Ep #101: Being Coachable

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast with Amanda Karlstad episode number 101.

Welcome to The Life Coach Business Podcast, a show for coaches who are ready to up-level their business and take their impact, leadership, and results to a whole new level. If you’re ready to start taking powerful action and become the leader your business needs in order to grow and thrive, this show is for you. I’m your host, Amanda Karlstad, certified life and business coach, and entrepreneurial leadership expert.  Now, let’s get down to business.

Hello and welcome everyone. Welcome to today’s show. I’m super excited to talk with you all today. Before I dive into today’s content, I just want to remind you. If you haven’t yet, make sure that you download and subscribe to my private podcast series called The Three Vital Shifts Every Life Coach Needs to Rapidly Scale Their Coaching Practice. This is a private podcast series that I have created for you all. It is in depth. It goes in depth about the three vital shifts that I have learned in scaling my own practice as well as working with so many of my clients and helping them to scale their practices that I want to share it with you.

So, you’re going to find this private podcast series only through the link that we’re going to link up in the show notes. So, I want you to go there. But it’s going to give you in-depth strategy, in-depth tools, in-depth mindset shifts that are really going to help you take your business to the next level.

So, again, it’s called The Three Vital Shifts Every Life Coach Needs to Rapidly Scale Their Coaching Practice. I’ve been getting amazing feedback from the coaches that are downloading and listening to this private series. Again, it’s a private series. So, you can only get it if you go to the link that’s in the show notes. So, make sure you go there. We’re going to link that up. You’re going to get immediate access. I can’t wait to hear how it helps you.

All right. So, let’s talk about today’s topic. Today I want to talk to you all about something that I’ve been thinking about over the last several days. I think it’s probably when I think about and look at and observe my most successful clients, and also really reflect on my own journey of building my own business. I will even say even in my career before becoming an entrepreneur, one of the things that is very, very important if you are growing and scaling a business, especially in this industry is that you are being coached. That you are putting yourself in an environment of support.

In fact, I was recently talking about this with a few of my clients who are just wrapping up my mastermind program. They’re just graduating from my six-month business accelerator program The Mastermind. One of our conversations was really around how blown away they really were at their transformation not only in their business but also from a personal level.

So, I just believe, and I’ve experienced that in so many of my clients where you are being coached, and you’re being coached at a high level. I mean that is one of the things that I am really proud to offer. That not only am I coaching to a high level of strategy, but I’m also coaching at a very high level of mindset in my programs. That’s one of the reasons that my clients do experience and do create such massive results in an accelerated time is because they’re being coached at a different level.

So first and foremost, I want to start this conversation by saying that if you’re not getting coached, if you’re not in an environment where you’re being coached at a high level, I really do think that it will affect your business growth.

So for me personally, a non-negotiable for me throughout my journey has been to work with a coach. Has been to put myself in an environment where I am being challenged, where I am learning, where I am growing the things that I’m about to talk about. That I am being coachable myself. It’s one of the characteristics that I think just personally I have always demonstrated in my life. Whether that was in my former career, whether that is fast forward to today now in my own business. I have always been someone that has desired to grow, that has been open to feedback always from my coaches and have also been willing to implement that feedback. Implement and actually take that coaching and do something with it.

So that’s the first thing is that a key part of this conversation today is that in order to be coachable, you also have to be in an environment where you’re being coached. Okay? So I’m going to assume then for the remainder of this conversation that for all of you listening, I want you to really consider where you’re at in terms of that. I want you to really take to heart what I’m about to talk to you about because I do believe that unless you are really willing to take action on the things that I’m about to share with you, your journey and your business growth will be impacted. Okay?

So, one of the things, again, that I mentioned is that a non-negotiable for me is that I will always have a coach. That I will have a coach for my business. I may have a coach for something that I am working on maybe personally. A coach maybe that helps me more from an energetic or mindset. I’ve had all different types of coaches in my experience, okay. All of them have added to that experience, okay.

