Ep #156: Understanding High-Value Vs. Low-Value Activities for Coaches

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast with Amanda Karlstad episode number 156.

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 having an amazing week. I’m excited to talk to you all today. I just got off a coaching call with my High Level Mastermind clients. These are clients who are all in the process of scaling their businesses. It blows me away each and every week when we meet when I meet with these clients and to hear their updates and to hear about just the amazing work that they’re doing in their businesses. The wins that they’re able to share each and every week is really, really an amazing thing.

Just this week, we had, to give you some examples, we had clients that celebrated a $90,000 revenue month. We had another client celebrate over $100,000 revenue months for the last four months. We had another client who exceeded their September goal and brought in over $50,000 in sales in September alone. The list goes on.

I have to tell you, while each and every week, I am just blown away at the level of results that are happening in this container. I will share with all of you that this was the reason that I built this program, the reason that I created the vision for this container was really to build a container, to build a program, a community of coaches, who are literally at the top. Who are at the top of the industry, not only in terms of their revenue, but also in terms of their impact.

I’m so proud of the work that my clients do in this container and the level of results that, I’m going to be really honest, are not the norm. They’re extraordinary results. I’m so, so proud of them and what they’re building, and the impact that they’re each able to make respectively with their own clients. So the financial success and who they’re becoming and who they become in this process of growing their business to that level is truly an honor to help them become examples of what is possible.

So if you’re a coach, and you are ready to scale your business, and how I would define that is that you’ve already hit that six or multiple six figures or beyond in your business. Or even if you’re trending towards six figures, and you’re nearing that six figure mark, and you have a proven offer. You are maybe even looking to refine your offer or even maybe offer a brand new program altogether, and maybe launch a whole new program that might layer on top of what you’re already doing.

I want to highly encourage you to reach out. To fill out an application for my High Level Mastermind. This is an extremely powerful container where we are not only approaching your business with real business strategy, but it’s really about all of the inner work as well. It’s about the becoming and becoming a million dollar coach. This is exactly what’s happening inside of this mastermind. It’s an extraordinary group of coaches.

So if you’re at that level in your business then I want to invite you in. You can go to the show notes of this episode, or you can go to my website at amandakarlstadcoaching.com. You’ll find the links there.

Now, I also want to mention that for those of you who are not yet at that level where you’re ready to scale, but you’re looking to perhaps grow to your first six figures in the most accelerated way then I do want you to know that the mastermind is currently open for enrollment. This is my foundational business accelerator program for coaches who have reached some level of initial success in their business.

So what that might look like is you might be working with clients one on one. You probably already have a program that you’ve developed. You are ready to really learn the things that you need to learn in terms of marketing and getting your message clear and really just building your audience.

If that sounds like you, I want to invite you to join us inside of the mastermind. This is the program that I have built over the last several years that I truly believe every coach, no matter your niche, no matter who it is that you work with, or what you’re offering. I truly believe that if you’re a coach, and you have the desire to build a highly successful business, that this is the program that will help you get there. It is the most comprehensive program for coaches that will help you take things to the next level, and do it in the most accelerated way.

We have some really exciting things happening inside of the program. So I would highly recommend if you’re at that point in your business where you are not quite ready to scale, but you’re ready to grow and you’re ready to do the work to do that, then I want you to apply to this program. If you’re at that about $5k a month or so around in your business, I would love to help you take things to the next level.

All right. Today, I want to talk to you all about something that’s really been powerful for me. It’s been a really powerful question. It’s been a really powerful perspective that I have used throughout my entire career. When I say that I’m not only talking about my career as a coach in my own practice, but also in my career before I became a coach before I went off and built this business of my own.

So I know that what I’m about to share with you can really help all of you no matter where it is that you’re at. I can tell you that it has helped me tremendously in my own journey. So the reason that I want to bring this perspective to you today is because one of the things that I’ve been noticing a lot lately is that many clients who come to work with me, whether it is in my High Level Mastermind or in my foundational mastermind program, is that they’re very overwhelmed with all of the things. They’re very overwhelmed with, what are the next best steps.

I think this is partly due to the fact that, let’s just be honest, the coaching industry is very noisy. Social media is very noisy. Your email inbox is very noisy. Essentially anytime you turn on any sort of media device, it doesn’t really matter what it is. We all have our cell phones around us at all times. It doesn’t really matter what it is, but there’s constant information coming at us. So I think that for most coaches, their experience is that it’s just very noisy. I know because I’ve experienced this myself.

So I will say that I think in a lot of ways, this is actually a big advantage that we have to be living in the time that we’re living, to have access to the information that we have access to, to have a cell phone that essentially functions as a computer that is in a lot of cases probably more powerful than even our computers. To have that available at our fingertips is a huge, huge advantage.

I think about this in terms of if we compare that to earlier generations, the fact that we have an opportunity to build an online business and make a huge impact in the world and to create extraordinary revenue and create real, real wealth with honestly very little overhead is an extraordinary gift that all of you listening half. But at the same time, I know that it also feels very confusing. I know that a lot of times it feels very overwhelming. When you’re in the process of building a business and when you’re trying to build momentum, when you’re trying to take things to the next level.

What I see happen so often is that a lot of coaches tend to fall into a place where their cognitive load just becomes too heavy. Where they start to over consume, where they start to take in so much information in the search of finding that one missing thing. That one missing thing that’s going to make all of the difference. What’s really happening is that in most cases, we really fall short of not managing our minds effectively and not managing our focus, not managing our energy.

