117 | What I’d Do Differently If I Were Starting My Coaching Business Today

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Hello and welcome to Women in

the Coaching Arena podcast.

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I'm so glad you are here.

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I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor

and ICF accredited coach

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

and I help coaches to

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build brilliant businesses.

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I know that when you prepare to enter

the arena, there is fear, self doubt,

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comparison, anxiety, uncertainty.

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You can tend to armor up and

protect yourself from vulnerability.

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In this podcast, I'll be sharing

honest, not hype, practical and

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emotional tools to support you to make

the difference that you are here for.

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Dare greatly.

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You belong in this arena.

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Hello.

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Welcome to episode 1 1 7 of

Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I am so glad you are here.

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I have been away on a retreat in

Spain, which was wonderful, and it

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helped me to really think about my

business and where I wanting to be

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and what I wish I made more time for.

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So today I want to have an honest

conversation, the kind I wish

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someone would've had with me

sooner when I was starting out.

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And if I were to start my coaching

business all over again, there are

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some things I would do differently

and i'm always hesitant about these

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kind of podcasts because in a way

you need to go through those things

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to be able to get to the other side.

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And I never regret anything

that's happened because I do

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think that's where we learn.

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But hindsight is a brilliant teacher,

and if sharing these lessons saves

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you time, money, and mental energy,

then I will consider that a win.

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So let's get started.

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My first one is don't have deep business

conversations with friends and family.

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I used to have a lot of negative

conversations with my family.

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My husband used to say, why don't

you just tell them it's going fine?

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Because they just don't get it.

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It's like comments from my

dad of 'any money coming in?

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How much are you making?'

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You know, when you've started

your business the day before.

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It's just not like that.

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And then my sister used to say.

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Why would anyone pay for coaching?

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Because she's just not that type.

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She's very matter of fact and has never

had a coaching session in her life.

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She's just a get on with it type of

person rather than a reflective person.

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And it was often the same with friends,

maybe they were thinking, why would

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you do that or they were maybe secretly

competitive because they wanted to

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do that and were too nervous to, so

all in all, there were just loads of

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things dragging me down that I could

have avoided by finding my own group

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of people who really did get what

it was like at that point in time.

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It's a bit like when you have a baby

and you start your NCT group and

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they are the best people to talk to.

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Whereas you can talk to your

mother-in-law and they'll say,

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oh, don't worry about all that.

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They'll eat when they want to.

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Or some really annoying generic comment

when you are worried sick that your

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baby hasn't fed for three hours.

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They don't remember what it was like to

be in that moment when maybe your baby

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hasn't fed for a few hours and you are

worrying about this, that the other,

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'cause they're through it and they're

not always able to really empathize and

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understand what it's like in that moment.

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So now what I would do

is just keep it light.

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Say, yeah, it's going really well thanks.

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And then move on.

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Because really what you

need isn't their validation.

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It's those business friends

who absolutely get it.

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And for me, I was really fortunate

that Covid happened for, I wasn't

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fortunate that Covid happened, but I was

fortunate that it meant that I didn't

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see my friends and family very often.

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I didn't speak to anyone very often,

and so for me that was the real moment

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when I could just tune into me and

listen to myself and work behind the

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scenes rather than sharing before the

fruits of my labor have been delivered.

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So if you are starting out, I would

recommend finding your people and

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don't expect your personal circle

to be your business boardroom.

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My next point, and this is one that I

actually have learned time and time again

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even very recently in my business, is

that I need to pay money to pay attention.

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It might feel uncomfortable 'cause I

know you often haven't got money at the

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start of your business, but genuinely,

if I don't pay, I don't pay attention.

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I have learned everything I've learned

from investing in that learning.

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Whether that's a commitment to me,

whether that's me putting the energy

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in, in terms of both money and in

terms of time, business mentorship,

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a course, even fashion advice.

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Once I pay for it, I commit.

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I show up, I implement.

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And free advice can be amazing, but

it's easy to listen and it's much

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harder to action consistently, and that

consistency is what's gonna help you.

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So if you are hesitant to invest in your

business, ask yourself, would spending

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some money actually help you focus

and follow through to make it happen?

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For me, the answer is always yes.

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My third point is to borrow

other people's audiences.

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This is something I talk to

my clients about a lot now.

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I would build relationships

sooner, support others who maybe

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helpful to me, rather than try

and borrow their audience cold.

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Because it needs to be a win-win

for them to support you, and that

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can feel really hard at the start of

your business when you maybe don't

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have anything specific to offer.

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So think about how you can build that

relationship, offer value to them.

