Ep #42: Suffering vs. Speed

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast, episode number 42.

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 to the show everyone. I hope you’re doing well. I hope your summer is going well. I am doing great. I have to tell you, these last couple of weeks have been so incredibly fun. And it’s been so much fun because I’m seeing so many of my clients that are achieving some really massive results in their businesses, and I’m so incredibly proud of them and the work that they are all doing in the world.

And when I look at the level of growth they’re experiencing and seeing them really step into the expert energy and really stepping into their expert level work in their fields and making the income that they have wanted to make, I have to say, this is one of the things that I love most about my work and it’s why I love helping other entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.

So of course, yes, it is about definitely making money and helping them take massive leaps in terms of their revenue, but it’s also about their own self-development. It’s also about all of our growth as a person and also as leaders of our businesses.

Because the truth is in order to grow your business, in order to make that consistent and significant revenue that you want in your business, you have to first be the person who is able to create that growth. And you have to first become the person that’s able to create that revenue by offering something that’s of significant value in your business.

And so, it’s important to understand that you have to first transform and experience a level of transformation in yourself before you can lead others through a similar transformation. And so, in every case, there is a process, there’s a significant portion of our time, of our coaching, of our work that is focused on being that person.

And part of this comes down to rewiring old belief systems and getting into what those even are, and many times on a subconscious level. And the truth is it doesn’t matter what tools, what resources, what strategies we have at our fingertips. It really does come down to the who you are being as you’re running and implementing the strategies.

And I do want to make a note though, as far as the tools, the strategies, and the resources, as far as all of that is concerned, I do believe and have experienced that it is really important to be taking a holistic approach in your business.

And so one of the things that many of you have probably heard me talk about and one of the things that I’m really passionate about and that I study and I research very diligently every single day is what is working right now, what are those things, as you’re building a coaching business in the online space especially, what are those things that are proven to work.

And so for me, it’s really important that I ensure that everything that I teach, everything that I’m providing to my clients, I know without a doubt is on the cutting edge of the industry, that it’s on the leading edge of what’s happening. And I do this because I’m putting myself in the position to have access to that.

And so, the tools, the resources that I’m offering, it’s really important to me that I’m ensuring that it is the best of the best. And so part of that is by me really putting myself in, like I said, in the environment, in the position where I am gaining access, I’m gaining knowledge, I am learning these tools myself so that I can share with my clients.

And so, I think there’s really something to be said for this, and it’s something that has been really important to me from day one. And when it comes to my own business, I 100% ensure that I’m always looking for what is the best of the best, and that’s something that I ensure for my clients as well.

And so, these past couple of weeks, several of my clients have had some really, really tremendous wins. And I wanted to share with you to give you an example of this. So one client who just wrapped up her first official launch, so this was her first official launch, mind you, and it just was fantastic. And her final numbers in terms of her launch, she actually exceeded what we had initially forecasted, which is so amazing.

And she just ended her first official launch at $83,000. And I want to share with you that that was actually a pretty short launch. It only lasted just a few short weeks. And it was actually the result of the work that we’ve been doing in the last six months in my foundational program.

And so, my plan is I’ll definitely be bringing her on the show very soon. I’ll be interviewing her so you can hear more about that and more about her experience, but that’s pretty significant. To have a first official launch at $83,000. So what’s really fun about this is we’re just literally getting started here, so it’s going to be really fun to watch her growth over this next year as we work through my high-level mentorship and position her to scale her business now from where she’s at.

I want to share another story as well, another client who also recently enrolled in my foundational program in my mastermind program. It’s my six-month foundational program, is already pacing at over 40 new clients on her waiting list for her new group program that will be rolling out shortly.

And the best part is that we literally haven’t even started the formal coaching program yet because here’s what I’m doing. Every new client that is joining me in this next upcoming cohort of The Mastermind, which if you’re on my email list, you’re getting all of the updates on that. So, I would highly recommend if you’re not on my email list, go to my website, amandakarlstadcoaching.com. Sign up, get on my email list so you can get all these updates.

