Ep #40: Taking the Next Step with Kelly Hanlin McCormick

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast, episode number 40.

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. So glad to have you join me today. I am really excited for our conversation. I have a special interview for you. I am interviewing one of my clients, Kelly Hanlin McCormick.

Kelly and I started working together in December of 2019 and Kelly’s had some tremendous growth in her business over these past six months and is doing amazing work with her clients. And I am so looking forward to today’s conversation and for you all to hear more about her journey and really the growth that she has experienced in these past six months in her business.

And I think there’s a lot of really great wisdom that hopefully you can all take and apply to your own business. So, with that, let’s go ahead and start the conversation.

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Amanda: Well, welcome, Kelly. I’m so excited to have you today.

Kelly: Me too.

Amanda: So excited to have this conversation. So, I want to just start out by having you tell us a little bit about yourself. Just tell us who you are, who you help, how you help them, things like that.

Kelly: Yeah, well thank you for having me on. This is so fun, to be able to share our hilarious conversations with your people. I’m based in Kansas City and I work mainly with women who are struggling with anxiety, who are struggling with stress, maybe it’s feelings of overwhelm. But kind of in that family of they’re high-functioning, they’re busy, they’re busy, they’re successful. Most of them are working. Most of them are moms. But yeah, they just have this sense that everything looks good on paper and it doesn’t feel great and what are they missing.

Amanda: Right, so why don’t you share with us how you got into this line of work? How did you get into really coaching and what was your journey?

Kelly: Well, so over 10 years ago, I discovered Martha Beck, who is Oprah’s life coach. So, she’s kind of, you know, the boss of life coaches. She’s an OG. And it was her book Finding Your Own North Star that I can honestly tell you, I have no idea where I bought it, I have no idea why I found it.

It was one of those, truly, it’s what I needed when I needed it kind of books. And at that point in my life, I had been doing years of yoga, years of therapy, years of meditation, years of medication, and was – this was before I had kids, this was before I was married. I was working in corporate America and I just had this strong sense of missing something, that I was very successful on paper and everything looked really good.

I had the house. I had the car. I had the job. I had the money. And I just felt terrible. I was so anxious. So, that book, the way that she presented getting to know yourself, getting to understand yourself, was this brand new – it was a toolkit that I didn’t know existed at all. And it was, you know, Martha Beck, there’s a lot of practical exercises and prompts and everything throughout her books. But there’s also plenty of, like, this dance that we’re in with the universe and with the cosmos and the woo and energy.

And it was just this perfect, for me, it was the perfect blend of what I was experiencing. She was speaking directly to me and giving me a practical but also kind of magical solution. A support system maybe is a better word. It wasn’t a fix-it, but it was a support and an encouragement and a gentle push in the right direction that felt so good.

Amanda: Yes, I love that. So, how did that then bring you to where you are, I guess, today in that I know you went through a coach certification training a few years ago. What was kind of the journey then from there? Because I think this is a really good story for my listeners to hear what your journey is. Because I think a lot of them can relate to where you’ve also been, so I’d love for you to share that.

Kelly: Yeah, well like a lot of things I’ve done in my life, I found a book about it and then I thought I needed to go do that. And again, this was back in the day. I know this is kind of hard to imagine. This is before Facebook. This was before we went to the internet for everything. This was before there were yoga studios on every corner. This was really before we had access and self-help, widely available nourishing self-care world had really taken hold.

Amanda: Yes, where we actually read books, right?

Kelly: Correct, that was the approach. That was what was available. So, from there, there wasn’t even – even the coaching industry was in such infancy. I mean, Oprah had a coach. And the rest of us had a book that we got to read about, you know, from Oprah’s life coach.

But I did find a coaching certification and I went through that program. And, of course, in the process of being certified, you get coached a lot. And you practice coaching a lot. So, I think at that time, it was a six-month program and it was this deep dive. It was all over the telephone. Again, dating ourselves. This is back in 2012. It was a while ago.

But yeah, I became certified. And to me, at that point, I also become certified as a yoga teacher at about that same time. And with both avenues, with both of those pursuits, the idea behind it, the intention behind it was to deepen my own practice.

I didn’t really go into either one of them with the idea that you and I would be talking on the phone in a few years about my work as a fulltime coach and yoga and meditation teacher. That’s not what I envisioned. It was truly, I was hungry for more information and that was the next best path to getting more information and to depending your practice.

