Ep #117: Lessons From 2021

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast with Amanda Karlstad episode number 117.

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. I’m so glad that you’re here. Happy New Year. It’s officially 2022. Can you believe it? It is so amazing. I hope you had a great holiday season, and I hope you all had a fantastic New Year. I am so excited for 2022, and I know so many of you are as well. That’s what we’re going to talk about today.

I know that all of you listening have really big goals in the coming year. I know so many of you have set impossible goals that you are now turning the page towards in 2022. I just want to tell you if that is you, you are in the right place my friend. I love talking about impossible goals. I love helping my clients achieve impossible goals in their businesses and in their lives. I am a huge, huge fan.

So I’m super excited for what we’re about to talk about today and for what I’m going to be sharing with you as I think this is really going to help you think about your goals in the coming year and really help you on your journey to achieving your goals, your impossible goals. Whatever that looks like for you.

Before we dive in, I do want to invite you. If you are in a place in your business where you are really ready to go to the next level. If you are ready to make 2022 your best year yet in your business, then I want to invite you to apply to one of my open spots for the Mastermind. If you’re looking to build to your first $100,000, this is my foundational six month business accelerator program that’s designed to help you go from where you are today in your business and really help you get to that first six figures and beyond.

If you’ve already hit $100,000 in your business or you’re trending towards your first six figures, and you’re really ready to scale your business. You’re really ready to go to either $250K, $500K, or even a million. Then I want to invite you to apply to my High Level Mastermind. This is the program where we take coaches who are more established, who have, again, already hit that first $100K or are very close to that. It’s really where we take everything to the next level. This is where we literally build your million dollar business.

So depending on where you’re at in your business from a revenue standpoint, I want to invite you to apply to either program based on your revenue level. Because now is the time my friends. Now is the time to really do this work so that you can be stepping into 2023. Can’t believe I’m saying that right, but having achieved your big impossible goals. The truth is that the work really begins now if you want to be able to do that.

So this is what I want for you, and the great news is that there are some seats available. So I want to help you get there. So go to amandakarlstadcoaching.com. You can also go to the show notes of this episode. We’ll link up the application in the show notes. Or you can also go to my website and start the process there. I am really excited to help you make your dreams a reality in the coming year.

All right what I want to talk to you all today about are some of my lessons and some of my reflections from 2021. I want to share with you some of the lessons that I think are really important that I share with you in this past year that I know will be useful to you. Really help you as, again, you’re moving  forward in 2022 and beyond in your business. Some things that I see just within the industry in general and what that really means for you as a coach, as a business owner, and what that really means for you today as you step into this new year and as you’re looking ahead at your goals and you’re working towards your impossible goals in the coming year.

So my goal with what I’m about to share with you is so that you can not only glean from the lessons, from what I have learned, but you can also use this as a framework for yourself to look at your own business. To look at where you’re at today in your business, to look at your own 2021 if you haven’t done that process yet. Really complete your own end of year review, and really utilize this framework to help you do that.

I will tell you all. This is something that I do every year at this time. Every year I have a ritual where I do a really thorough end of year review. Where I take time and I reflect on the year. I look at what worked in my business. I look at the lessons that I learned. Some of the things that didn’t work as well in the business.

I also look at my life. I personally have found it really useful to look at both aspects when going through this ritual because our business and our life, they’re really interdependent when we’re honest about it, right. They’re both important to one another. I’ve found that it’s really important to give both equal airtime. Because if things are good on one side of things, we want it to be also good on the other side of things. We want there to be some sort of balance.

So growing and scaling a business is important, I know, for all of you to the actual life you most want to live. To the freedom and the impact you most want to make. Being able to do that in a way that allows you to live the life you truly want to live, that’s really the goal.

Recently as I’ve been doing this work and reflecting on my year and reflecting on all of the lessons and all of the things that I’ve learned; I really am in awe of my past self. I’m really in awe of the things that I chose to focus on. The decisions that I’ve made in my business, in my life that have really allowed me to create my dream business and to create a level of freedom and a level of flexibility that was my goal when I started my business way back in 2017/2018.

