Ep #25: Why the World Needs You Now More Than Ever

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast, Episode number 25.

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. First and foremost, I hope as you’re listening to this podcast you and your loved ones are staying healthy and well wherever you are. Myself and my family, we are here all at home and I’m happy to report that we are all doing fine.

So, given the current pandemic and the, quote unquote new normal that we’re all navigating, I decided to devote today’s episode and decided to do a series of episodes going forward on how to navigate through and how to move forward, how to really weather this storm and how to be successful in your business despite this new normal, despite what’s happening in this world.

And here’s why. Because I believe now, more than ever, as coaches, it is our time. I believe that if you’re a coach, it is your time to rise up. It is your time to bring your work to the people who need it most. Because the fact is that the world needs your work.

The world needs your value. The world needs your expertise now more than ever. But at the same time, I know many of you are feeling uncertain about so many things.

I know you’re feeling uncertainty about your health, about your family’s health. You’re feeling uncertainty about your business, uncertainty about the economy, all of it. And I want to tell you that, right off the bat, this is normal. It is okay for you to feel uncertainty about what’s going on.

But what I want to offer to you today and what I want to really focus our conversation on is to share with you some advice, some considerations that I think can really help you navigate this current moment, where we’re at in this global crisis. Because in this moment, again, now more than ever, we as coaches, I believe we are leaders.

And for any of you that have been listening to this podcast for any amount of time, or have worked with me or know the work that I do, you know that this is one of the core foundations that I teach in my programs, that I teach my clients, that I coach my clients on all the time is how to lead themselves, how to lead their business.

So, right now, I believe that as coaches, we need to be stepping up in an even stronger way and helping those, helping others navigate this situation, navigate their mindset, their response to what’s happening in the world. And as business owners, it’s more important than ever that you stay informed, that you understand from a business perspective what this means to you and your business.

So, I want to start this conversation by first sharing with you a few things that I know where helpful for me to think about this week, especially earlier on once things started to escalate very quickly here in the US. And I want to share some of these key considerations with you here today.

And so, to start off, I want you to see that as a coach, as a business owner, you have an opportunity now more than ever to serve your clients at an even deeper level. And I will tell you that this is something I’ve spent the majority of my week thinking about; thinking about how I can serve my clients on an even deeper level, how my clients can serve their clients on an even deeper level.

Because in this uncertainty, in this time of unrest, you have an opportunity right now to assess how you’ve been serving your clients and assess how you can serve them even better, how you can meet them even more to where they’re at.

This is a really important question for all of you right now. And I want you to consider and to look at that yes, even though businesses like restaurants, gyms, yoga studios, virtually any business that’s a brick and mortar business is no doubt feeling the economic effects of this.

But at the same time, I want you to consider how our new economy is being created. It’s literally being shaped in this moment, in this time. I mean, let’s take our school system as an example here in the US. Right now, pretty much every kid, every child, every college student is going to be learning in a virtual environment at least for the next few weeks, if not for the remainder of the school year.

And I’ll give you an example of this. Just yesterday, we were able to stream into my son, who mind you is two-and-a-half years old, we were able to stream into his music class at his preschool. How amazing is that?

I have to tell you guys not only how cute it was to see him point to his teachers and to some of his friends, his classmates from preschool that he saw on the computer. But it was so cute to see him be able to join in and sing the songs that he would have been singing had he been in school that morning.

And I want you to see that this is our new reality, at least for right now. But think about the innovation. Think about the new businesses that are being created right now that are responding to this situation that is ultimately going to move our economy forward and lead us and innovate us into the future as a result of what we’re experiencing right now.

And the truth is, had we not been in the situation we’re in, this wouldn’t be happening. We wouldn’t be questioning, as an example, our school system. Schools likely wouldn’t be questioning their delivery methods. They wouldn’t be exploring new technologies like Zoom that they are now.

So, literally, the school system at all levels, from preschool all the way into higher ed, in this moment, is assessing, is reevaluating, is preparing for how we’re going to educate our youth in the future. And I have to tell you, as a parent with children that are in the school system I’m invested in that process. I’m invested in helping support that for my children, for the youth at large.