So, I got certified in both, yoga teacher training and life coach certification. And for a few years thereafter, that’s what it was. It was a deepening of my practice. I mean, I had a blog, I taught a handful of yoga classes, and I coached a handful of people. But again, it still wasn’t – I had no idea, no real designs on this becoming a fulltime gig.

Amanda: Yeah, and I think that’s so interesting because I know, for myself I can relate to that as well, when if you would have asked me  and I say this all the time to my clients, if you had asked me even five years ago, would I be sitting here today with a podcast, with a coaching business, just where I’m at today, there’s no way I could have foreseen any of this, none.

It’s so interesting and I think that’s the case for so many of my clients, where it really is just – and I think just the industry in general, we’re on this journey ourselves, we’re on this quest, this personal development journey. And it kind of unfolds as we go. And it starts with maybe that one book or hearing that one talk. You know, now it’s maybe a podcast, right?

And it just kind of, it unfolds. And that really is, there’s so much beauty in that, which I know we’ll talk about in a little bit, just in terms of, like, I want to talk about the business-building journey aspect of it. But I just love that this for you was all about, like you said, deepening your practice and just really immersing yourself in the work, which I have to say is what contributes to you being such a great coach.

And that’s one of the things I think is super-important is that, as coaches, we have to be our own best clients. We have to be in the work. We have to be living in transformation and that makes us better coaches. So, I think you’re a great example of that.

Kelly: Yes, thank you.

Amanda: You’re welcome. So, let’s then talk about – so, you were doing some yoga teaching, you were coaching, as you said, a handful of people. You had a blog. It’s almost like you were kind of just tip-toeing a little bit in this business. Is that fair to say?

Kelly: It’s like I couldn’t not. There was this gut pull forward that, I mean, I can’t even tell you, like I sat down and intentionally started seeking out clients, for yoga or for coaching. But there was just this gut pull of, like, this is what I’m doing, this is where I’m headed. And so, I think there is some – I think there’s a lot – to making this space.

So, I was still working in Corporate America. I coached five clients a week because I coached over my lunch break from my car and there are five weekdays. So, I could have a coaching client at noon every weekday from my car. And again, I live in Kansas City, so there were two months of the year where this was actually fun and comfortable….

Amanda: The other 10, not so much.

Kelly: Right, there were some very sweaty and very cold coaching sessions, for sure. But I couldn’t now. I just couldn’t not. And in retrospect, that’s really, I was definitely deepening my own practice. But there’s that sense of teaching what you’re learning, and that’s what I was doing from my car office.

Amanda: I have to tell you, I’ve told you this so many times, but I love that you did that. When you – and I will never forget – when you booked your initial consultation with me and we were – you shared with me that you did that and you also shared that you’d been doing that for seven years essentially, at that point…

Kelly: Yeah, I didn’t do that for six months.

Amanda: Right, this was, like, this was a process. This really was a journey for you. And I remember, when you told me that, the moment you shared that with me, I knew immediately in that moment that this, like you building your business – and we’ll talk about where that’s at and where you’re going and all of that – I knew 100% without a doubt that you were going to make this happen, for sure.

Because quite honestly, for all my listeners, as a coach, when I look at that, there is one thing to know the content and to know just how to coach. It’s a whole different ballgame to know how to build a business. And I talk a lot about this. That’s essentially what this podcast is about.

But what I love about that is you are willing to do that. You were convicted enough in the work to do these calls every day on your lunchbreak. It mattered that much to you. So, I knew, the moment you shared that with me, I loved it. I told you that.

I said, it’s already done. Because the commitment, to me, that is like, your commitment just to that is a demonstration of your commitment to this work, which I think is so, so important.

Kelly: You know, again, these are things – it’s easy to see in retrospect, but I had no idea what I was up to. I had no idea what would unfold from there. and again, knowing your audience and your listeners, I think there’s this temptation or this excitement around the really glamorous rags to riches, you know, $10,000 to $1 million coach success that it happens in 12, 18, 24 months.

And hey, for the right person in the right phase of their life, in the right whatever, that’s great. Nothing to take away from any of that. But to anybody who’s listening who’s been at this and who has been slowly – I mean, for those seven years, I made less than $10,000 a year coaching. I was charging peanuts. I worked with up to five clients at a time.

