Coaching Hive - SoundSage

IntroductionDo you ever get tired of working all the time and filling your weekends with even more to dos?

Chances are, you didn't get into the entrepreneurial life to work MORE than your 9-5 job, but here you are toiling away. This week, we are going to talk about the concept of hustle, flow, and keeping things simple. I'll even share a little of my philosophy of spending money to save time and energy.

If this sounds like an enticing idea, grab a cup of tea and join me inside the podcast, but before you do, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you get notified of our special guest episode with Dr. Vic Manzo coming out on Thursday.

The Hustle CultureI thought when I became an entrepreneur I would have to work hard, but I didn't envision spending all of my waking hours thinking about and working on my business. I didn't envision our kiddo learning about business in quite so much detail or getting good at understanding when to invest, when to walk away from an opportunity, and when to say maybe later.

So often though, we are told to hustle. TO do more. TO post more. TO go live more. TO send more emails. TO launch more. The key word in all of those statements is more. What if we could actually do less and see the same or BETTER results?

That is what this week's episodes are all about.

Say Hello to FlowI have three ideas that you can implement today to take action in simplifying your business and thrive.

1. Find systems that work for you and save time. A lot of times these systems do come with a little bit of a price tag, and what you're going to have to do is think about how much your time is really worth what that time savings is worth.

If you can find a system that saves you hours a week that you can then go play with your kids or have a wonderful conversation with your partner or your spouse, or just take time to go to your annual well checks, it might be worth it, right? Even if you're not quite making money yet, sometimes you might find that spending money actually gets you to the profitable zone faster.

Let me give you an example. One of the services or one of the systems that I've implemented in my business is PodMatch. PodMatch is a paid service that helps match me with podcasts that I can speak on as well as guests that want to come on my podcast. When we started 2023, one of my big goals for the business this year is to build a podcast.

I wanted to grow downloads, I wanted to grow listeners, I wanted to welcome guests onto the podcast multiple times a month. In fact, I really wanted to create a format where you get a solo episode from me on Tuesdays and a guest episode that really brings home the point that we talk about on Thursdays. That's not going to happen every week, of course, but it gives me something to work toward. However, the idea of coming up with 52 places or 52 posts or 52 questions to find guests was really not enticing. It was not something I was looking forward to. There are, you always see these posts in groups on Facebook. They say, I've got a podcast and I'm looking to talk about this topic. I'm looking for some guests. Is anyone up for this? And what happens is you don't really know the people in those Facebook groups and they say, sure, sign me up. And then maybe they stand you up, they don't show up for the appointment, or they come and they talk about something completely different than what you had in mind and had discussed previously.

I didn't want to do that. I don't have the time for it, and I didn't really have the bandwidth for it mentally, emotionally, any of the things. And so I started looking and there are some services out there, and I went with PodMatch. And honestly, it is the best investment I've made recently in my business because there is a synchronicity to it.

You have this opportunity to build your profile, whether you're a podcast host or a guest, and talk about who you're looking for, who you want to have on your show, or what kinds of shows you wanna be on, what topics you're gonna talk about, and people can get matched with you. It's kind of like a dating app for podcast hosts and guests, I guess. And what happens is you can say, Hey, yeah, that's a really great fit. I'd love to have you, you on my podcast, or you can pass and maybe you take 'em up on that request later on. Honestly, I've had amazing guests because the system checks in on you. The system, the people at PodMatch, Alex Sanfilippo and Alecia Sanfilippo have done a great job of allowing guests and hosts to rate the experience, provide feedback. So there is a lot of accountability to do good, to be good, to show up, to serve with an open heart and mind when you are guesting on podcasts or when you are having guests onto your podcast as a host.

One of the systems that I've implemented this year is to use PodMatch, and even in creating my podcast each week that you guys listen to, I have a system for that. I have a transcription of the podcast that I also use as a blog post. I have a whole process for how to fill that out. I have audiograms and videos for the guest episodes and the audiograms go with the solo episodes so that I can post about it on social media. I have a specific template I use when I do that. I use a program called Kapwing and I have a template that I just pop the stuff in there and it's done. The key here is that I've got systems in place to save me time that work for me.

Sometimes those services, those systems are paid, sometimes they're free, but it's always a great balance to pay attention to. So the first thing to kind of save you time to get more done in your business without spending a whole lot of extra time is to find some systems that work for you.

2. Create boundaries. I often stink at this one, but I'm getting better. After years of working at night after my kiddo went to bed I have gotten used to my work day spilling into all the little nooks and crannies. But one thing you can do is to set specific work hours and this doesn't have to look traditional. For me, it is a 6-7:30am co-working session, a lunchtime check in on my email, and then I start working around 3pm and will work for about 2 hours and then I'll finish up if my husband is helping our kiddo to bed that day.

This means that I get about 4 hours max per day when I can work on my business. BUT if I have students taking tests then I have to slide grading 90 or so tests into that time before I work on my business. It means being ok with to do lists that don't get finished AND it means that creating those to do lists has to be more intentional.

For example, I have a founding member launch for the Entrepreneurs in Flow membership coming up in March. This means that I'm writing emails, researching and creating a masterclass, updating sign up pages for the masterclass and the webpage to join the membership all while still doing the normal everyday stuff in my business. I use a big desk calendar for launches to keep track of what needs to be done. I mapped out what needed to happen each day and I only wrote one item on each day. I'm being really intentional with my time and staying focused. This also helps me hold boundaries so that I can be present for my family and during the school day for our kiddo.

3. In being intentional, I also set up opportunities for flow to happen. If flow is new to you, it was first named and researched by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and is the concept of getting into the groove so that you don't even notice the passage of time. Think about the last time you worked on a task and suddenly looked up and two hours had passed. That was flow. When you are in flow, you are more productive, more creative, and more satisfied with your work because what you are doing is the right amount of challenge matched to your skill level. I seek out these opportunities. For me, it is more often found in the co-working sessions because we set an intention and then start working. I stay on track and get work done. At the end of the 90 minutes, over and over, everyone comes back and states that they were super productive and the time flew by. This is what you want as an entrepreneur NOT hustle.

When you have systems that save you time, boundaries that allow you to rest and re-energize, and opportunities for flow, you don't have to live the 70 hour work week as an entrepreneur. In fact, there is some research showing that we aren't highly productive for more than 3ish hours a day. Why not set yourself up to get a LOT done in those high productivity times and then go enjoy life?

Action ItemThere you have it, three things that you can do to say goodbye to hustle in your business and start embracing the less is more concept of being an entrepreneur. And that brings us to our action item for the week. And I'll give you a choice.

Do you want to think about what systems you can put in place to simplify your day-to-day business?
Would you like to create boundaries? Or
Find opportunities for flow to happen?

If you are looking at systems, think about the next steps in your business that you need to take and what will need to be done over and over again. This is a good candidate for a system.

If you want to create boundaries, explore where you feel most out of alignment with your business. Maybe a simple boundary will bring things back into alignment. If you are feeling like you are neglecting your family, what time boundaries can you set on your work? Could you leave your phone in a different room while everyone eats dinner? Or perhaps you can set the boundary of no work after dinner.

Finally, if you are looking for flow opportunities, this will be different for everyone, but I can guarantee that you won't find it with your phone front and center. If you want to get into the zone, leave your phone in a different room and get down to work. With one less distraction you are much more likely to get in the zone and create.

ConclusionsThat's all I have for you today.

As a quick recap, hustle doesn't have to have a seat at your business table. There are going to be seasons that are busier than others in your business. Like I said, I have the launch of the Entrepreneurs in Flow membership at the end of March. This is one of my busier seasons, but then it will slow down again for a bit. The key is that hustle and fast seasons don't take over your ability to live and enjoy life. Entrepreneurship doesn't mean that you have to chain yourself to a computer. There are no awards for working 70 hours, but I can guarantee that you will miss out on some precious moments in life.

Now, I don't want you to take my word for it though. On Thursday, in Episode 114, you will hear from Dr. Vic Manzo on how he shifted his business to be more in alignment with his vision for life and the importance of vision in your business as well. I can't wait for you to hear this conversation and the easiest way to be alerted is to subscribe to the Entrepreneur Mindset podcast on whatever podcast provider you are using right now.

Finally, if you have been following along with me on Facebook and Instagram, you'll notice that my handles changed. Don't let the name change throw you for a loop. It is just in better alignment with what I already share and how our memberships help entrepreneurs to thrive and build profitable businesses. I'd love to reconnect with you on social media @entrepreneursinflow on both Instagram and Facebook.

I'll see you back here on Thursday for another episode of the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community and implementation removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

Show Resources* PodMatch: https://www.joinpodmatch.com/coachinghive * Learn About Flow: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-flow-2794768 * Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/entrepreneursinflow/ * Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EntrepreneursInFlow

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IntroductionWelcome back to the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast!

Did you go into business to do more good in the world? I know so many people who become entrepreneurs because it seems like a clear path to creating a ripple effect, but when you get into the daily grind, you have to think about money, profit, costs, time, and all of the financial details. It can lead to you feeling a bit separated from your goal to do good with your business. What if you could do more good without spending a single penny. Instead you can give your time, which is valuable don't get me wrong, but doesn't take away from those early entrepreneur years when profit might be slim. Would you feel energized about being an entrepreneur again? I know it lights me up and fills my cup when I can give back. Today we are going to talk about inexpensive ways to do more good in the world.

Perspective: Village ImpactWhen I first opened my business I came across Stu McLaren and if you know Stu you will soon know that he and his wife, Amy, have a wonderful non-profit, Village Impact, that helps to build schools in Kenya so that all children, particularly girls can receive an education. When I first started hearing about Village Impact I wanted to donate, but we didn't have a lot of extra cash at the time. I was seeing entrepreneurs donating thousands of dollars to Village Impact and felt like there wasn't much I could do. I couldn't bring $15,000 to the table like other entrepreneurs, but I didn't have to. If doing good in the world is about creating a ripple effect, then I didn't even need to spend a single dollar.

Now, I do donate to Village Impact in a variety of ways, but I'm still dreaming of the day when I can donate that big check of $15,000 or more. So what did I do in the meantime? I shared the mission of Village Impact whenever I could. I invited Amy to come on the podcast so that she could share her book, Passion to Purpose and her mission with Village Impact. I looked for opportunities to share about Village Impact on social media. And, if you'll notice, I'm weaving it into today's conversation. None of these actions cost me any money. But they each help Village Impact in furthering their impact and base of donors.

Before I forget, you can check out the interview I did with Amy McLaren in Episode 28 of the podcast. But how can you give back, do good, and create a ripple effect?

Doing Good for Less MoneyDoing good doesn't have to mean donating millions of dollars or even one dollar. There are a lot of ways that you can give back and do good with your business, but sometimes it can feel a bit murky, so let's talk about a few low cost ways to do good.

Take time to thank the people you are working with. This might mean a thank you card in the mail. I love doing this. An audio message saying thank you in their social media DM inbox. Or possibly a heartfelt statement of appreciation at the end of a call where someone helped you. Often those moments mean the world and provide not only encouragement to the person, but also validate that what they are doing is helpful.
Second, give your time without strings attached. This is a tricky one. You've probably been the victim of the DM in your Instagram or Facebook inbox that says they'd like to offer you a free call to offer you some input or advice. You show up excited and get the conversation started only to find out that it is really a sales call. Don't be that person who DMs in a way that sounds genuine and then turns it into a sales pitch. Instead, it was like the call I was on last week where the person worked with me for 30 minutes and then realized that he didn't have enough time and offered to sit down with me for another hour. It wasn't a sales pitch, it was a call designed to help me work through a specific challenge in my business. I show up this way for clarity calls inside my business. What happens is that you truly serve the person you are interacting with. They get to see more progress instead of fending off a proposal of handing over your credit card, and that is when the magic happens. You get to see progress, which is motivating, and they get progress which is a big win for them. You can offer free 15 minute calls, respond to facebook and instagram posts and provide value while expecting nothing in return. You can offer to volunteer at your child's events. I am the Chair for the Greenville Youth Chorale's Board of Directors, a local non-profit. It doesn't cost me anything and I can give back by helping to build the arts for our children. This is one of my passions and is an easy yes. Yes, some people will take advantage of your time but the vast majority will remember what you did for them. They will recognize that you are dedicated to doing good and when the time is right will choose to work with you instead of someone that they don't know.
Third, think about what you needed most when you were in your client's shoes and then create that thing. It might be a meditation, a workbook, an excel sheet, or a template. Create it and ask if they would like a copy. Yes, you can gather their email address but by being proactive you are saving your community of clients suffering that doesn't have to happen. The goal is to do good. Shorten the person's time to success and thriving.

Action ItemThis week, I'd like you to think about one way that you can do good and then go do it. If you aren't sure what you can do, here are a few simple ideas:

Write a thank you note to your past customers or current clients.
Reach out on social media and drop a note of encouragement. Highlight something a person is doing well and share your excitement.
Go to an active FB group that you are a member in and find a post that doesn't have any responses, respond.
If you are out and about, hold the door for someone. At the busy grocery store offer to bag your own groceries especially if the checker doesn't have any help.
Visit with your neighbor and check in on them.

ConclusionsThere is too much negative that is happening in the world. We have countries at war, inflation creating tough decisions, layoffs happening, and natural disasters leaving countries devastated.

You can do good in the world as an entrepreneur and as a human being without spending a dollar or opening your wallet. Yes, if you can donate to the groups you choose to support, please do so, but know that the ripple effect happens as a result of even small gestures and reminders of kindness.

Imagine if each entrepreneur set out each morning to do one kind thing in their role as a business owner what would happen. We would see change and isn't that why you went into business?

I would love to hear what action you will take and how this concept resonates with you as an entrepreneur and business owner. Leave a review and let me know your thoughts, specifically, what this mindset shift will mean for you in the week ahead.

Thanks as always for listening! I'll see you back here next week for another episode of the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast, where a focus on mentoring, community, and implementation removes the overwhelm of building your thriving and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

Show Resources:Learn about Village Impact: https://villageimpact.com/

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OverviewDuring this interview, expert Kevin Palmieri stresses the importance of self-awareness and consistency for new entrepreneurs. He advises early entrepreneurs to explore their inner self and “unlearn” destructive beliefs that might be putting them at a disadvantage. Be sure to listen for his tips on choosing who to ask for feedback.

Quick Show Guide1. (00:00 - 05:07) Exploring Self-Awareness to Avoid Shiny Object Syndrome 2. (05:07 - 10:30) Consistency: Unlearning What Stops Us To Progress 3. (10:30 - 15:32) Facing the Inner Seasons of an Entrepreneur: Understanding the Difference Between Awareness and Implementation 4. (15:33 - 20:44) The Paradox of Success: Balancing Planning and Implementation for Improved Unconditional Feedback 5. (20:45 - 26:04) Overnight Awareness: Building a Foundation for Future Success 6. (26:04 - 30:48) Doing the Scary Thing: Advice to Entrepreneurs from Kevin Palmieri 7. (30:48 - 34:08) Taking Your Business To The Next Level With Kevin Palmieri

Key Takeaways1. Strike a balance between planning and implementation. 2. Understand and learn skills you don’t already possess. 3. Internal exploration is key alongside external initiatives. 4. Stress the importance of self-awareness for early entrepreneurs. 5. Don’t get stuck in your own hype and look outside your lane for opportunities. 6. Consistency is necessary in developing your own business and making sales.

Connect with Kevin PalmieriYou won’t want to miss what Kevin has in store for you. Connect with Kevin at Next Level University and take advantage of his FREE Next Level 5 to Thrive course: https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/

Need a Transcript?Full transcript available upon request. Please email moira@coachinghive.com. We want to make sure that everyone can access this podcast in a way that works best for them.

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IntroductionWelcome back to the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast!

When you talk with a young child, especially one who loves to spend time imagining things, they will tell you what superpower they want - to fly, run really fast, have x-ray vision, or if they are older to know all of the answers on their school tests.

By the time we get to adulthood, that tendency to hope for superpowers diminishes to the point that sometimes when asked, we can’t even come up with our zone of genius. That thing that we are good at.

As an entrepreneur, it is important to cultivate your zone of genius, but even more importantly the skill of self-awareness. Your goal should be to make self-awareness your superpower.

If you trust me with a bit of your time, I think you’ll like where this episode is headed. But I’ll be honest, what follows is only for entrepreneurs who want to experience growth and thriving in their business.

If you want to thrive and have a powerful business, I’d like to invite you to stick around.

Importance of AwarenessYou purchase a course, download the materials, start blindly following the plan and when you look up you notice that what you’ve created doesn’t really make sense, have flow, or represent you and your business.

We’ve all been there. Whether you’ve purchased a social media template kit that you just need to swap out your brand colors and post or you’ve purchased a course and tried to mimic exactly what the course taught, you’ve ended up with something that doesn’t represent your business.

Let me give you an example. I love Sell from Stage Academy by Colin Boyd. He is a master of speaking and selling from live and virtual stages. He has templates, an easy process to follow, and everything is organized in a step-by-step manner.

The first time I went through all his program, I was intent on mirroring exactly what he does

Raising Awareness1. Understanding your values and priorities: Entrepreneurs need to understand their core values and priorities to make sure they are aligned with their business goals. This will help them make better decisions, prioritize tasks and allocate resources effectively. 2. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses: Being self-aware of your strengths and weaknesses can help you make the most of your abilities, delegate tasks to others where necessary, and improve areas where you have room to grow. 3. Mindfulness and emotional intelligence: Mindfulness and emotional intelligence are crucial for entrepreneurs. They help us to stay in the present moment, manage stress and emotions, and communicate effectively with others. With the beauty of emotional intelligence you can get more in tune with how you interpret, react to, and use your own and others emotions to navigate the world. 4. Time management and productivity: Entrepreneurs need to be able to manage their time effectively and prioritize tasks in order to get the most important things done. This requires self-awareness and discipline to avoid distractions and procrastination. 5. Understanding your personal motivation: Knowing what drives you as an entrepreneur can help you stay motivated and focused on your goals, even during challenging times. This can be a combination of internal and external factors, such as a passion for your industry, a desire for financial freedom, or a need for creativity and autonomy. 6. Seeking feedback and growth opportunities: Finally, entrepreneurs should be open to feedback and seek out opportunities for growth and improvement. This requires self-awareness and a willingness to reflect on your own actions and decisions, and make changes as necessary.

Action ItemHere we are at my favorite part of the episode, the action item for the week. If you are new to the podcast, each week I like to share one action item to help you implement what we’ve discussed. My goal is always to help you move forward in your business, not just be a consumer of information.

This week, I’d like to ask you to seek feedback. As you heard me share, this was a bug-a-boo for me as a Type A recovering perfectionist. So take the opportunity to put yourself and your work out there. Ask someone for feedback. Now, usually I’d tell you to go do this now, but in the case of this week’s action item, I’m going to suggest that you wait until Thursday’s special guest episode because you’ll learn more about who to ask for feedback. A bit more about that in a minute.

ConclusionsAs we wrap up for today, let's touch on the key points once again. The overarching concept of our conversation is to develop the superpower of self-awareness. When we are self-aware as entrepreneurs it opens doors for growth, change, and progress. In essence, it is the foundation for thriving.

There are a lot of ways to promote and deepen your self-awareness. You can:

Get to the root of your core values and priorities
Know your strengths and weaknesses
Be mindful of the moment
Treat time management as a requirement not an option
Understand your personal motivation
Seek feedback and growth opportunities

Self-awareness is not something that happens over night. In fact, it is a lifelong practice that we must cultivate. To take you further into this concept of self-awareness and the concepts we’ve discussed here today, I’ve invited expert, Kevin Palmieri of Next Level University to share his wisdom and insights in a special Thursday episode.

Before we leave today, I’d like to ask you to take a minute or two to scroll down to the review section of this podcast and share your thoughts. Not quite sure what to write in a review? I hear ya! Here are just a few ideas that work for any podcast host you’d like to thank with a written comment. You can share what resonated, how the concepts shared will change your life/business, what action you will take because of the episode, or how the energy of the podcast helped you take the next step forward?

Thanks as always for listening! I'll see you back here on Thursday for another episode of the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast, where a focus on mentoring, community, and implementation removes the overwhelm of building your thriving and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

Show Resources:1. Values Card Sort: * Paper Copy: https://www.motivationalinterviewing.org/sites/default/files/valuescardsort_0.pdf * Online Version: https://sakai.ohsu.edu/access/content/group/Kathlynn_Tutorials/public/Value%20Card%20Sort%20Exercise%20-%20Storyline%20output/story_html5.html 2. Strengths Assessment * Paid: https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/home.aspx?gclid=CjwKCAiA3KefBhByEiwAi2LDHAU_v_o9lmS1jy2jskcw-A5c7pIt6FkVyZ5-r7eE_PP-oTno0MScSxoCMc4QAvD_BwE * Free: https://www.viacharacter.org/ 3. Motivation: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/behavior/physiological-and-sociocultural-concepts-of-motivation-and-attitudes/a/motivation-article-2

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OverviewSmall Business Strategist, Kerry-Ann Powell shares her ideas about calming the chaos tornado inside your business with several key ideas: creating a life vision that is supported by the business vision, being clear on your BHAG, Values, and Purpose, and Anchoring your business decisions to avoid Shiny Object Syndrome.

Quick Show Guide1. (00:00 - 06:10) Making the Shift to Clarity and Banishing the Chaos in Business 2. (06:11 - 11:41) Creating a BHAG to Avoid Shiny Object Syndrome 3. (11:41 - 17:40) Establishing a Clear Business Vision: Why It's Essential for Success 4. (17:40 - 22:38) Exercising the Muscle: Clear About Your Purpose, Business, and What You Do 5. (22:38 - 28:37) Avoiding Shiny Objects and Performing Perpetual Innovation and Optimization in Business 6. (28:37 - 33:58) Invest Wisely and Think Exponentially: Old School Marketer Advice for Your Business Exit Strategy

Key Takeaways1. Establishing purpose, mission, and vision is critical for success. 2. Have a clear business vision to stay focused and committed. 3. Taking a moment to pause and review life plans and business vision is essential for success. 4. Make a two-millimeter shift to the business vision to transform from chaos to clear vision. 5. Create a BHAG that is big and exciting to avoid shiny object syndrome. 6. Invest in resources to innovate and optimize the business.

ConnectKarry-Ann has graciously offered a free copy of her ebook, The 8 True Culprits That are Causing Chaos in Your Business. You can get your copy at: www.nobusinesschaos.com.

Need a Transcript?Full transcript available upon request. Please email moira@coachinghive.com. We want to make sure that everyone can access this podcast in a way that works best for them.

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IntroductionWelcome back to the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast!

We have said goodbye to January and are now settling into the new year. I'm listening to clients and colleagues talk about new ideas, launching or re-launching their main offer, and just generally taking strides forward in their business. But that progress can sometimes bring up two words that we try to ignore: stress and chaos. Have you felt those two friends creeping into your life again? Let's spend some time talking about stress and chaos today, because when you better understand them, you can effectively manage them.

If you are ready to learn more about stress and chaos in business with an extra dose of the science behind it all, grab a pen and paper so that we can get started.

3 WhiteboardsI was in my office window seat surrounded by three whiteboards this weekend. I'm planning out the launch of the Entrepreneur Membership in late March and have been working hard to lay the foundation. I have dry erase and wet erase markers in a little Target $1 bin bucket and am reaching in it for a different color as I map out the models I want to share in the webinar, bonuses I want to offer as part of the membership launch, even the VIP offer I'll make for webinar registrants.

Anyone who looks at the colorful board might feel a bit of chaos happening. After all, there are three boards all full with writing, some of the magnets are very nearly falling off the board because it is so full. I have diagrams and research.

It sounds a bit chaotic, right? But for me, it isn't.

I've realized what works for me during this creative phase and how to organize it so that I know exactly what is going on. Maybe you have something similar to tame the chaos. You have a method that makes sense and when you look at it, it is simple. Others look at it and see a mess of stuff. The important thing is to find a system that works for you as an entrepreneur so that stress and chaos do not dominate your life and business.

All About Stress and StressorsWe all know that stress and chaos can have a significant impact on both physical and mental health. I teach an entire chapter on just the theories of stress in my intro psychology class each semester.

Physically, stress can lead to fatigue, decreased immune function, and increased risk of illnesses such as heart disease and depression. Mentally, stress and chaos can intensify anxiety and burnout. It can also lead to decreased creativity, motivation, and difficulty in making decisions.

In order to mitigate the negative effects of stress and chaos, it is important to practice self-care, prioritize your workload, delegate tasks, and seek support from friends, family, or mental health professionals. But that is sometimes easier said than done, right? Today, let's talk about what you can actually do to tame that chaos, stress, and stressors.

Now I just threw an extra word in there, so can we pause for a moment to talk definitions? I want us all to be on the same page.

Stress is the response to perceived threats or challenges resulting from stimuli or events that cause strain. In other words stress is the result of something.
Stressors are the stimuli that cause the strain, which leads to psychological and physiological reactions. In other words, this is the “something” that causes stress.

With those definitions out of the way, it is important to note that even good things can cause stress. Maybe you have a great launch in your business, that can cause stress of wondering how to handle the influx of business, serving your new clients, and making sure that your product or service meets the client's needs.

According to Entrepreneur.com, the top stressors for entrepreneurs include:

Access to capital, the money that keeps your business open,
Pending promises, like deadlines to deliver,
Being the bottleneck where things are piling up on your plate,
Making decisions, let's face it you are a decision-making machine and I just told you that stress makes decision-making more difficult. Seems like a catch-22!
Time commitments where there never seems to be enough time in the day
Clients, because working with humans takes energy
And the unknown are just a few of the top stressors.

But today isn't about adding stress, it is about taking it away. Like I said when I got started today, I have systems and processes that reduce my stress as I plan new things. What can you do to reduce and manage stress?

Get your body moving. Be sure that you are taking that mid-day walk, doing some chair exercises, or simply take time to breathe. Remember that if you are feeling ambitious and want to add exercise to your daily routine to check in with your healthcare provider to find out what is right for you. I bet you can remember a time when you took a walk and had that spark of an idea. Even getting outside for fresh air can help your body and brain release the stressor and stress.
Eating healthy and colorful foods. When you feed your body good foods it has better fuel to work with. As a grad student, we had a stats professor who always used to say garbage in equals garbage out. He was talking about putting in junky data so you would get junky results. If you've been using ChatGPT like half the world, you know that if you put in a junky prompt you get a junky response back. The same is true of our bodies. If you want to perform optimally, you have to put in good foods.
Next up is to relax. Now before you hit stop on the podcast, I know you're busy, after all one of the big stressors of being an entrepreneur is not having enough time to get it all done. But what if I told you that taking a few minutes each hour to breathe might actually make you more productive and thereby reduce your stress? Could you start there? As you get more comfortable, you can take time to simply enjoy the outdoors, read that fun book you've been putting off, try cooking macarons with your kids, or build that Lego Harry Potter castle that has been sitting in the box for months. If you've never tried cooking macarons with your kids, they are a fun experiment. Don't expect them to turn out beautifully like you'd find at the store, but they are a neat experience. Also, no Lego should be left in the box for months. Legos should be built, played with, and displayed.
My last tip for reducing stress is to focus on relationships. Find a community that you can be a part of, especially one filled with entrepreneurs. Building a business can be lonely if your friends are not also entrepreneurs. Having someone who understands you can really make a difference. Simply being able to tell someone what is going on in your business can relieve stress and being able to offer insights to someone else can be a mood and energy booster.

Action ItemAs you can guess, stress is part of business but it doesn't have to be the whole of business. Just like I have my whiteboards to get ideas organized and take away the stress of something new, you can also explore ways to manage your stress so that it does not have a negative impact on your business or more importantly your health.

Today's action item is all about exploring ways to actively manage stress. We talked about a few ways to manage stress, but one way we didn't discuss is called problem-focused coping. This is where you take the challenge and say that you are going to address it head on instead of letting it fester. For example, if you have a deadline looming you break down what needs to be done and then start with the first task. By creating a plan, you are taking action and moving toward that goal of the deadline. I want you to think about something that you have been putting off in your business that needs to be done, but maybe isn't your favorite activity. Explore how you can break it down and get it done. Then get started.

Once you have completed your task, I want you to notice how you feel. Did a weight get lifted off your shoulders? Maybe you feel energized. Or perhaps you are looking at that task with new appreciation or less angst.

No matter what, think about how you can be a problem-solver this week and remember to incorporate colorful foods, deep breaths, and relaxation in a way that is right for you.

ConclusionsAs we wrap up for today, let's touch on the key points. Stress is something that is part of business, but it doesn't have to take over. Although it can have negative physical and mental impacts, taking time to pay attention to your stress and stressors can help mitigate those effects.

There are a lot of different ways to manage stress that include getting your body moving, eating colorful and varied foods, and taking time to relax. We also discussed the importance of finding a community of entrepreneurs.

Finally, for your action item, I encouraged you to take a problem-focused approach to one stressor this week. Identify what needs to be done, break it down and then work through the process step by step.

I'd love to know what has been most helpful in this episode. We all have stress and the more open we are about it, the better we manage the stress. Please be sure to leave your thoughts on this episode or any other that you find help in the review section of your podcast provider. Those stars and comments mean a lot as I create new episodes for you.

We will continue the conversation on stress with Kerry-Ann Powell in a special episode this Thursday. If you haven't listened to my conversation with Sean Tyler Foley in Episode 107, be sure to check that out as well.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

Resources* https://www.entrepreneur.com/living/10-things-that-stress-out-entrepreneurs-more-than-anything/251563Presenting Psychology (Licht, Hull, & Ballentyne)

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Use confidence, details, wisdom, humility and experiences to create a successful and engaging story.

OverviewMake mistakes. Embrace those mistakes as a way to grow. In this conversation with best selling author, Sean Tyler Foley, we talk about networking, stepping outside your comfort zone, and growing in your self-awareness. Tyler takes us through a quick story activity as a way to discover the scars that allow us to guide others on their journey in life and business.

Quick Show Guide1. (00:00 - 05:18) Stepping Outside of Comfort Zones to Grow and Succeed 2. (05:19 - 10:30) Be Brave and True to Yourself to Attract Your Ideal Audience 3. (10:30 - 15:42) Finding Self-Awareness and Authenticity Through Reflection on Life Experiences. 4. (15:42 - 20:52) The Sound of Memories: Exploring Life's Milestones and Lessons 5. (20:53 - 26:06) A Journey Of Self-Discovery Through Sound 6. (26:06 - 31:19) The Power of Sharing Wisdom: A Guide to Helping Others 7. (31:20 - 36:45) Celebrating Triumphs: Steps to Reflective Success 8. (36:45 - 42:18) Connect With Tyler Foley to Get His Bestselling Book for Free 9. (42:18 - 45:07) Supporting Local Businesses and Building Confidence as a Speaker with Sean Tyler Foley

Key Takeaways1. Use confidence, details, wisdom, humility and experiences to create a successful and engaging story. 2. Utilize Joseph Campbell's hero's journey model, sound and memories to effectively convey your story. 3. Embrace failure and push out of your comfort zone to achieve greater goals. 4. Have the courage to speak one's truth without trying to please others. 5. Recognizing what parts of your story are important to tell, and reframe your scars as lessons to gain a deeper understanding of self.

Connect with TylerCheck out Sean Tyler Foley at www.seantylerfoley.com

Need a Transcript?Full transcript available upon request. Please email moira@coachinghive.com. We want to make sure that everyone can access this podcast in a way that works best for them.

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Building an audience can be difficult but can be accomplished with effort and planning.

IntroductionOne of the first tips that any new entrepreneur is given is to build your audience. The problem is that your friends and family already know about what you are doing. They aren't necessarily your audience, and there doesn't seem to be a clear way to figure out how to get in front of your audience. It leaves you feeling a bit like you are adrift at sea without a compass, GPS, or even a map.

As an entrepreneur it shouldn't be so hard to connect with your audience. I get it. One of the hardest things to do as an entrepreneur is building awareness about you and your business. The fact is that until that begins to happen, the rest of business building doesn't really matter. Yes, you need your ideas, solid foundation and all of that BUT without an audience to share your idea with, it will just stay tucked away on your computer, in your journal, or on an unseen webpage.

Today we are going to talk about building that audience and I'll give you some practical ideas for getting started and no, it is not just being consistent on social media, although that won't hurt.

3 Networking IdeasI'll be the first person to tell you that building an audience is an emotion-filled journey. You see big industry names in the online space and they have audiences of thousands. I took a look today at Instagram and Amy Porterfield has 331,000 followers. Alex Hormozi as 737,000 followers. By the way, if you haven't checked out his book, $100M Offers, you should. Dean Graziosi has 1 million followers.

You hear and see the numbers and think geez, I'll never get there. Let me start by telling you that you don't need those kinds of follower numbers to run a successful business. In fact, if you ask Amy Porterfield if she focuses on IG followers, she'll tell you no. She is more concerned with engaging email subscribers and creating a relationship.

And that is what today is all about, building relationships through networking. Networking takes a lot of different forms, but the underlying theme is to create genuine connections through conversations and stories.

The single most frequent conversation I have with entrepreneurs who are just getting started is around planning to create an audience. Sometimes the first instinct is to turn to ads on social media or just to keep posting using all of the trending topics, hashtags, and music files.

While these things can work, there is a process that you need to follow to make sure that you are building a relationship and not just yelling from the top of the mountain to buy my service!

Today I want to share some real, down to earth ways to get going with networking so that your business can grow and scale to the degree you'd like. The last thing I want for you is to feel limited by your business.

Are you ready?

Now, first up, let me say that each idea I share with you today is something that I am currently doing, have done, or have on my plan for 2023 to incorporate into my audience building processes and systems. These will require you to step outside your comfort zone, especially if you are an introvert, which I will talk more about in a little while. In fact, if you find everything I'm sharing today to be completely comfortable I want you to ask yourself how you can push it further and step outside your comfort zone. It is outside that comfort zone that the real growth and magic happens when building a business and in life. Are you ready?

Idea number 1: Attend local networking events or events where your target audience will be For example, if you have a sewing course that you'd like to sell, attend the social events at your local Jo-Ann Fabric store, offer to do a workshop at the local fabric store in your town, and attend open houses that are designed for people who sew.

If you help business owners develop speaking skills, attend the local Chamber of Commerce luncheons and get to know the local business owners. You can go to career fairs and meet local staffing agencies, you might even go to high school open houses.

When you meet people in person you have the opportunity to read their body language, meet more people all at once, and create local connections who might become clients or referral partners. At the very least you might meet someone you can meet for coffee and brainstorm together about your business ideas and next steps.

If you are thinking that getting out to local networking events is draining and you are an introvert, I couldn't agree more. In person networking takes some boundaries if you are introverted. Because I want you to be able to get out there and network without it laying you low for a week recovering from the stimulation, I have a free PDF with tips for managing networking so that you can thrive not just survive the process. You can grab it at www.coachinghive.com/networkingtips.

Idea number 2: Guest on podcast episodes This one eluded me for a long time. I kept thinking, that sounds nice, but how am I supposed to find podcasts, approach the host, and ask to be on their show? It felt strange, overwhelming, and more than a little confusing. Have you ever felt like that?

Yea! Here is how I overcame that particular challenge and stepped outside my comfort zone. I use the service PodMatch. This is a reasonably priced service that matches you with podcast hosts who are looking for guests, fit your audience, and your area of expertise. You then reach out if you'd like to appear on their podcast and introduce yourself. The beauty of this process is that the founder, Alex Sanfilippo, teaches you what to say in this introduction. The other beauty is that the hosts are there looking for guests. You are not bothering them, you are making their life easier by reaching out! If you have a podcast and need guests, this is also a terrific service for you.

In fact, I use both features of PodMatch because both will increase my reach and audience. I'll put a link in the show notes for you to check out PodMatch. https://www.joinpodmatch.com/coachinghive.

Idea number 3: Join an online group of entrepreneurs that allows you to network If you decide that life circumstances don't allow you to attend local networking events or even hop onto podcasts as a guest, look for an online networking group. Being able to connect with fellow entrepreneurs is key. As you share about your business, your fellow entrepreneurs will know who to refer people to when someone asks them for a recommendation. Let's face it, we much prefer to have a personal recommendation than to sift through Google search results and hope for the best.

This is one of the things I love the best about the new Entrepreneur Membership that is launching in late March. Members will have the opportunity to network with one another, brainstorm, and even mastermind together. This kind of interaction creates connections, relationships, and opportunities that you can't get when you are just sitting at your desk posting reliably to social media or running ads and hoping for the best.

Action ItemThis brings me to our action item for the week. I want you to choose one way to network in the next month. Get it on your calendar.

You can find a local networking opportunity, a podcast to guest on, or a group to join. The key is to get to know more people who are either your ideal client OR know and interact with your ideal client.

What will you choose?

And again, if the thought of networking makes you a little nervous or tired be sure to grab my free PDF guide at www.coachinghive.com/networkingtips.

ConclusionsBefore we wrap up this episode, I want to let you know that on Thursday, I will be sharing an extra special conversation that I had with Sean Tyler Foley on the topic of networking and what you can share as you begin to meet new people.

You won't want to miss this deep dive conversation. A few Coaching Hive Elite members have already had a sneak peak and they found it eye-opening, powerful, and it provided insights into their own hesitation to network.

I hope you'll join Tyler and me for our Thursday conversation.

As you scroll down to check out the links I've shared throughout this podcast be sure to leave a review on your way. This helps me to know which topics you find most helpful so that I can offer more like that AND it helps more people to discover the podcast. I appreciate comments and reviews and I appreciate that you take time each week to listen in as we share the entrepreneur journey.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

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Schedule activities into blocks of time to save time.

IntroductionWelcome back to the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast.

As an entrepreneur, time management is essential to your success. You really have to be able to juggle a lot of different balls and still keep everything moving forward. That means being organized and efficient with your time. Now, are you imagining a juggler with all of the balls in the air, admiring the fact that they don't drop any of them?

Maybe what comes to mind is the time you tried to juggle oranges and they kept splatting on the kitchen floor making a mess. Let's face it, juggling looks easier than it is, but as an entrepreneur, it's a skill that you have to hone. The good news is that juggling looks different for everyone. Dictionary.com defines juggling as “to keep in continuous motion in the air simultaneously by tossing and catching”. It also says “to keep several objects, balls, plates, tenpins or knives in continuous motion in the air simultaneously by tossing and catching”. Now, don't go juggling knives, but you'll notice a word in here. It says several objects, but what exactly is several because you're thinking about your business and you're thinking, okay, several. I have a lot of things.

Several is defined as being “more than two, but fewer than many in number or kind”. So about three or more, right? We've got three or more. Now we're getting somewhere in your business, you need to become a juggler, but that doesn't mean having 80 plates spinning effortlessly in the air. It might mean three things that you're balancing, and they could be nice, soft foam balls. What do your three things look like? Maybe it's one-on-one client calls, planning your calendar and networking. Maybe right now it's planning a launch. Staying focused on your social media consistency and reaching out to new potential clients. Whatever your balls, plates, or oranges look like, today's episode is going to spark some ideas for how to become better as an expert juggler without the oranges splatting on the kitchen floor.

If you are ready to learn about how to become more of an expert juggler in your business, grab your pen and paper.

Being ProductiveHave you ever sat down to plan the week or the month and felt that moment of overwhelm? Yeah, me too. You're looking at what needs to be done within your business and what needs to be done outside your business just to keep life going. The personal and the professional.

And the funny thing is, is I was talking with a group of colleagues, entrepreneur colleagues this morning in our early morning coworking session, and we start at 6:00 AM and we talk for a minute or two to kind of catch up, and then we set our intentions for the 90 minutes and get to work. But today, what we were chatting about on this bright sunshiny morning, we were talking about planning for the week, and one of the business owners shared that she usually plans by the month, but recently she's been planning by the week and feeling more accomplished and feeling like she was getting more done, and we all kind of admitted that we'd been doing similar things.

We're feeling more accomplished. The juggling didn't feel as hard. Now, you might be wondering, why are you telling me this story? The point of the story is that even if you're used to juggling in a certain way, you can be open to new ways of approaching your business and how to manage your time, and that's what today's all about. In fact, we are going to talk about how to manage time in your business.

Some of the ideas that I share with you, you're going to say, ah, this is awesome. I love it. I'm going to apply it today. Some of these ideas, you might think, “this is not for me”, or “I'm not at that point in my business yet”. My hope is truly that you'll take away at least one new idea or an old idea you had forgotten about and implement it today, this week, this month.

Time Management Tips1. One of the best ways to be more time-efficient is to batch similar tasks together. For example, if you need to make a bunch of phone calls, do them all at once instead of spreading them out throughout the day. Or, if you need to do some research, set aside a few hours to do it all at once instead of doing it a little bit at a time.

2. Second, make a schedule for yourself. Whether you are better at working in time blocks or task-based, create a schedule that allows you to maintain your focus and productivity. When you have a schedule you are more committed to the work you are doing, than if you sit down at your desk hoping to be productive today. This is one of the reasons that I love co-working sessions. They create a schedule, with accountability, and you get up when the session is over to take a break, which is something we'll talk about today as well.

3. Third thing you can do is to define your goals so that you are only taking on tasks that will help you move the needle forward. I'm using John Lee Dumas' 100-Day Goal Journal right now to stay focused on those needle moving tasks. In his journal you set your 100 day goal, but then each day you break down what you need to get done into 3 micro goals, assess how the day has gone, what worked, and what needs to happen next. This way you aren't getting lost on your way to that 100-day goal. You check in with your big goal and the progress you are making every 10 days so that you can adjust course, or adjust how you are juggling so that you get to that goal by day 100.

Delegate and Prioritize Tasks1. You could hire someone to do it for you or to do it with you so that it's not as time consuming.2. You can also prioritize tasks that are essential to your business. If you're a busy entrepreneur, you may need to prioritize tasks like meeting with clients or networking, because well, meeting new people allows your business to thrive and grow to the extent that you desire simply creating new calendars, maybe not the most important task right now, whereas getting out networking might be. Now, I did say that, you know, maybe delegating tasks isn't possible for you right now. Maybe you don't have a team.

3. Hire a Virtual Assistant (VA)So one of the things that you can do to juggle more effectively delegating and prioritizing is to actually start considering hiring a virtual assistant or other kind of support professional to help you with the tasks that lay outside your zone of genius. If you can spend more time on your zone of genius and less time on the time sucking tasks that have to be done but aren't your strength, you're going to get a whole lot further. And you can hire virtual assistants for just a few hours a week. There are so many services out there that will help you find a quality VA virtual assistant and meet your needs. And you may have to work through a few VAs to find the one that's just right for your business. But there are so many options out there these days that there's really no reason not to have a VA.

As a quick review, so far we have talked about time management, batching your tasks, making a schedule, and defining your goals. We talked about delegating and prioritizing, delegate, what's not essential or what's outside your zone of genius. And if you don't currently have a team to delegate to consider hiring a virtual assistant and then making sure that you're prioritizing the tasks that are essential to moving your business forward.

