Ep #168: Relentless Forward Progress: A Client Case Study with Patrick McGilvray

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast with Amanda Karlstad episode number 168.

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 hope you are doing amazing. I have a very special show to you today. I hope you’ve had an amazing holiday. I am bringing you a client case study today. For one of my High Level Mastermind clients. His name is Patrick McGilvray. I think you’re gonna get a ton of value from today’s conversation. Patrick joined my High Level Mastermind at the end of last year and has had truly amazing growth over the last several months.

So just for those of you who may be new to my work. My High Level Mastermind is for coaches who are already at or who are trending towards six figures or more in their businesses. The focus of this mastermind is to scale, is to help my clients go from wherever it is that they’re at, whether that’s $100k, $150k, $200k, $500k, $750k. We’ve had clients enter in at all different levels and really lay the foundation and do the work that’s required to scale their businesses to that million dollar level and beyond.

So that is the work that we do, that is the focus of the work that we do in this mastermind. So it is very high level strategy. It’s also very high level inner work. The inner work of truly transforming from a six figure coach into a seven figure coach. So I share that because the work that we do in this container is, I would say, intense. It’s a very high level. It’s a very high level of support that is delivered in this program.

We have, of course, not only the mastermind, which has the most amazing clients and members in it, but we also have very high level one on one coaching with myself. We have quarterly retreats that are extremely transformational in and of themselves. It’s just overall a highly, highly transformational container. In fact, one of my clients calls it the manifestation portal.

It’s really where we go deep. It allows me to really go deep into each of my clients businesses, both from a strategy perspective, and also really help shift them from that identity of a six figure coach into a seven figure coach. So it’s really operating from that identity level. So a very highly supportive container, a highly supportive community. It’s really what I believe is the highest level of coaching and teaching and mentorship and advisory in the industry.

I am just so proud of the work that we do in this program. I am so proud of this program. I’m so proud of what my clients create as a result of being in this container. Patrick is a great example of that. so I wanted to bring him on the podcast to talk about his successes and to also show you all what’s possible.

we covered so much in this interview, but one of the things that I want to give you some context on is that we made some big changes to Patrick’s business over the past year. these were changes that I will tell you we’re not easy. one of the biggest changes was moving Patrick’s program from a monthly membership model to a higher level group coaching program. so when Patrick and I started working together, he was really operating mostly from a membership model. so this shift was huge. it was huge on so many levels. you’ll hear why as we get into that in the interview in more detail.

But through that process now being several months into that change, I have to tell you, there’s been such a positive ripple effect in Patrick’s business. Not only from of course, a revenue perspective, which in looking at his revenue since making that change, not only has he increased his revenue considerably and over the course of the next few months will essentially allow him without doing anything different to double his business.

this is just by continuing on what he is doing and not making a whole lot of other changes. But in addition to what this has done from – What I want you all to understand as well is the positive change that this has created for his clients. you’ll hear him talk more about that on the interview how their results are getting even better because of this change.

so one of the reasons I wanted to highlight Patrick and bring you his case study today, especially for those of you who are already at that six figure level or beyond. This is a really great case study for you that demonstrates the power of how important it is that your business model, number one, is aligned with the results that you want to create for your clients and how even when you have reached a level of success in your business, how important it is to be coached and to be in an environment that facilitates you in taking things to the next level and really supports you in becoming that next level version of you as a business owner and as an entrepreneur.

I have to tell you sometimes at this level, in cases like Patrick’s, steady growth. So what we’re going to talk about here is just like in Patrick’s case, is the work of really setting the stage for seven figures. So sometimes 30% growth, just like in Patrick’s case, is exactly what is needed, and is what’s most healthy for the business in order to set the stage to go to seven figures. So this was all very, very intentional work.

So I know you’re going to get a ton of value from this interview. I want to encourage you if you’re a coach who is at the six figure level or beyond, and you’re looking to go to the next level, I do want to encourage you to apply to my High Level Mastermind program. This is an opportunity for you to take your business from wherever you currently are at to that multiple six, seven figure level, and beyond.

for those of you that qualify, I did a podcast about this a few weeks ago. But I am also guaranteeing a minimum of $100,000 in new revenue for those of you that meet specific criteria for this. so this is something that I will talk to you personally about when you submit your application and when you set up your initial call to discuss the program and your business in more detail, and we’ll see if it’s a fit. All right. I know you’re gonna love today’s interview with Patrick. Let’s dive in.

Amanda: All right, I have a very special guest on today’s show. I am super excited to welcome Patrick McGilvray on to the show today. Patrick, welcome to The Life Coach Business Podcast.

Patrick: Thanks, Amanda. I am super stoked to be here today. we’re gonna have a fun conversation.