When I look back at some of the biggest influences on my own business, it’s really come from again being coached at a high level. Putting myself in an environment where I have been coachable. So, I want to talk to you for a minute about what that means, and what it means to be coachable. And give you some more perspective on why this is so important to your business growth.

I want to tell you that what really spurred today’s episode on this topic, what got me thinking about this characteristic as it relates to growing a business is I was listening to something a few weeks ago. They were talking about how one of the secret weapons essentially of Michael Jordan—I’m going to assume that you all know who Michael Jordan is. But one of his secret weapons was because he was so coachable. Because he was one of the most coachable players in the game.

They were talking about the fact that it didn’t matter what level Jordan was at. He was continuously showing up, being coachable, and working on the things. Taking the feedback from his coaches, implementing the things from his coaches to become arguably one of the greatest players of all time.

So, I am going to be using a bit of sports analogy. My clients know this, that I do use sports analogies every now and then. I do think that there are a lot of similarities when we look at playing sports at a high level and also growing and scaling a business at a high level. So, I do want to kind of use that as a reference point as we’re talking about this.

So when you think about sports and when you think about playing sports at a high level, at a professional level, right. I know, again, for all of you listening, one of the reasons that you’re listening to this podcast is because you’re serious about growing and scaling your practice. I know that many of you want to get to that next level, want to take your business to that next level.

That is exactly what we’re talking about here. Whether that is getting to that 500K mark or maybe it’s getting to that million-dollar mark. For some of you, it may be getting to that first 100,000. I know that that is maybe that benchmark that you’re working towards. Whatever that benchmark is, what I want to tell you is that being coachable wherever you’re at in the process is one of the most important characteristics that you can show up with in your business.

So when you think about Jordan, for instance, who again is arguably one of the best if not the best player of the game, and you look and you really start looking at his story and his journey, this was really a big part of who he was, right. What really contributed to the level of success that he experienced, right. So there’s stories upon stories. If you start to unpack his story where there were so many times where he would play in these championship games, whatever it was, and he would be on the court the next morning 5:00 a.m. working on whatever shot it was that he misused. Taking shot after shot and really working to master and to perfect that particular shot. Okay.

So if you think about that and you think about business, one of the things that I think is really important to understand is that—and I talked about this in last week’s episode. Which if you haven’t listened to it by the way, it was episode 100. It was how to grow a multi six or seven figure coaching practice in three years or less. I highly recommend you go back and listen to that. I talked about the importance of really working to master certain things in your business.

Now, of course, there’s always going to be a next level for whatever it is that you’re doing. No matter if you’re at that seven-figure level, even eight-figure level, there’s always going to be a next level, right. So this topic of coachability is really relevant no matter where you’re at. So, again, it’s a characteristic that I believe as a coach, as an entrepreneur that you’re really bringing to the table, right.

So just like if you were playing a professional sport, no matter what the sport was. If it’s basketball, if it’s football, just pick your sport. If you’re a professional player, you’re going to show up with a certain level of coachability. I mean it’s a requirement to play at that level. I would say the same is true in business, okay.

So the process of growing and scaling a business, and I talk about this a lot. It’s a very personal and emotional process. It’s also, I believe it’s a very spiritual process. I say that because it really forces you to evolve as a person. It really forces you to evolve your skills as a business owner. It forces you to evolve into whatever that next version is that can carry, that can lead your business to that level.

That’s a very personal journey in most cases from my own experience and, again, from working with all of my clients. That is going to look a little bit different because we all have our stuff, right. It can be a very emotional process at times. It’s very easy when you’re in the process of growing a business that it becomes very emotional. The emotions can in many ways start to take over. It’s very easy to fall at the mercy of those emotions. I see this happen a lot at different phases of the journey with my clients.

So I want to talk to you all for a minute about what being coachable actually looks like in the process, and what it really means as it relates to growing your business. I think a good starting point for this is when you think about the difference, and I’m sure you’re all similar. I actually did a podcast a while back, very early on, about a growth mindset. What it means to have a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. So if you want to go back and listen to that, we’re going to link that up in the show notes.