So I really want to encourage you all that when you do this work and when you think about the things that I’m about to talk to you about and more importantly implement the things that I’m about to share with you. That it truly does help you set up your future self. It helps you set up the future of not only your business but the future of your life. I think that’s really, really important.

So let’s start out with some of the things that worked. I want to share with you some wins that I experienced over this past year. So what worked in 2021 and some of the lessons that I’ve learned as it relates to these wins. I also want to share with you some of the wins from clients because I think this is really important for all of you to hear. I know will also help to serve as examples of what is possible for you as well.

So the first win that I experienced in my business was some really great growth in terms of revenue in 2021. So to give you some context, 2021 was the highest revenue level year. So my revenue increase significantly in 2021, both revenue received and also revenue generated. So this is something that I look at both aspects in my business. There are several aspects when it comes to your business finances that I believe you should be tracking, and you should be looking at.

For this conversation today, I will just share that my revenue that I not only received in the business but also the revenue that I generated in my business. So this was the revenue that hit the bank account but also the revenue that was generated throughout the year was really significant. It really speaks to the level of impact and the fact that I was able to serve even more clients this year, which I’m super, super grateful for.

Because of this, because I was able to serve even more clients this year. Because I was able to help even more clients build, grow, and scale their businesses, something that I’m really, really proud of when I look at 2021 and reflect on that. Really what comes to me is the ripple effect and all of the lives that were positively impacted both from a client aspect and also from their client perspective, right. When I think about my clients and just the number of clients as a ripple effect that we’re helping in this community, it’s really, really amazing.

So the overall positive impact that was made in 2021 alone just by helping my clients be able to reach even more clients themselves, this is something that I’m really, really proud of. So when I look at the work that my clients are doing and the level of impact that they’re making, it really truly blows me away to consider this impact. And to see that not only are my clients able to help so many more clients themselves but for them personally to be able to live out there purpose and to really do their important work in the world and to do it in a way that really serves their life as well.

So revenue in sales in 2021 were great for myself. They were great for my clients. There was so much extraordinary growth in terms of revenue, in terms of number of lives that were impacted, which I believe is really in direct correlation to the process. To some factors that I’m going to talk to you more in depth about in a minute.

When I look at why that is, there are some really key principles, some real key business strategies. That if you’re a  part of either of my programs whether that’s the Mastermind program, my six month business accelerator, or if you’re in my High Level Mastermind. These are all things that we implement in your business, which again I’m going to talk to you about in a minute.

So revenue growth was great from a revenue perspective. There was also amazing growth in terms of really impact and the ripple effect. The true ripple effect of the impact. So two huge wins here on both the revenue and sales side and also the impact. All right.

When I look at some other aspects of what worked in 2021, one of the other huge wins that I’m super proud of is this podcast. I have to tell you this is one of the favorite parts of my business. It’s one of the things that I love doing on a weekly basis. It’s one of the ways that I love being able to connect with all of you. Especially in the fourth quarter of the year. There was some really great growth in terms of downloads.

Again, I want to speak about the level of impact here because I know for so many of you that this podcast is something that you listen to on a consistent basis. You share with me how much it helps you and how much it helps you with your mindset and just applying different strategies in your business.

So with that, I know that so many of you have also shared the show. You’ve let others know about the podcast. I want to tell you for that I am so, so grateful. So thank you. I appreciate that so much. I appreciate you sharing the show with other coaches, with other entrepreneurs, and really getting this message out more and more.

This podcast is truly something that I’m so proud of. To be able to bring you this content each week, to bring you the teachings that I know are helping you to build, grow, and scale. It’s really something I enjoy doing. Being able to deliver it each and every week to y’all. We’ve over two years into this show. I just have to say, I feel like I’m just getting started in so many ways. I have so much more that I’m going to be bringing your way, and I’m so, so excited about that.

So thank you for tuning in. Thank you for sharing the show. Thank you for taking the concepts that I’m bringing to you, that I’m teaching you and applying them and for helping to get the show to even more and more coaches and entrepreneurs who can benefit. It’s just amazing. So I will also say we’re just getting started my friends. So here we go. All right.