Take BreaksFinally, if you are going to be an expert juggler, you need to take breaks. Can you imagine going to an event where there's a juggler and the juggler has been juggling nonstop 24 7 for 365 days straight? What do you think is going to happen? Those plates are going to come crashing down from fatigue, both mental and physical. If they're tossing oranges, well, they're going to become orange juice that needs to be mopped up from the kitchen floor. Taking time off as an entrepreneur cannot be a some-day proposition. It is a necessity today. Now, before you shout at your phone saying that you need to make a profit before you take a vacation, please hear me out. I'm not suggesting an expensive vacation. I'm not actually even suggesting a vacation. What I'm suggesting is avoiding burnout that can lead to poor decision making and can negatively impact your business. Taking breaks happens in a lot of different ways.

Schedule breaks throughout the day.Sure, a vacation is one way to take a break, but so is setting your phone alarm to get up and walk around for the last 10 minutes of every hour. So is taking a power nap when you feel exhausted after a long night up with a sick child or sinking into a good book for a chapter or two to clear the cobwebs away and to just give yourself a moment to breathe?

2. Learning to say no.Taking a break might also be learning to say no. One of the biggest time management pitfalls is saying yes to everything. If you want to be successful, you need to learn to say no to some things so that you can focus on the most important goals that you have, that you're scheduling for yourself, and that you're batching together to be more effective. So taking a break isn't necessarily a vacation.

3. Scheduling time for yourself.Taking a break is also scheduling time for yourself. Make sure to schedule time for your hobbies, the things that get you interested and excited outside of work, the things that are yours. So sometimes I hear entrepreneurs, especially who, who have children in the home say, well, I don't have time for hobbies. I've gotta get my kiddo to dance, to music lessons, to sports practice. And then we sit and then we drive to the next practice. Or I've gotta help with homework. I promise you that if you can find even 10 minutes a day to do something that you love, that's for you alone, you are going to be a better parent. You are going to be able to be more present, more enthusiastic about doing all that driving and all of that homework help than if you don't take time for yourself. So it's going to help you relax, it's going to help you recharge. It's going to help you be more productive when you're working, if you take time for those hobbies or those things that are interesting to you.

Action ItemNow, we've been talking about taking a break, and this is the point of the episode where I usually say “this week's action item…”. Gosh, it seems a little bit counterintuitive at the, at this exact moment. So let's do a little bit of a recap and then let's talk about the action item, and hopefully it'll feel like it jives with our lessons for the week.

We talked about three main ways to become an expert juggler in your business. First, we discussed the importance of time management, batch creating content, making a schedule for yourself, defining your goals. All of these things are going to help you better use your time and keep those oranges in the air instead of a sticky mess on your kitchen floor.

Second, we talked about delegating and prioritizing your tasks with the idea that separating out the essential from the non-essential tasks will help you get the important stuff done. We talked about the possibility of hiring a VA, a virtual assistant, to help you manage the tasks that are outside your zone of genius, and we talked about prioritizing what needs to be done right now to take the next steps forward in your business.

Finally, we talked about the importance of taking a break. This might be simple, a simple 10 minute stretch break or a walk around the house or building might be saying no to additional commitments, and it's definitely scheduling time for your hobbies or developing a hobby. If you let those go by the wayside, maybe you could even take up juggling as a hobby.

Maybe now you're thinking about juggling. I know I know kind of a bad joke, but here we are at the action item because the tendency is to work more. This week, your action item is to schedule in some breaks. Try setting a phone alarm to go off 10 minutes before the top of the hour and use those 10 minutes to grab water, to stretch, to walk around, or just stand and breathe.

Think about swimming pools. If you go to a swimming pool in the summer, that's lifeguarded. There is an adult swim, they'll last 10 minutes of every hour. This is so that the lifeguards can take a break. They can recover from watching the water and they can return ready to work and be effective at spotting danger and rescuing when necessary.

We need breaks to be effective and efficient. Treat those 10 minutes as a way to take care of yourself and take care of your business. You are going to return refreshed and ready to be effective with your time and energy after those 10 minutes. There you have it. Time management. In a nutshell, as a business owner, you know we're busy juggling many different pieces to the business and personal life on top of that, and the last thing that we want is for the plates to come crashing down or the oranges to splat on the kitchen floor, because that would just be another task, cleaning up all the mess. We don't want to do that. By delegating, prioritizing, scheduling your day, creating goals, and taking breaks, you are less likely to break the plates or splat the oranges.

ConclusionsI'd love to know as you take action this week, what has been most helpful from this week's episode? So please, wherever you're listening to this podcast, leave me a review. I do look at those reviews and the comments, and I'm always thinking about how I can better serve you as you build your business. So when you leave a review or a comment helps me know what to share more with you so that you can be more effective as an entrepreneur.

After all, that's what the Coaching Hive is all about.

So I'll see you back here next week for another episode of the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community and implementation removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

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Pivoting is an essential skill for entrepreneurs.

IntroductionWelcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast. Now, you may have noticed that the Coaching Hive Podcast is no longer called the Coaching Hive Podcast. Last week about on Wednesday, everything changed for the podcast. Instead of being the Coaching Hive Podcast, now, you will find all of our episodes under the name The Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast.

So, today I want to spend some time talking about what that means, where it came from and why, but all from the position of the need to pivot as an entrepreneur and pivoting by definition is to modify while retaining some continuity with its previous version. That's what business is all about, pivoting, making changes, retaining what works, shifting to incorporate new things, and that is what we are going to talk about today alongside the entrepreneur mindset, what I think that means, and where this podcast is heading moving forward.

If you are ready, grab your pen and paper and let's dive in.

Entrepreneur MindsetNow, let me officially welcome you to the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast.

I am so thrilled that you're here. I can't wait for what 2023 has in store now, although the name and the podcast channel cover art has changed, it's not purple anymore. Not a lot is changing. With the podcast itself, we are still going to talk about your business foundations. We are going to talk about audience making, your offer, building community, all things marketing and messaging, but it is going to be with our foundation of growth mindset and grit in mind. Now, if growth mindset and grit are concepts that are not terribly familiar to you, that's okay. Go ahead and check out episode 1 0 3 that was released last Tuesday. This is going to give you some of that foundational ideas, those concept definitions, and really they're going to be woven into everything that we do moving forward.

You'll also notice that this year on the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast, I am going to be sharing some more outside perspectives with you. I have some amazing guests lined up who are going to help you shift how you think about your business so that you can take action.

I promised you, as the podcast got started today, that I'd share a little bit about what's happening, right? And I just said, okay, not a whole lot's happening, but I want to share with you why the name of the podcast has shifted. And part of that is a pivot, but not necessarily a pivot in the definition.

So the definition of Pivot, once again, is to “modify while retaining some continuity with its previous version” (www.dictionary.com). The Coaching Hive Podcast, I just told you, is going to retain a lot with this new underlay of growth mindset and grit. Why? Because as the podcast has grown as the Coaching Hive itself, as a business has grown, as I have grown alongside all of you and our members and the clients that I've had the opportunity to work with over the last two years, something has become abundantly clear. And that is that to be a successful entrepreneur defining success, however it looks for you, you have to have an entrepreneur mindset. And some of this is kind of double sided here.

Entrepreneur mindset to me means two different things. I'm thinking about the fact that I need to have a mindset that is growth oriented, like we talked about last week, that we're building grit. We're really in this for the long haul.

It's about mindset and making sure as an entrepreneur, you are focusing on your mindset, but it's also about the idea of an entrepreneur mindset. And that is what I consider to be a mindset that really focuses on learning and testing and experimenting and connecting and embracing change, and recognizing that every time you get something figured out, something else is going to have to shift. There will be another pivot along the way. One of the things that I love about being an entrepreneur is that there's a lot of flexibility. Now, those of you who know me really well know that I love systems and processes. So systems and processes are usually fairly rigid in the sense that you know exactly what to do, right? But systems and processes when developed correctly can actually be really flexible.

And I think as an entrepreneur, you have to be flexible. And so I really want to focus, especially this year, 2023, on the concept of having an entrepreneur mindset where you aren't going to know everything, and that's okay, but you can learn and you can test and experiment and try things out.

Recognizing that some stuff is going to go amazingly well, and some stuff is going to be an absolute belly flop. You know, with the pain that's involved in the belly flop, the kind of ugliness of hitting the water, it's a full-on belly flop, but that's the entrepreneur mindset and the mindset piece that I want you to think of as the growth mindset and grit component.

Okay, so let me kind of come back for a moment. The podcast name has changed the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast, and it represents a pivot in my business. And I like to always go ahead of my clients and my customers and everyone that I work with, because I want to figure out how things work first and then guide you in that process of making changes.

In this case, how do you pivot? Well, here are a couple of things that I've learned over the last few years about pivoting. The first one is give yourself permission to do it. Don't worry about what others are going to think of you or what, how they'll feel about you making a change that's in better alignment for your business. That doesn't mean you can't care.

What it means is that you are not allowing others to dictate your decisions in your business. So first up, take time and know that your decisions are right for you. The second thing I've learned is that being an entrepreneur is not constant. And in that, I mean that you can start down a path and recognize that it's not the right path, or maybe that there's a better path or a more aligned path that you'd like to take.

And so you can't stay constant on the path that's not working for you. You have to pivot. You need to make a shift. And it may mean putting your foot on a parallel path. It might mean taking a perpendicular path regardless. It's okay to shift what you're doing. The third thing is that you don't have to have it all figured out before you jump into that new direction.

And this is probably one of the hardest things I've had to say as an entrepreneur. I don't have it all figured out. I don't know exactly where the Entrepreneur Minds Growth, the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast is going in terms of our foundation of growth mindset. I have a really good idea. I have a lot of things mapped out for you guys. I have a lot of guests, like I said, lined up for you that I think are going to be a great addition to your entrepreneurial toolkit. But I don't have it all figured out.

So if you are sitting here thinking, I really want to make a pivot in my business, but I don't know exactly what that looks like or how people are going to react, or what my next steps are for the next year, let me be the first to tell you. It's okay. It's okay not to know all of the next steps. There is a saying that as you walk along the path, the next step appears. I've butchered that, but it's something similar to it, and that's the truth. You aren't going to know exactly where your business is headed until you're on the path and you're walking it, and you wait for that next step to appear.

So don't worry if you don't have it all figured out. Know that this is a long haul. We talked about grit and growth mindset last week, and we talked about the fact that grit in business is critical because grit is all about the long haul. Building a business is not done overnight. It's not done without change.

And feeling sometimes like you're walking up Mount Everest. But it can be done when you're consistent, when you find your community to connect with, when you are honing in on what your audience needs and how you can fulfill that need in a way that is aligned with what you want, what you want your life to look like.

So today is all about, first of all, just welcoming you to the new name, the new vision of the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast, the fact that we are going to talk mindset. We are going to talk about the entrepreneur mindset, and it's still all going to have that foundation of things that we've been talking about all along, talking about audience, making your offer, building your community, all things, marketing and messaging. It's all still going to be there, but in a way that hopefully helps you move through the challenges with more ease, with less doubt, and a little bit more grit.

Action ItemNow you know that I always give you an action item, and so this week's action item is to look at your business and really sit and think with it.

Brandon Lucero always says to kind of sit in the silence. I want you to sit in the silence this week and recognize what pops up for you. When you think about your business, is it completely in alignment with who you are, how you wanna spend your time, how you'd like your business to grow? Are there places in your business that you feel like could benefit from a change, a shift, a pivot? And if so, I want you to start thinking about what that might look like. And then I want you to think about what has to happen for you to do that sooner rather than later. Because you don't have to have it all figured out. You don't have to have all of the answers on day one. You don't have to have them all on day 30 or even day 365.

In fact, as an entrepreneur, you will find that you rarely have even half of the answers simply because your business is a living, breathing thing. That's part of the entrepreneur mindset, knowing that your business is a living, breathing thing. You're learning, you're testing, you're experimenting, you're connecting, you're embracing change. You are looking for new ideas, ways to serve your audience better and to do more good in the world. That's what The Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast is all about. So your action item for this week, quick review. Take a look at your business, sit in the silence as Brandon Lucero says, and notice what comes up.

What is not in alignment for you in your business for 2023?

It might have been in perfect alignment in 2022, but as you think about your life, your business for this year, maybe you want some things to shift. Maybe you know you have big things coming up. You have a kiddo graduating from high school, you're trying to help them get ready for college, and you want to spend more time with them.

Maybe you're expecting a brand new baby into the family. Maybe you're getting a puppy and you know that you're going to be up many times during the night taking them out to potty, and you want to make sure that you have time to train them and get them acclimated to your family. Maybe you want to travel more. Perhaps you want to read a few more books.

Maybe you just want a little bit of a break. Figure out if you need to make a pivot in your business. Look at what needs to be done to start that pivot process and how long you need to take that first, next step.

ConclusionsBefore we wrap up today, I just wanted to thank you once again for joining me here on the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast, which was previously known as the Coaching Hive Podcast.

I hope that as we continue this new year, you are excited about the new approach, the new foundation of our growth, mindset and grit as we look at our common topics of audience, making your offer, building your community, and all things marketing and messaging as an entrepreneur. Remember, this is a process.

Building a business is a process, and with it comes exploration and new relationships, new connections, and new opportunities. So I will see you back here next week for another episode of The Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast, here a focus on mentoring and community and implementation removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

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Having a growth mindset is essential for success in entrepreneurship.

IntroductionWelcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast!

Today's podcast is all about growth mindset and how to cultivate a growth mindset for success and business. In the past few years, maybe the past decade or so, growth mindset has been a really hot topic. In fact, if you head over to Google and search the key term growth mindset, you will see about 207 million results.

Hot topic, right? But when you put in the word entrepreneur alongside growth mindset, you'll find that only about 10 million of those results are geared toward entrepreneurs. Now, if you're listening and thinking, I know about growth mindset, I've heard about it. In fact, you've probably heard about it. If you have kids who are under 20, maybe even under 30, the reason growth mindset has been such a hot topic is because it's all over schools.

You may have heard of the fantastic resource called the Big Life Kids Journal, which is geared toward helping kids of all ages and even adults to develop a growth mindset. But you know, what does it really apply to entrepreneurs? I mean, growth mindset is something that we talk about in schools. So why are we talking about it today? And even more importantly, how does it relate to this concept of grit and how does all of this relate to business? This is our focus for today, mindset, grit, and business.

If you are ready, grab your pen and paper and let's dive in to our topic for today.

Growth Mindset and GritI'm excited for today's episode on growth mindset for you, the entrepreneur, but let's start with the basics. What exactly is a growth mindset and why is it important for entrepreneurs? Okay. A growth mindset is the belief that our abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort, good teaching and learning from our mistakes. And it's important for entrepreneurs because we need to constantly be learning and growing in order to be successful.

We can't be afraid of failure because it's only through failure that we learn and we grow. Carol Dweck is widely known for her research on fixed and growth mindset. In fact, that's probably, if you've heard anything about growth mindset, it is probably Carol Dweck's work that you've heard about. And in a 2006 publication, she noted that people who have a growth mindset embrace challenges. They persist in the face of setbacks. They see effort as the path to mastery. They learn from criticism and they find lessons and inspiration in the success of others. When you think about yourself as an entrepreneur, you're probably imagining the challenges that you've experienced, the setbacks that you've had to manage the effort that it has taken for you to get to the point you are in your journey.

You are thinking about the criticisms you've received, whether from your services, your products, maybe it was on a sales page, a way that you reached out to a potential client and they said, oh, that's, that felt kind of funny. I didn't like that. We've all had criticism, and you've probably learned a lot of lessons by looking at other entrepreneurs and seeing what they are doing.

You feel inspired when you see the success of others. Guess what? If you are embracing those challenges persisting, even when you have a setback, if you are putting in the effort and knowing that it will relate directly to mastery. If you are learning from the criticism instead of just hiding in a corner, you, you can hide in a corner for the first little bit, but then crawl out and learn from the criticism, right? And if you are finding lessons and inspiration in the success of others, congratulations, you are already well on your way to that growth mindset.

Now, I can imagine that you are probably starting to see the importance of why we need a growth mindset as an entrepreneur. After all, entrepreneurship, honestly, it's about 99% challenge and setback, isn't it? It's about 1% of those successes they sustain you, but the other 99%, it's about figuring things out. And when you combine a growth mindset with grit, ah, you have a winning combination.

Now, growth mindset, most people have heard of at least peripherally, but grit might be something that's new to you. If it is new to you, if the concept of grit is new, it was explained in a TED Talk by Angela Duckworth, and I'll link the TED talk to you in the sh ted talk for you in the show notes so that you can go watch it. It's about six minutes, which is perfect, but the heart of that TED talk and the concept of grit by Angela Duckworth is that we need to be in whatever we're doing for the long haul.

She says that we need to be prepared to persevere not just in the moment, but over the days, the weeks, the months, the years. This is grit. Grit, according to Angela, is the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals. Entrepreneur, entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur is all about the long-term goals, isn't it?

Nothing comes quick. In her TED talk, she goes on to say that the best way to develop grit is to, you guessed it, foster a growth mindset. Are you starting to see some of the connections here? Being an entrepreneur is definitely about the long haul overnight successes. They're really the anomaly, not the norm. In fact, even those so-called overnight successes probably had 128 failures before the so-called overnight success.

So is it really an overnight success? Probably not. If being an entrepreneur requires grit being in it for the long haul and the best way to develop grit is through a growth mindset, then how do we cultivate that growth mindset?

And here we are back at our concept for today, growth mindset. After all, we are not in middle school anymore, so we don't have that concentrated effort or that class that's going to teach us how to develop a growth mindset out in the world. The skill is something that's often overlooked for more tangible tasks and outcomes, but it is critical to you as an entrepreneur. And there are a few things that entrepreneurs can do to cultivate a growth mindset. Are you ready? Do you have your pen and paper ready?

Alright, here's the first thing.

Be aware of your own mindset. Are we exhibiting or experiencing a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? Because once you know where you stand, you can start to work on shifting your mindset to be more growth oriented, to have that growth perspective, meaning that it's not just about IQ, right? Grit and growth mindset are not about IQ. It's not about how smart you are, how fast you learn. It's about embracing the challenges persisting in the face of setbacks. It's about learning from criticism and taking step after step in that long term goal, that long haul vision. Once you know where you stand, you can start shifting that mindset.
Surround yourself with people who have a Growth Mindset.This might be colleagues, mentors, or even friends and family members who are supportive and believe in our ability to grow and succeed. Imagine this, if you were to surround yourself with a group of people who constantly tell you that you're never going to succeed and you can't do it, what do you think the outcome will be? Yeah, it won't work. You won't succeed. You won't be able to do it, and you will also think that you can't do it, okay? If you surround yourself with a body of people, a community of people who value a growth mindset, who welcome challenge, embrace setbacks, who learn from the criticism and even seek criticism because they know it will help them to be better, you are going to find yourself doing the same thing. And as a result, you are going to develop that growth mindset. You are going to develop the grit necessary to be a successful entrepreneur.

So the first thing, become more aware of your own mindset. The second thing, surround yourself with people who have a growth mindset.

Be intentional about your learning.The fact of the matter is that we can't just coast by and hope that things work out. Growth mindset is not hope. Growth mindset is about actively learning and growing and striving to improve ourselves. How can we learn from the criticism? How can we persist in the face of setbacks if we are not learning new tools, ideas, techniques, perspectives in order to do so?
Give yourself permission to fail.Failure is a necessary part of growth, and if you're not willing to fail, you're not going to learn and grow from those setbacks. That's when the biggest growth happens, those challenges. That's when the biggest growth happens. Give yourself permission to fail. Failing just means that this particular approach didn't work right now. Try something else.
Learn a little bit about how the brain works. You don't have to become a neuroscientist. I know that you're probably thinking, yeah, but you're a psych professor. You know about how the brain works. It's too complicated. It's not, I promise you it is challenging sometimes, but have a basic understanding of how neural pathways form, how they're strengthened, and how they are pruned. My 11 year old has heard this from me so many times. He rolls his eyes when I remind him that we need to strengthen the pathways that make growth mindset a reality so that the default pathway, they become the default pathways. When something challenging pops up, he's heard it so many times. He knows how the brain works.

I'm hoping that if he has to take an intro psych class as a college student, maybe he'll have a leg up on understanding how the brain works a little bit. But more importantly, I'm hoping that he'll go into adulthood with a firm grasp of the benefits of challenges and perseverance that life takes. After all, he might be an entrepreneur someday. Learn how the brain works.

There are so many amazing resources out there that talk about how we can strengthen neural pathways through repetition, through learning, through growth, through seeking those challenges, through changing the words that we use on a day-to-day basis.

Action ItemNow, if you are thinking about what action you should take this week, let me make it easy for you. Go learn a little bit more about growth mindset and grit.

And I told you I'm going to make it easy. I'm going to link a positive psychology article that talks about both concepts as well as Angela Duckworth's 2013, Ted Talk on Grit. Like I said, that TED Talk, it's six minutes when you read the article and watch the TED Talk, it's going to take you less than 20 minutes to complete both tasks, and I can just about guarantee it's going to spark some ideas for the next steps that you can take in your growth mindset and developing grit.

Inside the Coaching Hive, growth mindset and grit are concepts that we work on day in and day out. And you know what? It makes a difference. Entrepreneurship is about the long haul. It's not about the quick win. It's not about overnight success. It is about sustaining interest in an effort toward very long-term goals.

ConclusionsAs we wrap up for today, let me quickly recap the main ideas that we've covered.

First up, we said that a growth mindset and grit are absolutely essential to entrepreneurship. And if you are ready to shift your mindset and add a dose of grit to your business, you can learn about how the brain forms and sustains neural pathways.
You can get to know a little bit more about your own mindset and then surround yourself with people, especially entrepreneurs who have a growth mindset and exhibit grit in their business.
You can be more intentional about your learning, explore new ideas, concepts, and approaches. As we know, business is about staying informed. It's about staying ahead of the curve and being flexible. The more you know, the more agile your business will be.
Finally, give yourself permission to fail. This is where growth happens in business.

And today, I want to leave you with two quotes from Angela Duckworth. First up,

“Nobody gets to be good at something without effort, no matter what your aptitude is.”

Angela DuckworthSo let me ask you, what effort will you put in today? And if you are left thinking that you are going to have to work really hard, if grit is the necessary ingredient to entrepreneurial success, let me offer you some powerful words from Angela. Here is the second quote.

“If the quality and quantity of continuous effort toward goals matters as much as I think it does, we may actually get more productive, not less as we get older, even if we can't pull all-nighters like we used to.”

Angela DuckworthSo, my entrepreneurial colleagues, all nighters are not necessary to enjoy increasing productivity as we age. Grit, and growth mindset are well within your capabilities, regardless of your current strengths, ideas, assets, whatever it is you are capable of developing and strengthening your growth mindset and your grit inside your business.

I'll see you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community and implementation removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

Check out these Action Item ResourcesGrit and Growth Mindset Article: https://positivepsychology.com/5-ways-develop-grit-resilience/

Angela Duckworth TED Talk:

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Understand your audience's needs, wins, challenges and barriers.

IntroductionWelcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast!

When you start a business, it can feel like you're throwing spaghetti against the wall. You know what I'm talking about? You're looking for what's going to stick, what isn't, what will work, what won't, and that's a really common feeling, but it doesn't have to be that way. There are lots of things that are common in this world, but with a little bit of pre-work, pre-planning, some insights, you know what doesn't have to be common? After all, you can start a business and even build a business without throwing any spaghetti against the wall. You can use the tools and the resources and the wisdom of others that are out there to guide the way. After all, who wants to clean up a wall or a cabinet after throwing spaghetti against it? I know I don't.

Today, as we enter a new year, we are going to be talking about creating an offer that works for your audience and for you, and I'll share some of my favorite resources for doing this and send you off with an action item for the week. So if you're ready, grab your pen and paper and let's dive in.

Understanding Your AudienceWhen I first started the Coaching Hive, I was focused on health coaches and helping them to continue growing in their coaching skills. After certification. I wasn't focused at all on building businesses, but what I quickly realized is that the market isn't established enough for what I wanted to offer. The market didn't really want what I was creating, and I was to put it mildly, throwing spaghetti noodle after spaghetti noodle against the wall. I did all of the right things, but because the offer itself wasn't what my audience wanted, it was not as successful as I would've hoped. Luckily, I have been learning from some really successful, really insightful leaders and realize this pretty quickly. So I didn't just spend my wheels and there were a few things that I did that made a difference and help me dial in what to offer and who to serve in my business.

And today I want to spend some time sharing those insights, those nuggets of information with you, so that as you begin this new year, you aren't just simply saying New year, new opportunities. You're saying New year and new possibilities, but you're doing it from a place of knowledge and wisdom and insight rather than just trying to throw spaghetti and the wall.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I first started to build an offer, I was thinking about myself and what I wanted to offer. Here's the very first thing that you need to think about when you're building any offer in your business. Start with your audience. Think about who they really are. Who are you trying to help? You really need to get to know them.

You need to understand what's going on in their life. What are their pain points? What do they need help with? What's going really well? And they just would love to shout that from the rooftops. You need to understand what barriers they have to making things happen, to making those pain points go away. You need to understand what resources they have available that can help them overcome those pain points.

And as you begin to understand your customer or your client as you think about your services and your products that you're offering, when you understand their pain points and really start to think about how you can help them with what they actually want help with, then you're starting to get somewhere. Think about what you can offer them that will be of service, that will make their life better, easier, less complicated, more pleasurable, less confusing, even just simpler, or taking a step out of a process for them so that they don't have to worry about it all the time.

I hear people saying, well, yeah, you could get that for free, but guess what? Peo

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IntroductionWelcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast! Let me guess it's that time of year and you have a brand new calendar. You're ready for the new year to begin, you're telling yourself and others that this year is going to be your year. You have the colored pens lined up. You open the calendar and you are confronted with blank pages.

The blank pages are ready to be filled with ideas, appointments, tasks wins, and lessons learned. The only problem is that you don't know where you're headed this coming year. You need a plan. Does that sound familiar? Yeah. This is the way my life rolls, at least. At the very least. Planning takes time, it takes intention, and ironically, a plan for creating the plan, and that is what we are going to talk about today.

So, if you are ready, grab your pen and paper, your notebook, whatever it is you want to take notes on, and let's dive in.

Creating a Successful PlanMy first year in business, I sat down on January 2nd at the dining room table and created a plan for the year.

I had a blank sheet of paper in front of me and some of my fun pens. I wrote down what I wanted to get done. I wanted to launch my business. I was going to get my membership out into the world. That was it. It was a short planning session, and while I did launch my membership that February, that is about all I accomplished that year.

Well, I launched twice that year, but that's about it. Fast forward to next January, and I was better prepared this time. I had a massive easel sized sticky note. Do y'all have those? They are the best things ever. I had this massive, easel sized sticky note, and I filled it with eight big things that I wanted to accomplish in the year.

Nate, my husband, looked at the list and asked which one was coming first. I smiled and said, well, even though this is my year-long list, I kind of want to get all of this accomplished in quarter one. And then I told him which one I was starting with. I accomplished seven out of the eight in the first quarter, and the eighth was taken off the list because it simply wasn't relevant anymore.

Once I did the other seven things, although I did a few more things throughout the year, I once again stalled and I followed this pattern until I realized that I needed a different approach if I wanted to be productive through the entire year, not just one month or one quarter. And so I researched what others were doing, how they were creating a plan, and even more importantly, how they managed to sustain that momentum through the year. Because let's face it, January rolls around. We are all motivated, ready to go. But what happens when that motivation wanes? It is not enough to carry you through. You have to have a solid plan for the days when you don't know what you need to do or what's next or how to keep moving forward.

So today I want to share with you a few things that I learned through this process of research and implementing this planning with intention. And here's what I learned.

Create an Entrepreneur PersonaFirst thing up, I didn't need a word for the year. That never really resonated with me, but I did find that I could create an entrepreneur persona that I wanted to grow into.

And so what I do is I outline what I'm thinking, doing, and feeling now at the beginning of the year, or as we're heading into the beginning of the year, if you're listening to this one, it was recorded in six months and then at the end of the year. Then I take that and I reverse engineer the year based on where I want to be in 12 months. Not just what I have accomplished, but how I'm going to get to that place of thinking, doing, and feeling.

Reverse engineer your Entrepreneur PersonaFor example, if I am confidently speaking on two podcasts a month, then I need to approach five to 10 podca

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IntroductionI sat down at my computer ready to work. I opened up the Word document. I put my fingers on the keyboard and stared at a blank screen. I needed to figure out what my offer for my audience would be, but I wasn't quite sure where to start. I was considering a few different approaches, but hadn't decided what path was the right one to take.

I was excited, but sitting alone at my desk wasn't helping anything. I realized that I needed to get help from my community of entrepreneurs, so despite primarily responding to posts in specific groups of entrepreneurs, I decided to actually make a post, ask for ideas and thoughts, you know what happened, clarity. I didn't take all of the ideas that were offered on my post, but I did recognize those ideas. What I was able to do was get my brain going, here's some new perspectives, and this connection with my community helped me to choose which path to take on the offer that I was creating and get down to work.

Having a community of like-minded entrepreneurs is not a want. It's a need.

As a business owner, even if you are a solopreneur, that doesn't mean that you have to do everything in a vacuum. Reaching out and connecting with other entrepreneurs was what turned the tie to my business and allowed me to move forward. My question for you today is, do you have a community that you rely on? If the answer's yes, great, if the answer's no, you can still get that done. You can still find a community, so let's spend our time together on the podcast talking about community for your entrepreneurial journey.

If you are ready, grab your pen, grab your paper, and let's dive in.

Benefits of an Entrepreneurial CommunityHave you ever been at a family gathering out to dinner with your friends or even at your child's practice or rehearsal and the other adults there start talking about their jobs?

We've all been there. The conversation turns to you and it's your turn to chime in about your job, except you are an entrepreneur and you don't have a cranky boss, an insufferable commute, endless meetings that could have been solved with a single email or any of the other horror stories that you've just heard. You are an entrepreneur. You work for yourself. You commute to your home office. The meetings on your schedule are the ones that you personally deemed necessary for your business. Not to mention, you are the only entrepreneur in your group, and it's hard to explain the struggles you're experiencing, like creating your latest offer so that it's irresistible or crafting your new webinar presentation and then creating a warm-up sequence to make sure that your audience is ready to join you for the webinar in a month.

The reality is that you start talking about these things and the glazed over eyes become a real thing. What you need is a community of entrepreneurs. You need to be able to talk about the webinar, the offer, the struggle of staying focused in your home office when the laundry has just chimed that it needs to be moved from the washer to the dryer.

Today we are going to talk about the benefits of being part of an entrepreneurial community. Here's the thing, being part of an entrepreneurial community does a lot of things for you as a business owner.

Being in an entrepreneurial community can offer you a lot of support and resources. Think about when you decide that you need a new finance system or a new social media posting system.

If you belong to an entrepreneurial community, you can go to that set of people and say, here's what I need. What do you guys like? What do you recommend? Instead of spending hours upon days, upon months researching all of the options, you can start with a narrowed down list. You still have to make the decision for yourself, but with that narrowed down list, with that support from an entreprene

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IntroductionWelcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast. Today is going to be all about standing out in the crowd because I know that if you are building a business as an entrepreneur, then you want to be the Go-To Resource. You want to be the person that everyone comes to to solve their problems, to get help, to buy the product. You want to be the Go-To Resource.

The problem is that there are all kinds of entrepreneurs out there. They are everywhere. You turn around, and it can feel like you are just one in a sea of many entrepreneurs, and that is not what I want for you, and I'm sure it's not what you want for your business. So today we are going to take time to talk about how to stand out in the crowd.

If you're ready, if you are excited to be the Go-To Resource in your industry, whether you have a service or a product or some combination, then grab your pen and paper and let's dive in.

Keys to Standing OutToday is all about standing out. Now, some of you may be thinking, geez, I don't want to stand out. And sometimes it's okay to hide. You can hide behind the chair, that's all right. But if you are going to be successful in business, you have to stand out as the Go-To Resource in your industry. That's tricky. In a crowded marketplace, it can be hard to make your business stand out.

Look at social media! You scroll through and in the span of five minutes, you have oodles of advertisements. Some of them are seemingly for all the same thing, just different providers. Take a look at Amazon. You can put in, “Lava Lamp” and get a lot of different options. They're all just a little bit different, and that's what you have to look for.

You have to think about how you can be just a little bit different so that you can set your business apart from the rest. That is where we're going to focus today. Standing out in a crowd; be the Go-To Resource.

Know your Target AudienceThe first thing that you can do is to really get to know your target audience.

I was on Facebook not too long ago reading through posts, responding, and offering some ideas. I came across a post of an entrepreneur and they were saying that they weren't sure how to really word their message and their sales page. And I asked a simple question. I said, well, tell me a little bit about your target audience.

Who are they?
What do they do?
What do they like?
What do they not like?
Where do they live?
What are they doing after work?
Where do they work?

And the person responded back, I don't know. How would I figure that out?

I was so thankful that this individual was open to learning more about their audience. And that truly is the first thing that you need to do. Learn more about your target audience.

Tell me who are you trying to reach with your business?

What needs do they have that your business, your service or product can address? You need to know what they're doing after work. You need to know if they have kids or if they don't, if they are working in their home office, if they're driving and they have a commute. What does their life look like? Almost think of it as a day in the life of Sally, Susie, Bob, Joe. A day in the life of, or even better, a week in the life of your client. Get to know your target audience. It may seem like you're limiting yourself if you say, well, I know that my client, Joe, is someone who works outside the home. He has a 30 minute commute each way, but honestly, most days it takes 45. He likes to shop at Costco. He likes to hang out at Target with his wife as she shops for some things. He adds some things to the cart, and they are excited that their 17-year-old is starting to look at colleges.

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IntroductionWelcome to the Coaching Hive podcast! I am thrilled that you're here today because today is all about getting your ideas down on paper so that you can get things done. If you know anything about being an entrepreneur, and I'm sure you do, because even if you're a brand new entrepreneur, you know that getting things done is the secret sauce to having a successful business.

But let's face it, it's so easy for all of the ideas to just get jumbled, to feel that overwhelm, not know where to start, and a brain dump is probably the simplest, cheapest, fastest way to start making progress in your business, and that is what we are going to talk about today. So if you are ready to start making a difference in your business, getting things done, taking that next step, let's jump in.

Productivity and the Brain DumpAll right, so you are an entrepreneur, and like most entrepreneurs, you have a lot of ideas. Let's face it, you have shower ideas, you have ideas when you're cooking, you have ideas. When you are driving, the ideas just keep coming and coming and coming, and they're all pretty good. But the problem comes when you try to implement things. If you have all of these different ideas swirling around ready to go, it is difficult to get anything done because you don't know what to do first. This is where a brain dump makes things so much simpler.

Now, it's not like an easy button, but it's almost as good as an easy button. Y'all remember those buttons that you could push? I think it was Staples that had the easy button. So a brain dump is a way to increase your productivity. To be honest, a brain dump is a way to get all of your thoughts, all of your ideas that are floating around in your head, down onto paper, and what happens as a result is that you are clearing your mind, you're decluttering your thoughts, and you can focus on one thing the next thing in your business because when you are an entrepreneur, you also tend to have a lot of other things going on in your life.

Even if you're not an entrepreneur, you have a lot of things going on in your life, and having all of those ideas held in your brain makes it really difficult to focus on the most important thing right now, and that's why a brain dump is so helpful and it's so simple to implement. In fact, it's not going to cost you anything. You can pull out the nearest sheet of paper, the closest pen or pencil, and set a timer for 15 minutes.

That's what's going to cost you. It's going to cost you a piece of paper, a pen, and 15 minutes.

Now, I want you to look at your business and think about what you spend on applications, technology, different tools, resources, and courses. This brain dump piece of paper, pen and 15 minutes is a worthy investment in your business and your life in general.

So how do you do a brain dump and why does it really increase your productivity?

What happens is you take your piece of paper, you're going to set your timer for 15 minutes, and I want you to find a quiet time of day in a quiet space. This may be more challenging for some of you than others. I understand that, but it's well worth the effort to find the 15 minutes of quiet space and quiet time. Then what I want you to do is write every idea down that you've had for your business. That's it. I want you to write every idea down that you've had, that you've been thinking about contemplating for your business.

Maybe it's podcast ideas, blog ideas. Perhaps it's a new revenue stream. Maybe it is how to change your messaging. Maybe it is a new place to reach out for potential clients, a new lead magnet idea. I just want you to write it all down.

Don't edit. Don't worry about if it's a good idea, a not great idea for right now. Maybe it's down the road. I don't want you to do any of that. Just want you to write

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Introduction

Welcome to the Coaching Hive podcast. I am thrilled that you're here with me today, and today is going to be all about feeling stuck. Now, I was on a coaching Hive Elite call this past week, and at 1.1 of our members looked at me across Zoom and said, you're a squirrel wrangler. And we all kinda laughed because we talk about squirrels quite frequently in Elite as things that can get us off track,

or things that can keep us stuck or get us stuck because we are moving in all different directions instead of staying focused on the path forward. And today I want to spend some time talking with you about this concept of feeling stuck and what you can do to get unstuck so that you can keep moving forward.

Here we are nearly at the end of the year. Things are getting exciting. We're heading into this new year with big plans, and you don't wanna get stuck at this moment right now as you head into these new plans. So let's spend today's time together talking about how to get unstuck so that you can better wrangle your own squirrels. If you are ready to talk about this concept of getting unstuck, let's jump in.

What does it mean to be stuck?

I already told you that today is all about getting unstuck, but what does it mean to be stuck? For a lot of us, it can feel like we're stuck in a rut or we're not sure how to move forward, maybe what to do next.

I'll be honest. When I'm feeling stuck, I tend to sit down somewhere that's not normal. Like I sit on the stairs and when Nate, my husband, comes out of his office and he sees me sitting on the stairs, he gives me that look like I know what's going on, and he just says, you're stuck, aren't you? And I just have to look at him and say, yeah, I am.

We all get stuck. But the key is that being stuck in the moment is sometimes a sign that we need to make a change, that something has to shift a little bit in order for us to keep moving forward. Maybe we go over the obstacle, maybe we go around it, go under it, go through it. I don't think it matters as long as we start to think about the fact that there's a way to get unstuck.

Contributors to Feeling Stuck

And there are a few things that can really contribute to feeling in this place of stuckness. It might be that you're not clear on your goals. Maybe you've got a lot of different things, so you're not really focused in, maybe you have a lot of squirrels running around in your brain, you've got lots of different ideas and they're pulling you in different directions.

Maybe you don't necessarily have a plan to achieve your goals. Maybe the goals are crystal clear, but you don't have a plan to achieve them. Or maybe what you're doing, whether it's in work or life or some combination isn't fulfilling anymore, or maybe it just wasn't fulfilling to begin with and you no longer have the patience for that. Perhaps you're feeling a little bit uninspired, you've been feeling that grind, you've been getting things done. Maybe you feel like you've been on a hamster wheel of content creation or trying new things and nothing seems to work and you feel just stuck.

You know what?

No matter what the reason is, it's frustrating, isn't it? Have you ever been in that place of feeling stuck and you just felt frustrated or maybe, maybe discouraged?

Here's what I want you to remember, this feeling of stuck being stuck. It's not permanent. You can get unstuck, you can move forward with your business. You don't have to stay in that place of stuckness. You don't have to watch the squirrels run around and not have any kind of semblance of order. You can wrangle the squirrels so that you can get unstuck and start moving forward.

The key is to get up off the stair and just choose away. Either go up the stairs or down the stairs.

Getting Unstuck

You probably want something a little bit more specific to get unstuck, don't you? Then, hey, just get up off the stairs because I can tell you it doesn't just work like that. It doesn't work to just say, “Hmm, I'll get up off the stairs” and everything will be fine. Nor does it work to just say, “I'm gonna wrangle my squirrels”. You have to actually have a plan in place. You have to know what to do when you're feeling stuck, and the first thing that I always recommend is to sit down and define your goals.

You might be thinking, I have my goals, Moira, I don't need to do that. You might, but I would still encourage you to go back to those goals and make sure that they still fit. Revise them. Think about what you actually want to achieve, what kind of business do you want to build, and what does that business bring to your life as a whole?

And when you start thinking about these big-picture things, it gets a little bit easier. Take time to define your goals, and figure out what you need to do to achieve them.

What has to happen?
What resources do you need to make that goal of reality?
What people do you need to work with?
What collaborations do you need to create?
What partnerships do you need to build?
What time do you need to carve out in order to make those goals reality?

And then make a plan. Once you know your goals, you have to really create the plan to achieve them. You've already thought about what you need to define what defines those goals. What do you need to have happen? Go ahead and make the plan to achieve them.

It's probably going to mean setting up monthly, quarterly, weekly, daily segments of those goals, of those plans so that you have milestones to reach, little spots to get to.

It's almost like you are crossing a river, but we can't cross the river in a single leap, right? Imagine that you're on one bank, you and on the opposite bank of the river is the goal, and it's met once you get there, but you can't just cross that really wide river in one single leap, so you have to hop from stone to stone. Imagine someone has laid out beautiful stepping stones across the river. They're secured their landing points that if you get to each one, you will get across the river. Imagine that your quarterly goals, your weekly goals, your daily goals, are you stepping on those stepping stones to get across the river safely with purpose. Now, this is where squirrel wrangling comes into play. You only have this one set of stepping stones. You can't just run all off and all directions and still get across the river because there aren't stepping stones that will help you to get there. You might get really wet, you might float downstream a little bit and have to swim back against the current, get back on the stepping stone and keep going. Staying on the path, knowing that if the path needs to change, those stepping stones will appear, but stay on the path that's going to get you where you want to be. Small goals, and milestones that you can keep track of so that you can see the progress.

Almost like when you hop onto the stepping stone, it turns green. You can see, yes, I made it to the stepping stone, I hopped to the next one, take the next step in the plan and it turns green. Now, some of you might be thinking, great, that's all I need. That's awesome.

For some of you, you might be thinking, okay, I've done that. It doesn't necessarily get me where I want to go, that it may be the stepping stones don't appear in the right places, or it doesn't seem to get me to the part of the river bank that I really wanted to get to. Okay, the next thing to try is to get outside your comfort zone.

This one's tough. If you are feeling stuck and you aren't sure how to make progress, it might be because you are firmly wrapped in the bubble wrap of your comfort zone. So challenge yourself. Get outside the norm of what you do, what you're willing to do, and that can really get you out of a rut. One of the things that I recently did is I offered the Entrepreneur Resource Bundle, and this was a collaboration of 10 other entrepreneurs. We came together, this was the first time I had ever done something like that. It was definitely outside my comfort zone, but it helped me to get unstuck in my business and also helped them to take steps forward in their business as well. We all got outside our comfort zone, tried something new, and the results were wonderful.

Get outside your comfort zone first, and make a plan.

The next thing that I highly recommend is finding a mentor. Finding a mentor is one of those things that you think, I'll do it later, but a mentor can provide guidance and support as you're working toward the goals.