Amanda: It’s gonna be so fun. So fun. All right. So just to give everybody a little bit of background. So Patrick and I have been working together for about the last year. I think when we started working together, it was December of last year, of 2021. I’m going to have Patrick talk a little bit about where his business was and where he was at the time and where he is today. But before we dive into all of that Patrick, let’s just do a quick introduction about you and the work that you do. Let’s start there.

Pat Okay, cool. Thanks, Amanda. My name is Patrick McGilvray. I am the weight loss coach for runners. I say it that way because I don’t know that anybody else is really doing this thing. There’s not really other people who are specifically helping runners lose weight.

Here’s the thing. I have been a runner for many years. Running has been a passion of mine. I was struggling with gaining weight while I was running in training for marathons and ultra-marathons. I’ve done many marathons, many ultra-marathons, which would be a distance that’s over a marathon. So the 50k, 50 mile, 100 mile races.

I remember several years back where I was training for a 50 miler and then 100 miler, and during that process, I was running a lot right and gaining weight in the process. So I kept gaining weight and could not figure out what I was doing wrong. then of course, in the offseason when I stopped running, and I finished my racing season. It’s usually around the winter, the cold winter months, and the holidays when I would gain 10/12 pounds and not be able to lose it again. that just happened year after year until I found myself 40 or so pounds overweight and had to figure out what I was going to do about that.

So I figured it out. I got a plan together. I teach other people how to do this now. I work almost exclusively with other runners who we’re a little bit older, probably over 40 most of us. Running just isn’t the answer. Running more isn’t the answer to being healthy and losing weight. It might work for a period of time, but we find that as we get a little bit older, it stops working.

really, we need to change other things in our in our life. we need to focus on nutrition as a big driver of our health and our fitness and our weight. We need to look at strength training. We need to look at, of course, building endurance and cardio and running. That’s a big part of it too. But then mindset is a big piece of what I teach and what I coach on and what I talk about. So all those things are important.

I put together this coaching program that helps runners to become their healthiest self, to become their most badass self, to help them to accomplish all those things that they want for themselves. we do it in a way that supports their weight loss and their running goals. Like I said at the beginning here, I don’t really know if anybody else that’s doing this this way. So.

Amanda: Yeah, it’s such a great niche. so for everybody listening, I think, Patrick, you’re a great example of the power of when you do really niche down, right? When you get very specific with who your ideal client is, what you’re helping them to achieve. I mean you just gave us such a great window into the work that you do. I just think you’re such a great example of the power of really getting specific with your work and with who it is that you work with and what you help them achieve.

so I would love for you to just share with us, Patrick. You alluded to it a little bit, but what is that process that you really take your clients through? I know that because we’re dealing with the running and some of these physical things as well that it is going to vary a lot. There’s a lot of variance with all of your clients, but what is kind of just the general process that you take your clients through?

Patrick: Yeah, I’m gonna get into that in just one second. I gotta go back to the niche thing because you talked about this niche that I have. I’ve got a funny story about that because I was on some forum a few years back, and I was kind of toying around with this idea of being the weight loss coach for runners. I’m like oh, my god is this too niched down? Is this too specific?

I was on this forum, and somebody was asking a question about their niche. they were like so I don’t know if this is too niched down. They said, “I’m a life coach for strippers. Because they need help to apparently.” I thought it was the funniest thing, but also I was like okay I’m good. Like that’s very niched down. Okay.

Amanda: Yeah, exactly. That’s very specific.

Patrick: Helping a specific audience with a very specific problem. I was like that is great. So that gave me some confidence. I just felt like okay what I’m doing is I’m right on track. I’m right on track with that. So the process yeah. So a big part of what I teach, I don’t want to get into the weeds too much with this, but a big part of what I teach is something called fat adaptation. Which just means like we as human beings, we’re really good at storing body fat okay. We’re good at storing body fat.

The purpose of doing that though is that we can use that stored body fat as fuel later. So we eat some foods and some of that energy gets expended in exercise, some of that energy gets stored as body fat. then we are supposed to be able to tap into that stored body fat later. we’ve gotten away from that. We’re eating the diet, the way our sedentary lifestyle is causing us to just keep storing and storing and storing body fat. it’s kind of like you just keep adding more wood to the woodpile. You’re never actually using the wood as fuel.

So what I teach people to do really is to start using the wood that they have as fuel and start burning that fuel. Because it’s a great fuel for running. It’s a great fuel for cardio exercise, for endurance athletes. We want to be burning fat. It’ll improve your endurance like crazy if you can get really efficient at burning fat. So it helps runners in that way. But also when you’re burning fat, you’re losing weight. So you lose the extra fat weigh, and we gain muscle weight.

so really the process is turning your body into an efficient fat burning machine the way that our bodies are designed to work. I think over the last, gosh, 40 years or so 40 or 50 years, we’ve been focusing on this diet that is not working. It’s not working. This diet that’s like high in sugar and grains and processed foods is really making us, as a nation here and really not just in the U.S. but in the western world, is making us feel fatter and sicker and creating all kinds of metabolic dysfunction within us. we need to get away from that.

