62 | No Excuses: Developing the Whatever-It-Takes Mindset

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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 62nd episode

of women in the coaching arena.

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I am so glad you are here.

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Today, I'm doing a slightly different

exercise and it's quite harsh for me.

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So it's called no excuses, developing

a, whatever it takes mindset as a coach.

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Because when you start a business,

it requires a lot of energy.

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And I think most people go into this work

because they want more work-life balance.

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And that's why I went into this work.

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But it's a bit like paying into

the value bank for a period.

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Before you get paid, you are going

to need to pay into the value bank.

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So I genuinely believe for your

first two years of business, it

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genuinely is a lot of hustle.

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You are going to have to learn a lot.

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You are going to have to give up things

in order to have a successful business.

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You are going to have to do

things like work in the evenings.

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Weekends, or get up early if

you don't want to do that.

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But there is going to have to

be some give in order to get

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to take from your business.

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So let's talk about some of the

key mindsets that I definitely

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embrace in my business and my

successful clients embrace as well.

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So firstly the hustle mindset, and

this doesn't mean burning yourself

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to the ground, but it does mean at

some periods you are going to have

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to put in a lot of time and energy.

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And then recuperate in the

evenings, weekends, holidays.

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Uh, further along in your business,

when you have done the building and

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you do have more time to recuperate.

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It's a bit like what I consider a launch

is a six week hugely time consuming

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process of showing up every single day for

six weeks, often, multiple times a day,

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often going live several times per week.

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There are times in your business

when you will want to launch and

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put that energy behind what you do.

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And it's really tough.

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And I hate the feeling that launching

creates in the coaches I work with.

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But I also do believe that sometimes

for things to really, really take off,

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we do need that intensified energy

behind what we are doing in order

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to really, really build momentum.

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If you took part in my recent

five day challenge, you will

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know what a launch looks like.

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So I showed up live for an hour every

single day for eight days on the trot.

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I emailed and sent messages

several times a day.

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I showed up on social media several

times a day for at least six weeks.

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I recorded this podcast every week.

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I blogged every week.

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I did a LinkedIn article every week.

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I spoke at live events.

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It was an intense period in my

business and I am glad it's done.

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I will not pretend that it was easy.

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But in order to get my Elevate program,

which is what I was launching at the

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time, off the ground effectively you

usually need to do more than just per

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post out saying here's what I'm selling.

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So these periods of intense activity

can drive your business forward rapidly.

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If you operate from a no excuses mentality

telling yourself I can, and I will watch

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me, then you will achieve more than

you could ever possibly have thought.

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I had a postcard saying I can, and I will

watch me when I first started my business.

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And I was, in my eyes,

rejected for an opportunity.

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And I remember thinking I

can and I will watch me.

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And that drove me forward for two

years at least in my business.

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I've actually completely forgotten

about it until I'm reflecting on it now.

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So if you have people that are

ridiculing you in your business or

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are not supporting you, then use that

as a driver for good and a driver for

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you and your no excuses mentality.

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Of I can, and I will watch me.

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During these hustle periods, you get past

perfectionism and paralysis analysis.

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The quicker you move, the more you

do, the less you will get stuck.

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When people say they're stuck, it

usually means they are not moving.

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They are not taking action.

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Because you cannot be stuck

if you are taking action of

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any sort, no matter how small.

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The name of the game is imperfect action.

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My first five day challenge actually

was called start coaching business now.

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Get perfect later.

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So it just shows I have always

taken this mentality in my business.

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Just get started.

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Anyway, you can in whatever you

are doing and fix things later as

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needed, but moving is so much more

important than getting things perfect.

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We will all need to balance this

hustle with feminine receiving

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energy to prevent burnout.

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But if you know, you are going to put

a dedicated amount of energy for a

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dedicated period, maybe 30 or 60 days.

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That could otherwise take years, then

know that there will be an end to it.

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And don't underestimate the

power of embracing this period

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of hustle in your business.

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I know that there is a huge

uproar against hustle and I'm not

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normally one to suggest hustling.

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But I do want you to succeed and

therefore I do need you to know

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that it is going to require a

lot more the most people realize.

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I have this program called offer to

market in 30 days, I haven't launched

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it for a little while, actually.

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But in that program, we essentially

do this process together.

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We go big for 30 days.

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And I don't like running it because

emotionally it does burn people out.

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Because for example, we suggest

posting every day, Monday to

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Friday for their business.

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And if you have never done that

before, then it's going to take

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a lot of emotional energy from

you to be able to do that thing.

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But that program has catapulted

so many of my clients forward

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for years in their business.

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Kate waterfall hill.

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Who's a leadership coach who now

posts on Tik TOK every day started

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that consistent journey using Tik

TOK as part of my 30 day sprint.

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I have another client who's joined

my business of coaching program now,

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who did the sprints back in January.

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And she has posted every

single day since then.

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And before that she had completely gone

offline and wasn't really doing anything.

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So despite the fact that I don't

really like it because I do

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think, yes, we need to hustle.

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But there is that delicate balance

because you genuinely might need to

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be more emotionally able to do that.

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But at the same time, I think you develop

that emotional capacity through doing.

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So, yes, it's a fine balance.

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I'm not saying work yourself into

the ground, but I am saying if your

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business isn't working, then it

might need more energy behind it.

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And have a think about how you can

bring a no excuses doing whatever it

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takes mentality into your business.

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The stop and start that I see a lot in

this coaching world is not something you

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could do if you were in an employed job.