So the next win is something that I haven’t actually talked about before, but when I look at the year, when I look at 2021, was absolutely something that was a big win for me and for also my team, my support staff. That was really a huge project. That was putting more systems, putting more automation into the back end of the business.

I know this isn’t like anything sexy. It’s nothing exciting to really talk about, but it’s actually really important. It’s even more important as you scale your business, as you work with more and more clients that you do have proper systems. That you have certain automations in place in your business.

So one of the projects that I actually started, this was actually started in 2022, in late 2022, was to really take my curriculum. Was really to take all of my teachings, all of my resources, all of the concepts that I have created and to really pit that into a different learning management system and to really organize it well and to house everything in a place that was easily accessible for my clients.

I have to tell you; it was a huge project. When you have a level of content, when you have a level of teachings and tools and resources and curriculum that you have and putting that into a system can really be a big project. It was. I have to tell you it was so worth it. I am so happy with it.

My clients, especially ones that have taken online courses or have been involved with other programs just tell me how impressed they are with my curriculum, with the actual content of the program. With how well it’s put together, with how it’s laid out, and how helpful it truly is by far from anything else they’ve experienced.

I have to tell you, I’m really, really proud of that because it has taken some time. It has been a work in progress. I’ve also been honing it for a long time. I’ve been honing my curriculum, my actual program now over the past couple of years. I can honestly say today that I feel like I’ve reached a certain level of mastery with it now having refined it for so long, having coached so many clients through the process because of the results that not only I’ve achieved but my clients have achieved.

I truly believe that I’ve created. This was really my goal from the outside was to create a program that every coach no matter what niche, no matter where they were at in the process was really what they needed in order to take their business to the next level. A program that is truly world class. That was my goal from the beginning was to create a world class program to really set a new standard in this industry. I believe that’s what we’re doing, and that is what we’re going to continue to do.

So I want to just tell you all and speak to this for a minute because I do think that this is really important for all of you to consider even if you’re starting out why it’s so important to do the foundational work that I talk about, that I teach. To follow a process, to follow the process, in my opinion, that I teach my clients so that you know exactly who you help and how you can help them.

And that you can also create a program, a curriculum around that. You can create messaging. You can create content. You can truly help serve your clients at a very high level. You can help them truly achieve the results that they want. This is really, really important. It’s especially important when you want to scale.

So I want to encourage all of you if you know that you need to do this work, if you know you need help, if you know that you need clarity. Then as I mentioned, I really encourage you to apply to one of my programs based on your revenue level as this is super important for you and also for your clients and for your ability to scale in the long term.

All right the next win, the next lesson that worked, that is something that I want to share with all of you was—and this was a really big win for me. It was creating the three part private podcast series. I’ve talked about it on the show. You can also find it in the show notes of every episode. It’s called The Three Vital Shifts Every Life Coach Needs to Rapidly Scale Their Business. This was a free three part private podcast series that I decided to create.

I know a lot of you have already listened to the private series. So many of you have given me amazing feedback about it. So for those of you who haven’t yet downloaded the private series, I want to encourage you to do that. We’re going to link that up in the show notes as well.

This was actually an idea that I came up with in 2022. I decided it was time in 2021 for me to create it and for me to implement it. It has really been amazing. So I wanted this to be a way that I could connect on an even deeper level with you all, where I could create an even higher level training and deliver even more value to all of you.

For those of you, again, who may not be familiar with my work to really take a deep dive to some of the key aspects of what it takes to truly scale your business that really teaches you some of the things I wish I would have known from the get-go. Some of the things that I’ve learned along the way, that I’ve learned in my own journey, that I’ve learned in coaching so many clients.

So it’s really the culmination of what I’ve learned. I’ve really distilled it down into this three part private podcast series that you can only access through a special link. You can get that link in the show notes. It’s been so helpful to so many of you. I’ve gotten so much great feedback about it. That has really been a huge win. It’s been something that, again, I was thinking about doing for quite some time even before I created and implemented it in the business. It just needed to be the right time. 2021 happened to be that time. So that was amazing.

