12 | Future Pacing to Attract Clients

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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, and I'm on a

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mission to help brilliant coaches build brilliant coaching businesses.

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In this podcast, I'll be sharing honest, not hype, practical and

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emotional tools to you to make the difference that you are here for.

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Hello.

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Welcome to episode 12 of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I'm so glad you are here.

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I had my Daring Greatly event yesterday, and it was so wonderful that I really

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wanted to share a bit about future pacing because I'm hoping that now my event has

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happened once people are future pacing for the next one, and others are painting

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the picture of what it felt like to be there, which will help me to arrange

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my next one and gain more attendees.

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So that gave me the idea of today's episode on future

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pacing to attract clients.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-1: So there's no better time to discuss

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future pacing than this next few months because we are coming up

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to summer and future pacing allows people to visualize themselves in

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the most opportunistic times of year.

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Future pacing allows people to visualize themselves in moments of the year.

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Like this summer, we have a expectation of how things are gonna look that summer.

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Same about things like Christmas or New Year.

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We start thinking, what will things look like by this time next year?

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So that's what we're gonna dive into today.

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So first, let's talk about what future pacing is and why it's so powerful.

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So like I mentioned my event, I didn't go into my event thinking about future

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pacing, but what I've seen come from the event is genuinely future pacing for more

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people to want to attend in the future.

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So future pacing helps us to paint that picture for our ideal clients of the

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future, and it allows them to see the results that they could achieve, feel

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what it would feel like to be there.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-3: It's about painting a picture,

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which allows them to step into

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that picture and hopefully step into it enough

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that they actually want to do something about it and sign up to work with you.

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There are two types of future pacing techniques we will

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talk about in this episode.

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So firstly, we'll talk about the positive.

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Let's start with a positive.

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This approach helps people to visualize what the desired

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result will look and feel like.

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So one powerful word to use in your communications, social media posts, even

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when you're talking to people is imagine.

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So that allows our imagination to start running wild.

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So for example, imagine if you had work you loved and could

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pick the kids up from school.

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Imagine if you were in great shape by summer.

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Imagine if you met that partner so you could actually take them to that wedding

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that you've got at the end of the year.

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It helps people to think, oh, that would be so good, and they

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can see that moment of time.

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So that's what we're doing here by articulating the desired result,

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such as walking into summer with that partner on your arm or with that new

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role, then we help people to really envision themselves in that scenario

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enough to do something about it.

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It's like when my amazing clients say, what if it's not as good

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as I paint the picture of.

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I'm like, well, yeah, but can you imagine if all marketing just dumbed

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down how good that this might be?

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So would you go into a gym if there were that picture of a flabby person

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on the poster, or do you want to think, wow, you know, it is possible

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for me to be really fit and walk in inspired to look like that poster model.

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It's the same with a car.

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Like they don't show you the advert of the car broken down on the side of

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the road or the car looking like an absolute mess after your kids have like

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thrown their crisps around or something.

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They show you it when it's shiny, when everyone's happy,

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when everything is going well.

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So I know it's really hard and it's definitely something I struggle

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with too, painting the picture because what if it doesn't happen?

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Like this is not within my control.

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There are so many things out of my control.

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But again, with all marketing, it's about really helping people

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to believe that it is possible.

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And most of the time these things are possible.

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If you wanted to have a really clean, shiny car or all year round,

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you can, you've just gotta actually clean it and do a little bit of work.

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So it's the same when your people come and work with you anything is

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possible for them, but it depends on the actions they take and how much

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energy and commitment they put into it.

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So I do feel you on the nerves about painting the picture, but this is the

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world we live in and we want to help more people to actually get coached

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and transform their lives and to do that, I believe that we need to get

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really good at marketing and sales.

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Like the rest of the world is really good at marketing and sales.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-2: So let's move on to the second type of

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future pacing, which is the negative side.

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So this technique amplifies the pain or negative consequences of not taking

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action because we rarely stay still.

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People either go forwards or they go backwards, like.

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If you, for example, flounder in your coaching business, then in three

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years time you will have lost a lot of confidence, lost a lot of money,

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and will probably go back to your job.

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Versus if you do something about it, you will remain hiring confidence.

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You will be taking regular action.

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The majority of people that come and work with me are two to three years in.

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They are at rock bottom.

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They are desperate to make this work, and I always love it if, if somebody

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joins quite quickly because then they, they are not battered down by this point.