The idea of a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset was something that came from Carol Dweck. She’s written a fantastic book on it. There’s been all sorts of studies done on it. It’s really, I think, one of the most important concepts when it comes to personal growth, when it comes to professional growth that we’re really looking at in ourselves. So I’m not going to spend time going into that. You can, again, go back and listen to the podcast episode I did on that. You can go and research growth mindset and what that means.

Really what this comes down to is having a growth mindset in your business as the business owner really equals being coachable versus having a fixed mindset. Approaching your business being the business owner that may be for whatever reason stuck in a fixed mindset is really not being coachable, okay. So I want to start out by saying that. That I think it’s important to understand that coachability is about having a growth mindset. Is knowing that you do have the ability to learn new things. It’s knowing that you have the ability to figure things out. It’s knowing that you have the resiliency to work through certain things in your business.

So the way that I view being coachable, and I want you to understand that there’s going to be a continuum here. Ultimately, I believe that if you are an entrepreneur. If you are a coach and you’re growing a business, the first thing that is really, really important in terms of your coachability is taking full ownership for yourself and for your business, okay.

So it’s about taking responsibility for, for instance, how you’re showing up in your business, right. How you’re approaching your business. How you’re making decisions for your business or maybe in your business, right. I also think that this is related to where you spend your time, where you put your focus, how, again, you make decisions that are in alignment with the goals that you have. It’s also maybe making decisions or making choices that are not in alignment with the goals that you most want, right. Having an awareness of that, right.

So the first characteristic of being coachable and the first really key element here is first and foremost taking full ownership for yourself and for your business. I think both on the tactical side of how you’re really building the infrastructure that your business needs, how you’re building the foundational elements that are going to support the growth of your business is super important.

I will say what’s even more important, which is going to drive all of those things, is how you’re actually supporting and growing your own mindset and your own ability to really think about your business, right. So it’s really managing your own brain and not allowing those emotions to be continually in the driver seat so to speak. That’s really, really important.

So the next key element of being coachable is having self-awareness. So one of the things that, again, when I look at my most successful clients and really observe how they show up not only in their business but how they’re showing in a coaching container. One of the key distinctions here is that there is a very high level of awareness in terms of, “Hey this is what I’m thinking. I understand. I see the result of my thinking. I understand that I am creating this, right. This is what I’m thinking about, right. I want to bring this to the table.” But it’s not in a way that is just throwing it out there and expecting perhaps me to fix it for them.

It’s really taking a level of ownership with it. Being vulnerable about it, but also saying, “I recognize that I am being challenged here. That I am thinking about this here, and I’d love some perspective. I’d love your feedback. I’d love your coaching on this.” Right? Like truly when I think about my clients that have experienced tremendous growth and growth that is extraordinary when you look at from where they started to where they are, they’re literally coming to chasing sessions saying, “Okay. This is what’s coming up. I see that I’m creating this here. I need some perspective. I’d love some coaching on this, right.

So it’s having a level of awareness where it’s like we’re not coming to the table not having done some work. We’re not coming to the table not already being aware and taking ownership that the experience that we’re having is because of the way we’re approaching it, is because of the way we’re thinking about it. So hopefully that makes sense. So it’s really being willing to, again, take that full responsibility, to take full ownership. Show up from a place—I will say also continually to develop your own self-awareness in your journey. That’s super, super important. Okay.

The next key element to being coachable is being action oriented. This one is very, very important. I want to speak to this for a minute for the coaching industry in particular. I think one of the things that derails so many of you and so many coaches that I have worked with is when you are in a process of growth and when you are evolving personally, when you are working to evolve your business, you will inevitably be forced to step into new versions of yourself. You will be shedding old identities. That’s a big part of the work that I do with my clients.

What happens is when we’re in that process, in many cases it’s a very uncomfortable process. It can be a very painful process. What I see happen very, very often is that rather than taking that ownership and applying that responsibility, applying that ownership over the mindset, really taking the ownership for the results, it more becomes a passive kind of consumption mode, right.

