Ep #74: Encore: The Importance of Vision

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast, episode number 74.

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. Thanks so much for joining me today. I’m glad to have you here. I’m super-excited today. I am bringing you an encore episode. It’s episode number two, The Importance of Vision.

And I decided to bring you this episode today because one of the things that is critical to your business growth is the level of vision that you hold for your business. And what I will tell you is the more clients that I work with and the more that I observe what’s happening in the coaching industry, it’s something that I think very often we tend to underestimate is the importance of vision.

And so, one of the things that is really, really important with my work and the work that I do with clients is really developing their vision and helping them to develop not only a short-term vision for their business, but a long-term sustainable vision for their business.

And I really see a big part of my role, especially with my clients and the part of the work I just love doing with all of my clients is really helping them to expand their vision and expand beyond where their current perspective is. And it’s a really, really important part of the process.

And so, I wanted to bring you this episode today to remind you of the importance of vision and remind you the importance of vision as it relates to your growth. And I firmly believe that your business growth will be directly correlated to the vision that you hold for your business. So, with that, let’s go ahead and dive into the show.

I am really excited to talk to you about today’s topic. And that topic that we’re going to be talking about today is vision and why it’s so important for you as you build your business.

And I believe that your vision, your mission, your purpose for the work that you do is one of the most critical elements that you need as you’re building your business. So whether you’re trying to build a coaching business or any other type of business, and no matter where you’re at in the process of building your business, this is going to be an important topic for you.

I believe that having a strong vision and having the clarity on why you’re doing what you’re doing and also what you want to create within your business, that this alone has the potential to translate into literally tens of thousands of dollars in revenue, or more, for your business. It’s really that important.

And so because of that, it’s something that I’m extremely passionate about as I’m working with my clients and helping them build their businesses. And it’s also something that I look at and I spend time with daily in my own business. I’m constantly working to think bigger about my vision, my why, my mission with my business and challenging myself to think even bigger than I have before.

And so, to start off, I want to say that there’s a lot we could talk about in terms of vision, but for today, I want to just have a conversation and teach you why it’s so important for you to have a vision, why it’s so important for you to have a big why as you’re building your business. Because when I look at my most successful clients, one of the things that surfaces right away in our work together that I believe impacts their level of success so quickly is their ability to create a vision and then lean into that vision consistently.

And I will say, they also understand why having a vision is so important and why it’s so important to the success of their business and they’re very open to it. And I will say they really take the work seriously and understand the impact that it will have on their business.

And so I will say, through the work that we do together, we take that vision, and we look at that mission and we take it to an even higher level. I love helping clients think bigger and bigger than they’ve ever considered, and I think this is just one of the best benefits that you can get from working with a coach, working with someone who can pull out so many more possibilities that you might not have considered before.

And so once we solidify and we get even more clear on their vision and we start to think even bigger with the possibilities with their vision, through the very specific process that I take them through, that clarity alone tends to catapult their results to a whole new level. And when you’re going through that process, it’s very exciting. It really fuels you.

And I will say, when I look at the other hand, when I look at others who don’t have the level of success they want in their business or they’re struggling with their business, I can say that I pretty much every case I’ve seen, that the reason for that – one of the reasons for that – is because they’re lacking a clear vision. They’re lacking that big why for their business and it’s a big, big gap.

And so because of that, they really do struggle. And I see that they struggle with the emotional connection to the work that they’re doing and when you don’t have an emotional connection to the work that you’re doing, it impacts your ability to effectively navigate the tough times in your business.

So I think part of the gap that exists with this is because this is a skill that requires a deep level of work. It requires a very deep level of commitment and being 100% congruent in your business and being all in on your business, no matter what. 

And it’s not enough to just think, you know, building a life coaching practice sounds fun. You know, I want to work less, I want to make a million dollars, this all sounds great. It sounds like a lot of fun. It just doesn’t work that way, not even close, right? It literally takes the complete opposite. It takes full-on commitment, full-on focus, and full-on vetting on yourself every single day to really build a successful business.