So we need to just do things differently. We need to do things the way we have always done things as human beings. We’ve evolved as human beings being really good at eating whole foods, the food that looks like food still, and then being really good at using a stored body fat as fuel. We’re natural runners, as human beings. We’re naturally good at endurance sports. We’re naturally good at running and doing long distance types of running as well.

So for all those reasons, burning fat is really such an important aspect of all that we’ve just gotten so far away from it. So I just help people get their body back to that natural state. they feel great. They start to lose weight. Running becomes easier. Then we set big goals for them from a weight loss perspective, from a health perspective. We will set big running goals. Some people want to run their fastest marathon. Some people will want to run their first ultra-marathon. Some people just want to do their first 5k. Maybe they’ve never run before. I help people with all of that stuff.

really, one of the most satisfying parts of what I do is helping people become that version of themselves that they know is kind of lurking inside them. We all have this version of who we want to be. it’s kind of like I call it the way we feel about ourselves on the inside. But then we go look in the mirror when we get out of the shower, and we’re like ugh. That version of us on the outside doesn’t match the way we feel about ourselves on the inside. so there’s a dysfunction there. It can cause some internal conflict and inner turmoil.

So I really help people to become that inner version of themselves. That is incredibly satisfying for me because I see the joy it brings them in their life and the transformation that they experience. That is one of the most rewarding parts of what I do as a coach.

Amanda: Yeah, I can totally relate to that. I know we’ll get into this a little bit, but everything that you just said, it’s really that inner journey. It’s that inner becoming and stepping into that identity that’s already there, but it’s really giving that permission. It’s helping them to fully step into that that is just such a beautiful thing to witness as a coach. I very much have that experience with my clients as well.

We’re talking in a different realm. We’re talking in the business realm, but I think for every client that I’ve worked with not only yes is it about the business growth, but it’s also just as much about becoming that next version of yourself, right. Becoming that that version of yourself that creates a multiple six figure business, that creates a million dollar business, that becomes that CEO. That’s just such a beautiful transformation that just naturally happens through the process.

so I would love for you to talk for a minute, Patrick. One of the things that I know we talked about, I think it was earlier this year. When you had come to me, and we’ll get into what your program looked like at the time, but you really made some changes to your program. I mean you just talked us through your process. You talked us through the program. Which what an amazing program it really is. If you are somebody who is Patrick’s ideal client, I would say go to his website, listen to his podcast. We’re gonna link all of that up in the show notes, but it’s really a wonderful process that you’ve created to help your clients.

But I’m curious, if you could just share, what were some of the kind of deeper layers to all of that that came through this year? Because I know that that was work that we did earlier this year in talking more about the movement and bringing out some more of these kinds of the messaging around the bigger picture with all of this. So let’s go there for a minute.

Patrick: Yeah. So this past year has been a huge year of growth for me within my business, but it’s really been within myself. It’s been within me as a human being, I’ve grown exponentially this year with your help Amanda. you challenged me at the beginning of the year last year to I had doubled my business essentially the previous year. So I had started out with a pretty low amount of sales, volume, or whatever you want to call it, and had doubled my business on my own like that kind of second year of my business.

I was like okay, this is great. I’m feeling pretty good. It’s not really where I want to be yet, but it was a good start. you challenged me to kind of do that again. I was like I don’t know about that. I just don’t know about it, but let’s give it a shot. So that was the focus. The focus was to like maybe we can double the business again.

That really kind of pushed me out of my comfort zone because I was in this comfortable area where I was thought I was doing pretty good. if I didn’t get uncomfortable, if I didn’t push myself past what I thought was possible for me, then I would have stayed small. I would have stayed kind of stuck where I was. Okay. So that was a big, big thing for me, which was to get uncomfortable and push myself past what I thought was possible for me.

so that was a big part of my transformation this year, or a big lesson learned this year, which is like I just need to really embody this idea of discomfort and like getting out of my comfort zone and embracing the unknown. Going for more. If I want to become more as an entrepreneur, if I want to become more as a human being, then I have to constantly be pushing myself past my self-imposed limits.

Amanda: Yeah, yeah.

Patrick: when I do that, things start to change for me. So this year has been a year of growth. I’ll just spoiler alert, it’s not a big deal, but I didn’t double my business this year. it’s okay. Like I learned so much in the process. we actually had this conversation a few weeks ago, Amanda, where we were talking about my year, and I was going over. I said listen, I’ve grown my business by whatever the percentage was, 25% or 30%, whatever.

if I continue to do this over the next few years, I’ll be exactly where I want to be. it’s just going to take a little bit of time, and that’s okay. Like I’m not looking at this year as a failure, or like I’ve I haven’t succeeded. Like I’m looking at this as huge amounts of growth.