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Ask to contribute to their work.

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I've seen so many businesses

succeed massively using this tactic.

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Like for example, I used someone to

do some videos for me once for social

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media, and they grew their business by

going to all of the top creators and

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saying, I'll do your videos for free.

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All I need is for you to tag

me in when you share them.

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And the guy, I think he's called Danny,

his business literally exploded overnight.

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I saw Leah Turner's post about using

him, and she's on LinkedIn if you don't

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know her, and I immediately messaged

him saying, I'd like what she's had

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and I assumed that he was kind of

successful in business at that point.

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And now looking back, I see

he was just starting out.

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His first attempt at doing these videos

with me was a complete utter disaster.

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So despite me having to get doled

up and him asking me these questions

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that were gonna be for social

media, the whole thing failed.

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And he had to message me a

week later saying, I'm really

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sorry it all went wrong.

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The sound was terrible.

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It didn't record quite right,

so please, can we do it again?

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So I think the more you can be

brave, the more you can think, how

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can I add value to these people?

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The better.

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My fourth point is be

in it for the long game.

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If I could talk to my past me, I

would say it is gonna take time,

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but it's meant to take time.

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I am hosting an event in June, which

actually I need to tell you about.

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It's called Dare Greatly

in the Coaching Arena.

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It's gonna be on Thursday,

the 12th of June.

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You will find the link to sign up

to the wait list in the show notes.

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But I asked those who were

joining the wait list for that

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event, what they wanted, and.

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A few of the responses were things

like, I'd like a specific a hundred K

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roadmap to get me to a hundred K within

12 months, and whilst I try my best to

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give that type of roadmap in my programs.

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You need to be real enough to know

that there are ups and downs and you

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will, for example, follow the roadmap,

launch your thing, it will fail.

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Launch it again, and it does well

launch it again and it does even better.

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Things take time and you are

gonna have to follow the roadmap.

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Fail, win, learn every

single step of the way.

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So commit to mastery.

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Know that you are not gonna

get this finally figured out.

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There is so much to learn.

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It is a craft that you commit

to just like your coaching.

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You are never done with any of it.

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Mastery takes time.

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So remind yourself every step

of the way, you are not late.

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You are learning and just keep going.

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The people that succeed in business

are the ones who have held on

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when everyone else has let go.

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And to bring in my own analogy that

I say at the end of every podcast,

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which is be the wise gardener

who keeps on watering the seed.

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This came from a initial mentor of

mine who gave me this lesson and said.

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Everybody else will give up

and think it's not working.

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It's not working.

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And you need to be the wise gardener

who keeps on watering the seed.

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In other words, just like nature.

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You can easily plant those seeds and

think, oh, pointless, this is exhausting.

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Nothing's working.

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And those really, really clever people

are the ones who have planted six months

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ago, nurtured, pruned, done everything

that they can, pouring their energy

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into it with just trusting that their

work will pay dividends in the future.

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Okay.

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My final point is to

listen more, talk less.

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I would spend far more time listening to

others than brainstorming in my own head.

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For example, your niche statement,

your offer, because what can often

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happen is when you are behind closed

doors with clients, you will create

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the offer based on what they really

need versus what they think they need.

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And you think that would be a great thing.

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But actually everybody underestimates what

is required in every single area of life.

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So whether that is dieting, going to the

gym, building a business, being a great

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leader, everyone wants the five step

plan to get their ASAP and essentially

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you need to sell them the roadmap.

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Just like I will in my program.

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There is a clear roadmap.

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You need to have your niche offer,

build your marketing, build your

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website, build your email list.

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All of these things I can teach

you, but there is mastery involved

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and you will learn how to make

it better and better and better

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as the years go by in business.

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So essentially focus on your ideal client,

sell them what they want, and then when

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they are in your front door, then that is

where the deeper transformation can begin.

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So listen closely.

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Pay attention to the language people

use, create content and offers that meet

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them where they're at, and then walk

them into the real work that needs to

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be done in order to reach their goal.

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So I hope those lessons

were useful for you.

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Those are some of the things I

would do differently now that I

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have been in the game for a while.

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If any of this resonated with you.

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Do send me your message on LinkedIn

as Joanna Lott or Instagram as

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@joannalottcoaching, or even better.

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Take 10 minutes today to reflect

and ask yourself the question,

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what would you do differently if

you were starting again today?

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And what can you act on today so you

don't keep repeating that same pattern.

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So thank you for being here.

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And like I say at the end of every

episode, trust yourself, believe in

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yourself, and be the wise gardener

who keeps on watering the seed.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

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Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.