I didn’t make any money. It wasn’t about that. For multiple reasons, I wasn’t in a place where I was really focusing on building a business. I kind of love that I did it that way too because I do feel like I was building my skills, my commitment, my dedication. But to anybody who’s listening who’s like, “Oh god, this isn’t happening quickly enough, what’s wrong with me?” I say, no, you know, the long game is okay too, for sure.

Amanda: Absolutely. And at the end of it, even if you come out and you’re making a million dollars in, you know, a year or two, which is total unicorn stuff, and it does happen, but this is about the long game. That’s one thing that I really want to be clear about too in, like, all the work that I do.

And you can probably speak to this, Kelly. Like, you know, for me, this isn’t just about how do we get you more clients? Of course, that’s important. But this is, to me, this is sacred work that we’re doing. Whatever that means. Whether that’s working with clients, you know, with anxiety, helping them overcome those challenges, or whatever type of challenge it really is.

I firmly believe that this work that we’re doing as coaches is sacred work and because it’s sacred work, this isn’t something that we’re just tip-toeing and playing around with. For me, this is about how do we really build a business that is your essence, is also supportive of the work that you’re doing, that sacred work that you’re doing that allows you to not only be successful in the short-term, but again, like, sustainable for you.

Like, you and I just had a conversation about this, about some things in your business, juts tweaking a few things, to make this even more sustainable for you so that you can do the work that you’re doing and impact as many people as you can. So, I think having that mindset, knowing that this is, like, if you’re feeling the call to do this work and it’s the call that you just cannot, you know, look away from, you can’t ignore, it’s there for a reason.

It’s there for a reason and we need to honor that. And we also need to build a business that supports you fully stepping into doing that sacred work. Because that’s what you’re here to do.

Kelly: I completely agree. And I think the world of online businesses will weed out the people who are in it for the money, who are in it for the status, who are in it for the followers. Because it’s no sustainable, for many different reasons, it’s not sustainable.

And for me, for my life and this season of my life – and at that point, my husband was in chiropractic school. We were having babies. There were many, many reasons who me being in Corporate America and having a reliable paycheck every two weeks made sense.

And lucky me, I’m now in a place where things have shifted and I’m in a different season with my career. But yeah, the sustainability of it, I do believe you have to love the work and the clients and just almost the game of entrepreneurship enough to work from your car for seven years.

Amanda: Exactly, I love your story for that reason because, to me, it’s such a demonstration, like I said, of the commitment to the work. And it’s not that everybody has to work out of your car for seven years. That’s not what I’m saying. But that is for each of us.

For me, there was – and we won’t go into all of the details of that, but there was significant commitment for me too that I haven’t even shared all of that, for me to actually step into this myself. And a big part of that was walking away from a very successful career myself, having small children, having had just my son and kind of leading up to that, being pregnant with my second child and growing a business and managing a newborn and toddler and then also my mom at the time, which I’ve never really spoken about, was in her final days.

So, really being present for all of that and my mother-in-law, there’s just a lot to that journey that, to me, this goes well beyond, you know, yes it is – because it’s a business, we do need to make money and we do need to be able to run our business. But also, it’s about the work that we’re doing.

Kelly: 100%, and, P.S. we want to hear your story too, for all the listeners, but go ahead.

Amanda: I know, I was thinking about them like, “I really need to probably do an episode on that,” because that really was a journey. And it still is. I don’t think this journey ever ends. But that’s the point, like, you know that this goes deeper. This is a deep calling, that this really is about, you know, I always love to work with clients on what is the movement that we really want to create here? What is the long-term, really, impact?

And I feel like impact gets thrown around a lot these days in the industry. But I’m really talking about impact. Like, really talking about what is that movement, that true life-changing impact? And maybe it’s for your clients, but it’s also the ripple-effect of that, right? It’s the ripple-effect of, you know, when you think of your clients and all of the great work that you’re doing, I mean, think about the impact that that’s having in their family’s lives, them showing up as moms and their children. It’s really amazing to think about.

Kelly: Agreed.

Amanda: Great, so let’s kind of fast forward a little bit. So, talk to me about, what was the point that you decided, okay, I need to get some help? I’m ready to go all in here. I’m ready to really build this. What was the turning point for you? Talk to me a little bit about that.

Kelly: So, like I said, there was, lucky for me, there as this shift – I say lucky but also, it’s something me and my husband very consciously and intentionally created for ourselves. There was a shift in our lives that made it so that I could focus on building a business and I could take, you know, some time where we could take that pay cut and I could shift my attention.