You don't have to wait until later to find someone who has achieved what you've already, what you're trying to do or can help you wrangle the squirrels or can help you look through what you've got going on and help you decide on the next right step. How you're going to get to that goal can be absolutely priceless. I was on a coworking call earlier this week and one of the colleagues that I was with said, you've gotta make sure you're in the right room. And I read an email this morning that said, much the same thing. You have to make sure you're in the right room, get into the room. So have the relationships, the conversations where you are not the furthest person along where you are going to be told all of the things that you need to change in order to get to where you want to be.

Is that really difficult to hear? 100% yes. But when you do that, when you get into the right room with people who are ahead of you, who have figured these things out, who are better at XYZ than you are at this current moment, what happens if you decide to listen and implement what they're saying, you are going to move forward and you are going to be at their level.

You are all going to find the next room where you are not the furthest person along. This is what having a mentor can do for you. It's helping you get into the right room. It's helping you have someone that is ahead of you in the process. It doesn't mean they have everything figured out. It means they're a little bit ahead, 10% ahead of where you are because they're still gonna understand what you're going through.

They are going to be able to help you see that stepping stone path forward and they're going to help you figure out the next right step. And that brings me to the last thing I want to encourage you to do if you're feeling stuck, and that is, is to take action. You'll notice that I said toward the beginning of this podcast that my husband finds me on the stairs.

I'm sitting down, and at that moment I have to choose to either go up the stairs or down the stairs to go somewhere so that we can have a conversation that's taking action. Just take action. Choose to go up the stairs or down the stairs. The best way to get unstuck is to take action, to do something, anything inside your business, whether it's big or it's teeny tiny because you know what happens. An object in motion stays in motion. A business in motion stays in motion. When you as a business owner can take action, you are breeding action in your business. When you start to move forward, the rest will follow. The path will become clear. It's okay if you can't see the path ahead of you right now.

That's alright. The path will become clear as you take each step forward. Getting stuck is normal, staying stuck doesn't have to be the norm.

Action Item

What is your action item for this week? How about you take action? It can be that you are going to come up with your goals to find your goals a little bit more, and figure out what you need to achieve your goals.

Maybe it's making a plan. Maybe that is what resonated with you today. You think I have the goals I need to make a plan to get there. Fantastic. Maybe it's getting outside your comfort zone. Maybe it's reaching out. Maybe it's leaving a review, offering a testimonial for someone, or even something little that's outside your comfort zone to get your brain in that space of doing something new.

Maybe it is finding a mentor. Maybe it's helping wrangle those squirrels. Perhaps it is someone who can help you find the next right step in the options that are in front of you. Just take action. I want you to take action on something this week in your business. The best way to get unstuck is to take action. So that is your action item for the week.

Do something. It doesn't matter how big it is, doesn't matter how important it is inside your business. Do something, send an email, send a message, or make a post. Look at what you are offering to your clients, and if they can be tweaked at all or if you just need to get it out there, do something. Okay?

Conclusions

Let's summarize quickly before we wrap up for today, because getting unstuck can feel big, and I want you to know it's normal, but doesn't have to be the norm.

Once more, what can you do when you're feeling stuck? Well, first of all, you might be feeling like you're in a rut. It might be that you're not sure what to do to move forward or what to do next.

All of these things are feeling stuck. They lead to you sitting on the stairs with that look on your face. When someone comes in and finds you and they say you're stuck and you say, I am okay. All of these things can contribute to feeling stuck. What can you do to get unstuck?

Define your goals.
Make a plan.
Get outside your comfort zone.
Find a mentor.
Take action.

This is the perfect time in your business right now, this moment to take action, big or small, it doesn't matter. An action is an action, and that will breed the momentum you need to get unstuck. I hope this was helpful. I trust that you are going to go right now and take some kind of action in your business so that if you are feeling stuck, or even if you're not, you are going to make progress today in your business. And if you are thinking that you need some more accountability, you need some help wrangling your squirrels, you need a mentor, you need some help getting things going in your business, please reach out. I'm always happy to chat.

And of course, if you are interested in more, we can certainly talk about Coaching Hive Elite, which is our implementation group that meets multiple times a week so that you don't get stuck. Or if you do, you're not stuck for very long.

I am excited to hear what happens inside your business this week as you take action. So go out and take action, and I look forward to seeing you back here next week for another episode of The Coaching Hive Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community and implementation removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe and happy week.

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Introduction

Welcome to the Coaching Hive podcast. I am so excited to be here with you today because I love being here with you on the Coaching Hive podcast, but also because today is special. Today is all about collaboration.

In today's episode, we will talk about:

The power of collaboration.
How it can benefit us.
Why it's so important to work together,
How we can overcome those moments of introversion or just plain "I don't know what to do" or how to reach out moments.
We'll talk about the future of collaboration and what it can do for your business.

As we talk today, I'm going to share one example of how I am currently at this exact moment, at the time of this recording, collaborating with 10 other entrepreneurs from around the world to bring entrepreneurs like you more resources.

If you are ready, if you are excited, and you want to talk about collaboration, then let's get started.

The Power of Collaboration

Collaboration. We all know that collaboration is in theory good, but we have all been a part of a collaborative effort where we had to do everything, and someone else sat back and did nothing.

It leaves a bad taste in your mouth when you think about collaboration, if that's what you remember. Chances are it happened in middle school, high school, college, or all of the above. But collaboration doesn't have to be like that.

When you are picky about who you collaborate with, the benefits of collaboration are absolutely astonishing. So why do we work together?

The Importance of Collaborating

Why is collaboration so important? Let me talk to you a little bit about that first. With collaboration, you don't have to be the expert on everything all the time. When you collaborate, it means that when something is outside your wheelhouse, you can get input and help from someone else. Sounds good, right? You no longer have to be the expert on everything.

Collaboration also means that you share the burden. So if you are trying to build something new, trying to create a course, trying to expand your reach, it isn't something now that you have to do all by yourself, which means there's some accountability built in. When there's collaboration, there's an opportunity to learn from others, and there's an opportunity to put some of the weight on other people's shoulders. You are sharing that weight versus carrying it all yourself.

So if we think about benefits, we have the fact that you don't have to be the expert. We have the fact that you can share the burden or share the weight of what you're doing.

And honestly, one of the benefits of collaboration is that you get to learn. If you know anything about me, you know how much I love learning. In fact, I think that's my number one strength on the Strengths Finder is being a learner.

When we collaborate and we're not the expert on everything and we're sharing the weight, what happens is we actually learn from others, not just concepts, ideas, and content. We're learning processes; we're learning systems that someone else what is working for them. We get to learn from others, which means the next time we do something on our own, there's a little bit more precision to it, a little bit more ease, and a little more simplicity.

The Challenges of Collaboration

Collaboration clearly is beneficial, but collaboration is not without its pitfalls. I told you at the beginning of this episode that we all can remember a time when we were on a group project where we were supposed to collaborate and it went sideways because someone was this social loafer. Someone didn't do anything, and someone else, probably you, had to step up and do everything. It felt exhausting, overwhelming, tiring, unfair, frustrating, angering, you know, all of the things. You didn't know if you could get it all done yourself. There are some very real challenges to collaborating. There is the possibility that someone isn't going to do what they said they would do and we'll talk about how to navigate that possibility in just a moment.

So we have the social loafing that happens, which is one of my favorite psychological terms for saying someone doesn't do what they're supposed to do.

There is also the challenge of finding people to collaborate with. How do you find the people? How do you find that person or group of people? One of the ideas for finding people to collaborate with is something that I did very recently in the Entrepreneur Resource Bundle that I'm going to share with you at the end of this episode.

I posted in a few paid groups that I'm in and said, 'Hey, I'm thinking about doing this bundle and I wonder if anyone would be interested. So let's hop on a Zoom call and talk." And I got a lot of interest. And what happened from there is that I got to talk to every person I was considering collaborating with.

That conversation goes back to the first point that I said about one of the challenges is that people don't always do what they say they're going to do. I had an opportunity to talk with each person and get a feel for whether or not they would follow through and if this was going to be a good collaboration that would work out in all of our favor.

The challenge is fairly easily solved by taking time to get to know the person you are potentially collaborating with, not just saying, Hey, I need someone to collaborate with and taking the first offer.

Finding people means you do have to reach out and as an introvert, I know how hard that is, but I'm telling you, I created this bundle that I'm going to share with you with 10 other entrepreneurs off of one social media post and one extra conversation that I had with someone else who was not in that group. Even for my most dedicated introverts out there, I think this is still possible.

Collaboration means you don't have to be the expert. You can share the weight, you can learn at the same time. You can overcome collaboration challenges by taking some time to get to know your potential collaborators, posting a call to action in some of the groups you're in saying, "Hey, I've got this idea. Here's what I'm thinking. Are you interested in participating or being a part of this or working together?"

When you do all of this, when you take the time to post, when you take the time to talk, collaborations go really well because collaboration is the way of the future. We cannot get everything done all on our own without any help from other people.

We are as humans, even though here in the US we live in a very individualist society. As humans, we are a collective bunch. We are better suited together. We are better suited to support one another than we ever are to work individually. This doesn't mean you can't have your individual business or your things that you're doing. You can. But doing those with support, with collaborations, makes it that much better and easier.

One thing that Stu McLaren always says that I constantly repeat, you've probably heard me say it, is that we are better together. We are better together.

The Entrepreneur Resource Bundle

Let me share a little bit about this bundle that I've been hinting at. You've heard me talk about the last few weeks on the podcast. The Entrepreneur Resource Bundle is an opportunity for you as an entrepreneur to learn from other expert entrepreneurs who have walked the path and are now down the path a little bit of the way, so they know what you might need.

We have pulled together 11 resources so that you don't have to go out and search all of these different places to find what you need to build and grow your business. We've put all of the resources in one place and for the next few days, if you're listening to this at the time of the recording for the next few days, this bundle is available free of charge. And after that time, it will go back into the vault.

Honestly, most of these entrepreneurs who have given so freely of their time, resources, and expertise are going to start charging for what you can get in the bundle right now for free.

But this is a collaboration. We have all worked together to support one another, get these resources pulled together for you. And that's the beauty of collaboration. We get to work together, learn from one another, and support one another. In doing that, we meet new people.

One of the things this collaboration has brought to my business and me personally is that I have gotten to work with people throughout the world. We have contributors in many different countries participating in this Entrepreneur Resource Bundle, which means that by collaborating, I am building my business in a more diverse manner, which is something that's really important to me.

Collaboration has a lot of different benefits. It's something that if you are an entrepreneur, and I'm going to assume you are, if you're listening to this podcast, you have to do it right. And in the day of so much being available online, you don't even have to leave your home office or kitchen table if that's where your computer is. You can collaborate with Zoom, Google Meet, Facebook Messenger, and you can start building partnerships.

Action Items

Now, I have a few action items for you today.

Usually, I tell you just one thing, but today it's a little different because I want you to take two separate actions.

The first one is that I want you to grab the Entrepreneur Resource Bundle, and you can get that at www.coachinghive.com/moira/ At the time of this recording, it's only going to be available for a few days, and then it will go into the vault. It will no longer be available free of charge. So grab it now while it is available.

The second action item that I want you to do is reach out to someone this week to collaborate. I don't care if it is collaborating on a social media post where you post on their account, they post on yours, or you collaborate to write a joint post. Something simple like that is a great way to start. If you are feeling a little bit more ambitious, you could hop on their podcast and do a joint episode or write a joint email to both of your email lists and talk about your areas of expertise, how they mesh, and how you are supporting one another.

In other words, many ways to collaborate aren't overly time intensive. Certainly, they don't have to cost you anything and can start building your business in new and exciting ways that you haven't necessarily thought of.

Those are your two action items. Grab the Entrepreneur Resource Bundle at www.coachinghive.com/moira/ and create one collaboration this week. This week reach out to someone to collaborate on something. I've left it intentionally open for you. I gave you a few ideas, and that is the beauty of this collaboration is what you want it to be.

In my case, I was ready to collaborate with several other entrepreneurs to build something important for our fellow entrepreneurs who are just getting started out or who are looking to reinvigorate their business. We know how easy it is to get stretched thin, trying to find resources and getting out there. This bundle is designed to help reduce some of that overwhelm and frustration, saving you time and money to get your business going. That's where I was in wanting to collaborate at this moment in time, but that's not where I'm always at, and that's not where you have to be. Certainly choose what's right for you.

Conclusions

Let's summarize really quickly before we wrap up for today. Collaboration is probably one of the most important things that you can do for your business. It will help you grow, build, sustain, learn, and grow without having to be the expert on everything and anything inside and outside your business.

It will allow you to share the weight of some stuff across multiple shoulders instead of just your shoulders. And it allows you to learn from other experts in your space as they collaborate with you. You're learning their systems, processes, and ideas, and as they collaborate with you, they're learning your systems, processes, and ideas so that you both have a new perspective and new tools in your toolkit.

As an entrepreneur, I understand that sometimes collaboration can feel challenging or tricky, but it's as simple as a Facebook message, a Facebook post, a simple email to a colleague, and reconnecting and asking how you can work together. Maybe it's a joint email, a joint post, or a shared podcast episode. And when you intentionally build collaborations versus just casting the net and taking whatever you get, you're not going to deal with some of the things we dealt with in middle school and high school, and college. As an entrepreneur, you can choose your collaborations wisely with intention, purpose, and meaning.

I told you today it was going to be good. Go out, collaborate, and grab the Entrepreneur Resource Bundle, and I look forward to seeing you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

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Introduction

Welcome to the Coaching Hive podcast. I am thrilled that you're here for today's episode because today's episode is near and dear to my heart in a way that I haven't shared with you in the past.

This past week, my grandmother, who was almost 102 passed away. The thing that stands out the most about her life is that she always got asked, "What's the secret? You look so young." The answer was inevitably something about skincare, something about getting outside. And it wasn't until this week as a family, as we were surrounding her in her last days, that we realized the answer to why she looked so young. Her skin was still beautiful. She was still walking up until the last week.

So how did that happen? How did she look so young? Act young? How was she able to do the things she was able to do?

The answer was happiness. My grandmother was happy in her life. That's what I want to talk to you about today. It is what's on my mind and what I hope for all of you.

And so today, we're taking a little step back and talking about happiness. So, if you are ready, I want to invite you not to grab a notebook and a pen as usual, but instead, I invite you to go on a walk as you listen or to sit someplace calm and quiet so that you can do a little bit of reflection as we talk.

And if you're ready, let's get started.

Happiness

I tell you about my grandmother's life, not to make you sad because that is the last thing that she or I would have wanted. She had an amazing life with an amazing love of life and happiness, and that really made me more than anything, stop and think that as entrepreneurs, we have a unique opportunity.

When you work in the corporate space, you sometimes have little control over what your job looks like, what your day-to-day tasks might be, or even when you can take time off. But as an entrepreneur, we can choose happiness and build happiness into our businesses.

And what a fantastic gift that is. So today, I invite you to think about a few different things. I will keep this short, so you have time to reflect.

What does happiness mean for you?

For my grandmother, it meant that she was highly engaged in her friend circle. She could always be found outside chatting with neighbors. She would host dinner parties. She was involved in community theater. She was a part of the community. For her, that was happiness. Happiness was being with her family, celebrating with them, and just being in the moment. So what does happiness mean for you, personally and professionally?

Because if we think about our lives, we spend a lot of time working. And as entrepreneurs, shouldn't that be happy? I certainly think so.

What does it mean to be happy? Personally, in your life, where does your happiness come from and how does it look? From where does it derive? And then I want you to think about that in terms of your business.

What does happiness look like in your business?

What would happiness look like if you allowed it to creep in and slowly take over?

Because here's the thing, happiness doesn't just impact our health. But, of course, it affects our health. It allows our body to function better. It allows us to get better sleep. It allows us to have the energy to get out and move to connect with one another. We are social creatures.

Happiness allows us to take in the small moments and enjoy them, not just chase after the big moments that may leave us feeling empty moments later. We need to notice, reflect, and dance for joy in the small and medium moments.

Happiness benefits us by allowing us to take better care of ourselves.

When you are happy, you are more likely to work in flow with yourself, others, and your business. The concept of flow, from Csikszentmihalyi, is the idea that you're in the moment. You don't realize that time is passing because you are so engrossed in the task on which you're working. It just flows, which is why we call it flow. Things flow.

When we're happy, we're going to be much more likely to experience flow, which is going to allow our business to catapult forward. We're going to see a much more successful business when we are happy. And so we have to build in the moments into our business for happiness.

Does that mean that you take time out to write thank you notes to customers or clients? Does it mean that you are personally answering those emails instead of handing off all of them to your VA, your virtual assistant? Does it mean that sometimes you offer a discount just because it feels right? It feels like you want to, and it makes you happy.

It gives you that deep-seated satisfaction. What does happiness look like for you? The benefits are never-ending. So we know that there are health and well-being benefits on that personal side, but also when we are better able to take care of ourselves, when we are healthier, we are going to bring more to our business. And not in an overworking kind of sense,

but in a, we are super productive when we're in our business, and then we can step away and allow our bodies to relax and rest and recover. We can spend time with family and friends without the constant worry of what our business is doing in the background. So happiness is important.

It's important as an entrepreneur, and it is something that is infinitely more controllable as an entrepreneur than it is when you are in the corporate world,

because you have so much control. You have ultimate control over what you choose to do in your business or choose to let go. Now, that does not mean that happiness comes without its challenges. As an entrepreneur, is it hard to be happy? Sometimes? Yeah, of course. It's hard to be happy in life. All you know, 100% of the time,

regardless of who you are, you have to work at it. But as an entrepreneur, when you find yourself saddled with tasks that are outside your wheelhouse or zone of genius, you might find yourself getting frustrated. You may dread the tasks and feel set apart from happiness. Happiness feels like it is in a box across the room and you can't reach it.

Those challenges can be reframed as to opportunities to see how you can look at that task that you don't enjoy and appreciate what it does for your business. So reframing those challenges, not making light of them. And there are always going to be some things in your business that you would prefer to avoid doing. That's okay.

Where you can, reframing and recognizing how it contributes may alleviate some of that frustration, anger, disappointment, tiredness that can be associated with entrepreneurial tasks and bring you more happiness.

Because here's the thing, at the end of the day when you're happy, people notice, people notice you. The people notice what you're offering and they say, "I want more. I want more of that. I want to work with that person more often." Clients get that good feeling of working with you or buying your product or your service because you're happy. And that exudes such a different energy than feeling frustrated in your business or frustrated in your life.

Action Item

I always give you some action items, and this week is no different. I'm still going to give you action items even though our topic is quite a bit different than normal.

This is such an important topic to keep in mind. It is something that we only sometimes talk about, but it is incredibly important. So in honor of this week's action items I'd like you to think about and write down what happiness looks like in your life. What brings you happiness, what makes you have that sigh of joy in your life?

And if you are busy as an entrepreneur, and you probably are, perhaps you haven't been paying attention to this recently. Go ahead and pull some things that you used to give you that feeling and put those down. You can pull them out of out of storage essentially, and put those down. Maybe you'll go back to those. Please do that for your business too.

Then this week, be purposeful and looking for opportunities to be happy to bring happiness and joy into your life. We are heading into the holiday season for many people, and happiness can be challenging to find in the holiday season. I want you to be gentle with yourself. Feel all of the emotions that you have. Being happy doesn't mean you don't feel intense joy or intense sorrow. It's okay to feel all of the all of the different emotions. In fact, that's good. It's healthy to experience a wide range of emotions and can lead to happiness because you are processing everything that's happening in your life.

But this week, be intentional looking for those moments of happiness. Jot them down, keep track of them, and then when you need a little bit of a lift one day, look at this list. Notice what you can do. It could be taking a walk outside for five minutes that brought you some happiness. Perhaps it was curling up with a good book, not feeling any guilt about reading it for 30 or 45 minutes, or in my case, an hour and a half, which often happens. So that's your action item for today.

Conclusion

As I said at the beginning, this episode is very different from our usual episodes. But, still, as I told you, it was weighing on my mind and was front and center as we had so many caregivers, helping us with my grandmother, always asking the same question, "How do you look so young?" "Why do you not look like you're almost 102?" "What do you mean you're still walking?" "What do you mean you're not in a wheelchair?" "Wow, you still have so many stories to share."

The trick wasn't a skin cream. It was partly getting outside because she got outside every day that she could. But in big part, it was just truly loving life.

Now, if you do the math, you know that my grandmother grew up during the Great Depression. There often wasn't enough to eat or enough of anything. And yet she grew up to enjoy life, to be happy in life, and to look for those moments of joy. And that's what I wish for you this week.

Entrepreneur Resource Bundle

Now, if you have been following the Coaching Hive Podcast the last few weeks, I have been talking a little bit about how something important is coming up, and that is the Entrepreneur Resource Bundle. On November 14th, you are going to want to mark your calendars. I am going to be sharing with you some amazing offers from entrepreneurs around the world who have come together.

We are joining forces to help you build your business. We have all kinds of amazing opportunities to learn from these experts who have walked the path before you put November 14th on your calendar, because it is coming up very quickly, very soon, you are going to have access to some amazing opportunities to build, grow, and scale your business in a way that's in alignment with you.

So starting on the 14th, Monday through Thursday, you are going to have access to grab these offers, free of charge, no cost. What could be better? I might have said Apple Pie last week, but okay, Apple Pie might be second. It's a very close second. This Entrepreneur Resource Bundle is really going to benefit you.

It is going to bring you some needed momentum as we head into the end of the year and into a brand new year. So please take time to grab that bundle when it's available, starting on November 14th. You will be able to get access to that if you follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or if you are signed up for the Coaching Hive newsletter.

If you're thinking, I don't know how to find you, head over to:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife
Instagram: www.instagram.com/coachinghive
Twitter: www.twitter.com/coachinghive

Drop me a message letting me know that you want access to this bundle, and I will be sure that I get you a link personally when it opens up on November 14th.

Final Thoughts

I hope that this episode has been helpful, that it has been a good reminder to slow down to make the most of each day that you have in your business and personally, to choose to find those moments of happiness, knowing that not only is it a benefit to your health and well-being, but it is also going to benefit your business as you grow and scale and create offers and products and services that your clients will love.

That's all I have for you today. I trust our conversation has provided value as you continue to build your business. Think about what you want to keep as we end the new, as we end the year, and head into the new year and what you would like to let go. I look forward to seeing you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

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Introduction

Welcome to the Coaching Hive Podcast! I am thrilled you're here for today's episode.

It is a new month, and at the start of every month, I find myself sitting down with Carrie Green inside the Female Entrepreneur Association to participate in our CEO Power Hour. Now by sitting down with Carrie, I mean I, along with a hundred or so other people, all hop on Zoom with Carrie, who shares her time and energy with us.

We reflect and talk about the past month. What were we thinking, doing, and feeling inside the business? What were the outcomes of our actions? We also examine the monthly metrics, what stays, and what goes.

Then we shift to the future, take these reflections, and decide how to proceed with the upcoming month. The coming month may include changes or pivots we want to make and goals we have for our business.

The process is eye-opening, no matter how many times I do it. It provides insights that you don't get from just regular goal setting. Goal setting alone doesn't have a reflective nature by default. It is prospective, and your goals can become detached because of that forward look.

When you combine the review of the previous month with a look to the coming month, it is easier to know when you need to pivot.

I recently introduced this idea in the Coaching Hive Elite program, and they were head over heels in love with it.

While this is the first day of the month, and I encourage you to engage in your power hour, this episode is about pivoting that comes as a result of a power hour reflection.

If you're ready, grab your notebook and a pen, and let's dive in.

Pivot!

Do you remember the Friends episode where Ross, Rachel, and Chandler are carrying a couch up the stairs, and Ross yells, “Pivot!”? Ross is yelling Pivot, but Chandler and Rachel aren’t sure how to pivot. They figure out, long before Ross, that the pivoting isn’t working. That little clip has a few valuable lessons for business owners:

Pivoting in your business isn’t always tidy.
Pivoting doesn’t always happen the way you say.
Pivoting takes coordination of efforts.

These lessons lead to the question, how do you pivot in a way that allows you to keep your sanity, keep your clients happy, and create the change necessary for your business to grow in a way that is congruent with your goals?

Pivoting with Data The first step is to look at the data.

Pivoting can bring about considerable anxiety. You build your carefully-thought out business and then realize something isn’t quite right. But the challenge lies in not wanting to let down your clients or feel like you are giving up on your business.

It is during this time that data can be particularly beneficial. What do you look at? Well, that will depend on your business. If you are a course creator thinking about shifting your course offerings, look at the completion rates, engagement with the content, feedback, and market stats on what people are searching for and willing to purchase.

If you are a membership site owner making changes to your membership, look at retention and attrition rates, examine your exit survey data to see why people are leaving, and explore how your members use your deliverables each month.

What if you have a product that you sell? Look at the cost to produce vs. what you can charge. Explore what customers typically buy with the product. Do they often purchase it as a single item and never return to your business for other products, or is this something that provides the foundation for future or same-day purchases?

By looking at the data, you can better make an informed decision about necessary or desirable pivots in your business.

Pivoting with the Heart It isn’t just about the data, however. After all, you started your business as a way to feed your heart and soul. At least to some extent. What happens when you look at the data, telling you that a pivot isn’t necessary, but you “feel” deep down that you need to make a change?

Perhaps this piece of your business is draining you or doesn’t feel in alignment with what you want to pursue for the next 15 years. But, on the other hand, maybe it is as simple as not fitting your life in this season of time.

What are you supposed to do? The data says it works, but your heart and mind are saying no.

You have to find a balance. You might be able to pivot simply by engaging some help to deliver the service or create the product. Does this “buy” you enough leeway that you can work through the season with ease?

But what happens when your business no longer feels in alignment with what you want to do?

Pivoting with the Client in Mind You have a more significant decision to make. The pivot isn’t a slight veer to the right or left; it might be a 180-degree turn.

The business you built might be doing well, or maybe it is floundering, but it isn’t in alignment with you any longer.

Pivoting becomes necessary, but you must keep your clients in mind to make the pivot successful.

Let me give you an example. Recently I began the process of closing one of our Coaching Hive memberships. Looking at the data, I could see that the members’ needs weren’t what the membership offered. They needed help implementing their business ideas in a more hands-on way, help with messaging and marketing their business, and accountability. The Coaching Hive Elite membership does precisely this, but the regular membership wasn’t hitting these needs similarly.

The alignment was also off for me. When I started the Coaching Hive 2 years ago, I had no idea I would dig into messaging for businesses. It allows me to do group and 1:1 work as my time allows. I get a creative outlet, and I have an opportunity to serve new entrepreneurs working on getting their businesses out into the world to help even more people.

I had to release what wasn’t functioning optimally to focus on a new vision. So I closed the doors to the Coaching Hive Membership at the end of September.

But I didn’t just close the doors. I pivoted with my clients in mind. Although I stopped their membership payments, they have three more months of live calls and the opportunity to join the Elite program at a special rate. I met with them individually to help them identify the next steps in their business.

I am pivoting with my clients in mind. I am helping them think through the next step.

Pivoting isn’t easy, it isn’t neat, and it takes time. But pivoting can help you reach your goals when you plan them out.

Action Item

That brings us to our action item for today. I want you to take a look at your business. Look at what is working and isn’t working the way you’d like.

With the data, your heart, and your clients in mind, what can you shift in the upcoming month? How can you better serve your needs and those of your clients?

You might need a tiny adjustment or a significant pivot. Either way, begin exploring what needs to happen for your business to be in alignment and profitable.

Conclusions

Let’s take a moment to bring everything back together from today’s episode. Pivoting isn’t easy, it isn’t neat, and it takes time. But when you plan it out, pivoting can help you reach your goals and build a business that is congruent with you.

You need to look at the data, explore what is in your heart, and keep your clients or customers in mind as you pivot. Pivoting is normal. It is a part of being in business. It signifies that you are engaged in your business and always looking for ways to improve.

This brings me to something I shared in Episode 91 last week, the Entrepreneur Resource Bundle. As an entrepreneur, you need resources to run your business. It helps when you have guides, mentors, and experts who have gone before you and explored what works and what doesn’t.

It can be hard to find in our online world. But, coming up on November 14, you will have access to 14 experts in the business world, and they are offering you their wisdom at no cost. You will have the opportunity to learn about content creation, sales pages, getting into a creative state of mind, accountability, creating a one-liner for your business, Instagram growth, wealth generation, internet security, and so much more.

You might be thinking there is a catch. The catch is that the Bundle will only be available for 4 days. But, beginning on November 14, you can access the Bundle and choose the resources you’d like access to before the vault closes.

To prepare, mark November 14 on your calendar and then list the areas in which you struggle in your business. The list will help you better identify your most meaningful offers, but honestly, you will want to grab them all!

Fourteen business experts in one place at no cost to you. What could be better? Maybe apple pie, but not much else!

If you have any questions in the meantime and would like guidance, send me a message on social.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife
Instagram: www.instagram.com/coachinghive
Twitter: www.twitter.com/coachinghive

Alrighty, that’s all I have for you today. So start thinking about the upcoming month. What will you keep the same, and what will you change? Do you need a slight veer off your path or a complete pivot as we finish the year?

I trust our conversation has provided value as you continue to build your business. I always love hearing from you about your business, what challenges you’re experiencing, and how you’ve put into action these podcast episodes.

I look forward to seeing you back next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

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Introduction

Welcome back to the Coaching Hive podcast. Today is a very special episode because it's coming to you on a Thursday, which is not normal. Usually you see these Coaching Hive podcast episodes coming to you on Tuesdays. But here's the thing. On Tuesday, in episode 91, where we talked about marketing and maximizing your holiday offer, we talked about creating a holiday offer, but I didn't leave a lot of time to help you think through how to figure out what that offer was. We talked a little bit about it. We talked about the fact that you need to do some Google searches. You need to figure out what's trending and what works well in your business, but I didn't give you a whole lot of direction beyond that.

I want to bring you this special episode today to give you a little bit more insight into what you might think about for your holiday offer. How does that sound?

If you're ready, grab your notebook because I have five questions that I want you to jot down.

5 Questions To Ask

You're ready to build your holiday offer, but maybe you aren't sure what to offer. Perhaps it's a question of how to make it actually work this time. Maybe you've built a holiday offer in the past and it has kind of flopped. You didn't really get a whole lot of traction with it. People didn't really seem to be enthusiastic.

Today I have for you five questions that I want you to do something with, and I'll explain why I say do something with, because it kind of varies based on the question.

Question 1: I want you to ask your potential clients, your audience, your list. What would make, depending on who your audience is, quarter four or the holiday season, easier for you if you have a list of businesses.

If you serve entrepreneurs, obviously we want to find out what's going to make quarter four easier for them in their business. If you are serving, maybe you're a coach and you're serving clients who are trying to get healthy or shift their mindset, you're going to ask them, how would/could they be helped in the holiday season? So the question there was, what would make your quarter four or holiday season easier? You can fill in the blanks here. You can adjust these, but that's the general gist of question one.

Question 2: This is also going to go to your potential clients, your customers, your list people who have already bought from you in the past. Here's the question, why do you need this year to be different? Why do you need this year to be different?

This is not necessarily going to give you insight into exactly what to offer, although it will. It's also going to give you insight into why your offer is so important right now. This is going to help you build your story around your offer. Question 2, why do you need something to be different this year, whether it's in quarter four or the holiday season, depending on who you're serving, adjust that accordingly. Why do you need something to be different this year? It's going to give you insights into what you could offer, but also into your messaging.

Question 3: If you had a genie who would grant you three wishes, what would your three wishes be for your family business life? Fill in the blank here with the appropriate concept for your business.

If you had a genie and you could have three wishes, what would those wishes be? This really gets them to start thinking. It gets down to the heart and soul of what it is they really want. Because when we have a wish, it feels like we can ask for something bigger than maybe what we've considered in the past, and this will give you some really good insights into what's worrying the person, what's at the root of the issue that they're having. Now, here is where it shifts a little bit.

Question 4: Questions four and five are a little bit different, and I think you'll understand that as we go through them. Question four, what does your client need to accomplish before they're ready to work with you in your bigger programs or the more expensive product, the more expensive service, the longer term service, What do they need to accomplish before they're ready for the next step with you?

This is why this question is different. This one's geared toward you as the entrepreneur. What does your client need to accomplish before they're ready to work with you? You could create a holiday offer that helps them accomplish that so that they're ready to work with you. How cool would that be? Simplify the process. Help them get to where they need to be to be your client.

Question 5: And question number five, what are the most common objections your potential clients share with you when they tell you they don't have enough time? Create an offer that is really easy to work into a very busy schedule, and then talk about the fact that it's easy to work in.

If they tell you that money is an objection, they don't have enough money for your Paid pro program, your product, create something that is a lower ticket that helps them see the value so that they can then make the choice to find that money, reallocate it, and use those services and your products that will help them make an even bigger transformation. So maybe it's time, maybe it's money, maybe it is support in the family. So how can they do something without needing to have everyone's buy-in in the whole family? What little step could you help them take that they can do all on their own?

Those are the five questions.

Conclusions

Let me run through them one more time for you.

What would make quarter four or your holiday season easier this year?
Why do you need something to be different this year? This helps them to think about last year, what they didn't like about it, maybe what they're already dreading worrying about fearing.
If you had a genie and had three wishes, what would those wishes be? And you'll want to specify that a little bit, contain it to your area of expertise, your business.
(Inwardly focused.) What does your client need to accomplish before they are ready to work with you? Help them create that bridge.
What are the most common objections your potential clients have when they're thinking about working with you?

There you have it. Five questions to help you think through a solid holiday offer.

What you could actually give during this holiday season, during career four, what does the offer look like? Use these questions to help you with your brainstorming process. And then, like I mentioned in episode 91, marketing and maximizing your holiday offer. You are going to want to do a little bit of research. Go back to Google search, see what words pop up,see what's trending, see what's going down, what's going up in the trends, what's staying stable, and even looking back a year to this time last year, what was trending, what was working?

I hope this was helpful, this little bonus short episode to get you to put into action your holiday offer, knowing that it will increase not only just your revenue, but also it will increase your list, your reach, your opportunity to serve more people as we go into the last little bit of the year.

I will see you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

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Introduction

Welcome to the Coaching Hive Podcast! I am thrilled you're here for today's episode.

We are heading into a brand new holiday season, and you know, there are lots of holidays out there, but we're heading into a season of holidays. And as such, a lot of times as business owners we are thinking about how to maximize profit during a profitable season. Even though we are experiencing inflation, people are still buying.

But inflation does mean that people are being a little more careful about how they spend and we need an offer that will do more than appeal to their head. It has to appeal to their heart, soul, and gut. It has to be a no-brainer and they will figure out how to make it work.

You're looking at your business, you're thinking about all of this. You're thinking, I like my offers, and I think that I might have an idea for an offer that would work really well during this holiday season, or maybe I have an offer that now's just a good time to launch it.

Either way, we have to get really clear on our offer, and like I said, during this holiday season, when there's a competition for getting people's hard earned money in an offer, you have to think about how you're really serving your potential client. You have to make sure it's a good offer.

You have to make sure that it's going to tell an important story, that it's going to make an important impact on their life. And then you have to kind of think about, how do I talk about it? How do I hype it up? How do I make sure that it's something that people want? Well, today we're going to talk about maximizing the profitability of your holiday offer and a little bit about how you might think of the marketing that surrounds your holiday offer.

So if you're ready, grab your notebook, your pen, and let's dive in.

Marketing Your Holiday Offer

We are heading into the holiday season right here in the USA and it's a wonderful time that often brings people together. It gets us to think about things that are bigger than us, and along that journey through the holiday season, lots of other things pop up. Stress, mindset, budgeting, family dynamics. We have to think about what that means for the business and what changes in your business during the holiday season.

It's not always a simple season to get through. Maybe you help people deal with their grief, and we know holiday seasons are particularly difficult when someone is grieving. Maybe you're helping people who are foster parents and they're navigating their first holiday season with a foster child. There is a holiday offering for just about every business.

What I want to use our time together today is to help you start thinking about how to maximize this holiday season. To give your business a good jolt, a good infusion of not just cash, but clients with whom you can form a lasting relationship, who will be clients a year from now, two years from now, where you're creating that longevity. That's how our business gets stronger, because the more you do that, the more they're going to refer you to their friends, to their family, to their colleagues, to the people that they run into on the street.

We want to make sure that we are truly not just offering something to offer something, but we're offering a holiday offer with the purpose of building the business.

Offer Transformation The first step to do that is to make sure that the offer becomes a no-brainer. We have to make sure that you're sharing the transformation.

What transformation is your offer going to bring about? It's not enough to simply say what the offer is. You don't want to make people figure out what it really means for them personally. So go ahead and put a name on that transformation, this offer, this product, this service will help you go from X to Y. What does it look like?

Is it helping them go from frazzled to calm and in control?
Is it helping them go from dumbfounded to knowledgeable?
What is it helping them do?

I want you to think about that transformation that's going to happen and why it's important. What impact does that transformation have for their life or for their business, for their family, for their mindset, for their finances? What is it going to do? So when you think about your holiday offer, first up, you've got to think about that transformation.

Client Want The next step that I want you to think about is what the person actually wants. Okay? This is kind of tricky and it's a little bit different from what they need.

You've probably heard me talk in the past about wants versus needs. The person that you are thinking of when you create this holiday offer or special, or just brand new offer in general, the person you're thinking of needs something because you're an expert in your space. You know what they need.

Here's the thing, they may not, they may not know what they need, but they do know what they want. And you need to get really clear on what the person wants. What are they seeking out? What are they going to Google for in order to solve a problem? What are they going to put into that Google search engine? I want to know how to ___________. What are they looking for? I want you to think about what that is.

What is it that they want? Yes, you know what they need, you know, at your heart and soul that your offer is going to give them what they need, but that's not what they're searching for. They're searching for what they want.

I love the example, I read this in a book recently, the book's called The Ultimate Marketing Engine by John Jantsch. He was talking about how you have an accounting firm, and you know what people may be looking for is tax services. That's great, but that's not really what they want. What they really want is trying to figure out how to make their small business more profitable. And so you can't just provide information about how you can help them save money with their taxes and their accounting processes.

What they really want to know is how to make more money. So you've got to give information about that concept, and along the way, you get to the point where, yes, you're talking about tax practices and accounting practices that are ultimately going to save your business money, but at the end of the day, what the, what the client is thinking is, I need more money in my business. Yes, that's one way to do it, but they're thinking about profitability. So you've got to make sure that the information you're providing, the transformation that you're offering is what the person is identifying that they want. When you're able to create an offer around this concept, you know it's serving an underlying need, but you also know that it is what they are searching for.

The moment you build something and message something, market something in a way that highlights what they want, it becomes more successful. I encourage you to go to Google, or your favorite search engine, and search what you are thinking of. What pops up? How many results are there? Are these trending keywords? Are they trending up? Are they trending down? Are they flat? Look, historically, look at the last holiday season. See if it spiked during the last holiday season, knowing that, hey, this offer did really well a year ago in the holiday season and I bet it will do really well now. Check to see what happened 2, 3, 4, or even 5 years ago during the holiday season. That data gives you just a little bit more comfort and clarity around what people want.

If, when you do your search, you see that the words you're thinking of, the transformation you're thinking of really do have results, and they are trending up, that’s great. It means that you're probably on the right track, but you can go ahead and keep brainstorming until you really dial that piece in, because the rest of this podcast, it's going to be about what you do next.

So you have two options. You can pause this and go brainstorm, do some work, or you can keep listening to this knowing that you're going to come back and break it down and pause it in the future. Personally, I would go with number two. Go ahead and listen to it the whole way through so that you get the big picture in your mind before you go out there and start thinking about a holiday offer.

But again, take notes as you listen. That way, if any good ideas pop up, you've got them written down. Okay, so let's get this process moving a little bit forward. We talked about the fact that you need to identify the transformation that the client, the customer, is going to go through with your new offer, whether it's a holiday offer or just a new offer in general.

Then you want to think about what it is they really want, because that is going to help you dial in your messaging so that it touches them, not just in their head, but their heart and their gut, and it really makes them feel seen and heard.

Solve the Problem The next thing that you want to think about is the problem you're solving. And I love looking at this from different layers.

If you've ever read the Building a StoryBrand book by Donald Miller, you'll know that problems come in a variety of flavors. Essentially, you have an external problem. This is the thing that we can see. We know that usually right away you can tell what that external problem is. Maybe let's think about a window company or an HVAC company. Maybe the external problem is that your heating bills are high, your windows are old and leaky, or maybe the HVAC isn't running efficiently. Those are all external problems, but we want to take it a layer deeper because what we want to do is make sure that there's that moment when someone reads your offer, they go, Oh, that's me. I didn't even realize that's how it was affecting me, because you know them better than maybe they even know themselves.

We've got that external problem. The heating bill is just going up and up. The windows are old and leaky. I can feel the cold air rushing in and the hot air. I know where it's going, it's going outside. Or maybe my HVAC isn't running efficiently, and that's why my heating bills are so high.

Now, let's think about the internal problems this creates. How does this make the client or the customer feel? The windows are old, they're leaking, they're leaking air. The hot air's going out into the cold, and you know what happens? That means the house is cold, and you know what? It makes you grumpy. Maybe it makes you feel a little cranky. Maybe it makes you dread going home because it's chilly in the house. Maybe you're kind of achy because your joints don't like the cold.

The more we understand of this internal problem, how it's making you feel, the stronger the offer becomes. Is the cold making you dread your home, your family time, sitting around the table because the table's cold. It's cold at dinner time. Maybe it makes everyone a little cranky. Maybe it's hard to fall asleep because now you have eight blankets piled on your side of the bed. Maybe it's tough to enjoy the shower because it's not warm in the shower, even though the water's hot, the room is cold.

We're getting into some of that internal, how does it make you feel? What does it make you think and do that's different that you don't like? Now, think about a person who has the leaky windows, the non-efficient HVAC unit, and they go, Wow, Yeah, I take it out on my family when I come home because I walk in, the house is cold. I was in my nice warm car, and it just feels, ugh. And then I don't want to cook dinner, or I don't want to get up and do things because I just want to be beneath the blanket. It doesn't feel good. I'm worried.

We've got the external problem. We know it's the high bill, the old leaky windows. It's a non-efficient HVAC unit. We've got the internal problem. It's creating anxiety about coming home, that dread of coming home. It's creating crankiness and grumpiness, maybe not just in your client, but their whole family. It's changing the family dynamics in a negative way.

Then we want to think about why this is just a philosophical problem. Why is it just wrong that this is happening in the big picture? No one should be cold in their own home. No one should have to suffer in their home and not enjoy dinner around the family table because they're cold, or because there's a fight over who gets to take the blanket to the family table, or because they're missing out on an opportunity simply because the power bill has gone so high, The extra money in the family budget that used to be for fun, family bonding things is going to the power bill. That's just wrong.

We have to think about the problem in a variety of different ways. And when you do that, you are talking directly to your potential client or customer.