And so, this group, this next cohort is planned to officially get started at the end of August. And what I’m doing is for the clients that are already enrolled in the program, I have decided that I am getting them started ASAP. And what I mean by that is what’s really important to me is that my clients are in momentum and that my clients stay in momentum.

And so, what we’re doing is we’re doing they’re initial deep dive session, which this is what I do with all of my new clients, regardless of what program they’re in. We do an initial deep dive session that’s a really specific process that I take them through where we really pull apart everything in their business and get fully clear on where they’re going, what their goals are, how we’re going to achieve those, and really put in place the strategy, really decide what the strategy is going to be around that.

So these clients that are already in, even though we haven’t officially started the official program because like I said, that starts at the end of August and so if you’re interested by the way, you still have time. Obviously go to my website, like I said, get on my mailing list, and we’ll also link up in the show notes a link where you can go right into the application for this program.

But they’re essentially getting coaching for free from me right now because as I mentioned, it’s really critical that they’re in momentum. Momentum is so, so important to your business. And so this was just the result after just her initial deep dive session, after just one coaching session together that we did where we really got fully clear on where she’s at and where she wants to go and then what is the plan to get there.

And so, having 40 new clients already lined up for her new group program that we strategized is amazing, and I want to share this with you because this is really the power of doing this work. This is the result of doing this level of work. This is the power of going through a specific process that is designed to create results in your business, to create your long-term success.

So not just short-term success but also long-term success. And so, I think it’s really, really important. I’ve talked a lot about this on the podcast that it’s really important to have clarity in everything that you’re doing and having a solid strategy that is going to back that up. And for many of you launching and focusing on the things and getting clarity around that is what can make a huge difference in your business.

So, my goal with every client that I work with is not that we’re just making incremental improvements here and there. My goal is that my clients take quantum leaps. And what that means is that we’re really focusing and we’re doing the work on the things that are going to yield the biggest returns.

And it’s just been so much fun to watch my clients take these leaps and do this in a very short amount of time. And the fact that I’m able to customize this to every client is, in my opinion, very, very important. Because no two businesses are exactly alike.

And if you really step back and look at this, you can see that there’s a lot of people that are trying to replicate things in this industry and while that’s okay to a degree, the truth is that you are not the same person as another coach. You’re a totally different person and you have a different level of expertise, of knowledge, of skill set, and it’s really important to the growth of your own business that you’re able to sift through all of that and that you know your own identity when it comes to your business.

And so, when I see coaches that are really just trying to copy what someone else is doing, what tends to happen is they’re out of integrity with themselves. And you can see that in the results because the results aren’t where they want them to be.

And so that’s why it’s critically important for me and a value that I have in my business that I do take the time with every client to really help them understand who they already are and who they need to be. And through that process, get them into full alignment with that so that they can create a brand that’s in full integrity with them and they feel empowered to do the work that they’re really here to do.

And what happens is once we can do that, all of the hows, the how we launch, the how we structure the business model, all of that, all of that comes after we have that clarity. So I want to share all of that with you because I know for so many of you it might seem like your goals, your dreams, what it is that you’re working towards might feel so out of reach.

But in both of these cases that I just shared and like I said, I’ll probably have both of these clients on at some point, and certainly the client that just launched, we’ll have her on very soon. It’s funny, she actually just Voxered me this morning and said, hey, I found our first coaching session.

And she said, you know, what has been so amazing to me is just the growth that has happened over the time that we’ve been working together and to look back at where she started and she literally, in that first session – we’ll talk a little bit more about this one when we do her interview, but was really doubting whether or not she could make money in this business, in doing what she wanted to do.