Amanda: Yeah, let’s stop there for a second because I think there’s something really important from a like coaching industry perspective that I want to hit on here. I think sometimes in the industry, we get the sense that if we’re not doubling or we’re not tripling or we’re not hitting X amount by a certain time, then we’ve failed, right, or that something is wrong with us. We’re doing it wrong.

what I love about your growth this year, what I see as your coach, Patrick, is you have now built a foundation that is going to now set you up for that level of growth no problem over the next few years as you continue to move forward. Right. So yeah, I mean there has been significant growth. What was it, 25/30/40, I don’t remember the exact percentage, whatever it was. From a business perspective, most businesses just to give context to everybody. Most businesses, if they’re growing 5%/10% a year, that’s a great year.

But for some reason in the coaching industry, it’s like if we’re not getting to X amount within this next year, well then we shouldn’t be doing this. I think it’s really important to also consider how we’re setting ourselves up for the long term. I talk a lot about playing the long game. I think that’s really important for coaches is to think about their business, think about their programs, think about what they’re doing, and always have that long term perspective in mind because we want this to be a sustainable business for the long term.

I see a lot of people that have a lot of success very quickly, but then also burn out, that also build a business that doesn’t allow them to sustain it over the long term, that isn’t a business that they love. so what I love about what you’ve done is that you are in full alignment with your programs, with your clients, with the work that you’re doing every piece of your business. That it’s like it really is the beginning, in many ways, for where you’re going to be taking this over the next couple of years.

There’s so much richness in what you’ve built and so much intention that you’ve put in to your business this year that has now set you up to exponentially grow it, again, over the next several years, which is great. So I don’t know if you have anything to share on that. I’d love for you to speak to that. I think that’s important.

Patrick: Yeah, so really I’ve kind of identified. I just did a podcast about this last week because this was such a huge lesson for me this year. So there’s three things that I’ve really identified that all successful people do or need to be doing. this applies to whether you’re trying to lose weight or complete a marathon or build a business.

So the three things are number one is you can’t settle for what’s comfortable. Like you have to be willing to get uncomfortable. I just talked about that. Like you have to be able to push yourself beyond the familiar, beyond the known, and you have to like do things that cause you to grow. The only way you grow is if you get uncomfortable. The only way you grow is getting outside your comfort zone. Everything you want but don’t have is outside your comfort zone. So you have to push yourself into the unknown. That’s number one.

Number two is taking responsibility for everything in your life, like owning all of it. Like not blaming other people or situations or the economy or the weather or anything like that for what’s going on with you. It’s like taking 100% responsibility, owning it all, and acting accordingly. Which means that you learn from your mistakes, you learn from what works and what doesn’t. You’re constantly analyzing results and moving forward, but I always say this, it’s all my fault. Whether it’s good or bad in my life, it’s all my fault.

Amanda: Yeah. I will tell you all, for all of you listening, that as a coach like in working with Patrick, I will tell you every coaching call, every one on one, every interaction that we’ve had Patrick lives that. What Patrick is talking about here, he lives that. He brings that even to the coaching sessions.

Patrick: It’s all me baby. I’m just like owning it all. Yeah. then the third piece, really and this is kind of my mantra. I’m even wearing a shirt that says it today. It’s like never, ever, ever give up. I have this mantra. the mantra is relentless forward progress. That’s what it says on my shirt here. Relentless forward progress.

I adopted this mantra some years ago when I was running ultra-marathons. that’s a mantra that we use in the ultra-marathon world, which is like relentlessly moving forward. Always making forward progress. You might fall down, you might get lost, you might take a wrong turn and add five miles onto your run, but you are going to continue no matter what. If you’re crawling, you’re moving forward. If you’re walking, at least you’re moving forward. We don’t go backward. We keep moving forward. Sometimes we do go backwards, but then we turn around and we pick it back up, and we move forward.

But with that in mind, this idea of building my business maybe a little bit slower over time is not a problem for me. It doesn’t bother me at all that I didn’t hit this goal this year. I’m like no, I made incredible progress this year. If I hadn’t pushed myself, I wouldn’t have grown my business by 25 or 30%, whatever it is.

Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.

Patrick: So I’m okay with that. The fact that I’m willing to continue moving forward, no matter what is what’s going to set me apart from a lot of other people. I know other coaches, and I was just looking at a friend’s website recently who just quit their coaching program because it was hard. it was it was hard to do. It’s hard to sustain that. I see that all the time with people that they give it a go in this industry, and it’s tough. It’s tough to be a coach. It’s tough to be an entrepreneur., It’s tough to build a business. It really is.

Amanda: Yeah, I always say it’s not for the faint of heart.

Patrick: It is not for the faint of heart. it’s not for everybody. But having this mentality of like never giving up and always moving forward is like something that just keeps me going. It keeps that fire burning within me. Like I have this inner fire that is not going out anytime soon.

Amanda: Yeah. I actually think that that’s a requirement. I want to speak to that for a minute. Because I actually think that that is a requirement for entrepreneurship.

