How getting the right support made my life and biz infinitely better (and it can do the same for you!)
I remember the conversation I had with my boyfriend (now husband) around investing in support in my biz.
“And you really think this is THE THING that is going to get you the results you want?” he asked.
A little strongly worded for someone who isn't footing the bill, I remember thinking. (I’ve kept business and personal finances separate from the very beginning and that’s been the best decision of all time, but a story for a different day).
He had every right to be skeptical.
I was investing in coaching what would equate to a few very nice vacations and, as with most investments, there’s some risk involved.
But there’s nothing quite like someone calling your belief into question to really push you off the fence one way or another.
“Yes. I do,” I responded.
The truth was that deep down, I knew I had already decided.
I knew that something had to shift in my business or I was never going to be able to fully embrace this pivot from design to coaching.
I knew that I would continue on my current path, diving even further into the design projects that were safe and comfortable, at the expense of my own happiness (and let’s be real, those around me too!).
I knew that there was so much more that was possible for me AND for my clients, but that I just wasn’t going to get there on the current trajectory that I was on.
Something had to change. Something had to shift. And I knew I couldn’t do it alone.
Investing in your business is a scary decision.
Not only that, but it’s a decision that is scary all over again the next time. It’s scary with the next new hire. With the next big expense. With the next tax bill that comes hand in hand with growth in your biz.
I’m not trying to make light of that.
But there comes a time when taking the leap, doing the uncomfortable thing, and committing to making it work is a hell of a lot less scary than staying stuck.
Those were my options. I could stay stuck. Or I could choose the way out.
I think you know which way I chose. ;) And just having had my best month EVER in my coaching business, you know it left me with more clarity, more confidence, more leads, more clients, more money, and more impact than ever before!
It’s no surprise that I have a really deep belief in getting the right support. I mean what kind of coach would I BE if I didn’t believe in support?!
But part of that is because I’ve seen the results of support time and time again, not only for myself and in my business, but for my Future You clients and their businesses too.
They’ve gone from having zero clients and an offering they were lukewarm about to generating sales on repeat in a new offering they’re fired up about!
They’ve gone from zero structure and stability (and the overwhelm and stress that comes with that!) to a solid, streamlined, processes behind-the-scenes that freed up time and energy for the work that moves their business forward the MOST and lands more clients with ease.
They’ve gone from a spotty marketing plan that they were only occasionally showing up for to a clear and realistic plan and the mindset they needed to make it a priority again and again in generating leads and landing sales.
They’ve had some pretty incredible transformations and while it’s easy to think, “Sure it worked for them, but those kind of results aren’t possible for me,” I’ve seen this happen enough that I know it’s 100% possible.
So this week, I’m diving into how getting the right support made my life and biz infinitely better and it can do the same for you IF you’re willing to step into it.
I realized I had to feel good BEFORE the biz results showed up
I think back to how freaked out I was about money when I invested in support.
Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t BECAUSE I invested in support that I was freaked. I had made peace with that decision and I knew it was the right one.
It was because that was my permanent state.
I had become so used to the ‘where is my next client coming from’ panic that it was just part of who I was. My money mindset was in the toilet. 🚽
I would close my eyes at night, only to have my head hit the pillow and that pit-in-the-bottom-of-my-stomach feeling of stress and anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks. Fun right?!
But the thing was, I didn’t even know there was another way. I think about how long I was living with those 3 am wake up calls of panic and simply thought, “This must be what every business owner feels.”
Because even when things were good and I had clients, I would still feel the panic. It was never enough.
And that was a red flag. 🚩
If I had known that would shift with the right support, I’d pay double. Seriously.
Within two weeks of the mindset exercise my coach had me working on, I was sleeping through the night. It happened THAT quickly.
But it was because I showed up and took the daily action that my coach suggested, which of course made it so much easier to see the results I wanted.
Because it isn’t enough to just THINK about doing the mindset work. You actually have to do it.
And nothing generates good ideas, empowers you to take action, and propels your business forward quite like a good night’s sleep.
I couldn’t sit in my own stories
You know I love me some business besties.
They’ve done incredible things for my business, including pushed me to step outside my shell, connected me to amazing women doing like-minded things, and landed referrals in my inbox.
