Category: Clarity

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E#255 How to Play Big (Stop Playing Small)

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How to Play Big (Stop Playing Small)

Are you committed – but terrified – to taking your business to the next level? Have you been playing small and feel ready to step up and into what you were meant to be doing? This episode provides some proven methods to help you stop playing small and start playing big – so you can step into your greatness and live a more authentic and purposeful life.

What Playing Small Means

You’ve probably heard people talking about playing small. But what does it actually mean?

In this episode, we’ll cover 
* What Playing Small Means
* Why We Play Small
* How to Play Big

The Cambridge Dictionary says to ‘play small’ means to avoid risks and actions that might cause problems or make you feel uncomfortable, with the result that you might not achieve what you want to achieve.

It means your actions are motivated by fears, insecurities and low self-worth.

It means you’re not honouring your passion – instead, you’re settling for a life that is less than what you are capable of living.

Now if that definition doesn’t punch you in the face, I don’t know what will!

To me, playing small is a bit like that old analogy of someone ‘being a wallflower’ – standing back, not knowing what to say, blending in and being invisible.

The signs that you’re playing small might include that you:

  • let fear defeat you
  • you wait to be asked rather than taking the initiative
  • you rely on others’ opinions or directives
  • you are crushed by criticism
  • you struggle to say no
  • you may be envious or resentful of others’ success
  • you match other people’s ideas rather than speaking your own – to avoid standing out
  • your life is full of clutter and meaningless stuff (keeping busy to avoid pursuing your dreams)

Playing small really takes away from our ability to live a full life – and it’s incredibly inauthentic. If you’re too afraid of being judged, of failing or not being good enough, then you will likely shelve your authentic self, needs and ideas to avoid the associated pain.

Why We Play Small

Why do we end up playing small?

Maybe it’s because our reptilian brain is constantly trying to keep us safe – to seek pleasure and avoid pain. After all, it’s much easier to sit on the couch watching Netflix than it is facing a difficult conversation.

Maybe we’ve been through traumatic experiences that have dysregulated our nervous systems – and we’ve become risk-averse. For example, some people have been through significant experiences that have led them to be fearful of exposure to harm at the hands of others. Burnout could be one example, or some sort of abuse or assault.

Maybe we’ve been conditioned to believe we aren’t good enough, or that we don’t have enough – and we have adopted those beliefs to make it our own narrative. For example, a lot of people fear not having enough money, of being alone, of being judged or criticised, or of failing, and those sorts of thinking patterns keep them stuck in their boring, unhelpful or toxic situations.

Maybe we’ve developed a habit of outsourcing our sense of worth, validation and needs to other people. For example, some people constantly ask others for advice or opinions of what to do, or to get help with something, not trusting their own ideas or solutions. Some have been in controlling relationships and believe that the other person knows better and has all the answers.

As you can see, there are these physiological and psychological drivers that work together to work against you.

The great thing is – a huge part of turning things around is in your hands. It’s about developing the skills to challenge and overcome your narrative – the underlying beliefs and assumptions you have created for yourself – and to start becoming an independent thinker.

An independent thinker is someone who can use “critical thinking” to evaluate situations and points of view, with curiosity and then, to change their beliefs or standpoints. Critical thinking is not about criticism – it’s about being open-minded to new ideas but ultimately deciding for yourself or solving problems on your terms, based on your own judgement and perceptions.

When you can unwind the thinking habits that lead to this impulsive, reactive and fear-driven way of living, you can start to play big and start living the life you were born to lead.

How to Play Big

It’s clear that playing small can feel safe but is deeply unsatisfying.

Playing big is the opposite of playing small. It means that your actions are motivated by the things that bring you true fulfilment and satisfaction.

So how can you learn to play big?

Firstly, you can become an independent thinker. This involves:

  • Reading and travelling to see a bigger picture and more expansive point of view.
  • Talking to different people with different opinions and asking why people think that way, so you can hear their reasons and understand their perspective.
  • Trying new activities or hobbies to discover new skills and abilities that you can apply to problem-solving and decision-making. For example – playing chess might help you think more strategically!
  • Developing a practice of self-reflection, so you become more self-aware and more in tune with who you truly are and what you want.
  • Ask for feedback from people you work with or who are in your friendship group. Get an honest, non-emotional account of what people really think.

When you do these sorts of things, you get to know yourself better, see life from a bigger and broader perspective, and gain skills to help you move forward on your own.

When you do this, you become more open minded, confident, competent at solving problems, develop impartiality and leadership skills, and learn to be more aware of your own thoughts and emotions so you can stay above them. You can also enjoy better relationships!

Secondly, you can notice and re-wire any unhelpful ‘playing small’ habits and replace them with healthier options.

If you think about it, a lot of people who are in the playing small mindset are operating and responding automatically.

It takes what I call ‘conscious conscientiousness’ to break these automatic patterns and start living a bigger life – that is, being aware of what you’re doing and consistently working on changing those patterns.

I’ve done a lot of this work in my own life, and developed my own model of Factualising (instead of Catastrophising) as per a podcast I did a couple of years ago.

Here are some examples I’ve used:

Thoughts

  • Instead of ‘they’re better than me,’ I caught myself thinking that and changed it to ‘I have unique abilities’
  • Instead of ‘I can’t do that,’ I caught myself thinking that and changed it to ‘I will give it 100%’
  • Instead of ‘what if I fail?’ – I make myself answer that question to see the actual consequences. What would happen if I did fail? Often, the outcomes I come up with are never as bad as it felt at first.
  • Instead of ‘I don’t know enough,’ I asked myself what enough actually looks like, what I want it to be, and if required, what I could do to improve my knowledge.

Actions

  • Instead of not starting a business, I decided to pursue a passion and give it 100% commitment and effort in terms of quality work.
  • Instead of trying to do it all on my own, I chose trusted partners to work with me or to outsource parts of my work to.
  • Instead of sitting in fear, I made plans to move forward and then reality-checked those plans based on research and help from others.
  • Instead of half-committing, I went all in with a focus on being my best and bringing my best. That involved extensive reading from multiple sources, observing others, evaluating what works and what doesn’t, and planning and executing toward well-thought goals.

The interesting thing is that it’s not actually about success as an end goal. Whether you win or lose, flourish or fail, what happens is that you learn to respect yourself, trust yourself, and embrace the processes along your journey. This is where fulfilment actually lies – not in the outcome!

In other words, playing big is a process. If you learn to embrace and love the process, you will get the reward of satisfaction, and integrity and you will live a more authentic life.

Summary

A lot of people play small in life because it keeps them safe – but the downside is a sense of frustration and dissatisfaction.

Playing small comes about from the interplay of physiological and psychological factors – things you have experienced, and things that you tell yourself.

To break out of playing small and start playing big, you need to do a lot of work on your mindset and to rewire your old, unhelpful habits.

When you start challenging and rewiring your thoughts and taking actions from a more conscious and conscientious point of view, you will live a more fulfilling life that is more authentic and meaningful.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#253 Maximising Your Conference Spend

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Maximising Your Conference Spend

If you’re attending the HCANZA conference for health and wellness coaches in August – or any other conference – how can you make sure that you get the most out of your spend? Today I’ll share some tips and tricks to help you maximise your return on investment at conferences so you aren’t just getting information, you are also implementing what you learn. 

Identify Your Goal 

If you’re attending a conference like the HCANZA conference, there is a lot going on over the few days and it can be both immersive and overwhelming. 

In this episode, we’ll cover 
* Identify your goal
* Identify key learnings
* Follow up and follow through
* Deeper reflection on your vision

I feel it’s really important to identify what you want to get out of the conference in advance.  

Perhaps your goal is about learning specific things or being across cutting-edge industry updates. In either case, there might be certain presentations you’re particularly interested in, specific course providers you want to talk to, or people you want to meet. Look at the program and work those things out in advance so you have clear goals around learning. 

What if your goal is more around networking? Dig a little deeper and consider what specifically would you get from that networking? Perhaps you are thinking about building a community. Perhaps it’s about finding a collaborative partner to deliver services with. Or maybe it’s about finding others you can refer clients to if they are not within your niche or scope. 

If you’re introverted, your goal might be to talk to a set number of people over the course of the conference, rather than be stuck in a corner only talking to people you know. 

These are some of the reasons why you might attend a conference of any sort and some of the goals you might like to think about. Right now, I invite you to reflect on what you want to get out of that conference and write down a few goals. 

Identify Key Learnings  

I don’t know about you, but when I attend a conference, I get so caught up in the energy and interactions that I find myself running on adrenaline and floating around the room with excitement. 

Or you might find yourself immersed in the learning, or even overwhelmed with sensory overload. 

This is why reflection is so important during the conference, so you can ground yourself and pull back into the value of the conference for you personally. 

This period of reflection is so valuable for identifying key learnings along the way and how you might follow up, use or implement those learnings. 

For example, if you attend a presentation that you love, reflect on that session immediately afterwards and use the conference notepad to outline a few key insights or learnings, how you will apply them, and when you will do that (schedule them in). 

Similarly, if you have met a person that you’d like to reconnect with, consider the reason for reconnecting so you have a clear agenda, and then book the time with them during the conference.  

The goal is to squeeze as much as you can out of your time there and maximise the opportunities that present – to make it worth your while! 

Follow Up and Follow Through 

It’s easy to avoid doing the things that seemed exciting at the moment – but following up with your contacts and following through with your tasks are two important parts of realising the return on your conference investment. 

Following up with people can be the easier bit – especially if you’ve already identified the agenda for your meeting. 

Following through with tasks can be harder to do – sometimes they seem unimportant or not as urgent as other things and they get pushed to the back. 

For example, let’s say you identified a great training course that would help you build your skills in a particular area or some further reading on a topic – but you feel too busy right now.  I recommend you enquire about the course or schedule the further reading anyway – because that at least gets the ball rolling. 

Scheduling those non-urgent activities is an essential part of following through and continuing to grow professionally. Being accountable to yourself is an important skill that builds confidence, self-belief and efficacy. 

Deeper Reflect on Your Vision 

Separate to following up and following through is the bigger-picture reflection that I like to do. This is where the magic of personal and professional growth often comes from, and it helps you stress test your vision to see if it is still current and in the right direction. 

I like to reflect on what I learned overall, what it means to me or my business, and how I will tangibly implement those insights. The more specific you are the better – and scheduling any next actions ensures they get done. 

For example, at a recent conference, I learned about some key trends in my niche sector. I have scheduled time to reflect on these, how they impact my business, and what sorts of actions I need to take or messaging I need to develop to capitalise on these trends.  

Your reflections might be different to this e.g. discovering a new area of science that you’d like to learn about and how that might impact your clients. 

The point is that you do the reflection at the big picture level so you can align and refine your vision.  

Summary 

Conferences offer a great opportunity to connect, build community and learn. But as we all know, information can have a profound impact on your business and life – but only if you implement it! 

If you want to maximise your spending on the conference, I covered a few ways that you can milk all you can out of attending so that you achieve personal and professional growth. 

The key points of today’s episode were around being intentional – making plans and goals, grounding yourself via reflection, following through and reviewing your vision.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#252 Successful Marketing at Events

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Successful Marketing at Events 

Events are a great way to promote your business and find new clients. Today, I’d like to share some tips and key insights from the Workplace Wellbeing Festival held on 21-22 June in Sydney. I was there to prospect and qualify new leads for Sage Womens Health – a company that helps menopausal women stay well and at work. By the end of this episode, you’ll have some great ideas on how to engage with leads and identify prospective clients at events. 

In this episode, we’ll cover 
* Choosing the Right Event and Setting Goals
* Planning for the Event
* Seek First to Understand
* Being Direct and Specific
* Following Up

Choosing the Right Event – and Setting Goals 

If you’re going to attend an event or even have a booth at an event to find potential clients, it’s obviously essential that you choose the right event, so that it’s worth your time and money.  

How do you choose the ‘right’ event?  

Well, think about your niche, and within that, your high chemistry client which is the type of person who you really have great chemistry with, and ask yourself two questions: 

Are they going to be at the event?  

Why will they be there – what will they be seeking?  

Here are two examples of events I’ve attended that have been really worthwhile: 

  1. Annual Health Expo in Moruya, 2014. This event showcased all the health-related businesses in the region and obviously, people who care about health and would spend on health are going to attend. That was a no-brainer and a great opportunity for my weight loss coaching business at that time. 
  2. The Workplace Wellbeing Festival in Sydney, 2023.  My target market for new business Sage Womens Health was at this event. Looking at last year’s version of this event, it was clear that a lot of corporates attended, and the focus was on employee wellbeing. It is attended by heads of HR, Culture, Wellbeing and the like. Clearly a good fit for my new business! 

Once you decide to attend or invest, think about your goals for the event. 

For me at the WWF, we knew that around 3000 delegates attended last year. Four of us were manning a startup booth at the event, so we set goals to:  

  • have 90 conversations over the two days,  
  • qualify 10 and secure follow-up meetings, and  
  • create 3 customers. 

In other words, for the time, energy and preparation we put into planning for the event, we wanted to make sure it would be worth our while and meet our business goals. 

These numbers are in progress at the time of this episode, but what I can tell you so far is that we secured 48 leads from around 50 conversations (a fair bit short of our goal), BUT we are on track for our 10 follow-up meetings with qualified customers. 

Qualified customers mean they are aligned with what we do and are ready, willing and able to take the next steps with us. 

Planning for the Event 

Next up, planning for the event is critical so that you show up feeling prepared, looking professional and being polished. 

Planning generally involves setting goals as I’ve just described, but also considering what you will do to stand out, be remembered, and engage the audience. 

Some people at events use lollies or drinks to attract people, or branded pens or notepads to achieve these aims. Some people even had games at the WWF23! 

We decided to get some cotton bags printed with our logo on them – because these will last almost forever and be used regularly. The branding will keep us front of mind when these people are out and about in daily life. 

Anything like this – pens, notepads, fridge magnets, squeezy stress balls, annual calendars, mouse pads etc – can keep you front of mind after the event if you can afford it. 

We also created a one-page marketing flyer with an outline of the problems our typical niche clients face in relation to menopausal women at work, and how our solution helps them in terms of services and outcomes. These were put in each bag along with a business card. 

We also had the planning and logistics around printing, delivery of these materials, what to wear, and also, how our conversations would go and what our key messages were. 

To get the messaging right, we discussed different conversations we’d had with the niche client and did some ‘social listening’ to see what topics were covered on social media. All of this helped us figure out what to say, and how to say it, when in front of our ideal clients. 

