46 | Why this moment matters

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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, welcome to the 46 episode

women in the coaching arena.

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I am so glad you are here.

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Thank you so much for your

feedback on one of my earlier

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episodes of choose your hard.

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I actually listened back to the episode

a few weeks after I recorded it on the

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release date and wanted to sneak in and

quickly delete it before anyone listened.

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But I'm very glad that I didn't because

I had so many emails and messages

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thanking me for my honesty, saying

that you really resonate saying that

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you're really thinking about which

hard you want to choose right now.

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And no matter what option you go

for, that's what you need right now.

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And always be kind to

yourself in those moments.

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So today I am excited to have a

different slant on things as we are

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a few weeks into the new year now.

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So I am no longer feeling

the January blues.

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Today I wanted to talk about

why this moment matters.

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And why this very moment today, the

day you are listening is the perfect

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time to fully commit to your coaching

dreams, and your coaching business.

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So as we are a few weeks into January

now, depending on when you are listening.

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It's the perfect time to

commit to the long game.

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Lately, I've had quite a few experiences

with short-term thinking and I

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completely get it because I was exactly

the same early on in my journey.

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And I had no idea how

much I needed to learn.

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We can end up going into this thinking

we can just sort all this out.

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And what I really want to share

today is that it is an art

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form, just like your coaching.

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So just like that MCC coach who has

thousands of hours under their belt,

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which is why they're a great coach.

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You will not be a great

marketeer in the beginning.

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It is going to take thousands of

hours of practice for you to be

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great at building your business.

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So commit to the process, just like

you have committed to your coaching

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practice, knowing that every single

time you practice is an opportunity for

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reflection and deepening your learning.

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Knowing that you continuously

go on courses and have mentor

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coaching and do all of the

things to make that skill better.

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It's exactly the same in your business.

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So embrace the journey, knowing

that you will get better every

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single time you practice.

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So how can you create more

opportunities to practice today?

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Something we're practicing in my

group at the moment is storytelling.

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We have had several guest experts and

a copywriter come into the program, and

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it's been brilliant to share stories,

ask for feedback and commit to get real

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live feedback from the people that see

that post which will make you better.

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So just like you're coaching

and you being able to listen and

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reflect back, think about what

you could have done differently.

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It's exactly the same here.

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So go into this business building

journey, knowing that you will

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continue to grow and refine.

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And it is a practice just like coaching,

just like yoga, just like being fit.

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It doesn't suddenly happen.

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It's a journey and it

needs your commitment.

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My favorite role model Fabienne, who

I've talked about in a few other episodes

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has a program which is two years long.

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That is her shortest program

that you can work with her.

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And I actually love that, and I'm

not quite courageous enough to launch

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something like that yet because I

worry that people won't commit to

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two years, but I love the way that

Fabienne says getting to a hundred K is

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going to take a minimum of two years.

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And getting to a million, it's going to

take another two years minimum after that.

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And I'm sure it will take a lot longer

for most people too, but I love how

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she really sets that expectation.

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And in this online world of everyone

wanting quick results and not wanting to

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put the time in it's a true inspiration.

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Okay.

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My first point was to

commit to the journey.

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So 0.2 is to overcome any delay

with the power of immediate action.

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I talked on another podcast about

the law of diminishing intent.

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The longer that time goes on from you

having an idea to acting upon that idea.

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The less likely that

thing will ever happen.

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And the less likely you will act at all.

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So how can you get the idea

and take fast, messy action to

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get it out there in the world.

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I am doing a 30 day launch

program at the moment.

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So this is generally for people who

have a reasonably established business.

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They already have their

foundations in place.

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They may have an audience.

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They may already be having sales calls.

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But they want to have more, they

want to launch something really

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thoroughly really properly.

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And it's about fast, messy action,

not the longterm building the brand,

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which really does need to be done.

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But it's about just getting that

thing out there and overcoming

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delay and taking immediate action.

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The feedback from people is often

that they make so much progress.

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Because it doesn't allow

for procrastination.

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It's really fast paced.

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It requires you to take action every

single day to build your business.

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Obviously the action

people take is varied.

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And some people maybe just literally put

out the first ever social media posts.

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Other people may go to

networking meetings.

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Other people may run webinars,

obviously, whatever you do will

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have an impact on your results.

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But the best thing about this program.

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And in a way I don't always enjoy

running it because I think sometimes

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people can think they'll get the

result of my business of coaching

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program, which is the six month

mentorship from a one month program.

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And it's not like that.

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It's not about building your brand,

building your audience, all of the things

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that need to be done really thoroughly.

