Ep #48: Why Creating a Movement in Your Coaching Business is Important

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 the show today. I hope you’re doing well. We are doing amazing. We are officially winding down the summer. It’s crazy.

So, we’re here in the States and it’s coming up on Labor Day here and the kids officially are going to be back in school very, very soon and I have to tell you we are all looking forward to that. When I look back at these last few months that we’ve been quarantined and we’ve been doing our stay in place orders there’s a part of me while I’m so happy for the kids, the kids are very happy to be getting back to their normal routine, there’s a little part of me that’s also thinking about them being back in school and having an empty house. I kind of have these feelings of being an empty nester already.

I was thinking about that because I do think that while this time has been challenging in so many new ways I think there’s something to be said for it, for these past few months where we’ve all been challenged in so many new and different ways. But at the same time there’s also something beautiful about the simplicity of it all, about the not going out, about not being in the rat race, about not consuming as much as normal, and just having extra time at home. That’s been really, really special.

I was thinking about this the other about what my kids are going to remember from this time. So, thinking about it 20 years from now when they are young adults it’s going to be so interesting to hear their perspective, to hear their memories, and to hear what they remember from this time.

So, I guess I just want to offer to all of you, I know it’s been a long road. I know some of you are going to be navigating homeschooling and distance learning and I just want to offer that despite all of that I think there really is a silver lining here and I think there is something really special about this time.

I would offer that I think it’s important to look at that, to look at that for yourself and your family because whatever that is for you this silver lining, I believe, is a great awakening and it’s a great awakening for all of us, and I think that it’s really important to look at what’s happening despite what the media says, despite what you might read online, despite what your social media feed might say, I think there’s something to be said about this great pause that we’re in and how it’s really allowing us to think in new ways and to approach things in new ways and really just take everything to that next level if we allow it.

So, even though every system that we know of is being challenged and being rethought, essentially, at this time there’s such a silver lining and I love that it’s really forcing us to take stock of how we’ve been doing things and how we want to continue to do things. I know I’ve done that for our family and I just don’t think it’s something we would have taken the opportunity to do otherwise had all of this not happened. This really is for us.

Before we dive into today’s topic I want to take a moment as well and talk a little bit about what’s happening inside of my programs because I’ve been thinking and reflecting a lot lately on my clients and in general I do think all the time about my clients. My clients know that, and I also think about all of you a lot. This podcast is really a product of that reflection every week.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my clients recently and their success and just how proud I am of them right now. I’ve been thinking and observing and witnessing how amazing my clients are doing despite this pandemic, despite everything that’s happening in our society that they’re literally creating breakthrough after breakthrough after breakthrough and they’re making more money now than ever in their businesses. To be able to do that in the midst of what we’re all navigating in the midst of these challenges it’s really, really something to witness.

So, many of you that I just launched another cohort of my signature program The Mastermind, which is my signature program designed for coaches and entrepreneurs who are building to that first six-figure level who are in need of not only mindset work, but also business strategy. I just launched a brand-new cohort of that group and they are just a group of fantastic, fantastic women and they’re just doing amazing.

I just wanted to share because I thought when I was looking at this it really just kind of blew me away that literally in the first week of the program we have clients that are generating $18,000 literally in just a matter of days in the first week of the program. We have other clients that are launching new group programs that are moving their practice from solely one-on-one to now offering a scalable group program which is going to allow them to leverage their time and serve more and more clients and get to their first six-figure.

We’ve got another client who got her first article officially published which was really exciting with a brand-new niche literally within days of committing to that got an article published. We have another client that was just asked to speak in front of hundreds of her ideal clients which is going to be such an amazing opportunity for her and her business and clients transitioning fully into their business from their 9 to 5.

So, for every client in this cohort, every single one of them is experiencing wins already in literally the first few days of the program. It’s so interesting because we’re not even scratching the surface yet. We’re literally just starting the process of creating and building out their brands. Their brands that are literally going to help them reach those first six and even seven figures and brands that will become known in the industry, brands that will allow them to take their success to so many levels and beyond.