We've talked about the transformation. We've talked about what the person wants, and knowing that you're going to deliver the need. We've talked about the fact that you have to identify several layers of the problem. It's not just the “see-able” one, the external, but it's also how the potential client is feeling what they're thinking, as well as the philosophical big picture problem here.

And that brings us to really helping the client know what to do. They also know that you care and you want to focus on those. But I also want to make sure that we spend a little bit of time today talking about what it would mean for your potential client to take you up on that special offer, maybe that limited time offer, that limited amount, the special holiday offer, whatever it is you're creating.

Success and Failure I want you to think about what success looks like. In other words, what does life look like after they've been through your offer, after they've used your product or service? How does their life look better? You can think about it in terms of short, medium, and long term, what they're thinking, doing, and feeling at each of those stages. In other words, in our holiday example. So how does their holiday look different? If they have a tune up on their HVAC unit, it's more efficient, it's working better, and their house isn't cold, and now they can welcome their family to that holiday meal. Knowing that everyone's going to be comfortable, everyone's going to be excited to sit down and share a meal together. Or perhaps it's about the holiday special that you're offering on new windows for your home. And even replacing half of the windows, maybe on just one floor, makes a big difference in the internal feel of the house. What does that mean?

Maybe it's stress, maybe handling your stress during the holiday season if you have just one, two ways to handle your stress more effectively. And now the family dinner, it's kind of fun. Or shopping during the holiday season, which usually makes you a little bit nervous, makes it a little bit more doable.

Think about what success looks like, and then flip the coin.

What does it look like if this person passes by your offer? How does life stay the same? What's not working? Point that out. How does it look different?

If they don't do anything, what does it mean for their holiday season? Is it just another holiday season like last year that had all of the inherent problems? Sometimes it's enough to just say, Hey, you didn't like last year. Let's make a change for this year.

This failure concept is not meant to make anyone feel guilty. It is not meant to turn the knife in the problem. What it's meant to do is create a little bit of tension so that they say, Oh my gosh, I don't want this again. I want this season to be different. We want to make sure that we're highlighting all of these things that we've talked about today in your holiday offer.

All of this comes together so that you can tell a story about what it is you are offering. We have this opportunity to create a holiday offer that becomes a no-brainer. You are speaking directly to your potential client or potential customer. You are sharing what the transformation is, what's possible with your special holiday offer. You are sharing what it's like, how it will feel, what they'll be doing as a result of your offer. You're helping them see that life can be different as a result of your offer. This is a fantastic way to shift your business in this last quarter of the year.

If you are creating a holiday offer, and I strongly believe that every business has an opportunity to create some kind of holiday, offer it, it will boost your profitability toward the end of the year. It gives you an extra jolt and extra infusion, and it also helps you to build your list. Maybe get to some potential clients. You wouldn't have brought in to your business with a big offer up front, but maybe they want to test something out. Test out what you do, what you'll offer, how you work. And this smaller, maybe more concentrated holiday offer is the opportunity that is just right for them. But in order for that to work, you have to make sure that they understand why the offer is so important right now. Why can't they put it off?

It's not just because it's a limited time deal, it's because it's so important to their life that they can't imagine what their life would be like without this. So they purchase, they jump in. It's gotta be a no brainer. And you can certainly add things to make the offer a little bit more spicy, a little bit more exciting. You can add in bonuses, you can add in little things that you wouldn't ordinarily offer. All of that is completely fine. You can absolutely make this a little bit more enticing.

At the end of the day, the story around what you're offering with or without bonuses has to be rock solid. You've got to help them see the transformation, know why it's so important, what it is, how it connects to what they're searching in Google for right now. Knowing that you're going to hit those underlying needs as well. You know that you know your offer will do that.

You've got to help them identify that this is right for them. This is the problem I'm experiencing. This is the offer that will make a difference. Maybe they say, “You're right. I am so tired of being cold around the dinner table. It's making me cranky. I snap at my kids. I snap at my partner or my spouse. Honestly when I put my hand on the doorknob, I start to cringe knowing I'm walking into the cold house.”

We want them to see themselves, and you've understood them so well. They say, I can't pass this up. I want you to really think about not just what they're thinking in their heads, but in their heart, in their belly. I want them to be touched in their heart and soul and gut. When you share your offer, whether they encounter your offer in a podcast, a blog, a free via, post, whatever it looks like, what's their gut reaction to it? Because we want them to see themselves and know that this is important.

We want them to recognize the problems they're having and the fact that life can be different. They can succeed if they choose this offer, but if they don't, they're in for more of the same.

Action Item

That brings us to our action item for today. Today's all about helping our clients create change in their life, right? And I want to help you create change in your business, which means we've gotta put this into action. What I would love for you to do is think about what kind of holiday offer you could create right now. It doesn't have to be big. It doesn't have to be complicated, but it does have to be something that you can put out there.

Once you start doing a little bit of that brainstorming, do the research, see what pops up in Google and other search engines. What's trending, what's important, What do people want in your industry?

Then I want you to use a free tool called www.mystorybrand.com Create a free account and then build your BrandScript for your holiday offer. When I say BrandScript, what I mean is all of these things and more that we've been talking about in this podcast episode, you have an opportunity to map out your message that you'd like to share for your offer. In doing this, what happens is you have all of the pieces covered. You have all of the necessary components of a good story. It's mapped out. There are even videos inside each component of the brand script to help you to know what each piece is about.

I've explained some of those pieces here in today's podcast episode. You can certainly go back to this episode and listen to the different parts, but also use those videos that are provided in www.mystorybrand.com. Super helpful. And of course, if you get stuck, I'm here to help you. I'm a StoryBrand Certified Guide. I can help you walk through that BrandScript so that you can get it out there faster.

The key is to get your holiday offer prepared, Get it out there, have your plan in place, have your story ready.

Conclusions

As we wrap up today's conversation about maximizing your new offer, marketing it, whether it's a holiday offer or not. The key is to capture your potential client’s attention with a story. Speak not just to their head, but to their heart and their gut as well. You want to talk about the transformation, what they want, the problem they're having. You want to talk about what it looks like to succeed, to use your offer, and what it looks like to not do anything. This is where the magic happens. It is not enough to just create an offer and a hope that people come.

You've got to create the story. You've got to create the messaging and the marketing around it that gets it out there, gets it seen, and get those people to say, “That's me. That's what what I need!”

Entrepreneur Resource Bundle I have a little secret that I'm gonna let you in on, on this is the first time I've talked about it. Coming up in November, I have partnered with several other entrepreneurs who are all geared toward helping you, the entrepreneur, build your business, and trying to keep it simple. The fact of the matter is that we know there are so many different resources out there. It feels a bit overwhelming. It feels kind of like you've got endless lists that you're supposed to look through, and you have to sift through all of these different products. But it shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't have to be hard. So what we've done is we've come together and we have taken the things that you want and put 'em into a beautiful resource bundle, an entrepreneur resource bundle. It's almost like having an encyclopedia of what you need to build your business, and we've put it together all in one place.

Coming up in November, you will have about four days to access this bundle to get in, get these different tools and resources and concepts from a variety of entrepreneurs. So I want you to go ahead. You don't have to do anything today. I want you to go to your calendar and mark November 14th to keep an eye out.

I'll be talking about it on the podcast. I'll be sending out emails. I want you to keep an eye out for our Entrepreneur Resource Bundle that we are putting out there for you, the entrepreneur, so that you can stay nice and focused instead of feeling scattered and unsure of what next step to take or even how to do certain things inside your business.

I hope you're excited. This is a super exciting opportunity. The offers you'll see in this bundle are not ordinarily offered by the entrepreneurs who have contributed them. We are truly coming together as an act of service for other entrepreneurs who are action takers, who want their business to grow, who know that they need to stop exploring and start implementing. We've got stuff pulled together for you to do exactly that.

You'll be able to get that bundle starting on November 14th. It will be available for about four days, so you can get in there and get those offers, snatch 'em up so that you can go through them. If you have any questions about that and you want some insider information ahead of time, feel free to send me a message on social.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife
Instagram: www.instagram.com/coachinghive
Twitter: www.twitter.com/coachinghive

Send me a dm. Let me know that you've listened to this and you want to make sure that you know about this bundle when it pops up on November 14th.

Alrighty, that's all I have for you today. You're gonna get those holiday offers outlined, researched, and start building your message. Remember, you're going to use the my storybrand.com website to create your story around your offer so that it has all of the necessary components that draws your potential client in, Get gets them excited for your offer and has them saying, “Yes!”

I trust that our conversation has provided value as you continue to build your business. I'd always love hearing from you about your business, what challenges you're experiencing, and how you've put into action these podcast episodes.

I look forward to seeing you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

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Introduction

Welcome to the Coaching Hive Podcast! I’m thrilled you are here for today’s conversation.

Have you ever sat and wondered what the next step is for your business? Do you have lists and lists of ideas but can’t find the path forward?

I will never forget the beginning of 2022 when I sat with piles of sticky notes surrounding me on the dining room table and felt completely overwhelmed. I had so many ideas that I wanted to implement, but where to start was the problem.

It was at that moment that I realized I needed to step back and figure out what the next step was. I needed to figure out what step would move me forward in my business.

Once I was able to look at the pile of sticky notes with that objective in mind, they seemed to organize themselves. Now obviously I couldn’t just wave a magic wand, but it was the next best thing.

Figuring out the next step is a superpower that you can develop and is something that we focus on heavily in the Coaching Hive.

Without that next step, your business is stagnant.

Have you felt this stuckness of not knowing the next step? Does it keep you from pursuing your business with intention? Maybe it keeps you from seeking support. Perhaps it has you plateaued. It is time for action and next steps today.

If you are ready for this conversation grab your notebook and a pen and let’s dive in!

The Next Thing

As a solopreneur, the whole to-do list for your business falls, your plate innovation ideas, list building, customer follow up, lead generation, finances, tech research, content development, marketing, sales, vision, task breakdown, and the list goes on.

Today, I'm not going to give you a big long list of things to do.

You already have your own stack of sticky notes that is telling you all of the things that you need to do. So here's what we're gonna focus on three things that you need to keep in mind when you look at that stack of sticky notes.

1. Focus The first one is focus. This is multidimensional focus, not just in what is the exact next step you need to take. It is a focus on where you want your business to go right now.

What's that next step for your business? Focus on that.

Then when you look at your sticky notes of things to do and tasks to accomplish, I want you to figure out which one is the step that will help you to stay focused on getting that goal accomplished. Because we can create goals upon goals upon goals.

In fact, some of you have probably done that. I know I've been guilty of it. I think if I just rewrite that goal one more time it is going to magically happen. It's not true. I keep trying it, but it's not true. So what we have to do is take that goal or take that intention or that direction that you have for your business and focus.

Focus on just that and focus on what specific task is going to get you there. Now, you need more than one task to get you there, but what's the next task you need to accomplish?

For example, if I want to record six podcast episodes and get them done, get them banked for upcoming episodes so I don't have to worry about it and I can focus on something else in my business.

Well then my goal is to get those six podcasts recorded and banked and just ready to to roll out when each Tuesday comes around. Okay? But there are a lot of things that have to happen for that. I have to plan, I have to record, I have to have the topic. I have to edit. I need to get a transcript prepared.

I need to have a description. I need to have a link that goes to our RSS feed. But if I think about all of those things at once, nothing will get done. So the next thing to do is to choose a topic, and from there, it's to create an outline to think about what stories I wanna tell or what key points I want to make.

Then it comes down to recording it, then it's editing, then it's the transcript. Then it's getting loaded into our system so that it's ready to go. But if I think about getting six podcasts done, if I were to have all of those sticky notes for all six of those episodes just kind of floating around, my focus is going to be fuzzy at best and completely panicked at worst.

Okay, so here it is. The first thing you need to do when you are a solopreneur and the whole to-do list falls on your plate is to focus. What thing do you want to work on right now that's going to move your business forward? And what little action steps do you need to take?

2. Execute That brings us very aptly to the next of three steps that I want you to think about are three key ideas that I want you to think about in today's episode,

and that is to execute. Execute that sticky note. Do what it says to do. If I go back to the example of I want to get six podcasts done and out of the way, and I've lined up my sticky notes in the order, I know exactly what is my next right step to take. I know that I have to choose a topic, but if I don't choose the topic, then nothing else can fall into place. That focus has been lost once again. So we have to actually execute on the tasks that are identified. Now, when I gave you that six podcast focus, I created a lot of different tasks, a lot of little things.

Keep it simple as you're getting started with this approach of finding just the next right thing to do.

Because if you can keep it simpler, you're much more likely to stay focused and to execute those tasks that you need to do. Now, execution may take quite a bit of quite a few different forms. You may need support for that. You may need a checklist. You might need an app or a timer or something that encourages you. You might need a reward of some kind, whether it's five minutes out in the sun, a new, a new cookbook, something. If you need to reward yourself, that's okay.

The key is to make sure that you execute on your task.

3. Deliver If you stay focused and then you execute what happens, you have something to deliver. So in my case, in the example I gave you about the six podcasts, I would have six podcasts that are ready for delivery. I can follow through on my commitment to you as listeners that you have a podcast to listen to. Every single Tuesday without fail delivery is key for anything in your business. If you can't deliver what you say you're going to deliver, then your clients lose confidence and they might go somewhere else.

That's certainly not what we want, especially if you have been working hard to stay focused and to execute ahead and get that delivered. Make sure that you are delivering what you need to deliver.

I know this might sound kind of simplified, but here's the thing, getting things done in life is all about just taking little steps forward. It's about doing the next right thing and not worrying about the huge picture in front of you, or all of the plates that you are spinning in the air, hoping none of them fall…especially as a solopreneur.

It is just about getting the next right thing done. It's simplified.

Focus. Execute. Deliver.

That's what your business is all about. Focus. Execute. Deliver.

I want you to imagine for a moment when you sit down to your tasks, you know exactly what you're focusing on. You have a clear focus. In fact, you've chosen that next right step to take, and you have aligned time in your schedule to do that step. You sit down, you do the step, and it allows you to move forward to the next piece of the puzzle. And before you know it, you're delivering that fully formed puzzle in your business.

How does that feel? How does it feel to finish the puzzle? And maybe you're thinking about puzzles that have fallen by the wayside, that maybe you got three quarters of the pieces done and placed and you weren't able to do that last 25%. What would it look like to go back to that? Finish it up, stay focused on it, execute and deliver that puzzle. Complete it.

Full picture, full story.

When we simplify, we can accomplish far more than when we try to do all of the things all at once without any kind of plan. So hear me very carefully when I say goals are important. I'm not trying to tell you not to have goals. I'm not trying to tell you to think only small or short term.

No, I absolutely believe you need to have a five and a 10 year plan. I think you need to have a one year plan. I think you need to have a quarterly plan. I think you need to have a monthly plan and a weekly plan. However, if you think about all that stuff, it's going to stop you from taking action.

Action Item

This brings me to the part of the podcast where I ask you to take action. I want you to think about what you are going to focus on, how you're going to execute that focus area and what you're going to deliver.

Each Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I sit down with a wonderful group of women who are all entrepreneurs. We sit down at 6:00 AM and we work for 90 minutes. We co-work and we hop on Zoom. We turn off our webcams and our mics after we kind of say hello and set our intention. So what we're really doing at 6:00 AM is setting our focus for the next 90 minutes. And you might be thinking, Whoa, 6:00 AM 90 minutes. Yeah, I'm not gonna get what I'm supposed to do finished.

Here's the thing. We stay focused because we have to execute. At the end of that call, we deliver. We talk about what we accomplished, and it is very empowering. It creates an atmosphere of focus. It also creates a commitment that sometimes is tough to create on your own, but with others who support you, who are like-minded, other entrepreneurs, other solopreneurs, focusing, executing, and delivering becomes a habit.

It becomes a way of doing business, one that works, one that catapults your business forward. Now, back to the action item.

Your action item for this week: I want you to make sure that you choose a focus, that you execute and then you deliver.

And here is how I would like you to stay accountable. I told you about my co-working sessions. What I'd like you to do is pop into the podcast review and let me know what you focused on, what you were able to do, and what you delivered because of that focus and execution. So stay accountable, come back and tell me what you were able to do as part of this approach.

Focus, execute, deliver, do the next thing. That's it. Just do the next thing. Stay focused.

Conclusions

As we wrap-up today’s conversation about the next thing, remember that imperfect action is the best action. It is ok to not have the most elegant action steps. It is ok if you get things a little out of order or aren’t sure exactly what is working.

The key is to get some things done so that you have data to look at and adjustments to make. Without focus, execution, and delivery you have there is no data, no adjustment.

Just get going. Don’t worry about continually creating new goals if it is keeping you from implementing.

That’s all I have for you today, but I trust that our conversation has provided value as you continue to build your business. I’d love to hear from you about where you were able to focus, execute and deliver in your business.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

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Introduction

Welcome to the Coaching Hive podcast!

Today is going to be like no other. In fact, it's going to be the shortest episode of the Coaching Hive podcast that you have ever listened to, and it is designed to get you to think and then to get out there and do we want to shift mindsets so that you can take action in your business.

If you're ready for this conversation, go ahead and grab your notebook, grab your pen, and let's dive in.

5 > 10…No I don’t need to go back to math class

Here is our quick topic for today: Five is greater than 10. You might be thinking, wow, maybe you should go back to math class!

But here's what I'm thinking.

Five is greater than 10.

Five quality leads or better than 10 So-So leads
Five clear words are better than 10 rambling words.
Five meaningful comments are better than 10 surface level comments.
Five focused hours are better than 10 unfocused hours.
Five relevant ideas are better than 10 irrelevant ideas.

So what's the point? Why am I coming onto a podcast?

You've been waiting all week for this episode, and here it is. It's a reminder that bigger isn’t always better. More is not always better.

In business, it's all about quality. The quality of what you're producing, the quality of the connections that you're making, the quality of the journey your clients are going through.

It's not about quantity.

You might be thinking, but yeah, it kind of is about the quantity because I need enough money. I need a quantity of money to make my business viable, but how that happens is through quality.

Five is greater than 10.

Conclusions and Action Item

That is all I have for you today.

What I want you to do, I try to give you an action item each week. Think today when you find yourself getting wrapped up in comparisons or you find yourself thinking, but I just want more followers, more comments, more people on my email list, think about how you can focus on building quality. How can you serve the followers you have?

How can you create strength in your email list at the size that it's already at? How can you create those quality connections that focus time in your schedule, ideas that support your business versus distract from your business? How can you say things as simply as possible? Five is greater than 10. I hope that this little reminder has been helpful in staying focused today as you continue to build your business.

I'd love to hear from you and the comments about what your takeaway is from this specific episode. Like I said, it's very different from any of the other episodes that I have ever recorded for you, but there you have it.

Five is greater than 10.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe and happy week.

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Introduction

Welcome to the Coaching Hive podcast! I’m thrilled you are here for today’s conversation.

When was the last time you met online with a member, client, or colleague? Two years ago you might have to stop and think about the answer to this question, but today you can probably think of several instances in the last few days where you have met with someone online. It is the norm, not the exception, but it doesn’t always go smoothly.

How many times have you uttered, “You’re on mute” over the last two years?

How many times have you been talking to someone important in a Zoom call in your super comfy slippers, sweatpants, and a nice top?

Even with the world getting back to a new normal, online communications, meetings, sessions, and conversations are not going anywhere. In fact, more people are opting to work from home and building businesses.

So you need to know what platforms make the most sense for your business as well as best practices for those ubiquitous online calls.

If you are ready for this conversation grab your notebook and a pen and let’s dive in!

Online Call Platforms

There are many different platforms out there for online calls. I can’t begin to highlight them all so what I thought I’d do today is create a list of things to consider when choosing a platform for your online calls, workshops, and presentations.

1. Level of Interaction When choosing an online call platform the first step you might want to take is to clarify what level of interaction you need and want during the call. For large groups you may want to only have the speaker on camera and have mic capabilities. For other calls you may want to have breakout sessions where participants can work together in small groups. For medium sized groups you might want the flexibility to easily pull a guest up on stage with you for a laser coaching session.

The question is how much control do you want to have? We have all been on calls where someone accidentally unmutes and you can hear all sorts of things in the background. You spend time asking them to mute before finally muting them yourself.

Do you want to deal with that during a big sales pitch or an important webinar? Probably not. In this case you might find yourself gravitating to a webinar platform such as Zoom Webinar. There are lots of different webinar platforms out there. I’ve tried a few and there is definitely a range of quality out there. Be sure to test drive any platform before the big presentation or workshop!

2. Accessibility Another thing to think about is accessibility. If you’ve been around me for any length of time, you know that accessibility is something that I hold near and dear to my heart. This is why we have full written transcripts for every podcast episode, closed captioning on every website and course video, and alt tags on pictures. We want every person to be able to interact in a way that is most comfortable for them.

Luckily, many platforms have come a LONG way in creating accessible options. In Zoom for instance, you can turn on closed captioning for your guests. It isn’t perfect, but no automatic closed captioning is perfect.

Another thing to think about is whether there are options for logging on to the presentation. Is there a phone number that allows your guests to connect if the internet is a bit slower in their location or if a phone interaction is more comfortable?

Start asking the hard questions of the companies that you are exploring. The more we ask, the more accessible the platforms will become!

I told you, this is something that I will fuss about over and over.

3. Does it require something special The next question to ask yourself is whether your guests will need to download something special to participate in your event, meeting, or conversation. At this point just about everyone has Zoom so it is safe to assume that Zoom won’t require any extra work.

I had an interesting conversation the other day with an entrepreneur who was asking about Microsoft Teams. She was thinking about switching from Zoom to Teams for her membership calls. This brought up the question of whether most people in her membership have Teams on their computer. Likely this would require a Microsoft subscription like Microsoft 365 to participate. Once thinking about this, she was going to take a step back and evaluate the pros and cons a little more carefully.

Ideally, choose a platform that is easy for your clients and guests to access. Bonus points if they don’t have to download anything new. Either the application can run in the browser or it is a common application like Zoom.

4. Cost Last, but certainly not least, is cost. How much does the platform cost? Is this a continuous fee, a one time fee, something that is discounted when you pay by the year? What works best for your budget?

These days there are so many different options available to us that you don’t have to stick with a platform that doesn’t suit your needs or budget. I’ll be honest that I tried out a webinar platform that worked ok, but I didn’t love it. I couldn’t pause the platform in the months that I wasn’t planning to run a webinar and I don’t currently have an evergreen webinar that is running behind the scenes.

After that I tried out Zoom Webinar which allows me to choose the months that I want to use that add-on so that I don't have to pay for it when I don’t need it.

Look at your options and be informed.

Best Practices With so many options out there you are sure to find the right fit for your business, but even the best platform requires that you operate it with best practices in mind.

Let’s just take a few minutes here to think about those best practices. Some of you could probably rattle off a slew of best practices and others might be listening to this and wondering what to do during a live call.

After teaching online for over 5 years, I definitely am in the “rattle off the best practices camp”. So here we go. I’ll keep it short and sweet and please feel free to pass these tips along!

These tips work for you as a presenter and for your attendees.

Use a wired internet connection
Restart the computer before any big calls or presentations (leave enough time for those sneaky updates that like to happen at the worst of times)
Earbuds - wired is awesome, air pods can create trouble, dropped connections and an echo!
Stay muted when you are not speaking
Turn on your camera to stay engaged and present in the moment
Raise your physical hand or digital hand if the group is large and you’d like to speak. (This is a good participant rule to share with your guests and clients).

Action Item

This brings me to the part of the podcast where I ask you to take action. If you are new to online calls and are thinking about incorporating more calls into your business, your action item is to explore platforms and do a bit of research using the concepts I shared today.

You want to keep in mind:

Level of interaction you desire
Accessibility
What extra things it might require (e.g., a downloaded app)
Cost

Many platforms have free tiers or trials so that you can give them a whirl before committing.

And if you already have a platform that you love, have you been following the best practices? Think about the tech issues you have experienced. Could they have been eliminated or alleviated with these best practices? Create a checklist to follow in the future.

Conclusions

As we wrap-up today’s conversation about live calls, remember that imperfect action is the best action. Live calls are live. Things will happen. Glitches will appear, you will freeze at some point, your audio will cut out, or your camera will malfunction.

No one expects perfection. Just smile and go with the flow.

That’s all I have for you today, but I trust that our conversation has provided value as you continue to build your business. I’d love to hear from you about your favorite platforms.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

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Introduction

Welcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast! I’m thrilled to be here with you today as we dig into the truth about social media.

We have all been there. As an entrepreneur you know the importance of social media. You know the influence that it can have and the reach that it can create for you.

But the truth is that you don’t really like social media, it impacts your mood, and just feels like a waste of time. You have so many things to get done that spending time on social media just doesn’t feel as valuable when the return on your time feels so little.

So what do you do? Is it worth the sacrifice to spend time on social media?

We are going to talk about this and more in today’s episode so if you are ready, grab your pen and notebook and let’s jump in!

Benefits of Social Media

Having an online presence has gotten complicated these days, hasn’t it? I’ll be the first to admit that when I forgot my phone at home one day last week I was secretly happy. Despite loving technology and the online space, I don’t love the rules and roles that social media plays in the world these days.

But it isn’t all bad. For example, three days a week I get up early and co-work alongside several other female entrepreneurs. We rock that 90 minute time block and crush out goals. Without the online world, this wouldn’t be possible. Twice a month I get together with women around the world to mastermind in our businesses.

But I think the real question of today’s episode isn’t the value of the online world, but of social media.

Social media is a double edged sword. It is designed to become addictive and create that craving so that it grabs our early morning attention, our mid-day attention, and our last waking moments before bed.

But the good side is that it allows for connection that may not be possible otherwise. We can create a wider circle of connections, acquaintances, support, and even business possibilities.

Social media can also open our eyes to new possibilities, encourage us to step outside our comfort zone, and learn new skills.

You can find new connections, gain new clients, expand your business, and grow faster than you can in other ways.

But it is still a double-edged sword.

The Bad of Social Media

Social media, as I already mentioned, is designed ingeniously. It is addictive. It can be a time suck, a waste of resources, and a deflating tool.

Social media can create challenges that go undetected for quite some time. You can start to compare yourself and your business to what you see on social media and find that you don’t “measure up”. You see the seemingly successful entrepreneurs and wonder what you are doing wrong.

In a word it can derail you and your mindset. Ok, I know that was more than one word so how about one thought?

Can Your Business Grow Without Social Media?

This month we have been focused on how to effectively use social media in your business as an asset. We have talked about tools to make it easier and we have talked about consistency and commitment to your social profiles, pages, and interactions.

But I get asked time and again if social media presence is mandatory.

I’m going to try to keep this short and sweet today.

The answer is no, it is not mandatory.

But there is a HUGE caveat to that statement and here it is. You have to be willing to network like crazy to build your business. Because you are no longer creating and fostering connections online you have to create those opportunities in person.

If you aren’t willing to attend networking events, talk about your business every chance you can get, and meet new people all the time, especially when you are getting started then yes, social media is mandatory.

Social media is not a substitute for networking and relationship building but it does help to facilitate and amplify relationship building when social media is done right. It gives you another way to connect and reconnect. It can be done at any time of the day or month unlike in person networking that often requires specified events and opportunities.

Can Your Business Grow Without Networking?

Truly the question is about how you would like to network with fellow entrepreneurs and potential clients. Do you want to rely solely on social media to make connections? Do you want to rely solely on in-person networking to foster relationships?

You can’t grow your business without creating connections. If the idea of spending lots of time doing in-person networking makes you cringe when you look at your calendar knowing that it will be a tight fit or draining then the answer to whether you can skip social media is no.

The beauty of social media is that you can do it in small bursts of time, you can do it from your living room couch wearing your PJs and sipping tea, and you can schedule some of the interactions to happen so that you can take a day off.

Now we come back to the original question, do you need social media?

Probably.

The majority of business owners really do benefit from having at least a minimal social media presence. After all, when you meet someone in real life the natural question is how can we connect? Are you on Facebook or Instagram because I’d love to follow you.

You need at least a little bit there.

Action Item

As you think about this concept, whether you have already accepted social media as a necessary part of your business or are considering how you can avoid it all together, this week’s action item will be the same.

How can you create 2 new connections this week through networking? This can be online networking or in person. The key is to consistently commit to making new connections each week.

Not every connection will be a future client, but you will almost always learn something from the interaction and maybe they will refer you in the future.

Get out there and connect because the question of today’s episode isn’t really about social media. It is about your preference for creating connections.

Conclusions

I promised you a shorter episode this week as we wrap up our discussion of social media tools, platforms, schedulers, and more. Today is all about what you will actually do with social media in your business. Is it something that you’d like to maximize or minimize?

Social media is a tool for creating connections and building your circle. This can be done in person and through traditional networking but you will have a wider reach if you can create at least a little bit of online presence.

That’s all I have for you today, but I trust that our conversation has provided value as you continue to build your business. I’d love to hear from you and know if you are camp social media, camp in-person networking, or camp somewhere in between.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

Here is a recap of all of the Social Media Tools and Memberships that we covered in Episodes 84 - 87 along with links* to check them out:

Scheduling Tools:

Meta: https://business.facebook.com
Social Curator: https://hello.socialcurator.com/a/jP62epj1D6a5i4chLV06
Canva: https://partner.canva.com/oeM6ym
SmarterQueue: https://smarterqueue.com/queue
HypeFury: https://hypefury.com?fpr=moira46

Social Media Courses from Justin Welsh:

Content Operating System: https://www.justinwelsh.me/a/2147507660/9F4dPEbh
LinkedIn Operating System: https://www.justinwelsh.me/a/2147505019/9F4dPEbh

*Links provided may be affiliate links. If you choose to purchase using a link provided above, I may receive a commission that helps me continue offering reviews like this, creating the Coaching Hive Podcast, and supporting entrepreneurs like you who are working to be the Go-To Resource in their industry.

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Introduction

Welcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast!

Social media. It brings about various thoughts, feelings, and actions when you say that word. You want to be consistent and focused on the right things in your business. You want to grow your audience, build trust, and explore different ways of talking with your potential customers.

If you are going to do that you need to make sure your message gets out there even if you have an unexpectedly ill child, you oversleep, or decide to take a day off.

This is where scheduling tools come in handy. The problem is that none of us are “on” all the time. We all have off days, times when we want to step away for a break, or just plain run out of time. Knowing that you still have social media to get out there can leave you feeling boxed in and worried that the load will never lighten.

Let’s talk about lightening the load today. If you are ready, grab a pen and paper and let’s jump in!

Social Media Scheduling Tools

I believe that entrepreneurs should not have to be tied to their computers every waking moment of the day, or even every day of the week. When you have all the experts telling you to be consistent with your social media presence, it feels like being untethered even part of the time is simply not doable.

I understand and have felt the same way. I mean, who wants to commit to posting at 8am and 7pm every single day of the year? At the very least, I want to take off my birthday!

So can we have our cake and eat it too?

Absolutely!

You can be consistent with your social media without being tied to your computer every single day of the year without fail. In fact, the easiest way to do this is to use a scheduling tool.

Now are scheduling tools the end all, be all?

Absolutely not!

What it means is that you have a little flexibility.

Before we jump into the different options for scheduling your social media posts, let’s talk about the flexibility piece.

The general rule of thumb is that when you post, you should stick around and interact with the platform, be it LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, or some other platform. Take 15 minutes to comment on other posts, reply to comments on your posts and show the platform that you are present.

When you do this, the platform is going to choose to show your content more than people who simply use a scheduling tool and never login to comment and show they are active.

Ok, so that it my little spiel on being active. Now if you miss some days that is ok. All will be well, but you do want to make sure that you are getting in there and getting active.

I highly recommend that even if you plan to be in the platform at a specific time each day you still use a scheduling tool because it takes out the risk of something coming up or getting in the way. Plus it means that you can get to interacting that much faster!

Scheduling Tools

There are a variety of paid and free scheduling tools out there for social media. Some are platform specific and others will do everything for you. The most robust ones usually cost the most per month, but you can accomplish everything all in one place.

Let’s start with the most obvious option - Meta Business Suite

Meta Business Suite Meta Business Suite is the free, native tool for scheduling Facebook and Instagram posts and stories. Having used Meta Business Suite for scheduling, I’ll be the first to admit that it takes getting used to. It takes patience to learn how to use it properly and more patience when the interface changes.

But, the calendar GUI makes scheduling posts quite nice. It can simplify the process if you are a visual person. I like to see when things are scheduled and what platform they are on. It just keeps things a little easier for me.

I will say that you have to pay attention and make sure you have checked the correct account to post to. I can’t tell you how many times I have been trying to schedule for one platform and just didn’t think to check what was marked.

Luckily it isn’t too hard to change little mixups. And the best part is that it is free.

Social Curator Another option for scheduling social media posting is the membership platform Social Curator. We talked in depth about Social Curator’s features and benefits in last week’s episode, number 85. If you haven’t listened to it yet, be sure to catch up when you finish listening here.

If you were listening last week, I told you that you could create your posts - caption and picture right inside Social Curator. As of very recently you can now also schedule your posts as you write them. You can connect a Facebook and Instagram account to Social Curator. This is a great option if these are your main posting platforms. You won’t be able to respond to comments directly from Social Curator, but it does take out a step for you because you can schedule as you create. If you find that the hardest part is going between platforms, taking your carefully created posts and then pasting/uploading somewhere else, this is a great option. And if you are already using Social Curator, then it just makes sense to go ahead and post from there.

In addition, Social Curator has an app that you can post from your phone. This is a nice feature. If you create your drafts and want to be on live when you post so that you can interact right away. You can go ahead and post right from your phone and then plan to stick around on Facebook or Instagram for 15-20 minutes interacting with your hashtags and comments as they come in.

Canva You may have noticed that that top two platforms I’ve just shared only allow you to post to Facebook and Instagram. So what happens if you want to post to LinkedIn?

LinkedIn much prefers that you post in real time, but Canva is a solid option for scheduling your posts. And again, if you already have a paid Canva account, are creating your graphics right there, why not go ahead and schedule your posts?

I like that the Canva interface has a calendar so that you can see when posts will appear. One of the downsides that I’ve struggled with in posting to LinkedIn is the lack of links. When you schedule in Canva, the hyperlink won’t appear in your post, but I do enjoy that I can get it done right there in Canva when I make a graphic.

SmarterQueue This is a platform that I haven’t had much time to explore, but it was recommended to me by a colleague. They are really responsive with their customer service and you can basically link all of your social profiles here. The downside is that this service is not cheap. The base price, when you pay monthly is $29.99. When you commit to the annual plan, you end up paying about $24.99 per month.

So, not your cheapest solution. This is particularly true if you have more than 4 social profiles that you’d like to post to. Say you have a Facebook profile, a Facebook Group, an Instagram profile, a LinkedIn profile, a Twitter account, and a Pinterest board. You are already at 6 profiles and that will take your price up to $45.99 per month.

I really like the functionality of SmarterQueue as you can evergreen high performing posts, you can create your calendar based on different categories and as the name would suggest you can create an entire queue of posts set to go out. This means that you can batch your content and forget it, if we ignore the fact that each platform algorithm does want you to show up live and interact with the platform when you are posting.

Hypefury And finally, I want to share just one more option with you and that is HypeFury. Hypefury is something that I’ve just started using. It is one that Justin Welsh recommends. If you didn’t listen to Episode 84 where I review Justin Welsh’s courses, you’ll want to do that soon. The more I dig into those courses, the more I learn!

Back to Hypefury. It also comes with a price tag BUT it also has a free tier that gives you a great opportunity to really test it out. You can link to Gumroad, LinkedIn, Facebook, OnlyFans, and Instagram in Hypefury. One of the things that intrigues me about Hypefury is the ability to set up retweets. Those retweets will then be pulled off of your profile so that you don’t have a lot of duplicate posts. The retweet feature makes sure that you are getting maximum exposure for your posts. We all know how fast Twitter moves!

You can also set up your Tweets to auto post additional content when your post gets to a certain number of views.

This is a platform that really looks good plus their top tier pricing is $49/month or if you choose an annual plan, $40.83/month. With the capabilities of Hypefury and the capped pricing that is much lower than SmarterQueue I’m going to spend some more time checking out this tool throughout Quarter 4 of the year.

Action Item

This week your action item is to explore social media scheduling tools. With so many free options out there, budget should not be a limitation.

Think about the platforms that you would like to schedule, what your budget might be, and then start exploring. Most paid platforms have free trials. Just remember to be prepared to make the most of the free trial before you sign up! You don’t want to waste those precious days.

I have provided links to all platforms that I talked about in today’s episode in the show notes to make your exploration even easier.

Conclusions

Before we wrap up for today, let’s take a step back and think about this month’s episodes to date. This month we have been talking about social media and the process of getting your posts created and out there. We all know that daily posting can be a time drag, but with a good scheduling tool you can easily get those posts out there and set your phone alarm to go interact without the hassle of tracking down captions and pictures each day.

Next week we are going to take one final look at social media and explore the truth about social media and business. Have you ever asked yourself if social media is even necessary? We will dive into that and more in the next episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast.

If you learned something from this episode, I’d love to see your review so that we can reach more entrepreneurs like you who are trying to grow their business!

That's all I have for you today. I look forward to seeing you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

Ready to try out a Scheduling Tool? Use the links* below:

Meta: https://business.facebook.com
Social Curator: https://hello.socialcurator.com/a/jP62epj1D6a5i4chLV06
Canva: https://partner.canva.com/oeM6ym
SmarterQueue: https://smarterqueue.com/queue
HypeFury: https://hypefury.com?fpr=moira46

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Introduction

Welcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast!

If you tuned in last week to episode 84, you know that we talked about Justin Welsh’s Content Operating System and I promised to continue on with a series of reviews for different products and programs out there geared toward helping you build your business.

One of the things that I hear time and again is that social media is hard, something to be avoided at all costs, and just downright frustrating. But I know that you want to be the Go-To Resource in your industry. The person that everyone reaches out to for help.

In order to do that you need to have an online presence that attracts engagement not just a brief smile. The problem is that this feels downright impossible.

After all, social media is saturated these days. You can’t even see your friends posts, let alone get through the slog of paid advertising out there to get to the posts that are genuinely interesting. If you are having this much trouble just scrolling Facebook and Instagram, how are you going to create content that wows, educates, and supports your clients in a stand out way?

We are going to talk about this and more with one of my favorite services out there, Social Curator.

If you are ready, grab your pen and notebook and with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's go ahead and jump in!

Social Curator

Now I was just telling you that social media can feel like a bugaboo. It can feel like I imagine climbing Mt. Everest to feel like. Insanely difficult, takes years of preparation and even then you aren’t guaranteed to summit.

Jasmine Star has taken about 98.5% of the challenge and mayhem out of social media with her SaaS Social Curator.

As you might guess, I’m a fan and user of Social Curator and I’ll drop a link in the show notes for you to check out Social Curator for yourself.

She has taken something that many think is impossible. Something that people dread, worry about, feel frustration, angst, and trepidation over. Something that just shouldn’t be so stinking hard because business owners shouldn’t have to be social media experts on top of knowing their area of expertise.

Jasmine has taken social media and turned it into a doable, scalable, and possible piece of every entrepreneur’s business vocabulary.

Gone are the days of worrying over what to write, finding the right picture, and struggling alone when things aren’t working well.

Social Curator has it all. What do I mean?

Let me break it down for you. Each month Social Curator members have access to:

A New lesson on a trending/key topic
New post templates across key content areas
Ideas for longform and short form content
New photos
New Facebook and Instagram Story templates
Live coaching inside a dedicated Facebook group
Co-Working opportunities
Daily action items to keep you on track with growing and building your social media presence

All of this and more for $49/month.

But you can read these features for yourself. Let’s talk about the benefits that I’ve seen personally and seen others experience with Social Curator. Then, you can leave your questions in the podcast reviews and I’ll answer your specific questions as well.

Here we go…

Issues on Trending Topics

This is one of my favorite features. I don’t have to be a social media expert. I can leave it to Jasmine and her team to draw attention to important topics. For example, one was how to use captions to increase sales. In other words, how can you tailor your social media posts so that they generate sales and not just likes and comments. Another recent issue focused on creating reels in less time. If you have ever tackled reels, you know that they can be a bear to figure out. A simple 30 second reel can easily take hours to plan, create, and edit. With this issue, there are practical steps and tips to take so that it doesn’t take a lifetime to create just one reel.

New post templates

Do you ever sit down at your keyboard with the best of intentions but just freeze when it comes time to write the actual post? The templates inside Social Curator span holidays, events, times in your business that are important like sales cycles, promotions, and cover 7 different key focuses. This means that you don’t have to know exactly what to write. There are plenty of prompts to help you get going, ideas for how to use them, and new caption templates being added each month.

Ideas for longform and sort form content

This brings me to the next highlight of the templates. You can expand on them for creating your weekly longform content or use them as short form content, just as they are. Because systems and processes are big on Jasmine’s list, she encourages everyone to have a piece of longform content each week, like a newsletter, podcast, or blog post. Then you can take this and break it apart into smaller chunks throughout the week or, as Justin Welsh talks about inside his Content Operating System that we discussed last week, create 6-7 posts that complement the longform piece and spread them out over 6-7 weeks.

Regardless of how you slice it, the templates play so many roles from inspiration to plug and play when you are short on time and ideas to simplifying the process.

New photos

If you are on Instagram, you know that you have to post some kind of graphic or video with each post. Jasmine has you covered with this. As a photographer, she and her team create absolutely stunning, on trend, and on topic photos each month that get added to your photo gallery. You can even mark that you have used the picture so that you don’t repeat using it. The same is true of the caption templates.

Finally, something that I don’t have to keep track of on my own!

You might be wondering about Canva, and I’ll share more about Canva in a future podcast, but I find that the Social Curator photos are just top notch. I always go there before I go to Canva for a picture.

New Facebook and Instagram Story templates

Social Curator isn’t just about the regular posts, there are also monthly templates for stories. I don’t know about you, but I’m either on my game with stories or with posts but not both. These templates make it easy to get stories in and done even when your primary focus might be on bigger posts.

Are you starting to see the true benefits here?

Live coaching inside a dedicated Facebook group

Up to now I’ve been talking about the benefits of the things that you can “touch” inside Social Curator, but gosh as amazing as those things are, they don’t touch the coaching that happens each month. From live coaching and reviews with Jasmine to live coaching and conversations with the Jasmine Star team, you are constantly learning and being supported in a positive way.

Jasmine plays all out, but in a positive way. She is there to teach and inspire. She motivates when things are tough and gives you a dose of tough love when you are getting in your own way. I admit that I don’t make as much use of these calls as I should, but when I do I always walk away with a full cup. Full of ideas, motivation, inspiration, plans, and hope.

Co-Working opportunities

And, as you might imagine when a business like Social Curator has such a magnetic, positive, and go-getter head leader like Jasmine the members that join Social Curator have that same energy as well.

They make the coaching calls even more energetic and create a great atmosphere for the co-working sessions. If you aren’t familiar with co-working sessions, in general it is a time for a set of people to hop on Zoom together, set an intention of what to get done, then you turn off cameras and mics and get to work. At the end of the time there is often an opportunity to share what you accomplished and voice the next step. Even the most motivated people can gain energy from the simple moment of sitting down for a co-working session online.