So that was part of our conversation, so we’ll definitely share more on that soon. Alright, so I want to talk to you all today about a topic that is really a continuation of what I was just talking about. And what I want to talk to you all today about is the decisions that you’re currently making in your business and whether those decisions are causing you and/or your business to suffer, or whether you’re making decisions in your business that are setting you up to go fast, decisions that are setting you up for speed.

So, I want to talk about suffering versus speed today. And the reason I wanted to bring this topic to you is because I see this happening a lot with newer coaches, with newer entrepreneurs who have either just gone through a certification program or they’re in the process of being certified, and even for coaches that have been in the industry for a while.

And they’ve been trying to build their businesses over the last couple of years and their results still aren’t quite where they want them to be. And what I see is I see this trend, I see very often this tendency for a lot of coaches in that position that are making decisions that they’re perceiving is safe.

And in almost every case, it feels like a safe option. So, they’re kind of taking the safe route with things. And here’s what I want to say about that. There’s a big problem here because the same decisions that feel safe, that we might on the surface, all of us, how we’re conditioned, how we grow up, we all might be perceiving these levels of decisions as “safe.”

But the result is that they’re actually slowing down their business growth. And I will say this is true for any industry. This isn’t just special to the coaching industry. This is true for any industry. And what happens is that because we’re making decisions that we perceive as safe, what happens is that there’s a level of suffering that then is the result of those decisions.

And the truth is that a lot of that suffering could really be avoided by making different decisions in their business in the first place. And so that’s what I want to talk to you about today because I want to share – I also want to share a little bit about my experience with this and what I’ve learned in my own journey because I think it’s really relevant to this conversation.

So, let’s start out by talking about what some of these “safe” decisions might look like. And when I step back and I look at this, probably the most common safe decision that I see is not investing in high level mentoring early enough. And what tends to happen, and I see this again, especially with newer coaches, is that they tend to be extremely hesitant when it comes to investing in the things that are actually going to grow their business.

So, things like coaching, certain types of education that are going to help them grow their business. And the reasons for this absolutely vary from person to person. And so in some cases it might not feel like it’s the right time, it might be that they haven’t made any money in their business yet so they’re hesitant to invest even more when they’ve likely already invested to a degree.

And in other cases, I see sometimes they want to make money first before they actually invest, so they can in fact pay for coaching or invest that money back into their business. And what I will say is yes, while on the surface these reasons might seem logical and we might perceive them as again, the “responsible” thing to do, the problem here is that by making safe decisions like this, again, we’re actually delaying success.

And in every single case, what happens is it’s a series of decisions. It starts with this first decision, and then it becomes a series of decisions that actually ends up costing them money in the long run. And so, I want you all to consider this for a moment. I want you to think about this. Let’s think about two different coaches and let’s say that they’re both in the same niche.

So, it can be relationship, it could be weight loss, it could be money, it could be executive coaching, whatever that is. Just imagine two different coaches, and I want you to consider what I’m talking about. Let’s consider this in the framework of over the course of the year.

And so, let’s say that coach A decides to try and DIY things in his or her business. And what I mean by that is let’s say that coach makes the decision that I’m not going to – I’m going to choose not to invest right now in  a program or in high level coaching or whatever that looks like, and I’m really going to try to piece this together, I’m going to try to use what I have, I’m going to try to do more research, I’m going to try and, again, just kind of piece things together.

And so, let’s just again, kind of sit back and look at this from a high level. So that coach is likely in what I would call a mode of heavy consumption because they’re trying to learn how to build an online business, so they’re probably trying to figure out how to do that.

So, in order to do that, they’re probably listening to all sorts of podcasts, downloading all sorts of freebies, probably looking at all sorts of websites, following all sorts of people. They’re probably trying to figure out how to – what their social media strategy is, they’re probably spending a lot of time unclear on where their ideal clients are.

They know they don’t have a real strategy, but they’re just trying to kind of DIY this. And they’re trying to just get to their clients in a way that isn’t really laid out in a cohesive way. And so when you really take a look and get realistic about what’s happening in that coach’s business over the course of the year, the fact is that they may be getting a client here or there, but the reality is that it’s going to be very inconsistent.

