Ep #186: The Power of Seeing Obstacles as Opportunities

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast with Amanda Karlstad episode number 186.

Welcome to The Life Coach Business Podcast, a show for coaches who are ready to up-level their business and take their impact, leadership, and results to a whole new level. If you’re ready to start taking powerful action and become the leader your business needs in order to grow and thrive, this show is for you. I’m your host, Amanda Karlstad, certified life and business coach, and entrepreneurial leadership expert. Now, let’s get down to business.

Hello and welcome everyone. Welcome to today’s show. I hope you’re doing amazing and well. I am so good. I’m really excited for today’s episode and to share with you something that I think is really going to change the game for you no matter where you’re at in your journey. So I’m super excited to have this conversation with you today. Before we dive in, I thought I’d give you a bit of an update as to what I’m working on, as to what’s happening behind the scenes here in my business and some exciting things that we have coming up.

I feel like so often there are so many things that are happening behind the scenes, that are happening whether it’s inside one of my mastermind programs or whether it’s inside of the business that it’s hard sometimes to give you an update on all of the things. I think it’s important that I do give you a bit of an update and fill you in on all of the exciting things that are happening.

As I mentioned right now, it’s just a busy season. We have a lot happening inside of my mastermind programs that I am beyond excited about. Right now we are putting the final touches on our upcoming retreat for my High Level Mastermind. For those of you that might be new, I know we have a lot of new listeners. So first of all, welcome.

To clarify, my High Level Mastermind program is my high level container for coaches who are scaling to a million and beyond. So the work that we do in this container is designed, is created, is all focused on helping our clients get to that seven figure mark, getting to that million dollar mark and beyond. So it is a higher level container for coaches who have already reached that six figure mark or are already at multiple six figures. We even have clients in there that are at the seven figure mark who are now going beyond really scaling to five million.

So wherever they’re at in that process, our work is designed to take them from wherever they are to their next goal in the most accelerated way. So we have so much fun in that container. The level of coaching and mentoring and advising and really support that happens, I believe, is really top in the industry. We have clients that are creating extraordinary growth in the container because of that.

So as part of that container, we do three retreats per year that are highly transformational retreats. We are just a couple of weeks out from our spring retreat, and it’s going to be amazing. I am so, so excited to deliver the content for what I know will be life and business breakthroughs for my clients. 

So if you are a coach at that six, multiple-six, or you’re trending in that direction, I do want to highly encourage you to apply to work with us in this program because it will help you go to the next level, and we do do this in the most accelerated way with not only the highest level of coaching but also the highest level of business strategy in the industry. 

So this community of coaches are really doing amazing things. They are blowing my mind. They are blowing their own minds every single day. So for those of you that are at that level, I want to really encourage you to apply. 

For those of you that might not quite be at that level yet that are really working to get to that six figure mark, maybe you’re working with clients on a one on one basis, and you have big goals, and you know that you’re destined to do big things. 

Then I also want to remind you that my mastermind program, which is my business accelerator program that’s designed to help coaches grow to their first six figures, again in the most accelerated way, is a really, really special container. It’s one that is filled, I have to tell you, with just amazing ambitious and supportive coaches. We are just so excited for all of the success that is being created in this container.

In fact, one of our clients, we were just recently looking at her numbers, and it was just so amazing because without really even realizing it until we sat down and looked at it, she is actually on track this year to do multiple six figures just by following our process and keeping things really simple and being in this container.

I just want all of you to know who are listening right now what is really possible for you. I want you to know that these containers, I am continually working to refine our process so that our clients can create extraordinary results. When we do talk about results, my goal for all of our clients is to help them achieve their goals, whatever that looks like for them. 

So, again, if you’re a coach and you’re looking to grow to that six figure mark in the most accelerated way, I really want to encourage you to apply to be a part of this container. It’s a really amazing and extraordinary container that I think you’re really going to love that will help you go to the next level.

So there is so much happening, my friends. There is so much success, so many results that are being created in these containers. It’s interesting because personally, I am also in a season of expansion and growth in so many ways. Not only with the business but also personally. What I am focused on personally as I move into this next phase of my own journey is there’s just so much to talk about. There’s so much happening on that front, but it’s part of why I love this process so much. It’s part of why I love growing and scaling a business. It’s also why I’ve become so good at it. 

It’s because it’s really the journey of who you get to become that I really do believe is such a privilege, one that if you think about it has not been accessible for so many generations before us. So I personally have a very deep reverence for the ability and for the opportunity to be in a position where I have grown a million dollar business. Now I get to do that each and every day for my clients. So it’s just a very special thing that I have so much gratitude for.

So the first thing that I want to offer to you today is that if you’re in a place where things might feel a bit difficult. If you’re in a season where you’re not where you want to be, you have the opportunity today and let this podcast really be a catalyst for you to make a real decision to change that. 

Because I have to tell you, there have been so many times in my own journey things didn’t go as planned, where something that I thought would work didn’t, where I’ve run up against roadblocks and challenges. To be where I’m at today, I have to tell you, I am so incredibly grateful for those experiences. I am so grateful for what that really created within me, for who I got to become in the pursuit of my goals. I am so grateful for the growth that I got to experience during those challenging times and still get to experience because there are still challenging times.