Patrick: It has to be.

Amanda: Right? Because how many examples do we have even just this year of things that maybe didn’t go as planned or situations that came up? Right? I mean they’re everywhere. that is what is going to happen when you’re growing a business, when you’re scaling a business.

How I like to kind of think about this, my kind of version of that, Patrick, is when I think about building a coaching business, it’s really about that passion, right? It’s like that deep purpose, that deep passion that you have to create a movement, to create that business that serves at the highest level. Right? It’s having that relentless pursuit, that relentless passion and purpose that is driving you forward. It’s required.

I found like if that is missing then a lot of times it is. We do see people giving up. you were on a call last week. We were on one of our High Level Mastermind calls last week. We actually had another member say wow, I’ve just really learned this year that this really is about you either just keep going, or you give up. Right?

Patrick: Yep.

Amanda: In the context of growing the business, and that is so true. I know we hear these things. sometimes you just have to experience that for it to really make sense and to really sink in. But I just want to reiterate that point and how important the relentless forward progress is, whether that be in your running life, whether that be in entrepreneurship, whatever realm we’re looking at that, that is required.

Patrick: Yeah.

Amanda: it’s a beautiful thing.

Patrick: Yeah. I tell my clients this all the time. I always say listen, we’re going to work on changing your health for the better. We’re going to work on losing weight. We’re going to work on improving your running. It’s going to take some time. There’s going to be times where it’s going to be hard. There’s going to be times when you’re going to want to quit. There’s going to be times when you may gain a pound or two, or your running suffers a little bit, or you have a bad race or a bad run. Those things are bound to happen. They are inevitable.

But we don’t quit. Like that’s the only rule I have is like you don’t get to quit. I say it jokingly, but we don’t. We continue to make minor changes if we need to. We kind of tweak things if we have to. When it comes to like oh, what’s the right diet? Like what should I be eating? It’s like I don’t know. We’re gonna figure it out together though.

Because it’s different for everybody. It would be irresponsible of me to sit here and tell you exactly what’s going to work for everybody because it just doesn’t work that way. So I say listen, I’ve got some ideas. We’re going to change a few things. I’m going to get you off some of these processed foods, whatever. But for the most part, I don’t know what that’s gonna look like for you. We’re all a little bit different, but we will figure it out together. Sometimes it doesn’t work for a few weeks. We look at what’s going on, and we make some changes, but we keep going. We never quit.

The only way you can fail with this is if you throw up your arms and you give up and you quit and you walk away. The same thing with entrepreneurship. It’s like you keep going no matter what. The only way you fail is if you walk away. I see so many people that aren’t willing to get uncomfortable, that aren’t willing to take responsibility, and that aren’t willing to keep going no matter what. They throw up their arms and they walk away because it’s hard. It’s too hard.

Amanda: So good. So let’s talk a little bit, Patrick, about what your business looked like last year at this time. So when you came to me last year, let’s talk a little bit about what your program looked like then just kind of business model, I think that would be helpful for everybody to get a sense of that, to where it is today. I mean we talked in depth about the program, but just from like a business model type standpoint. Let’s talk through the transition, the changes that we made this year, and how that’s impacted the growth of the business.

Patrick: Yeah, so I had a couple of different offerings at the beginning of the year. I didn’t feel very strongly about either one of them, to be honest with you. So my program is group coaching and one on one coaching. I had a 90 day program where you would get access to the group coaching and one on one calls with me.

what I found is that at the end of that 90 days, people had made some progress. some people had made some significant progress. But most people, the vast majority people, needed longer. They needed more time. so on the back end of that, I had sort of a membership type of subscription, monthly subscription program that you could just continue being part of the group. Okay.

the problem with that was that a lot of people were in the group, and they were maybe listening to some coaching call replays, but they weren’t really doing the work, and they weren’t really being held accountable. as a result of that, they weren’t really making progress. so I had to look at all this. Really you challenged me to kind of define what I considered to be like my ideal coaching program. Like if I could just wave a magic wand and have this program look anyway, what would it look like? So I had to look at what I was doing and make some big changes.

So what I ended up coming up with was really a longer program, so a six month coaching program. Six months is such a great amount of time because it takes that long to really make these changes and make them last. I’m not interested in helping people lose weight as fast as possible or do some weird diet thing that’s temporary, and then you go back to doing whatever. None of that stuff ever works. It’s not sustainable.

In order to create good habits and to develop the mindset to make eating healthy and working out and lifting weights or whatever it is sustainable and something that is a habit for you, it takes time. So six months seems to be like the sweet spot where people were getting the best results. So it’s a six month coaching program. You get access to the group calls, and then one on one coaching with me during that six month period.

then there isn’t any kind of group only option anymore. I did away with that. Because I had a lot of people that were just hanging around, but weren’t really doing the work. I’m not interested in that. I don’t want people that are just hanging around. I want people that are doing the work and getting results.

