Ep #123: Play A Bigger Game

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast with Amanda Karlstad episode number 123.

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 here today. I hope you’re doing amazing. I’m doing great. I’m super excited as always to talk to you today. Today I want to talk to you about the importance of playing a bigger game.

Part of what inspired me to bring this podcast to you today is based on some observations that I’ve had with my clients recently both in my High Level Mastermind, which is my program that helps coaches take their businesses from that six figure mark or close to that six figure mark to multiple six figures and ultimately seven figures. Also in my six month business accelerator program, which is designed for coaches who are working towards their first six figures.

One of the unique things that I think happens as I observe my clients going through this process and in these containers is that in this process, I really challenge my clients no matter where they’re at in their business to really start playing a bigger game.

Here’s what I mean by that. Typically when I start working with a client, when they come into one of my programs they typically have had some experience in working with clients. That might be working with clients on a one-on-one basis. Some of them maybe have even launched a more leveraged program. That could be a group program, a membership program, al different types of programs.

What tends to happen and typically happens very, very quickly is that through the coaching sessions, those initial coaching sessions that we do. So one of the things that I do is an initial deep dive session with every client where we lay out their strategy. Both a short and a long term strategy based on their goals and what they want to build.

What happens is that almost without exception once the pathway, once the roadmap, once the vision of what it is that they want to build and really where they’re going. Once that becomes clear and they have the steps to actually build the business structure around that which is a big part of my program, is giving my clients the roadmap, the resources, the training, the tools to actually build the structure of their business.

I find that in almost every case, what it really does is it helps activate them immediately into their next level. It happens very, very quickly. It’s one of the reasons why I think my clients are able to create such extraordinary growth in such a short amount of time.

That’s because we choose to play a bigger game. So for every one of them having the how, so having the support, the resources, the tools and coupling that with having an expanded vision of what they are creating and being coached at that level, it really creates an environment where they all play a bigger game as a result of that.

So I want to talk to you all today about this. Because I want to talk to you about the importance of playing a bigger game. I also want to give you permission to play a bigger game as well. Because the truth is that one of the things that I see happen very often in the coaching industry, and I think some ways as the industry grows and I see more and more of this happening is that it’s very easy when you’re starting out especially, when you’re in this industry to get lost in the how.

So I see a lot of coaches who spend time, so much energy and money on what I call shiny objects. So these are things that are really not moving the needle in the business versus spending the energy, the money on things, the needle movers, right, that really do build the business in a true holistic way.

So it really comes down to what I call and what I teach my clients about build a cohesive growth strategy in their business. Which the cliff notes of this is it essentially creates a solid foundation in their business that not only can they create success in the short term but also truly sets their business up for long term success and scalability. So it not only sets the stage for that immediate growth, but it also truly sets the stage for million dollar growth and beyond.

I find that this is really, really important. What I’ve found over the last several years working and mentoring and coaching so many coaches and entrepreneurs in this process is that true success and true sustainable success really only comes when you decide, and you show up and play a bigger game.

So part of what got me thinking about this recently was I was watching the Olympics with the kids. It was so fun. This was really the first time that they’ve been at an age where they can somewhat get it. So it was really fun to be able to show them some of the athletes and the sports, and it was really amazing to just watch the athletes perform. To watch every one of the athletes really compete at their highest level and really bring their A-game. To see the level of execution that’s required at that level.

So when I was thinking about this and thinking about this skill that’s required at that level and the focus and the level of confidence. Thinking about the years and the lifetime of practice, of that deliberate practice. The level of precision in both preparation and also on their field in the game of play, it really is an amazing thing.

It got me thinking about why it’s so important in business to also choose to play a bigger game. So specifically it’s why as an entrepreneur, as a coach I believe this is really, really important. The first reason I think this is so important is because of what it will require of you. It’s who we will require you to become. This is something that I’ve talked a lot about in the podcast. I’ve done a lot of teaching in this show on the importance of who you become.

So I would definitely encourage you to go back and listen to some of my past episodes on this. At the same time, I also want you to consider this for yourself. I want you to really think for a minute about what building a multiple six figure, what building a million dollar business will really require of you.

Something that I’ve learned is that it will require so much more of you than if you set your goals lower, than if you settle, than if you play a small game. Building a business to that level will require so much more evolution. It’s going to require so much more growth. It will require so much more skill both in terms of your coaching ability and also in terms of being a business owner. Quite honestly these are things that are not a requirement if you’re choosing to play a small game.

So I think one of the reasons that I see so many coaches that decide not to play a bigger game is because of the perception and the feeling of the discomfort that’s going to be required. Because the truth is that it does require a massive level of growth in so many areas both personally and professionally. It’s why I see so many who rather than really going after those big goals end up actually lowering their goals. Who don’t allow themselves to really go after what it is that they want. Who don’t develop the belief in themselves and in their vision, in their business of what is truly possible for them.