All right I want to highlight some wins from clients and really share with you some examples of client wins that are truly amazing that I think can really serve as an example of what’s possible for you too. I want to say that when I think back throughout this year and I look at just all of my clients as a whole, there are so many wins that I could literally talk all day about. There’s a few that I want to highlight here because I think that they’re really significant to helping you in your journey and to helping you really achieve your impossible goals in 2022.

So when I look at my clients in 2021 and the extraordinary growth that they created, that they experienced. Well each and every client does have a bit of a different journey. What that looks like for each client truly is different for each and every client whether it’s who they work with, how they work with clients, or even where they’re at in their own growth, own scaling journey. Their revenue level. Things like that. There are some key things that I think are really important for you to consider.

The first is that one of the things that I’m most proud of when I truly look at my clients overall. This isn’t just one or two clients here or there, but this is I can honestly say when I look at my clients each and every one of them that I’ve worked with in this past year. I can truly say that for each and every one of them, again no matter if they are starting out in their journey or if they’re scaling to a million dollars. Each and every one of them has grown significantly as a coach. Each and every one of them has grown significantly as a business owner and has grown significantly in terms of stepping more fully into their future self.

It’s really who they’ve become through the process as a result of the coaching, as a result of the work, in every single case.  I do think that this is one of the most valuable byproducts when you are in a container, when you’re in an environment where you’re fully supported. Where you are coached at a high level, where quite honestly you’re challenged to grow and to do things and to step outside of your comfort zone, this is the type of growth that occurs. It’s exactly what happens.

Here’s why this is so important. In order for your business to grow to the level that you want, you have to first become the coach. You have to first become the business owner that is able to create those levels of results. This is why this aspect is so, so important. It’s also why it’s one of the foundational pillars of what I teach and the very personal work that I do with my clients.

So it’s the becoming part of the process. It’s becoming the six figure coach. It’s becoming the seven figure coach. It’s learning the skills and implementing the things that need to be implemented in order to create a business that can support that level of growth.

So this, by far, is one of the greatest wins, one of the greatest aspects to the process and to the work that I do with clients and again the very personal work that I do in my programs is the focus on becoming. Is helping clients step into that next version of themselves. So for me as a coach, this is by far one of the greatest wins for me and for my clients. It’s who they truly are able to become in the process.

The next aspect that I’m really proud of again when I look at every single client that I work with, with every client that has gone through my program is the level of clarity, is the level of implementation that they’re able to make in their business. Again, this will look different and does look different for each and every client. For every client, when I look at their business from when we started working together to where they are now, it is completely different.

It is not uncommon, as an example, for clients to go from working with clients on a one-on-one basis to launching and growing a fully scaled program where they’re literally helping hundreds of clients through their program.

Where they go from not being fully clear on who they’re helping or how they’re helping their clients to becoming leaders and becoming industry experts in their areas of expertise to truly growing a brand. To growing a body of work and making a level of impact that quite honestly is the foundation for not only millions of dollars in revenue for their business but also allows them to become leaders, the known leaders in their own areas of expertise and to make a level of impact that’s on a whole new level.

So the rapid business growth that happens that when I say I’ve built my programs in a way to help my clients grow in the most accelerated way, it’s true. I truly see this with each and every client. I’m so proud of them and so proud of the level of growth that they’re able to achieve, and in a way that happens in a very accelerated way.

So what I will also say about this that I could literally, again, talk for hours on this is that this is related to what I just mentioned. That for each and every one of my clients, one of the things that I think is the biggest in that I love the most and through the process that I see with all of them is that not only are we able to, yes, build a business that is successful. But one that’s very important is that we’re able to do that in a way that’s also in full alignment with them.

What this means is that I believe building your business to a high level does require that you build it in a way that’s in most alignment to you. That’s in most alignment to your strengths as a coach, to your strengths as a business owner in a way that truly serves your clients. This is a very personal thing for all of you. I think it’s one of the things that quite honestly I don’t see happen a lot in the industry.

So for me one of the things that I love being able to do is help my clients reach a level of clarity, reach a level of alignment in their business, and really give them the permission to build the business that they truly want to build and help them actually do that. Versus really building a business that they don’t really want to build but they think they should or maybe were told at some point that they should build, but doesn’t feel in full alignment with them.