And so I see a lot of people in the industry thinking that because they see others further ahead in the game that might, at that point, be working less, they might be making seven figures in their business, and they assume they can do the same, as if it’s actually the pathway to get there. But what I want to tell you is that it’s not even close, right?

But a big part of this pathway to get there is to first have a big vision, to have a big why, and to have that compelling why behind what it is that you’re doing that’s going to fuel the emotions and then the actions that you need to take in order to create the results that you want. That is the pathway, my friends.

And so, when I look back on my own journey of building my own business, I can say that, without a doubt, one of the reasons that I’ve been able to do what I’ve done in a relatively short amount of time is because of my ability to create a vision and live into that vision daily. And I will say, you know, I’ve always been a very future-focused person and I’ve always loved the process of creating a compelling vision and then living into that vision every day.

And so, being a visionary, this is something that has always felt very natural to me and it’s work that I love doing with my clients and I know it’s a big part of what’s brought me here today. But here’s what I think is really important to understand about vision; when you go ahead and set a powerful vision for yourself, whether that’s in your business or in your life, you’re not going to have all of the details. You’re not going to have the exact steps on how you’re actually going to bring your vision to reality.

And so, because of that, it tends to bring up all of your self-doubt, all of your insecurities, and all of the stories and the evidence you’ve been believing up until this point. And the reason this happens is because you’re creating something that you’ve never created in your life.

It literally doesn’t exist yet. And so I want you to see that because it’s also usually on a level of thinking that is so much bigger than you’re used to operating from. And because of this, your brain gets very confused because it’s so out of your comfort zone.

And so your brain then goes ahead and does everything in its power to try and convince you on why it can’t happen, why it’s impossible. And I see this all the time.

So here’s what I want you to consider; for most of you and for most clients that I work with, you’ve likely never built a business before. You’ve probably never been solely responsible for the creation and growth of your own business. And so because of that, what I see happen so often when I’m working with my clients is that they tend to come into my program not having a real clear picture of what their vision is. And that’s okay.

But a lot of them have been working to build their business for several months, or in some cases even years, and they haven’t been able to fully tap into and connect with a big vision. And I’ve seen others that really have a hard time and haven’t even sat down to consider what it is they want to create.

And so for almost everyone, if you’ve ever tried to set any type of big vision in the past and you haven’t yet achieved that vision, a lot of times, we then view it as failure and we attach all sorts of meaning to it. and the result of all of that is all of the doubt and all of the reasons why then we think it’s impossible. And we end up in this dance between really wanting this successful business, but then we’re entertaining the doubt and the stories on the other side of it.

And that just doesn’t work because when you’re in that place, when you’re swinging between conditional belief and full-on self-doubt, it’s extremely hard to be able to move forward and gain any positive momentum in your business. And so what I want to teach you today is that many of these beliefs, in a lot of cases, are coming from unconscious operating systems.

And those unconscious operating systems are something that were likely programmed into us from a very young age. And so it’s important to know this because the beliefs that we have are literally creating the results that we have in our business. And they’re creating the results that we have in our life.

So let me give you a quick example. Maybe you grew up in a family where money was hard to come by. And so because of that, you saw your parents work extremely hard to make money. And your mind then, at a very early age, decided that making money is hard. And because of that, you now have a belief that in order to make money, you have to work extremely hard.

And so that’s probably been your MO up until this point, right? So we all have our own belief systems about money, and we all have our own belief systems about everything in our life. And how we perceive things is what creates the results that we have, which is how we then experience our lives.

So, the key here with all of this is that once you can start to gain a level of awareness to what these belief systems even are, to how you’re consciously and also unconsciously perceiving the world, how you’re perceiving yourself, how you’re perceiving your business, that’s when you can start to make real change. And that real change happens in your brain.

And so when I think back to the process I went through just to launch this podcast, even though I didn’t know the tactical steps that it would take to launch a podcast, I still had the vision. And I knew that, by having my vision, that the steps would be revealed to me in time through a natural process.  And that’s exactly what happened.

