Ep #182: How to Create Extraordinary Growth in Your Coaching Business (Part 1)

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast with Amanda Karlstad episode number 182.

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 hope you’re doing well. Wherever you are tuning in from, I know we have listeners all around the world, which is so much fun and so exciting. I just want to welcome you all. I’m so glad to have you all here today.

I want to start off with a question for all of you. My question is how has this year been going for you? How has this year been so far for you? I’m curious because I know for me, I feel so much momentum right now. I am in a really interesting season in my business of major expansion, and a season of major of, I would say, internal expansion.

So this year, for me, has really been off to a great start, and I know that the momentum that I have for the rest of this year, it’s going to be a time of really huge expansion for me and for my business. I’m really excited about it. I’m really proud and excited about all of the great things that are happening inside of both of my program containers, my mastermind and my high level mastermind, and the level of wins that my clients are experiencing. The level of transformation that is happening inside of these programs is really blowing my mind, and it is really extraordinary.

So not only do I feel like I’m in a season of major expansion and growth, but so many of my clients are as well. I have to tell you when you go through seasons of growth, when you are in a season of scale in your business, it requires you to evolve and to grow in so many new ways as a leader, as a CEO. 

I know, for me, one of the things that I’ve been working on is that I have been looking at really so many things for myself. I’ve been really challenging my own beliefs as it relates to certain things in my business. I’ve been challenging myself on so many things personally. 

I shared in an earlier podcast that one of my goals for this year is to prioritize my health, is to prioritize my energy, my physical health. I’ve really been dialing that in. I’ve really been looking at all of my beliefs around that and all of my actions around that, and it’s been a really great exercise for so many reasons because it’s also, in so many ways, reinforced to me who I really am. 

It’s allowed me to, once again, remember who I really am. To reinforce with even greater conviction and even clearer levels of clarity what it is that I’m truly about, what my work is about. By doing this, I’m experiencing that it’s also required me to become even more certain in the work that I do. To become even more convicted and more grounded in my work. I feel like it’s allowed me to be even more confident than ever in the direction that I’m going, in the work that I do do, and how I’m able to facilitate growth and scale for my clients in the level of results that I help my clients to create.

The fact that I have the ability to create million dollar coaches inside of my containers has been a really exciting time. It’s been a huge season of growth for me and a very introspective season in so many ways, but it’s also about remembering who I am and fortifying that belief. It’s been a lot of fun to see evidence of that in my programs, in the level of results that my clients are creating. Levels that are truly extraordinary.

Because of this, I feel an even deeper calling to help so many more of you who are on this journey, who have so much to offer, who are doing such important work in the world. You’re needing more support in being able to take your work into the world to grow your impact and to grow your revenue. To scale your business so that you can have a much wider reach than you do now.

So I want to challenge you that if you are in that place right now in your business, if you are in that position, I want to challenge you to make a decision today. To make a decision to take the next step and to get the level of support that you need. That is going to help you take it to the next level.

I would love to help you with that. So I want to invite you to apply and to join us inside of the mastermind. This is my foundational business accelerator program for coaches who are growing to their first six figures. If you’re already at six figures or multiple six figures or even seven figures and you’re looking to go to the next level then I want to invite you to join us inside of my High Level Mastermind program. 

This is my highest level container for coaches who are ready to scale. So they’ve reached that six figure level or that multiple six figure level or even seven, or they’re trending there and they’re ready to go to that next level. So if that sounds like you, I want to invite you to apply. 

I have to tell you these containers are the highest level of coaching and mentoring and advisory in the coaching industry. I’ve really designed these containers to help you create results. I’ve done that in a way that truly helps my clients grow and scale in a sustainable way, and to truly build a million dollar and beyond business. 

So these two containers are very special to me that have, again, the highest level of coaching and support that I know can help you take things to the next level. There are limited spots because of the high level of coaching and support. We have both groups and one on one support in both of these containers.

So for those of you that are truly serious about taking things to the next level, I want you to know now is the time. So go to the show notes in this podcast, or go to my website amandakarlstadcoaching.com. You’re going to find links to the application for these programs there. I would love to have a conversation with you.

All right. Today is the first episode of a series that I decided to bring to all of you on how to create exponential growth in your coaching business. I’m really excited to bring you this series, and I’ve been thinking about it for quite a few weeks. I’ve been wanting to bring you this content. I’ve actually had it planned for a couple of months to bring you this series for a number of reasons.

Most importantly, I want to share with all of you how not only have I been able to create exponential growth in my business, but also how I help my clients do that as well. I know that so many of you listening desire exponential growth in your business this year, and I know that so many of you have been working to take your business to the next level, and you’re ready to make this year a breakthrough year.

For me, I know last year, 2022, was a huge year of growth, and we’re continuing on with that momentum here in 2023. I know that based on where we’re at in 2023 that it’s going to be an even bigger year of growth for us. So my intention here is to bring you exactly what you need in order to create extraordinary growth in your business no matter where you are right now.

So I know that all of you are going to get a ton of value from today’s episode, and also from this series. My intention is that this is also a series that you come back to over and over again because I will be sharing with you truly what is required to create the level of growth that you’re working to achieve. 