And I think for so many people who are working fulltime, this is one of the big questions is where do I quit and basically I’m jumping off this ledge that doesn’t have the benefits, a paycheck every other week, and I mean, there’s a million ways to traverse that gap. But for us, it became apparent how we could do that.

And I’m not going to say that that was comfortable. I mean, it’s not like we were eating out, going on vacations, buying new clothes. It was a super-tight year, year and a half, maybe. And I had asked myself this question numerous times. And I truly believe in talking with entrepreneurs in other industries, you know, architecture, chiropractic, I truly believe that people who have that pull toward entrepreneurship are always looking for the, “When can I do this? When can I make this happen? I know it’s not going to be comfortable or easy, but it’s a matter of when not if.”

So, for me, I’d been asking this question for a while, that it was like, but if not now, when? There is never going to be a day when this is easy or obvious or comfortable. Nobody’s going to hand me a business and be like, “There you go. You can just step into this role and it will be all fine from here.”

And I think, you know, sometimes we’re quick to try and get out of feelings like frustration or boredom or that, like Groundhog Day experience of being in a job. For me, it was being in Corporate America and hating it.

I also think it can be the most beautiful catalyst and springboard for where you need to go. Because I was looking at – so my kids are now eight and almost 11. And if not now, it was like, really the next best chance is in a decade when they have gone to college.

And I’m pretty sure then we’ll be like, “Oh gosh, now we’ve got to pay for college.” And so, it will be like, later than that. And you start fast forwarding down the path of your life and you’re like, then I’m however old, at whatever station of my life. And then I think it’s going to be a good idea to start a business?

So, there just kind of was this personal rock bottom with my daily routine that I had so many things in place that I loved. My family is great. My home is great. I have a really dedicated yoga practice that’s super-important to me. The same with meditation. Things like food and sleep, all of that was on lock.

I quit drinking. There were so many things about my life that I really had sorted, that it became, why do I have this gaping hole as my livelihood that’s the time – and think of the energy of the way that you make your money. What you put out into the world, what you’re contributing, what you’re offering, and then what you’re asking for in return; your salary, your benefits, whatever.

I just was like, this is not in line with everything else. And backpedaled – I had to ask myself the same question around drinking at some point, that I was like, “Kelly, do you think it’s weird that you wake up and do a yoga practice hungover? That doesn’t seem totally aligned with who you are.” Like, is it time to ask this question of alcohol?

So, okay, and like I said, I kind of stripped back all of the, quote unquote vices in my life, where I cleaned things up pretty well. Until it became, “Hey, you have this amazing life and you hate going to work. You hate the way, you resent the way, you begrudge the way you make your money. So, how aligned are we here? Is this what we want to do?

And to be totally honest, anybody who’s listening who’s like, “I don’t know I’m right on the edge of this,” I reached out to you. I would say not on a total whim, I think there was this subconscious hope that you and I would click and that it would feel like a solid yes for both of us. But also, to be honest, I think that I had this space where I was like, “We’ll see.”

Because I can remember – I don’t know if you remember – I believe I paid at the 11^th hour for our first session. I had a whole – I wish I had taken a screenshot. I had about $27 in my bank account, which is why it took me until the 11^th hour to pay for the first session. And I emailed you over the weekend. I was like “I’m coming.”

Amanda: I remember you doing that, yep. Because I didn’t hear from you for a couple of days. And I knew, I thought, “Well I know she’s working on some stuff. So, yeah.

Kelly: This is a very personal and unique journey for each of us. And I say this too with anxiety and stress and the things I work on with my clients is that the details of it look different for all of us. The conversations we need to have with our families, the timing, the finances, I get all of that. The details look different.

But I do believe that the kernel of it, the root of the belief and the decision-making is pretty much the same for most all of us. And it does come to this point of, like if not now, when? If I knew this was going to work, if I knew my investment with this coaching with Amanda would more than pay off, 10-time spay off, would I do it? I mean, that’s an easy yes. But it’s like, can you believe that? Because that’s not the easiest yes. We have to get there.

Amanda: That’s the biggest hurdle in the beginning, right? And I experienced that too. And it wasn’t until, same thing, when it really got uncomfortable and it didn’t maybe even make sense. But it wasn’t until that point that it was like – what I love about that and what I think is important about that is it’s kind of like the burning the boats kind of thing. Like, we’re going, it’s on, I am all in. So, there is something to that.