Daily action items to keep you on track with growing and building your social media presence

And finally, have you ever felt drained by social media or felt like the laundry list of things to do is just TOO long? Social Curator takes away the overwhelm by giving you three tasks to do each day and you can check them off. How neat is that? You aren’t responsible for coming up with your own tasks. Doesn’t that feel like a weight off your shoulders?

Now that we have talked about some of the features and their benefits of Social Curator, I’m realizing that I left out one of the newest and coolest features. There is now a Social Curator app and scheduling tool so that you can schedule your posts within Social Curator! Talk about making things easy. You can create your posts, save them as drafts if you still need to work on them or go ahead and schedule them straight to your social media account. We are going to talk more about scheduling tools next week so I don’t have to spend too much time on it right now, but just know that Social Curator has that feature on top of everything else.

And all of this for $49/month of $499/year.

Action Item

So what is your action item this week going to be?

This week, I’d like you to take a look at Social Curator. In fact, I’ll put a link in the show notes so that you can check it out for yourself. But be forewarned. Expect to be wow’d!

Not sure that Social Curator is right for you right now? No problem, think about what you need to up your social media game or even just create more consistency in your content creation process.

Conclusions

How are you feeling about Social Media now that you know resources like Social Curator are out there to simplify and demystify your content posting process?

It is pretty exciting, right? I agree.

I hope that you found this review of Social Curator helpful and are feeling inspired about the simplicity that having a good system in place can bring to your business.

Social media doesn’t have to be hard. Consistency doesn’t have to be hard. You can do this!

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

Ready to try out Social Curator? Use the link* below:

Social Curator: https://hello.socialcurator.com/a/jP62epj1D6a5i4chLV06

*Link provided is an affiliate link. If you choose to purchase Social Curator, I receive a small commission that helps me continue offering reviews like this, creating the Coaching Hive podcast, and supporting entrepreneurs like you who are working to be the Go-To Resource in their industry.

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Introduction

Welcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast!

If you tuned in last week to episode 83, you know that this week we are doing something a little bit different. And actually from here on out for a little while, at least I am going to be focusing on different tools and services and ideas that you can use inside your business to help make things easier.

As an entrepreneur, you know that the tools you use, the services that you uncover and implement, and the courses you take can make or break how easy your journey is today. We are going to jump in with a hot topic that I think will really resonate with you, and that is consistency and social media. How do you be consistent and actually make a difference with your social media approach?

With our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's go ahead and jump in!

Content Operating System

Here's the deal, social media. We know that it's an important part of business, right? It is something that in our online ever connected world is no longer an option.

It's something that we have to do every day, or at least multiple times a week. And that is where the problem begins. We have to be consistent and we have to have something to say in a way that gets attention, gets the right kind of attention, the right kinds of eyes on our content. And then we have to actually take it to the next step and convert people who are interacting with our social media, into paying customers and clients. Otherwise, why bother with social media other than just for personal use?

Getting active on social media is tough, but it's necessary, and it's possible to do it without pulling out your hair. In fact, one of my favorite resources that I've found recently is Justin Welsh's Content Operating System.

Now, when you think about a computer, you think about the fact that it has an operating system of some kind. If you're a Mac user, you've got your OS, you may have Windows if you’re a Windows user, and it really drives everything that you do on your computer. Well, Justin has put together an operating system that drives how you build your business, how you get eyes on your business, through social media. And my favorite thing about him is that he doesn't do it through paid advertising zero ads. He is 100% organic growth, and he is doing right now at the time of this recording somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.7 million a year in revenue. Pretty cool, right? He has 180,000 followers on Twitter and he has 270,000 followers on LinkedIn.

Now you might be thinking, okay, that's great, but does he actually make money? I know there is revenue, but does he actually make money? And yeah, he's got about 95% margins. So this is one of my favorite approaches that I've found to social media. His Content Operating System is delivered in a brief hour-long course that is just $150.

When you look at all the other social media stuff out there, it can get expensive really quickly, but Justin has done a great job in staying true to his values and committing to putting out courses that are accessible and doable. In fact, I've already gone through his course twice in an effort to really refresh myself.

I had gotten started on the content in his content operating system course. And then I had to put some things on the back burner. You know, life happens. I'm a mom and home school teacher. I have my professor stuff with courses starting up and I had to step back a little bit.

This course is one that I don't go, “oh man, how am I going to go back through all of this?” Because it just takes about an hour. I can do that. You can do that.

Going through his course, multiple times, doesn't bring any kind of anxiety or worry about it. It makes me go, yeah, this is doable. Now, if the price of $150 for a course that is full of great information, isn't enough. If the fact that it's actually doable because it's just about an hour. Isn't enough.

Let me tell you a little bit about what I love inside the Content Operating System. Justin just released version two. So now inside the operating system, you have version one and version two of the course, which I think is fantastic. It again, points back to his mission to help grow portfolio, a portfolio of one person businesses. So that is really his focus.

And what happens in the operating system is it teaches you about how to work smarter, not harder. He teaches you about how to leverage Twitter and LinkedIn to find the posts that are working the best, and then to really make templates out of them so that you don't have to create your own templates. You can look at what all of the people that are ahead of you are doing and emulate rather than innovate.

You are bringing your own spin, your own ideas and concepts, and content to each post. But you're looking at the format and the approaches that are working for others that are just a little bit ahead of you. And up until this point, I knew that was a great concept. But until I saw him walking through the process that he takes inside his own business for creating these templates and implementing them, it felt a bit ambiguous.

It felt like it was just always a little bit outside my reach and my capabilities. So inside the Content Operating System, Justin is walking you through each step of the way. And he is not one to say, oh my gosh, you need to go buy this, buy that, buy that, that he likes to keep his costs down. He tells you about the free products that he likes and uses. He also tells you about the paid services that he uses, because he knows that they are going to get you the most bang for your buck. He's not going to tell you about things that you don't actually need inside your business.

The Content Operating System course is fast, it's doable, it's affordable, it's implementable, and it explores the concept of creating templates. Justin doesn't provide a ton of templates, but he teaches you how to make your own templates that fit your business. And anything that you can templatize will decrease the amount of time you have to spend on social media. It will free up your time to actually respond to people, to run your business, to get out there and share your wisdom to work with your clients versus spending hours upon hours upon hours, every single day, trying to figure out what to post in hopes that at some point it gets seen by someone.

This is one of my favorite courses. Like I said, it's, it's a breath of fresh air. It doesn't take weeks to get through it. Doesn't take weeks to start implementing. In fact, I ran the course up on my computer on one monitor while I implemented what he was talking about in real time. Now I did have to pause the video to do that because I was listening to it at double speed. But the point is that it doesn't take a ton of time and brain power. You don’t have to listen to it 18 times to get an inkling of what to do. It's clear and it's concise.

There you have it. I wanted to bring this really fantastic short implementable course to you today in our podcast, knowing that social media is such a bugaboo for so many of us. In fact, when I talk inside the coaching hive with entrepreneurs, social media, the word itself, or words themselves often bring about a cringe. And I feel like Justin's Content Operating System is one of the first times I haven't felt cringy about social media. It has simplified things immensely. I am already starting to see growth and interaction that I've never had before. And I thought that I would share with you, I have not been active on Twitter up until about a few weeks ago when I started kind of picking at it and tweeting occasionally nothing really consistent, but Justin has a great plan for how to interact in social media so that you are starting to get a little bit more of that feedback and a little bit more of those views and likes and comments. And it's such a neat opportunity. So I was really coming to Twitter pretty much fresh when I purchased his Content Operating System course.

Action Item

So what is your action item this week going to be in terms of social media?

This week, your action item is to take a little bit of time to reflect and think about what it is you want to gain out of social media. What do you want to have happen? Do you want to be able to rely on organic growth, which is a little bit slower, but it doesn't cost as much, right? Because it's organic, you're not paying for ads or do you want to speed up that growth and pay for some ads either way. You still have to have a good system in place. So I want you to really reflect on what kind of system you have in place for your social media, so that you can get crystal clear on what you need in order to take the next step forward.

Conclusions

Before I wrap up, I do want to let you know that Justin also has a LinkedIn course for the same price of $150. And it is also equally brief. I have purchased this course, but I have not gone through it yet because I wanted to really focus on the Content Operating System.

I know without a doubt, the LinkedIn course is going to be just as fantastic. I am really thrilled with the quality of the product that Justin puts out. And I have been using his monthly templates, which is a separate membership product, really inexpensive per month. You get five new templates to use on Twitter and LinkedIn that come to your course area with Justin. And that has also been a really great find.

I cannot wait to update you on the LinkedIn Operating System when I go through that course, but for now, I didn't want to hold out on you. I didn't want to make you wait to hear about the content operating system until I had gone through the LinkedIn Operating System, I highly encourage you to check out Justin's products. He is practicing what he preaches.

He is serving with an intention of helping solopreneurs to grow their business without needing a big staff or taking up your entire life. It has to be a business that you love and a business that allows you to still live life. So everything that he does is really based on that premise. He is really changing how we look at, especially Twitter and LinkedIn and I am excited to be jumping into a new platform.

I don't say that often. I don't love social media as a rule, but I'm really excited to be taking this new approach. I feel like it's easy to implement. I love the concept of templates and I like that the courses are short, sweet, and to the point.

If you are interested in the Content Operating System or the LinkedIn Operating System, I'm going to drop some links in our transcript and in our show notes so that you can check them out. These are affiliate links, and I do make a small commission off of them if you choose to purchase that way. It does help me to continue producing this podcast and to continue bringing you new reviews and takes on the products and services that are out there for you as an entrepreneur.

There you have it. I hope that you found this helpful to learn just a little bit more about Justin Welsh's Content Operating System. And I promise you that once I've had a chance to go through the LinkedIn operating system, I'm going to come right back to this podcast and share a little bit about what I like about that particular approach.

This week, remember you're going to reflect on what you need to do to be more consistent in social media. What would help you? Like I said, Justin is a big fan of creating templates to simplify your social media approach while making use of the people who are coming before you who are just a little bit ahead of you and using their wisdom to help you make the most of your time and your efforts.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

Ready to try out something simple and fast to implement? Use the links below to explore Justin’s Content OS and LinkedIn OS Courses:

Content Operating System: https://www.justinwelsh.me/a/2147507660/9F4dPEbh
LinkedIn Operating System: https://www.justinwelsh.me/a/2147505019/9F4dPEbh

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Introduction

Welcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast!

Today, we are going to take a bit of a step back and do some reflection because as an entrepreneur, it is easy to go into business, go full out, play full out, and then take a step back and realize that you might not be exactly where you want to be. You know that you want to own a business, but you don't know if what you have created is really what you want.

Today we are going to take that step back and think about what type of business is right for you.

With our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in!

Build the Right Business

I don't know about you, but when I decided to become an entrepreneur, I didn't actually say, “I want to become an entrepreneur.” I actually said, “I want to start this business”.

And I had an idea for it. I didn't stop necessarily and think about what that would look like six months from now, 12 months from now, or even three years from now. I thought about my idea and just wanted to get started.

You don't necessarily stop, take a step back and think about what you actually want from your business.

I will never forget the conversation where I introduced our Coaching Hive Blueprint and reminded coaches that everyone's business is going to look different. Each coach identified a different type of business that resonated with them. In speaking out loud what they wanted even before starting, they were clearer on what the business would look like and not look like.

Today let's think about what you can actually do to prevent building a business that leaves you feeling unfulfilled, unhappy, unsatisfied, or just plain burned out because that's not the goal of entrepreneurship.

We've all heard it. Entrepreneurship gives you flexibility. It gives you freedom. The last thing you want to do is build a business that does none of that.

Idea 1: The first step to thinking about what type of business is truly right for you is to recognize that full-time entrepreneurship is not right for everyone. And that's okay. I have been working with a coach who told me that she just wants one or two clients a month because she's ready to slow down with her work life and have a little bit more personal life in semi-retirement.

I have other coaches that I'm working with who want that full time income, that full-time commitment. And they want to work each day on their business. The point here is that full-time entrepreneurship is not the only way to pursue entrepreneurship. It might be that you work a few hours a week. It might be that you work 40 hours a week or more depending on what it is you want.

So as you start to think about your business, whether it is a hypothetical business, a business in its actual infancy or a business that is booming and moving right along, and you're ready to make a few shifts because you've realized that maybe what you've built, isn't quite right, no matter where you are in that process, recognize that there is no right or wrong here.

You can choose to work as little or as much as you want in your business. And that's okay for your business. Now there are, of course, some, some downsides to working just a few hours a week. You may not get as much income. You may not build as quickly or as smoothly if those are your goals.

You do have to recognize that if you want to get something out of your business, you do have to put work into it. But that's not what I'm talking about here. What I'm talking about here is making sure that you are building your business according to your life and your needs and your goals, not someone else's idea of what entrepreneurship is. Okay?

As a reminder, idea 1 is to recognize that full-time entrepreneurship is not right for everyone. There's nothing wrong with that. That's okay.

Idea 2: The second thing to keep in mind is to explore the right options for you. Don't be afraid to combine approaches to being an entrepreneur. Maybe this means that, like I mentioned, the coach earlier wanted to work for herself and for someone else. She was a part-time entrepreneur.

Maybe it means that you sell someone else's product and you sell some of your own products or services. Maybe you're acting as an affiliate and you have some services or products of your own that you'd like to sell. There is not a single right answer. Maybe you decide that you want to make a certain percentage of your income from speaking on stage and maybe another percentage of your income from one-on-one services and then another percentage from group services. So the second thing to remember is that you need to explore the options.

Don't be afraid to make entrepreneurship yours, just like no two fingerprints are the same. No two entrepreneurs are the same. No two businesses are the same, even businesses in the exact same industry, serving the exact same people. They're not the same. You can look at insurance companies, Insurance Company A and Insurance Company B, they are not going to be the same.

Even if they sell the exact same car insurance or house insurance, they will operate slightly differently. They will have different values or different processes or different approaches to selling insurance. And then maintaining those client relationships. Your business gets to be yours. You can explore the right options for you.

Idea 3: The third thing I want you to remember today is to think about what your vision is for your work life.

In a time when we are online and connected each moment of the day, we have to be careful. Work-life tends to bleed into our home life. Especially if you work from home, it's easy to say, oh, let me go change the laundry. Let me go start dinner. Let me make that cake for my child's birthday. And then come back and you're working on your business again.

It's easy for your business to kind of stumble out into the rest of the house instead of staying in your office or in your office space. If that's not a specific room, think about what your vision is for your work life and build your business to fit that vision. If we build our business first and then try and shove a vision into it, it's not going to work.

You are not going to end up with a business that's right for you. It might be right for your neighbor or your friend or your colleague, but it's not right for you. And that's what we want to prevent building a business that you look at and say, I don't like this. This doesn't fit my needs. It doesn't fit my life. So instead think about your vision for your work life.

What do you want that to be? How many hours are you working? When are you working? How are you working? What processes are you using? What tasks do you have to complete? Who do you need to hire? If you need a VA, a virtual assistant, what are they doing? What does your work life look like by taking the time to recognize that full-time entrepreneurship, isn't right for everyone. And that's okay by exploring the right options and realizing that every business is like a fingerprint. It's unique and it's different. And you have to find the right approach for you. Maybe that's combining different things to make the right business for you and remembering to have your vision at the forefront of your work life and of your business. Because when you allow that vision to drive your business, you are building a business that is inherently the right business for you. And you will know sooner if it's not, and you need to make an adjustment, because what happens is choosing an option that fits your needs, leads to better success. Isn't that an interesting concept.

When we choose the option that fits our needs best. When we choose to build the right business for us personally, then it is going to help you have better success in your business with a great reminder.

Action Item And Conclusions

Your action item for this week, what are you going to do? Start exploring what you actually want for your business. Start exploring what that looks like. Do you want to be full-time or part-time? Do you want to sell your own services and products?

Someone else's services and products, a combination. Do you want to be speaking? Do you want to be working? One-on-one do you want to have group options? Do you want to have a paid email newsletter? That's weekly? What do you want in your business? What does that look like? Think about your calendar, your schedule. What does it look like to actually run your business?

This week start thinking about what you actually want for your business, recognizing that there are no hard and fast rules here that your business is much like a fingerprint. It is unique, and that's a good thing. That's something to be celebrated rather than worried over. How does that feel to think about the fact that your business can actually be what you want it to be?

What you need it to be versus following some outline or, or kit that someone has said. Here's how you build a business, build it this way. And you'll be fine. Only realizing that maybe that's not actually what you want. This week, take some time to reflect and explore. If you already have a business, explore what's working well, what you'd like to adjust or change moving forward.

If you are brand new to business, start with that vision. What do you want your business to look like? What do you want your work life to look like? Who are you serving? What are you doing? Is it full-time? Is it part-time? Is it in-between full-time and part-time? Are you going to take multiple months off a year? What does this look like for you?

What does it look like for you as you start to explore, notice where you can make changes, notice where you might want to plan for the future a little bit differently and remind yourself daily that this is a journey. Building your business. Being an entrepreneur is a journey and a journey suggests that we make shifts and adjustments over time so that we are constantly in congruence with ourselves as human beings, that our business is in congruence with what we want, what we need, who we serve, and that it aligns beautifully. That way we are going to be much more successful when everything is congruent and it aligns in our lives.

That is all I have for you today. I wanted to keep this short, give you an opportunity to take some time and really reflect on your business.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

P.S. I'm going to let you in on a secret. Coming up in our next series of the Coaching Hive Podcast, we are going to be digging into different tools and services and ideas that you can use inside your business. One of the biggest questions I get is what should I choose for my email for this service or that service? How do I create a good graphic for my posts? Well, I'm not great at social media. Are there any programs out there that can help me?

I've got your back. Starting next week on the Coaching Hive Podcast, we are going to dig in and start thinking about the different options, tools, and gadgets and gizmos that are out there for running your successful and profitable business so that you can be the Go-To Resource in your industry with confidence, with success, with kind of a lighthearted feeling toward business, knowing that you have the tools and the programs and everything aligned so that it makes your job easier. And you can get back to the important work of serving your clients and customers.

That’s my little preview for next week. I hope you're excited. I know I am!

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Introduction

Welcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast!

I'm curious to know when you think about your business and specifically your brand message, how do you feel about it?

Does it feel like it's clear?
Does it feel like it provides a solid foundation upon which your business can grow?
Does it feel like it can withstand financial fluctuations, whether that is internal business fluctuations, you know, the ebbs and flows of money coming in and going out and the bigger picture of the economy as a whole.

So I'm curious to know, is your brand message ready to withstand a recession?

This is something that I talked with a group of entrepreneurs about last week during a live training. We talked about the fact that building a strong brand message allows you to build a strong business that becomes resistant to economic fluctuations, whether that's internal, economic fluctuations within your business or external economic fluctuations.

Today, we are going to dig into a few ideas for how to make sure your messaging is solid to make sure that it is dialed in, nailed down and specific enough so that your business can grow and scale with you, just how you want it to.

If you are ready to get started, grab your notebook, grab your tablet, whatever you're using to take notes on today, get your water and a snack. And if you're ready, with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in!

Create Strong Messaging

Does the word or the phrase brand message bring about a little bit of a heart palpitation?

Does it make you have that kind of deep in the gut feeling?

I know that when I started my first business messaging was the furthest thing from my mind, I felt like, you know, I've got something important to offer. It works. It's helpful. People are just going to come, but that doesn't actually happen.

Instead you have to create a compelling message that invites people into your business and basically makes it hard for them to say no, that it is truly an attractive offer that you are making. But the problem is that brand messaging feels tricky. How you represent your business through words is kind of difficult to nail down and to nail it down in a Way that allows your business to withstand fluctuations can feel even harder or even bigger. But the good news is that messaging, while it sounds big and complex, doesn't have to be.

It can actually be pretty simple when you boil it down to three basic components. And today I'd like to share those three components with you.

Step 1: The first step that you want to take, when you think about your brand messaging is to follow the principles of storytelling.

If you know me and he followed the coaching high for a little while, you know that I am a fan of Donald Miller's StoryBrand formula. As a StoryBrand Certified Guide, it is what I use with my clients and day in and day out as we create brand messaging. And so when I say that your message needs to have a storytelling aspect to it, we need to be inviting our customers into a narrative where they see themselves.

We want them to see themselves as the hero in your business. Your business is not actually about you. Your business is actually about the client and what they can achieve, what can happen, what their success looks like. Having worked with you. And you are simply the guide. So as you look at your messaging, I want you to look at it from a storytelling lens.

Imagine that you're sitting, you remember how you might have read to a small child, maybe your child, a grandchild, a niece and nephew, a friend's child. We've all been read to at some point probably, or you've read to someone and you see those eyes light up because they get entranced by the story. That's what we want for your customers.

We want your customers to look at what you have put out there, whether it's a post, a website, an article, a podcast, and get drawn into the story. We want that person to see themselves and to say, that's me, that's what we want. That's what I mean by you need to follow the principles of storytelling, open up that opportunity, that scene, or that scenario, that invites the client in where you walk them through what it looks like, the problems that they're having.

For example, when I started this podcast, I said, The problem is that, you know, messaging is important, but it feels complicated. It feels really complex. And you just want to have a successful business.

And some of you probably thought, yeah, that's me. I want to have that successful business. But gosh, it feels complicated to get the message, right? I was inviting you into a story. And then as I start to paint this picture of what can you do to be able to create messaging that works. I started to share with you a solution, a step-by-step path to get you to where you want to be so that you can start imagining that you can be a storyteller. I can shift my messaging so that it's about my client so that it is talking about the problem they're experiencing, the success that they could have with me as their guide and them as the hero.

Step one: Make sure that your message follows the principles of storytelling, where you as the business owner are the guide. And more importantly, your customer is the hero. You are inviting them into the story where they see their life transforming into what it is they actually want and need.

Step 2: Step two in creating a really solid message that helps create a solid foundation for your business, is to focus on the benefits rather than just the features of what it is you're offering.

We've all been to websites where there's a bullet point list of what all you get with the service. For instance, if you were to go to something like Canva, you might open up their website and they'll tell you all of the things that you get with your monthly membership to Canva. The same goes with Typeform, with Kajabi, with any of these systems out there that you have to pay for, you're going to find a bulleted list or sometimes a table. I love the ones that have tables that allow you to compare their different levels. It's all these features listed out.

Unless you know how each feature is going to benefit you personally, sometimes you think I don't need that feature. You may pass up on an offer simply because you don't understand how that feature will benefit you.

When you create your messaging. I want to encourage you to focus on the benefits, lay it out for the client, because what happens is when the client doesn't know the benefit of your feature, they're going to pass your service by saying, no, thank you. They're going to go with the service that may have the exact same features that tells them what they get out of that feature. Why is it going to change their life? How will it make their experience better, different, more successful.

You are an expert in your business, which means it's sometimes hard to look with in expert non-expert eyes at what you've written, having some outside eyes on what you've written will help you to create those benefits and outline them, clarify them in a way that's actually understandable with the goal being that your client can read through your list of features and see right next to it, how it will specifically benefit them and why that matters. We don't want them to have to figure it out, deduce it, dig through the sand to find that one specific little nugget of information. We want them to have that nugget right there on top of the sand, ready for them to pick up and say, oh, this looks great. Sign me up.

Remember, make sure that you're focusing on the benefits, not just the features of your service or your product or your offering in general.

Step 3: The third thing to do is get out there and test now, see what resonates and make adjustments.

One of the things that happens is we get caught in this perfectionism cycle. We want everything that we put out that represents our business to look really good.

Be perfect, not have any stumbles or hiccups along the way, but the fact of the matter is that nothing will ever be perfect. It's better to get something imperfect out there, get some feedback and make adjustments than to put something out. That's perfect because that won't ever get out. It's better to put something out, test it, see what works,

what resonates and make adjustments. Nothing you do will ever be perfect. I guarantee you that you will make more money, be more profitable, have a stronger business. If you put things out there than if you wait for perfection. One of my favorite people, Jasmine Star, said “perfection is procrastination and disguise”.

We as human beings are really good at keeping ourselves safe. And if we are trying to make something perfect, we're keeping ourselves safe. That has worked for many, many, many, many, many, many generations, but there's also a part of us that needs to stretch and grow, right? We don't always want to be completely 100% insulated safe because that means our business won't grow.

We have to take a few calculated risks in order for our business to be strong, to grow and to succeed, especially when there's a bunch of economic stuff going on, we have to get out there ahead of that curve so that we can test things. Know what is solid by the time any kind of economic struggles happen, because now you know exactly what to say, what to do, what to put out there in a way that resonates with your client and has them saying yes. So number three, this one's hard to implement, but simple to remember, just get out there and do it. Just do it. Test implement, iterate, accelerate.

That's one of my favorite things to say about the Coaching Hive Messaging Accelerator. We get to go through your messaging. We get to go through your marketing plan and then we get to implement, iterate and accelerate because working together with other people, having a guide to help you be a guide in your own business, having the opportunity to implement test, adjust. All of these things are going to help you move faster. You are going to make faster progress by implementing something that's imperfect.

You will gain experience by implementing something that is perfect. Imperfection is good. Get it out there, get it done. Let's implement, iterate and accelerate.

What happens when you implement these three things?

When you follow the principles of storytelling, when you focus on the benefits, not just the features and when you start getting things out there to test and you make adjustments, you iterate and you start accelerating your progress. What is happening is you are creating a strong business with a strong messaging foundation that is recession ready. It can withstand economic fluctuations because you are getting out there ahead of these fluctuations. You are building yourself, essentially a buffer of time, space, money, where your peers might still be worried about, “what do I say? How do I do this? When do I implement it? What adjustments do I need to make now so that I can be ready?”.

You're already ready. You are putting things out there doing the hard stuff and seeing the progress. So what happens is you get to experience a strong growing business that is anchored in solid messaging that will stand the test of time and will continue to evolve as you evolve in your business.

As a guide, you are going to experience growth while others are kind of hunkered down, worried about what to do or how to make an offer that works during challenging financial times. Hopefully that's a good enough reason to go ahead and start making adjustments to your messaging today and how you market your business. Because although messaging feels difficult, it can feel overwhelming and it can feel daunting, it doesn't have to be. It can be simple.

Keep in mind the principles of storytelling, invite your client into that story, help them see themselves as you highlight the problems they're experiencing, as you help them think through a plan to follow. And as you paint a picture of success for them, what you're doing is you are painting them as the hero of the story.

You are their guide there to help them get that success. They dreamed of. When you have strong messaging, that's clear that tells a story that focuses on the benefit and you're getting it out there. You become the go-to resource that everyone is seeking out in whatever industry you're in, whether you have a product or a service or some combination of products and services, you are the Go-To Resource, the person there that's being sought after and sought out for your services. How does that sound?

Would you sign up to be the Go-To resource? Yeah! I think we all would as business owners, we want to be successful.

Action Item

This week your action item is to take a look at what you can do. We talked about three things today.

We talked about following the principles of storytelling.
We talked about focusing on the benefits, not just the features of your offering.
And we talked about getting out there and testing things, making adjustments to implement, iterate, and accelerate.

What can you work on this week?

Maybe you've been sitting on a blog post or an article or a story that you just need to get out there. See how it lands. How does it resonate? What kinds of comments do you get? What kinds of interest do you get and make adjustments.

Perhaps it is the fact that you have been thinking about revising your website homepage for eons. Maybe this is the week that you just look at the header that you know, where the picture is at the very top of your website and you probably have some big words. Look at that header to see if you're starting a story with the header.

Maybe you have an offer out there right now, and it's not getting the kind of traction that you would like. And so you're going to look at the features you've listed and think about, well, how can I help my clients know the benefits of each of these features? Does it save them time? Does it save them money? Will it help them move faster? Will it help them feel more secure in trying this new thing? What's it going to do for them?

What will you do this week? What action will you take this week to implement one or all one, two, or all three of the things that we talked about in this podcast episode so that you can get your messaging dialed in, nailed down, ready to go, regardless of what the economy does, because at the end of the day, we want to make sure that our business is ready for anything. We want to build a strong business. One that stands the test of time.

Conclusions

Just as a quick recap, we started off by talking about the fact that having a strong message will help you to create a strong business and that strong business can help safeguard against fluctuations that happen, whether they're economic time-based or something else entirely, and the way to do that, the way to get through your messaging so that it doesn't feel complicated and daunting is to use the principles of storytelling outlined by the StoryBrand formula, by Donald Miller.

We talked about focusing on the benefits, not just the features of your offering. And we talked about getting out there and just doing it, just testing what you have to see what works, what resonates, and then make adjustments from there doing that will allow you to accelerate your progress even faster, even further. And then you get to enjoy growth. You get to be the go-to resource in your industry.

That is all I have for you today. But before we wrap up, if you are now thinking about your messaging and saying, I would love to make some adjustments, but I just don't know where to start. I'd love to invite you to check out www.bethegotoresource.com, where you can learn about options to work on your messaging with support and guidance, because honestly that's the best way to create your messaging. Even as a StoryBrand guide. In fact, our entire community of 700 plus StoryBrand guides routinely put our own messaging in front of other guides, for feedback, for ideas, for just a fresh look, because messaging is not created in a silo by yourself.

Messaging is created by surrounding yourself with other entrepreneurs, other business owners, people who are going through these same steps that you are, it saves time, it saves money. It creates simplicity in your messaging. And that simplicity is what invites your clients into the process, into your product, your service, and your business.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

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Introduction

Welcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast. This episode is near and dear to my heart, mostly because whenever I talk about this, I love seeing entrepreneurs' faces light up with the possibilities. So here it is today, we are going to talk about being the go-to resource in your industry. Doesn't that sound great to be the go-to resource? You are the person that everyone reaches out to for XYZ, but maybe there's a little bit of trepidation when you hear me say don't, you want to be the go-to resource in your industry and your thinking of course, but I don't know exactly what problem I solve. I'm not really sure what I'd be the go-to resource for. It sounds nice, but I don't know where to start with that. And maybe, you know, kind of what you're the go-to resource for, but you don't know how to be so specific about it, that people can see that you are clearly the go-to resource. That is what we're going to talk about today.

Be the Go-To Resource in Your Industry

When I first got started as a health coach, I struggled. And in fact, I struggled even as I started setting up the Coaching Hive. Then someone asked me a really important question and I had a hard time answering. The question?

What problem do you solve?

I said, oh, well, I help people live healthier. Except that wasn’t the problem I solved.

And this person kept saying to me, “Let's dig deeper. That's really not the problem you solve. You're not helping someone to live longer to live healthier. You're not really doing that.”

And then when I started my coaching business, as I started to mentor more coaches, as I started to really work with them inside the membership and one-on-one I had, again, people asked me, so what problem do you solve? What are you doing? And I said, oh, well, I'm helping to build a business. And they said, no, you're really not. And if you're anything like me, you probably know, I felt a little bit unsure and it felt a little bit kind of protective of my business.

And then I realized they were right.

I had no clue what problem I was solving until I realized that inside the Coaching Hive, the problem that I truly solve is that I help you to make sense of all of the stuff that's out there for building a business, because it's confusing. It's overwhelming. And what you really want is just a way forward.

You want to know what to do, how to do it, and you need support to get there. So that's the problem I solve. I help you wade through all of the stuff that's out there so that you can build a business that you love, but it's not really about the building the business that you love. It's really about helping you wade through all the stuff that's out there.

So when you think about what problem you solve, what you want to be known for, you may be struggling. It's pretty common. I see it all the time. It's something that I work with our coaches inside the Coaching Hive on probably every single week, because as your business grows, the problem you solve evolves. It grows and shifts a little bit.

And so this is something that is not a once and done thing, but you do want to know what problem you solve. So how are you going to do that? How are you going to get from this place of, well, I kind of know high level, but that's not really it. I know I have to peel back the layers of the onion.

The first thing is to ask yourself how you help others. Okay. So start with that basic question. How are you helping others? And then peel back a layer of the onion. For instance, when someone tells me that they are helping someone live a long, healthy life, what does a long healthy life get them? Okay. And then we kind of say, well, what does that get you? What does that look like? What does that mean? How does it manifest? What's actually happening? What do they really want? Because chances are it. Isn't a long, healthy life. Most people aren't actually aiming for a specific number in age that they're trying to get to just like, they're not aiming for healthy.

What they really want is what a healthy life offers them. And so that's the problem you're helping them solve. It is to be able to get to that point where they can do what they want. One of my coaches make helps her clients feel confident in being able to lift their grand babies in and out of the crib safely without hurting themselves. And being able to do that, even when you have to lean over the crib, you know how some of those are really low to reach the mattress, that they can reach their grandkids and get them up and put them in safely. So that's really what that person is helping them do. O

Ask how you help others. This may feel tough. I encourage you to find a quiet place where you can just kind of sit and think about what it is you want to be, what it is you're helping people with. I would also ask others what they think you help people with or what your product helps with. If you have a product versus a service, ask others how you have helped them or how your product has helped them. And notice what words they're using. Notice what they're drawing out, what attention they're drawing out of their experience with you or with your product.

So get two different perspectives. Start with your own perspective. Start digging in a little bit, then ask for some outside perspectives. Then I know I usually only give you three ideas here. What I would go back to is think again, with that knowledge of what others are saying, go back to what you think. Okay. Go back to what you think you're doing to help other people based on what you've just heard.

So really we're just kind of doing step one, step two, step one again. And then we're going to go to step three. So I think we'll still count this as three ideas or three ways to progress when you want to be the go-to resource in your industry. So the third thing is to honestly ask yourself, what do you want to be known for?

What do you want to be known for? What do you want to be known for? This is not a time to be conservative. Think outside the box. Get excited and brag a little bit. What do you want to be known for? Don't be humble here. Dig in and get excited for this. This is what you want to be the go-to resource in your industry for what do you want to be known for?

Where someone says, “Sally is great at…, you have to talk to her.” What do you want them to say? Sally is great at… what that's? What you want to be known for. Now, there is a little trickier that I've noticed with entrepreneurs and it's something that's easy to fall into. Sometimes you're really good at something. And so you become known for that, but it's not what you love. And a lot of times I see entrepreneurs kind of closing that business down because yes, they got to be known for it, which is fantastic. They were the go-to resource, but it was not in alignment with who they are. And so they shut down that business and they really focus on what's in alignment with them.

As you start exploring what you'd like to be known for as the go-to resource, make sure that whatever you uncover is still in alignment with who you want to be, what you want your business to represent and to be because otherwise you aren't going to love it. And being an entrepreneur has a lot of hard aspects to it. I think you'd agree with me.

We don't need to add not loving your business to that list. We want to make sure that the tough stuff it's worth it because it fulfills you because it's in alignment with who you are, because it's really heart and soul ingrained in you and you love it. You don't always like it. Sometimes you don't like it just because things are tough sometimes, but you love it deep down.

And you feel excited to go to work every day when you are known for what, what happens when you are clear on the problem you solve, when you are clear on what you want to be the go-to resource for, you know what happens? You attract the right clients. You have a clear message. You have a clear offer. You have a more profitable business.

You have a more aligned business. Sounds good. Right? Look at someone like Colin Boyd. Colin Boyd excels at speaking on stage. He loves it. He's good at it. He wants to be known for selling on stage. And in fact, he is, he has an entire program, Sell From Stage Academy, where he teaches you how to sell from a stage, whether it is a direct offer, whether it is some kind of transitional offer or whether it is truly just to gain brand awareness or audience awareness for your business. But when you talk to Colin, he is grounded. You can tell he's in alignment with his business because he shows up every single time with an enthusiasm for working through the challenges for experimenting and trying new things, because he wants to be known as the person who helps you sell from stage successfully. It is in alignment with who he is.

Amy Porterfield is another great example. She loves offering courses. She loves to help entrepreneurs build their courses. She created an entire course on how to build courses called digital course academy, DCA, digital course academy. She is so enthusiastic as she presents this.

There are live elements and Q&As each week, as the course is being launched. Each round and each year she shows up with energy. She is always enthusiastic to problem solve. I remember one call I was on with her, she was taking a mini vacation, but we had a live call scheduled and she wasn't going to reschedule it because she loves to show up for her students.

And the lighting was kind of funky. The tables were kind of funky. So she ended up sitting on top of a table in this place they had rented with her laptop on top of the box and she had forgotten her water. So she had to run and get her water, but she had to climb off the table first. You know, you don't do that unless your business is in alignment with you. If she hadn't wanted to be there, she could have canceled it. She could have rescheduled and said, Hey guys, I'm slipping away for a few days. I'm going to reschedule this Q&A for a different day. But she loves, genuinely loves, showing up for her audience and for her students.

And so she made it work including sitting on a table because that's what was available. And that's how she could make it work for the day. She wants to be known for helping students get their courses launched. And she is, you attract the right clients. You have a clear message. You have a clear offer. And it's in alignment with who you are both personally and professionally.

Action Item And Conclusions

Are you ready to step into being the go to resource in your industry? If you are, I have an action item for you this week, because we talked about three different things. I said, you know, ask yourself how you help others peel back the layers of the onion, ask others how you've helped them. You may have to peel back some of those layers too.

And then the third thing I said was to answer the question, what do you want to be known for? And that's your action item this week. I want you to think about what you want to be known for so that when your area of expertise, someone is looking for your area of expertise, the person that's listening to them says, Sally is your go-to for that.

You got to contact them and you get that referral. That's being the go-to resource. You want to be known as the go-to resource for something specific. Okay? What happens is when you do this, you're attracting the right clients. You have a clear message. You have a clear offer. Your business is in alignment personally and professionally, and you're building a business you love.

So this week, what do you want to be known for?

Take some time to explore that.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

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Introduction

Welcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast. This week, I have something that is probably near and dear to your heart in a way that you wish it wasn't. And that is overwhelm in your business. Overwhelm is something that we hear a lot of talk about, and it's because it's everywhere, right? We, especially, as entrepreneurs, as business builders can feel that sense of overwhelm.

That there's more to do, more to learn, and more to see. Then the amount of time we actually have to make that happen. And chances are, you have felt like you get something going and you turn around. And that one task has created five other tasks that now need your attention. And by the time you work through those five tasks, each of those five tasks have created their own set of five tasks.

And it feels like we are exponentially adding to the list of things to do inside your business. And then all of a sudden you go, whoa, I'm overwhelmed this week. We're going to talk about that overwhelm. We are going to talk about the overwhelm that you feel in building your business.

Avoiding Overwhelm in Business

So I have to, I have to start off with a story today. I was creating a brand new webinar earlier in 2022, and I was super excited. I love webinars. I love the opportunity to go live in front of a group of people where we can interact and really make some progress together in the span of an hour or an hour and a half. And so I'm creating this webinar, I'm outlining everything that we're going to talk about, getting those conversation questions outlined that have a good idea of how I want to have that interaction flow and I'm feeling good about it, honestly.

And then I turned around and I realized, wait a minute. So once people sign up to attend the webinar, ah, man, I've got to have email reminders. Okay, I can do that. Great. So I write the email reminders and get them all scheduled and I think it's fantastic. Okay, well, I'm making an offer during this webinar for my vision course inside the Coaching Hive.

And then I realized that means I have to update my sales page. Okay. I can do that. So, I update that. I have new testimonials that have to be loaded in, I've got some updates into the benefits of the vision course. I get all of that updated and realize once again, that I'm going to have to send some follow-up emails from the webinar.

I set about writing those and you can see where this is going with each task. I realized that there are other tasks that now need to be completed that need to be taken care of. And it's easy to feel that overwhelm creeping in, even for something that you were super excited about. For instance, I was really excited about that webinar. And then I realize that the to-do list is getting longer and longer and longer.

And the overwhelm started to kick in. But if we let that overwhelm kick in and stay in, then our clients aren't going to be able to get what they need from us. And even more importantly, we aren't going to be able to get what we need from ourselves to live a fulfilled life. So we have to figure out how to kick overwhelm to the back seat or even out of the car, let them not even come along for the ride.

And today I'd like to share with you three things that I have found most helpful. And these are things that we work on inside the Coaching Hive, the membership as well, particularly in our Coaching Hive Elite membership, where we meet one to two or sometimes three times a week to work on building a business.

Step 1: Slow down your timeline if you can. I know this isn't always feasible or possible, but if you can slow down your timeline in your business, it gives you some breathing room. It gives you an opportunity to break down tasks that can be completed in chunks instead of these massive Boulder size things, right? We don't want to have to complete the massive boulders.

What we want to do is complete each little pebble one step of the way each step of the way. If you slow down your timeline, it's easier to do that. I will tell you, I am not always the best at doing this. My husband, Nate, will tell you that I rarely pick a reasonable timeline for getting the new things out the door or tested or launched.

I chose a webinar date and I said, I'm going to do this. And it was four weeks away. And we had a lot to do for it. When I launch something new, I don't always give myself enough time. It's something that in 2022, I have tried to be a little bit more conscious of so that I slow down the timeline and really give us as a family, not just me as a business owner, but us as a family, time to get things done and not sacrifice our quality of life at the same time.

Okay. So the first thing that I would encourage you to do is see if you can slow down your timeline. It is fantastic to get out there, try, iterate, try, iterate. That is how we get better at things.

But if you're trying, adjusting, trying, adjusting, or that iteration process is so compacted that it keeps you from getting enough sleep or it keeps your stress level through the roof, or it doesn't even give your brain time to digest what has happened so that you can make a really good adjustment on that next iteration. Then it's too fast, speaking as the queen of wanting to go fast.

I get that. You might be feeling a little bit of pushback inside right now thinking, Nope, I've got to get it done. And there are certainly plenty of reasons to do that. If you need that income right now, then you may need to push through. But when you get to a point where that's not necessarily the case, I would highly encourage you to slow down the timeline.

Step 2: The second thing that is really important to do is to simplify. Again, I'm a work in progress, and this is something that I have to constantly remind myself to do. I don't know about you. Maybe you'll tell me a little bit more about where you try to complicate things, but simplify, just do what's needed.

It doesn't have to be fancy.

It doesn't have to be the latest and greatest. It does have to be authentic. It does have to feel in alignment with who you are, who your business is, what you're trying to accomplish. It does not have to be fancy. You do not have to have the latest software, the latest gadget, the latest or most updated software. You don't have to have any of that.

In fact, some of the most successful business owners I've ever seen got started with a laptop on top of a box on top of a table with a cheap webcam to host a live. They had nothing fancy. They didn't have fancy lighting. They didn't have fancy software. They didn't have fancy webinar tools.

But what they did have was a strong understanding of who they are, what they wanted their business to be and how to simplify it, just to get it going because the key is to get it going. If you over-complicate things they tend to stall. So simplify. Slow down your timeline. Simplify.

If you are, if you know anything about me, you know that there's probably three things I'm going to suggest because three is kind of easy to remember, not as hard as five, it's enough to keep you busy, right?

Step 3: So here's the third thing I want to chat with you about this week, when you're feeling overwhelmed in your business. I was on a Facebook group for a membership that I'm a part of today and noticed someone saying I'm feeling really vulnerable right now, but I feel like I need some help.