Seek First to Understand 

When someone comes up to you at a booth they will naturally say something like ‘Hmmm, Sage Womens Health – tell me about what you do.’ 

The rookie mistake is to launch into your spiel. The better approach is to follow the Stephen Covey method “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.”  In other words, flip it around and ask the person if you can ask them a few things about their business and needs, what’s working and current initiatives before you tell them about your business.  

Bring all of your being and doing skills to the table. Listen actively, be warm, ask questions about them, be empathetic, reflect on what you heard and so on. All of these things build rapport, relationships and trust. 

And their story helps you see if they are a fit for you or not, and also, helps you to identify their potential gaps and position your solution around those gaps. 

You can hear in their tone of voice how engaged they are. You can tell by the specificity and depth of their story how important this issue is for them. You can hear the frustration, despair, or irritation when they recount the problems their business is facing, and the heartfelt compassion they have for their desired outcome. 

Those are the people who you really want that follow-up meeting with. Anyone else is unlikely to be ready, willing and able to make changes – and that means they probably won’t buy from you.  They can be invited to your mailing list instead or referred to someone else! 

Being Direct and Specific 

Once you have heard someone’s situation, you can position your business offering around that as long as it is within your normal range of services, of course! 

The point here is not to waffle and have a long, convoluted spiel that will turn people off.  Notice their body language as you outline what you do and how you could help. Are they engaged, or falling asleep, or turning away as if to escape? 

The best way is to give an overview of how you work with people. For example: 

“I like to start with a discovery call to get clear on your specific needs and see if we are a fit for working together. From there, if there is a need, we discuss program options to help you solve A, B and C to achieve X, Y and Z’ – where A, B and C are the problems or X, Y and Z outcomes they mentioned earlier in the conversation. 

Then asking if you can connect with them and follow up for a discovery call is the next step! 

Following Up 

They say that leads go cold within 72 hours – for events it might be up to 7 days before this happens. In either case, the message is clear – get on the messaging, email or phone to follow up as soon as possible after the event. Otherwise, your hard work goes down the drain. 

Your follow-up message might mention your conversation (e.g. we met at X event and spoke about Y), and it might also invite them to a virtual coffee, a discovery call, or whatever it was that you mentioned as being the next step. 

If the person doesn’t respond, give it 2 or 3 more goes. Cold selling usually results in a close after FIVE conversations, but an in-person follow-up might require only 3 or perhaps 4.  

Summary 

Events are a great way to get in front of a lot of people to showcase how you help people. 

Today we discussed the importance of choosing the right event and setting goals, planning your approach, how your coaching skills help you engage, keep your offer simple and follow up right away. What is the next event you could attend and have an impact at? 

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#250 What You Must Do to Be Confident: Unleashing Your Inner Power

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What You Must Do to Be Confident: Unleashing Your Inner Power

Are you struggling with confidence in your coaching business or even just generally in your life? I’d love to share some powerful concepts on what you must do to be more confident, from the work of master coach Dan Sullivan and other experts in the coaching field.

Confidence is not an innate trait but rather a quality that can be developed and strengthened.

Today we are going to delve into some powerful concepts shared by master coach Dan Sullivan and other experts in the coaching field. By understanding the ingredients of confidence and implementing the strategies we talk about, you can unlock your inner power and become more confident in your business and personal endeavours.

In this episode, we’ll cover 
* Understanding the Ingredients of Confidence
* Cultivating Commitment: The Foundation of Confidence
* Embracing Courage: The Catalyst for Growth
* Unveiling Confidence: The Reward of Commitment and Courage

Understanding the Ingredients of Confidence

Listening to coach Dan Sullivan recently, I heard a very powerful concept that summarises what you need to do to be more confident.

Firstly, don’t just expect that you can be confident before you start your business or a new venture. Some people are naturally confident, but there are two conditions that must occur in order to become confident.

What are those ingredients? Commitment and courage. These qualities work in tandem to create a solid foundation for your confidence journey. Let’s explore each of these elements in more detail.

Cultivating Commitment: The Foundation of Confidence

True confidence begins with a deep commitment to your ideas, goals, and personal growth. By committing to your vision, you demonstrate a willingness to try new things and persist in the face of obstacles.

Commitment means committing to your idea, to try new things, and to persist whether you fail or succeed along the way.

Without commitment, you won’t persist long enough to truly experience and go through the journey of developing something new and learning new skills, so you won’t understand it, and therefore may not become confident.

To unleash your inner power, learn how to cultivate commitment and embrace the determination required to navigate the challenges that come your way.

I think that one way to do this is to leverage the Be, Do, Have model created by spiritual guru Ram Dass.

The model explains that most people think that the more they do the more they will have and the happier they will be. The issue with this is that it’s a carrot-and-stick model, which means you will only be happy when you do enough to have enough. Meantime, your self-esteem is linked to the amount of work you do which leaves you at risk of overwork, exhaustion and burnout.

The secret to being happy isn’t having more things or doing too much. It’s about who you are as a person. This is clearly a mindset exercise.

To build commitment to your business following the Be, Do, Have model, you would embrace and embody the traits of someone who is already successful in business. For example, you would back yourself. You would be decisive and trust your decisions. You know that the right person is out there to be your client and you are seeking them to give them the help and support they need.

When you embrace this mindset and live and breathe the successful version of yourself, you are essentially going ‘all in’ and committing to your future endeavour.

That leads to the second ingredient – courage.

Embracing Courage: The Catalyst for Growth

Courage is required to commit. They go hand in hand. You need courage to put yourself out there, be wrong, and fail.

When you are committed and have courage, you work through the teething problems to get a result.

And part of that result is confidence.

Confidence isn’t the thing you start with, it’s the reward and outcome of having commitment and courage.

Courage is the force that propels you to take risks and step outside your comfort zone. It is the willingness to put yourself out there, accept the possibility of failure, and learn from your mistakes.

By embracing courage, you develop resilience and expand your capabilities. You become strong because you tried and learned, and you realised that you can do this no matter what the outcome. That means you become determined can persist, and face setbacks more easily.

The key to becoming courageous is to develop strategies to overcome fear and tap into your inner strength, which enables you to face challenges head-on and grow as a result.

One simple way to do this is to set stretch goals. I talked about these in an earlier podcast – effectively it means stretching yourself outside your comfort zone to do things that feel harder and uncomfortable.

This is an incredible growth catalyst and accelerator!

Unveiling Confidence: The Reward of Commitment and Courage

Right at the start of this podcast, I said that confidence is not something you have from the start; it is a reward that emerges from your commitment and courage.

As you use commitment and courage to persist in your business ventures and embrace the challenges that arise, you gain incredible wisdom along the way that creates confidence.

You develop a deeper understanding of your industry, and new skills, and you learn how to overcome obstacles. With each step forward, you strengthen your confidence and reinforce your belief in yourself and your abilities.

Then you get to enjoy the transformative power of confidence and the impact it can have on your business and personal life, to do bigger and better things.

Summary

Confidence is a journey that requires commitment, courage, and a growth-oriented mindset.

By cultivating these qualities, you can unleash your inner power and become more confident in your coaching business and beyond.

The Be, Do, Have Model and Stretch Goals are two strategies you can use to help you on the journey to becoming more confident.

Remember that confidence is not a destination but an ongoing process of growth and self-discovery.

Embrace the ingredients of confidence, face challenges with determination and resilience, and watch as your confidence blossoms, paving the way for success and fulfilment in all areas of your life.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#248 6 Tips to Transition from Work to Business Launch

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6 Tips to Transition from Work to Business Launch

Are you working full-time and trying to start a coaching business on the side? It’s exciting to think about leaving your doldrum job to launch a business that is meaningful and purposeful. But launching a business takes a fair amount of creative thinking, strategic planning and hard work to implement. How do you juggle the demands of work and make time to start your business?  

I’ll share my 6 top tips today – and a link to other tips in my previous episode on this topic. 

In this episode, we’ll cover 
* Commit and Go All In
* Your Special Workspace
* Your Ideas Diary
* Refresh Your Ideas and Mind
* Create Boundaries
* Set Focused, Achievable Goals

Starting a side hustle is pretty common. In September 2022, ABC Australia stated that more than ever, Australians are creating ‘side hustle businesses’, with a record 167,646 new businesses in the 2020/21 financial year.  

Of those, more than 80% were sole traders, where people were monetizing a hobby.  

What we know is that trying to juggle full-time work and a side hustle that becomes your part or full-time gig is stressful, time-consuming and can lead to burnout. Even if you’re a health and wellness coach with all the tools to stay resilient, we all have the same amount of time and are subject to pressure, stress and overwhelm that gets in the way of starting a business. 

I’ve had several conversations in the past four weeks with coaches who are facing very busy periods and finding themselves stalling and procrastinating about their business. 

Some of you are listening. I hear the stress in your voice. I hear the despair and the frustration and the ‘two steps forward, one step back.’ 

I understand that when the pressure of your job and life get too great, you can’t achieve your business startup goals and you feel despondent and start to doubt yourself. 

So how do you make the transition a bit easier? 

Commit and go All In 

This might seem obvious but if you commit yourself to starting your business then you’ll find the motivation, persistence and grit you need to succeed. 

If you have a ‘let’s try and see how it goes’ attitude, you will probably lack the commitment you need to make it work. Half-hearted attitudes get half-baked results. 

You need to commit to yourself that you will start a business and make it work in order to visualise what it will look like, why it matters, and identify the critical path and related goals to get there. 

Your Special Workspace 

My clients talk a lot about needing space. So my first tip is to start by giving yourself a distraction-free, special place to create, brainstorm, plan and get immersed into your business. 

Make it pretty, compartmentalised, and appealing so that it feels like a sanctuary where you can do great work.  

Further, make sure you have that same separation in your business tools. A unique email address. A unique Dropbox folder or Google profile. 

And set up a specific planner with all your tasks listed so that when you arrive in your special place, you open up your business-specific stuff and know exactly what to do, without distraction.

Use An Ideas Diary 

When I was in my late teens I started an exercise book where I could jot down all my crazy ideas. The front cover says Crazy Ideas in big letters. 

The function of this idea diary is to get all the stuff out of your head and onto paper so it doesn’t swirl around in there and create a big pile of things that you feel you have to remember, and so that you can sort through it later and weed out all the good ideas that are realistic and achievable.  

This is so important if you’re working full time, because you have a thousand other things in your head, and it’s disappointing to lose a good idea and stressful to try and hang onto them in your head. It can create tension, overwhelm and fear of forgetting things so you end up ruminating in order to try to remember everything. 

The ideas diary is amazing. Carry it around with you to get all that good stuff out of your head and make sure you capture it all. Later you can review and refine your ideas.   

The act of writing it down is also important to avoid acting impulsively in the moment and heading off into uncharted waters that go nowhere. Often, what seems like a good idea in the heat of the moment often ends up being trash – but you don’t see that at the time and it can be tempting to just take action due to time limitations, without really considering if these ideas have merit. 

When you revisit your diary you can weed out the great ones. Sometimes there are even learnings in the crazy ones. 

Do this and you’ll get better at decision-making, evaluating ideas, and choosing a focused, realistic and workable path. 

Refresh Your Ideas and Mind 

When you start a business outside of a paid job, you have small windows of time to generate ideas and concepts for your business. In that time-limited situation, it’s easy to fall into the trap of second-guessing your ideas and doubting whether they are sane and realistic, simply because you don’t have the time to fully explore evaluate and stress test your ideas. 

That’s why the ideas diary is important.  

But further, when you have great ideas, don’t keep them secret – start sharing snippets of them with people you know. Friends, business associates, colleagues, and potential clients. Get their feedback. 

Each little snippet of feedback helps you validate your ideas and see different perspectives. 

When I have an idea, I always run it past at least two people to gauge their reaction. Often, the positive response helps me to feel invigorated about my business. Any neutral feedback allows me to re-evaluate my ideas. 

Here’s one example – podcast topics. If I’ve run out of ideas, I might brainstorm a few and ask people for opinions on whether that’s of interest and why. Or I might even ask someone else for suggestions! 

Create Boundaries 

Your business is a living, evolving thing that requires constant attention, thought and iteration. If you’re constantly working late, putting other people first, doing things you don’t want to do for someone else’s sake, or taking on too much, then your business will suffer. 

It’s important to both schedule dedicated time for your business, and to also protect the time you set aside to work on your business so that you give it the attention it needs and so you can achieve the goals you set for yourself. 

Creating boundaries also applies to carving out not-negotiable time to see clients if you are in a service-based business. 

Set Focused, Achievable Goals 

The saying goes, it’s no good rowing hard if you are heading in the wrong direction. 

It’s so relevant to your business, especially if you have limited time and are trying to keep moving forward despite everything else. 

You will absolutely move forward if you are focused on one or two things, you can more easily set realistic and achievable goals and actually succeed. 

The 5-4-3-2-1-90-30 planning process I use with my clients is a testament to how focused outcome goals create clear action steps that are easily achieved. 

Just last week, one of my clients finished a 5-month block with me and she mentioned how much more she got done because she had clearly identified her focus areas for that time. 

She felt good because she’d set and achieved goals, and we’d celebrated them. 

It’s not rocket science, and it works if you are consistent with it.  

Summary 

Having a business is exciting but it takes a lot of time and energy, especially if you are working full-time and building the business on the side. 

Today’s six tips; creating commitment, creating a special workplace, using an ideas diary, refreshing your ideas and mind, creating boundaries, and setting focused and achievable goals, are a simple formula to help you get your business ticking along in the background in a focused and efficient way that is both energizing and rewarding. 

Which of these tips will you try first? 

Other episodes on this topic include: 

E49 – From Job to Business – Managing Time Expectations  

E135 – Transitioning from Job to Business 

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#247 Wellness Workshops, Books and Breast Cancer Coaching with Sadie Goddard

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Wellness Workshops, Books and Breast Cancer Coaching with Sadie Goddard

Today I speak with Sadie Goddard of Serenity and Sunflowers, talking about Sadie’s journey into coaching, accepting the need to work, and gaining a new perspective on how coaching fits into both employment and her own business. 

Sadie talks about an important project she is working on, the Breast Friend Project, and how she’s helping women in need of positive support in that space. 

Sadie shows that coaching can take many forms and that it’s ok to experiment until you find out where you want to land! 

