Ep #159: Timing & Your Business

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast with Amanda Karlstad episode number 159.

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 with me today. I hope you’re doing amazing. I just got back from a long weekend with my family. We took a few days off. The kids had a long weekend, a couple of days off of school. So we took a road trip. We spent some time with my family and celebrated our daughter’s birthday. It was so wonderful to spend time with my family.

So on the topic of time, I was thinking about all of you today, and I was thinking about today’s show. And reflecting on some of the coaching calls that I’ve been doing with my clients recently both in my mastermind program, which is my six month business accelerator program, as well as my High Level Mastermind, which is my 12 month business mastermind for coaches who are scaling their businesses to multiple six figures and beyond.

As I was thinking about some of the recent coaching calls that I’ve been having, I decided I wanted to talk to you all today about time. Specifically timing as it relates to building and growing and scaling your coaching business. So there’s a few things that I want to talk to you all today about as it relates to time.

One of the first aspects that I think is really important to understand and to talk about is firstly how we are wired as humans. What I mean by this is that it’s really important when we’re talking about timing, and growing a business, it’s really important to understand how our brain works, especially in relation to time.

So the fact is, is that as humans, our brains, our human brains crave certainty. Our brains crave certainty in terms of where we’re going, how we are doing things, the time it will take for us to do certain things, etc. So I want you to think for a moment about the things that you do on a daily basis, the things that you do in your life, the things that you do to run your business, the things that you do for your family, your friends, your loved ones, all of the things.

You can all probably think through your day, your week, and have a pretty good sense of where you need to be, what your schedule looks like, the time that you need to complete certain things or do certain things, especially the things that are important. So in our lives, timing matters. Timing matters, especially when you are an adult and when you’re responsible for not only yourself but for others. The amount of time that it takes to do certain things matters because we only have a certain amount of time.

So in many ways, we are conditioned to always be assigning time to certain things and having the certainty of time in our lives. The truth is that our brains love that. But here’s the difference. In the context of building and growing a business, one of the biggest challenges that I see for most coaches is in relation to time.

Specifically, the question always is how long will it take me to make six figures? Or how long will it take me to make a million dollars in my business? Or how long will it take me to see a return on let’s say your advertising? Whatever question it is that you might be thinking. What happens is that when we start to look for certain timeframes as it relates to our business where we can expect certain things to happen in the business.

I will say that there are definitely trends that do exist, especially in the coaching industry. For example, when I first started my own business, I grew my business to over six figures in less than a year. In fact, it was about nine months from when I started my business, when I launched my foundational program, and within those next nine months made over six figures in revenue.

So when I look at a new coaching business where a coach who is starting out and working to grow their business to their first six figures because I have personally done that, I have personally been there, and I’ve had many clients do this as well. I do think it’s very possible for coaches to get their business to that six figure mark in a fairly short amount of time.

However, I also want to be clear that in my own personal example, in order for me to create that level of results in my business, there were many things at play for that to happen. For example, I was very clear on who I was serving. I was very clear on my niche. I was very clear on my offer. I had a developed offer. I had a developed program. I had a very specific process that I used to help my clients. I also had done a ton of work, mindset work, and had full belief in what I was doing.

So in many ways I had evidence that I could look to that was all around me that it was also possible for me. So as a newer coach at that time, I was showing up. I was getting coached. I was showing up fully in my business. I was playing full out. I really coached myself and put myself in situations where I was being coached all the time. So the work, when I look back at the work that I did in those early days of my business, a lot of that work was focused yes on the strategy, but it was also focused on building and maintaining my belief and really cultivating my vision.

So while I was very focused on hitting that six figures, I was also very clear. I was also focused on ensuring that I was also doing the right things to achieve that goal. I was very focused on learning the skills that I needed to learn to be the level of business owner that my business required.

In addition to that, I also wasn’t putting conditions on it because I had decided full out that it was going to happen. So even if it wouldn’t have happened in that first year, that would have been okay because I had made the decision that this was going to be my second act. This was going to be my career. This was going to be what I had left my career for. So I share that with all of you because it’s really important for you to see how your brain right now is searching for certainty. How it is searching for certainty, especially as it relates to your business, especially as it relates to your safety.

This is a great thing, right. The most important job of our brains is to keep us safe. That’s a really, really important job. But it’s also really important to understand each of you has a wonderful brain, know that it’s always going to be on the lookout. It’s always going to be looking for danger.

It’s always going to be looking for those threats, and looking and anticipating and all the ways that you could potentially be hurt. Then sending those signals back to you through thoughts, through feelings, through emotions, through any way that it can in order to get your attention when it feels as if there could be a threat. Sometimes this might be a physical threat. Other times it’s an emotional threat. There are all different types of ways that it does this.

So one of the things that I’ve observed is that when you are growing a business, one of the ways that this plays out very often, and it’s very important to become aware of is that when you set goals in your business. Let’s say you have a goal to make $100,000 this year, or maybe it’s $500,000 this year or maybe even a million dollars this year.

Let’s just say that you set this goal and you have some idea on how you’re going to achieve this goal. So let’s say that you’ve laid out what that means in terms of how many clients you would need to enroll based on your price point, based on the program that you’re offering. Let’s say that you’re feeling pretty confident in achieving your goal, right.

So at the start of the year, you probably set a goal for your business, and you were probably feeling fairly confident at the start of the year. So you set that goal. If we fast forward, now that we are in fourth quarter, you might be finding yourself here right now in the fourth quarter of this year, and you might feel like that goal is no longer achievable. You might be feeling that it’s truly impossible for you to achieve the goal that you set at the beginning of the year by the end of this year.