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It's really for different audience

who know the foundations, they have

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their things going on, but they

want to take massive action and

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launch something really thoroughly.

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So what is one idea that you have going

around in your head right now that

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maybe has been going around in your head

for several months or several years?

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What is one thing you can do today

to just move that thing forward?

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Send that email to someone.

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Call that person up.

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What is going to help hold you to

account to take action on it immediately.

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So I encourage you to pause this

podcast and do that thing right now.

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I know it's super difficult to

take action, especially when you

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are often on your own in this

journey of entrepreneurship.

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So let's use the power of

now to move you forward.

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Okay.

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So hopefully you have taken big

action or made yourself a note

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to do that after the podcast.

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My next point is that small

steps create big leaps forward.

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Again, the power of the offer to

market is every single day you do

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something to build your business.

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and I'm always really surprised at

how hard people find that, because

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I think what often happens is.

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We get super slow when

we have our own business.

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I mean, I do the same.

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Don't get me wrong.

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This is a reflection of me as well

as loads of other people I know.

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We allow ourselves to take

far too long to do things.

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And it's like, well, what

happened to the eight hour day?

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If you haven't got clients right now?

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Then we really should have eight

hours a day to market your business.

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And that is fair enough if you're

in your coaching business full

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time, which not everyone is.

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But often thinks yourself if you

had a manager right now, And you

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had to report to them at the end of

the day, what you achieved to build

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their business in that one day.

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And you had to warrant your salary.

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Every single day to show the

impact of the work you have done.

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How would you rate yourself

in a performance review?

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I feel like I get a lot done.

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But I still think I would

probably be on needs improvement.

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Maybe.

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Maybe I'd be fair because often it's

down to me to do the thing that I

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don't make decisions quick enough.

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I don't get enough done.

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I don't time block enough.

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I put a lot of other things

ahead of my business.

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Like I get super excited when

I have a day without calls.

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So then I go to the gym and I go

in the hot tub and fair enough,

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this is why we have our business.

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But I think sometimes, especially in the

early days, I am so much stricter now.

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We can't always be going out meeting

people for coffee in a working day.

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Like this is your working day.

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This is your job.

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Just like previous.

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Would you have been able

to do these things before?

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And how can you really try

and get the most out of your

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working day and out of yourself?

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For me that often means going

to a different location.

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So I'm not distracted by the

house work and all of the things.

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It means planning in advance.

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I started having Sunday planning

meetings with my husband, telling him

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what I'm doing each day, each week.

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Which is really helping.

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Cause I think often it's that

real granular accountability

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that makes such a difference.

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And just having someone to talk

to about the ins and outs of it.

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I am super excited that this week

in my program, I have taken on

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a new mentor coach, who has been

my personal one-to-one coach.

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She is going to be personally

contacting everyone in my program.

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Every single week to check in on them,

to make sure they are supported, to

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make sure that we know, for example,

when they have a webinar and how did

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it go, what could have gone better

to help them to constantly deepen

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their thinking, reflect on their

week, reflect on their priorities.

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I already have a mass of other

accountability in my program.

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But I am so excited for this more in

depth accountability because you are 95%

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more likely to be successful if you have

strong, weekly accountability in place.

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Again, my favorite person that I keep

mentioning Fabienne, who I've only met

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once, but I adore everything she says.

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Talks about the fact that new

business owners think they know it

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all and think they can do it all.

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And reasonably successful ones know

that they need a lot of help and

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a lot of accountability in place.

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And she said, millionaire business

owners, which is all she works with,

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have daily accountability in place.

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I know this from so many podcasts

and different things I listened to

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of super successful entrepreneurs.

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Amy Porterfield, for example, voice

notes someone every single morning

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saying what she's going to do that day.

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And every single evening

saying what she did that day.

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So there is so much proof of this

and that is why I'm so excited to

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bring this really, really strong

strategic accountability in my program.

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So I can think, okay, where

is this person struggling?

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How can I help move them forward?

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So it's going to really help me to be

more strategic in my own business and

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make sure that my clients continue to get

the best client results in this industry.

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Okay.

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So step one was commit to the journey.

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Step two was the power

of immediate action.

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Step three is the journey of goal setting.

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So setting goals is something that I

kind of struggle with because often you

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feel like, kind of, what's the point

it's so far removed from where I am now.

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And that is why, again, it's so powerful

to really set that goal and know that

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you will get so much closer to it

than if you never set the goal at all.

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So it's not about reaching the goal.

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It's about knowing that you are

getting closer every single day,

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I did vision board with Lara

Doherty a couple of years ago now.

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And I remember when I

created the vision board.

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It actually made me feel quite sick.