I’m just so, so proud of this group already and I can’t wait to keep you all updated and to see what they accomplish over these next few months. I know it’s going to be epic. So, with that if you’re currently trying to build your business to that level, if you’re already at that level and you’re ready to scale your business I highly encourage you to reach out. You can go to my website amandakarlstadcoaching.com and set up a time to have a conversation.

Because the work that I do, the more and more that I do this work and the more and more clients that I work with and every time I bring on a new group of clients I see – it reinforces to me how necessary this work is that we do. It’s necessary to the success of their business because it’s literally the bedrock, it’s literally the foundation of what is going to become a very, very successful business not only right now but also in the future and that’s one of my goals.

All right, with that let’s get into today’s topic. I want to talk to you all today about something that’s actually in line with what I just spoke about in terms of why this work is so important and that is being able to create a movement with your work.

Now, depending on where some of you are right now on your journey, in your journey of building your business might think, “Okay, that’s great, Amanda. I would love to create a movement, but I don’t know where to start.” Or maybe you’re thinking, “That’s great. I just want to enroll my first couple of clients or maybe even my first client.”

So, what I want to offer to those of you that are in that situation right now is that I want you to know first off that I hear you, but I also want to hang with me in this conversation and really listen to what I’m going to talk about. Because what I have found is that creating your movement is actually the path to enrolling those first few clients. It’s definitely required on the path to your first six figures and beyond and here’s why.

Building a business to six and definitely seven figures requires a certain level of focus. It requires a certain level of constraint and it requires a certain level of mastery. I’m going to say this, it also requires more than just telling everyone you’re a life coach. Now, I will say that not having a niche, not having a marketing message dialed in, coaching clients that may or may not fit your ideal client profile while that’s okay and that could certainly serve you for maybe your first few clients that’s only going to take you so far. It’s only good up to a certain degree and I want to be clear with all of you that it’s definitely not a strategy that I teach and it’s definitely not a strategy that I would recommend any of you build your business upon, here’s why.

For many of you that have been in the industry and if you’re just getting started in the industry you probably got here because you decided to become a coach because you knew of or you’ve probably worked with a coach yourself. I’m guessing you experienced some deep transformation in working with that coach and that’s typically part of this process.

I’m guessing that with that you probably experienced some really profound shifts in your life that probably led you to a point where you then got inspired to help others do the same.

You probably recognized that as you looked into the option of becoming a coach and as you considered it more and more you saw the opportunity, the real opportunity that’s available to us. So, the opportunity to not only help others with this work, but to do fulfilling work and to live your purpose and also have the opportunity to make a lot of money doing it.

In fact, one of my mentors says that life coaching is the most lucrative opportunity that exists today, and I have to say that I agree with her on that. So, all of these are wonderful and great reasons, and I’m guessing that all of you, in some way, can relate to what I just spoke about. I’m guessing you can probably find yourself in some part of what I just shared, but when it comes to actually growing a business this becomes a whole other skill set.

Because building a business requires an entirely different set of skills that unless you’ve built a business like this before it does not equate with being a coach or some type of service provider. In fact, I tell my clients all the time, it’s one thing to become a coach, it’s one thing to become a life coach and to get the training and to go through the certification and go through that process, but it’s a whole other set of skills, it’s a whole other thing to build a business.

So, I really want you to understand that these are two very different skill sets. I know many of you are probably nodding your heads right now. This is why I believe and I’ve experienced time and time again that one of the most effective ways to build your business is to figure out what you stand for, is to decide what you stand for.

In my opinion, the most powerful way to do this is by starting with the end in mind. Is by deciding what it is you want to create within your business. So, when you do that what happens is you become very intentional about what I call the movement that you want to create. This is really, really important and it doesn’t matter if you have zero clients or if you have 50 clients, knowing what that endgame is, knowing what that movement is and being able to communicate that clearly to your potential clients is everything.