Amanda: Yeah.

Patrick: so from a from a transformational standpoint, I may have fewer people that I’m working with today, but the people that I am working with are getting results. They’re changing their lives for the better. They’re improving their health. They’re improving their running. They’re becoming that person they want to become. I feel much better about the way I’m doing the program now.

So the six month program with an option at the end if they want to continue, they could add on another three months or another six months, but the program doesn’t change. There isn’t just a group only option anymore. I feel very strongly about this program now and feel very convicted that this is like, it is so valuable. people are just getting massive transformations. I feel like this offer that I have now is incredibly amazing and transformational and valuable.

Amanda: It is. It is. I want to, again, just park here for a second. Because when we started working together, I know that that was a big challenge hat was weighing pretty heavily on you when you came to me is like I’ve got all of these people in this program, but I feel like they’re not showing up. I feel like they’re not doing the work. it just wasn’t feeling good to you at that point, right? Knowing what’s possible for them with this type of container.

so I want to highlight a couple of things here that are really important from a business perspective. Sometimes we create programs, we create containers, of course, with the best interest in mind, right. Always with the best interest of our clients in mind. But what we don’t see sometimes is the unexpected, I’m going to use word consequences, of certain types of containers, right.

So in, for example using Patrick as the example, having a membership model for the work that he’s doing maybe wasn’t the best model to really help his clients get the level of transformation that he wanted to help them achieve. Right? so while a lot of times different business models might make a lot of sense in theory, and I talk a lot about this in programs. I talk a lot about this in my programs, and I’ve talked about it as well on the podcast. We have to be really intentional as coaches how we’re setting up that container, and how that is going to help us help our clients achieve the results that they’re paying us to help them to achieve.

I think this was a great, again, case study example of by challenging that model, transitioning more into a group format, incorporating one on one, having that higher touch. Which yes, let’s just go there, that also did increase the investment for the clients, which I do want to get into in a minute because we haven’t lost a lot of ground in terms of like volume of clients coming in.

But that shift, that intentional shift around what is the best container for my clients to achieve their desired end result? While yes, maybe you didn’t double the business, but you did grow it by 30% with a whole new program. let’s also highlight clients are now getting even better results, which is going to lead to higher retention. There’s going to be an entire ripple effect. There already is an entire ripple effect to that.

So I don’t know if you have any additional thoughts on that, but I think looking at business model. I will say for coaches in particular, it is important to understand business models and how they play into the results that you’re helping your clients achieve from a business standpoint, what that means, and we have to make sure that that all lines up. That’s really important.

Patrick: Yeah. So I was doing okay with the previous business model. It was fine, and I could have just kept going with that. But there was something inside me that was just like this isn’t as effective as it could be. This isn’t giving people the results that they really want and that I want for them.

Amanda: Yeah.

Patrick: so making that change was just one of those things where as an entrepreneur, we have to course correct every now and then. We have to look at what we’re doing. sometimes it’s kind of the core work that we’re doing where we’re like yeah, this needs to all change.

Amanda: Yeah.

Patrick: so halfway through the year, I don’t know maybe, no, I think it was like April/May of this last year, I changed the business model. You’re right. It didn’t affect sales. Actually, sales went up for the second half of the year. I think the people that are involved in the program are getting much bigger transformations and better results. they feel better about themselves and about the program and all that stuff. So it’s a win/win for everybody.

Amanda: You can see that. I’d love for you to share just from a community standpoint like what has that done for the community as well?

Patrick: Yeah, so the group program? Is that what you mean?

Amanda: Yeah.

Patrick: Yeah. So yeah, so I have group calls every week. those group calls are growing. A lot of good energy in those group calls. the community aspect, the group coaching part of this is an important part of the program. Because it’s one thing to get on a call with a coach and get some advice and get some guidance and get help with some mindset and things like that, but it’s another thing to be on a call and hear from other people that are just like you that are going through the same stuff.

How are they dealing with that? What have they done? Oh, they struggled with that too. Oh, I’m struggling with that. That support that you get from the group is vital, I think. the people that do the best, really, are the people who participate in those group calls every week and show up for their one on one calls with me.

Amanda: Yeah.

Patrick: In between, they’re committed and doing the work. it’s like showing up is half the battle. It’s like if you just show up and you participate, you’re so much more likely to succeed.

Amanda: Yeah. so that problem was solved, right, by that change in business model because that was a really big problem that you were experiencing is having people not maybe valuing that time or those calls. so by transitioning to this model, which was giving them more of those touch points. Also, yes, a higher investment, but people were more invested then in showing up. I know that that’s completely irrelevant now. In fact, I know that your days are fully booked in terms of coaching calls every day.