So what I want to offer to all of you is that it can be very easy to fall into a pattern of thinking that achieving your goal and ending this year where you originally wanted to end it is no longer possible for you. It’s very easy to justify and to find evidence, especially if your year hasn’t gone as you had originally planned to give up on your goal, to decide that it’s no longer possible for you to achieve your goal that you had set out to achieve. The fact is that you can probably justify it in all sorts of ways.

So one of the ways that I see this play out so, so often is in the context of time. So this is where I want to really bring your awareness to the concept of time. Because so often as a coach, when you’re growing your business and you’re putting a timeframe on the achievement of certain goals in your business, whether that be revenue or clients that you work with, or any number of things, you have to also be extremely careful.

Because if you’re putting a timeframe on your goal, you also have to be in a pattern of thinking that you’ve also decided that you are not going to give up on that goal. That if you don’t achieve your goal in that certain timeframe that you’ve set. Meaning if you set your goal at the beginning of this year to hit it $100,000 this year or $500,000, and right now, you might only be halfway there.

The result is that you might be thinking that that result, that goal is no longer possible for you. So as a result of that, what I see happen is that you end up changing your goal. You end up lowering your goal because it feels more realistic, because it might feel more achievable. You don’t want to feel let down.

What I want to encourage you to do and think about differently is that rather than choosing to lower your goal, rather than choosing to lower what you think is possible for yourself. Instead, I want to invite you to stay and remain committed to your goal and consider changing your timing. So rather than lowering your goal and using your past evidence to determine your future, I want you to consider and instead to hold strong to your goal, and instead adjust your timing of that goal. Because I will tell you all there is a huge difference between the two. So this is what I’m inviting you to get very present to today.

One of the things that I see happen so often when coaches aren’t hitting their goals in the timeframe that they originally planned is that they lower their goal, or they change their goal. They start to make it mean things like maybe they’re not supposed to hit the goal. Or maybe it’s not possible or maybe they’re not meant to hit the goal in the first place. Or maybe they should even give up rather than adjusting the timeframe.

So the truth is that in order to win at this game, the secret is to stay committed to the goal. This is no matter what. That might mean that you may need to adjust your timeframe. But the question then becomes are you lowering your goals because you feel like you’re not achieving them in the timeframe that you wanted? What is the story that you have around this?

So I want each of you to think about this for yourselves. Are you using your timeframe or timing against yourself? Are you second guessing yourself or second guessing your goals because you’re not hitting them in a certain timeframe? Are you using not hitting your goals as evidence that maybe you’re not on the right track? If you are, I want you to instead adjust your timing.

I want to encourage you to instead think about how you may need to adjust your timing and start solving for the problem you need to solve in your business. Figure out why you’re not hitting your goals and solve for that problem. But don’t less than your goal. Don’t make it mean anything other than the reason you didn’t hit your goal in the first place.

So when you can look at this objectively, when you have a very clear understanding of the reason, the cause, why you’re not getting the results that you want, remember that business is always cause and effect. There will always be a very clear cause as to why you’re either hitting or not hitting your goals.

But it’s when you start to attach meaning as to why. Whether you’re not hitting your goals fast enough, or it’s not happening in the timeframe that you need it to happen or think you need it to happen. I want to encourage you to look at this and get honest about it. Ask yourself am I staying committed to my goal? And am I open to shifting my timing? Or am I making not hitting my goals in a certain amount of time mean something about myself or mean something about my business or mean something about my ability to reach my goals?

This is a really important question that I want to encourage all of you to really look out for yourselves because one of the things that I see happen is that when goals are not being achieved by certain deadlines, by the original time that was set when the goal was made, so many coaches use their past evidence and current circumstances as reasons to lower their goals or to give up altogether.

So I want to offer to you to really question are you giving up on this goal because you’re not hitting it in a certain amount of time? If that answer is yes, then also remember you have the option to decide to remain committed to that goal no matter what. No matter if it takes you twice as long to achieve that result. It might take longer to achieve your goal.

Which brings me to the next point, are you truly committed to your goal no matter what? Or are you only committed to your goal based on the timing that you’ve assigned to your goal? Again, this is a really important question. Are you willing to do what it takes for as long as it does take? Or are you choosing to put a manufactured timeline on yourself or on your business or on your clients?

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have time associated with achieving your goals. I do think in order to set good goals that there should be specifics around your goals. What is it that you want to achieve? What timeframe do you want to achieve that by?

The problem comes in is when you’re in a situation where maybe you’re not on track, or maybe you didn’t hit that initial goal, or maybe you’re starting to feel like it’s not possible. The problem comes in is when you decide to lower that goal, when you decide to lower your standard, or even worse if you decide to give up completely. So I want to encourage all of you listening to remember that your desire, your desire to achieve your goals is evidence enough for you to achieve them.

So my friends, if you’re in a place where you think you should be farther ahead, if you are frustrated that you’re not hitting your goals in the timeframe that you had hoped, if you’re questioning whether or not you can achieve your goals, and even questioning what it is that you want to accomplish, I want to encourage you to keep going. I want you to recommit yourself to your goals. I want you to choose to stay committed to your goals, and adjust your timing if you need to.

So don’t lower your goals. Don’t lower your standards for what it is that you want to achieve. Know that everything you desire is 100% available to you. You do have what it takes. So stay committed. Adjust your timing if you need to. But no matter what, do not give up. You are meant to achieve greatness. I know you can do it. All right, my friends. Have an amazing week. I’ll talk to you all next week. 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.