Because what happens is when you’re not convicted in your message, when you don’t know what that is, when you’re not clear on why your work even matters in the first place, I’ve seen this over, over, and over again, what will happen is you will struggle. It’s because even if you’re talking with a perfect, ideal client – I see this happen all the time – when you’re not convicted in your work, when you’re not convicted in what your overall movement is and why it matters and how it helps the people that you’re talking to it’s literally game over and I see this all the time.

The reality is that client, whoever is listening to you, isn’t going to understand how you can even help them much less pay you to help them solve their problem. So, this is really critical for all of you to hear and it’s something that if you’re not yet at that six-figure level, if you’re just starting out or even if you’ve been trying to build your business for a while, this is something that you will need to inevitably figure out.

It’s something that, like I said, is required in order to take your business to that next level. But here’s the thing, so often I hear the advice of, “Just tell them you’re a life coach,” or, “You don’t need a niche,” or some other version of that and I want to share something with you all. I was there myself. I took the advice early on in my business about not worrying about a niche and I decided that I was going to take that approach. In fact, I paid a lot of money, for what was a lot of money for me at the time, to learn that strategy. Looking back, the reality is that is not a strategy to grow your business.

So, what happened was is I decided that I was going to go out and I was just going to go to any networking event that I could and I was going to tell everybody that I was a life coach. But let me tell you what happened. I ended up getting zero clients, yet I was spending, in some cases, entire days driving to a particular event where I would get there and only find myself in a room full of people that were not even remotely interested in coaching.

Not only were they not interested in life coaching, the truth was is that because it was a networking event everyone was there to sell whatever it was that they were selling. It quickly dawned on me that what I learned was that essentially what was the reality of this is that I was wasting so much of my precious time, but not only that, I was wasting so much potential revenue.

I quickly learned that essentially what was happening was that I was wasting so much of my precious time and on top of that I was wasting so much potential revenue by using a “strategy” that wasn’t even helping me get in front of people that were interested in what I had to offer.

So, the reality was is that because I was running around to all of these networking meetings full of people that weren’t ideal clients, that had no interest in working with a life coach I was literally spending full days running around and doing this stuff. To be quite honest with you all it felt completely out of alignment to me. It felt completely out of integrity to me with who I am and it felt desperate.

It definitely was not the way that I wanted to build my business. So, I quickly learned that that was not going to work for me, and I decided, instead, to go to work. What I need is I invested in learning as much real business strategy as I could when it came to building an online coaching business, and I immersed myself in that process and I sought out the best people in the industry that were experiencing the most success and I paid to learn from them and the result of that work is the program that I offer today.

Yet, I want to tell you, I still see this approach being taught and I’ve got to be honest that my experience with this so-called strategy is actually why I created the programs I created within business to help my clients build a real business that has the potential to become a movement like we’re talking about today, the type of business that I know you all want to build and one that will stand the test of time that’s going to contribute in a big way and allow you to build real wealth.

So, I think this is really, really important to bring to the surface. This is why we’re talking about it today because building a six- and seven-figure business is going to require a new level of thinking. It’s going to require a new set of skills that you likely don’t have and I promise you the sooner that you realize this, the sooner you acknowledge this, the sooner you’re going to start to see more success.

Let’s talk for a moment about what I mean when I say movement and why I see this as such an important pathway to your six- and seven-figure business. So, when I’m talking about a movement in this conversation I’m talking about it as it relates to growing a coaching business or some other type of online service-based business and I’m talking about this on a level of your deepest and most expansive why. So, I want you to think about it along those lines.

I’ve talked a lot in previous episodes about the importance of having a why and knowing what that why is as you’re building your business and why it’s important to think about this in terms of the long-term. What I want to challenge you with today is to think about this on an even deeper level, on an even more expansive level over the lifetime of your business. I would challenge you to think about this in terms of how or what you have the possibility of creating in your business that could even outlive you. So, really think about that for a minute.

I think this is so fascinating to think about and I’ll likely do a future episode on this, but really think about the idea of your work, of your contribution, of your movement that you’re creating being able to outlive you. So, I want you to think about this in terms of your deepest, your biggest, your most expansive why for doing the work that you do.