And so, when you think about this, this is actually a pretty amazing thing. And secondly, I want you to consider how critical it is for you right now in this moment to be putting in place what I talk about all of the time, and that is having a holistic growth strategy in place for your business.

So, for those of you that might be new to this show, I encourage you to go back to episode number three. I talk all about what a holistic growth strategy is and why it’s important. But let me also explain if you are new.

What I mean by that is having a holistic growth strategy is having the systems, having a process in place, having a strategy that is designed to help you grow your business, market your business, reach your clients. And let me give you an example of this.

With the current restrictions in place around the world, especially if you’re a coach and you’ve been building your business on speaking engagements or events or really anything that relies on face to face interaction to build our business – that could be networking events, different types of strategies like that, you’re probably thinking and looking at the fact that your primary strategy, your primary way of reaching clients that those meetings aren’t happening.

None of those events are going to be happening for a while. So, for you especially, it’s critical that you have a marketing system in place that allows you to market your business to reach your clients so that you can actually serve your clients. This is why having a holistic growth strategy in place is essential.

And I will say that unless you have a holistic growth strategy in place, a strategy like I teach and I help my clients implement in their business, it’s going to be extremely difficult for you to weather this storm. Unless you put a strategy I place and a system that allows you to reach your clients.

And so, what I want to offer to you is that now more than ever is the perfect time. As you’re confined to your home, as you have the extra time now to learn the skills you need to learn, to learn how to implement these types of systems in your business, to learn how you can leverage your time and put a strategy into place and the systems that are going to support your long-term growth.

It’s critical, you guys. And I want to share that I was on a coaching call this week, meeting with my own mastermind. And it hit me how truly invaluable having this type of system in place is, having this type of process is to the health of an online coaching business.

And I couldn’t help but take pause for a moment and think about how grateful I am to have this knowledge, to be able to teach this process to my clients, to see the results of having a process like this in place for both my own business and for my clients, to be able to reach clients virtually anywhere in this world.

And I have to tell you, I looked around that Zoom call. The fact that there were over 20 high level coaches in that virtual room that because we’ve implemented these types of systems in our businesses, because we’ve been able to put these strategies in place that have allowed us to grow our businesses to a high level, which frankly put us in that room, it’s having these strategies that are going to allow us to sustain, that are going to allow us to serve our clients on that deeper level, that are going to allow us to quickly pivot where we need to and ultimately put even more value into the world.

And I have to tell you what a powerful moment that was for me, that a powerful conversation that was. And that’s what I want to bring to you today. And that’s what I’ll be focusing on as we move forward because I want you to understand the importance of having this type of strategy, having this type of system in your business, not just now but for the future of your business, for a year from now, for two years from now.

Because the seeds that you’re planting right now are going to bear fruit tomorrow and in the coming months. And this is really important for you to understand as a business owner.

Alright, so, the third point I want to share is that even though we’re in this season, I want to share with you the thought that this too shall pass, meaning viruses, even though I’m not an expert on viruses, we know that viruses won’t last. So yes, even though in the current moment we’re confined to our homes, we’re dealing with all of these new restrictions, we’re continuously thinking about our health and the health of our families, I still want to remind you that this is going to be temporary.

Now, of course, I don’t know how long this will take. And yes, there are going to be some extremely challenging things that we’re going to have to navigate that are ahead of us. But I want to remind you that it will pass. There is a season for everything.

Take the seasons for example. Most of you know I live here in Minnesota. So, right now, it is technically still winter. But in a few weeks, it’s going to turn into spring. And that’s just nature. That’s a law of the universe.

And we can’t argue that. So, yes, we can have winters or we can have seasons that are more harsh than seasons before. But the fact is that spring will always follow winter, always, just like dawn always follows night, always, in every case. So, it’s going to be the same here.

And I want you to consider this. Given the fact that we are at home, that we have so much more downtime, that this is the time now, again, more than ever where you have the opportunity to sharpen your saw, and what I mean by that is now is the time, as a coach, where you have again such a great opportunity to learn, to study, to become an even stronger business owner.