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And I didn't look at it for at

least a month after creating it

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because it felt like ridiculous.

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It felt so far removed from where I was.

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I had raise your voice

to make a difference.

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At the time I didn't have this podcast.

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So now it's funny that I have fully

stepped into it, but it has taken two

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years for me to really realize all of the

things that I had on that vision board.

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I had a lot about leadership and it's

been amazing to have case studies

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this year where clients have actually

all talked about my leadership.

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And as someone who has never seen

herself as a leader, It's really

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amazing to hear people say that

I'm a great leader of my community.

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And it's taken a lot

longer than I thought.

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And again, it's back to that first point.

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That we always underestimate how

long things are going to take.

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And I think now two years into

my vision board rather than

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the one year that I expected.

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I have kind of finally realized most

of those visions and I'm probably

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ready to create another vision board.

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So how can you stop today and

allow yourself a moment of looking

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back at where you started on

this entrepreneurial journey and

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reflecting on how far you have come.

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However long that is for you.

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What have you achieved in that period?

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Before you started did, you ever

think you would be where you are now?

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Often we have achieved the

dream that we set out to do,

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but we have moved the goalposts.

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So allow yourself this

moment to let it sink in.

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All of the challenges, all of the

lessons, all of the celebrations that

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you have had on this journey so far.

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Okay.

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So step four is making practical

steps to achieve your dream.

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So it's about breaking that

big goal into actionable steps.

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Instead of thinking I want an

entire content strategy and an

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entire months post created break

it down and think, okay, here's my

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first step to achieving that goal.

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I'm going to just overarchingly

map out my content pillars.

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For example, today.

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And tomorrow I'm going to do the

next step and the next step, rather

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than making that goal feel so

overwhelming and so impossible.

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And how can you share with

your accountability partner?

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If you have one what that tiny

next step is to achieve your dream.

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Okay.

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My final point is the art of the possible.

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I love this one because it's

something we often don't do.

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So if you are ever in scarcity mindset

and feel like it's never going to

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work, it's completely impossible

then make your brain search for

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examples of who it has worked for.

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Has it worked for someone?

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If it has worked for them,

it can work for you too.

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So take a moment now to think.

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Who does have what I want?

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what are they doing well?

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If you find that triggering,

then that's often because

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that person has what you want.

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And what I know from

reflecting on my own triggers.

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It's usually because they are doing

the things that I am not doing.

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So there was one person

that probably triggers me.

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I'm generally not a

comparison type of person.

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I just stick to my own thing

and I don't really look around.

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But there was one person who

I definitely found triggering.

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And when I reflect on why I found

this so triggering, it was generally

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because she was showing up way

bigger, way better than I was.

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She was speaking her mind.

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She was giving her opinions.

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She was speaking in places that I wanted

to speak in that I wasn't prioritizing

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getting a guest expert spots in.

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So often think about those own

triggers and see what they reveal to

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you about what you know you could be

doing in your business that maybe you

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are avoiding or not doing right now.

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And use that as inspiration rather than

comparison as to what is possible for

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you as well, because of it's possible

for them is possible for you too.

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So as we wrap up today's episode, let

me just summarize our five points.

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So firstly was commit to the journey,

know that this is a long-term project.

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This is not a five to 10 minute

or even five to 10 month project.

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Building a business is a huge project

and I would highly recommend you

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go into it with five to 10 year

mindset, not five to 10 month mindset.

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Point two was the power

of immediate action.

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How can you take action

on that dream today?

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Do not wait.

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If you wait more than 48 hours,

it's highly unlikely anything

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will ever happen at all.

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Our next point was set ambitious

goals, knowing that the point

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is not to reach the goal.

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The point is to go after the goal and

know that you will get way closer than you

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would if you didn't have the goal at all.

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Step four was to create practical

steps and share them with someone

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to make sure you take small steps

which is the root to your success.

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And step five is the art of the possible.

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Always be looking to confirm your

belief that this is possible.

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If it's possible for them

is possible for you too.

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So I hope this episode has left

you fired up to take huge action.

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Thank you so much for listening.

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I appreciate your time is your

most precious resource and I am

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so grateful for you being here.

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And as usual, I encourage you to.

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trust yourself, believe in

yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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: 00:18:53

Thank you so much for listening to this

episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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: 00:18:58

I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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: 00:19:05

That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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: 00:19:08

joannalottcoaching.com.

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: 00:19:11

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

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: 00:19:15

Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

322

: 00:19:17

Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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: 00:19:20

personally thank you for that.

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: 00:19:23

Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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: 00:19:28

who keeps on watering the seed.

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: 00:19:30

Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.