Where I see a lot of coaches that end up spending more time-consuming books or podcasts. I’m not saying that consumption is bad. I think consumption can be a very, very important thing to your growth, but I think when done in moderation and when done in the times that is important for you to do that. I don’t think that being in a constant state of consumption is a great thing. I think there are times when it’s really important to understand the difference of maybe I need to learn something more about marketing or whatever that is versus I am just going to consume because it feels better.

What I see happen a lot is that there’s a lot of time that I see coaches spend in consuming information versus actually implementing in their business. So being action oriented, being willing to actually put in place the things that need to be put in place from a business perspective is really, really important. So I want to encourage you to really look at that for yourself. Because I think in this industry especially, it’s very easy to fall more into the consumption mode and less on the action side of things. So I want to make sure to highlight that for you.

The next element I would say is having high emotional intelligence. So, again, I’ve done podcasts on so many of these topics. I would encourage you to go back and listen to the episodes that I’ve done on high emotional intelligence. We’ll also link that up in the show notes. The more that I’m in this industry and the more clients that I work with, the more success that I experience, the more success that my clients experience, it really comes back to having and cultivating a high level of emotional intelligence.

So high emotional intelligence, this goes back to really your capacity and your level of self-awareness, right. Your ability to manage your emotions, right. To really be aware of what those emotions are, be aware of where those emotions are coming from. Really understanding the emotions that you’re experiencing are serving you, are serving your business, or if they’re not. Really being able to make different choices to direct your thoughts, direct your belief system in a different direction if those emotions aren’t serving you. In some cases, it may be where you have to sit in the emotion.

I had a client recently that had something very personal come up. It was really impacting her ability to move forward in her business. The truth was that until she really sat with the emotions of what she was experiencing and really sat with and dealing with what she needed to deal with personally, that had to be resolved before switching back into business mode, right. So sometimes that happens, right.

My advice to you would be to not allow yourself to be in resistance forever. To not allow yourself to stay in a state of resistance without self-coaching yourself. Without getting the support that you really need and getting the coaching that you need to help you work through the issues, work through the mindsets that you need to work through in order to continue to move forward.

The last element that I will say that it’s important to demonstrate when it comes to being coachable is your ability to play the long game. For those of you that are loyal listeners, you know that I talk about this all the time. It’s one of the things that I think separates those that are really able to create high levels of success versus entrepreneurs, coaches who quite honestly give up.

So being willing to play the long game and being willing to work towards big goals, being willing to fail along the way, understanding the importance of the process, the importance of the growth and the journey I think is one of the gifts of this process. It’s one of the gifts truly of being an entrepreneur. I know especially for those of you that may be starting out, that maybe it may not feel that way in the moment. I do want you to know that I understand that.

What I want to encourage you to really understand here is that being in this for the long term and approaching your business, approaching your goals, approaching your personal growth from a long-term lens is critical. It’s critical because it’s going to help you when you are building those foundational things in your business or when you are in a place where you’re taking your place to that next level. You’re having to put new systems in place and maybe build a team and maybe launch a new program or launch a new marketing campaign, whatever that is.

All of those things along the way in that journey that will require time. It will require effort. It will require your energy knowing that you are in it for the long term. Knowing that you’re working towards and the importance of those things as it relates to your long-term goal is really, really important.

So with that I want to encourage you all to really take a moment and consider where you’re at in each of these areas, in each of these key areas that I laid out for you. I have to tell you that being coachable is, again, it’s one of the most important aspects I believe to your success. It’s one of the reasons when I look at my own growth, why I’ve been able to grow my business in the way that I’ve been able to grow it is because I’ve been willing to be coachable. I am willing to stay coachable.

It’s why my most successful clients have gone literally from having a hard time selling a one-on-one coaching package to literally fully scaled multi-six on their way to million-dollar businesses in less than a year. I just want to encourage you all that these characteristics, this concept of being coachable is very important and will serve you very well in your journey. So with that, I hope you all have an amazing week. I’ll talk to you all again very soon. Take care. Bye, bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of The Life Coach Business Podcast. If you want to learn more about how to build, grow, and scale your business and accelerate your results visit amandakarlstadcoaching.com.