I feel very strongly about this because here’s the deal; you can choose to sit at home and hit the refresh on your phone every 10 seconds and you can choose to stay in the chaos and you can ultimately be feeding your brain chaos, 10 seconds after 10 seconds after 10 seconds, or you can choose to channel your energy. You can choose to channel your focus into how you can serve moving forward, how you can keep moving forward, how you can take this opportunity of having more time, to sharpen your skills.

And the truth of the matter is that wherever we’re putting our focus, wherever we’re putting our energy, that is what we create. And I’m going to be going much deeper into this in some coming episodes. It’s really important to understand on a vibrational level how this works.

I need you to understand that everything is energy. Understand that our thoughts are energy, that our words have energy. And I want you to ask yourself, and be honest about this, where are you putting your focus? Where are you putting your energy?

Because right now, more than ever, it is so important for you to be standing guard at the door of your mind. And what I mean by that is, every single day, taking stock of and looking at what you’re putting inti your brain, what you’re putting into your brain today. Was it productive? Was it focused on creation? How can I create even more value for my clients?

And be honest with yourself about it because the reality is that your mindset right now, using the tools that you have, that you teach, is going to be even more critical for you and for your business and how you ultimately move through this.

So, something I really want to encourage you to amp up right now is any self-coaching practices that you do. Amp up your study. Double down on ensuring that you’re putting your oxygen mask on first so that you can help those around you.

And I want you to consider doubling down on any daily practice, anything that helps you build, develop, and really sustain the right mindset right now. And I want to be clear that I’m not saying to not stay informed. I’m not saying that you don’t keep yourself updated on what’s going on. In fact, I’m saying the opposite.

It’s very important for your health and the health of your family to stay informed. But what I’m saying is this; don’t feed into the chaos. Don’t feed into the uncertainty. You can choose to be peaceful. You can choose to be productive. You can choose that you’re going to use this extra time to not only work on yourself, but work on your business and serve others at an even higher level.

I don’t want you to lose sight of your goals. I don’t want you to allow yourself to be overcome by fear. And I want you all to recognize the opportunity that is in front of you right now because, right now, you do have a choice in how you respond to what’s going on.

And the truth is that there’s a lot of reaction happening in the world. And reacting is very different from responding. So, if you feel like your emotions are all over the place, it’s time to take a bit of a step back and question what’s going on in your brain because those emotions that you’re feeling are coming directly from your thoughts, whether you’re conscious of them or not.

And right now is a time when we need to be fully invested and fully curious about what we’re giving space to in our minds because what we see in our minds is what we create. And there are a lot of people right now that are creating the worst-case scenario in their brains. They’re creating emotions like fear and anxiety. But I want you to see that you have a choice right now in this moment.

You can operate from a state of fear and frankly go backwards in your business. Or you can choose to operate from a place of clarity, from a place of gratitude, that you have your health, that your family has their health, that you have a roof over your heads, that you have the extra time, that right now, you have a business that you can operate fully online with no restrictions as far as being able to reach clients and achieve your goals.

So, I’m offering you to not buy into the fear. Do not buy into the worst-case scenario. There is so much opportunity as a coach right now. The world literally needs what you have to offer. Now is the time to rise up. Now is the time for you to get your work into the world. Now is the time to put that funnel in place so you can market your business. Now is the time to show what you’re made of and help others navigate what they’re not able to navigate on their own.

And I want to offer to you that you are absolutely without a doubt 100% made for this. This is 100 absolutely without a doubt your time. Your time is now. Let’s go. Make it an amazing week. I love you all. Talk to you all again very soon. Take good care of yourself and take good care of your loved ones. I’ll talk to you all again very soon. Take care, bye-bye.

Hey, before you go, I have something amazing I want to share with you. To celebrate the launch of the show, I’m going to be giving away three free VIP Strategy Sessions where I’ll be diving deep into your business and helping you put a strategy in place for the next 90 days, so you have a real game plan on how to create results in your business, and finally gain momentum.

I’m going to be giving away one free VIP Strategy Session, the same VIP Strategy Session I offer to all of my highest-level clients, to three lucky listeners who subscribe, rate, and review this show on Apple Podcasts. Visit amandakarlstadcoaching.com/podcastlaunch to learn more about the contest and how to enter. I’ll be announcing the winners on the show in an upcoming episode. Thanks so much.

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.