So there’s a few key things that are really important that happen when you do this. Number one is that your skill level, your ability as a coach. So when I look at my clients, what happens is their confidence just skyrockets. It really allows you to then show up in a whole new level, at a whole new level with your clients. Whether you’re actually coaching them or whether you’re creating content or whatever that might look like.

What it does is it frees you up and allows you to show up so much more powerfully. As a result, it helps you build even more confidence and even more capacity in what you’re doing.

So the second piece is that when you’re truly clear and when you are building the type of business that you truly want to build, it also allows you to build your business from a place of conviction. From a place of passion and purpose and over the long term, this is extremely important because what it does is it helps you achieve a level of mastery in your process. It helps you refine your process, refine your approach. Over the long term, I believe it’s one of the most important aspects of building a business that’s truly sustainable.

So not only does it allow you to love the business that you’re building. So now only do my clients fall in love with the programs and love the clients that they’re working with, but it also does something very important from a business perspective. It allows you to really build sustainability into your program. It helps you truly grow and scale your business in a way that allows it to be sustainable over the long term, which is really, really important.

All right so as you can see, there were so many wins in 2021. So many things that honestly I don’t have time to go into on today’s show, but these were some key wins, some key lessons that I really wanted to highlight. So let’s talk about some lessons that I learned in 2021 and talk about some things that maybe didn’t work as well.

So one of the things that I think is important to share is that in 2021, one of the things that I decided to do was hire an outside agency to help me with some of my marketing. So this was an agency that I came to know earlier in the year, and I decided to work with. There were some great things that came out of working with this agency, but I also learned some very valuable lessons in this process.

The first lesson was even when you are fully clear on your message, even when you are fully clear on who you work with and how you work with your clients, right. All of the things that I talk about.  That doesn’t always translate to someone else being able to translate that very well on your behalf.

What I mean by this is that one of the challenges that I faced in 2021 when I outsourced things like my messaging or even social media. Even when you are super clear and when you communicate things in a very clear manner, the truth is that no one will know your business, no one will know your message, no one will know your tone better than you.

I share this because I know so many of you are very quick and want to just be able to quickly outsource things like your marketing and like your social media in your business. I want you to know that I understand that, but I think there’s a place and there’s a time to do that. This is why I don’t recommend that this is something that you outsource until you have fully figured this out yourself.

Like in my case even when you have it fully figured out, there are still instances where when you outsource it, when you have somebody else taking this on, it allows you to because you have. Again, you’ve reached a level of mastery with it yourself. It helps you really see very quickly whether or not they’re able to be a good fit for it, right. They’re able to really help you get that message out to a broader audience.

So for me what happened was in my situation where I was very clear on my message, I was very clear on what that all looked like. Even though I clearly was able to communicate that, it was not as easy for someone else to do that on my behalf. So even though I was paying for someone to do this, one of the most valuable lessons that I learned through this program was actually the value in being able to do this for yourself as a business owner, in the value honestly that I teach my clients.

So let me give you an example. One of the things that I teach in my programs, and I fully support my clients with is paid advertising. In fact, I have a full course that I’ve developed, that I’ve created that help my clients from A to Z when it comes to paid advertising. I’m really, really proud of it. So in this case, I had paid an agency to run my ads, to help put together a whole new marketing campaign, to really help me take things to the next level in terms of my marketing.

What I found out very quickly in this process was that I was actually having to teach them. I was actually having to tell them certain things that they weren’t even aware of, that they weren’t even thinking about when it came to paid advertising. Without going into too much detail, essentially what happened was, and some of you are aware of this, there were a lot of changes in the paid advertising space in 2021. So if you’ve run any ads or if you have an understanding of the process, you have  sense of that.

So what was happening was in this case, I was literally having to teach this agency certain things. I was having to really frankly do way more managing that I believe that I should have. What it really taught me at the end of the day was the true level of skill that I really have. The level of skill that I teach my clients, which is why I can say in full integrity that what I teach whether it’s in my Mastermind program or in my High Level Mastermind program is literally worth hundreds if not millions of dollars in revenue in their business just by alone the skills that are learned.