Patrick: Yeah. So today, I’m at this place where I’m ready to make another kind of transition here, which is to – I do have room for more clients. Like okay, I’m pushing up against that limit of what I can handle. This is good. This is a good problem to have. I’m not complaining about that at all. But in order to grow from here, I do have to make some changes in kind of how I’m doing things.

I’m setting myself up for success in 2023 by implementing some changes here early in the year and freeing up some of my time, and being able to devote more time to helping my clients and participating in the one on one sessions and the group sessions and spending more time with my clients as opposed to more time onboarding new people and in that process of doing consult calls with potential clients and things like that.

So some of that’s going to change, and kind of the way that I bring new people into the program is going to change. it’s all good. It’s all in the name of making it easier for the potential clients to make a decision without having to have that conversation with me about the program. this is a little bit of a scary change for me because it’s working really well, the way things are right now. Whenever something is working really well, we don’t really want to break it right? So.

Amanda: You’re about to break, yeah.

Patrick: So I’m being very delicate about how I’m handling this transition here. But I feel very strongly that I can deliver the right message and deliver the right marketing, for lack of a better word, really to communicate the value of the program in ways where I’m not spending a lot of my time just like on the phone talking to people about it.

Amanda: Yeah, yeah. I know that that’s been a focus here, especially the last part of this year, is to really be transitioning into more of that type of process, that sales process, which you and I have talked a lot about. We’ve done a lot of coaching around too. I know that anytime we’re starting something new, we’re launching something, we’re changing the way that we do things, especially, like you said when it is working, can be a scary thing.

I will just encourage you, Patrick, you’ve done a lot of that already this year. Just we talked about the business model. I mean there’s all sorts of other examples that you’ve done that as well this year. But I have no doubts that this is going to be another really successful transition for you that’s really going to help free up more of your time and really help you, like you said, give back even more to the clients that you have, and really grow in this next chapter, in this next phase of really scaling the business to that next level, which is a really exciting place to be.

So I would love for you to talk a little bit, Patrick, when you reflect on this past year and the work that we’ve done, what have been, would you say, some of the biggest transformations, some of the results? Like what are those biggest things as you look back at this past year that you’ve achieved as a result of our work together?

Patrick: Yeah, I think really, a couple of the big ones, would be owning who I am and owning my niche and owning my message and the way that I talk about things. Like I really was sort of timid about how I talked about things. I’m in the space of like weight loss and nutrition and food and diets and things like that. People get bent out of shape about that stuff.

Prior to working with you, I think I was trying to water down the message a little bit. I’m not doing that anymore. I’m very passionate about what I have to say. I have an opinion. I take a stand on things. I think that this has just got me so, so much more confidence and more conviction about my message and my mission here, which is to help change the world in a positive way.

I think the food industry is messing with us. I think it’s causing a lot of ill health with people, and we need to challenge like what is being disseminated down to us from a governmental standpoint and from some nutrition guidelines standpoints. These things just need to change. I’m not afraid to talk about that. So that’s a big one. Like just owning my niche, owning who I am, and owning this stance that I have. I think that’s a huge transformation for me.

The other one that I would say is something that we’ve talked about a lot, especially these last few months, which is feeling like everything is working okay. There’s a lot of stress when I got to the start of a new month, and I look at my sales as being like zero. There was a lot of anxiety and stress about that every month. How am I going to pay my rent this month? Because as an entrepreneur, like you’ve gotta hustle. You’ve got to make it work. You’re out there selling or whatever.

So I think with some processes we put in place, some reporting tools that I’m using. Now, I can look at my months ahead and see that I’ve got income coming in, and that I’m right where I’m supposed to be and everything’s gonna work out fine. from like a financial standpoint, I feel much more secure. I feel more stable that way. it’s just not as stressful anymore. You know? It may seem like oh yeah, no big deal, but that’s a big change for me.

Amanda: It was huge for you. Yeah.

Patrick: This has been huge for me. Having this inner knowing that just like every month, everything’s cool. Like I can’t tell you how transformational that has been for me. It’s just been so enlightening.

Amanda: Yeah, and I’ve witnessed that. just to kind of go really specific with that. So one of the things that I teach, especially with my high level clients, is the importance of really building a system that is creating that recurring revenue in your business. so that was something that is, again, I could do a whole separate podcast on why that’s so important, but I’ll just hit on what Patrick just said.

From an emotional standpoint, having recurring revenue in your business so that you can look, like he’s saying, three, four, five, even six months, even 12 months ahead, and you can see the forecast. You can see what already has been sold, what is coming in. It just allows you to approach everything from a completely different lens, right? It allows you to get out of a scarcity mindset. It allows you to really function, I think, from your highest place when you take care of that.

if we want to look at the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, what is the foundation? It’s like food. I mean it’s like the basics. I think a lot of times as entrepreneurs, as coaches building businesses, when we don’t have those foundations in place, we’re operating from a place of we’re just trying to fulfill the basic needs. We’re just trying to make the round. We’re just trying to do this.

so one of the things that’s really important for me in my approach is that we build a system in your business where we’re automatically taking care of that. that’s a really important thing that is a more advanced topic for some of you that maybe aren’t quite at that point, but it’s something that I would say we can also start very early on. that’s a really important part of the process that I teach. So I appreciate you sharing that, Patrick.