And this person outlined the challenges that they were going through, what was working, what wasn't and the fact that they are ready for something different to happen. They're ready for some change. They were ready for help. That's what they were doing. They were asking for help. So the third thing for today is to ask for help, reach out, think about what you need most help with.

What's not working and think about how someone who has a different expertise or a different perspective could help you. Whether it is engaging with a mentor, finding a peer collaborator, or just having someone in your community, sit down with you. So you can get some of your ideas out. Because sometimes when we just speak our ideas out loud to someone else, we find the answer all on our own. And all they have to do is smile and nod. Overwhelm has been in business is common but not necessary.

We are all going to experience the occasional burst of overwhelm, especially as new, big things are happening. When you launch a webinar, when you launch a new product or service, when you are trying something new out for the very first time, when you're trying to get active on a social media platform, you've never been on before. There's going to be a little bit of overwhelm. The key is that it's not your normal state of being. It is a fluctuation that goes back to normal fairly quickly. Okay? So slow down, slow your timeline down, slow yourself down just a little bit.

Slow down to speed up is something that I hear quite often. And it really resonates a lot of times when we take the extra time on the front end, it means that the backend goes a little bit faster, slow down to speed up, simplify things, just do what's necessary. Don't worry about all the other fancy stuff. All of the extra things you could be doing.

When I listened to Jasmine Star talk about consistency on social media. She doesn't say go post seven times a week or twice a day. Every single day. What she says is do what you can actually do and be consistent at if you can post once a week post once a week, if you can post three times, go for it. If you can do a post and a real each week, do that. The key is to do what works for you. And so if you are simplifying, you're doing just what's needed. Also keep in mind what works for you and do that. And then finally ask for help.

Action Item

This brings me to our action item for this week. And I bet you can guess what it might be. It is drum roll….

Please reach out for help, have something in mind that you could use help with. So this will take a little bit of sitting and thinking. Think about what you need help with inside your business, or maybe it's inside your life. Maybe if someone else could cook the meals this week, then you could get some of these big things off of your to-do list.

The key here is, regardless of whether you're asking for help inside your business, inside your personal life, or some combination be specific in your request. A lot of times people say, well, let me know how I can help. And you say, oh no, I'm okay. Or, well, I just need more time. Okay. So that's a great starting place.

I need more time, need more time to do what or what does need more time look like? Does it mean that I need to get everyone in your house, out of the house while you have quiet time to work? Does it mean that you need more time in that it would be helpful if I came over and did your laundry for you while you focus on your work tasks, does it mean that you need just something else entirely?

The key is to be super specific because if you can be specific in your request is so much easier for someone to say, well, yeah, I can do that. No problem. And now you have the help you need. And the overwhelm starts to decrease. Okay, slow down the timeline, simplify, ask for help. And where I'd love for you to focus this week is asking for help.

Last Thoughts

What happens when you do these three things is that it gives you the fuel to keep going. It allows you to enjoy your business and it helps you to stay focused on what's important. Recently

I've had this kind of concept in mind at the forefront, just for our family and for my business. And what happened is I took an entire day and created a 90 day plan. And on that 90 day plan, it runs seven days a week because my business building happens at odd times each day, but I do take whole days off and where I'll just have 15 minute tasks. So don't worry. I'm still taking time.

But as a homeschool mom, as a college professor, and as an entrepreneur, I have to kind of work where it fits in. So for me, my 90-day plan includes all seven days of the week. And I took an entire day with my post-it note easel and my little post-it notes in various colors and came up with my big goals for the 90 days. And then I broke them down into how I was going to get them done on a day by day basis. What was I going to focus on? And I did this by filling in the stuff that I couldn't miss. If I have a live call, I made sure that was noted. If I had to attend a live training, I did that so that I would know on those days, my time is more limited and I needed to choose a smaller task to complete in doing this. It helps reduce the overwhelm because I know how things are going to get done. And I know what I need to focus on if it's not important right now, if it's not one of my big goals for the 90 days is probably going to be set to the side or put into the bucket of if I have extra time at the end of 90 days, somehow I move through everything faster than I can work on that. What happens is there's more focus, there's less overwhelmed, there's more enthusiasm and enjoyment of the business building process. And it just really fuels you to keep going.

So this week let's think about that. Overwhelm, think about how to manage it, how to reduce the overwhelm by reaching out for help, have something in mind that you could use help with, and then be specific in your request for help. I hope that you got some ideas for how to reduce overwhelm in your business, or maybe you've noticed someone else who has been experiencing overwhelm in their business, and you can pass along some of these ideas or even this podcast episode to them so that they can in turn, maybe reach out for some help.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

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Introduction

Welcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast. I am so thrilled you're here for the episode this week. Last week, we were talking about the fact that as an entrepreneur it would be nice if there was a step-by-step approach to building your business that just worked, that you could have every single thing that you needed right. In one list.

And we talked about the fact that that doesn't necessarily work, right? You can buy lots of different resources free or paid and get a really good approximation of the things you need to do to build your business. But the fact of the matter is that your business is a living, breathing organism that is as unique as your fingerprint, which means there isn't a single step-by-step process that will work for everyone, and it will always have some gaps in it.

So you might be curious now you might be asking yourself, if there's not a step-by-step guide that works for everyone that has all of the steps all in one place, what exactly is involved in building a business? Because I don't really know that much about building a business and it's tricky, right? It feels a little bit overwhelming.

You're building a business, but you can't quite figure out all that's involved in doing that. So you start learning, you start making these lists, but then you discover even more and your lists grow. And if you're anything like me, it means your sticky note notes take over your dining room table.

Let me give you an example of what this looks like. When I first started my business, I started with a podcast and I thought, okay, great. I am going to get my podcasts going. And then I'm going to do a founding member launch, which is something that Stu McLaren talks about as you launch a brand new membership.

I'm listening to these other podcasts about how you do this stuff and I feel like I've got this great big picture of what to do and even understand the details. I start recording my podcast episodes and I get them out there and I realized, wait a minute, people don't just come to the podcast episodes. I've got to have an audience to get them there.

I started figuring out how to build an audience. And as I'm doing this, my membership's launching. And then I'm realizing that I don't really have a great journey for my members in their membership. So how am I going to make that work at the same time, I'm still trying to figure out this audience building thing and the list kind of snowballs, right?

You've all been there. We've all been there at one time or another in building a business. It feels like every time you turn around, there's a new book to read, a new article, a new Facebook post that you go, “whoa, that's mind blowing!” So let's dig into how you build a business when it feels like there's always these new things that you're supposed to have known about.

Let's talk about that today. If you are ready to get started, grab your notebook, grab your tablet, whatever you're using to take notes on today, get your water and a snack. And if you're ready, with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in!

The Details of Building a Business

You heard me talking about what happened when I started my business, I had this really high level view of what it meant to start a business. And even though I had started a business in the past, this one looked a little bit different. This one included a podcast for starters, and that was something I had never done in the past. Until about three weeks before I started my podcast, I had never even listened to a podcast. I wasn’t a die hard podcast fan. I had never listened to one until we started learning through podcasts.

Then I bought my first business book and I'm reading through it and then realizing, wait a minute, I need another one. And I need another one. And another one because it felt like the more I learned, the more I realized, I didn't know all of the different components involved in building a business. And it kind of led on this rabbit trail of business books and articles and Facebook groups until it was just kind of swimming all around.

So how do you learn what's involved in building a business without the overwhelm? Unless you're going to go back to school and get your MBA or pursue some kind of master's in entrepreneurship, you're going to have to find this information out in the wild. So here's what I would suggest every entrepreneur do. Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur or you are brand new to the entrepreneurial world, the first thing is to take time each week to learn about entrepreneurship. Take time each week to learn about entrepreneurship, read posts from your favorite entrepreneur. Find articles. Start on a book. Listen to that audio book. If sitting down to read a book isn't feasible for you, grab the audio book, play it while you're cooking dinner while you're driving somewhere, when you're getting ready in the morning, any little snippets of time that you can sneak in, go for it.

Idea 1: Take time to learn about entrepreneurship every week. Don't assume that it will just come to you or that, if it's not “natural”, maybe I'm not meant to do this. No. We have to learn this stuff. This is not something that we are born knowing how to do, we have to learn it, but promise me that your learning will be progress driven.

You've heard me talk about progress driven learning in the past. In fact, we talked a little bit about it last week. Progress driven learning is the concept that whatever learning you're doing, it's going to help you make progress and take action in your business. So if you are just learning about entrepreneurship, but at some obscure angle that will never impact your business, unless you have loads of time, I would set that aside and focus on something that's more applicable to your current situation. We want to be focused on what you need right now or what you need in the near future so that you can go ahead and plan for it. So that's idea.

Idea 1 Recap: One is to take time to learn about entrepreneurship every week.

Idea 2: The second idea that I would offer for you is to create an idea notebook so that you aren't doing everything at once. Have you ever been somewhere? This happens for me when I'm in the shower, have you ever been somewhere that the ideas just start flowing? You're thinking, oh, I should do this. And maybe I need to think about that. And oh, by the way, maybe this offering might be the next kind of revenue stream I want to incorporate into my business. Have you ever had that moment? You're in flow.

Remember Csikszentmihalyi’s “flow”? It feels like everything just kind of falls away and you're in the moment, everything is truly flowing in your brain and you have these ideas, get them down in your idea notebook. I actually carry one in my purse and one stays in the house so that I always have one. And the purpose is to get all of these ideas down so that you don't feel like you have to implement all of them right now, because if you try to implement everything right now, your business is going to be so complex, so complicated that you're going to burn out or resent it. Okay.

So when you are just learning about business, lots of new ideas are going to come to you. As you're learning about entrepreneurship, lots of new ideas are going to come into you. You're going to see people posting ideas for you and you think, yes, this is it. I need to do this. And suddenly that list is really long. Go ahead and get it down.

What happens in writing it down is that you don't have to worry over remembering it. You can set it aside and come back to it when your business is ready to look at that idea.

Idea 2 Recap: Create an idea, notebook, get everything down, get it out of your brain so that you don't have to worry about it so that you can keep learning about what's involved in building your business and implementing what you're learning.

Idea 3: The third idea here that I want to share with you today is to accept that there will always be things that you don't know about. That's a big one, except that there will always be things about business that you don't know about, or that you wished you had known three months ago or that you know now and cannot figure out how you could implement them just with your situation currently.

Just accept that there are always going to be things that you didn't know about, that you wished you had known about, that you wish you could implement, and recognize that it's okay not to implement everything right now. Taking it one step at a time like this, when you take time to learn, when you create your idea notebook to set aside the stuff that's not relevant right now you are inviting room for continuous growth. You are saving space for new knowledge and then you get to step into your business instead of watching it from the outside.

You're taking it one step at a time. You're making change happen. You're building that business while you're learning about it.

Idea 4: If you find that this kind of concept feels really big, I'll give you one last idea to help you kind of think about the idea of what's involved in building business. And that's to find a mentor, someone who is at least 10% ahead of where you're at, who can offer you advice, who can guide you, who can listen to your situation and help you see things from different angles. That is going to be priceless. As you're thinking about how to build your business and figuring out what's even involved in building a business.

Action Item

So this week, because so many of our listeners are new to building a business. What I'd like to do is focus your action item on something that is simple, but will move the needle quite a bit.

Action Item: Choose two articles to read this week about entrepreneurship and growing a business. Now I'm not going to narrow it down any further than that for you, because each one of you is at a slightly different point in your business. You have, as we've talked about a unique business, as unique as your fingerprint.

For me to tell you to go find an article on XYZ may not be relevant for you right now. What I'd like you to do is choose two articles to read about entrepreneurship and growing a business this week that are relevant for YOUR living, breathing organism of a business, and think about how you can use what you've learned, whether it's something you can implement right now, or it is something that you want to put in your idea notebook for later.

Last Thoughts

So as a quick reminder today, we were talking about the idea that you want to build a business. You are building a business, but you can't quite figure out everything that's involved. It feels like every time you turn around, there's something else that's popping up. You learn, you're making those lists, but really what do you do? How do you manage this? And so we talked about three ideas:

Idea 1: Take time to learn about entrepreneurship every week. And in fact, that circles directly back to your action item for the week.

Idea 2: We talked about creating an idea notebook to get down all of the things that you're learning that aren't necessarily applicable right now, but perhaps they would be good for the future.

Idea 3: And then to give yourself some peace by accepting that there are always going to be things that you didn't know about or don't know about in terms of building your business. There's always going to be something new that pops up and the sooner you can recognize that it's okay to not have known that three months ago, when it would've really helped, the better off you're going to be, that your mindset will allow you to keep moving forward with much more ease.

Action Item Recap: And we talked about your action item to choose two articles to read this week about entrepreneurship and growing a business and then implement what you've learned or if it's not applicable right now, put it into your idea notebook for later.

I hope that was helpful.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

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Introduction

Have you ever wanted a step-by-step approach to building your business? You know, where it says, step one, do this step two, do this. A list where if you simply check everything off, you'll be good to go? Have you ever found yourself wondering where that list is, how you can find it and how you can then implement it to make building your business, becoming an entrepreneur, a little bit easier?

If you're shaking your head, “Yes!,” then you are like most of us who have started a business. Having a step-by-step process or procedure would make life so much easier, but it doesn't always work that way, does it? Having an opportunity to have a step-by-step process that works in all situations at all times, doesn't seem very likely.

So today we are going to talk about the fact that you really do want that step-by-step approach, because you don't know what to do in what order and a step-by-step approach would fix that. But maybe you've tried a step-by-step approach in the past and it hasn't worked, or you have found that yeah, it works kind of, or partially that there are still gaps that don't have a way to fill them in.

You don't have the step that will fill in that gap with a step-by-step approach or process. That's what we're going to talk about today. What to do in face of the fact that there is not necessarily a step-by-step process to building your business.

Wishing for a Step-by-Step Approach

I was on a call the other day with a health coach who is building out a brand new membership. She is successful. She has a wonderful business built, and now she is branching out in order to serve more people with her health coaching business. And she was sharing with me that she serves the upper tier income bracket and that what works for other health coaches doesn't necessarily work for her because the step-by-step approach that a health coach serving your local, YMCA may not work, what you're doing there at that local YMCAs may not work in her market.

It brings home the fact that there is not a single step-by-step approach that we can all just adopt, use, implement, and find success in building our business. There are always going to be gaps. There are always going to be exceptions, and there are always going to be pieces that don't necessarily work for you and your business or pieces that work really well.

When you find a list, for some reason you always find something missing or something that works even better than what the list suggests.

So what do you do if there is not a single step-by-step list to follow? Well, the first thing is to become a scientist. Now, this does not mean that you have to go back to school and study science and learn all these kinds of fancy statistics. What it means is that I want you to become an observer. I want you to notice what works, notice what doesn't work and start to do more of what does start to do less of what doesn't. But even as you're saying, okay, this doesn't work, see if you can figure out why. See if you can dig into why that tool, technique, or skill isn't working for you inside your business. Maybe it's just a matter of tweaking something a little bit.

If you don't take the time to observe and dig into that, you'll never know, and you might be throwing out a tool or a resource that would otherwise be amazing inside your business, for building your audience, for serving your audience, for making a difference.

Recap Step 1: The first thing to do in lieu of a solid step-by-step process that works across the board is to become a scientist. Observe.

The second thing is to start identifying a trusted mentor or mentors, I would start with one and really ask them for their experience, their expertise in the specific situations that you are finding most challenging, because what will happen is a good mentor will not only help you identify the resources that would be most helpful, but they're going to also help you think through what you're already using and might be able to adjust for this situation. They are going to be able to connect you with the right peers and collaborators, so that maybe that's what's missing you can work together with someone on, on a piece of your business and they are going to help you stay out of that indecision and overthinking that can happen when you don't have a step-by-step list.

The fact of the matter is that business is a complex breathing organism and just like humans are complex breathing organisms. No single solution works for every business. No single solution works for every single human being. It's the same concept. If you start thinking about your business as a living, breathing organism, just like a human being as a living, breathing organism, you'll realize that the $37 ad you got served on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn offering you the step-by-step process to building your business is going to have some great ideas in there 99% of the time, but it's not going to have the perfect solution for your business. This is because your business is a living, breathing organism. There is no perfect solution. There are ideas that you can implement and try and tools and skills and resources, but you again, have to be a scientist.

Recap Steps 1 and 2: Identify a trusted mentor who can help you work through all of these things without losing who you are, what you need for your business, what you want for your business, or to see well, and to keep you from kind of swirling in the indecision that can happen when you're trying to build things up.

So step one, become a scientist. Step two, identify a trusted mentor and really dig in with that mentor really start working intensely on making progress in your business, taking the next step. Just because there isn't a step-by-step process that has every single little thing laid out for you that you could possibly need to know, do, think, and implement there ARE next steps to take. A good mentor will help you to identify those next steps.

Now to keep it simple. I just want to give you one more thing to think about as you think about what to do in lieu of a perfect unicorn step-by-step process to building your business. And here it is. Recognize that there is no single approach that works for everyone, but there are going to be common components. Remember I said that that $37 Facebook download that you found offers you a step-by-step guide to building your business? Chances are, there is some really great information in that. It's going to have key things like how do you build your audience? How do you solidify your offer? How are you going to talk about your business? How are you going to price things? What are you going to do when you have a customer who is unhappy with your business?

You're going to find some really great information in those resources that you're finding, whether they're free or paid, but the key is not to keep looking to the point where you think just one more click and I'll find that guide I've been looking for and has everything all in one place.

If that were true, then the book industry would cease to exist. I can't tell you how many business books I have sitting in my bookcase right now. You can't learn everything from one resource. You aren't going to learn everything from one resource. No single approach is going to have all of the answers for your specific living, breathing organism of a business.

When you recognize that, it takes away some of the pressure, some of the confinement or restriction that you might be feeling when you see a plan that says follow these six steps, and you'll be good to go as an entrepreneur. You'll realize that those six steps have some great guidelines, but there are going to be pieces that you need to put in in order to truly have a well-rounded business, a profitable business.

When you do this, when you take a step back, learn to be a scientist, learn to identify and work with trusted mentors. When you release yourself from the idea that there is a step-by-step process out there, what you're doing is enabling yourself to choose the pieces that are right for your business.

You're going to choose the components that are right for your business, and guess what? That keeps everything so much simpler when you're able to just adopt the things that will work for your business. You're not worried about all of the other things in the lists that aren't designed for your living, breathing organism of a business. Doesn't that sound great? Being able to say yes to the things that make sense and no to the things that don't for your business keeps you from trying to fit a square peg into a round hole where you just want to bang your head against the wall because it's not working.

So let me give you an example of what this really looks like. When I work with brand messaging clients, I provide them with about a 50 page document at the end of our initial brand messaging conversations. And it goes through their messaging, words to use, and lots of ideas. It goes through their whole StoryBrand approach to messaging. At the end of the playbook, I always have to take a moment and talk with every client that I walk through this messaging playbook with, because at the end, there's a list of next things to do, and it's pretty lengthy, but here's the thing. I always encourage anyone that looks at this list to recognize there are great ideas, but you don’t have to do them all right now or even in this specific order. Some of these you may find can be put on the back burner for quite some time, while you focus on other aspects of your marketing and messaging inside your business. Because even though there's a list and it's fairly step-by-step, it doesn't mean that every little piece is right for you right now.

When you become a scientist, you are noticing what works and doesn't work. When you work with a trusted mentor who can help guide you through this process of identifying what to do next and recognize that there is not a single approach that works for everyone. Everyone is going to have a slightly different spin or take on how to build their business. And that is just fine. It means you're choosing the pieces that are right for your business at the right time, and it keeps it simpler.

So what do you think about that? You know, that I'm a big fan of taking action inside your business. It's not enough to just learn. We want to make sure all of the learning that we do is progress driven, which means let's talk about your action item for this week.

Action Item

What I'd like you to do is take action on that first piece of the puzzle. I suggest that you become a scientist, start exploring what does and doesn't work inside your business and for your needs, remembering that your business is a living, breathing organism that is unique. Your business is just as unique as you are. And as your fingerprint is, when you remember that your business is as unique as your fingerprint, it is much easier to say yes to the items of that step-by-step approach that you found and no to the items that aren't going to work. So you're going to say yes to the ones that will and no to the ones that won't, or even maybe later to the ones that don't seem to make sense right now. That's the point, choose the pieces that work for you.

Last Thoughts

You are not going to find a step-by-step approach to building your business that is perfect. You're going to find a lot of great approximations. You're going to find a lot of great ideas out there. If you're anything like me, you'll end up with so many different books, so many different resources, but here's the thing: don't get so overwhelmed in learning that you don't do. It is in the doing, in taking action, that you are going to figure out what steps to take next for your business.

I hope that was helpful. This was a question that I get quite a bit, what's the next step, but really what they want is a step-by-step approach to building a business. And I often say there isn't one, because even though we can go out and find plenty of these lists, no single list, not even a combination of lists is going to be perfect or complete. The key is to be observant, ask for help and recognize that no single approach is going to fit for every business. So if you're doing something a little bit different than your colleagues who are also building businesses, that's okay, so this week start exploring what does, and doesn't work inside your business and for your needs.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

~ Dr. Moira

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Introduction

Welcome back to a new episode of Coaching Hive Podcast!

I am curious to know, when you look at your website, do you feel like it tells your story or do you feel like it tells the story of your potential customer or client? So often when we go to a website, it puts all of the information about that website owner up front and center, and that creates confusion.

So I'm curious to know when you go to your website, are you telling your story, or are you telling the story of your client or potential client?

I cannot wait to jump into this topic with you today, knowing how to share your message is critical to being able to build your business so that it is profitable.

If you're ready to get started, learn more about this, grab your notebook, grab your tablet, whatever you're taking notes on today. And with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's get in there. Let's jump in right now.

Your Website Focus

I asked you a question at the start of this podcast just a moment ago.

In fact, I said, are you telling YOUR story, or are you telling the story of your CLIENT on your homepage? When you go to your website, is it all about you or is it about the client?

This is something that many entrepreneurs struggle with. It is common to put information about who they are as an entrepreneur, because you're trying to build authority and trust, right?

People don't want to work with someone they don't know or trust. So you're putting that information out there. You're sharing what you do, your certifications, you're sharing your experience. You are sharing all of the things and your clients. Aren't responding. You're wondering why you have worked really hard on this copy. You've worked really hard on your website and you feel proud.

It's beautiful, but you're not getting any traction. So today let's talk a little bit about that. Let's talk a little bit about your message, your message. If you've been following me for any length of time, it needs to be about the client.

This past week, I was doing some website reviews as a way to give back. I open up my calendar and sit down with entrepreneurs for a 15-minute website review. During that call I will offer one action item or idea to implement today. And so this past week was that day. I sat down with quite a few entrepreneurs and almost always their website was focused on them.

And I understand it. Having a PhD, having a National Board Certification as a health and wellness coach being a StoryBrand certified guide. Yes, I'm proud. I have accomplished and done a lot so that I am better capable of serving my clients. Of course, I want you to know that.

But when I go to the website, what I actually want to know as a client is how you can help m e and what it looks like to work with you. How is my life going to be different? I want that story to be about me as a potential client. So as you go to the Coaching Hive website, if you go to www.coachinghive.com, you won't see anything about my expertise until you scroll a little while.

And even then it will be subtle. It's not until you dig in further that you learn a little bit more about my credentials. That's on purpose. The focus is going to be on my potential client: You. I want you to know when you get to my website, what the transformation looks like and how your life is going to be different.

Having worked with me, whether you are working with me on messaging, working on building your business with the, with the Coaching Hive Blueprint, whatever that looks like, I want you to know what your life will look like. I'm going to share with you a little bit more about what I offer, but it's based on what you want. I'm going to talk to you about the benefits of it, not just the features, but the benefits, because what I'm doing is I want you to feel like you're part of your own story. That I'm not the front person there. I'm not the person at the forefront of the story. I'm just simply a guide. I'm walking alongside you, but I am not the hero of your story. You are.

That's what we want our potential clients to feel.

So when you go to your website, how is your potential client going to feel? Well, they feel like, wow, this person gets me. They understand where I want to be. And it sounds like they have a way to help me get there. I want those benefits. I want what that's offering, or when they come to your website, are they learning more about what you do? What your certifications are, what authority you have to help them.

If you answered that it's more about you. The good news is you can make that shift. You can make a shift to focus more on the client, and if you're not quite sure the good news is that there are plenty of people out there that can help you identify how to make those tweaks.

But the key here is that when you are thinking about your messaging, thinking about your website, you want to highlight what the client wants to be. Who do they want to be after having worked with you?

Action Item

Now, this is a super short episode because it's kind of a big action item. So let's talk a little bit about our action item for the week.

If you are new to the Coaching Hive Podcast, I try to give you an action item each week that you can work on that will help you to grow your business instead of getting stuck. So the action item for this week is to write down on a piece of paper or on your tablet, your remarkable, whatever it is, write down who your client wants to be, and then go to your website.

Once you have that sentence or two, even if it's a word or two, that's great. I want you to go to your website. And with that in mind, write down all of the places that you have addressed that, either how you help them get there, what they want, what their life will look like, or what might happen if they don't make a change.

I want you to note where the story on your website circles around the client. And then I also want you to note where it highlights you, where it's truly focused on you. And if you find that more of it's focused on you than on what the client wants to be, who the client wants to be, then you have an opportunity to make a shift this week.

So first up, who does your client want to be, then go to your website and kind of notice the balance here. We want it to be primarily about the potential client. If you're already there. Awesome. Look for ways to tweak based on what you wrote down.

And if you're not there, think about what one shift you can make on your webpage today that will invite your potential client into their story. This is something that we focus on in the website reviews I was talking about, but also as a StoryBrand certified guide. I sit down with entrepreneurs like you, and we talk about all of these things. We talk about what it looks like when the client experiences that transformation.

We start detailing all of this information, because the more detail you have the it is to make updates to things like your website or to your social media posts, or to your emails that go out to your potential clients. That's it today, take a look at your website, see if it aligns with your client, or if it aligns with you, and then start identifying ways to adjust.

If you're already pretty much there, where the focus is on the client. If you're not quite there yet, what's one thing you could adjust today. And it might be looking at the header and saying, oh, I need to make sure that my client sees themselves in this header text. So right when you open a website, right at the very top of your website, that header space, that's what it's called. Header. Make sure that you're addressing your potential client. And once you've done that, feel excited, pat yourself on the back, that can take some time to clarify, but I'm keeping this episode purposely short so that you can go do that and dig in a little bit.

Last Thoughts

If you feel like you need some help, please reach out, go to www.coachinghive.com and click the “Apply Now” button. We will set up a time to talk and think about what the next steps are for you, so that you can clarify that message and really make sure that not just your website, but your message as a whole is working for you in a way that attracts the clients you want to attract and repels the clients who aren't a great fit for your services.

As we wrap up today, I just want to thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening and coming back week after week. I appreciate you getting in touch with ideas and for sharing your questions and your concerns. If you got something out of today's episode, please remember to leave a review and rate the podcast so that we can reach more people.

It also helps me to know what content you like best so that I can keep planning more of that and to best address the questions that you have. If you have any questions at all, please reach out to me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/coachinghive or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

~ Dr. Moira

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Introduction

Welcome to a new episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast. If you have been following along, you know that we have been talking about the Coaching Hive Blueprint. This blueprint is your way of building a business that keeps it simple and focused because after all, if you are building a business, you don't want to feel overwhelmed, burdened, standard, or frustrated.

Building a business has enough pitfalls and challenges that you don't need to add any additional confusion or delay. So this blueprint series started all the way back in April. Can you believe it? Back on April 26th, we started this blueprint series. So if you have not had a chance to listen, I would definitely go back and start there and then move forward.

So we are now into July and wrapping up the blueprint. Last week, we talked about growing and scaling, and that was the last step of our 10 step blueprint to building your successful and profitable business. This week, I thought what we would do is take a step back and first review where we've been and then think about what the next steps are.

How do you take this information and actually use it in a meaningful way? So let's go ahead. Let's take some time today and think about how you use a blueprint like this.

If you are ready to get started, grab that notebook, grab your tablet, whatever you're using to take notes on today, grab your cup of water or a snack, whatever you need to stay focused. And if you're ready with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

Putting the Pieces Together

So here we are. I told you that we have been working on this blueprint since April 26th, where I first introduced you to the concept of micro decisions and blueprints as a way to build your business each week throughout the blueprint.

I have asked you to take some action to make a micro decision, because what I've found in mentoring people over the last 15 years from college students to coaches to other entrepreneurs, is that when we have to make a big decision, we tend not to make the decision. However, if we can split things down into smaller micro decisions, it is so much easier to make progress,

take action and move forward. That's what the Coaching Hive is all about. Moving forward and taking out that overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business. It's all about momentum. So once you get started, just like the ball at the top of the field at top of the hill, it's about momentum. Once it starts rolling, it rolls and rolls and rolls faster.

That's what we want in building your business. So the blueprint covered 10 key areas.

We started off with mindful vision.
We talked about your daily rhythm for moving through the day, moving through the week in a way that not just honors who you are and what you need personally, but also your business.
We talked about the importance of mentors and peers, and the fact that you don't need to know everything, but you do need to know who to reach out to when you're feeling stuck. Having a mentor and peers that you can rely on to help makes all the difference in the world.
Then we talked about clarifying the products and services that you offer. And if you're thinking about the blueprint, like a car, your products and services are like the seats. So you have to have seats in the car in order to sit somewhere, or it certainly makes it easier, right? To sell your services. If you know what they are, we need to have products and services you want to have that clearly identified base set that you're offering.
Then you need to be able to talk about it. You need to be able to have your one liner. You've got to be able to succinctly share one or two sentences at most about who you're helping, what you're doing, what that looks like.
Then we talked about relationships and web presence. We talked about the importance of consistently building those partnerships and those connections, because it's going to be those referrals. It's going to be those opportunities that you are offered because you've built your relationships that will lead to growth in your business.
And as you're doing all of that, you want to make sure you're collecting those email addresses so that you can build trust, build a relationship, which goes back to the previous step, right? You want to build a relationship with the people on your list. You want to nurture them, let them know that you understand that you know where they are, where they've been and where they want to be. Because when they know that you, you understand, and you have a plan for them, they're much more likely to say yes, then it's great to have your email list, but you have to keep building that.
So you really need some good marketing and sales funnels and techniques out there, which means you have to clarify your message. We talked a lot about clarifying your message in that episode. And this was a glimpse into the story brand approach to messaging. We want to invite our potential clients into a story where they can see themselves and they can see the transformation that can happen. But it also goes beyond message. That's truly the foundation of your marketing and sales, because everything will build out of that message that you create.
We followed that up with two last episodes. We talked about progress driven learning in that you want the learning you're doing for your business to drive progress. That one's fairly self-explanatory. There are so many learning opportunities out there, opportunities to participate or attend summits, conferences, courses, and sometimes there's that scarcity factor. Some courses, some opportunities only pop up once a year or every other year or every three years. So how do you decide what to do and when to do it definitely tricky, but with the right foundation in place, knowing what your vision is and all of these other things, having great peers and mentors to bounce ideas around off of, you're going to find it easier to choose those opportunities to help you achieve your vision.
And then finally, last week, we wrapped up with the idea of growing and scaling. And even if you are not to that point yet to start thinking about what that might look like, what would you like if you were to grow and scale your business after it's profitable month after month, and that brings us to today.

I just walked you through the blueprint giving you a high level overview, but if you have not yet had a chance to listen to those episodes, I highly encourage you to go back to episode 65 and work your way forward in order because each week builds. And that brings us to the concept that we started with. The secret sauce of the blueprint is truly to make micro decisions and to follow the blueprint process.

When you make micro decisions, you're breaking things down so that they are more achievable. If you've ever used SMART goals you know that they're supposed to be realistic and achievable. Micro decisions are often much more realistic and achievable than a big whopping decision. So liberally litter or sprinkle micro decisions through your everyday processes and work inside your business.

When you are making those micro decisions, you are taking action. You are moving forward, you are gaining momentum.

Action Item

What do you do with this blueprint? I've given you that high level overview throughout the podcast series and some of you, that's all you need, but what if you're thinking that's great, but I need more. I need more detail. I need someone to bounce ideas off of. I need some of this kind of all wrapped up in one place.

If that's the case, I would encourage you to head over to www.coachinghive.com click the “Apply Now” button so you can learn more within the Coaching Hive. There are a lot of ways that you can work toward this blueprint. You could work on your messaging first with me, or work through your messaging with a group of fellow entrepreneurs, as we pair group coaching and the magical Business Made Simple University by Donald Miller.

If you're thinking, yeah, but I need more than that. So what happens after that? I love that concept of group coaching. For 12 weeks, I get 12 weeks of help to build my business. I'm working on it, but I need more of this blueprint. I don't want just the messaging. And I say, you know what? I've got something. We have two tiers of a membership inside the Coaching Hive, where we get together every single month, at least twice live and work through the blueprint. For instance, some months we talk about lead generation. Other months, we might be talking about building your email list. More specifically, maybe it's about your daily rhythm.

Each month we have a different focus inside the Coaching Hive so that that blueprint comes to life. It becomes something that isn't just a piece of paper or a podcast episode; it is a conversation. It is work that we are doing together as a community to help remove that overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business.

If you're thinking that's great, but I've got a bunch of free Facebook groups I'm a part of, that is a wonderful place to start. I'm part of those groups, too. I think it's a great place, but if you're ready for more connection, a deeper connection and having a dedicated mentor, then your next step is to find that community and make it happen. And that is all available within the Coaching Hive.

If you are sitting here thinking to yourself, okay, twice a month, I need more than that. What about coworking sessions? Could I have that? Could I do some peer masterminding? And the answer is yes. So I told you there are two tiers of the Coaching Hive membership. And the second tier is our Elite tier.

This is where coaches and entrepreneurs come together. Every single week we have coworking sessions and then twice a month, we have the opportunity to mastermind with peers. You get the opportunity to have the focus solely on you and whatever challenge or problem you're having right now. And everyone adds in their ideas, the opportunities that they see coming out of this to help you keep moving forward.

We have our own off social community, just for our Elite members. They also have access to our other Coaching Hive off social community. The rewards are multiplicative. You think you're coming for that live call and then you realize you're building relationships. You're building referral partners. You're building partnerships. I have coaches who work with other coaches to keep them accountable for their own health and wellbeing.

I've got entrepreneurs who are connecting with other entrepreneurs, thinking about the fact that maybe they want to offer a retreat together. This is the power of a smaller paid community. Those big Facebook groups are awesome, but it's easy to get lost. And someone who's replying to you may not know your situation. Inside the Coaching Hive, everyone knows your situation (whatever you choose to share) and they can offer ideas and input accordingly.

If you are ready to take your business to the next level, if you're ready to dig into the blueprint, if you're ready to say yes to clarified and simplified messaging, I would love to invite you today to go to www.coachinghive.com and click the “Apply Now” button.

It's going to take you to a form and like any other application, it's going to ask you for some basic information, but it's also going to ask you to think a little bit about your business. Once you submit that, I'm going to take a look at your responses and I'm going to set up a time to talk with you so that we can come together and think about what makes the most sense for your next steps.

If you need something that I don't offer, I'm going to tell you that and then I am going to help you find the resources that you need to be successful. I believe that no entrepreneur should have to build their business by themselves. No one should have to struggle and worry and stress and get stuck because they don't have support. No entrepreneur should have to go through that.

What you offer is too important to stay hidden. I know you want to be the Go-To Resource. In order to do that, you need to have a clear message. You need to have a blueprint for building. You need to have a mentor and peer community to help you make those micro decisions. Stay on track and get unstuck when things feel hard and heavy. Because as an entrepreneur, you have something special to offer and it's wrong for that to stay hidden. So if you are ready to be the go-to resource in your industry, go to www.coachinghive.com and click the “Apply Now” button.

That's all I have for you today. I want to thank you so much for listening and participating in the blueprint series. Your feedback, your comments, and your reviews are always greatly appreciated. If you have not yet had a chance to leave a review. I'd like to invite you to do that today. And of course, I cannot wait to sit down and talk with you about what's next for your business. What's next on your entrepreneurial journey? Send me a DM on Instagram at www.instagram.com/coachinghive or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife, or just simply go to www.coachinghive.com and click the “Apply Now” now button to get in touch.

That's all for now. I look forward to seeing you back here next week. For another episode of the Coaching Hive podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

~ Dr. Moira Hanna

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Introduction

Welcome back to a new episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast. This week in the Coaching Hive Blueprint series, we are going to talk about growing and scaling and you might be thinking to yourself, Ooh, this is where the smooth sailing starts. And that's true, but there are also some unique challenges that can pop up when you're thinking about growing and scaling your business.

In today's episode, we are going to talk about and celebrate the fact that you are at this point of growing and getting bigger. You are reaching more people and being everything that you want your business to be. We're also going to talk about the challenges that arise so that you can think through how to manage this new level of business.

I don't know about you, but this is an exciting topic. It's certainly one that we work through and work toward for every business. As an entrepreneur, you always want to get to this stage of growing and scaling. So I do not want to delay. I want to go ahead and jump right in.

What does it look like to grow your business?

Let’s paint a picture to get us going today.

You have been in business for two or three years. Your business is profitable every single month. You are clear on your messaging. You're clear on your marketing. You can describe your business with ease, regardless of who asks you. When they ask you or how they ask you, you can be exhausted and still share with ease, who you help, what you do, what it looks like, You know what products you offer, what services you offer, how they benefit the client, and how they work. You have a daily rhythm that allows you to have balance. You have a daily rhythm that gives you the opportunity to take care of yourself first and foremost, and serve your clients in a way that is congruent and in alignment with who you are.

You know what you want for your business. You have a vision, you work with your peers and your mentors to make that vision happen. You ask for support, you offer support and you feel like things are going really well. You have an email list that is growing every single day of potential clients and partners. You have your learning opportunities dialed in, you know, where you're headed, you know what you need, and you know how to get there. You have a web presence that is gaining momentum because your potential clients see what you offer. They see your website, your social media, they see you speaking at local events and they know they want to work with you.

What an amazing feeling and place to be in your business is successful. It's profitable.

And now you have that itch. You're an entrepreneur after all. You have that itch to challenge yourself because things are just a little too easy. And so you start thinking about how you could reach more people, how you could enhance the services you offer or expand the services you offer. You're thinking about how to grow and scale your business.

It's working great right now, but you're not settling for that. You want that next step. It's part of being an entrepreneur. We are wired for that challenge and to take those next steps, not to be complacent with where we are now growing and scaling after you've accomplished.

All of this might seem like a no brainer. It might seem easy, but there are some inherent challenges with growing and building, growing and scaling your business. And that's what today is about.

When you are ready to grow and scale your business, there are a few things that you want to think about. The first one is the fact that you do not have unlimited time and resources personally. You can't do everything all the time. Which means if you have not yet hired someone to help you, this is probably the time when that's going to happen.

You have to start looking for those opportunities to outsource the tasks and the things that keep you from creating, keep you from growing and building that intellectual property. That's part of your business that has gotten you to where you are today. This is a tough step to take because a lot of times we think, but I can do it, or it's going to be so hard to tell someone all of these steps, that's where you want to develop processes.

One of the easiest ways to get back more time in your schedule so that you can actually think about how to grow in scale is to make sure that you're creating lots of processes and trying them out, and then readjusting them.

The first time you hire a virtual assistant, a VA, you are going to need to have processes in place that they know how to do the things you want them to do. Whether that is editing Canva, scheduling your social media posts, writing your social media posts. Maybe it is sending out your weekly email to your email list. Perhaps it is doing follow-up and getting client appointments scheduled or discovery calls scheduled, or perhaps ordering that new product that you are putting on your shelf.

You have to have a process. So the sooner, if you're not yet to this growing and scaling point, you kind of have the best of all worlds, because you're still building, which is great. You're making progress. But right now is the time to start creating your processes. Every time you do something new, document it, and then over time as it shifts, change those documents. So that your process, when you're ready to hire someone it's already done, it's ready. You've worked through it. Step-by-step you know, it's right. And you can hand it over with confidence that the person you've asked to do the task will be able to carry it out because your instructions are so good.

Your process is so clear that they'll know what to do by doing this. By having processes in place, you are freeing brain space and time on your schedule, your calendar to actually do more of your genius work.

A lot of times, as an entrepreneur, especially as a solopreneur, you are wearing all the hats and your creativity hat, your creative hat gets worn. As often as the hat where you're chasing down clients, because credit cards have expired, or you are trying to launch something new and figure out the marketing and the ads for that, and then creating the ads. And so your creative hat doesn't get to be put on very often, or maybe it's the last one, because you're scrambling to do your posts or your emails, or to get that new thing out there.

Growing and scaling has its own challenges. It's so exciting to be at that point in your business where you can think about growing and scaling, but you've got to be aware of your time and your energy. So when I think about growing and scaling inside the blueprint, it's all about processes. It's all about protecting your time and energy so that you can do what your best at, because there are other people who can do the other stuff.

There are people who are great at messaging, great at writing emails, great at following up with clients or tracking down those credit cards that have expired. There are people who are great at doing that. That's their zone of genius. Let them work in their zone of genius and you can work in yours.

That's what growing and scaling is truly about. It is about building that business in a way, and expanding that business in a way that is still in alignment with that vision that you created once upon a time and have updated over the days. It's honoring that vision and working inside that vision. And if your vision hasn't yet expanded, go ahead and do that.

Go back to the vision. First, go back to your daily rhythm, go back to all of the previous steps in the blueprint. Make sure that they're in alignment for where you are headed and if they're not, make adjustments. Now I want to keep this short because I know that many of my listeners are not quite to this growth and scaling point just yet so the other pieces of the blueprint feel bigger and more important right now, but there is one thing, you know, me. I love that, that action to take, right?

Action Item

Your action item for this week around growing and scaling is that I want you to imagine the day where you are profitable every month. Go back to that description I offered you that profitable business, what's happening, what it looks like. I want you to go back to that and put yourself in that, in that moment, and then write down where you think you want the business to grow from where it is now, where do you think you want it to grow? And then what resources do you think you need to make that happen when you get there?

That's it. That's what I want you to do today. I want you to think about what your business might look like as you grow in scale. Like, what do you see as the next step? And then what kind of resources do you think you'll need to make that happen that are different from today's needs?

And then one last thing that you can do, take a look at some other businesses and think about what processes they might have put into place. Because if they're growing and scaling, they're bigger than you are right now. And you might recognize that they're doing some fancy things that you wish you could do. Write that down as a potential resource or process that you will need or need to develop, just get you.

It's a fun future list that if you write it down, you don't have to worry about forgetting. When you see that neat thing that someone's doing, who's further down the road than you. And you can file it away without feeling like it's overwhelming or burdensome right now. So that's it.

That's what this is all about. This is about growing, learning, taking those next steps, but doing it in a way that is simplified so that you can still live life. I promised you I would keep this short.

As we wrap up today, I just want to, once again, thank you for being here. If you got something out of today's episode or any of the other episodes you've listened to, please leave a review, just a sentence or two, let me know what you like about it. That helps me to plan my future content, my future podcasts, so that they serve you even better and be sure to rate the podcast as well. That is all I have for you this week. I want you to take some time, do a little bit of dreaming.

