Life coach Marlie Love works to motivate and help young people hone their natural strengths

Editor's note: The university Love graduated from and the monthly pricing have been updated from the previous version for accuracy.

Marlie Love used to work a desk job, but she realized she wasn't living her purpose in life.

"I knew there was no way I could do that for 30 years," she says.

She decided to make changes in her life. She went back to college and earned her graduate certification in positive psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Afterward, she was mentored by Cindy Loughran, a certified life coach based in Boston.

A lifelong Christian, who was raised in the church, she found that while she was working toward finding and living her purpose, she kept going back to the Bible.

"In order to find my purpose, I had to go back to my creator and find out what he created me for," she says.

She realized she could help others find their purpose, and began Marlie Love Life Coaching.

"I help millennials find their purpose and destiny so they can live a fulfilling, meaningful life."

She offers bi-weekly phone conferences to her clients, to help them work through a program she's designed.

Through written character assessments, she helps clients discover their natural strengths. Then she works with them to change the way they speak to themselves.

She quotes a Biblical passage that reads, "The power of life and death is in your tongue."

"I'm a big advocate that what you say will basically manifest," she says. "Instead of 'I'm afraid,' or 'This sucks,' I teach people to say 'I'm courageous,' or 'I am capable of living my destiny.' You start living exactly what you're speaking. If you change the way you're speaking you literally bring new life to your life."

Part of the process involves forgiveness.

"Forgiving yourself for past mistakes or those who have hurt you lets you start with a clean slate."

Removing what Love calls "blocks," is also important for self-growth. She says she believes people have "soul-ties" that can be positive, like a marriage, or negative, like feeling connected to a person from a former relationship.

"If you break up with someone and can't get them off your mind, you may have a negative soul-tie," Love says. This part of the program focuses on a spiritual component, too.

"The devil doesn't want people to reach their ordained purpose," she says.

Another element of the process is learning to meditate and, in stillness, ask for the Holy Spirit to enter, which is tied with a visualization technique.

Once the pump is primed, so to speak, Love helps her clients move on to creating a vision for their lives. This, she says, is the longest part of the process.

Services are normally performed during an agreed-upon period, 3, 6 or 12 months.

"It took me a year," she says. "It's not a quick fix."

She charges $200 an hour. Each phone conference lasts an hour. A 6-month package with two sessions per month would cost $2,400.

Lately, Love has been transitioning to an online business model, one in which people pay $399, and download a video outlining the "5 Steps for Your Purpose." After viewing the material, people can call to schedule personal sessions.

Love has also recently developed another course, "Strengths-Based Millennial Leadership Production." This course is targeted at business owners and managers. It teaches them how to motivate and engage their employees who are millennials.

"It helps businesses save money by motivating their millennials through their natural strengths," Love says. "If you motivate people through their natural strengths it will increase revenue, increase productivity and help employee retention."

Love says studies have shown that motivating employees can boost revenue by 17 percent and productivity can go up 30 percent.

Additionally, the course contains a segment on conducting performance reviews, the strengths-based way.

The three-module package is available online for $899 at www.marlielovecoaching.com. To speak with Love, call (636) 751-5680.