So, let’s look at coach B. Let’s say that coach B comes in and says, you know what, I’m going to invest in a program, I’m going to work with someone that can help me both with my mindset and my strategy. And so over the next 12 months, because they’ve got that guidance, because they have really a blueprint on what to do, they know where they’re going, the result of that is they end up putting a system in place that allows them to be in front of their ideal clients basically on demand.

And part of that process is crafting an irresistible offer to their clients. It’s nailing their messaging, really understanding who they’re talking to, what they’re offering, and feeling really confident in that. And so this coach has full clarity in what they’re doing, and because this coach has done the work that builds their confidence, it builds their confidence in what they’re doing, and so they’re not second guessing every little thing.

And a byproduct of that is that they’re building their audience because they’re getting in front of their ideal client consistently. They’re getting more clients because of that and essentially, they’re making more offers and they’re helping more people.

And so, I want to ask you this. Just imagine and just really look at the reality of this. So when you think about these two coaches, again, in the same niche, they do very similar coaching, based on what we just talked about, which coach do you think is going to hit their goals faster?

Is it coach A or coach B? So, I think it’s pretty obvious, right? Coach B. But what I see happen is that most coaches fall into coach A. And it’s because they’re afraid to make those bigger decisions, those business-altering decisions that can really quantum leap their business.

And I see so many instead choose to play it safe and choose to stay as coach A. But what happens is that you’re later then – they realize that they’re pretty much where they started, so at that point, then it gets a little bit more dire. The situation is probably a little more dire and they say, hey, I’ve got to do something, I’ve got to do something quick.

And now there’s an added pressure to that, not to mention all of the negative self-talk that they’ve spiraled into probably over the last year because they’re not really getting the coaching and managing the mindset and keeping themselves in a strong place mentally.

And so, what happens is because we initially made what we perceived as the safe decision as coach A, we’re actually putting ourselves in a more dangerous position down the line. And so, I wanted to give you that example so that – to really demonstrate and pull back the layers as to what actually is going on.

And when we really look at, for example, in the coach A scenario, it’s because there’s some sort of fear that’s driving that decision. So, it might be some common ones that I think are very common for coaches in that scenario are what if this coaching program doesn’t pay off? This seems like a lot of money, what if this doesn’t pay off?

Or it might be I don’t have the funds right now. I want to be able to make the money first before I invest. And maybe they’ve had an experience with a different program and they didn’t get the results they wanted so now they’re carrying that into this – they’re bringing that into their new – how they’re approaching all of the programs going forward.

And at the end of the day, all this is is just fear, and it’s really a lack of fear in the what if. And the problem is that when we’re in this place, we’re not putting ourselves in what I call the game. We’re not putting ourselves on the court. We’re not putting ourselves in even a practice position to even get better, to even do the things that are going to be the things that actually grow our business.

So the first decision that I see a lot of newer coaches make that again, when you break this down, it’s a decision that actually, yes, while on the surface it appears to be a safe kind of responsible decision, but the reality of this is that it’s actually putting them in a position where they’re losing money.

Because by not putting themselves on the court, by not properly launching their business, by not getting the full clarity that they need, they’re actually losing revenue, losing money that they would have been making much, much sooner by doing the things that are going to make them money.

And so, I want to share with you all a little bit about my own experience with this as it relates to what I just explained. So, some of you have listened to the podcast might have heard me talk a bit about my background prior to launching my own coaching practice.

And so, if you’re new to the podcast, if you haven’t heard me talk about that, prior to launching my own practice, I had worked in higher ed for 15 years. And during that time, I had worked my way up the ladder and I had what I thought at the time was my dream job.