In fact, go back to your vision and look at that dream stage of your vision. What did you dream and how can you take that in the next step? How can you elevate that a little bit further as you think about what it will look like when you grow and scale your business, when you get to that point, and if you need help thinking through this, moving through the blueprint or nailing down your marketing and messaging, please reach out on Instagram at www.instagram.com/coachinghive, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife, or hop on over to my website, www.coachinghive.com and click the “apply now” button that will take you to a form. You'll fill it out. And we will set up a time to talk about your business, where you're headed, and what you need so that we can identify the right resources for you.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

~ Dr. Moira Hanna

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Introduction

Welcome back to another episode of our Coaching Hive Blueprint series. I am excited that you're here today and I'm really excited about our topic progress-driven learning. This is, if you've been following me for a while, one of my favorite things to talk about because as a psychology professor, I love learning. I love learning new things. I love helping other people learn.

It is just so exciting to think about building your business and all the different things you get to learn. And so today we are going to talk about how to make the most of your learning experiences, knowing that there is a never-ending stream of programs, books, opportunities that you can purchase that could either keep you on track, accelerate your growth or completely derail you or stop your progress.

In today's episode, we are going to talk about the fact that not all learning is created equal at every single moment.

Choosing the Right Learning Opportunities

This is one of my favorite topics, progress-driven learning. Now, what does that mean? It’s exactly what it sounds like. The learning that you're engaging in for your business should help drive progress.

It should not just be learning for learning's sake. Now, my heart shriveled a little when I just said that because, as a professor, as an educator, and as a homeschooling mama, I very much believe in learning for learning's sake. However, when we're talking about a business, we've got to be super focused. The problem is that there are all of these shiny objects in the form of books, programs, conferences, summits. All of these things that come by, come across our desk, come across our phone and computer every single day. So unless you are independently wealthy, you do not ever need to work another day in your life, and have no desire to work another day in your life you can't say yes to all of that. You've got to weed it out and find the opportunities that are going to drive progress in your business.

That's why it's called progress-driven learning. The problem is that there are all of these opportunities. It's hard to know which ones to say yes to which ones to say no to, especially if you're looking at a program that only opens up once a year.

For instance, just recently, James Wedmore had his program, Business By Design open for enrollment. This is a once a year opportunity. People wait all year for this.

Amy Porterfield has her Digital Course Academy. Stu McLaren has his Membership Experience. These things open one time a year. Jeff Walker has his Product Launch Formula course. This opens one time a year, which means if you say no right now you have to wait 12 months to be able to say yes.

That kind of pressure can make us say yes to something that we really don't need right now. Just because we want to have it in our back pocket. But here's the thing. If you don't need it right now and you have it for your back pocket you won’t remember it. Have you ever forgotten stuff that's in your back pocket and put it through the wash, maybe a receipt or a tissue or something else, maybe it's chapstick or a pen. You forgot about it because it was in your back pocket. Yeah, we've all been there. So if you forget about the tissue or the pen or the paper in your back pocket, what’s to say you aren't going to forget about this digital course or program or summit that is just existing in the ether?

You're going to forget about it. So you've spent money, but you haven't actually done anything with that learning opportunity. That's one of the problems that can exist here. Another one is that you buy all the things, even if they're free, you're purchasing that free opportunity and you get sucked into this vortex of learning, learning, learning, and not doing.

It's tricky.

It's a balance.

In order to learn what you need to learn and say, no, thanks to what you don't need right now you have to fall back to some of the work we've done earlier in this blueprint series, knowing your vision. What do you need to get there? In fact, part of your vision is thinking about what learning opportunities, what professional development do you need to do in order to be successful in your business. So go back to that first and foremost. Make sure that the opportunities that you are investigating and pursuing align with that vision of progress-driven learning.

But what happens when something really interesting comes up and you don't know if it's ever going to come back around again? It is part of your zone of genius. You love it. It's not necessarily that it was on the books for this year or even at all. It's not necessarily completely aligned with your vision, but man, it's interesting. What do you do then? Do you say yes? Do you say no? That's where you have the judgment call. That's the gray zone, because if it's something that you have time for and it just really lights you up, we all need to do things that light us up. Otherwise life becomes a little bit like drudgery and that's not what we want. That's not what life is supposed to be about.

We should be enjoying life, be enjoying those next steps and enjoying the process along the way. So if you have that once in a lifetime opportunity, pop up, even if it's not in alignment with your vision completely, maybe you say, yes. That's the beauty of not overloading yourself with all these other learning opportunities. You're truly just staying focused on what will bring you progress. Then when those really cool things pop up, there's still space for them. There's still an opportunity to experience that once in a lifetime thing.

So when I talk about progress driven learning, I'm not saying no to learning for learning's sake. I’m saying you have to be really thoughtful about it. And if you're thoughtful about all of the other learning opportunities, when something cool comes along, you get to say yes and know that it's not going to derail your progress. It may actually end up reenergizing you, getting you excited and ready to go. So when you think about your learning opportunities, is your email box full of free PDF downloads? Have you taken every quiz out there? If your answer is yes, that's ok. What I would encourage you to do is think about how you implemented those PDFs, those quiz results. What have you done with them to take action? Because the coaching blueprint is all about taking action so that we get somewhere with the business.

As an entrepreneur, we have to constantly be looking for ways to move forward otherwise we stagnate. Business slows, growth slows, and people aren't going to find us as easily. We've got to stay engaged in our business to see it continue to grow, or if you're done growing and you want to stay right where you're at because you are really content there, you still have to keep moving forward to keep that momentum going and that level of service and opportunity going.

Action Item

So now onto our action item for the week. We started off by talking about the fact that progress driven learning is; the key to not getting overwhelmed and not getting sucked down the rabbit hole of learning. There are so many opportunities out there. And so the solution to that is truly to identify what you actually need to learn by going back to your vision, looking at what you offer, the products and services that you offer. Looking back to all of this and seeing what is truly going to generate progress in your business.

Your action item for this week is to take a look at what you actually need. Write it down, be very specific. What skills, tools, and other aspects of your business do you need to work on?

And then find those opportunities. Start writing down different potential opportunities that you could use to fulfill those needs. You're not going to say yes to everything. I would love to see you take it a step further. And every time you're on Facebook or Instagram, and it says, take this quiz, download this PDF. I would love for you to say, does this help me make progress? Or is it a distractor? And if you answer that it's a distractor. I want you to keep scrolling, keep moving forward and skip that opportunity for now, okay. Chances are your email list and your email inbox will thank you. It will be happy to not be so overloaded and you will have more time to work on the things that actually matter in your business.

Hopefully that makes sense. Hopefully it gives you a little bit of relief to know that you don't have to learn everything right now, nor do you ever have to learn everything. There are going to be times when a learning opportunity appears and you realize this would help me be more self-sufficient in this part of my business.

For instance, last week we talked about marketing and messaging and I said, you know, maybe this is one of those things that you want to outsource to someone who's an expert in messaging. Maybe you look at that learning opportunity and say, you know what? I don't need this learning opportunity. It's probably better for me to leave this to the experts so I can keep focusing on my zone of genius. So in getting more intentional in choosing your learning opportunities, you'll actually figure out where you need help faster. You will recognize that you don't have to do everything alone and that there are certainly options out there at all price points to help you move forward.

As a reminder, this week’s action item is to think about what you need to learn coming up and start looking for opportunities to make that happen.

As we wrap up today, I just want to thank you for being here. We are nearly through the Coaching Hive Blueprint series. We started back, I believe in late April and here we are just moving right along. We just have a few episodes left and I cannot wait to finish this out with you and think about what the next steps are for your business.

If you got something out of today's episode or any other episode that you might have listened to, would you do me a favor? Would you please rate the podcast and leave me a review? Even just a sentence or two helps us not only to reach more people, but it means that I know a little bit more about what you need, what you like, what you want. I plan the podcast material accordingly so that it truly is a progress-driven learning opportunity for you and for your business.

If you'd like to get in touch, if you were interested in learning more about how to work with me inside the Coaching Hive, whether it's messaging, building a coaching practice or more about this Blueprint, reach out to me on DM and say “more information”, or if you want to add the word, please, you can do that too, or go ahead over to www.coachinghive.com and click the “apply now” button. You will see a form pop-up, you'll fill that out, and then I'll be in touch and we'll set up a time to get to gather and talk.

I'm here to help. I'm here to help you move forward in your business so that we don't have the overwhelm of building a business by yourself. No one should have to build a business by themselves.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

~ Dr. Moira Hanna

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Podcast Intro

Welcome back to a new episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of excited for today's conversation on marketing and messaging. Marketing and messaging is something that is one of those unknown surprises. When you're an entrepreneur, I think you're excited to build your business and know, and you know that you have something really great to offer, but then you realize pretty quickly that people don't just come knocking on your door.

That's when this unknown surprise kind of pops up and you realize just how important it is to get your message out there and say it in a way that resonates with your ideal client. And it's not always easy to do this. Sometimes what resonates with you. It doesn't necessarily resonate with everyone else. Maybe you complicate things. Maybe you don't offer enough detail finding that magic sweet spot takes time and it takes expertise and it takes energy. It's not always easy to figure it out.

One of the things that I have come to realize as an entrepreneur is that you shouldn't have to do it alone. Marketing and messaging is very much an expertise. And when you build your business, if marketing and messaging is not what you're building your business around, chances are, it's not your zone of genius. It's not your area of expertise and you might find that it is a really good use of money to invest in someone who is an expert, but maybe you're not at that point.

Today what I'd like to do is talk you through some things that you can do. Things that you can work on in terms of your marketing and messaging so that you are continuing to move forward and not just getting stalled here in this stage of your business.

Sharing your Business with Potential Clients

So far in this podcast series on our Coaching Hive Blueprint we have been talking about the things that you need. You need that vision. You need the one liner. You need a daily rhythm. You need to know what products and services you're going to offer. We've talked about all those things. We've talked about building relationships, but if we don't talk about the elephant in the room, marketing and messaging, none of that stuff will matter, right?

We have to actually have a way to get our ideas out there, our business out there. As an entrepreneur, if you're not getting your business out there, you're not going to be in business. So how do we get to the point where your marketing, your messaging is doing the hard lifting for you? Well, having a clear message outlined actually helps you to generate the emails, the calls that you're hosting, your social media posts, even your lead generators.

It's when you have this clear message that each piece of content that you put out is simplified. It's easier. And people start seeing it. They start knowing what it is that you offer. And they say, yes, sign me up. And you might be thinking to yourself, I kind of have all of this figured out and I know who I work with. I know what they need. I know what they want. I kind of have a consistent way of talking about it, but really it's kind of in my head right now. I don't actually have a written down, but even though I have all of this, it doesn't seem like it's helping.

The key question is whether or not you actually have it written down. If the answer is no, then you are trying to build your business inside your brain. And that's a great place to start. We have to spend time sitting in that silence and really figuring out what we want. But then there comes a time that we have to organize it in a way that it can be written down if for no other reason, then at some point, your business is going to grow. You are going to hire people to work with you, whether that's a virtual assistant, whether that is a partner, someone else, you need to have it all written down because they can't live inside your brain and get all of that marketing and messaging detail out.

So we've got to write it down. By writing it down, it just is simpler. Have you ever tried to get something done? Imagine you have a really long to-do list in your head and it just feels overwhelming and so you decide to go do something else instead. We've all done that. We have all felt overwhelmed and avoided the big task at hand when we've got everything just muddled in our brain.

But the moment that you put all of those things in your brain down on your favorite sticky note, it seems more doable because now you have a list and you can check it off. Or maybe it's your notes app on your phone. You can check it off and say, okay, I’ve done this. One's done. Your messaging is the same way.

We've got to get it written down to just clarify it. Once you have the pieces of your messaging clarified, written down in a simple way, everything follows. You can create a sales funnel that potential clients move through. For instance, maybe they have downloaded your latest lead generator, or maybe it's a quiz. Maybe it's a PDF. Maybe it is a video series that you're giving them.

Then they book a discovery call. Now you know what to say on that call. Then they get a proposal and your proposal is in line with everything in your message so it makes sense to them. It mimics the call. They know exactly what to expect. And then finally they start working with you. But maybe your sales funnel is simpler. Perhaps they book a call and then they start working with me. That's still a funnel. It's still a process for onboarding your clients or selling your services or your products. There's still a process.

Examples:

If you have a brick and mortar store, there still is a process for getting someone to walk in the door, then to take in what you have in the store and actually walk it up to the cash register and purchase. There is still a funnel involved. You have to get people to the door. So there's advertising. There is a lead generator that they can download.
Maybe you have a home design store. They can download your top tips for home design. Then they come into your store. They see that being played out. All of those tips you have there in your store set the way you have things set up, grouped, color schemes, whatever it is.
If you are a coach, people want to know who you are, how you work before they sign up with you. Having coaching, regardless of what kind of coaching is vulnerable, because that person is saying, I'm not sure about how to go forward. I need your help. So you have to allow them that time to orient themselves to what you do.

A good strong message is going to tell the same story no matter where they see it. And it's going to give that potential client, that potential customer insight into who you are. Having a messaging playbook serves as the foundation for everything that you do.

If you're a sponsor at an event, if you're a guest speaker or keynote speaker, maybe you're a podcast guest, or perhaps you have the opportunity to put something in a raffle for your favorite charity. You will know exactly what to say, how to say it. And you will be able to make sure that what you're presenting is in alignment with your company. When someone sees this alignment, they start to trust you. They see you saying the same thing. You're consistent. You're knowledgeable about who you are and what you do. And they think to themselves, this person can help me.

All of your marketing is going to begin with your message. What are you saying? How are you saying it? Where and why are you saying it? We want to invite the client into a story. Think about the last time you sat down to watch a Netflix show. Our child has read the book series, the book series, the Mysterious Benedict Society and so my husband and I noticed that we could find that series turned into a TV show on Disney plus. We started watching it and the first episode ended and it pulled us in. We hit go on the next one because we wanted to know what happened next. We haven't read the series of books. So our kiddo, we're telling him where we are in the story. He's like, oh yeah, I know what's coming next. But we didn't. We watched the next episode. And it felt really sad when we had to say, wait, that last episode’s even longer, we don't have quite enough time right now to watch it. We had to do something else. But that's the power of a story. It hooks you, it pulls you in, it gets you excited to know more. That's what good messaging does. it gets your client, your potential client, really excited.

Action Item

This week, your action item will be focused on nailing down your message using the work that you did on identifying your products and services and your one-liner earlier in this podcast series. Here are some questions that I'd like you to think about and I'm going to give you a resource to use as well. Start thinking about the following pieces of your messaging puzzle.

First up, who does your client want to be? What does your transformation offer? And then what do they want?
What do they want? And then what do they need? These are going to be two different things, probably because your client is going to come to you for what they want and you know what they need. So you're going to start with what they want and it kind of segues into what they need. You can wrap the needs into what it is they actually want, because they're going to buy what they want, not necessarily what they need. They may not even know what they need, but they know what they want.
Then start thinking about what problems they face. What external problems are they going through? What internal problems. So that internal is, how do they feel? Are they thinking as a result of that external problem? For instance, when I work with health coaches, there are so many free resources out there that it can be overwhelming. The external problem is the overabundance of free resources to build your business. The internal problem is that it makes you feel overwhelmed and scattered and even kind of frustrated and a little bit worried about how you're going to get through it all and find the right information and put it together. So external what's actually happening. There's a ton of free resources out there and it makes you feel frustrated, overwhelmed, worried. You're thinking that maybe you can't make this work. It seems awfully complicated. Okay. So we want to understand what they're facing externally and internally.
And then what authority do you have to help them? What authority do you have to help them? For instance, when I work with someone on their messaging, I am a StoryBrand Certified Guide. I have been through that training. I have an entire community of guides that work with me to help clarify messaging. I have been a mentor for 15 years. I have the authority to mentor. So think about what authority you have in your space.
What is your plan for them to work with you? I would keep this to about three steps. What do they need to do? What steps do they need to follow in order to work with you? What steps do they need to take?
What happens if they do nothing to solve their problem? And what happens if they work with you and things change? What does their life look like now? And the key is to be very specific throughout all of this.

This is part of, not all of, the StoryBrand framework by Donald Miller. And it is truly a game changer for clarifying your message. Even if you feel like, yeah, I have those ideas in my mind, I've worked with clients who have said the same thing, but once you get it down on paper, it is so much clearer.

I know I went through that myself. Being able to write it down and use specific words really helped me move forward in my own businesses. And I've seen it happen with others as well. Like I said, I am a certified guide, so I can help you work through this to simplify and speed up the process. But there are also resources out there to help you figure out the StoryBrand framework. One of them you can probably even get from your local library, go check out Donald Miller's book called Building a StoryBrand. This is fantastic for getting started on working toward figuring out what your message is. From here, when you have these questions answered, what you do is you use all of this information to develop your marketing strategy and a sales funnel that leads clients into your company and services.

And having them say, I want this, or having them select out, maybe they realize because your messaging is so clear, this is not actually for me. And that's a good thing. We want to attract the clients who are going to benefit from our services and products and repel, the clients who are not a good fit. So marketing and messaging actually serves those two purposes. It attracts the right clients and repels the clients who are not going to benefit from your services, but creating this message that is cohesive. It has fidelity so that no matter where they see you talking about your business, it's all the same.

It's not an overnight process. In fact, I spent I'm, I'm embarrassed to admit this, but it's pretty common, I spent a year trying to figure out my messaging on my own. I thought, oh, just one more PDF, download one more thing, one more thing, and I'll get it. I'll have it. I've got it in my head. I'll figure it out. But it was tough. And to be quite honest, it wasn't until I asked for help, that that burden was lightened. Depending on how much time you have, where your expertise lies, and how deep down that rabbit hole you want to disappear in search of messaging and marketing that works for you, you have options.

If you have all the time in the world, go dig in, figure it out, experiment, try things. If you are on a tighter timeline, you really need to get your business going. This is a worthy investment. Having someone help you with marketing and messaging feels scary sometimes to invest in that because we know that marketing and messaging is an iterative process, but what would happen if you had that foundation built faster? Would the rest of your business go faster? Of course.

So think about what you need, what you want, how they kind of mesh together, what your timeline looks like. And this is one of those spots in the business where having outside help often is a game changer for business owners. Because most of us don't go into entrepreneurship as marketing and messaging experts. Because remember at the beginning of the podcast, I said, you shouldn't have to do it alone.

You shouldn't have to be a marketing expert to run your business. It's wrong to expect you to spend so much time outside your zone of genius, trying to muddle through when there are experts out there who can get you back to working with your clients faster, there is not a wrong or right answer here as to what path you choose has to be the right path for you right now.

But I will say that if you're interested in simplifying and getting your message nailed down, now, I'd like to invite you to DM me the word “message” or head over to www.coachinghive.com and click the “apply now” button. We can set up a time to talk and figure out what the right answer is for you. So even if you're not sure if you're ready to invest in marketing and messaging, I'm happy to sit down and help you think through what might be right for you. That answer may shift over time. In fact, it probably will just like everything else in your business, right? It's an iterative process.

I hope today was helpful in starting to think about the fact that you need to get out of your head and really dig into your marketing and messaging. You want to make sure that everything you're saying is clear and it's simple for your potential clients as we wrap up today. I want to thank you so much for being here. If you got something out of today's episode or any other episode you've listened to, I would really appreciate it if you would rate the podcast and leave me a review, this helps us to reach more people. It also helps me to know how to clarify our podcasts moving forward. What do you want to hear about what's most helpful? And I can do more of that. I also like really reading the reviews. So one other simple thing to do is if you'd like to see more of the Coaching Hive podcast, do you want to get the word out, go ahead and screenshot this podcast where you're listening to it on your favorite podcast provider and post it to your Instagram stories or your Facebook stories. Tag me www.instagram.com/coachinghive on Instagram or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife. I'll be sure to comment and get back to you. If you have any questions, please, always let me know. I am here for you.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!

~ Dr. Moira Hanna

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Podcast Intro

Welcome back to a new episode of the Coaching Hive podcast. I am thrilled that you are here with me, and I cannot believe that we are on the home stretch of this Coaching Hive Blueprint series.

If you have been hanging out with me, you know that back in April, the very end we started this blueprint series in episode 65. And what we did was we started with the concept of using a blueprint that is going to help you stay focused.

It's going to help remove the overwhelm of building your business. And the other piece of it was the concept of making micro decisions each day, so that you can make progress. You can stay focused, right? And throughout this entire series, there have been action items each week to help you make those micro decisions, use the blueprint and make progress. As a quick recap.

So far in the blueprint series, we have talked about vision daily, rhythm mentors and peers, products and services, your one-liner relationships and web presence. And this week we are going to talk about your email list. Ooh, that is a hot topic these days. It is something that is becoming more and more important. And that's why I want to spend an entire episode talking about your email list today.

If you are ready to get started, grab that notebook, grab your tablet, whatever you're taking notes on today, grab a cup of water, a snack, whatever you need to stay focused. And if you're ready with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

Email List: Your Hidden Gold Mine

Email list. Ah, have you heard this before?

You have to have an email list. You own the asset.

Facebook or Instagram could shut you down at any time. Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn could go offline for hours or a day and you don't have access to your community.

These are all right.

The fact of the matter is that an email list is probably one of the most important, maybe even the most important thing that you do in your business. When you have someone's email, you have a direct line of communication and connection with them. They have trusted you with their email address and you have provided value to them.

You are building a relationship.

Last week, we talked about relationships, right? Well, here's another way you build relationships. It's through your email list. A lot of times that starts with a lead generator. This is going to be a PDF, a quiz, a video series, something that your ideal client says, I want that. And I'm willing to trade with you. I'll give you my email address. You give me that item and you say, absolutely, I'd love to do that. And so they give you their email address. You send them the PDF, the quiz results, the video series, whatever it is that you're trading. And you have grown your email list.

Why is this so important?

I will never forget the day that Instagram and Facebook went down. Do you remember it? It was not too long ago that it went down for almost the entire day. And I started getting emails in my inbox because I'm on a bunch of mailing lists. And one of them was from Amy Porterfield. She is a list building guru, genius, queen, whatever you want to say, she is amazing at building an email list.

And she said, look, you know what happened? Facebook and Instagram went down and I had one of my biggest revenue days of the year, aside from when she sells her course, why? Well, she had no access to her social network, right? But she had access to her email list. And so she sent them an email and said, I've got the thing for you. Don't be held up by the fact that social media is down today. I want to help you build your asset, your email list so that you can always, always generate revenue when you need to. It was brilliant on her part. She has a podcast where she talks about it as well.

The idea here is that an email list is essential.

Is it going to create some headaches along the way? Yes.
Is it worth the effort? Yes.

Just like having a mentor, just like having a peer community, just like having a one-liner building relationships, creating your web presence are all required. So as an email list, you might be thinking, but I don't work with many people at a time.

That's okay. What it means is then you have a list, when you have a space open in your calendar, to say, “I had a cancellation or I've opened up one more space in my calendar. Are you interested?” You don't have to go out and find those people. They're just ready and waiting for the right time for you to have space. What could be better?

It means that if you have a membership, when you open your doors to the membership, you have people lined up with their credit cards. Ready to go, ready to say, sign me up. You can always fill your one-on-one calendar. You can fill your group coaching sessions. You can fill your membership with more ease.

And isn't that what building a business is designed for is to create flexibility and ease in our lives. So even if having an email list creates a few headaches up front, as you figure out how to do it, it will create flexibility and ease on the back end. It's worth it.

Hopefully I've convinced you that an email list is critical. It's important. It is something that you do not want to pass “go” without collecting $200. Right? Think about Monopoly. Remember when you used to have to pass “go” without collecting your $200 and that felt awful. Yeah. Building your business without an email list. It's like passing go without collecting your $200 in Monopoly.

How do you build your email list?

Because guess what? People are not going to just give you their email. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of protective of mine in that I get so many emails a day. Do I really want to get another one? And when you think about adding yourself to an email list, this is a common question I get is “why are you sending me so many emails? I asked for this one thing.”

It's to build relationships. So if you complete one of my quizzes or get a PDF from me, you're going to get between six and eight emails so that I can help build that relationship and continue to provide value beyond whatever it is you've downloaded, whatever we've traded for. I don't want you to be left in the dark with a PDF when you still need more help.

Your email list is a great opportunity to build relationships, to serve your clients, your potential clients in a meaningful way. How do you do it though? In some cases you see people saying, well, I've got a newsletter. I would encourage you to shift that focus a little bit. And this is something I talk about as a StoryBrand Certified Guide. You want your newsletter to actually be focused on like tips and tricks because people will sign up for that versus just a newsletter. They want to know that they're going to get something important for trading their email. Now quizzes are hot right now. I got more leads, more people on my email list from a quiz than I do anything else, because quizzes are fun. They're quick. And you get to provide a report that is meaningful to that person. So I love quizzes. Quizzes are fun. There are so many great quiz softwares out there now, or quiz programs that it makes it easy. It simplifies everything. I use TryInteract as my quiz platform. And I'll tell you, you may have to try a few quizzes at first, but then once you land on one that works, you are going to love it. For instance, I have a quiz right now. It is at www.coachinghive.com/assessment. And it is all about the blueprint and where you are in the blueprint. What you could work on based on your score on the quiz. Lots of people love to go there and fill that out and get more information.

Action Item for the Week

So there are lots of ways to build your email list. This will depend on who your clients are. Some of them want a quick PDF, a checklist of things to do. Others might want mistakes to avoid because they're getting started on something new. They want to know what mistakes to avoid. For instance, five mistakes to avoid when marketing your business, five mistakes to avoid when making changes to your health routine. It's going to take time. Guess what? You probably know what's coming if you've been listening to these episodes, it's an iterative process. It's going to take you time this week. What I want you to do for your action item this week is to explore possible lead generating ideas.

If it's a PDF, a quiz, a video series, whatever that looks like, think about what your potential clients would like. It's not necessarily about what your favorite thing is. Although that's going to come into play at least a little bit. We want to make sure that we are focusing on what your potential client wants and needs. Right now, there is a trick to this. Focus more on what they want, because that's what they're going to sign up for. And then you can slip in the stuff that they actually need as well. Build that email list, but start with your lead generating ideas this week. And if you are feeling a little bit lost, feeling confused, overwhelmed, or unfocused, as a StoryBrand certified guide, guess what? I can help you with this.

As we clarify your message, really work through your one-liner, we can also develop a lead generator to help you build your email list. What do you think? Are you getting excited?

I'm hoping at this point that you're starting to see how your business builds with these micro decisions, with these little steps that you put into place each and every day in your business.

You've been doing it now for several weeks, and I hope that you're getting into a daily rhythm. Like we talked about in episode 67, be patient with yourself. This is a process and it's iterative. Just like you've heard me say over and over, there's no right and wrong here. Your journey is your journey. Just like Stu McLaren says your journey is your journey.

And I'm here to believe in you. Just take action.

Here's where we wrap up with a few reminders. I do have a favor to ask. If you have not yet rated the podcast, would you do that for me? And take just a moment or two, leave a review and let me know what was helpful about this episode. So you can do this each week.

If you want, let me know what was helpful about the episode, what you liked, how you're going to use it. And this will help me plan our content moving forward in the coaching hive and in the coaching high podcast. And as always, if you are thinking to yourself, this is great, but I need more one-on-one and help. I need a mentoring community. I need a peer community send me a DM that says application either on Instagram, at www.instagram.com/coachinghive or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife. Send me a DM that says “application”. And what I'll do is I'll send you an application to fill out. It's brief. I promise so that we can explore what you most need and think about how we can work together, whether it is working together on your marketing and messaging, whether it's working on building your coaching business, using the blueprint or a combination, we can make that we can figure that out. We'll get together. We'll talk.

The first step is to send me a DM with the word application or apply if that's simpler for you. And I will get back to you with that link to apply and learn more. We'll sit down together and talk and figure out the next right steps for you.

As always, I just want to thank you for listening to today's podcast. I look forward to seeing you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful coaching business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

~ Dr. Moira Hanna

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Podcast Intro

Welcome back to a new episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast. If you've been following along, welcome back. If you're brand new to the Coaching Hive Podcast, welcome. I am excited that you are here with me this week now.

Regardless of whether you're a new or returning fan of the Coaching Hive Podcast, I want to fill you in quickly about where we are right now in the podcast. We are about halfway through a specific series in the podcast. It's called the Coaching Hive Blueprint series, and this is where I'm walking you through each step and stage of the Coaching Hive Blueprint. This is the blueprint that our Coaching Hive members use to build their business with a little bit more ease and a little bit more clarity and focus.

We have talked about vision, rhythm mentors, and peers, products and services, and a one-liner. We talked about that one last week. How is that coming along? Do you feel like you are better equipped to share what you do when someone asks you the dreaded question? So what do you do? Do you have a unique way to share what you do this week?

Have you figured it out yet? Are you getting there? Take some time if you're still working on it. That's okay. This is going to be an iterative process.

If you've been with me for a while, you know that I say that all a lot and it's true. When you build a business, it takes time. It takes a process. It takes patience. It takes a willingness to adjust and adapt and sometimes to pivot.

Now in today's episode, we are going to continue through the blueprint journey and we are going to talk about relationships and web presence. It's going to be a big one! I'm going to try and keep it brief for you because I always want you to have time to actually do some work.

This whole series is built not just on the blueprint, but on the concept of making micro decisions every single day, and then following through on them so that you can see progress in your business. You can start to take action with more ease, more focus, and without the overwhelm today, it's all about relationships and web presence.

Networking and Media: Getting Your Offer Seen

I am thrilled that you're here with me today because this episode is near and dear to my heart as an introvert and a perfectionist. Two big things right there, introvert and perfectionism, and our topic is all about relationships and web presence. Now, maybe you can see where this is going, but if you can't, let me give you a little bit of insight. Building relationships is going to be critical to the success of your business. But as an introvert, thinking about having to go out and meet people, going to events where the sole purpose is mingling and meeting and greeting gives me the heebie jeebies.

Now, can I do it? Of course, I have not gotten to where I have in my career without learning how to do that. But it's not my favorite thing to do. However, I love making those meaningful connections and so you have to start thinking about what's going to work for you because here's the deal. Building relationships is non-negotiable if you intend to build a profitable business. If you are trying to build a business, that's more on the hobby side of things, then you can probably get away without this, this step in the blueprint. But if you want to make money or at least break even, relationships are going to be a key player.

Why?

You can't possibly talk to everyone who might need your services. You need a network of people who are supporting you and sharing your message as well. They are ambassadors. They are going to share when they hear someone saying, I need this. That person that you've built a relationship with is going to say, “well, I know exactly who you need to go to. I know someone who can help, can I share their information with you?”

And that person's going to say, “oh, of course”. You just reached someone that you wouldn't have otherwise had access to.

Building relationships in your community and online also helps you to get better at your message and your marketing. Because every time that you meet someone new, you share a little bit about what you do. You're clarifying that process. It creates an opportunity for practice, but it also reminds us that we were never designed as humans to do things all by ourselves.

We are social creatures, even as an introvert, I'm an introvert. Even as an introvert, we are social creatures. We need that support from one another. We need those relationships. We need that input a lot of times. And I see this all the time when helping people clarify their marketing and messaging as a StoryBrand certified guide, I see people say, wow, I had no idea that's what I was trying to say. When you invite people from the outside to listen to you sharing your message, it becomes much easier to clarify it. When we do it from just our own seat, by yourself, it's much like trying to read the label from the inside of the bottle. You can't do it right. We need other people to help us grow, to learn, to become the business owners that we intend to be, want to be. So we have to build relationships.

Does that mean that you have to go to every single meet and greet or a mixer and put yourself out there for hours, doing things that you really don't like to do? Or can you find ways that work for you? Of course you can find the ways that work for you. The occasional meet and greet is not a bad idea, simply because you're going to have access to a lot more people all at once.

I will never forget a meet and greet where we switched tables. It was kind of like speed dating. We switched tables every few minutes and we got to talk to a new set of potential contacts. It was exhausting. I went home that night and sat on the couch, like a lump, but I walked away with new ideas, new ways of sharing what I was doing. And even more importantly, new contacts. So every once in a while, you may need to actually reach out. In our online world this might mean participating in a summit. It might mean providing value in a Facebook group that you're in and reaching out and saying, Hey, I'd love to connect. Would you like to have a coffee chat on zoom? I know we're all over zoom, but a 15 minute coffee chat to get to know someone costs you 15 minutes of your time.

You never know who that person and what that person might bring to your life and what you might bring to theirs. That's the beauty about building relationships. It's a two-way street. You have an opportunity to give back in your community and in the online world as you build relationships, okay, that's enough about relationships because I'm guessing your wheels are spinning. You're trying to think about what you could do to start building relationships. Look at the things that you're already involved in and go from there.

The other piece of today's podcast episode is web presence, which goes along with building relationships, because as you build a web presence, you are also building relationships. I already told you that I'm a little bit of an introvert. Actually, I'm a lot of an introvert and I'm also a lot of a perfectionist. Building, a web presence and being a perfectionist can create some stumbling blocks. So if you are a perfectionist, listen up. One of my favorite people, Jasmine Star said, perfection is procrastination in disguise. That was eye-opening. So every moment that I said, oh, it's gotta be perfect. I was just procrastinating.

Take action. Any action.

That's kind of my motto. Take action. Any action. That's also something that Jasmine talks about quite a bit. You have to simply do. You've got to get out there. So as you're building your web presence, this is going to go back to your vision. It's going to go back to your products and services and your one-liner that we have already been talking about in this blueprint series.

So remember if you're new, go back, listen to those episodes. We start the blueprint series in episode 65 and continue forward from there.

What presence are you trying to build? Common questions I get are, do I have to be on Tik TOK, be on LinkedIn, be on Instagram, be on Facebook, have a YouTube channel? Do I have to have a website? Do I have to…?

I wonder if I could invite you to think about this a little bit differently? What if you think about, instead of “do I have to”, try saying “could I”, “could I create a web presence on LinkedIn”? That brings me ideal clients ready for coaching for my membership, for my services. Could I do that? And could I in turn, give back on that platform?

So what if we switched that? “Do I have to,” becomes, “could I”. Just flip the script on it because the moment that you start thinking to yourself, do I have to have Tik TOK, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, web address, an email website? Well, the answer is just a no.

Do you have to do it all? No, in fact, I don't do Tik TOK. I don't even have a Tik TOK account. Am I on LinkedIn? Sometimes. Am I on Instagram? Much more frequently. What about Facebook? Well, I usually create for Instagram and share to Facebook and use the same content on Facebook.

But I also have an email list, which we're going to talk about next week. I also have a website. I have lead generators. We're gonna talk about lead generators next week with our email list and the following week when we talk about marketing and sales. So here's the thing. When you think about a web presence, I want you to get out there and start doing. Don't worry about being perfect because what happens is when you get out there and “do,” you get clearer on what it is you need to do, you get clear on your messaging, you get clearer on your marketing. You get that engagement from people and you see what hits and what doesn't, what maybe you need to focus on more to attract your ideal clients and what you could do less of.

Because at the end of the day, you want to build a business that is not just profitable, but that you love. And if you are doing a lot of tasks that you absolutely hate and make you feel dread, that's not building a business that you want to continue and grow over the years to create a web presence that works for you. Okay? Don't let it be perfect. 70% perfect. 70% good and ship it out the door. That is one of the things that I really admire about Brandon Lucero. He is all about, get it 70% good. And then give it a whirl. Try it out because it's a reminder that nothing is perfect. We don't need it to be perfect. Perfection. Like Jasmine says perfection is procrastination in disguise.

Action Item for the Week

So here are action items for this week. It's two part because today's podcast is two part. The first part is all about relationships.

I want you to look at the opportunities that you already have in your business right now to build relationships. Do you already participate in coworking sessions? Do you already go to summits or participate in summits? Do you get invitations to present at summits? Maybe you could say yes, next time. I want you to look at the possibilities that already exist. And then I want you to find three new opportunities where you could or how you could build relationships that serve your business.

That's part one, part two is all about your web presence. I want you to this week, think about what your ideal web presence would look like. What would it mean? Is it posting every day? Is it posting once a week? Is it having just a website and a really strong lead generator? I promise we're going to talk about that more next week and the week after is it that you love Instagram?

And as you're thinking about this, what that ideal looks like, I also want you to think about where your potential clients are hanging out, because if they're all hanging out on LinkedIn and not on Facebook and you're spending all of your time on Facebook, it is going to be very difficult to build your business. So there is some give and take here.

Now you heard me say earlier, I'm not on Tik TOK. I don't even have a Tik TOK account and I have no intention of getting on Tik TOK, but that is because I have access to my ideal clients in other avenues that I enjoy spending my time on much more.

Those are your action items for this week. Start thinking about what your ideal web presence is and what your ideal client needs as well, kind of mesh the two. How does that sound? Because at this point you are really making progress.

If you have been following along making micro decisions, staying focused, implementing what we're talking about you have the start of a vision, you have a daily rhythm developing, you've got mentor and peer thoughts in your mind, you've got products and services that are starting to be defined.

You've got a one-liner that you are working on, practicing, adjusting. And now you're thinking about how do you build relationships that you can build your business? And what does your web presence look like? Believe it or not. We just have four episodes left in this Coaching Hive Blueprint series. You have already done a lot of work, and I'd like to pause here for a moment and congratulate you.

This is not easy, what we're doing, but you are putting in the effort you're putting in the time and it will pay off. Now, if you feel like, gosh, I need more help than I'm getting in this podcast. I need more detail. I need more depth. I hear you. And I've got you covered. If you will send me a DM, I want to keep it simple for you.

Send me a DM on Instagram or Facebook. Remember Instagram at www.instagram.com/coachinghive. Facebook is at www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife. Send me a DM that says “apply” because I've got an application for you. It's short, it's simple to apply to work with me in the Coaching Hive.

This opportunity can take a lot of different approaches. Maybe you're ready for a mentoring and peer community. Maybe it is more of a focus on marketing and messaging as a StoryBrand Certified Guide. I can help you with that. And so through that application process, I'll learn more about what you need, where you're at and where you're headed, and we will get together and talk to figure out what the next right step is for you to get more in depth, help and guidance in building your business. Whether that's a membership, a coaching business, a combination, we will talk.

So send me that DM, keep it simple, just “apply” or “application”, whatever works for you. Whatever you can remember, send that to me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/coachinghive or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife, we'll talk, we'll figure out the next steps forward so that you can get on your way to having a profitable business using this blueprint and clarifying your marketing and messaging.

As we wrap up today, I want to thank you for being here. And if you got something out of today's episode sewed or any of the other episodes, would you do me a favor? Would you rate the podcast and leave me a review? This helps us to reach more people. It means that people like you who want this information and need this information can get to it a little bit more easily.

And I like reading reviews. It helps me plan content for the future. It helps me know how to better serve you. And of course it lets me know that you're out there listening and building a business that you dream of. And one other simple thing you can do to help get the word out about the Coaching Hive Podcast and the Blueprint series that we're in right now, take a screenshot of this episode as you're listening to it, post on those Facebook stories, Instagram stories, and tag me, and I'll be sure to support the folks that comment and are interested in learning more. I'll be there to help you.

That’s all for now! I look forward to seeing you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful coaching business and adds in a dose of momentum.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

~ Dr. Moira

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Podcast Intro

Welcome to our sixth episode of the Coaching Hive Blueprint series here on the Coaching Hive Podcast. The Coaching Hive Blueprint is all about how to build your profitable business through the blueprint and making micro decisions every single day. You have to follow through on your intentions so that you can see what's working, see what's not working, and make adjustments. This is how you build a profitable business.

It's not going to happen overnight. It's not going to happen with the first thing you try, unless you are incredibly lucky. So if you find lots of four-leaf clovers, maybe luck is on your side. But for most of us, 99.9% of us, it's all about making micro decisions every single day to move our business forward.

Throughout this blueprint series, we have been talking about the path to follow as you build your business. We started with episode 66, talking about your vision for your business. Episode 67 was all about creating a rhythm to your day so that you actually have time to work on your business, make those micro decisions and implement them. Then in episode 68, we talked about mentoring and peer communities and the importance of those. Finally, in last week's episode, we talked about products and services. This brings us to today; the one-liner.

Before we hop into this, I want you to stop and think. When someone asks, “What do you do?” How do you respond? Do you pause? Do you realize that you still haven't figured out how to explain what you do? Or do you confidently share in just a few seconds, two sentences or less, what you do, who you help, and what's happening? What transformation is happening?

Where do you fall on the continuum? Because it is a continuum. You may not have any idea and you say, oh, I'm just getting started. Maybe you share a little, but ramble on. Or maybe you succinctly share exactly what you do.

Where do you fall in that process? What does it look like? For instance, when people ask me what I do, I say, well, most health coaches are so overwhelmed by the amount of business building resources available online, that they struggle to implement anything. At the Coaching Hive, you get a proven blueprint and mentoring community so that you can focus on the right things to grow a profitable coaching business.

Now I didn't get there overnight and it's certainly not always easy, but you can also explain very simply what you do. If you think about what I just shared with you, I’m really talking about the fact that there's a lot of resources out there, but I'll make it simple. I curate things for you and I'm helping you use a proven blueprint to build your business so that you don't have to worry about all of the other stuff that's out there. You can stay focused, you can make progress and you can build the business that you want. That's where I want you to be with your business.

Having a one-liner that is simple.

One-Liner: Your Business in One (or Two) Sentence(s)

We all know what it's like to be around people who don't really know us, or don't really know what we do. And that dreaded question comes up. What do you do? And then there's that awkward pause. We all know what that looks like. We've all felt it, we've all been there.

And if you haven't, you have observed it. I guarantee it.

Someone says, what do you do? And you think, I'm not really sure what to say. I mean, I know, but how do I explain it? And you've got this voice running in your head and you get stuck in the moment with a one-liner.

Although what we're talking about is no more than two sentences, what we're really talking about is this ability to share with the person, with whom you're conversing, what you do, but in a way that gets attention. You could say:

I'm a health coach.
I'm a business owner.
I'm an entrepreneur.
I have a membership.
I’m a personal trainer.
I help people get healthy.

You can say all of these things, but it doesn't tell the person you're talking with what actually happens. If you can grab their attention by sharing what problem you solve right off the bat, you have a more engaged listener. This is going to make you different. Everyone for the most part goes out there, and when someone says, what do you do? It's the, “I am a” response.

What would happen if you started with a slightly different lead in, such as what you solve or what transformation happens? If you listen to Donald Miller of Building a StoryBrand or you listen to Stu McLaren with The Membership Experience, they will always tell you to think about the problem you solve and the transformation that is happening. That's what you want to lead with.

Let me give you the example from the Coaching Hive one more time so that you can hear it and hear how I don't say that I'm a health coach mentor, even though that's what I do. I'm a coach mentor. I help with marketing and messaging for coaches who are building business.

I also help membership site owners clarify their marketing and messaging. But I don't say any of that.