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You would be sacked.

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So therefore it's interesting why we

are not surprised when our business

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is not thriving all the time.

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When we have perhaps made

excuses that there were other

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things going on in our lives.

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So we couldn't do anything

on the business for a month.

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And then we're surprised

why it's not working.

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And if we think about having a performance

development review, What would that say?

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What would your manager say if you

mentioned that you were feeling

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a bit down in the dumps and

things weren't going fast enough.

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So you decided to forget the whole thing.

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I saw a post from Steven Bartlett

today, which talks about doing say

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10,000 steps a day means you've

done seven marathons in a year.

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Tiny tiny steps make huge results.

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So even if you can't put a full day

into your business, Think about how you

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can just take one tiny move forward,

because like I say, you cannot stay

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stuck if you are moving forward.

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I'm super excited to have partnered with

a daily accountability partner recently.

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And we talk every single

evening at 5:30 PM.

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We plan our next day, and we check

in at the end of the next day, via

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phone to talk about how we got on.

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If we didn't do it, why didn't we do it?

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It's made such a difference and

something I was procrastinating on and

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pretending to myself that I was too

busy and I didn't have the time for.

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I managed to get completely done in one

day, which genuinely would have taken me

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probably two months if I hadn't committed

that that was what I was going to do.

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So really do think about what is going

to help you to actually do this thing.

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Back to your performance

development review?

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When are you going to fit the work in

that you were going to do in that period?

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Let's now talk about

cashflow in your business.

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Because I think there is this

shame around getting money from

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anything other than coaching.

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And when you first start your business

and even years into your business,

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to be honest, there are periods where

you will need to make some money.

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And if that is your priority right

now, then we need to think, how can you

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make the money to be able to continue

your business and keep you afloat?

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That might mean copywriting,

babysitting, freelancing, tutoring.

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There are so many other things

that you could possibly do.

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It might be getting a part-time

job, getting associate work.

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But whether it's your preference or not.

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At times in your business, when you

need cash, you might have to do things

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that you don't particularly want to do.

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And that isn't your absolute joy.

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It's a bit like my

offer to market program.

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I don't enjoy running that program

because it is very intense.

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It's launching.

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People get so emotional over

launching, and I don't blame them.

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I get emotional over launching too.

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But occasionally I run it because I know

that it will bring me income and people

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want it and people will get results.

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So I do that program, despite the

fact I love longer-term programs six

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months, plus it's my absolute favorite.

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I mean, a year plus would be even better.

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Whereas my 30-day program

is just a 30-day program.

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And that's why we have to go so big

in achieving a lot within that period.

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So, like I said, it's not

my absolute preference.

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It reminds me of my kids and cooking

dinner and I always say, great, it's

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not your preference, spaghetti bolonaise

but that's what we're having tonight.

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That's what we're going to have to

do because we need to eat something.

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So it's a bit the same in your business.

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Like what can you do to

generate cash when you need to?

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Let's talk about resourcefulness now.

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As we know as coaches, we are

resourceful, whole and good.

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So we can find ways to do things if you

will allow yourself to open up and think

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about different marketing strategies,

different partnerships, new offers.

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Successful coaches don't let limited

resources fear or others doubts

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become excuses or stop their progress.

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You can operate with a whatever

it takes attitude to find

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solutions and make things happen.

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The more you can trust that there

is always a path forward, even

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if you can't see it clearly the

more that inspiration will come.

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One of the tasks I did last week was a

case study conversation with a client

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of mine who has taken a part-time

job, where she gets to do coaching 18

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hour a week alongside her business.

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And she realized because she had

different home circumstances going

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on and she needed that stable income

to get a mortgage for her home.

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And she is having so much fun.

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And she realized that everything she has

done in my program is helping her with

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her ultimate goal of coaching people doing

work she loves and being paid for it.

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So please think about everything

else that comes into your work.

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Bearing in mind that the ICF state,

that 40% of a coach's income is

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generally from coaching, that

there are 60% of other things that

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you can bring into your business.

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That might be training.

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That might be online courses.

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That might be a part-time role.

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That might be freelance work.

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There are so many options so, please

don't get yourself stuck thinking.

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I said, I was going to

do this coaching thing.

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So I only need to do this coaching thing.

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Allow yourself to be free and spacious

and know that you can do whatever it

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takes to make this coaching business work.

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If you open your mind enough to see

the opportunities in front of you.

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So through a no excuses mentality,

resourcefulness and imperfect action,

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you will build your coaching business.

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And this combination allows you to

create momentum quickly using hustle

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when you need to in your business.

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knowing that you can come back and

provide all the self care you need,

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but for periods of your business, there

is going to be something that you are

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going to have to pay into the value

bank in order to get paid in return.

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The path is simple but, not easy.

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It requires grit, resilience,

consistently operating from a mindset

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of I'll find a way, no matter what.

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I trust myself.

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Don't think you're alone

in this every single month.

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I think.

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Oh, my goodness.

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Like, what if I don't get any clients?

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Or what if something goes horribly wrong?

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And then immediately, the other

part of my mind pops in and says,

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don't worry, you will figure it out.

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And I think that's what we

all just need to remember.

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We are resourceful and should

something happen we will figure

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it out because that's what we do.

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Let me know how you get

on with this episode.

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I know it's not my usual stance,

but I also know that sometimes

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we need some more tough love to

ensure the our business thrives.

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And like I say, at the end of every

episode, trust yourself, believe

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in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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.