So what I’m offering to you here today is why this is so important for you. To really step up to the plate, to be in the game, to go after those extraordinary goals. It’s not just because of what’s on the other side of the finish line, right? Yes having a million dollar business, having so much more freedom, the level of impact that you’re able to make with clients and society at that level. Those are wonderful and those are all byproducts of choosing and committing to playing a bigger game.

It truthfully is who you will become on that journey, in the gain as you are playing at your highest level. As you step up to the plate time and time again, I want you to think of the products of that, the byproducts of that, the personal byproducts that are going to last a lifetime. It truly can change everything.

So reason number one on why playing a bigger game is important is who you will become in the process. The second reason I believe playing a bigger game is so important is what it will require of you in terms of your own level of emotional maturity.

Now I’ve talked a lot about the importance of emotions and emotional resilience and emotional intelligence. I have to tell you, I think this is one of the most important skills that you must develop as a business owner. Whether you’re a coach or whether you’re an entrepreneur, whatever it is that you do, whatever it is that you’re building, I think your capacity to develop your emotional intelligence and become emotionally more mature in this process. The better and the faster you get at this, the more and the faster your business will grow 100%.

I see this over and over and over again with my most successful clients. The more that they’re able to manage their emotions, the more emotionally mature they become in the process. It allows them to be so much stronger as a business owner. It allows them to develop the skills that are really required to take a business to that level. It allows them to also serve at such a higher level when they’ve developed a level of emotional maturity that’s congruent that allows them to hold the space and the energy of coaching clients and creating at such a higher level. At such a more quality level that truly allows them to make a  huge impact with their work.

So often I see this especially in that first phase when coaches are building their businesses, when they’re maybe launching their business for the first time. There’s so much emotion that comes up in the process. Feelings of self-doubt, feelings of fear, feelings of disappointment stress. Whatever that feeling is, those emotions are typically so, so strong. Especially when you’re at a place where there isn’t a lot of evidence as to why things are actually working out. In many cases where there’s way more evidence as to why things aren’t working.

What happens is that those emotions, they start to take over. Rather than purposefully managing them, rather than initially being aware of them and coaching through it and using it as an opportunity to become and build that muscle of becoming more emotionally aware and more emotionally resilient, the truth is that so many give up. They allow the emotion to be in the driver seat, and to make decisions as to what’s going to happen for the day or even the week or even the month.

So I want to offer to you the more you learn how to effectively manage your emotions, the more you become emotionally mature as a coach, as a business owner, as a human, the more you will be able to do in this world. The more you will have the capacity to make an impact. The more energy you will have to serve your clients.

Because when your energy is tied up in the I don’t knows. The I don’t know if I can do this or I don’t know, this seems to hard or all of this is too hard. I don’t know if I’m really capable, right. Whatever that self-doubt, that fear, whatever it is, it really does keep the focus on you. It keeps the focus on the self-doubt, on the fear. It perpetuates that emotion even more, and ends up depleting the ability to get on the playing field. To get in the actual game and to truly help clients.

The third reason that playing a big game is so important is because of how much you will learn through “failure”. As you go about and you work to create big things in your business and you go out to create new things and create in a much bigger way, you will be faced with challenges. You will encounter roadblocks. You will try so many things that aren’t going to work. You’re going to be faced with so many things that you didn’t anticipate.

I use the firm failure loosely here because many of you know I don’t really believe in failure. I believe it’s more on how we view failure, right? I think that we can always be learning from it. The truth is though that there will be what we term as failure, right. There will be fails that will be experienced and lots of them. There’ll be lots of things that won’t go as planned, things that won’t go as perfect as they were planned out to be. It’s very easy to get frustrated with things and to want to believe that you should be farther along than you are.

I want to offer to you if you’re feeling that way, if you’re in that place, I want to challenge that. Challenge that with really looking at what is the lesson that’s left to be learned. What is left to be learned? How can you glean all of the learnings from that failure? These are the learnings that will actually help you take things to the next level. So your ability to tolerate failure, your failure tolerance is key. It’s required if you decide to play a bigger game when you get on the field.

So one of the great things about building your failure tolerance is that failure or how we perceive something to be a failure, these are just things that will actually evolve you in a way that success, it just can’t. So I want that to really sink into you. Failure has a way of actually evolving you in a way that success can’t.

So I want to challenge you to be grateful for the failure. Be grateful that you have the opportunity to experience what it’s like to actually play at this level, to actually play a big game. Understand that it’s all part of the becoming.

Lastly when you chose and when you decide to play a bigger game, you earn the opportunity to experience a business that generates a million dollars. You have the opportunity to experience all of the things that come with building and running a million dollar business. That means the financial freedom. That means the time freedom. The level of impact.

How amazing is that? That you get to choose whether or not to experience your business and evolve at a level that creates that level of impact and results? You have to first choose to put yourself in the game. You have to first choose that it’s available to you. You have to first choose that you’re going to go after it no matter what.

So I want to give you permission today for all of you to play a bigger game. Put yourself in the arena. Go after it. It’s all available for you, I promise. 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.