When you’re in a place like this, it becomes extremely difficult, even more difficult to know then what to focus on. It becomes extremely difficult to then try and implement everything. It becomes really difficult to create any momentum in your business. So all of that combined can be very, very overwhelming.

When I see a coach in this place, what happens is they end up spinning and second guessing and trying to do all the things. While I definitely understand what it is like to be in that place, one of the perspectives that I have used and that I continue to use to this day each and every week in my business is this. Does this help me get closer to my goals? So it’s asking myself the question does this help me get closer to my goals?

Now, I know you might think that this sounds simplistic, but the truth is that for most coaches, what I’ve observed is that they are not coming from this perspective. Rather, they’re making decisions in the business and focusing on things in the business based on, for example, what they might be seeing other people do in the industry, or what they might see happening on social media, or what someone just happens to be talking about.

Versus when you ask yourself, the very simple and very powerful question of is this helping me move closer to my goals? I want to offer to all of you today and really invite you to think about this and really think about this for yourself and think about this for your business and assess how you’re really thinking about your business. What is it that you’re really, truly focusing on in your business?

Because if you were to do a time audit of your week or maybe of your day or your month, I want you to consider what that would tell you. I want you to consider what it is that you’re choosing to focus on, what it is that you’re choosing to put your time and your energy towards. Is that actually moving you and getting you closer to your goals? Or is it adding complexity? Is it adding to your cognitive load? Is what you’re focusing on creating even more confusion for you and for your business? I want you to really think about this and get honest with yourself about this.

Because what I see happen really often, especially when you’re working to build momentum in your business, is that what you might think might be the best thing to focus on actually isn’t. What ends up happening is that coaches spend a lot of time, in fact way too much time, on low value activities, on low value tasks that don’t produce, that don’t create the level of results that they actually want in their business.

The result of this is that it’s very, very costly. It’s very, very costly because not only does it create a situation where you’re likely not selling your coaching, but you’re also not creating a system. You’re not creating a way for you to reach the clients that you could be reaching. It’s also not setting you up for any repeatable or sustainable growth.

So this shift, this perspective of is this helping me get closer to my goals I think is one of the most important perspectives to have if you’re building a business. Because as a business owner, as the CEO of your business, it is vital that you’re making decisions, that you’re focusing on the things that actually matter to the business, and that you’re not allowing yourself to be distracted, to focus on those low value tasks, those low value activities that don’t help you get to where it is that you want to go.

So let’s talk for a minute about what I mean by low value tasks. Low value tasks are those things that you might be doing or focusing on in the business. Especially when you’re under that first six figures in your business that aren’t helping you serve your clients, that aren’t helping you provide value to your audience, that aren’t helping you get closer to things like making offers consistently in your business or selling your coaching program or enrolling clients into your program or delivering your coaching program.

Essentially anything outside of marketing, or providing value to your audience, building your audience, and serving your clients. Really anything outside of these core deliverables are typically not going to be moving you closer to your goals.

It’s so often I see oh so many coaches who are chasing shiny objects, who are trying to implement the latest social media strategy, and trying to consume everything that they can. But the problem is that when you’re not solving the right problem in your business, when you’re learning, for instance, social media tactics and strategies, yet you aren’t even clear on who you serve or how you serve them.

The truth is that any tactic or any strategy, any strategy that you could have, none of it will work. Because there isn’t that foundation that’s built. There isn’t any strategy that will automatically just work in the business. You have to first do the foundational work.

The foundational work that I, for example, teach inside of my program to help you get crystal clear first on who you’re helping and how you’re helping them and creating an irresistible offer that not only people want to buy, but that also is scalable. That allows you to actually grow your business to a high level that you can actually market effectively. That is set up in a way that allows you to refine it and tweak it over time and build it over time and serve clients, so many clients at a time.

So if you’re in a place in your business where maybe you’re asking yourself, what is it that I’m missing? I want you to first ask yourself number one, are you focusing on things that will actually move you closer to your goal? Are you really clear on that?

If the answer is no, then I want you to consider and get honest about what are those things that will move you closer to your goal. I encourage you to do an audit, to do an audit of your time, to look at your day, to look at your week, to look at your month. Ask yourself how much of your time was actually truly spent in high value versus low value tasks or activities. How much time are you seriously spending either getting clear on or learning how to effectively market your business?

How many offers have you put out in the last week or in the last month? How much time have you spent adding value and connecting with your audience? What are you doing to grow your audience? These are all really important questions that I want you all to consider.

Please understand that when it comes to the next thing or the next shiny tactic or strategy, I want you to really ask yourself if that’s truly helping you get closer to your goal. Is this something that over the long term will actually help you enroll more clients into your program? Is this actually something that matters if you are the future version of you, the version of you that is serving at your highest level, that is working with an overflow of clients, that is helping your clients create tremendous change in their life? Is this really the thing that’s going to help you get there? Is it truly helping you move closer to your goals?

This is a really important question my friends. A question that can clear up so much confusion and clear up so much complexity. That can help you simplify and hone in your focus on your business, on the things that truly matter. Not just the things that might feel better in the moment.

So be willing to do the hard work. Be willing to put yourself in an environment where you’re truly focusing on the right things in the business, where you’re actually doing what matters instead of focusing on things that are distracting you. Instead of being distracted. All right, my friends, so 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 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.