So in today’s episode, in this first part one of this three part series, I want to focus first on upgrading your identity. The reason that this is the first step, this is part one in this three part series, is because as a coach, as a business owner, as a marketer, as an entrepreneur, as the CEO of your business, your identity is essential. When you’re looking at creating extraordinary growth for your business for yourself, it is essential that you upgrade your identity.

The reason for this is because your identity is what drives and also defines your success as an entrepreneur. I’ve talked about this a lot in previous episodes, about the importance of identity. I’ve done several episodes in depth about what identity is and the importance of identity that I would highly recommend that you would go back to. In fact, I have a whole series on identity, a three part series that I did that I would highly recommend that you go back and listen to.

Because the truth is that your identity is the driving force, is the number one thing that will determine the level of success that you create as a coach, that you create as an entrepreneur. At the same time, it’s also one of the biggest challenges that I see for most coaches.

The reason is that as we become entrepreneurs, as we transition out of, for I know many of you, you may have transitioned or are in the process of or want to transition out of your corporate career or your professional career. I know that for me, this shift for myself, when I made that shift, that decision to transition out of my corporate career, that shift in identity was huge. I had to be very deliberate in that shift. In not only seeing myself as who I once was but more importantly as who I was becoming.

So that’s what I want to talk to you all about today is your identity, is how you perceive yourself. It’s what you think of yourself. It’s comprised of the standards that you hold for yourself and for your business, and also for your clients. 

So for those of you who are in this process who are becoming – As I always say, this shift of becoming who it is that we’re meant to be very often can be the hardest shift to make. Because in so many cases, it’s about becoming a different version of who we once were.

It can be a very difficult shift. It can feel painful when you no longer fully identify with who you once were. But at the same time, so often there tends to be a gap from where you are today to who you’re becoming. Even though the growth and the becoming is what we all want. It’s what we’re after.

What it does is it inevitably forces us to come head to head with old belief systems, with old ways of doing, with old ways of being that no longer fit where we’re going. So this process I know for me and for so many of my clients is really an undoing. It’s an undoing of what no longer serves us.

In order to create that extraordinary growth, to create those next level results, it requires an upgrade. It requires an upgrade in belief systems, an upgrade in vision, an upgrade in standards, an upgrade in the level of decisions that are made. It requires an upgrade in no longer being available for certain internal limitations. It requires an upgrade in your thinking. It requires an upgrade of what you think of yourself.

One of the most important skills I believe as an entrepreneur is your ability to make decisions from and to think from your future self. So often when you’re in this journey, and I see this happen over and over, is that we tend to make decisions from where we are today. We tend to make decisions from the present day, from the here and now. Versus panning out and making choices and making decisions from that future version of ourselves.

So one of the aspects of upgrading your identity is to make decisions from your future self, is to make decisions from the version of you at that seven or multi-seven, maybe even eight figure level. I’ve found that unless you are in an environment where you are being challenged on this, unless you are in an environment where this level of thinking is the standard, is something where you’re working with a coach and being challenged at a higher level. I find that so often, so many coaches simply default to the present. Or in some cases, they even default to the past.

What happens is when you default to the past or when you are defaulting to the present, you’re allowing the stories and the narratives, the identity, that subconscious programming of who you believe yourself to be in the past, or who you believe yourself to be today. When that happens, when we go really deep into this, what ends up happening is that it also creates more of the same.

So why am I telling you this? I’m telling you this because if you’re in a place right now in your business where you feel like you’re stuck, where you feel like you’re not making the level of progress that you think you should be making, there’s a good chance that the reason you’re not moving forward as quickly as you want to in your business is because you are in a place where you need to upgrade your identity. 

Where maybe you’re letting old belief systems and old narratives to be in the driver’s seat. Where maybe you’re not even seeing some of your core patterning. Where maybe you’re not even aware of some of those core beliefs. 

What might be happening is that this is exactly what’s holding you back from your next level of success. So your identity and who you believe yourself, to believe in yourself concept, what you think of yourself, what standards you hold and who you determine yourself to be is one of the most important aspects of you then creating exponential success this year.

So I want to challenge you all with a question. What if the success that you know you’re capable of achieving, the level of success that you know you’re here to create, the level of success that maybe you know you’re here to create, but you can’t even quite comprehend yet. I want you to consider for a moment what if that has nothing to do with your past? What if that has nothing to do even with your present? I want you to really consider that question.

Because what if the success, what if this next level, this level that maybe you can’t even comprehend has nothing to do with your past? It has nothing to do with your present. What would be possible for you to create in this scenario? What level of success would be possible for you if you no longer used your past or even your present to dictate what you thought of yourself or what you thought is possible for you?

This is a really important question, and it’s one I’ve been pondering even for myself recently and have spent some time considering and feeling into and feeling the expansiveness of being completely unchained by my past. I have to tell you, it’s such an expansive feeling and such an expansive place to be when you can look at this next level for yourself.

For some of you, that might be six figures. For others of you, it might be $250,000 or half a million or $800,000. For others of you, you’re looking at seven figures and beyond. I will tell you, as you are in this journey and as you create these results, what will be required is that you will be required to shift your identity in who you believe yourself to be, in what you believe is possible for you, in what you believe you are capable of achieving, in how you see yourself, in your sense of who you are.