So, you and I started working together in December of 2019 and as we’re recording this, it’s now July 2020. So, we’ve been working together for roughly 7 months. So, talk to us a little bit about where you were when we first started, and then I’d love for you to share where your business is today.

Kelly: So, 2018, I don’t even know honestly what I did. But I’m going to guess it was somewhere between $10,000 and $12,000 coaching-wise. It wasn’t much. I think I spent those first few months of being a, quote unquote fulltime entrepreneur and coach flailing around and jumping from idea to idea with this really frantic energy of, “I have to figure this out, I have to do this right, I have to do this quickly, go, go, go.”

And 2019, I did okay. But we started working together, like you said, it was early December. And the first few sessions with any coach is like, “Okay, where are we going? What are your goals? What does your business model look like?” We were kind of laying all the foundation and the groundwork for everything.

And then, we’ve got to figure out, here’s where we are. Because we can’t build a roadmap until we know where we’re starting from and what the destination is desired to be. So, this is the most fun heads up and also do it working with you.

Amanda: I know where you’re going and I love it.

Kelly: So, we kind of figured out, okay, we know where we want to head. And by now – and keep in mind, this is December, this is Christmas, this is the holidays. This is pre-COVID, so everybody’s getting together. We’re doing all the things.

And Amanda says to me, “Do you know what I think would be really good? I think we really need to capitalize on and grab the energy of?” And I was like, “What? Tell me.” And you were like, “January 1^st.”

Okay, so I think we had this conversation on December 28^th or 29^th, right? And I was like, “Okay, so do you think we should launch this in a handful of hours?” And you were like, “Yes.”

So, folks, on New Year’s Eve 2019, I transformed my dining room into a studio and recorded seven introductory videos and a welcome video for my new membership program on New Year’s Eve. I had to write the content. It was created, it was just not…

Amanda: You already had it, that’s why I said yes, we’re doing this, because it was all there, Kelly.

Kelly: It was all there. It just wasn’t in a teleprompter and ready to go. So, I recorded videos and we launched January one, literally hour after we had the idea that we should launch.

Amanda: I like to move quick.

Kelly: And what has happened since then, because we didn’t – we easily could have, “You know what, let’s just talk about this, let’s just think about this, let’s just plan.” We could still be strategizing. And it would probably be pretty damn good. But it’s like, we would just be still strategizing. We’d be talking about the work instead of doing the work.”

So, what you helped me do in that hilarious conversation was do the work. We weren’t talking about it anymore. You’re like, “Okay, get going.” We launched and so far in 2020 – well last month, a month ago, so the first five months of 2020, I made as much as I did in 2019. So, we are well on track to double what I made in 2019 this year, during a pandemic, during quarantine, while I have been coteaching and, you know, entertaining and cruise-directing my family.

Amanda: Yeah, and it’s your first six-figure year. You’ll be over. Correct.

Kelly: Yes.

Amanda: Amazing. In a matter of five months.

Kelly: That is the power of having somebody know you, somebody see you, somebody support you, but also somebody challenge you in ways that you kind of – because again, I think entrepreneurs who are really hungry for this and get this and want this are people who are going to challenge themselves and put themselves out there anyway. We just know that’s part of the game.

But to have somebody say, “I don’t think we have a month. I think we have three days, what can you do? Go.” That kind of energy, and just also the love and the witnessing and the, “You’ve got this, go do this, I’m here, please let me know how it goes.” And then we’re going to keep tweaking, we’re going to keep going, we’re going to keep doing.” So good. So good.

Amanda: I love that. I love that so much and I love that you were just willing to go there.

Kelly: I’m not going to lie. I cursed Amanda a lot.

Amanda: Yeah, you told me this, I know. And I know you were. But to your point though, had we not really harnessed that – and this is where this stuff doesn’t have to take years. In Kelly’s case, seven years leading up, okay fine. But there was a lot of – that needed to happen. That was the journey you needed to have.

But for so – and some of you might have already been on the journey for a while, but for many of you that are, you know, starting out and you’re ready, like, we don’t have to – this does not have to take years. It doesn’t.

Yes, we’re playing a long game, but this is the power of having a strategy. But also, it’s the mental game. It’s the belief. It’s putting yourself on the court. So, what I’d love to talk about now is, if you could just share with the listeners a little bit about your business model and what that looks like.