If you’d like to learn more about what she does or the Breast Friend Project, here are her links: 

What Sadie offers: https://linktr.ee/serenitysunflowersjustbe 

 The Breast Friend Project: https://www.facebook.com/groups/684941926748586/?ref=share_group_link 

https://walking.heartfoundation.org.au/walking/group/the-breast-friend-project-lets-stay-active

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#246 Marketing is a Numbers Game

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Marketing is a Numbers Game

Are you fearful of marketing, not sure if you’re doing it right, or wondering how much effort is required? This episode helps to take some of the emotion out of it and shows you how to win at marketing via some key numbers – what they are and how to use them. By the end of this episode, you’ll be a lot clearer on how to market your business so you can succeed and grow. 

In this episode, we’ll cover 
* Conversion rates
* Return on Investment
* Setting targets

Marketing is often referred to as a numbers game, simply because it is about reaching as many people in your niche as possible and engaging them to buy your product or service. If you want to assess the success of your marketing and improve it, you’ll need to gather data and metrics to guide your strategies and measure your success. 

Numbers help you to do business with your eyes wide open, and to plug leaks, and make decisions that will grow your business faster. 

By now you are probably wondering; what are these data and metrics? What are the numbers? 

Let’s answer these questions and in doing so, help you get a sense of how to rocket fuel your own marketing efforts and create more clients. 

Conversion rates 

One of the basic principles of marketing as a numbers game is “conversion rates”.  

Your conversion rate is simply the percentage of people who take a desired action, such as liking your post, signing up for your lead magnet, or booking an enquiry call, out of the total number of people who were exposed to your marketing message.  

In this episode, we are talking specifically about the conversion of leads to sales. 

For example, let’s say you write a blog that is a case study of how you helped someone, and at the end of the blog, there is a link to book a discovery call. 

If you shared a link to that blog on your social media profiles, which have 1000 followers in total, then 50 of those followers visit your website and read the blog, 10 of them book a discovery call, and 5 of them buy a coaching program, then your conversion rate (from initial share through to the sale of a service or product) is 5/1000 or 0. 5%.  

Conversion rates are important because they give you a clear indication of how effective your marketing efforts are. The numbers tell you where to focus your effort; on things like adjusting your messaging, being more targeted with your marketing, using tactics to acquire more followers, developing more helpful copy, and improving your sales conversations. 

If numbers drop off at any of these points in your sales ‘funnel’, then you can easily see the key areas for improvement. 

Depending on how you are marketing, you might also look at other metrics. 

For example, if you’re using Facebook ads, you’d be interested in tracking things like organic reach, click-through rates, and cost per lead. 

Or, if your marketing focuses on live webinars or in-person workshops, you’d be measuring the number of enrolments, number of attendees, and number of enrolments on the day. 

A key takeaway here is that you’re not measuring anything, then it’s like trying to shoot a target in a dark tunnel! 

I encourage you to consider what you’re doing in terms of marketing, what the steps are in your sales cycle, how you will measure conversion and then….. get started! 

Return on Investment 

Another key number to know in marketing is the return on investment (ROI), which is basically the financial impact of your marketing effort. 

A high ROI means that your marketing is generating a lot of revenue for your business. If ROI is low, you might need to look at your marketing strategy and tactics to see what can improve. 

A simple formula to calculate ROI is:  

(sales growth – marketing cost) / marketing cost. 

For example, you might be investing $200 in local promotion (e.g. flyers, posters) and spending a lot of time networking to get people to your live workshop, and you reached about 300 people in your direct and indirect network. Then, you have 20 people book in and 18 of them show up on the day. Let’s say that of those 18 attendees, 15 of them buy a discovery call for $100.  

Firstly, let’s look at your conversion rate. You had 15 attendees who bought a discovery call out of roughly 300 leads who saw the marketing for the event. The conversion rate is 15/300 or 5%. 

Now let’s look at the return on investment of your marketing efforts. 

  • Your ‘sales growth’ is 15 x $100 = $1500. 
  • Your marketing cost was $200. 
  •  ($1500 – 200)/200 = 6.5 – converted to a percentage is an ROI of 650%. 

In other words, for every dollar you spent on promotion, you got 650% back in revenue. 

Great! That was a winning campaign, and worth repeating. What’s most impressive is that in the workshop itself, most of the people who attended bought a discovery session. That means you must have done well in building rapport and trust in the session, and offered something valuable! 

If you are using other marketing tactics as well as workshops, you could also compare the ROI of different tactics, like Facebook ads, and see which had the higher ROI. 

This would shape the future direction of your marketing. 

Setting Targets 

It’s one thing to measure numbers after the fact, but when you’re starting or growing a business, you’ll also need to set some targets. 

This is much like helping your clients to set a vision for their future selves.  

What is the outcome you want? Once you define that, you can use metrics to monitor progress and change course if needed. 

How do you set targets? 

I’ve talked broadly about some of these before in earlier episodes, so this is a nutshell of the key steps. 

     (1.) First, set your sales target: Set a clear goal or target for how much revenue you want to bring in from marketing.  

Let’s say that after the success of your last workshop, you wanted to bring in a bit more revenue – let’s say $2000 in sales from the workshop. That’s your new sales target.  

     (2.) Next, work out your conversion rate: Based on historical data, work out what percentage of leads typically convert into paying customers. If you don’t have historical data, ask someone who has done this before to help you work it out. This will help you estimate how many leads you’ll need to generate to reach your sales target. 

In the last workshop, your conversion rate was 15/300 leads, which is 5%. 

     (3.) Next, calculate the number of leads you need to reach to achieve your sales target. 

In our example with live workshops, if you want revenue of $2000, this means you will need 20 people to buy your $100 discovery call at the next workshop you run. 

Last time, your conversion rate was 5%. 

In other words, in this new workshop, 5% conversion equals 20 people who buy. 

That means you’ll need to reach 400 leads this next time to get 5% buying from you. 

     (4.) Next, monitor and adjust:  

          (a.) As you start generating leads, monitor how many sign up for your workshop and adjust your targets as needed. If you get many more signups, you may be able to generate fewer leads in future to achieve your sales target.  

          (b.) If on the day of the workshop, your conversion rate ends up being lower than expected, you may need to generate more leads to hit your goal. 

Finally, you’ll need to consider the quality of your leads. Some may be more likely to buy than others, depending on factors such as their level of interest, budget, and timing.  

In the workshop example, you might find that most of the workshop participants who buy were referred by one or two people in particular, whereas other referrers may send people who don’t.  

One thing is for sure. When you start looking at marketing as a numbers game, it takes some of the emotion out of it and can reduce your misgivings or fear. 

You’re using the logical part of your brain to make decisions, and you are using data to inform your actions. 

Having marketing metrics and data is incredibly powerful and something that is worth looking at from the get-go. 

Summary 

As we’ve discussed today, marketing is a numbers game because it relies on data and metrics to guide your decision-making.  

There are two key takeaways from today. 

Firstly, by focusing on key metrics like conversion rates and ROI, you can learn about what works and what doesn’t in your business more easily, and therefore optimize your marketing tactics. 

Secondly, by setting clear targets for leads, you can ensure that you’re generating enough interest and engagement to achieve your sales goals.  

By monitoring your results and adjusting your approach as needed, you can continually improve your marketing efforts and maximize your return on investment. 

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#245 3 Easy Ways to Stay Calm, Focused and Productive at Work

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3 Easy Ways to Stay Calm, Focused and Productive at Work

Do you find yourself feeling rushed at work, with thoughts that you’re not doing enough or are not good enough, and lying awake at night worrying about what you did or didn’t do? Welcome to faulty thinking. Today we’ll discuss three easy ways to stay calm, focused and productive at work. 

Many of us spend a significant amount of time at work, often feeling overwhelmed and consumed by our thoughts. The constant barrage of emails, meetings, and deadlines can make it challenging to stay focused and productive. However, there are a few effective methods that can help you avoid getting bogged down by your thoughts at work. 

In this episode, we’ll cover 
* Setting work boundaries
* Leaving white space in your diary
* Taking time to reflect

Set work boundaries 

One of the most important things you can do to avoid being overwhelmed by your thoughts at work is to set clear boundaries. This means establishing specific times when you will work and when you will take breaks. It also means setting limits on how much time you will spend on certain tasks. 

To set boundaries, start by identifying your most important work priorities and then allocate specific times of the day to work on them. Be sure to also allocate time for breaks, as they will help you stay refreshed and focused. 

Leave white space in your diary 

Another method for avoiding overwhelm is to leave some “white space” in your diary.  

This means deliberately scheduling time for nothing, or for activities that you enjoy, such as exercise, hobbies, or spending time with friends and family. 

In my experience, this is often the hardest thing for people to do! I certainly was challenged by, the idea of working fewer hours and yet still producing the same amount and quality of work.  

Could that happen? Yes, it absolutely can.  

Having white space in your diary is SO important. It helps you avoid burnout and gives you time to recharge your batteries. It also helps you maintain perspective, as you will have time to reflect on your work and consider new ideas. 

Reflect 

As a coach, I know that most people DON’T reflect on the day’s events or what they’ve achieved. Instead, they take it home with them and wake up at 1am to ruminate on it and their to-do list for the next three hours! 

But making time to reflect on your thoughts and experiences can be really helpful in managing overwhelm at work. It means that you’re allowing space in the day to problem solve, get clarity, mentally organise or expand on concepts. 

How do you reflect? Reflection can involve journaling, meditation, or simply taking a few minutes to pause and think about the events of your day including what went well, what you might have done differently, or to think more deeply about situations and outcomes. 

A wonderful benefit of reflection is that it can help you identify patterns and habits that may be contributing to your feelings of overwhelm. It can also help you gain clarity and perspective on your work and help you to identify some tangible opportunities for personal growth and development. 

Summary 

To sum things up, managing overwhelm at work is about setting boundaries, creating space for yourself, and taking time to reflect.  

By incorporating these three methods into your work routine, you can avoid becoming consumed by your thoughts and stay focused, productive, and happy at work. 

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#240 3 Steps to 10x Your Online Reach

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3 Steps to 10x Your Online Reach

Content marketing offers a great opportunity to grow your business. But how do you create and share content in a way that maximises your reach and helps you build a loyal audience? This episode uncovers three steps to leverage your content to ensure business revenue and growth.

In this episode, we’ll cover
* Titles Matter
* Create Valuable Content
* Add a ‘Direct Response’
* How to 10x Your Online Reach

It’s common for people to start posting ‘stuff’ on social media, or their website, and hoping to be discovered by clients. I did this myself when I started my business – and the silence was deafening!  I felt so despondent because I’d gone to the effort of writing blogs that nobody was reading, and social media posts that nobody was engaging with.  

What was I doing wrong? 

A lot of people tried to sell me solutions, but I realised that a combination of things was needed to successfully gain an online reach. I’m going to map out the process so you can do this for yourself, stop getting crickets and start getting visibility and traction! 

Titles Matter 

It’s tempting to think up a groovy blog or podcast headline that you like the sound of, with clever plays on words. But the reality is, nobody is searching for that. 

People use their own simple language to search for solutions to their problems. 

You want to use titles that ‘hook’ the audience in (titles are often called hooks) and get them intrigued and interested, thinking, well how do I do that? 

For example, compare two possible titles for this podcast. 

  • Ideas for growing your business online – or 
  • How to 10x your online reach. 

See the difference? One is way more interesting and intriguing, making you wonder – 10x – really? – how do I do that? 

After all, the 10x is the outcome that you really want, right? 

Create Valuable Content 

Based on what matters to the audience, what they want to know about, what skills they want to develop, or where they are stuck with something. This is how I created this podcast!  I choose topics of interest and answer questions about those. 

If you create content that doesn’t help to solve a problem, doesn’t answer the audience’s questions and is simply your random musings… well, they’re going to tune out. 

Conversely, listen to your audience and help them with their challenges, in a clear and simple way, and you’ll have people coming back for more. 

The litmus test is audience feedback. 

When someone says to me ‘I’ve been binge-listening to your podcast’ – well, mission accomplished. I’m helping people and they value the help.  

That’s exactly what I want. And that’s exactly what you can do too. 

The secret, once again, is to listen to understand (as Stephen Covey says) – listen to your audience.  

Add a ‘Direct Response’ 

Always create content with the goal of getting some sort of response – and ask directly for that response. 

For example, if you write a blog, finish it either with a question (e.g. what is your opinion on this?)  

Or even better, provide a valuable downloadable thing that can help the reader take action at the end of the blog or podcast or video. 

Ask them to subscribe to your podcast, or follow you on Instagram. 

Direct response is inviting them to start a relationship with you, by taking action toward that. 

How to 10x Your Content Reach 

Creating content is one thing, but getting eyeballs on it is another. After you create and post content on any platform, there is a follow-up task of sharing that content.  

Here are ten ideas on how to do that – which effectively 10x the reach of that one content piece. 

  1. When you post a blog or podcast, or YouTube video etc, make mention of it in your email newsletter and add a link to the post/episode. 
  2. Post a link to your original content piece (e.g. blog, podcast) on all the other social media platforms you use. 
  3. Get interviewed by someone (e.g. someone else’s podcast, blog etc – someone with a big audience) where you get to mention your original content piece and provide a link to it. 
  4. Publish your content on a well-known platform. For example, blog writers might submit their article to MammaMia, Sage Womens Health, or a platform like SourceBottle which links journalists with qualified information sources. 
  5. Share the content piece with people in your professional network, for their interest, in case they want to pass it on to others who might find it valuable. 
  6. Share the content piece with your industry association (e.g. HCANZA) who might publish it on your behalf. 
  7. When people ask you a question on social media, provide a link to your blog/podcast as a means of answering their question. 
  8. Curate some of your content and share it as a mini-guide for people who attend your free webinar, workshop or Facebook Live. For example, a one-pager with links to 10 blogs you wrote related to the same topic. 
  9. When a prospective client enquires about your services, send a link to some of your content to help them to better understand, or even solve, an immediate problem they have. This is valuable even if they decide not to be a client – you can still offer value. 
  10. Include the content piece as a resource within your coaching or educational program. For example, in my Passion to Profit course, I include links to past podcast episodes so that my students can deep dive into a topic for more specific how-to information. 

Further, over time, you can repurpose your content into other formats and share them on social media so that your message is shared in lots of different ways, to accommodate different learning styles. For example, a blog can be read aloud as a podcast, or sections of it can be turned into a video, or infographic showing a process, or similar. That way, the message is reinforced and can also lead back to the original content source for more information. 

These are just ten ideas for maximising the reach of your content.  