And so when I transitioned fully into my business, for me, I was highly motivated to get things moving because the truth was I was coming off of a high level leadership executive level position that quite honestly paid me very well. So, having worked for many years at that level, my family, myself, we were accustomed to me making a certain level of income.

And so, when I launched my business, I knew that yes, it would take a bit of time to get things moving. But I also thought at the time that I could get things – I was pretty confident that I could get things moving within a couple of months.

And what happened was that I quickly learned that there was so much more to launching a business that I didn’t know. And so even though I was enrolling clients, it wasn’t still at the level that I really wanted, and I knew that I hadn’t really found my groove yet and I knew that where I wanted to go, it wasn’t actually the type of coaching that I was doing initially, but I knew that whatever that was, that I wanted to find it fast.

And I can remember even during the certification program, when I got certified as a coach, I can remember that I was looking at everything through the lens of how can I speed this up. And what happened was I hit a point where I realized that in order for me to go fast, to get to where I wanted to go, it became very clear to me that I needed to invest in coaching and I needed to invest in coaching at a high level because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. 

And so that’s what I did. I decided to put myself on the field and I decided to put myself in an environment where it forced me to grow beyond my current level. And I decided that I was going to learn as much as possible about building a coaching business and then take and implement that advice from the people that had the results that I wanted.

And I knew that in order for me to go fast, that it was going to require investing at a level that didn’t feel comfortable at the time. But I decided that, again, in order for me to get where I wanted to go, that that was the path. And so, I chose to go all in. I chose to invest at a high level, even though at the time it felt very risky. There was no certainty with it.

And I share that with you because I decided – and I think this was a really critical decision that I made. And as I was thinking about this topic today, there have been some really critical decisions. There have been some really critical decisions that I’ve made in the last couple of years that have resulted in helping me grow my business to the level that it’s at. And had I made different decisions; I know 100% without a doubt I wouldn’t be here today.

So, one of those decisions that I made was that I wasn’t going to waste time. I wasn’t okay with losing money. I wasn’t okay with not getting proper knowledge, getting the proper knowhow, you know, putting myself in a position where there was some accountability and, you know, I was getting direction that I knew I needed so that I could move much quicker.

And the result of all of that was just that. And the great thing is, now I get to teach my clients the same. So, even though at the time, both of my children, my son was very young. I had my son, literally, I was pregnant with my son when I launched my practice. So, my son was young. He was a baby. And my daughter, she was a preschooler.

I didn’t let that stop me. I didn’t let any of that slow me down in any way. And I remember one of my mentors talking about this, about the importance of making decisions from the version of you that already has what you want, so really making those decisions from the future version of yourself. And I’ve talked a lot about this.

And so, that was a really important decision that I made, to make that level of decision, to make that commitment to my business, to my business growth, that I wasn’t okay with just taking it slow and just settling, right?

So, when I think back to that time when I was questioning whether or not I should invest at such a high level, when I thought about that answer from the version of me that was making multiple six figures, that had the successful practice, that has the growing business, that had the wonderful clients that I have today, 100%, the answer was absolutely 100% yes.

And I think this was another really critical decision that I want you all to get is that once I made that decision to go all in, once I made that decision to commit, I never went back and questioned it. So, even though in some cases I wasn’t getting the results always that I wanted, in some cases it did take a little bit longer than I wanted for certain things, I never questioned.

I never regretted investing at a high level from the outset. I never regretted paying someone to help me get to where I wanted to go. And I actually credit that experience, I credit those decisions as absolutely the reason that I’m here talking to you today, that I was willing to go there, that I was willing to take the quote unquote risk and put myself in a position that felt very, very uncomfortable at the time, that had no guarantee.

And so much of what I contribute today to my own growth was that, was putting myself in that position. And so, I made the decision at that time that I was going to get high-level coaching, that I was going to get the highest level mentoring that I could and I decided that I was going to be successful, no matter what, that I was going to go through the process and implement everything that I needed to and that I wasn’t going to allow myself to stay comfortable.