So this was a huge, huge lesson for me. I’m actually super grateful for it because it showed me on an even bigger level just how valuable the skills are that I teach in my programs, the skills that I teach all of my clients when it comes to things like paid advertising. So this was a really, really important lesson that I learned that unfortunately I had to learn the hard way, but I’m okay with that.

The other piece that I want to say about this is this is why I don’t recommend that you outsource these things, especially when you’re new. The reason is because had I not known what I was doing, had I not had the level of knowledge and the level of skill that I do have, I quite honestly would have had no idea what they were doing. I would have been so lost and so confused.

The truth is I probably would have gotten extremely frustrated and confused about the whole process. I see this happen a lot. Probably given up on the process and probably been one of those people that said hey you know what? This isn’t gonna work for me. This doesn’t work for my business. Which by the way is a lie. If you are hearing someone saying that I’m going to tell you all right now it’s a lie. Anybody saying that hasn’t figured it out.

So what happens is when you don’t understand these things, you become very dependent on someone else. You become very dependent on someone else doing that work for you, and it’s not a good place for you to be.

So for me, this really reinforced to me what I teach my clients is that we have to first learn these skills yourself. The importance of having this level of business acumen before you’re able to successfully outsource it so that when you’re in a position to do that that you understand the process and that you can be so much more knowledgeable than when you have someone else doing that work for you. It’s going to help you tremendously as you manage that process.

The next lesson that I learned in 2021 was just how important having a singularity of focus is for your business. What I mean is going back to what I mentioned earlier in terms of clarity and who you help and how you help your clients, all of those types of things. In 2021, I really saw this with my clients especially. When I look at the extraordinary growth that they’ve had, in every single case there was a direct correlation to the clearer that the client was in who they helped and how they helped them also clearly correlated with how they were able to massively grow their business. How they were able to clearly communicate this to their market.

So one of the lessons that I would encourage all of you to take from this episode is just how important it is to actually simplify, to actually be clear on these things and to apply that level of singular focus in your business. It’s actually going to help you grow so much faster.

The next lesson that I learned in 2021 just how important building what I call an ecosystem in your business really is. For all of you listening, I really want to emphasize this because I really believe that this is the future of business. It’s something that I go in depth within my programs, and I work with all of my clients very closely on and we focus on in their own business and we implement in their business. When I look at the industry in a whole, it’s something that by far I believe one of the most important aspects to your long term success. So not only to your growth in 2022 but well beyond.

There’s a lot of reasons for this. I think that this was absolutely something that 2021 taught me, and I want to all of you to be able to take from today’s episode is that with the growth that the coaching industry is experiencing. With that it’s also requiring a higher level of skill. It’s also required a higher level of thinking, a higher level of being. It also requires a higher level of business acumen. So if you truly want to grow a successful business over the long term, that’s totally available for you.

There’s some great things happening. Right now the demand for coaching is growing exponentially. We have tools and we have technology like never before that is allowing us to actually build and to reach clients literally all over the world.

Also with that I think I think it’s important to understand there’s a level of skill that’s also required.  No longer is it enough to tell someone you’re a life coach. If you truly want to scale, especially to a high level. I’m talking to a million dollar plus level. You must have a level of expertise. You must  have a level of skill when it comes to your actual business strategy, to the actual implementation of that business strategy in your business.

It’s something that Gary V. talks about all the time. He talks about the fact that you have to understand that one of the things that you’re doing whether it be social media or whatever it is is that you’re competing for people’s attention. Because of that, you have to be able to execute these things at a higher level. You have to be thinking about your business strategies in a whole different way than perhaps you maybe thought of even just a couple of years ago.

So that’s a really important lesson that I want to share with all of you. Not only is it important to be a great coach, in my opinion that’s a given. I think coming into this industry, growing a business, you have to be a great coach. You also have to be a competent business owner. You have to be a competent business operator if you want to build a business that’s sustainable. That’s something that quite frankly I believe is going to be required if you want to be in this game for the long term.

All right so I hope today’s  episode was insightful for you. There were so many great lessons that I learned in 2021. So many lessons that I know I’m going to be taking as I move forward in 2022 and that I know will help you as well. So let’s go my friends. 2022, let’s do this. 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.