Summary 

Today we talked about how to create and share content in a way that maximises your reach and helps you build a loyal audience.  

The three steps we talked about to build and leverage your content to ensure business revenue and growth are to: 

  1. Use an appealing title 
  2. Create valuable content based on your audience’s interest 
  3. Add a direct response. 

From there, we discussed 10 ways to get the content out into the world to get 10x the reach of each piece of content. 

What other ideas do you have for sharing content? 

What has worked well for you? 

 

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#237 Three Tips for Creating Irresistible Offers

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Three Tips for Creating Irresistible Offers

Today we’re talking about crafting irresistible offers as part of my season about business and revenue growth. I want to help you craft mouth-watering offers that make it super easy for clients to buy from you, following a simple process.

There’s a lot to think about when crafting offers, let alone making them irresistible. You might like to check out my previous episodes on the topic, such as Episode 65, Discover and communicate your value, and Episode 205, How to Develop a Magnetic Value Proposition. Both of these do a deep dive into messaging.

But what else matters, and how else can you create an offer that is irresistible, mouth-watering and exactly what your audience wants? These three tips will help you get it right.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* Tip 1 – Make it Relatable
* Tip 2 – Make it Valuable and Selective
* Tip 3 – Make it Easy to Buy

Make it Relatable 

When you’re describing the offer, you might find yourself going into technical jargon, being verbose, or fumbling with your words. 

The easier way to talk about your offer is to make it relatable to the person and what they are going through. 

The offer that sells most easily is the one that talks about the specific emotional struggles and then the emotional benefits your audience desperately wants, using their words. 

Remember: your suffering is your story, and your strengths are your solution. 

Here are two examples – a very dry version and a more emotive and relatable version. 

The dry version that uses coaching language: This 6-week program is designed to counteract the energy and sleep challenges that new mothers face and helps them to create a vision and goals that they set for themselves.  

Here’s the more relatable, emotive version that uses typical client language for the same niche: Are you a new mum who is struggling to sleep and feeling anxious? This 6-week program will help you to create simple, practical routines to help you feel calmer, grounded and sleep better so that you can be a happier mum and a great role model.  

Can you hear the difference? 

Make it Valuable and Selective 

Value is in the eye of the beholder. If someone is desperate, ready, willing and able to change, then your offer will be more valuable by default. 

Just this week, a coaching student in my P2P course discussed her market research interview results. She was trying to gauge interest in a coaching program she wants to run, for her niche who wants to achieve some specific outcomes and needs help to develop the habits to get there.  

One person in her niche was desperate to change and lacked confidence that she could do it herself – she said she’d pay $1500 for a program to help her achieve the specific outcomes that the coach had mentioned her niche wanted to achieve. 

The other person she interviewed had the same desired outcome goals but was already doing some of the work herself. She said she’d pay around $500 for the same program – she obviously didn’t place as much value on the support being offered by the program. 

The first lesson is that the offer needs to mention the outcomes and benefits that are meaningful to the target audience (not the features, and not what you think they want). 

The second lesson here is simple – don’t try to make offers to everyone. Target the people who desperately want to change, right now, with your help. They’ll have a greater sense of value around the offer, will be more committed and will likely pay more. 

Not everyone will want, value or succeed with your offer. 

So, be specific about who it’s for, and not for. Be discerning. 

It’s no use trying to sell something to somebody whose heart isn’t in it, who is too busy, or who isn’t quite sure. They’ll more likely try to beat you down on price. They’ll more likely be half-hearted in their approach and get mediocre results. Then they’ll tell people about their mediocre results – or tell nobody about your business.  

You’ll feel like an imposter! And it will affect your reputation. 

On the flip side, if you are targeting people who are the right demographic or niche, who are desperate to solve a problem right now, and are ready, willing and able to do the work, then they’ll most likely succeed, and you’ll get great testimonials that attract more people like them. 

Simple, right? It works. I’ve built multiple 6-figure businesses this way. 

When I hear someone talking about discounts, I immediately think less of their offering. I think about the crazy ads on TV telling me about all the stuff I can buy for next to nothing. 

Make It Easy to Buy 

What makes something easy to buy? 

It solves the problem you’re desperate to get rid of, that you feel is huge, complicated and overwhelming, by taking you through a process that feels easy and simple and relates to the solution or outcome that you want. 

This comes to life in your strategy session, webinar, workshop or other lead magnet where you speak specifically to the problem you help to solve and outline the two or three steps that the client goes through to get to their desired endpoint. 

When people hear that there are three simple steps, they are flooded with relief that there are only three steps, not the thousand that were in their minds. It shows that you clearly understand what they need to do to achieve their outcome, and they’re also confident that you know what works. 

For example you might help “people who are disorganised and want to take back control of their schedule and life.” That’s the appealing webinar you might run. 

Your three-step approach that you talk about in the webinar or workshop could be something like: 

  • Step 1: Define it – Identifying the areas of chaos at work and at home so you have clarity on where and how to start 
  • Step 2: Plan it – Developing a foolproof plan to overcome the key areas so you know exactly what to do and when 
  • Step 3: Do it – Follow a simple, step-by-step schedule to get it done with the accountability and support you need to achieve 100% success! 

See how I’ve used some language that the target audience might use, including the outcomes that each step gives. It sounds like a simple process that makes sense to them – define it, plan it, do it. 

What the coach might actually do in the program is help them create a vision (what needs to change and why), then step 2 is to develop some 3-monthly goals (the plan), and then step 3 is where you support them to navigate small weekly goals and any obstacles that arise. 

In this example I’ve just given, you can see how using powerful words that are meaningful to the client to position the service. Foolproof plan, simple, step-by-step, accountability, support. 

This way of communicating your offer makes it way easier to buy! 

Summary 

Creating irresistible offers comes down to a simple three-step process. 

Firstly, describe your offer simply and clearly using the clients’ typical wording, to address the problem and solution that your offer can help them achieve. 

Secondly, make it valuable by only making the offer to people who are the right type of person – desperate to change, and unable to do it on their own. They’ll place way more value on your offer and be more committed to your program. 

Thirdly, make it easy to buy by describing simply the key milestones that your program will help them to achieve. This is about translating coaching language and methodology into what the client will get out of that methodology as a result, if they do the work. 

Need help crafting an offer? Hit me up on the contact page of my website to enquire about my June intake of private business coaching. 

 

 

 

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#236 How to Grow and Scale Your Business with a Virtual Assistant

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How to Grow and Scale Your Business with a Virtual Assistant

How does engaging a Virtual Assistant (VA) help you to grow and scale your business?

By taking over the tasks that frustrate you, or that you’re not good at – like marketing and being consistent online! A VA helps you grow and scale by freeing up more time and helping you get more headspace to focus on your income-earning work.

As the next episode in a series on how to grow your business and revenue, I talk to Kristy Smith, Founder of Virtual Elves, to discuss what types of tasks VAs typically complete, the benefits and value of using a VA, what’s required to engage a VA properly, and how to hand over tasks to a VA among other things.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* How Kristy Smith Started a VA Business
* How VAs can help you
* What onboarding a VA looks like at Virtual Elves
* How to hand over work easily to free up your time and energy

Kristy Smith is the founder of Virtual Elves and has worked with many businesses helping them to develop the strategies, methods and tools for effective outsourcing. She shows them how, with outsourcing, they can scale, grow and be profitable. She is known for her ability to see how businesses can operate in a more efficient way, and for walking business owners through the process. She uses her own business growth, mistakes and lessons learnt to give hands-on practical strategies that can be implemented immediately.

I’ll provide her contact details at the end of this episode!

Virtual Elves started in 2009 with just Kristy at the helm and now boasts an international team of over 50 virtual assistants, graphic designers, web developers and other various contractors.

Kristy is a popular expert in her field for guest podcasts and Entrepreneur education groups such as The Entourage and Her Business.

Prior to founding Virtual Elves, Kristy managed large teams and implemented front office processes and customer service training for private hospitals and 5-star hotels. A mother of two teens, she lives on Sydney’s Northern Beaches with her husband and family.

If you’d like to connect with Kristy Smith and/or Virtual Elves:

www.virtualelves.com.au 

www.facebook.com/virtualelves

www.twitter.com/virtualelves

https://www.instagram.com/kristysmithinc/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/virtualelves/

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#235 3 Proven Strategies to Grow and Scale Your Business

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3 Proven Strategies to Grow and Scale Your Business

In this current podcast series dedicated to business and revenue growth, let’s talk about three proven strategies you can use to grow and scale your business – even if you’re relatively new to the business and have a few paying clients. Two of these methods discussed today do NOT require you to find new clients – which is often the most costly and time-consuming way of building your business. That means you can improve revenue immediately!

Background

When your business reaches a certain size, you might find yourself working at full capacity in terms of the hours you can physically work or the clients you can physically service in your business.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* Upgrading Your Systems
* Changing Your Prices
* Increasing the Offers

You may reach an upper limit of income or find that your start-up business systems (e.g. manual invoicing) are inadequate and time-consuming to manage.

While there are no immediate problems with either scenario, a business that relies solely on you presents a level of ‘risk’.

What happens to the business if you get sick? What if you want time off? And how can you outgrow your expenses and start making a real profit?

These are just three of many considerations that might inspire you to grow or at least improve efficiencies in your business.

There is a saying that goes, ‘If your business isn’t growing, it’s shrinking.’

If you want to grow your business and revenue, there are several options.

Here are three of the easiest options for businesses in the early stages of growth (‘seed’) who have some customers and are ready to expand their reach, sales and profit.

Upgrading Your Systems

Upgrading your systems becomes a relevant growth strategy if you have reached a limit as to how many clients you can see, and therefore how much money you can earn.

Before you consider upgrading, you’d want to make sure you have regular cashflow and enough profit margin to cover the costs you will incur via systems upgrades.

Two ways of upgrading your systems include:

– Getting specialist help (outsourcing) and

– moving away from manual systems into more automated ones.

Either or both of these can free you up to service more clients. Let’s look at each in turn.

Upgrading by Outsourcing

Thinking about the outsourcing, hiring specialist contractors is an easy way to get qualified help when you are busy or need help in a specific area. This is known as a ‘business to business’ arrangement whereby you engage another business to complete specific work or tasks within your business.

It is also helpful if you don’t want the burden of buying and setting up software (e.g. accounting software) and just want someone to do it for you.

If you are considering outsourcing, you might not have the workload or cash flow to employ someone permanently, but they could do some monotonous but important tasks for you, or cope with irregular busy periods, so that your time is freed up to service more clients.

For example:

· Hiring independent contract coaches can be helpful for irregular work e.g.

  • busy periods
  • when you go on holiday.

· Alternatively, outsourcing allows you to hand over specific tasks or regular roles to an expert e.g.

  • virtual assistant
  • bookkeeper
  • accountant
  • marketing consultant
  • IT professional.

I will be talking more specifically about VA’s in the next episode of this podcast.

If you do any outsourcing, you would need to have a formal signed agreement in place before work commences, which clearly outlines the scope of work, specific duties and payment arrangements.

You’d need to have some clear policies in place about privacy, conduct and other things that state your expectations around quality of work and expected behaviour, and procedures to help hand over specific tasks.

Upgrading by Automating Tasks

When you start a business, you’re often doing a lot of things manually. For example:

  • Creating invoices in Microsoft Word.
  • Keeping track of clients in a log book, or an Excel worksheet.
  • Posting your social media posts one at a time on each platform.
  • Manually writing individual, separate emails to your customers, before, during and after programs.

When you switch these manual systems to automated processes and/or use software, you can save yourself a lot of time and mistakes, which frees you up to coach more clients.

Examples include:

  • Using dedicated financial software like WaveApps (free), Quickbooks, or Xero
  • Using a social media scheduling tool instead of manually posting (e.g. RecurPost, HootSuite)
  • Using an email system like Mailchimp or Mailerlite
  • Using a booking system like Calendly or Acuity Scheduling. For more info on these, you can listen to episode #105 Best Essential Business Systems or episode #106 Best Advanced Business Systems.

Increasing Your Prices

When your business reaches a certain level, a very simple strategy to grow your income without any cost to you, or without working extra hours, is to repackage services and/or raise prices.

For example, you might decide to:

  • raise prices by 10% and may also offer a bonus downloadable training course with your program – which raises the tangible value of your services and makes the increase more palatable with only a one-off labour cost, or
  • raise prices by 15% and re-position yourself as a highly experienced specialist in one area of coaching –raising your tangible value, or
  • creating a group coaching model to increase ROI
  • develop a premium (high-priced) specialty service.

There are many pricing strategies to choose from.

Pick the one that best suits your niche, your level of expertise and your business and lifestyle (working hours) goals. Work with a business coach to create the right strategy for you. You might also be interested in my podcast episode #202 Should I show pricing on my website?

Increasing the Options

When you start out in business, you’re often just focusing on doing one or two things well, becoming known, and getting a good reputation.

As you start to get more customers, you will start to see more opportunities to work with people in different ways.

By increasing the number of service options you have, you can grow your business and revenue.

For example:

– A short, DIY program with email support provides a low-cost entry point for people who are interested in working on one small problem they have (e.g. establishing a bedtime ritual for better sleep).

This means you are getting some income for very little live client time and gives them a step into your main program. This equates to more money for less time and effort (note: you would still need to promote this program regularly in order to sell it).

– A 1:1 program is now available as a small group program

This means you are earning more money per session, and also building a community of like-minded people who work with you and connect with each other. They are more likely to want to stay connected.

– Your initial 8-week program is now followed up with a 6-month maintenance program (VIP high-end pricing for individuals or mastermind, or moderate price for groups) or a membership.

This means you are keeping customers longer, earning more money and/or over a longer period, and helping your clients get next-level results after their initial program has finished.

– A higher value program where you add specific resources, a welcome pack, or package up other services or products such as meditation playlists, or a recipe book.

This means you can earn more money in the same amount of time.

One important caveat is this – keep your number of available services to 3 or 4, maximum. Otherwise, you risk entering the paradox of choice, where customers walk away without making a decision as there are too many options or difficulties in making the best choice.

Summary 

When you are coaching enough clients that you hit a ceiling of available time or income, or if you notice opportunities to help clients more or for longer, there are a few strategies you can do to take your business to the next level.

We talked about just three of the options today, including

  • Upgrading your systems
  • Increasing your pricing, and
  • Creating more options for working with you (but not too many).

If you need help developing business and revenue growth strategies to suit your business and niche, contact me to join my private coaching waitlist, which runs for five months in February and June of each year.