And so, when I look back at that – and I’ve shared this before, but again – that was truly a future gift that I gave myself. I’ve talked about this in previous episodes. And today, I’m so grateful to that version of myself that put myself out there, that chose to put herself in that environment.

Okay, so the next thing I see so commonly with coaches but aren’t getting the results, aren’t getting things to where they want them to be at and they’re suffering because of it is because they’re not treating their business, they’re not being the leader their business needs of them. And more specifically, what I see is they’re not taking full ownership and full responsibility for the results that they have.

And what’s happening instead is that there tends to be a lot of blame that’s happening, a lot of looking externally and trying to find fault with things externally. And in a lot of cases, there’s this justification that is happening on why the results aren’t there yet.

And so, there’ s a lot of energy that gets spent in this frame of thought. And so, what I want to offer to you all today is that if you really want to speed things up, which I’m guessing that you do if you’re listening to this podcast, it is critical that as a business owner, that you’re taking full responsibility for your results and you’re taking responsibility for the lack of results that you have.

Because in every single scenario, there is no exception here, the problem is always within. It’s always within ourselves. So, as the leader of your business, you are directly responsible for your results. No one else is. And the sooner you start taking responsibility for the results that you have, the sooner you can change it. Once you can understand, and I mean understand not from a theoretical level, but really understand that you are the source of your results, it’s only then that you can change it.

Alright, the next decision that I see so many newer coaches make – and this is a tricky one because I think this one in most cases is so unconscious. It’s a decision that we really make unconsciously. And that is really not honoring our time. It’s really pouring our energy and our time into what I call consumption mode.

And it’s tied to what I just talked about in so many cases because what happens is, we desperately want results because we’re desperately seeking those results. And, as a society, we’re conditioned to expect results immediately, ASAP in our culture. What happen is, we start believing the lie that we’re missing something.

And when we start to believe that, we start looking again at things outside of ourselves for the answer. We start believing that if we just look a little bit harder, that we’ll somehow find it. And so, what happens is we start listening, we start reading all of the things. And before we know it, all of our time is being spent quote unquote getting ready to get ready, so to speak. And we’re not actually implementing and moving forward at the pace that we really need to.

And the danger with this is that – and I actually think this is a bit of a problem in the industry and it’s becoming more of an issue, is that because there’s no shortage of information, it’s very common that we confuse information and educating ourselves with implementation.

And I tell you this because for a time, I certainly myself found myself in this place where I felt like if I didn’t listen to a certain podcast or I didn’t listen to a certain thing or read a certain book that was recommended by a certain guru, that I would be missing out. And so, I was always thinking and searching for the answer outside of myself because I didn’t want to miss anything.

But here’s the reality to that. In order to really have success in this business, it is going to require an immense level of personal growth. It’s going to require an immense level of focus. It’s going to require an immense level of mastery, both in your craft as a coach, but also in the things that are going to build your business, like your marketing.

So, that means giving things enough time to actually work before jumping to the next strategy I really, really important. And so, part of this is being able to constrain your focus and become laser-focused on the things that are going to get the biggest results in your business. And it really means simplification and going all in and going deep on a certain strategy, on a certain process that fits within your business model, that fits within your alignment.

And so, I share this with you because, again, this is probably one of the things that I see that trips up most newer entrepreneurs is really getting sucked into all the things and feeling like they need to implement everything all at one time. And what happens is, you’ve heard me say this time and time again, we’re then throwing spaghetti at the wall and we’re not really mastering anything.

So, I hope you found this episode useful. I really want to encourage you all to take a moment as you’ve been taking in this podcast today and really looking at what decisions you’re making and really questioning them and looking at whether or not they’re actually causing you suffering in the long run, or whether they’re actually helping you get to your goal faster.

Alright, so, I want you all to have an amazing week. Take care. We’ll talk to you all soon. 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 atamandakarlstadcoaching.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.