I recognize that for some of you right now you might not have any idea what that is and that’s okay, but what I want to challenge you with is to start to think about it, to start to understand, for yourself, what that reason is. Here’s why that’s important, because in almost every case when I’m working with new coaches, when I start asking them about the movement that they want to create, it’s usually the first time for many of them that they’ve ever been asked that question.

For most of them, they’ve never considered before what it is that we’re talking about, but it’s one of the most critical pieces to your long-term success. So, let’s talk for a moment about some of the biggest brands we know and love and let’s just use Apple. Apple is a great example of this.

So, when you look at Apple, Apple’s movement, their mission is to bring the best user experience to its customers through innovative hardware, software, and services. I looked that up. It’s really all about making great products, that’s Apple’s mission. But here’s why knowing that is so important.

Think about if Apple were to just go around and say that. Let’s just say that was their slogan and they just said that, but they didn’t really live by that. In order for Apple to have grown the company it is today and to have the market share that it has today it’s something that is a way of life within that organization. It’s something that from the top-down as an organization that mission informs every decision. It informs everything within that business.

So, every value that Apple has instilled in its employees is because of that movement. I want you to really consider that for a moment. Think about if Apple had not established that and not known and decided and proclaimed and communicated that, what that business would look like today; very, very different.

So, this is why having a movement is so important. It’s why knowing where you’re going and knowing why you’re doing what you’re doing is so important even though you might just be starting out. So, many of you, I recognize as well, might not have plans to even build your business to that kind of level, yet you still have a reason, you still have a mission, you still have a movement of what defines your work, of what informs the choices and the decisions that you make.

I want you to really consider that this becomes your North Star. This becomes the filter of where you answer some of these bigger and even smaller questions. Questions regarding, for example, your business, the type of programs to offer, the influence you want to have in the marketplace, down to what are your next steps to build your business, to the types of clients you want to work with, your marketing? And that’s just scratching the surface.

What I have found is when you don’t know the answers to these questions , when you don’t know this it’s like a ship without a rudder and this is typically where I see coaches starting spinning in indecision and spinning in confusion, and get to a point in so many cases where they’re literally paralyzed to a certain degree. Where they’re not sure what steps to take next, where they’re not able to effectively communicate. Where they don’t stand out in the eyes of their potential clients as even a solution, so they’re not making any money in their business.

So, purely from an energetic perspective as you’re growing your business, knowing your movement and having the conviction in your work is what will help energize you. It’s what’s going to help pull you forward in those days where perhaps you don’t feel like anything is working, where you have thoughts of giving up.

I can’t tell you how important knowing this and cultivating this in my own business has been, and how important this is as I consider where I’m taking my business as I’m leading my business into its next chapter, into the future. I want you to know this is something that I think about and I live into every single day. Every single day, you all, I am spending time with this, I’m reflecting on, I’m thinking of ways to communicate and live into my movement.

It really does shape the way that I work with my clients and it informs the work that I do with my clients and it informs the work that they do that builds their businesses. It’s something that’s completely non-negotiable to me in the way that it’s something that I ensure that they all have because it’s that important to them.

I believe that it’s absolutely one of the reasons that they’re able to make progress so quickly in their business. It’s one of the reasons we can have clients that go from literally having zero clients to creating $18,000 within a matter of days.

So, I want to give you some guidance on this. If you know that there’s an area of opportunity for you and you’re not crystal clear on what your movement is, I want you to think about this. I want you to think about the movement that you want to create. I want you to tap into what that looks like in the future and I want you to think about your future self and what that version of you wants to create. Ask yourself what do you want to be known for? What is your greatest contribution?

I want to leave you with this, you all have the potential to create so much more in your business. What is that impact that you want to create? What is your greatest impact? It’s a really, really important question and it’s a great question to ask because it can change everything for your business.

All right, my friends. Have an amazing week. I’ll talk to you all again very soon. Take care, bye-bye.

Hey, if you’re ready for a real breakthrough in your business and want to grow and scale your business to at least six-figures or more in annual revenue I invited you to apply for my exclusive program The Mastermind at amandakarlstadcoaching.com/the-mastermind. I look forward to seeing you there.

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.