger.
One day, my mom received a letter saying that we had 24 hours to leave the country and move to West Germany. This was in response to her sending requests to government officials for many years asking to be reunited with her family. That was the first time I experienced the power of persistence and of not giving up on our dreams, no matter what the circumstances around us might look like.
Later, when I was a teenager, people tried to convince me that if I followed societal expectations, such as learning a trade, getting a stable job, or obtaining a higher degree, I would be happy and without worries. However, none of the options presented to me made me feel passionate or gave me a sense of purpose. My passion was to help others connect to their personal strengths and to help create a better world. That’s when I decided to immigrate to the U.S. to pursue my passion for helping people develop as strong leaders so that they can have a big impact.
While I struggled with learning a new language and parting with everything that was so familiar to me for so long, my passion kept driving me forward. I learned how to build powerful organizations that support people in creating better communities for themselves and their families. I ended up creating and co-creating several award-winning organizations, all of which I led or co-led. Through these organizations, I was able to train many adults and students to tap into their strengths to become powerful leaders. These organizations also helped create incredibly powerful community improvements for the tens of thousands of individuals and families they served.
The success I achieved by applying the tools and practices I now teach was recognized when I was awarded the Do Something Brick Award (awarded as one of nine from over 400 applicants nationwide), a national award sponsored by Rolling Stone Magazine and MTV recognizing young leaders under 30 years of age.
Looking back at the beginning of your career, what were the major challenges you faced when establishing yourself as a leader/coach? How did you overcome those obstacles?
One of the biggest challenges as a business owner has been to not fall into the “comparison trap,” which makes us compare our own achievements—or lack thereof—to those of others.
Getting caught up in the “comparison game” just slows us down and creates internalized self-limiting beliefs, which we then tend to channel through our behaviors. Whatever limiting beliefs we channel through our behaviors end up impacting our results and experiences. That’s why I believe the key is to stay focused on our vision and mission to create value for others.
Would you like to share any remarkable achievement?
A typical example of the impact of coaching is my client Kathy (name changed for confidentiality). When Kathy first contacted me, she had lost her passion and purpose for her work. Although she had a successful career, she never truly felt she was on the right path. She tried to make it work but ended up burning out.
Together, we worked on creating an inspiring vision and reconnecting her with her strengths. Eventually, she partnered with a small team to create a new organization that impacts thousands of people. Her passion and drive returned, positively affecting all areas of her life.
What are your thoughts about women in leadership today?
Women often have to work at least twice as hard as their male counterparts to receive acknowledgment and the full benefits of their efforts. I believe having more women in leadership roles would bring greater balance, diversity, equity, and harmony to the world.
What advice would you give to future women leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs?
- Trust that your purpose lies in the intersection of market demand, your talents, and what brings you joy.
- Focus on creating value—if others find your products or services valuable, success will follow.
- Stay true to your vision and trust yourself. Inspiration is great, but your path is unique.
Website & Social Media Links
www.alexpoeter.com | www.healthynonprofits.com | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn | Facebook