So what advice would you have for coaches, like yourself, or that are in this process of growing, looking to scale, really looking to take things to the next level? What advice would you give to another coach?

Patrick: I think I’ve kind of already talked about this, but I’m gonna just reiterate it because I think it really is the key, and that is relentless forward progress. Like you just have to keep going. you have to keep trying things, and you cannot give up. sometimes it doesn’t work. That’s okay.

I started out. So I was in the corporate world for like 16 years. I started out building websites. I had a branding and design agency. Then I started coaching entrepreneurs. then I was doing some mindset coaching with runners. then I finally got into like the weight loss coaching with runners. I have reinvented myself many times through this process. I have changed niches and changed who I was working with many times.

If I had ever given up through that process, I mean I’ve made some good decisions. I was like okay this isn’t working. I really don’t feel good about this. so I’m gonna like make a shift here. Those are hard decisions to make because I put my heart and soul into what I do. When it’s not working, I have to make that tough decision of like okay, I need to either go get a job in the corporate world again, or I need to shift my focus here.

Amanda: Yeah.

Patrick: I’ve always chosen to continue working as an entrepreneur because this is what I want for myself. I know that success is out there for me. it took a while of course correcting, but I found it. I found this niche that is like I feel so comfortable with and so convicted in, and I’m so passionate about it. I love it so much. but is this the end for me? Is this like the thing I’m gonna settle on for the rest of my life? I don’t know. Maybe.

Amanda: Yeah.

Patrick: It’s okay though. It doesn’t matter. Like I’m going to keep going no matter what. I’m not going to quit. I’m not going to give up. So I think that even though things aren’t working. Maybe right now you’re at a place where you’re like well, this is really hard for me. I’m not making a lot of money. I don’t have many clients, whatever. Keep going. Try something else. We always keep going. We keep making minor changes. sometimes we need to make big changes but never give up. Just keep going.

Amanda: That’s a beautiful message. Love it. All right. With that, Patrick, where can people find you? So if they’re interested in learning more about you, your program, where’s the best place to go?

Patrick: I think probably one of the best places to start if you want to learn about me and what I do is go check out the podcast. So the podcast is called Running Lean. you can find it on Apple podcasts or Google or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. The podcast has been very successful. I just hit the million downloads mark a few months ago.

Amanda: Congratulations.

Patrick: That was huge for me. Like it just kind of blows my mind that I’ve had a million downloads of the podcast so.

Amanda: Amazing.

Patrick: Only in a couple of years really. It’s not been that long. So definitely check out the podcast. My website is runningleancoaching.com.

Amanda: Great.

Patrick: yeah, I would love to hear from you. Yeah, but podcast is definitely the best place.

Amanda: Okay. Yeah. I wanted to talk real briefly about the podcast. So in case you didn’t hear that, Patrick just hit a million downloads on his podcast, which is amazing. That’s a big deal in the podcasting world. Like growing a podcast is also not an easy thing.

Patrick: It’s hard work. Yeah. It takes a while.

Amanda: Again, it’s a long term thing, right? It’s not something that generally comes overnight, right? It’s a long term play. So I know that that has been really important to your business growth, to really building your community for your clients. I know that that’s something you’re really passionate about. So congratulations, again, on the million downloads.

Patrick: Thanks.

Amanda: It was really exciting when you hit that a few weeks, and to bring that to our calls. That was great.

Patrick: Yeah. more exciting for me is I get messages from people like daily who will just send me a message on social media or whatever. these are people I don’t know. I’ve never met before. they’ll just say like I’ve been listening to your podcast for a year now or six months or whatever. you’ve changed my life. I’ve made all these changes because of what I’ve heard on your podcast. I just want to thank you. Keep doing the good work. right there, I know I’m in the right place when I get messages like that. it makes it worth it for me to just like keep soldiering on even though it’s hard sometimes. Yeah.

Amanda: So good. Relentless forward progress always.

Patrick: You’ve got it. Yeah.

Amanda: So good. All right, Patrick, it has been a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on today’s show and sharing more about your background and your business and all the things that you’ve learned in this past year. It’s been phenomenal to just witness all of the growth and all of the amazing things that you’re doing and where you’re going. So thank you again for coming on.

Patrick: Thanks, Amanda. I appreciate all of your help and your guidance and your support this year. It’s been really the one thing that has made the hugest difference for me this year has been you being there as my support in my accountability. The encouragement that I get from you and you pushing me outside my self-imposed limits at times and getting me uncomfortable. Yeah, that’s been awesome. Thank you.

Amanda: So good. All right Patrick. Thanks so much.

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.