You really can’t put a number on that kind of support.
But here’s the thing...
If your business besties are at a similar point in biz to you, or having similar struggles, sometimes they’re not the best at getting you OUTSIDE of a limiting belief and into a new one. Heck, they might even be reinforcing it without meaning to!
They can be the most supportive, validating circle in the world but there are going to be times in your biz when it’s worth more to you to be called on your own BS, rather than to be validated in your stories.
THAT is one of the reasons that having a mentor that’s able to identify your blind spots, see your stories, and help you step into a new belief can be so incredibly valuable.
For me that story looked like the belief that, “People didn’t want to talk to me” or “People don’t want to buy from me.”
Do you want to know what stood in my way of making sales more than anything else??? That belief right there. 👆
Because you want to know what doesn’t work so well? A coach that doesn’t believe people want to talk to her and a coach that doesn’t believe people want what she’s selling. Let alone the two combined.
THAT was the blind spot my mentor was able to spot from a mile away. And once I was aware of it, I was able to do the work to shift that belief and start landing more sales calls with more ease than ever before because turns out... people actually, really DO want to talk to me and buy from me and they want to do the same with you!
I started taking uncomfortable actions (and doing the mindset work that supported it)
FEAR.
Fear is what stood in the way of me taking action in my biz.
Fear that I didn’t know enough.
Fear I’d say the wrong thing.
Fear my clients would hate me.
Fear I’d land clients and lose all the freedom I had worked so hard to create for myself. (Don’t worry, I see the irony in that.)
Fear held me back from showing up for my people and really leaning into this pivot for the longest time and in so many ways.
And I SO feel for this when I see it in my clients because I probably understand how you’re feeling better than anyone else out there, having been in your shoes myself and having worked to transform all of these stories to actually get what I want.
But the good news is, I found a way out and you can too. Or rather, I got the right support and into a new belief.
The biggest mindset shift for me was realizing that the fear never truly goes away (nor does it have to) but I could take action right alongside my fear and consequently, see more of the results I wanted too.
I do an exercise called a fear inventory and it has literally changed EVERYTHING for me.
Each morning I write down all of the fears I can possibly think of.
Originally it was fears around getting my first client, but I blew through that really quickly with this exercise and well, when I realized how well it worked… I kept doing it.
For me that looks like writing down anything that feels scary or uncomfortable. Anything on my to-do list that I’ve been putting off. Anything in the back of my head that’s saying “you can’t do it.”
I write it down and I let it go.
Seriously, I don’t dwell on them. But I do move through them.
I find that removing the charge from those fears in this way has been life-changing because it allows me to take more actions that yield the results I want, even if the fear hasn’t completely dissipated.
And THAT has had an incredible effect on my business’s bottom line, yielding more leads, more clients, and more income than ever before.
The bottom line:
When you hire a business coach, you want the obvious results like growth and more money in your biz and I totally feel you on that but THAT is why we have to do the mindset work!
But so few of us are able to connect the dots on our own between how we’re showing up right now and the right thought work and actions that will get us there (or duh, you would have done it by now!).
Not only that but, KNOWING the right actions to take is completely different than TAKING the right actions in your biz.
And this is honestly where I see such a gap in business coaching.
Because instead of telling you what you ‘should’ be doing and sending you on your merry way, I get to the root of WHY you aren’t showing up in that way.
What are the thoughts that are going through your head that are making it that much harder for you to TAKE action? How can we step out of that belief and into a new one?
And honestly, that’s what my Future You clients rave about. Check out some of their wins and testimonials here!
Because when you address those thoughts FIRST, it makes it so much easier to place your energy on the right things in your biz, take more of the right actions, and see more of the results you want.
Ready to get to the root of why you’ve been unable to take action in your business and see more money in the bank?
Grab a spot for a clarity call and let’s talk about how we can work together so you can stop spinning your wheels, get you out of your own way, and see different, bigger, and better results in your biz!
Tell me in the comments below:
What’s one thought you’ve had that’s held you back from taking action in your biz? Bonus points if you tell us how you shifted that thought.
Photography by Jennifer Morgan Photography