So because I had that vision and I focused on that as part of my top priorities in my business, what happened was is I opened up my brain to the possibility of that vision. And once my brain knew that, hey, this was important to me, it was then through that process that I began to see the end result, that I began to critically think through the process, that I had the ability to start putting the pieces together and from there started taking powerful action which then allowed me to create this end result.

So, for some of you, I know that your vision seems very unclear right now, and I know others of you might be feeling so overwhelmed in your business that the process of creating a vision for your business seems out of reach. But what I want you to know is that whatever stage you’re in, in terms of building your business, I want you to understand that having a vision is essential to your success as a business owner, as the leader of your business.

And the reason that I can say that this is essential to you and to the health of your business is because having a vision is what allows your brain to go to work for you on bringing that vision to reality, literally. Because here’s something I think is really important for you all to know; we have in our brains what’s called the reticular activating system. And essentially, what the reticular activating system does is it teaches our brains what to notice.

And so, on the surface, this might not seem like a big deal, but it’s actually a really important function of our brain because, at any given moment in time, our reticular activating system is filtering out 95% of our environment. And so that 5% that it’s bringing into our awareness, into our level of focus, that’s based on what we’ve decided is important.

And so without this, we’d all be completely overwhelmed, right? Overwhelmed with everything around us at any given moment. And so I want you to just take a minute and think about this, wherever you’re at right now, wherever you’re listening to this podcast from, take a look for a minute and just look at everything that’s surrounding you.

Look at how much is around you right now. And wherever that is right now, I want you to just get really present and notice the level of detail that’s around you, on all of the objects that are surrounding you. And so looking at that right now, in this moment, your reticular activating system has been at play. And what it’s doing is it’s only been showing you and bringing into your focus what’s important for you to see.

And it’s filtering out everything else that’s not relevant in the moment, based on what you’ve decided you’re doing in this moment, based on what you’ve decided is important to you in this moment. And so knowing that, I want you to see that your brain really is a goal-achieving machine.

And because of that, that’s why it’s so powerful for you to have a vision for your business, a vision for your life, because whatever that vision is that you hold in your brain, that is the vision your brain is going out and achieving right now in this moment.

So I want you to think about this in the context of building your business. For me, the first few months after I launched my business, I will say that I was really lacking a powerful vision in my business, which I actually think is very common across the board as a new coach. And the reason for that is because I think, when you’re new, it’s like you don’t know what you don’t know at the time.

But nevertheless, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to create. And when I look back on that time now, I can see that I really didn’t have a clear vision. And so because of that, I struggled for quite a few months. And I struggled with answering some of those more tangible questions about my business, things like who was my ideal client, what problem was I solving, et cetera et cetera.

And so because of that, I was in this place where I then created a lot of confusion, a lot of indecision, and a lot of overwhelm for myself. And when I was in that place, it was extremely hard to move forward and gain any momentum in my business.

So, it really wasn’t until I decided that I was going to figure things out and I decided to go back to the drawing board and really decided to do the deep work to define my vision that everything else fell into place. And I have to say, this is where I see a lot of clients and a lot of newer entrepreneurs stay stuck. They’re stuck because they haven’t yet clearly defined what it is they even want to create. They don’t have that strong vision. They don’t have that string why.

And so when I look at this from a higher level, from a higher perspective as a coach, and what I see with so many clients that I work with, I see that, in most cases, until they go through the type of process that we go through, they’re literally unable to access their own vision. And it’s because they’re so in the weeds with everything else that they can’t even see through those weeds.

And so what happens is, they struggle with clarity on basic things in their business, things like who their target market is, what problem they’re solving, what they should include in their program, their pricing, all of it. and as a result, they then struggle with clarity on basic things sin their business, things like who their target market is, what problem they solve, et cetera et cetera, which then clouds their ability to create a vision for the bigger things, that big picture in their business.