So when I look back, all of that has served me so much. I want to encourage you that wherever you are today to not give up. To see that whatever is challenging you right now as a real opportunity, as a real opportunity for yourself to become that next version of yourself, to grow and expand and become more resilient in the face of whatever challenges you might be experiencing. 

Because there is something very special that I have learned. There is something about being able to do hard things and becoming someone who does hard things that will serve you so well in this entrepreneurial journey.

So that’s really the first thing that I want to offer to all of you today is to firstly lean into whatever challenges that you’re facing. Lean into the person you get to become on the other side of that challenge. Because so often we get so attached to the results. We get so focused on the result that we lose sight of the growth. We lose sight of all of the progress that we’re making on the journey to that result.

I want to tell you, this is something that I see happen a lot. I see it happen with clients. I see it happen just in general in this industry where so often when we are in a season of growth in our businesses, when you are in the process of taking your business to maybe that first six figures or you’re scaling to multiple six and seven figures and beyond. 

One of the things that happens so often that I remind my clients of as they are in that process is also the importance of acknowledging the growth and the progress of where they’re at. Because so often, we get so focused on just that revenue number or we get so focused on trying to control all the different parts of the process that oftentimes we’ve missed the fact that we’ve created, for instance, an entirely brand new program, a program that is a real asset to the business, a program that will likely help create literally millions of dollars in revenue over the course of business, over the course of time.

Or the fact that we launched a group program for the first time and we grew from offering one on one coaching to offering groups. All of the intricacies, all of the nuances of that, and quite frankly who we needed to become in that process of transitioning from one on one to groups. All of those personal limiting beliefs that we had to look at. 

I can’t tell you no matter how successful you are in business whether you are making seven figures or you are creating your first $10,000 in your business, the journey and process of growing your business will show you all of your old belief systems that you’ve been holding onto. It will show you all of the stories, all of the narratives that you have about yourself. It will show you what you believe about others, about your values, about what’s important to you.

Many times, my friends, it is not serving you. It is not easy to look at these things. It is not easy to look at the conditioning and, in so many cases, the societal conditioning that we carry in so many different ways. It’s not easy to look at our thoughts about others. Sometimes even our thoughts about clients.

So often our thoughts about ourselves, this process of growing and scaling a business, in my opinion, is the deepest and richest personal development journey and I believe spiritual journeys that I believe you can go on just by nature of what it is and what it requires of you.

So I want to encourage all of you that no matter where you’re at, no matter what you might be experiencing right now in your business, in your growth journey, I want to challenge you to consider just how it is actually serving you, how it is actually for you, how it is helping you get to whatever that next level is for you because here is something that I’ve learned.

The bigger and more success that you want to create in your business the deeper and more reverent I believe you need to become for the journey in terms of how you’re cultivating and growing, for instance, your own self-leadership. In terms of the level of ownership that you are choosing to take, in terms of the level of responsibility that you chose to take for your business growth and for the results that you create. 

Because your business growth, that revenue number, is directly correlated with your level of growth as an entrepreneur, as a coach. It will be a reflection to the degree that you take full ownership, to the degree that you demonstrate true self-leadership, to the degree that you take full responsibility for your results and for your beliefs and for your emotional states, for your actions. 

This isn’t just about doing the things. It’s also about being the thing. So as you look at your next level, whatever that might be, I want to offer you to consider these questions. Number one, what does your business need from you right now in order to grow to the next level? Number two, where do you need to demonstrate deeper levels of self-leadership or ownership or responsibility as a business owner? 

Number there, what does a business owner or CEO at your next level do? How do they behave? What are they thinking about? Number four, what are they no longer doing? So think about what it might be that you’re doing today that somebody who’s at the level that you want to be at, what are they no longer doing? Number five, what choices have they made in terms of where they spend their time, their energy, and their resources?

I want to encourage you to get really clear about these questions and consider this on a deeper level than perhaps you’ve considered before because here is what I know. Business, as I talk about all of the time, is cause and effect, which means there is a cause, and that cause produces the effect, and you are the cause. So if you don’t have the results that you want right now, you also, in this moment, have the ability to change that today by shifting into who you need to become to create those results tomorrow today. 

Because the results, the revenue, the clients, all of those are byproducts of the work that you are doing right now, that you are doing today. You are creating your future results today. So please, do not discount the importance of today. Do not discount the importance of the work that you are currently doing. Do not discount where you are in this moment. You are here for a reason, and that reason is here telling you what your next steps are, but you also have to see it. You have to take the time to truly consider the questions that I gave you and stop looking for that next shiny object.

I have to tell you, those things are easy. Finding the next social media reel strategy, those things are easy. I’m challenging you to be willing to take a look at who you’re being and who you need to be in order to create the result that you want. That, my friends, is the real work.

So consider the questions, be willing to do the hard things, and do not give up. Your success is inevitable when you do the real work. So don’t be confused. Instead, decide to lean in. Decide to get support where you need support. This is part of doing the real work. All right my friends, 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.