Kelly: Yeah, this is a good question because it doesn’t look like what I thought it was going to look like. And I think, you know, paying attention to – there are a million ways that we could all do this. And there really isn’t, I don’t think, a right or wrong way, but there is a way that feels like – you’ll have that energy behind it that it’s just like, “Oh yeah, this is exactly how I want to work with my people. This is exactly how I want to spend my time. But it’s also how I want to do my offerings.”

And it’s like, the best click for what you’re offering and who your people are and how your people like to receive what you’re offering. So, I work with a handful of people one on one and always have had one on one clients and I predict we’ll keep that for a little while as part of my business model.

I think it’s important for – again, I work with people who are highly anxious, who are stressed, who are feeling overwhelmed. And I think for a lot of people, I think it’s very wonderful to be held and seen and witnessed one on one. So, I think that’s a powerful way for my people to be supported for sure.

But something else that’s really nice, and this is – so that’s half of my business model. And then the other side of it is I have a group membership. It’s a monthly virtual coaching program where we do – there’s a different topic each month and we do a deep dive into a specific area together reach month and there’s videos and worksheets and all that good stuff.

But that membership is also where we’re really tying in the holistic elements of creating an entire life that people want to live into and become their highest best versions of themselves. So, of course we talk coaching, coaching is the newest thing for most people. But that’s where we bring in all of the other elements, things like nutrition and relationships and sleep and movement. We do a lot of meditation. There’s yoga. You know.

Amanda: Yes, I love it. And I think what you said was really, really important, and you and I have talked about this. You know, I think sometimes we think that there has to be just this kind of linear path that we take when we’re building a business. At least that’s what we kind of search out for.

Naturally, our brains are looking for that certainty. That’s what we do. And the beauty of this, of being able to build a virtual business like this is that you can have so many different combinations and you can offer so many different types of things to your audience based on who your people are. And I think that’ sone of the most important things for all of you listening. And I talk about this a lot, is you have to be in alignment to what not only works for the people that you’re coaching, for the clients that you’re trying to reach and the clients that you’re helping. But it’s also what is in alignment with you.

And I think you’ve found a really great balance with that. And I know recently you’ve embarked on kind of bringing in some different tools – I shouldn’t say some different, I should just say some additional tools, into your membership, which I know is really the long-term game with that is to make that, like you said, more of a holistic approach.

And it’s almost, it’s really fun to watch because I see this, where it’s becoming more and more you as things continue to build, which is to me, when I see the most successful people in the industry, that is absolutely what is happening, is it’s being in full alignment with who you are.

And I just want to highlight that because I think that’s a really important piece to all of this, that sometimes I think is easy to be overlooked. So, I think you’re a great, great testament to that.

Kelly: And too, it was one of those things, like, I looked around and it’s like, create what you want. Create how you want to learn, how you want to interact, how you want to be coached. And what I love about one on one is, of course, that gives people their own container and their own space to be working on what they want to work on.

But what’s beautiful about the membership for my people is that most of us who feel really anxious, really high-strung, who are kind of neurotically wired, we’re pretty sure we’re the worst and the weirdest. And it’s been this really beautiful community for people to come together and see that this is actually not that weird. It’s not that – people aren’t alone in this, do you know what I mean? And that’s been fantastic. So, having both of those options for people has been cool.

Amanda: Yes, I think it’s brilliant. I just, again, I want to go back to when we were talking earlier, your willingness to really step into that. I know you had literally a matter of hours to kind of run with it. But in hindsight, I just think that that was so important, to kind of get you over that hump and to just put yourself in the game with it, quite honestly. Because I could see very clearly that it was all there. And it was just, it was a matter of just stepping into it. And so, I love that you did that.

So, tell me, Kelly, what would you say to someone that maybe has been trying to build their business for a while? Maybe not seven years. Or maybe it has been. You know, they’ve been in this game for a while, they’ve kind of played around a little bit with things here and there. They’re trying to kind of figure things out. What advice would you give to them?

Kelly: Again, speaking form my own journey, my own path, I truly believe there is this intersection between the desire to truly be all in, fully living the life of entrepreneur, of fulltime coach, of being a business owner and of doing that work, plus the timing of your life. And honestly, I just see a lot of – I sense some pressure out there that it’s like, “Well if you have a certification, why aren’t you doing this already? Go.”