My private coaching programs usually sell out within a week of advertising, and you need to qualify to be a part of them. To enquire or join the waitlist, hit up my contact page and I’ll get back to you!

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#233 Running Pilot Programs for Quick Revenue (and Growth)

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Running Pilot Programs for Quick Revenue (and Growth)

Whether you’re starting out in business or thinking of a new service line, it can be tough to break into a new market.

Pilot programs allow you to test a new service for the first time on a test audience in exchange for feedback but better than that – they are a great way to create business and revenue growth through live customer experience, results, reviews and referrals.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* Why Pilot Programs?
* How to Create Value in Pilot Programs
* Building Revenue with Pilot Programs

 

Why Pilot Programs?

Pilot programs are a low-risk opportunity for you to test and refine your coaching or other program using live feedback from people in your niche or target audience.

But more than that, running a pilot program is a pre-marketing activity. It is essentially a soft launch that creates visibility, interest, engagement and excitement around your new program.

To answer the question – why pilot programs? – they are a great way to give people a taste of what you do, and to create initial revenue, results and reviews (traction) that lead to future sales.

What I mean is this: by running a test version of your final program, you’re giving people a live experience of what you do, which generates positive feelings and other outcomes (which is what people actually buy – feelings).

You are showing you care about the customer because they’re helping you to make it exactly what they want and need.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, and there is far less pressure for you as you work out the kinks and bumps with a willing audience.

In return, they feel wonderful about helping you and they’re also getting a result in a structured, step-by-step process. Then, they are going to tell people about what they’re doing – spreading the word for you.

You can also share wins, photos, insights and progress along the way with your future audience to build their interest and excitement for your next program.

That means you end up with a refined product that exactly suits your target market – ready to go for a full launch – and with plenty of eyeballs on the next intake of your program. Much more fun than a pile of ads for something you’ve never tried or tested!

If you choose the right people for your pilot program, you’ll get relevant feedback to improve the final product, and glowing testimonials that will attract more people to your business.

I covered how to get the right people for your pilot program in episode #134 Five Top Tips for Finding the Right Pilot Program Clients. I explained why being selective is important, and how to find the right clients for your pilot program.

To answer the question – why pilot programs? – they are a great way to give people a taste of what you do, and to create initial revenue, results and reviews (traction) that lead to future sales.

Now that we know why pilot programs are great, how do you get people to join your pilot program? Well, you need to create value by communicating the problem you help to solve, and the solution or outcomes people will get by participating.

How to Create Value in Pilot Programs

Two previous episodes of this podcast do a deep dive into creating value within the program. In episode #154, the Why, What and How of Pilot Program workflows, I talked about how to map out the steps of signing up clients, onboarding clients, and the key steps in delivering the pilot program to those clients, so that you can prepare properly, and then deliver a complete and wonderful experience to your clients that covers all the bases. In episode #155, The Value of Pilot Program Content and Emails, I described how to create value for your clients in different elements of a pilot program – basically, how to create value within the content of the program that you can then test with a pilot group!

Building Revenue with Pilot Programs

Someone asked me recently – does a pilot program have to be free or can it be heavily discounted?

The short answer is – it depends on the niche clients, the size and urgency of their problem, their ability and willingness to pay, and the importance of change to them.

If you think about it, someone with a big, painful, problem that disrupts their daily life will be more willing to pay, and to pay more, and to get help, than someone with a minor problem that has little to no impact on their life.

Let that sink in for a moment – it’s important.

How do you feel about paying for something versus getting it for free? Several people have told me that they want to pay me for coaching because then they have skin in the game and will be more committed.

And on top of that – as the saying goes – nobody wants a free kitten. Because then the question is – why is it free? what’s wrong with it?

So how do you price a pilot program? Firstly, I think the language is important. If you talk about discounting as it devalues what we do as coaches.

I prefer to say that “this first program as a pilot will cost $X, and future versions will be $X”. This can help people decide to buy now or to wait until later.

Generally, I charge about 1/3 to ½ of the retail price for a pilot program, with a clear requirement for feedback along the way (which includes verbal and surveys). So if it will eventually be a $1500 program, a pilot version might be promoted as a one-time-only price of between $500 – $750.

Remember that even with in a pilot program, the right clients will get incredible value, assuming that you pick a niche, you’re clear on the problem they want to solve, and that the aim/outcome/result is clearly defined and exactly what they’re looking for. That is where the value is created – the old ‘what’s in it for me’.

People love to help, and they love getting a sense of value (which is simply a function of the results they get – and how important the results are to them – in exchange for their investment of time and money). If they can get a result in your pilot program, they’ll be incredibly grateful and will spread the word.

This is how pilot programs lead to business and revenue growth.

Summary

To answer the question – why pilot programs? – they are a great way to give people a taste of what you do, and to create initial revenue, results and reviews (traction) that lead to future sales.

They are more engaging than the more formal and structured forms of marketing, in that they are experiential and give your customers a feeling. After all, that’s what people buy!

I’ve linked you to two other episodes of this podcast to help you map out the steps, create valuable content, and take your idea to the world.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#224 Celebrating Success; Christmas Boundaries

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Celebrating Success; Christmas Boundaries

Today I’d like to congratulate you on a wonderful year and remind you of how you succeeded. I’ll also talk about how to set Christmas Boundaries in your business so you can get adequate rest and recovery, so you’re ready to charge again in 2023.

Congratulations on Your Success!

I just want to say congratulations on all of the hard work that you’ve put in this year, no matter what sorts of results you have achieved. The reason I say it this way is because that by doing the work and following the process is you get results in your life.

In this episode, we’ll cover
* How to Celebrate Success in Your Business
* Setting Christmas Boundarie

So if you have persisted and followed those processes, it means that you’ve made an effort on behalf of yourself to do something that is important to you – and to me that is worthy of congratulations.

Next I want to say that no matter what results you got this year, I want to applaud you on your successes and failures.

The successes that you achieved show what you’re capable of. Maybe you helped one person make a significant change in their lives that affected not only their own life but the quality of life and the relationships they have with the people around them.

Even if it’s just one person, that is a significant achievement and it will have a ripple effect into the lives of so many other people.

Sometimes that one aha moment can lead to a decision that creates a cascade of events and an upward spiral that become life changing.

For example, one coach I know of made one decision just over a year ago that propelled her business into the stratosphere. If she hadn’t made that decision, she would not be the success that she is today.

Right now, I invite you to explore and recognise those single decisions that made a big difference in your life or someone else’s life this year.

I want to recognise and celebrate the failures you had this year because these are the things that make you stronger, tougher and more determined.

Your failures give you the opportunity to learn about what you’re made of

They give you the chance to show you that you can persist, to see where your blind spots are, and to learn new skills.

Failures show you that you are human.

Failures show you what your potential is. They show you that you have the opportunity to be bigger and better than you are right now. And these are some of the great things that failures can give you – they are lessons in business and life.

Here are some of the things I succeeded at:

  1. Completing the accreditation process with ICF to gain my PCC level accreditation which was a huge undertaking and I feel really great about having achieved that.
  2. Putting around 70 students through my Passion to Profit course which runs three times per year through Wellness Coaching Australia. Some of those were in the planning stage and will launch next year. Some have gone on to start viable businesses which I’m really excited about, and a couple have used what they learned to gain experience as a coach and subsequently get a job as a health and wellness coach.
  3. Attending and speaking at the HCANZA conference earlier this year, which was a significant milestone for our industry.
  4. Collaborating with the HCANZA board to develop an amazing and ambitious business plan for this current financial year, 2022/23 and we are really going to put health Wellness coaching on the map in Australia and NZ which is super exciting.
  5. Increasing my income this year for fewer hours doing more of the work I love.
  6. Finding new ways to bring coaching into other arenas and to innovate new service ideas which will become launched businesses in 2023 in the areas of mental health and menopause.
  7. Supporting individual business coaching clients to stay motivated, to simplify their businesses, to systemize their businesses, and to clear the space for more effective thinking and planning.
  8. Supporting my family when my dad passed in August through those difficult couple of weeks following. I was very thankful to be with my family at that time and to bring my strengths to complement theirs. My sisters had done a lot of heavy lifting during the year so I was grateful to be able to step in and help.
  9. Made some amazing new connections with some really incredible people this year and I’m excited to be collaborating with those people further next year.

Setting Christmas Boundaries

It’s so great to celebrate all that you have achieved and I hope that you have found a lot of things to be celebrating and thankful for. If you want to be able to work at that pace and to produce great work next year, then you’ll need to think about setting some boundaries for time off over Christmas so that you can refuel, recharge, and get enough rest to replenish your own energy and resources.

So how do you do that? Here are my hot tips.

  1. Contact everyone in your list and let them know when your closing dates are, thank them for being your amazing clients and wish them happy holidays.
  2. If you’re on Google Maps or social platforms, then you can set your holiday hours there as well, so people are really clear not to bother you during that period.

3 Set up an out of office auto responder for the time that you will be away from the desk will stop I recommend making a commitment to yourself not to be checking emails everyday but to be clear that you might do that once a week to tidy up but otherwise take a very good rest.

4. You can also email your current client list or any new leads and invite them to work with you next year. Let them know when you’ll be starting again and ask them to let you know what they decide do to. For example I have reached out to my existing clients and some new clients some to offer the spaces that I have available starting on a certain date, from February to June inclusive. This means that before I wrap up for the year I’ll be clear on what the start of my year looks like. I have a 3 – 6 month work horizon at any given time, partly because I’ve prepared in advance.

5. The other boundary you need to set us with yourself. It can be tempting to go to your computer or cheque your emails or do things that he wouldn’t normally do while you’re on holiday. You might like to keep a notebook so you can jot down ideas and not have to turn the computer on, you might like to keep yourself busy with activities, or you might like to schedule a couple of hours each week to do some working on the business activities or special projects.

6. I highly encourage you to go out and have fun find a hobby, or a skill you’d like to learn, either of which you can start during holidays and continue during the year. Why do I suggest this? Simply because all of the tired exhausted and burnt-out entrepreneurs I’ve met have one thing in common- they don’t have a hobby and they don’t do anything for fun. I’m suggesting you invest a bit of time in your holiday to choose that hobby and find fun things that you can keep doing to maintain resilience, work life balance, and a sense of ease and creativity at work

Thank you for being with me during the year, and for listening to my podcast, and for asking the questions that make these episodes possible. I choose to have no advertising on our podcast so that you don’t have the irritation or disruption of being sold to, and this is one way I bring value to the world and visibility to our profession.

This is how I can help you for free to build a business in life that you love, that’s built around sustainable habits that you enjoy doing and that will create the success that you want.

If you want to know more about my February intake of the Passion to Profit course so you can learn to set up your business your way, and in a sustainable way, click the link in the show notes to request a course guide.

If you’d like to inquire about working me with me one to one, you can hit up my contact page and ask about my June client intake because February fully booked – my books for 1:1 clients are closed until June.

Have a very merry and save Christmas, I hope you get a lot of time to reflect on your successes, to enjoy time with loved ones, and two feel excited and refreshed about what 2023 has to offer.

Remember that the world needs your greatness – I hope that you know that – and that you are working to realise your full potential in your business and your life.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#219 Becoming a Confident Coach

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Becoming a Confident Coach

Despite extensive training, a lot of professionals talk about having impostor syndrome and fear of not being good enough. But what do you do about that? How do you flip that on its’ head and tackle impostor syndrome so that you can become a confident coach?

Why you need to be enough

Impostor syndrome is rife in many professions – I know, because I’ve been through it, and I’ve spoken to a lot of people who struggle with it.

Today I want to talk to you about WHY you need to be enough and stop impostor syndroming yourself.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* Why you need to be enough
* What a digital legacy strategy is
* Four steps to creating your Digital Legacy Strategy

I think the key reason that you need to feel that you are enough, good enough, worthy, and competent, is that then you can switch your focus off your own shortcomings and onto your clients.

Let’s face it, if you’re worried about your own performance, then you’re not giving all of your attention to the people you are purporting to help and support.

I think this is SO critical. This was a realisation I had when I started coaching. I was so busy worrying about what to do, whether my questions were good enough, whether they got something out of the session, whether they were engaged and so on, that it was taking up a LOT of real estate in my head.

I was feeling anxious and would be nervous going into each session.

THEN one day I reflected on how my feelings and energy would be seen and felt by the people I was coaching. What would they say?

By worrying about my performance, I was creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. I was creating tension where there wasn’t really any.

But most importantly, I realised this behaviour was about me spending too much time thinking about ME and my shortcomings, rather than my client.

This aha moment flicked the switch for me and allowed me to totally change the way I showed up, coached and the impact of my coaching. It was amazing.

Here are some benefits and outcomes of dealing with your impostor syndrome.

Giving your best to clients

Firstly, when you invest in overcoming your impostor syndrome you become more confident as a person and as a coach. You feel good about what you do and your ability to give value. That means that you invest more time thinking about the people that you’re helping, rather than your own

shortcomings. It means that you are flipping the switch from a focus on you into a focus on your clients.

Imagine how that changes their experience of working with you. Imagine how that changes their relationship with you in a coaching sense. And imagine how that therefore impact their results that they get from the coaching relationship.

Secondly, if you deal with impostor syndrome and start believing that you can do this, that you are good enough, you be willing to invest enough in your own personal and professional development – because you know that it is worth it for your clients, and that you are worth it. The ripple effect is more advanced skills that will make you a better coach, giving your clients better outcomes.

I think it’s really important when you’re starting any new career to know that you are not going to get it right all the time – ever. It’s important to manage your own expectations and to know that you will do things wrong and get things messed up along the way. And that’s totally okay.

What’s more important is your commitment to investing in your own self-belief, personal development and professional development so that you can deal with those mistakes more easily, with grace and candour.

So how do you get there? How do you beat it and become the best coach you can be, so that you can help people create their desired outcomes and impact the lives of more people?

How do you beat impostor syndrome?

Personal Development

Start by working with your own coach. That way, you will improve your own thoughts habits, well-being and sense of purpose, so that you can be a role model for your clients. Being a strong role model promotes self-confidence.

A reflective practice is also a must for all graduate coaches. After each coaching session, reflect on what went well, how you used your strengths, the verbal and nonverbal feedback from clients, and any areas for work. Write it down. Then, set specific goals to polish up any areas. One thing I like to do is focus on a particular coaching skill for all clients within a given month, so I can build and hone my craft.