So in the context of a coaching business, when I say that, that means in relation to your clients, in relation to your work, in relation to your business. This is a very subtle yet extremely powerful work and powerful process. 

In this subtle yet extremely powerful process of changing and shifting your identity into perhaps that seven figure coach, into that successful business owner and CEO who makes a true impact, I want to give you the exact steps that you can all start taking today to start shifting your identity to that future version of yourself so that you can create the extraordinary success today.

All right. So the first step is that you have to first become conscious of this process. So just by tuning into today’s episode, listening to this episode, you’re already taking that first step. So it’s really becoming conscious of this process and becoming conscious of who you are today. The first step of any process of change is awareness. So you have to first become aware of who you are today and, at the same time, become conscious, become aware of that future version of yourself, that seven figure version of yourself.

So the first step is to bring a level of consciousness to this process, a level of intention to this process. Once you’ve done that, then I would recommend that you first visualize, that you first see who it is that you want to become. 

I think it’s vital that you get extremely clear on that future version of yourself and who is it that you want to become. What is it that you want to be known for? Who do you want to be in relation to your clients? What types of clients do you want to serve? What type of leader do you want to be for your business? At the same time, also what will be required of you in order to do that? 

So I want to encourage all of you to get as clear as possible and to visualize that future version of yourself, to visualize your future clients, to visualize your future business. I will tell you for me, this has been an ongoing process. It’s something that I have put so much intention behind. I’ve done so much of my own personal work on, and it’s something that I continuously come back to. It’s something that I continuously work to refine.

I’d encourage you to also be open to that. So once you have the clarity, once you have full clarity on what that version of you looks like, once you’ve clearly identified that version of you, then the next step is to start to think as this new version of you would. So getting really clear around how do you think as that version of you?

The reason this is so important is because all creation first starts in the mind. So when you think about creation in its purest form, creation of anything, the idea first starts in the mind. So understanding first how that version of you or how somebody else who’s already at that level thinks is so important. Once you understand the thinking then it becomes about intentionally starting to then take the actions and doing the things that that version of yourself would be doing. 

So let me give you some examples. So let’s say that right now you’re thinking okay. I already know my desire is to be a seven figure coach. Then you must start taking the actions from that place even before you have that result. So some tangible examples of this would be maybe you, number one, finally create that funnel that right now you know would be hugely valuable to your business, but for whatever reason maybe you haven’t done it yet.

Or maybe you hire that coach, you hire that mentor that you know can help you go to the next level. Maybe you stop entertaining excuses as to why now isn’t the right time. Maybe now is the time where you create that new program or you launch your group program or you refine your program in a way so that it’s capable of holding the volume of clients that would be required at that seven figure level. I could give you so many examples of this, but the key here is that you must start acting and making decisions today from that future version of you.

Here’s the thing. Once you start to do that, what will happen is that as you do this consistently, when you start to show up consistently as that version of yourself, when you start to think as that future version of yourself, when you start to act like that future version of yourself, you will start to naturally become this new version of you. You will start to feel as if you already are this version of you.

Once you do that, that’s typically when you will start to see evidence of this in your life. This is when you’ll start to see new and better results in your business. When that happens, it’s important that you have to also work to reinforce this. So the next step is you have to intentionally reinforce this progress. You have to reinforce your own growth. You have to reinforce and acknowledge the transformation that you’re experiencing.

I see far too often coaches who have made so much progress in their business, who have grown in so many ways, who have experienced a level of transformation that so often they’re not even seeing, they’re not even acknowledging.

A great way that I do this for myself is that I continuously look and feel gratitude for the past version of myself, for the version of myself when I was first starting out, when I decided to go after my dreams, when I made the decision to go all in on my business. When I made the decision to leave my corporate career, when I decided to honor my intuition and stay the course even when I didn’t have the evidence, even when things were difficult, even when I didn’t have the level of success that I have today.

I still chose to demonstrate faith. I still chose to demonstrate courage each and every day. Honestly, this is an ongoing process even as I shift into higher levels of impact, higher levels of influence and businesses success today. It’s so, so important to honor who you’ve been and the choices that you’ve made and the choice that you’re making, as I mentioned before, to tune into this podcast, to consider today right now for yourself all of the things that have led you to today and show gratitude for that.

So it’s a daily intentional practice of living into and being that version of you who is at the level that you want to be 12 months from now or three years from now or maybe even 10 years from now. It’s being able to hold that expanded vision for yourself. It’s allowing yourself to think from and challenging yourself to think from and to make choices from that future version of you.

It’s looking at what you can do today to take the actions that are in alignment to the level of growth that you want to create, that will allow you to create extraordinary growth this year in your business.

So this is the first step, my friends. We must first shift and upgrade our identity to the future version of ourselves who creates the level of success that we desire. We have to tap into that version. We have to start thinking from that version. We have to start showing up consistently as that version and making decisions from that place and acting in accordance with that version so that the results then become inevitable. All right my friends, have a beautiful week. I’ll talk to you all again 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.