And I also hear about brand, brand, brand new coaches who are trying to take this from zero to 60 overnight that, again, there will be people who that will be there path, that will feel absolutely right, that will be the momentum and the timing and everything for them for sure. I just truly believe in talking with dozens, probably hundreds of coaches over the years, that there’s  a lot more people who have a story or could have a story similar to mine who maybe don’t allow themselves that story and that path and that trajectory at that time because they look at the one year to seven figures or, you know, or one year to 10,000 email subscribers or something like that and they think, “I didn’t do that so I guess I’m not cut out for this.”

Amanda: Yeah, I think that’s really important because what I see happen a lot – and I agree, I think there’s a lot of – I will say this. Part of what – and you and I have talked at length about this and have down work on this too – I do believe that we can really truly accelerate things super-quick when we want to. And it’s a matter of decision. And you’re a great example of that.

At the same time, what I see happen is we tend to, if we’re not at where we believe we should be, if we think we should be farther along, if we’re in the comparison game, if we’re looking at others and we’re comparing those timelines and they are not quite matching up, we tend to start using that against ourselves and it becomes this spiral.

And it’s really this judgment spiral that I see that is anything but, you know, it completely takes us off the path of where we need to be. So, I think that that’s important, to allow yourself, if you’re feeling like it is taking a little bit longer than it should or that you want it, there’s a few things to look at, right? Like, how are you creating that? Do you want to create that?

And if not, get some help. Go to work and get some help. start stepping into it. But also, at the same time, if it isn’t fully aligned for you, like you, you know, you were – I know your kids were a little bit smaller, you had some other things, just life things that you were navigating, it’s not always the best time to be all in, quite honestly.

But I think when you are at that point, like you were when you and I had met when it was finally like, you were asking the question, “If not now, when?” which I think is such an important question, then I think it’s important to be all in and to your ability to really step into that and focus and just believe in what you’re doing. It will happen. It’s just a matter of time, right?

Kelly: Yes, absolutely. And I guess that’s maybe the, for me, one of the – I see so many great coaches who kind of take themselves out of the game where it’s like, let your timing be your timing. And when the timing feels great and right and you know – because we all kind of know, whether we’re purposefully playing small, keeping ourselves out of it, or whether the timing just truly isn’t right, whether it’s like I didn’t want to build a business and have a newborn. I just didn’t. I wanted to have a newborn. And then, when my kids got a little bit older, I was like, no I really want to have a business. I want to have this baby.

Amanda: Right, which it’s very much very similar…

Kelly: Totally. But it was like, then when you get to that point, go all in. You know, I didn’t kind of have a little newborn baby, like my real son. Like, you go all in there. And then when it got time to do my business and to really get serious about going all in and scaling my business, I went all in. I didn’t stick my toes in. I didn’t question it. I was like, “We’re ready. Let’s do this.”

Amanda: Yeah, and I think that’s just such a powerful statement to the universe to when you do that. And when you do that, it really does – things really do start to line up. But it’s having the trust and developing that belief to be able to do that.

So, this has been a great conversation. I so enjoyed having you on the show. Where can people, if they want to find out more about you, where can they find you?

Kelly: Yes, well first of all, thank you so much. It’s fun to just chat with you and to get to kind of hang out and have this friendly conversation. And it’s been such a fun and amazing and – I mean, it’s such an exciting journey to be all in on yourself and to have somebody like you to support and to encourage and to push when I need to be pushed and to – I mean, I have come back to you sometimes and been like, “It’s too much, I need to slow down.” And to really be able to brainstorm with somebody and say, “Okay, how can we make this more sustainable? How can we make this feel better?”

Anyway, all to say, this has been a pleasure. This has been such a treat for me and I hope that it’s been helpful for your listeners as well. If anybody out there is feeling anxious, I would love to chat with you. You can find me. I’m over at kellyhanlinmccormick.com. I also have a podcast. It’s called The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. And yeah, the membership is called the Fierce Calm Project and that is what we’re doing over there, crating fierce calm. So, you can find out more about that on my website.

Amanda: Awesome, and we’ll have all of the links in the show notes too for everyone so you can check her out. She is doing some amazing work and Kelly I just have to say, it is such an honor to work with you and it has been so much fun to support you on this journey and the journey that is ahead of us, to see over this next year and what you’re going to do.

You’re doing amazing work, and so I definitely recommend that you all check out Kelly and what she is doing. Like I said, we’ll have links in the show notes and this won’t be the last time you’ll be on, I’m sure. We’re going to have you on again once you hit your first million.

Alright, well you take care and we will talk to you all again very soon.

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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.