Ask for feedback and testimonials from your clients. Their feedback is really valuable as it tells you what they liked and didn’t like. Make sure to ask how things have changed for them – not just an assessment of your skills (remember, it’s about them, not you).

Start hanging around more experienced coaches and having conversations and unpacking challenges so that you can more easily develop the habits and language of a masterful coach.

Professional Development

You can also do deep-dive training courses into specialty areas and practice those with your clients to become a better coach. For example, mental health first aid training if you are working with clients who have stress, anxiety and so on.

There is a caveat on that. A lot of people see education as a tick box thing and they get really interested and they do more and more and more courses but without actually applying the learnings. And I think impostor syndrome comes from this too.

I know some incredibly smart people who have numerous qualifications, who are full of self-doubt because they haven’t actually used their knowledge and practised with clients and seen the sorts of results that can

If you complete a lot of educational courses but you never apply it, then you become potentially a very good teacher but maybe not good at the practice that you have studied.

I recommend that you invest in practising new skills with clients. Ask permission to try new methods if you know them well, or find practice clients to test new skills and education with.

Always, always, do market research – keep asking your clients what they need and want – keep learning about other people and their lives and how you can help them – that’s where you can overcome your own self-limiting beliefs, shift the value to what your clients want, and find ways to give it to them.

Summary

Today we talked about why you need to beat impostor syndrome and start stepping up to be a more masterful coach.

In short – if you’re focussing on yourself, you can’t focus properly or be present for your clients.

Flip the switch by investing time, energy and money as needed into personal development and professional development.

When you do this, you’ll feel more confident, and be able to truly serve your clients in a more authentic, impactful way – because your work will truly be about them.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#218 Benefits of Niching Down

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Benefits of Niching Down

A lot of trainee coaches I meet are terrified of niching down and just want to help everyone, being afraid that they will have fewer potential clients. Today, I’ll help you understand what it means to ‘niche down’, six benefits of choosing a niche and what coaching a niche involves.

When you’re starting out as a health and wellness coach, the experience you get with practice clients and your first paid clients will help you develop a niche that you can focus on, and market to directly.

Starting more broadly is ok, but please know that it can be hard to find clients who want to coach with you if your marketing is not specific.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* What it means to niche down
* Six benefits of choosing a niche
* What coaching a niche involves

Why?

Because, unless you can clearly explain the benefits of coaching (see the previous episode of this podcast) then they won’t understand the benefits and value of coaching.

That’s why I recommend starting to niche down as soon as you have some clarity. Let’s talk about what that means, and how it works.

What it means to niche down

Let’s start with the definition of a niche market. A niche market is a subset of a target market. It is a specific group of people that are desperate to solve a specific problem.

When you hear the phrase “niching down”, it simply means getting more specific and targeting a certain segment of the group of people you want to work with.

Why do this?

Because people are VERY specific when they’re searching for an answer to their problem. They will be ultra-specific about the detail of their problem. And if they find someone who can help them with that specific thing, they’ll be much more interested than finding someone who does ‘all areas of health and wellness.’

For example, I recently Googled ‘night sweats and insomnia in menopause’ – which is super specific. If I was looking to work with a coach, I’d be choosing someone who works with women in menopause, either listing those specific types of symptoms or at the very least, indicating she works with business owners. I wouldn’t look for a ‘general’ health and wellness coach, because they wouldn’t necessarily understand what I’m going through!

Let’s just be clear – you won’t necessarily be able to choose a niche right away if you are just starting out. You will need to practice with people and work out who your people are and what challenges they’re facing.

In other words, niching down is a journey. I recommend that you start out by picking what’s called a target market – which is a broader category of either person or type of problem that the market is spending money on.

Spending is the key – if they’re not spending money to solve the problem, it’ll be hard for you to engage with them for coaching (they may not be ready, willing and able to buy – or the problem may not be big enough).

Here are some examples of target markets:

– Weight loss for women 30 – 40

– Weight loss for women in menopause

– Stress management for men in white-collar roles

Do these sound specific to you? Actually, they are pretty general!

As you coach people in a target market like this, you quickly understand that not all people in that group are created equal. There are subgroups! And they are very different.

For example, the target market may differ in terms of their demographic, take-home income, family situation, and circumstances that are causing the problem.

But that’s ok – start broadly and then you can get more specific as you get to know the people you are attracting.

For example, more specific niches in weight loss for women in menopause could be things like:

  • Female corporate leadership roles who are tired and listless, struggling with sleep
  • Primary school teachers who are struggling to lose weight due to stress
  • Women in the beauty industry who want to lose weight because looks are important, but they’re going to lots of lunches and drinks
  • Women who are emotional eaters.

ANY of these could be viable and more specific menopause niches.

If you can’t pick an area of health and well-being, start with the type of person that you want to engage such as introverted women in corporate jobs, or mothers with two young kids, and find out what their problems are.

Six benefits of choosing a niche and niching down

Thinking about the more specific menopause niches I mentioned earlier – let’s say you are running group coaching and you put that bunch of women into a group together.

They’d all think and behave in slightly different ways. For example, you’d have teachers who are overweight in part due to stress, corporate leaders who are overweight in part as they are tired and struggling to sleep, and emotional eaters.

They might have some common ground, but they’ll potentially all be interested in different things.

And while that doesn’t matter too much in a 1:1 scenario when you are starting out, any groups you run will be WAY more cohesive and MUCH better equipped to create a community if they can relate to each other on a personal level. That’s benefit #1 of niching down.

Number 2 is that you’ll find it much easier to coach even in a 1:1 setting because you’ll be dealing with similar types of people or problems, rather than being stretched in lots of different directions.

No wonder new coaches think they don’t know enough! Having to face a barrage of different people and issues can make that worse.

Benefit #3 – imagine you have picked a niche and narrowed it down so it’s more specific. What does this mean for your business? Suddenly you are seen as a one-of-a-kind, unique business. It’s SO much easier to speak specifically to your audience, stand out from the pack and become a trusted go-to source of support.

Benefit #4 – you’ll become a proficient and confident coach much more quickly and easily. As you really get to know your audience, you’ll realise that you have really started to master the key areas that matter to them, the main coaching approaches that work, and the interactions with those clients.

Benefit #5 of niching down – you’ll be working less and achieving more. That’s because you won’t be customising your marketing content for different types of clients or needing to source tons of different resources – you’ll be diving deep into one area and using the same sorts of content and resources for all your clients, saving you LOTS of time. You’ll be marketing in one or two places where your niche hangs out, rather than all over the place, hoping someone will respond.

Benefit #6 is that you will have a bigger number of clients and more loyal, committed clients because you know them so intimately and deeply. In fact, your sales call conversion rates will be much higher because the more specific niche trusts that you know a lot about them and really understand what their problem is.

These are six great reasons why niching down is beneficial and valuable.

But start walking before you run – choose a target market at first, and with practice clients, start to really listen and learn more about them.

Now, let’s look at what coaching a niche involves. It’s actually not what you think!

What coaching a niche involves

Coaching a niche isn’t really much different from coaching different types of people more generally, or in different niches.

That’s because no problem exists in isolation.

Let me say that again – no problem exists in isolation.

No matter who you are coaching, and what their key problem and goal is, there are a lot of other areas of health and that they will need to be coached around.

For example, weight problems are influenced by sleep, nutrition, exercise, stress and mental health/mindset. Or some combination of these. What changes is the order of priority!

Or, for example, stress/anxiety problems are influenced by sleep, nutrition, mental health/mindset, and exercise. Same thing – it’s a particular combination, and order of priority.

Not all areas will be relevant for every person.

But what the CLIENT is thinking about is the bit that matters to them. Speak to that in your marketing, honour that in your coaching, and know that you will invariably be working around the other areas to some degree, anyway.

In addition, the likelihood is that the reason behind their perceived problem is a general skills gap.

For example, someone who is stressed and overwhelmed is likely not very good at setting boundaries, being kind to themselves, and/or making enough time for themselves.

Those three skills are also relevant to many other areas like eating, exercise, sleep etc.

So when you work with a niche, you are actually helping a client fill specific skills gaps (they develop the skills through experimentation) that will help them to solve many different problems they’re facing – all because of the same reasons.

As the saying goes, “The way you do one thing is the way you do everything”.

Summary

Today we covered what niching down means, and six of the benefits of niching down (there are others!)

Those benefits are:

  • More cohesive and connected clients when coaching groups
  • It’s easier to start with similar types of problems/people rather than being stretched
  • You’re seen as unique, one of a kind, standing out from all the other coaches
  • You’ll become proficient and confident more quickly
  • You’ll be working less and achieving more as you’ll save a LOT of time not customising marketing content and resources
  • You’ll have more loyal clients and higher sales conversion rates.

Finally, I discussed the fact that no problem exists in isolation. So while your niche thinks they have a specific problem (which is an area they want to focus on and which you might market to), you will end up coaching them around other areas. In other words, you will actually be helping people to develop skills in one area that are transferrable to many areas of health and wellness. All that changes is the priority!

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#217 How to Describe the Benefits of Coaching

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How to Describe the Benefits of Coaching

How good are you at describing the value and impact of coaching to potential clients? In this episode, I am going to help you to unpack the benefits of coaching in a way that gets prospective clients interested in learning more and working with you.

Recently, I was having a conversation about coaching in a workplace context, in terms of mental health, seeking support and duty of care for your own wellbeing.

As I was describing how coaching works with an employer, his eyes lit up as he totally ‘got’ the way coaching could support his workforce. It got me thinking about how we often describe coaching, why that falls flat, and then what to do instead.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* How do you describe what “coaching” is? (what not to do)
* What drives people
* How to describe the value of coaching

How do you describe what “coaching” is? (what not to do)

A lot of coaches struggle to sell their services because they find it hard to describe what they do and how it works. I’ve done several previous episodes about this, such as episode 116 Explaining Your Coaching Services with Fiona Cosgrove and more recently, episode 205 How to Create a Magnetic Value Proposition.

And the problem is exactly what I’ve just said – we try to describe COACHING – not the value or benefits of coaching.

What I mean is this – we get caught up trying to explain what we do as a profession or HOW coaching works, so we end up talking about US and our modality or methodology, rather than THEM – the value, benefits and results that THEY want to achieve.

If we focus on how we do the method, then people are therefore ‘informed’ about us and our method, but they have no idea what’s in it for them. So that’s what NOT to do.

The way to communicate value is to answer the question – ‘what’s in it for me?’ – and this is what I want to talk about today.

Back to that conversation, I had recently with an employer about coaching in a workplace context, the conversation was about mental health, seeking support and duty of care for your own wellbeing.

We were discussing psychosocial risks, and how they impact worker safety. I positioned coaching as part of the solution, by explaining that the two key goals of coaching are to raise self-awareness, and to help people generate self-responsibility. By coaching around these two aspects, we could empower workers to be more aware and proactively seek help or take action themselves, therefore improving the individual’s duty of care and as a consequence, reducing mental health risks and incidents at work.

He really got the importance of coaching to HIS organisation. I used language that the employer was familiar with, and that tied into the ‘industry vernacular’ that he was familiar with – and showed how coaching can help him achieve the benefits and outcomes he wants. That said, he really understood the value of coaching and his eyes lit up.

The way you describe ‘value’ is probably different for different market segments, but the point is that you need to use the clients’ language and talk about what’s meaningful to them, to the results and benefits they are after so that the value of your services is really obvious.

It’s time to think differently about how you communicate value.

In the example I’ve just described, I thought about the fact that mental health problems are initially hard to see, so it makes sense that self-awareness is valuable.

Currently, workplaces are focussing on identifying mental health risks and priorities, so it makes sense that helping people self-identify is half the battle won. I didn’t waste time trying to explain coaching – I described coaching in terms of the benefits and impacts it can create.

See how unpicking the market’s problem helps you talk about the value?

What drives people to change (and buy)

In what I’ve just explained, it’s clear that the value of coaching needs to be positioned around what drives people to change and to pay to get your help.

Have you ever wondered what those drivers are, and how to know when someone will pay?

Here are four conditions for change and for buying.

As you learn in coaching, the first condition of change is ‘a sense that something isn’t right’- in other words, self-awareness is the first step, because if you know or are self-aware that you have a problem you will more likely do something about it or seek help.

A lot of the general marketing a business does is to make people ‘problem aware’ – and some of the ways we do this are with quizzes, case studies, stories and questionnaires, and by inviting reflection.

Knowing you have a problem is one thing but doing something about it and paying to get help is another.

So the second point is, in my experience, that the problem the person has identified needs to be big enough that it is disrupting their daily lives – they can’t ignore it (and they describe the impact on families, relationships, work, and their own wellbeing). Most people are reactive, so they tend to wait until things get really bad until they seek help.

Thirdly, they feel they can’t tackle this on their own (and they use feeling words around this like frustrated, helpless, irritated, guilty etc). They have obstacles that are situational, behavioural, cognitive or emotional and often talk about what’s hard, or what’s getting in the way.

Fourth, feel ready, willing and able to get help to make the change (and there are positive feelings they want to have right now).

These are the four general things that drive people to buy and pay to get help.

When you have spoken to people in your niche and truly understand these four elements from the niche perspective, using their ‘feeling words’, then you can use the information to formulate a statement of value that aligns with them.

How we need to start describing the value of coaching

To sum it up, we need to start describing the value of coaching by talking more specifics about the things that matter to the niche client and how that feels, rather than talking about us and our tools or methods.

For example, when I used to coach in weight loss, a lot of clients talked about not being able to commit to themselves or being consistent and loathing themselves for that.

If I was speaking to one of those types of people, I’d be talking about how coaching helps you to make a solid commitment to yourself and then learn how to honour that commitment so that you can be consistent, authentic and live with integrity, feeling aligned with who they truly are, and feeling proud and confident.

Can you see how that very different explanation could be very valuable for someone who really wants to commit to themselves and be consistent and stop beating themselves up?

There’s no description of visions and goals or what coaching is – just a clear, feelings-based description of what coaching can help the person to achieve, using their language.

What I’m saying is this – think about the outcome that people want, because it’s a key part of the value of what you do – in your niche client’s eyes.

A final word

To really get into the client’s shoes – get coached yourself. This is essential for a few reasons – so that you can be a role model for change – but also experience what it’s like to make and honour a commitment to yourself.

Then you can authentically talk about the value of coaching from your own experience.

