Experienced coaches hire me because they are totally overwhelmed in their coaching business and not getting results.
With their big heart, the drive to help everyone and the desperation to get clients — they spread themselves too thin on offers and marketing efforts that don’t pay off.
Are you feeling desperate for more clients and income?
Have you invested in multiple training programs that you didn’t fully finish or implement?
Are you following more than 2 mentors or on multiple email lists that make your head spin?
Are you second guessing previous decisions?
These things keep you in scarcity mode and won’t help you succeed as a coach. Believe me, I’ve been there and paid the price.
Let’s talk about how to reverse these mindsets & replace these habits. It’s time to slow down and take mindful actions in your business, which will pay off.
Bright Shiny Object Strikes Again
One of my clients was getting behind on critical tasks to build her business. She reported feeling desperate to enroll more clients right now. Then, with breathless excitement, she shared that she went to a preview for a Tony Robbins event and ended up buying a pricey ticket.
A red flag dropped. When we started she shared, with some shame in her voice, that she’d already invested in several training or group programs that she never finished. She hadn’t fully integrated the learning.
She admitted that the preview for the Tony Robbins event was another distraction from what was important to her now – to build a strong business model with a strategic customer journey around a niche she loves that attracts paying clients. That’s what she hired me for. She needed focus and hand holding.
It came out that there would be international travel expenses for the Tony Robbins event that she really couldn’t afford right now. Already her family was questioning the lack of profit from her business. And she wasn’t sleeping well.
I knew that all of this was a habitual state for my dear client who, if she could focus in, would become a highly sought after coach for her niche. She had everything going for her, except that her habits and mindsets were spreading her too thin mentally, energetically and financially.
Coaches are Susceptible to Scarcity Thinking
Patterns like this are common among coaches — that breathless, anxiety ridden scarcity state of mind that endlessly seeks and invests in more.
My first 5 years in coaching were not profitable either. I was my own worst enemy, getting drawn in and distracted by hifalutin offers that would supposedly fix what wasn’t working.
I was holding myself back from success because I wasn’t learning the lesson that no mentor or program would fix my situation until I dug in and did the work. I needed to reach a maturity in my business by learning to think and act strategically. When I did, everything changed for the better.
My goal with my VIP Coaching Business Breakthrough program is to help coaches get to that point of mental maturity and the better results that come with it much faster than I did.
The Price Coaches Pay for Staying Distracted
Recently, I had a Nail Your Niche Strategy Session with a whip-smart guy who brought so many assets to his business but reported that for 20 years he’d stayed too broad and earned too little.
He had resisted limiting the scope of his business and was operating without strategy. He would serve anyone who came along about anything. He would say ‘yes’ to opportunities that kept him playing small. He knew he had to stop this. My podcast inspired him to reach out and I was honored to help.
When we landed on an audience and niche that sparked his excitement and leveraged his expertise, I asked him if he was ready to click on the certainty button and update his business around this new idea. He said he was worried about having to turn down opportunities and potential clients who didn’t fit this new niche.
And there it was the habitual mindset that held him back. I explained that a smart niche is powerful because it limits who you serve and the problems you solve. I quoted Natalie Eckdahl, a podcaster I follow, who says “just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should.” Limiting is a linchpin to long term financial success in business.
And that was his overarching spiritual challenge in his business — to stop doing everything — to curb the knee jerk habit of his beautiful big heart to jump at serving everyone who comes along. He had been spreading himself too thin for 2 decades. Will he shift his mindset and habit to breakthrough? I hope so.
And will you stop the habits and the mindsets behind them that keep you playing small?
Practical Advice for Coaches Who Want to Thrive
Above all, smart mindset and habit shifts require you to love yourself. Are you ready to love yourself and use your business as the territory of your greatest transformation? You can do this.
Here are 4 pieces of practical advice for you right now:
Reduce the number of mentors you follow to only 1 or 2 who you resonate with most. Follow them only as long as you will actively integrate what you learn from them. Dive deep into what they teach. Hire them only if you align with their message and approach.
If you feel desperate and/or breathlessly excited by an offer, do not buy anything! Stop and get grounded in your values and your specific goals right now.
Do you really need anything more than you already have?
If so, what support will be the best fit and most effective solution for your current goals? Take action only when you know those answers to be true.
If you mindfully invest in a mentor, commit to getting all the value from that sole mentor and program to it’s end. Focus in. Stop all distractions. Leverage your investment.
If you start to second guess decisions that you felt good about before, stop and look at the voice in you that is questioning. Is that message coming from your highest self or from a risk manager who is not aligned with your goals? Trust your highest self.
You, as a coach, will help your clients to hear and heed their highest self. It’s the way to their greatest transformation and yours too.