And I will tell you, more often than not, I see that this lack of vision, it comes down to a lack of self-awareness, a sense of self-awareness that lends to being clear about who they are and why they want to do this work, to that big why.

And so, when I see coaches in this place, when they’re lacking clarity, I see them struggle with all of the foundational things in their business. And what ends up happening is, because there’s such a lack of clarity and there’s such a lack of clarity in their self-awareness and a lack of clarity in their overall business and their business strategy, they’re unable to affectively tell their brains what’s even important.

And because there’s so much confusion that goes on inside that brain, I see so many that then spin in their business and spend so much time getting lost in shiny object syndrome, literally getting lost in all of the noise out there. And so they desperately try and find answers outside of themselves. And when they don’t have this foundational clarity about themselves and what they want to create, they end up focusing on strategies that are outdated, or worse, strategies that are never going to allow them to grow and scale their business to the level they want.

And they’re not even critically thinking through this process, and I see this happen over and over and over again. So if you’re finding yourself in this place, what I want you to recognize is this lack of vision, this lack of powerful intention that you have in your business, it’s not even allowing your brain to go to work for you and create that vision that deep down you so desperately want.

And so that’s why it’s so important to develop this self-awareness that’s going to allow you to create the vision that’s going to pull you through the hard times and anchor you in a strong vision for where you’re going.  Because, without it, it’s going to be hard to move forward in any sort of intelligent way, to make any sort of intelligent decisions about your business.

And I also want to offer that if you’re in that place right now, if you’ve been spinning in your business and you feel stuck and you just can’t seem to break through, I want you to know that having a strong vision doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to know what your five or 10-year detailed business plan looks like. That’s not what I’m saying at all.

Instead, having a strong vision, especially when you’re building the foundation of your business, that could be what do I want to create in the next 90 days? And it could be just starting there.

Start by creating a much shorter-term vision if you need to because once you create that short-term, you can then start asking yourself, who do I need to be in order to start taking action towards that vision? And once you start answering that question, you’re going to be able to start taking much more powerful action forward, and as a result, generating much more clarity for yourself in the process.

And this allows you to then create that longer term vision, that longer term vision that you can emotionally connect with. And so for any of you that are relating to this, I want to encourage you to shift your focus from all of the surface work, from all of that busywork.

Think of it as the work that’s maybe helping you feel productive in the moment, but it’s not really leading you to any real momentum in your business. And I want you to start focusing on the real work that’s going to help you get clear on who you are and what you want to create.

I want to challenge you to stop accepting confusion in your business and stop accepting a lack of vision for yourself because, if you don’t, you’re going to stay in a place of confusion, in a place of self-doubt and indecision and overwhelm. And you’re going to only perpetuate all of that because your reticular activating system, it’s only going to continue to bring you what you decide is important for you, for your business.

So I encourage you to do the deep work so you can truly know who you are and emotionally connect with the work that you’re doing and what it is that you want to create, so you can create a stronger more powerful vision for yourself and for your business and experience that once you do this. all those other surface level decisions, all of that becomes easy because whatever vision you’re holding in your mind right now, your brain is already working on bringing exactly that vision, exactly that scenario into your reality.

It’s already happening in this moment. So I encourage you to do the real work. Stop obsessing about the surface work and give yourself the opportunity to move forward in a much more intelligent way because the results that you have today in your business and in your life, those are the direct results of the vision you’ve been holding in your mind.

Know that your future is your property and you get to create any version of it that you want. This is one of the most important things you can do. So with that, I hope you take some time today to really consider what you want to create in your life and in your business, whether that’s what you want to create tomorrow, or what you want to create a year from now, create a vision for your business and for yourself and make sure it’s compelling.

Then, hold that vision and ask yourself what you need to do in order to bring that vision to life. Because before long, you’re going to start to notice that vision coming into your life, and know that you already have everything you need, it’s already within you, it’s just a matter of deciding what’s important, connecting to that, and answering the question of who you need to be today in order to start working intentionally toward that vision.

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 invite 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.