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So it's not quite as hard as it is when someone has lost all

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their confidence and is desperate.

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This needs to work this month because I've already spent years.

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So yeah, for me and my clients, that is my version of negative future pacing.

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Which I don't use that often, but it does really frustrate me.

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So I think I should use it more often because people think that

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there is no hurry to take action, whereas the only person missing out

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when they don't take action is them.

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So yeah, I, I really like negative future pacing.

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I have just convinced myself of this.

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So with regards to your clients, what are they missing out on by not taking action?

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So for example, they will reach New Year's Day again, not having changed roles.

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If for example, you were a career coach, like what is it they're

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missing out on and what is the negative consequence to them of

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-4: not taking action?

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That they're getting more and more and more

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depressed, or are they gonna burn out?

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Like what is gonna happen if they don't take action towards their goal?

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The next exciting point is harnessing the power of both approaches.

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So by combining both positive and negative future pacing, it's

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a really powerful thing to do.

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So I often do this as a call to action.

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So imagine if in the next 90 days you had implemented and actioned all of the

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elements in my program and were gaining clients and your business was thriving

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or are you happy to in 90 days be in the exact same position as you are now?

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If not, drop me a message.

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So that's a version of using both positive and negative future pacing together

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because it's good to remember that we buy to avoid pain or to move towards

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pleasure, usually to move away from pain.

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So I was talking at my Dare Greatly event on Friday about the bleeding neck issue.

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Like unless it's a really serious issue, sadly people are just going to limp on.

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So if it's a sprained ankle you help them with, so wanna live a happier

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life, you know, that's, that's nice, but it's not causing me enough

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discomfort to take huge action.

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And sadly, most of us don't.

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We all want to be the one to help people to avoid that pain.

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If everyone just was coached all of the time, then we would

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all be much happier people.

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But most of us only seek support when it's at critical level.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-5: It is serious.

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And for example, if you have that bleeding neck, you need to go to

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hospital right now and sort this out.

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You cannot limp on any further.

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So I had the good lesson about this, cuz again, I want people to come out of coach

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training school and come straight and work with me because I know that there is

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a massive gap between coach training and having a successful coaching business.

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But at the point that people leave coach training, they don't know this yet,

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they don't know that it's really hard.

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So me trying to kind of save my earlier self and save my previous

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clients, you know, all the pain that they've been through, trying

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to do all this on their own.

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It just doesn't work.

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These people are excited to build their business.

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They have no idea that it's gonna be a little bit tough, and there's a lot

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to learn and there's a lot of stuff to overcome outside their comfort zone.

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They don't know that yet.

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So that is why genuinely people do wait often a year or two

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prior to really seeking support.

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And there is nothing I can do about it.

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They will only come to me when they are in enough pain that they really

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need to sort this out right now.

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Or if I can inspire them enough to think, let's make this easy for you.

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I can help you show the way, and you can do that through positive future pacing.

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So to summarize today's episode, future Pacing is a remarkable

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tool in copywriting, videos, sales calls, all communication, social

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media, your newsletter because it allows people to see their future

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and compels them to take action.

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And I encourage you to implement these techniques and see the impact

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they can have on attracting clients.

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And there's a slight question mark in my mind and I'm wondering

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if you are thinking it too.

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So I think I will address it.

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Is this ethical?

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Because are you kind of playing a game to make people believe something

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that isn't true or to stir the pot to make them feel like, oh my

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God, yeah, I'm really stuck here.

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But I just don't think so.

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It's all in the intention.

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As long as your intention is good, which I know as a

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qualified coach, it will be good.

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You want to help them to move forward.

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And sadly, we all stay stuck for way longer than we need to.

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So if we can do anything to inspire people to actually get help sooner and

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really make the most of their life and not spend years sitting there thinking they

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have no option but to be really unhappy.

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Then I think it's our duty to get really good at this stuff and

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help more people to actually book coaching and transform their life.

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So I hope you will be using future pacing.

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I cannot wait to hear.

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In summary, we covered both positive future pacing and negative future pacing.

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Both are super powerful and you can combine them to use them together.

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So yeah let me know if you use these and if it has a result for you.

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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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Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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Please come and say hi to me on LinkedIn or Instagram and let me

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know how you are getting on in your coaching business and how you are

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gonna go for your dreams this year.

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My name on LinkedIn is Joanna Lott and on Instagram is at Joanna Lott Coaching, and

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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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Thank you so much for listening.