When people want to know HOW coaching works, you can speak honestly about what it’s like to make a commitment to yourself, how it feels, and how you develop certain skills (e.g. self-regulation, self-discipline, consistency, scheduling, self-accountability) that can transfer to other areas of life. When people want to know WHAT the RESULTS are, they can speak emotionally about the feelings and changes they experience. For example, you will finally stop quitting yourself and feeling guilty. You’ll be aligned with your values and dreams. Having some wins in one or two areas builds your confidence to do more and build on those wins. And how, when you are living in line with your values, it is living with integrity which gives you a sense of self-respect and self-worth.

In other words, we are communicating how forming a few simple habits can give important skills and insights that can be applied to other areas, so they don’t have to doubt themselves anymore or rely on experts anymore.

Now, how would you feel if someone describe coaching like that to you?

Summary

Today we talked about how we often get caught up describing “coaching” when we should be describing the VALUE of coaching.

To do that, you need to know what drives people in your niche, and even better, get coached yourself so that you have the lived experience.

Then you can more easily craft a statement that describes the value of coaching with such richness that people are excited to join you on the journey.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#214 Six ways to boost your professional credibility

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Six ways to boost your professional credibility

Are you finding it difficult to gain credibility with other health professionals? Are they confused about what you do, or facing lots of questions about your qualifications? Today I’ll outline six ways you can boost your professional credibility so that people understand what you do and have trust and confidence in your qualifications, training, skill set and capabilities.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* What professional credibility mean
* Why people question your qualification
* Six ways to boost your professional credibilit

I wanted to create this episode today because I’ve had two conversations recently that really got me fired up.

In one conversation, a recent graduate who is out marketing her services said she’d been constantly questioned by professionals about her qualifications – not by potential clients – but by health professionals.

In the other conversation, a seasoned coach is starting a degree, following what I would call professional bullying – being told by a health professional that she isn’t qualified enough to have enough expertise in wellness, and needs to do higher education.

After I got up from pounding my fists on the floor, I decided to develop this episode to help you to understand why these sorts of things happen, and what you can do about it.

What professional credibility means

To set the scene, let’s define professional credibility.

It can be simply defined as your education, experience, performance and demonstrated professional development in a particular field.

This definition gives some clues about what it takes to be a credible professional that is trusted and respected. Let’s dig a bit deeper.

Why people question your qualifications and professional credibility

According to an article in the Organisational Behaviour in Health Care book series, “…professional credibility is a source of legitimacy.” The chapter says that when professional credibility is combined with leadership, you can create respect and trust by peers, and engagement with followers.

So, when people question your qualifications or professionalism, they are looking for evidence that you’re trustworthy, capable, and skilled.

In a healthcare setting, it’s understandable that people might question anyone’s professional credibility because you may be dealing with people in health-critical or life-critical situations, complex medical or psychological conditions, and other professionals with significant experience in patient care and medical systems.

Somebody showing up with a coaching qualification may not fit into their paradigm.

In Australia, Health and Wellness Coaching is a relatively young profession and people don’t understand what it is or how it fits with existing medical frameworks, or within health professions.

Part of the challenge is the range of untrained and inexperienced people giving themselves coaching-related titles and offering services that are clearly not coaching-related.

Another part of the challenge is the diversity of coaching professions around – you can be a life coach, a wellness coach, a health and wellness coach, a health coach, an executive coach….and so on. What’s the difference? Which is the appropriate setting for each one?

I’ll address these three issues in a moment.

But to finish up this section of today’s topic, I wanted to say that there is something of a turf war going on in Australia. I have heard of this first-hand from a psychologist a few years ago, who told me that psychologists, psychotherapists and counsellors are fighting about who is credentialled enough for what.

Let me ease your mind a bit by saying that professional skills are important, our profession definitely needs some good promotion and PR, and our scope of practice needs to be clear, but please also know that human ego and professional bullying exist and is potentially always going to be there, no matter how well known, recognised and accepted our profession is.

In fact, the reason I left my previous career as a biological scientist is that I was sick of all the egotism, barrow-pushing and bullying that was going on in my industry back then. I wasn’t personally affected but I was disheartened by the behaviour, generally.

That said, there are things going on that you can do to move past the questions and to gain the credibility and respect you deserve.

Six ways to boost your professional credibility

Let’s look at 6 ways you can start boosting your professional credibility.

HCANZA – Look for the Logo

If you’re a regular listener of this podcast, you might remember an episode I did in May 2022 called How to boost your professional credibility. This episode was about showcasing the health coaching profession at the inaugural conference of our industry association, Health Coaches Australia and New Zealand Association (HCANZA), and how attending could give you ideas on how to communicate what health coaches do, and what our profession is achieving.

As a current board member of HCANZA, I can say that HCANZA is working hard in the advocacy of our profession at the highest levels of government, insurance and medical sector in Australia and New Zealand. HCANZA serves multiple purposes, including building the knowledge, understanding and reputation of health coaching in Australia and New Zealand. We are running a Look for the Logo campaign that educates the public and health professionals on how to choose an appropriately qualified health and wellness coach.

If you are a member of HCANZA, then you have access to resources to help you also advocate for our profession, and to promote yourself in a professional way. Hot off the press, HCANZA members now have access to a 25-page booklet called The Doctors Guide to Health Coaching, authored by Sandra Sheinbaum from the Institute of Functional Medicine and provided to HCANZA members for the purpose of awareness-building, advocacy and promotion of our profession.

If you’re a current member, this would have been sent to you by email and it’s available in the member toolkit. The document has been sent to 2,000 doctors in this past week.

Professional branding

Whether we like it or not, first impressions count.

That means that any imagery, documents, flyers, email footers, social media pages, websites etc that you have need to look professional.

Professional branding can cost as little as $200 or up to $15,000 but before you leap in, you need to work out your target market and ideal customer and get to know them intimately.

Why? Because your branding colours and styles need to appeal to your specific demographic, psychographic and desired feelings.

Before tackling branding formally, when you are getting started, at least develop a professional-looking email signature and a formal LinkedIn profile with a professional headshot and a well-written bio on it.

Mentioning your qualifications, training and HCANZA membership is valuable for your professional standing and to raise awareness of our industry association.

Your main goal initially is to have consistent visuals and messaging across any promotional material. If you start with LinkedIn and an email footer, and any other online presence, they should all look similar, use the same fonts, and have the same feel about them. If you are an HCANZA Professional member, log into your account and look inside your member toolkit for tips on creating a professional bio, getting noticed on LinkedIn, where to use your HCANZA logo, and crafting an elevator pitch (who you work with and the general area – e.g. I help professional women in their 40’s who are struggling with menopause). We also have an HCANZA-badged brochure that talks about the benefits of working with an HCANZA-accredited coach.

A clear value proposition

When you can clearly and confidently describe who you work with (elevator pitch) and how you help your niche (value proposition), it lends credibility and professionalism – and legitimacy.

A value proposition describes the tangible results someone will get from using your products or services. I did an episode unpacking how to do this recently using a tool called a Brand Ladder, which you can listen to, here.

A value proposition might be longer than an elevator pitch and speak more specifically to the tangible results. For example, compared to the elevator pitch I just mentioned, a related value proposition might be something like this:

“I use an evidence-based methodology to help menopausal women to become aware of what impacts their menopausal symptoms, and to develop health-giving routines to help them reduce their symptoms naturally and feel healthy, productive, energized and calm”.

When you can clearly explain how you help people, they see the value in working with you.

It’s clear that you know what you’re talking about, and that you are confident in what you do and how it helps people.

Endorsement

Personal or professional endorsements are great ways to build credibility. If someone else likes and trusts you, and if you have proven success, this builds your legitimacy as a coach.

Endorsement can take on various forms, such as:

  • Being an HCANZA Professional member and listed on their website
  • Client testimonials (on your website or social media platform – or a widget like TrustPilot)
  • Client case studies
  • Professional recommendations (LinkedIn is a great example)
  • Media references
  • Employer references
  • Corporate or business client case studies

Even as a new coach, you can cover at least some of these.

Professional networking

While networking itself isn’t necessarily credibility building, the act of consistently showing up in professional networking spaces creates visibility and recognition and helps you to build relationships with like-minded people who can become your allies and advocates.

For example, when I started my weight loss coaching business, I made an effort to send introductory letters to prominent health professionals in my area and meet several of them for coffee afterwards.

I also attended various events and presentations in my local area such as Medicare presentations, health expos and health practitioner lunches, where I could leverage those initial contacts and become known in the area.

Also, I started my business by running a pilot program that involved my clients seeing their doctors or health professionals for a health clearance before starting. This gave those professionals firsthand experience in the success of my coaching program, and therefore professional endorsement and recognition.

In the end, GPs and podiatrists, chiropractors and diabetes educators were referring people to me for weight loss, having seen improvement in my clients’ weight, BMI, blood pressure, insulin, etc.

You can do this in your local area (four or five surrounding suburbs) or the nearest health hub.

Publishing and speaking

Finally, being published in online articles, interviewed on the radio or podcasts, and published in print newspapers or magazines, all give you visibility and credibility.

After all, nobody will publish you or interview you if you’re not credible.

While this is a marketing activity, it also gives you a chance to be seen, heard and known by different audiences, so they can validly assess (in their own minds) how professional you are.

Summary

Today we talked about the challenges we face in being recognised as credible professionals. The truth is, no matter how experienced and qualified you are, someone will always take a shot at you or doubt your credentials.

That aside, there are six things you can do to boost your professional credibility right now:

  • being an HCANZA member
  • ensure you have professional branding
  • develop a clear value proposition
  • gain endorsements
  • professional networking
  • publishing and speaking

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More

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E#212 What’s the Difference Between ICF & NBHWC

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What’s the Difference Between ICF & NBHWC

Are you a qualified coach who is wondering how to gain professional credibility and endorsement? You might have been looking at ICF and NBHWC accreditation but aren’t sure which way to go. By the end of this episode, you’ll be clear on the difference between ICF and NBHWC as professional associations, what the process is for getting accredited by either, and perhaps some clarity on which option is better for you.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* Presence and resonance
* The inspiration for the book: The Connoisseur of Time
* How changing your relationship with time supports better coaching and business growth
* How being present creates more satisfying relationships

If you’re a qualified coach of any type, then being a member of a respected industry association gives you professional credibility, visibility and a measure of competence as a coach. There are various professional coaching associations around, and the two most talked-about in health and wellness coaching are ICF – the International Coaching Federation – and the NBHWC – the National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coaching Association. Let’s compare the two.

What is the difference between ICF and NBHWC?

Let’s start with the International Coaching Federation.

ICF is a global organisation for coaches and coaching, which has been around since 1995 and has over 50,000 members. ICF aims to advance the coaching profession by defining and upholding coaching ethics, standards, core competencies and professional conduct. ICF also provides independent certification and a worldwide network of trained coaching professionals.

ICF members are typically life coaches, executive coaches, leadership coaches and similar.

Having been around a long time, ICF is well known in Australia and in corporate settings, having at least a PCC qualification helps you get in the door as a coach at executive level. ICF promotes itself as “the most globally recognised, independent credentialing program for coach practitioners.”

Now let’s compare the National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coaches Association.

NBHWC is an American-based association that has collaborated with the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) in the US, to provide a robust board certification exam that assesses competencies in trained health and wellness coaches. NBHWC defines and upholds health and wellness coaching standards and core competencies at an international level, allowing the profession to advance in all aspects of healthcare and wellness. NBHWC was developed and endorsed by some of the major players in health and wellness coaching.

NBHWC has been around since 2016 and is linked to the medical and Medicare system in the US – but not elsewhere. Still, NBHWC is considered by many to be the gold standard of credentialling for health and wellness coaches specifically, and at an international level.

NBHWC is not as well known in Australia as ICF at the time of writing but is becoming better known as more coach training organisations register as recognised providers with NBHWC and promote this status of their program.

Aside from advocacy and maintaining standards of training and coaching competency, both associations play key roles in advocating for our professions, creating a community for coaches, and approving training courses that qualify coaches to sit the respective exams.

What is the process for getting accredited by either?

ICF Accreditation process ICF has recently (early 2022) updated their credentialing exam, process and levels. What I am about to describe covers this new process.

The ICF accreditation process involves submitting a portfolio of evidence first and an application fee. ICF assesses your application and then decides whether you are eligible to sit a three-hour multiple choice exam which they call a Coach Knowledge Assessment.

The portfolio of evidence varies according to the level of qualification you are pursuing, but all levels include certain types of information:

  • Proof that you have successfully completed an ICF-approved course of a certain number of live (real-time) hours and evidence of successful completion*,
  • A coaching log with a certain number of hours depending on the level you are applying for,
    • At least 75% of hours must be paid hours
    • At least 25% of hours must have been completed in the 18 months prior to your application
  • Completion of at least 10 hours of mentoring with an approved ICF mentor, and
  • Submitting 1 recording of a coaching session and a transcript, which demonstrates you have met the ICF core competencies (this is a different session structure to HWC). This only applies to PCC or MCC-level applications.

As you go higher up the qualification levels, you need more hours of everything before you can sit the exam.

The bottom level is Associate Certified Coach or ACC, where you need to show evidence of completing 60 hours of coach-specific education and 100 hours of client coaching experience (e.g. coaching log).

The middle level is Professional Certified Coach or PCC, where you need to show evidence of completing 125 hours of coach-specific education and 500 hours of client coaching experience.

The top level is Master Certified Coach or MCC, where you need to show evidence of completing 200 hours of coach-specific education and 2,500 hours of client coaching experience.

*Note that If you have not completed ICF-approved education, you may choose the portfolio pathway for any of these three levels. This requires you to provide specific details of all the courses you have completed, including continuing education courses and the number of hours related to each core competency.

For example, I completed the PCC application process. I had completed one ICF-approved course, but to make up the 125 hours of coach-specific training, I also provided evidence of four other courses I completed, each showing the curriculum, number of hours on each competency, and learning outcomes. It was a BIG job to do this, but I got through.

If your application is accepted, you will be notified and invited to sit the exam which can be done online from your home computer. The range of possible scores is 200 – 600, and a passing score is 460 or more.

I’d recommend about 4 weeks of study for the exam, given that your 10 mentoring sessions and private client coaching should have prepared you adequately, and there are no health metrics that need to be studied and learned.

Your application and the exam are all entirely accessed by a secure online portal on the ICF website.

NBHWC Accreditation process

The NBHWC accreditation process is similar to ICF’s.

You are required to submit a portfolio of evidence first and an application fee. Then, NBHWC assesses your application and decides whether you are eligible to sit a 4.5-hour multiple choice exam. NBHWC lists a calendar that shows exam application periods each year. They have 3 intakes per year at the time of writing.

Once you have applied you have a window of time to submit a portfolio of evidence and then, if that is accepted, to book in and sit your exam and pay the associated fee.

The portfolio of evidence includes certain types of information:

  • Proof that you have successfully completed an NBHWC-approved course of a certain number of live (real-time) hours (e.g. Wellness Coaching Australia’s Professional Certificate course),
  • A coaching log showing 50 hours of health and wellness coaching sessions
    • at least 20 minutes long,
    • at least 75% of the session was coaching and not education,
    • not including sessions with friends, family or classmates, and
    • must have been completed AFTER completing your recognised training course.
  • Submitting evidence of a health-related Bachelor’s degree, or alternatively, that you have completed 4,000 hours of work experience in any field.

The NBHWC website includes plenty of great resources including a sample coaching log.

>> Here is a link to the exam study materials and information

If your application is accepted you will be notified and invited to sit the exam, and will need to find a secure test centre location near you.

I’d recommend allowing about 12 weeks of study, 2 – 3 hours per week, covering their core competencies and learning the American medical metrics (these are tested).

Once your exam is completed, you will receive your score about 8 weeks after the closing of the testing window.

In both cases, the multiple-choice exam asks you to answer questions about specific situations.

For example, in the NBHWC exam, you might be asked what you would do if your client in their 10th session came in and was lacking motivation to continue. There are also specific questions about US medical metrics.

In the ICF exam, you might be asked what the best possible or worst possible action might be as a coach if your client presented with low motivation and reluctance to discuss specifics.

In other words, knowing the theory of coaching isn’t enough – the exams are testing your knowledge of how to implement the skills you’ve learned in real life situations, and related to the stage of change, size of obstacle, scope of practice and ethical considerations.

This is an overview of the two assessment processes – visit their websites to gain more specific detail of what is involved.

Which option is better for you?

The best option depends on your situation.

For some health and wellness coaches, NBHWC is more relevant as it is more specific to health and wellness coaching and is often desirable or essential for international coaching companies who employ health and wellness coaches (e.g. Noom – though they have an internal training program for this, possibly BetterUp).

While the general public in Australia doesn’t recognise NBHWC at this point in time, the credential is becoming better known. Plus, it is more specific to health and wellness coaching and the assessment considers a more specific model around habit change.

For some health and wellness coaches, ICF is a better fit. This is probably relevant if you want to break into corporate coaching, where ICF is recognised, and PCC is often the minimum standard.

ICF is more broadly recognised, although the credentialing system does not specifically assess knowledge of health and wellbeing metrics or the development of habits.

Either way, being credentialled by ICF or NBHWC is good for your credibility but possibly involves a whole new suite of qualification courses, time and cost.

For many coaches starting out, it is better to work with clients and get proof that you can help people to build credibility and trust, before considering a formal credentialling process.

A Third Option

There is a third option – joining HCANZA; Health Coaches Australia and New Zealand Association.

This industry association is not a credentialing body, but it performs many of the same functions as ICF and NBHWC and upholds the standards of ethics and education of those two associations.

HCANZA provides community and connection in our local area, as well as advocacy for health and wellness coaching professionals and creating visibility and employment in our field.

HCANZA does not have a lengthy, costly examination process, just a requirement to show successful completion of:

  • an NBHWC-recognised training program, or
  • an ICF-recognised training program plus appropriate health and/or lifestyle education.

Other levels of membership are available if you:

  • Are an allied health professional with an advanced degree and coaching experience and training
  • Are a current or prospective student of a health and wellness coaching course, or
  • Have completed a coaching program with health and lifestyle training meeting the criteria set by NBHWC.

There are three levels of membership:

  • Professional membership
  • Associate membership, and
  • Student membership.

To apply for HCANZA membership, you need to provide evidence of training as mentioned above, professional indemnity insurance (or cover note), code of conduct and scope of practice documents, and an online application form and fee.

Summary

It’s clear that you can bolster your professional standing, credibility and visibility by being credentialed by an industry body such as ICF or NBHWC, or by being a member of an industry association such as HCANZA.

Any path you take requires you to have completed a certain standard of training by a training provider who teaches and assesses core coaching competencies.

In the case of NBHWC and HCANZA, evidence of health and lifestyle training is also required.

For ICF and NBHWC, allow around 4 – 12 weeks of study and evidence preparation.

If you are new to the industry and not sure where to start, your best option may be to simply join HCANZA, get some practice and experience as a coach, and then decide on your future direction before committing to a credentialling process that costs time, energy and money.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

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E#211 How to Succeed by Showing Up

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How to Succeed by Showing Up

Are you struggling to find enough clients, do a good enough job, or achieve your goals, and wondering how to make it happen? Let’s look at why showing up is the key to your success.

What is showing up?

Showing up refers to your ability to do things consistently and to be accountable to yourself for that. It’s a simple as that, but it’s also essential for achieving any outcome goals you have

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* What is showing up?
* What does showing up create?
* How do you commit to showing up?

Losing weight.

Launching a successful business.

Attracting clients.

Completing a qualification.

It doesn’t matter what you are trying to achieve – it’s the same principle. Showing up is required for success, and it means that you are committed, disciplined, and consistent with your efforts no matter what, which makes the results possible.

A lot of people I meet come to me for coaching because they are getting half-baked results or no results. A lot of the time it’s about not showing up for yourself consistently.

A lot of things happen if you don’t show up.

For example, in marketing one of the keys to becoming visible and known is that you show up regularly and keep your promises to yourself and your audience. It might take 6 to 12 months before somebody even knows that you exist, so you need to be putting yourself out there consistently and regularly in the same places over a long enough period of time that people can start to see you and get to know you, let alone want to buy something from you.

A lot of coaches I meet try something here and there for a month and then give up saying that nobody is interested. Not long enough! And likely, not consistent enough.

The same goes for eating and exercise for example. If you want to be athletic, lose 5 kg of body fat, gain 3 kg of muscle, run a marathon or consistently follow a Mediterranean diet, then you need to show up for yourself and exercise, eat well or train several times per week and every week consistently for a period of time – usually at least 3 months.

It’s great to start with planning to do something, but that is the easy bit. You feel excited at the prospect of achieving the result. You feel satisfied that you’ve mapped out all of the steps appropriately. You feel like you are ready to go.

But the reality is, as you start to implement your plan life is going to throw you curveballs. That’s a definite – and showing up requires you to figure out how to keep showing up for yourself, for others, or both.

I know for myself, for example, at least two or three nights a week I sleep poorly at the moment. And while it might be tempting for me to take a day off the next day, I have responsibilities and things that are important for me to do so I dig deep, and I show up. I make myself get up on time, shower, get dressed in colourful clothing, eat something nutritious, and prepare myself mentally for the meetings and tasks ahead. Obviously, there are exceptions, like if I am really sick, but otherwise, I just get over the mind games and move forward.

ALL of us have obstacles in life that prevent us from showing up and that is why working with a coach to be so helpful because it’s about learning how to navigate, troubleshoot, and problem-solve those obstacles so that you can be consistent and get the results you want.

Why is it sometimes hard to show up? Simply, because our brains work against us. Our brains are wired to seek pleasure, avoid pain and expend as little effort as possible. This is why we tell ourselves all the lies and excuses that stop us from taking action!

But if we work with our brains, we develop better habits that help us to show up and create results.

What does showing up create?

So, what happens if you do manage your brain better and show up consistently?

Well, let’s look at some real-life examples.

I have been running this podcast every week for over two years. I have committed to consistently publishing episodes every week no matter what. For example, my father just passed away a couple of weeks ago, and knowing that he was unwell I recorded a couple of episodes in advance so that I could keep showing up.

Some days I don’t feel like recording a podcast but I do it anyway because I am committed to this activity.

People ask, where do I get the motivation? Well, I have learned to embrace this process because it builds my audience over time with more and more people listening to this podcast. I don’t want to let them down by not showing up. If I don’t do an episode or two, or if I’m late, people will get the impression that I’m unreliable and untrustworthy – definitely not helpful! Therefore, I have strategies in place to make sure that I show up every week no matter what.

Actually, weight loss is a really good example of what’s required for showing up. In my experience of coaching people around weight loss, it often takes several weeks before they start to see the impact of the habit they have changed. In the meantime, they may get sick, lose motivation, feel overwhelmed with stressors or feel tired as their body changes. But by committing to themselves they can overcome those challenges and still show up for themselves in order to achieve the result that they want.

The interesting thing is that it’s actually not so much about the result because that is a one-off thing. Showing up is actually about embracing the process and developing the habits that will make you a success.

Those habits become who you are, your new identity, and a new way of living.

In the weight loss example, people talk about losing weight and then gaining it again. It just means that they stop showing up for themselves and go back into their old habits which no longer serve them.

In another example, I think about myself as a business owner running my signature weight loss program in my local area for 3 1/2 years.

It didn’t matter how tired I was, or down, or what the weather was like, I showed up consistently for those groups of clients and got myself into a positive mindset to foster an exceptional experience for those clients and hold the space for them so that they could achieve their goals.

Sometimes I definitely didn’t feel like running those group sessions, but I had strategies in place to make sure that my clients got incredible value from those sessions and from working with me. After all, it was the results they got and the way they felt in those sessions that created multiple referrals and sold-out programs every time.

What do you think would’ve happened if I cancelled sessions because I didn’t feel like going, or if I showed up half-hearted and listless?

Showing up – or not – creates your results.

How do you commit to showing up?

So how do you commit to showing up for yourself and for other people?

It’s really all about managing your mindset, your energy, your motivation, and maintaining your level of commitment to yourself and or other people.

If you want to show up for yourself or others consistently, the first thing you must do is to define a really good reason why you want to do a particular thing. In my example of podcasting, this is tied in with my ability to have an impact on the lives of other people and to help people to bring their greatness to the world. This is a huge part of my purpose, so if I don’t do this podcast consistently, I might lose my audience, and that might mean that I don’t get to fulfil my purpose.

The nutshell is that having a big why or lots of whys is really important for committing to something.

The second thing is that you have to be doing something that is truly meaningful and important to you. If you are trying to do something that you think you should be doing but don’t really want to do and then it’s going to be hard to stick to. This ties into your why, but is slightly different.

For example, reaching my audience is important to me, but my actions for getting there must be meaningful and aligned. When I tried to run a Facebook group over about a 14-month period, I struggled because I absolutely hated being on Facebook and so I wasn’t able to make myself be consistent and show up for that and I learnt a really important lesson by failing at that. I realise that I was doing something that I thought I should be doing but didn’t really suit me or feel right and it didn’t suit my audience either.

So, choosing activities and goals with importance and meaning is an essential part of showing up.

The third thing is that if you want to be able to show up for yourself or others consistently, choose habits or activities that play to your strengths, or find ways to use your strengths to complete those activities. It’s much easier to be consistent when you are doing something that you are good at or have the potential to develop skills in.

The fourth thing and this is probably a really important one, is that you just have to stop overthinking things. It’s really easy if you’re tired or stressed to want to give up on yourself and to tell yourself stories about why you can’t do something. That’s just your brain trying not to make the effort.

If you think about it, it’s actually the discomfort of doing something under adversity that helps you to come out stronger and with a greater sense of self-belief. If you give in every time and don’t be consistent, then you are just proving to yourself that you can’t. If you grit your teeth and get

through something challenging, you gain a sense of pride, efficacy and a glimmer of hope that you can do it again. This gives your untrusting brain the proof it needs to believe you can succeed.

It’s way better to find some strategies and cues and just make yourself do something and get across the line to prove to yourself that you can because that will create momentum and an upward spiral.

My best strategy to overcome mental hurdles is talking myself into doing the activity and outlining all the reasons it’s important.

The fifth thing is that planning is really important in terms of being able to show up for yourself. Imagine if I was trying to record a podcast every week but didn’t have any sort of activity put into my calendar. I’d probably forget will be trying to squeeze it in around other appointments or double-booking myself and then it wouldn’t get done. Planning means you are intentionally making space – a dedicated time slot every week – to record an episode, doing the gym workout, or posting on LinkedIn – whatever it is you want to commit to.

Planning offers you more than just the ability to complete the task. By making space for what matters to you, it prompts you to clear out the low return tasks so that you don’t waste time and become more efficient and productive. When your schedule is based around important but not urgent tasks and not too many of them, then it’s much easier to show up for yourself.

The sixth thing I want to talk about today in terms of showing up is that sometimes you’re going to need support from another person or some sort of system to help you show up. It could be a coach. It could be an alarm. It could be a ritual or process you used to get yourself into the right headspace. But whatever it is, if you find it hard to be self motivated and self disciplined at times, think about the things you can do to help you show up for yourself.

Using this podcast as an example once again, if I’m not in the mood or am lacking inspiration, I have a few uplifting podcasts that I listen to that help me to come up with a more positive mindset and create some of my own ideas for content. I also have content that I’ve created in the past and I can always go back to that and re-purpose it for a podcast episode if I need to. I have a system of dictating into my iPad or phone so if I get an idea while I’m on the run I can capture it in a document using the microphone function and that means I am constantly adding to the content when the ideas strike me. These are three of my personal strategies for making sure I show up and do this podcast every week no matter what.

The seventh and final thing that will help you to show up is the 7-minute rule. In the practice of yoga, there is a saying that if you just do 7 minutes then you will likely keep going. I apply the same principle to anything else that I need to show up for. Just seven minutes writing some notes for a podcast. Or just seven minutes getting my mind in order so I can still see my clients today and not cancel any appointments. You get the idea. Doing a tiny amount of something means that you get over the initial hurdle of starting and that you are more likely to keep going

Summary

Today we talked about what showing up is and why it is important.

I also talked about seven ways to help you show up for yourself:

  1. Define a specific why, or many whys
  2. Focus on activities that are meaningful and important to you (linked to the why)
  3. Choose activities that play to your strengths, or find ways to use strengths to complete them
  4. Stop overthinking things and just do them with the help of strategies and cues.
  5. Planning specific activities for specific time slots
  6. Get the support you need from others, systems or tools
  7. Commit to just 7 minutes so you get over the hurdle of starting.

Showing up for yourself means that you can do meaningful things in your own life and succeed at those things and feel like you are living a purposeful and intentional life.

It is about learning to embrace the process and become good at that, rather than just focussing on the result. This not only helps you achieve the result, it also helps you to become committed to the regular actions that create your results!

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More