Here's one version of a one-liner depending on the group that I'm speaking with.

“Most health coaches are so overwhelmed by the amount of business, building resources available online, that they struggled to implement anything at the Coaching Hive. You'll get a proven blueprint and mentoring community so that you can focus on the right things to grow a profitable coaching business.”

Now, obviously this one is focused more toward health coaches, but you get the idea. I've told you up front that I'm going to help you weed through all of the stuff that you find online so that you don't get stuck in it. You can actually implement something, but nowhere did I say that I helped with marketing and messaging, that I'm a StoryBrand Certified Guide, or that I'm a health coach mentor. I didn't tell you about my experience with higher education. I didn't tell you that I was a health coach instructor. I didn't tell you any of those things.

Now I want you to think about what you say when you introduce yourself, when someone asks you that question, “what do you do?”

Do you lead with your title or do you lead with the problem that you solve or the transformation that our clients, members, coaching clients, or whoever you are working with get.

What are you leading with?

My guess is that right now? Unless you've been in my world for a little while, especially inside the Coaching Hive you probably lead with, “I am a”,

What would happen if you shifted just a little bit?

What happens if you shift that perspective and make it more about the person that you're helping so that you're not in the spotlight. If you've done any reading on Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller you'll know that he talks a lot about the fact that in a story there's no room for two heroes.

Think about that for a minute. Think about the movies you've watched. Think about the TV shows and the books that grabbed your attention. Are there two heroes? No. So Miller talks about this concept that you are the guide and your client is the hero. We have to make sure right from moment one, that we are in that guide spot, not the hero spot.

As you think about your one-liner this week, I want you to take time to begin the iterative process of developing a one-liner. Like everything else that we've been talking about, I want you to take time to think about what problem you solve or what transformation you offer.

I recognize that you might be thinking, but Moira, I don't solve a problem. I don't offer a transformation. My clients do the hard work. Yeah, I know. I agree. But we want to paint a picture that invites your potential clients in. And so I do want you to think about the problem that's being solved by working with you or the transformation that's happening because they choose you as their guide.

Then when you have that right lead in for your one liner, start practicing it out loud in your bathroom, as you get ready in the morning in the car, at the red light. Start speaking, out loud, the problem you solve or the transformation that happens. See how it sounds. And then talk a little bit about what the solution is.

If we go back to the example I gave you about the Coaching Hive. I'm telling you at the Coaching Hive, you get a proven blueprint and a mentoring community so that you can focus on the right things to grow a profitable coaching business. So I told you the problem was that they're overwhelmed with all of the resources available and it's hard to implement anything because you're in that overwhelm, but here I'm dialing it down for you. I'm giving you a blueprint and a mentoring community, and that allows you to focus and get things done.

Action Item for the Week

Think about your one-liner this week. Your action item is to first explore what problem you solve or what transformation you offer. I know you're in the guide role and you aren’t actually solving any problems. That's the client's job, but you are walking along that path with them.

So this week, what problem do you solve? What transformation do you offer as a client works with you? And then I want you to talk about how you do that. What do you offer? Let's start giving that a try. Another way to think about it is what problem are you helping the client solve with your expertise?

There are so many different versions of one liners. Stu McLaren calls his a positioning statement, which has a slightly different format in The Membership Experience. So you can do a little bit of Google searching, but promise me, you'll set a timer and not get sucked in to searching. You can also look up Donald Miller looking up StoryBrand and his approach to building your one-liner.

You can reach out to me as a StoryBrand Certified Guide and I can help you with your one-liner. If that's something that sounds intriguing, sounds a whole lot simpler than doing it on your own, send me a DM on Instagram at www.instagram.com/coachinghive or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife and we can talk.

Here's today’s key point. The point is that I want you to be able to confidently share what you do in a succinct manner.

As a reminder, your action item is to think about the problem you solve or the transformation you offer through your services and how you do it. Two sentences. No more than that. If you find yourself writing a book, it's too much. No one's going to listen for that long. We have a teeny tiny attention span. And when you're out meeting people, there isn't that much time to convey what it is you do.

Hopefully, you have a little bit of clarity about where you're headed this week. One more time, action item this week, you're going to think about the problem you solve, the transformation you offer, and then how you do it. Put that together. You might start with a paragraph or two, whittle it down, get concise, no extra words, smooth it out, practice it out loud.

See what works, see what doesn't, because it needs to be memorable. You need to be able to memorize it and it needs to be memorable for the person who's listening

How are you feeling at this point in the blueprint? We have talked a little bit about vision, rhythm, mentoring, and peers, products and services, and the one-liner. Can you feel like your business is starting to grow? You're starting to get some of those key foundational elements in place so that you can be profitable. I hope so. That's my intent.

If you are ready for more, if you're thinking this is great, but I need more depth. I've got you covered. As you know, in the Coaching Hive, I am focused on helping you use this blueprint and providing a mentoring community so that you can stay focused and take action. Right now I have applications open to join the Coaching Hive. So if you are interested in applying for the Coaching Hive, getting that blueprint opportunity, that opportunity to have a mentoring community, all you have to do is send me a DM on Instagram at www.instagram.com/coachinghive or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife. Just send me a DM that says “application”, and I will get everything to you that you need in order to apply and get that process started. And of course, if you are interested in clarifying your message and your marketing materials, as a StoryBrand Certified Guide, I am happy to sit down with you and work through that process. I know for me, it was so much easier when I got one-on-one help to clarify that information versus spending months and months trying to figure it out on my own. So if you're ready to take action, reach out on Instagram or Facebook, that's all I have for you today.

Now I do have one last quick ask. If you got something out of this podcast episode, would you do me a favor? Would you rate the podcast and leave a review for me? I do read those and it helps us as we get more ratings and reviews to reach more people. It also helps me know what's helping you the most so that I can provide more podcast episodes that fit your needs, because that is certainly my intent with the Coaching Hive Podcast.

One last thing. (I know, I just said that, didn't I?) Just one more “one last thing”, share this with your friends, share this with someone who needs to hear it or has been struggling. As a community, it is important to support one another. And if you know that a friend of yours, a colleague, appears to be struggling with sharing what they do, send them this episode. Let them know they're not alone and there is information out there that can help them streamline this process. Okay? Just snap a picture of the episode. You can post it in your Instagram stories or Facebook stories. You can tag me. I'll be sure to help get this information to as many people as possible, because we want to make sure that we are working together. We are better together than we are in isolation.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

~ Dr. Moira

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Podcast Intro

Welcome back to a new episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast, where we are talking about the Coaching Hive Blueprint for building your business from the ground up. As you know, building a business has a lot of moving parts. And that's why here at the Coaching Hive, we use a blueprint in the shape of a car. In our car, we have all of the different parts to help you get your business rolling down the road.

We have talked about a few topics so far, so far, we've talked about the importance of having a mindful vision. We've talked about having a daily rhythm. We talked about having mentors and peers, and that brings us to today's topic of products and services.

What are you going to offer to your clients, your customers? When they say I need your services, how are you going to respond? What are you going to offer today?

We are going to talk about the importance of getting this figured out so that when you start talking with potential customers, potential clients, the answer is easy. You don't stumble. You confidently share what you offer. And this will also take us into next week's conversation, where we talk about having a one-liner.

So although this is a two-part conversation, we're going to start with thinking about your products and services.

Products and Services: Don’t Confuse Potential Clients

Here we are. You have a business, whether it's beside hustle, part-time, or full-time. In order to actually have a business, you have to have something that you can exchange for money, right? You have to have products or services in the case of a coaching business, or even most online businesses.

These days, that's going to be a service that you're offering. It might be:

A membership
1:1 services
Group services

Whatever it looks like, you have to have something that you're offering in return for being paid for your time and expertise. It’s not enough to say that you have a one-on-one opportunity, we can work together and here’s the price. No one's going to buy that because they're not really sure what they're getting. This is why taking time to clarify your products and services is going to be critical to everything else that follows and building your business.

When you have clear products and services:

Now you better know how to share what you do, what you offer with your potential customers and clients.
You know how to create marketing that works.
You know how to grow and scale your business. You know how to build the right relationships in your community.
You know how to create your website. You know how to create your social media posts.

In other words, if you don't know what you're offering, it's going to be hard to figure out the rest of your business. This is why having your products and services so early in the blueprint is intentional. It's not something we want to skip over and think, “Oh, I'll come back to that later”.

Nope. Stop here. Full stop. Figure out those products and services.

When you are thinking about the products and services that you'd like to offer, first, I’d like you to take a step back and think about:

who you serve in your business
who you want to serve in your business
what problems they experience or challenges or struggles they experience that they are going to come to you as their guide and ask for help.

Start by figuring out what it is they actually want. Maybe you know what they need, but they're going to buy what they want and you can sneak in what they actually need as well.

Let’s go back to those key questions again. Who are we serving? What problems, challenges, struggles are they experiencing that they'd like you to act as their guide as they move through those so that they can live a full life?

When you have that clearly defined, take some time to think about, and this goes back to your vision, what you want your business to look like.

Do you want to work with people?
One-on-one do you want to work with people in a group setting?
Would you prefer to offer a template that they can download and fill out all on their own?
Or maybe some combination?
Maybe it's a membership, perhaps it is a retreat.
Maybe it's a speaking engagement.

Think about what you want from your business, and then start aligning what your clients want and what you want. Think about how they fit together, where they are complementary and where maybe they're kind of grading against one another. I want you to go ahead and highlight. When you start making these lists, I want you to highlight the things that really feel complementary to one another.

If you have potential clients who really want to be able to learn from others and have some support, not just from you, but from people who are going through the exact situation, they are then a group setting. That's going to really work beautifully. And if you like group settings, well guess what? It's a double win now. That's truly what we have in a complementary service.

It's going to work for you. And it's going to work for your client.

Start looking for those things that align, but what happens when you know what your clients want and you don't want to offer it, should you just offer it because you're building a business and you need to make some money. That's a deeply personal question.

Here are some things to think about.

If you're considering offering services that don't feel like they're in alignment with your vision or with who you are or what you want to do, ask yourself why you're considering offering a service. It is not in alignment. Next, think about what will it gain you to offer the service and what will it cost you to offer the service. And when I'm talking about gaining cost, I'm not necessarily talking about money. Yes, money is a part of it, but think about it in terms of gains. Is it opening up future doors for you to do the services that you want to do? Get into organizations where you want to be present? Is it costing you? Because now you don't have time to build out these other services or to pursue these opportunities that really do align with what you want and who you are.

So when you're thinking about offering a service that feels like it's grinding against, or it's out of alignment with you and your vision, ask yourself, what are you going to get from it? Why are you thinking about it? Then? What can you gain? What will it cost?

There is always a cost associated with offering something just like there's always a gain. Think about both sides of it. Weigh that information carefully before you make a decision. I can't tell you what the right answer is. Only you can answer that for yourself. If you need that rapid income, then maybe offering the service and telling yourself you're going to put a time limit on it might be a great option because now, even though it's costing you from building out some other things, you are putting a hard stop on that cost. You're saying only for three months.

Building out your products and services is like everything else in our blueprint. It is an iterative process. You are going to say, this is what I'm offering and somewhere down the road, you're going to say, and now I'm pivoting.

I think after 2020, we have all gotten a taste of what it means to pivot. So hopefully it won't be so scary when we need to pivot in our own business. That is part of growth. That is part of remaining aware of what's going on in your business and staying current, staying relevant, knowing that sometimes we have to make a shift. As you make each shift, align it back to your vision, the foundation of your business. Remember that your vision might have shifted, which would indicate that there will be a shift in everything else that follows.

Action Item for the Week

This week, I just briefly introduced you to the concept and the importance of clarifying your products and services. There are so many options out there that you can offer.

I encourage you to do a little bit of research this week, start writing down. Like I said, what do your clients or potential clients want? What could you offer? Start recognizing how they're in alignment. Those two things are in alignment versus out of alignment or kind of grinding against each other and then narrow it down. If you have a few services that are in absolute alignment between what your potential customers want and what you want as a business owner,

those probably go to the top of your list. This week, get really serious about defining what you're offering and what, what problem, what challenge it's going to solve or help your clients solve as they work with you. This is incredibly important because next week in our podcast episode, we are going to talk about a one liner. This is going to be how you describe your business and what you do, including the problem you solve.

If you don't understand your products and services, that's going to be a little bit harder. Now I will warn you that it's a two-way road here. When we get to the one-liner next week, you are probably going to go back and adjust your products and services a little bit more.

Remember, write down what things your clients or potential clients or customers want. What do you want in your business? What kinds of things do you want to offer? Look for the overlap. Start to kind of rank order what services you'd like to offer. If you have something that is out of alignment, but you know that it would help you increase your income.

And that's really important for you right now. I want you to go into that with an open eye. I want you to recognize why you're doing it, what the gain is and what the cost is of making that decision. Not to talk you out of it, just because it helps us to be present and in the moment versus having our business happen to us.

We are in charge of our business. We are at an exciting point in the blueprint because now it feels like it's getting real. It's been real, but now it feels even more like it's getting real. You are building your business. You're thinking about what you're going to offer to your potential clients. When they say, “Hey, I hear that you're a coach. What would it look like if we worked together?” You're going to be able to tell them what you offer and what kinds of problems you solve and help them solve (Of course, as the guide.)

Don't worry if this isn't perfect; it's a starting place. This is, this is very much an iterative process like I've told you time and again. Treat it like you would a draft of an English paper. It's simply a draft. You're going to get your ideas down. Then you're going to adjust. You're going to tweak them. You're going to make another draft. And that will continue on.

Hopefully you're clear on this week's micro decision, which is to settle in and think about those products and services. Remember the whole point of this series is to get you to take action through the blueprint and making micro-decisions each day for your business. I am so excited that you are hanging in there with me each week with our Coaching Hive Blueprint.

Now, if you have not yet had a chance, and I can't believe that you haven't, but I'm going to say it anyway, just in case you're popping in, in the middle of this series. If you have not yet taken the Coaching Hive Blueprint, assessment, go do it. Go to www.coachinghive.com/assessment. Take the assessment. You’ll receive a report in your email inbox, in a downloadable PDF so that you can get a better idea of where you are in your coaching business.

The report is going to come to you pretty quickly, but I've got something special for you. I believe that every coach should have an opportunity to talk to a mentor. So what I'm going to do is probably 24 to 48 hours after you get your PDF, I'm going to reach out again, personally, this is not an automated email, which is why I'm saying 24 to 48 hours and it kind of depends on what day you do the assessment and what I've got going on, I'm going to send you an email and say, “Hey, I took a look at your assessment results, and I'd love to sit down and talk with you so that we can help you take the next step in your business”.

Maybe the next step is working with me as a mentor, maybe as being part of the Coaching Hive community. Maybe it is working with me on your messaging as a marketing guide. Regardless, my point in the call is to help you make a micro decision about what next step to take in your business.

I love this idea of putting things into action, knowing what steps to take next, following a blueprint. It makes my post-it loving heart happy. My planner-loving heart happy. I don't know about you, but that's just the way I feel. It makes everything simpler. And I am looking forward to the fact that we still have several weeks together on this blueprint. And we're getting a little bit more in depth each week.

Now, if at any point you're sitting in your chair or maybe you're taking a walk while you're listening to this, you've got your earbuds in and you're thinking to yourself, I can't wait. I need more. That's wonderful that you recognize where you are in your journey and that you're ready for the next step. Send me a DM on Instagram www.instagram.com/coachinghive and we'll talk about the options that are available.

If I don't have an option that fits your needs right now, I'm going to help you find the right option for you because everyone deserves to have a community and mentoring on their business building journey as always.

I want to thank you for listening to today's podcast, and I have a shameless ask. Would you do me a favor? If you liked today's podcast episode, wherever you're listening to it, can you rate it and leave a review for me? I love those reviews. It helps me to plan future content. It helps me know how to better serve you. And it's just fun. It also lets me know that you're listening and that you're building the coaching business of your dreams.

If you feel so compelled, I'd also like to invite you to share your favorite episode. Maybe it's this one with someone else, someone who might benefit someone who is building their business, whether it is a coaching business or other entrepreneurial adventure, share it for me, will you? This is how we help everyone grow together. We are better together sharing resources, sharing ideas. That is one of the biggest ways we can make the world a better place and help our fellow entrepreneurs grow.

If you want to keep it simple and you're thinking, “I don't have time to reach out to individual people”, take a screenshot of this episode while you're playing it on your phone and just post it to your Facebook and Instagram stories. Your folks will see it. Your fans, your followers, your friends will see it. Then you can also tag me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/coachinghive and over on Facebook, I am at www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

~Dr. Moira

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Podcast Intro

Welcome back to a new episode of the Coaching Hive podcast, where we are focusing on the Coaching Hive Blueprint. We are now several weeks into our journey through the Blueprint. If you remember, we got started with a mindful vision, which really creates a foundation for everything that you do in your business. Then we talked about creating a daily rhythm so that you get things done this week.

We are going to shift gears a little bit and talk about mentors and peers. I don't know about you, but being an entrepreneur, building a business of any kind, whether it's a side hustle, a full-time or part-time gig is lonely. You can feel like there are all of these opportunities to connect, but no real opportunities to connect.

So this week we are going to spend our time talking about mentoring, finding a mentor. What do you look for in a mentor? And we're also going to talk about the importance of surrounding yourself with peers who are working toward building their business as well, because we are certainly better together.

Mentors and Peers: A Necessity to Success

Here we are. We have this mindful vision. We know kind of what we want for our business. It's creating a foundation for everything that we're doing.

You have even now created some semblance of a daily rhythm, knowing that your daily rhythm or routine is going to ebb and flow; there are going to be adjustments. Those adjustments will probably happen the moment you get everything going just the way you want it to, something will shift and your daily rhythm will have to shift. That's okay. The idea behind having a rhythm is knowing that you have time and focus to get things done, knowing that you're not scrambling at the last minute and really just making time for your business.

Today I promised you we'd talk all about mentors and peers. Let's start with the concept of surrounding yourself with peers or colleagues, people who are on a similar path that you're on. We know that when we have social support, and social in this case means “others” not necessarily like hanging out and having dinner together, we are much better prepared to take action. Our mental health is better. Our physical health is better. Our whole wellness is just better.

If having peer support colleagues who are in your corner, working towards similar things is so important. Why do we shy away from it? Well, I have a theory on this.

I hope you'll indulge me in sharing my theory. I think that we have gotten so used to having big groups, like Facebook groups that you belong to, at our beck and call where we can post any time of the day and almost always someone will be there to respond. I think we've gotten away from the intention of sitting down with the same people over and over and moving through this journey together. Maybe we have gotten away from it because they aren't always available. Your peers and your tight-knit circle may not always respond to you right away, but if you hop in that Facebook group there's always someone there. So I think that we have gotten kind of safe and secure in the Opportunity to have instant feedback.

But here's what happens when you connect with a peer group that you are working together with over time. Yes, they are not going to respond to you in 30 seconds, however, they know where you've been, where you want to be, where you are right now, and how to think through the question that you're asking in a way that takes all of that into account. These people know you; they know what you want. They know where your challenges lie. They know what your strengths are and help you lean into those strengths and move through the challenges with more ease.

So whenever someone asks me, do I really need to get a group together of peers and work with them and set up times to meet? My answer is yes, because those are going to be the people that follow you through your career. Those are going to be the people that walk alongside you. They link arms with you in a way that participating in a big anonymous Facebook group won't give you when you post your question on the Facebook group with a thousand people. They have no idea who your clients are, who your customers are, what exactly you're trying to accomplish in your business, what stakes are present, and what's actually going on. They don't know if right now you are so limited in your time because you've got family stuff going on that offering a big grandiose solution is not anywhere in the cards or the deck.

Asking that same question to your peer community, a curated community that you have of peers walking the journey with you day after day, week after week and month after month, they do know. And that means that their wisdom, their ideas, their advice is going to be tailored to what you need right now.

Doesn't that sound amazing?

Having a peer community at your fingertips, not instantaneous, but at your fingertips, who knows what you want, where you're headed, where you are right now, and can offer you information, advice, concepts, tools, techniques that fit your exact situation.

So when someone asks me, do I really need to develop a peer community? My answer is 1000%! Yes, you do. It's critical to your success.

Now, finding your peer community is going to take time. Here at the Coaching Hive we have a peer community where our coaches get together throughout the month and then live on a Zoom call twice a month. They are coming together. They get to know one another. Yes, there's a social aspect to it where we know that someone's drum kit might be sold or someone else is moving, or maybe someone else has been experiencing illness in their family. We know all of these things, which means that the information and the ideas that are exchanged are custom. They're tailored to that coach at that moment. And it's neat to see those light bulbs go off. It's neat to see you become invested in your peers and their success, and you get excited.

You celebrate with them and you mourn losses and things that happen in the business and your life, right alongside them. You are creating a genuine connection based on relationship and history. It’s more powerful. It will help you move further in your business than the random questions that you post in a Facebook group to a mass of people who are not with you all the time.

Those are my thoughts on peer communities. Do you need one? Yes. Will it take some time to identify that peer community and really settle in? Absolutely. Is it worth it? 1000000%.

Here's the other side of it. When you're working in a peer community, a lot of times everyone's kind of around the same place and that's what draws you together because you're all experiencing the same challenges.

You know what it feels like you feel that comradery, but when everyone's at the same place, it's easy to get all stuck together in that place. This is where the power of a mentor comes into play. Having a mentor, someone who is at least 10% ahead, if not more in the journey to guide you, to offer insights, to go before you and test things out.

That is what allows you to make greater progress in building your business, furthering your career, or improving your skills. Having a mentor is critical, just like having a peer community. Now, could you conceivably say that in the Facebook group there are people ahead of me. I just need to listen to what they're doing. In part, yes. In a bigger way, no, because once more, just like with that peer community, that person that you see, who's 10%, 20% ahead of you, they run their very specific business. They are managing their own strengths, their own challenges in a very specific way that may or may not apply to your situation. Having a mentor who is dedicated to knowing where you're at, what you need, where you're headed, that's going to help you get the right information. The mentor is going to know what tools to share with you, which tools to say, oh my goodness, this is not going to be a good fit. You know, if you get a whole lot of time down the road, you can certainly check it out, but right now it's going to be a distraction.

A mentor is someone who is focused on following your journey and walking alongside you, not dropping in from time to time. Someone who is committed to walking that path to helping you build your career or your business, whatever that looks like, whether it is a side hustle, a part-time job, a full-time job, whatever it looks like for you. That mentor is focused on you, your wellbeing and forward momentum. Now, one question that I often get is, or one statement that I hear being made is “I don't have money for a mentor”. I get it, building a business has costs just rolling in. And unless you've got the income coming in to balance it out, it feels overwhelming.

You may be thinking, I'll wait for the mentor until I'm making more money. Let me ask you a few questions here. First of all, what would happen if having a mentor actually gets you to making money faster? Because they can see the gaps, the situations, the opportunities that you need to focus on. And so you get there faster.

Now, let me ask you another question. What if mentoring isn't necessarily a one-on-one thing? What if you can gain great momentum, great help, and meaningful advice in a group setting? Now, if you are a coach, you know that group coaching is always going to be more economical than one-on-one coaching, right? Because there are more people paying for that coach’s hour of time or two hours or whatever that looks like, which means it brings that participant’s costs down. So if you are in the boat of thinking, I can't afford a mentor, I highly encourage you to find a group mentoring situation.

This is what we do inside the Coaching Hive. We utilize group mentoring so that we come together as a group and you can bring your specific questions. There are hot seats available where you can share what's going on. There's time dedicated to your problem, your challenge, or your question. Everyone else benefits from hearing about where you are and what you're considering. And you benefit from that one-on-one attention in small snippets. So if you are thinking to yourself it is too much money, I don't have the money for a mentor then search.

There are so many options out there. Yes, there are really expensive mentoring situations out there, but there are also affordable mentors. There are affordable mentoring situations out there that you can use, especially as you're getting going. And then you never know, maybe that mentor has other options where you can get more one-on-one attention or more direct access, or even just more frequent access.

For example, inside the Coaching Hive, we have a Coaching Hive Elite tier where we meet for co-working sessions once a week, we meet twice a month for peer masterminds, where there are 12 minutes solely devoted to you and your question. Everyone is focused on how they can help you move forward. We also have an extra mentoring call just for our Elite members.

Like I said, there are always options available at different price points. Please don't let money be what stops you from using a mentor because that mentor is going to help you take faster steps and faster action. And the faster we take action, the sooner we know how to adjust. The sooner we get back out there and try again. Just like changing any kind of behavior, it's a trial and adjustment process. When building your coaching career or building your career as an entrepreneur, you're going to go through a trial and adjustment process over and over. It's a rinse and repeat situation. Having a mentor helps you go through that, get to that rinse and repeat cycle faster, with more focus so that you're shifting the things that need to be shifted.

And you're leaving alone. The things that you need to leave alone. It takes some of the question out of what to do and adds in that confidence. And that confidence tends to seep through everything.

So there you have it. Do you need a peer community? Yes. Do you need a mentor? Yes.

Action Item for the Week

Your action item for this week is going to make you think a little bit stretch a little bit because I want you to do a little bit of research. I want you to think about and research who could be your mentor. Think about what you need to take the next step and your entrepreneurial journey or your coaching journey, building your business, whatever you're calling it, think about what you need. And then think about what each mentor that you identify has to offer.

For instance, as a mentor, I have been a health coach instructor. So I know in depth, the skills, the tools that you use as a health coach. I've built two coaching businesses using the coaching I Blueprint framework. I am also a StoryBrand Certified Guide so I can help you with your messaging, which means you can get to your ideal clients with a little bit more ease and without so much confusion.

Ask questions of your potential mentors. How can they help you? What are they reading? What is the goal of mentoring in their mind? Are they going to tell you what to do or are they going to walk alongside you? Will they do both based on what you need in the moment?

The same goes for your community. I want you to start researching who might be part of your peer community. If you developed a relationship with a few coaches, as you went through a training program, or as you built a business, if you're just an entrepreneur, look for people with whom you have a connection, and you're kind of moving in the same, the same direction, trying to move forward.

You're committed. You're ready to take those action steps and start creating lists of potential peer colleagues that you might want to sit down with, get to know, and really work with over some length of time. Like I said, that's kind of built into our Coaching Hive model is we have that peer community. We take the hard work out of it.

As coaches come to the Coaching Hive, they are applying. Then they're sitting down and talking with me before they join our community. What happens is we have a really cohesive community that is supportive and open and full of people, willing to step outside their comfort zone, get a little uncomfortable and try something new. I want you to find that too.

I want you to find that peer community and that mentor who's going to help you to grow, help you to step outside your comfort zone, and really explore the possibilities available to you.

I know this is a big ask. I know that the action item will take you some time this week. So go ahead and let it be a multi-week action item if you need.

How are you feeling now with that in mind?

I want you to take a moment and celebrate because we've had an opportunity to make a few micro decisions over the last few weeks. You decided to get clearer on your vision. You decided to start exploring your daily rhythm. And today you are making the decision to really get serious about finding a collaborative, supportive peer community, and mentor.

This is going to be an iterative process. Every step along the journey is an iterative process. Just like most roads are two way. This journey is two way. You might find yourself at one stage of the journey and then heading back to make a few adjustments along the way. The key is to keep making decisions. The key is to keep putting things into action every single day in your business. You're following a blueprint. When you have a blueprint, you're going to stay on track. It's going to help you keep moving forward and keep you from getting stuck, or if you do get stuck, you can look at where you are in the journey and identify the next step so that you can keep going.

I am so excited that you are here with me. If you have not had a chance to take the Coaching Hive Blueprint Assessment, I'd love to invite you to do that because it's going to give you a sneak peek into the upcoming stages, but even more importantly, it's going to give you some insight into what's already working in your business and where do you need to focus some more attention? And you can find the assessment at www.coachinghive.com/assessment. Once you take that assessment, you will receive a report in your email inbox. So be sure to find that and download that PDF. Take some time to read through it. And then you'll notice that you'll get a second email from me, inviting you to set up a time to talk about your results so that you can take that next step. We can explore. If the Coaching Hive is the right next step for you, and if not, what the next right step is, please know that the email inviting you to set up a time to talk is not automated, which means it might take me 24 to 48 hours to review your results, and then send you that email to schedule your 15 minute call.

Now, I don't know about you, but I love the concept of being able to put things into action. I cannot stand when things get stagnant, knowing what steps to take, following a Blueprint, it just makes everything simpler and I am looking forward to our coming week's episodes, where we continue talking about our concepts of micro decisions and the Blueprint.

If at any point you are sitting in your chair, you're taking a walk, you've got your earbuds in and you're listening to me and thinking to yourself, wait a minute, I need more help. I need a mentor. I need a peer community. I need someone who can help me figure out what to say to my potential clients. I'm here DM me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/coachinghive and we'll talk about the options. We'll talk about what's available so that you can keep moving forward. We'll talk about what fits your needs.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening to today's podcast and I have a shameless ask. If you got something out of today's podcast episode, please rate and leave a review for me. I love seeing those reviews. I look at them, it helps me plan, future content, know how to better serve you. And of course it lets me know that you're listening and building that coaching business or that business in general of your dreams.

And if you feel so compelled, I would love for you to share this podcast episode with someone who might need to hear it. You can do it so easily. Just keep it simple. If you want to share it with your community, your friends, just snap a screenshot on your phone, post it in your Instagram stories, your Facebook stories on your Facebook wall, your Instagram feed tag me. And let me know that way I can hop in and answer any questions that pop up in your circle of friends and peers. If you are tagging me on Instagram, remember it's www.instagram.com/coachinghive. And if you are on Facebook, it's www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

~ Dr. Moira

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Podcast Intro

So those were the two big key points that we opened this Coaching Hive Blueprint series with making a micro decision every single day and follow through on it. And the second idea is to make sure that you have a blueprint and I'm helping you with that. And with your micro decisions, I'm offering you a micro decision each week with our podcast episode. So last week we talked about stage number one, step number one in that journey, which is your mindful vision. If you have not yet had a chance to craft that mindful vision, it's not too late. Go ahead, go back and listen to that episode. It's episode 66 on mindful vision. You'll also see, if you go back through some of the other Coaching Hive Podcast episodes, more information on that mindful vision where you can dig in a little bit further if you'd like.

In today's episode, we are going to take the next step in your journey. We're going to move to stage number two, which is finding your daily rhythm. This is something that takes time. If you've been listening to the coaching hive podcast for any length of time, you know, this is something that I worked with back in episodes, 57 through 61 in our live mentoring series with Julie. Julie is just starting out as an entrepreneur, and she was really working to build her daily rhythm.

If you are ready to jump in, you're ready to get started. Grab that notebook, grab your tablet, whatever you're taking notes on today, grab a couple of water, a snack, whatever it is you need to stay focused. And if you're ready with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

Daily Rhythm: A Way Forward

All right. So we talked about briefly, just a moment ago, this idea of the whole Coaching Hive Blueprint being a journey. It is one in which we go through stages, just like the change process happens in segments. We move forward and backward a little bit. It's kind of a spiral staircase where we go up and down, right?

The blueprint is designed in the same way. Last week we talked about the Mindful Vision and this week we're talking about your daily rhythm. Does that mean you cannot go back to the vision? Absolutely not. In fact, just like most roads are two-way, the blueprint is two-way.

You are going to find yourself going back to previous stages in the journey and clarifying, adjusting, modifying, or just saying, yeah, that's right. That's exactly what I want. So as we get into this daily rhythm, maybe you notice that you need to make a few tweaks to your vision. Go ahead and do that.

Now, what is a daily rhythm? A daily rhythm is a routine. It is a flexible, functioning daily routine that allows you to incorporate self care action and really making decisions in your business. This is step number two, or stage number two in the journey because we need to get crystal clear early on that our career is critical. It's important.

It deserves time in our daily schedule. And some of you may be thinking, I am so busy and I hear you. I get it as a homeschooling mom, a psych professor and a business owner. I get it. It is tough some days to find a time to dedicate to your business. But here's the thing. When you have a rhythm or a routine that becomes easier, you start recognizing the 15 minute chunk of time or that two hour chunk that you set aside and you closed your door. Guess what? It's there for you and you know what to do, and you're going to make it work for you. So having a daily routine or rhythm is going to help you make those micro decisions and stick to them.

It's not just about having the stack of sticky notes on your desk of things to do. It's about actually putting them into action, taking that next step forward. Now you might remember from the episodes where I was working with Julie on her daily rhythm, that this is going to be an iterative process.

If you come up with a daily, flexible routine that works for you from day one, please let me know. I have never met anyone who's been able to do that. I certainly haven't been able to, and I would love to know your secret. So if you are able to come up with a daily routine that man, it knocks it out of the park from day one. Please reach out to me. I have got to have you on the podcast so you can share your secrets with everyone else because we are all sitting on the edge of our seats, waiting for that magical knowledge. Promise you.

Now, if you don't find that unicorn of a daily routine, please know you're not alone. This is, like I said, an iterative process. Start with identifying big blocks of time where you maybe all right, using your time wisely or not to the most efficiency, you know, those moments. When you find yourself scrolling through Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn, you realize you've been leaning against the kitchen cabinet for about 15 minutes doing that. That was 15 minutes you could have been reaching out to potential clients, building relationships in your community, or clarifying your message for your business. So start noticing. That's the really the first step. In fact, what I'm going to ask you to do for your action item this week is to notice the time kind of in-between, where you're not in the car line or driving to Carline or fixing dinner or preparing for bed or doing your workout. It's that time in between where we fill it, but not necessarily with actions that will help us move forward. Now, before you panic and say, but I scroll Instagram for 15 minutes because it's how I unwind some days. I'm not asking you to give up your scroll of Instagram for those 15 minutes when you're unwinding.

I'm asking you to maybe consider using the other times that you're scrolling Instagram or Facebook and find a better use for that time. I also would encourage you to notice, and this is something I do myself personally, if you're scrolling Instagram to relax, ask yourself what it's actually doing for you, how is it making you feel? How is it impacting your breathing, your movement, your mindset, because it's quite possible that what you think is relaxing makes your brain whir a little bit differently. It's not actually soothing to your body and mind and soul.

Now, if you're watching funny golden retriever videos, now the story might be completely different. Those make me laugh. I love those. It makes me realize that my silly overactive golden retriever is actually kind of normal. So if you're scrolling Instagram and watching those funny golden retriever videos, maybe it is relaxing. If you are getting drawn into everyone's drama or posts or comments, maybe not so much. Okay? The idea here is really to find a routine of rhythm. That's going to serve you in your business. That's going to allow you the opportunity to not just make a micro decision each day for your business, but to implement that decision, remember micro decisions are small. That micro decision might be to post one video that you found life transforming, or maybe it is that one decision that has you recording a 32 second snippet for your potential clients. Perhaps it is sending that email to reach out to a mentor. And we're going to talk about mentors and peers next week as stage three of the journey, but let's stay focused on stage two.

The daily rhythm, the key is to be able to implement those micro decisions each day. That's the key, and to still have time for self care, to have time for the things that bring you joy in your life that allow you to build hobbies into your life. I know some of you are laughing because you haven't had a hobby in years. Let's imagine that future, that vision that you created last week, that includes hobbies. Okay?

So the goal here, and I want you to repeat after me is, “I have a flexible functioning daily routine in place that incorporates self-care and business decision-making along with action taking.” I'm going to say that one more time for you, because this is critical. “I have a flexible, functioning daily routine in place that incorporates self care and business decision-making and allows for action taking.”

What do you think about that? Can you imagine your day, when you have an actual rhythm to it, one that is not chaotic or overwhelming or haphazard, you're sitting down, you're ready to work. You know exactly what you're going to do and you implement it.

Action Item for the Week

Your action item this week is going to be fairly simple. I'm not going to ask you to create that rhythm this week.

What I'm actually going to ask you to do is to focus on being observant through the week. I want you to really start noticing the time in in-between the big things that could actually be really great opportunities for you to take action in your business. I'm going to assume that most of you have a very busy life. So we have to look through those snippets of time.

Now, if you find yourself having bigger snatches of time, that's awesome. Notice where those are and you might take it a step further this week and actually create your daily routine or rhythm and see how it works. Start making adjustments, because the sooner you get something in place and start adjusting, the sooner you get to something that works. And then something will shift.

If you talk to Julie, she'll tell you, “and then everything shifted. I got more clients and everything shifted.” The more you do this, the more times you make those shifts, the easier it gets because you know what works and what doesn't for you. So that's it this week.

If you are super busy, I want you to notice the times that kind of fall in between notice, where they are, and how you could use them differently for your business. And if you have the bigger snatches of time, go ahead and take it a step further, notice them, and then start creating your daily rhythm, implementing it, giving it a whirl and making adjustments.

How are you feeling now with that in mind?

We've now had an opportunity to make a few micro decisions last week. It was about making the micro decision to create your vision. Now, chances are, you're still refining that this is going to be an iterative process. This week. I asked you to make the micro decision to start noticing the time you have in your day, that you could devote to your business to put into action. Any, any decisions that you have made the idea here throughout our whole series is to make micro decisions and put them into action every single day in your business.

The other idea is to make sure you're following a blueprint, because that's going to help you stay on track. It's going to help you keep moving forward and keep you from getting stuck. Or if you do get stuck to get unstuck, because you will know what the next stage in your journey is. Or if you need to take a step back where you're stepping back to in that journey so that you can begin moving forward again.

All right, I am so excited that you're here with me. And if you have not yet had a chance to take the Coaching Hive Blueprint assessment, I would love to invite you to do that. It's going to give you a sneak peek into the upcoming stages, but even more importantly, what's going to happen is if you go to www.coachinghive.com/assessment, take that assessment, and submit your answers. You're going to get a report pretty quickly, but then what I'm going to do, this is my promise to you. My commitment to you is that I'm going to look at your results and I'm going to send you an email and say, Hey, I've had a chance to review those results. And I'd love to sit down with you.

This is not an automated email that you're getting. So please know it may take me 24 to 48 hours to get back to you. Look for that email, with the invitation to schedule a 15 minute call. This is all about the two of us sitting down talking about your business. It is about helping you to make a micro decision about where to focus your attention and energy next in your business so that you can keep moving forward.

I don't know about you, but I love this concept of putting things into action. Knowing what steps to take next and following a blueprint. It makes things simpler and I am looking forward to continuing walking through these concepts of micro-decisions and the blueprint with you over the next few weeks.

If at any point you are sitting in your chair, you're taking a walk, you've got your earbuds in and you're listening and thinking to yourself, oh, this sounds great, but I don't know that I can do this on my own. I'm here. DM me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/coachinghive and we can talk about the options that are available to help you keep moving forward. We'll talk about what fits your needs.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening to today's podcast and a shameless ask. If you got something out of today's podcast episode, please rate and leave a review. I love seeing those reviews. I look at them, it helps me plan, future content, know how to better serve you. And of course it lets me know that you're listening and building that coaching business of your dreams. If you feel so compelled, I would love for you to share with a fellow coach this podcast. You can do it really easily. Just keep it simple. Snap a screenshot on your phone when you've got this podcast playing and post that picture to Instagram stories or Facebook stories. And tag me if you're tagging me on Instagram, that's going to be www.instagram.com/coachinghive. If you are tagging me on Facebook it is www.facebook.com/coachinghivelife.

Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.

~ Dr. Moira

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Podcast Intro

You wake up one morning and you feel like you're kind of dragging. Then you find yourself cleaning the oven to procrastinate before sitting down to a vague task of social media so that you can build your business. You've got sticky notes, you got lists and lists on those sticky notes. They're everywhere, but you don't always get them checked off. And sometimes they disappear. Sometimes they float to the ground or get thrown away. And then you wonder what you're missing. Maybe your family is giving you a wide berth because you're a little cranky. Maybe you're a little snappish because things aren't going the way you want them to go in your coaching business.

Maybe you find it hard to cook dinner each night because you're so distracted with your business and dinner becomes this scramble and everyone's hungry. There are meltdowns, and it's not really what you envisioned.

When you thought about becoming a coach, what you really want, what you've always wanted when you decided to become a coach was to jump out of bed excited because you have the clients you want scheduled for the day. And in fact, you have the clients that you want to meet with scheduled for the next three weeks. And that fourth week of the month, you're taking it off. You're taking it off with confidence that your business is stable, the money and the bookings. They're going to continue to flow. You're enjoying that week off with your family at the park on that carefully planned trip to a national park, or maybe you're just simply cooking dinner with a smile on your face.

On the days that you meet with your clients. There are breaks in your schedule so that you can eat, move and breathe. You don't even have to scarf your lunch down. There's plenty of time to sit and savor the flavors of your meal and not experience indigestion.

So what is this all about? This is about creating the life that you want. It's about creating the business that comes from a place of confidence. It allows you to feel fulfilled.

You are making ripples in the community so that the community has better outcomes. More kids are playing at the park where moms and dads and caregivers are active in the community. They're giving back as a coach, you are able to focus on your legacy and your vision for life knowing that each curve and turn along the way will give you an opportunity to learn. You are able to take family vacations. You're able to leave the laptop behind, but celebrate a full schedule of clients who light you up and who get lit up by you. That self-doubt is put to rest. You feel lighter and more ready to live, who you are to the fullest.

In today's episode, I'm going to walk you through the very first step of the coaching high blueprint. If you were with me last week for our podcast episode, you'll know that over the next few weeks we are going to walk through the coaching high blueprint so that you know the steps to the journey involved in creating your coaching business.

If you are thinking and listening today and thinking to yourself, I don't know if I want to be an entrepreneur. This episode is specifically for you. Now, that's not to say that this episode isn't for you if you want to be an entrepreneur. Here's the thing, today we're talking about having a vision for your coaching career. So this episode is for you if you want to be an entrepreneur, or if you simply want to be a coach within an organization.

I'd like to invite you to settle in, grab something, to take notes, and let's get started with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

Mindful Vision: A Foundation for Everything

As we opened up today's episode, you heard me talk about the coach who isn't experiencing the growth, the momentum, or the fulfillment that they imagined when starting a coaching business. The

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Podcast Intro

You make the decision to start your own coaching business. You are excited for the opportunity and ready to make a real difference in the world. You are exploring what you want to do, who you want to work with, and even the income possibilities that come with owning your own business and following your own rules.

But there is that little niggle in the back of your mind and deep in your gut that says you might not be able to make this work. In fact, you start to ask yourself who am I to think I can do this. I don’t have an MBA, or even if you do, you question your qualifications because you have never started a business or a business just like this one.

You take to the internet and see other coaches struggling to fulfill their dreams of running a successful and profitable coaching business. So the question becomes, “Is this something that I can really pull off?”

You really do want to make this work not just because you get to help people, but because it will mean more freedom in your life. You can adjust your business to fit your needs, go play at the park with your children, visit your grandchildren more frequently, or enjoy that Broadway musical that is in town. You can live life now instead of waiting for life to begin.

So you have to make a decision. Do you want to go for the entrepreneurial life where you get to serve your niche client and create the life that was just on your vision board before now or do you want to go back to what you have always done?

In today’s episode I’ll walk you through what needs to happen to say yes to your dream of creating a sustainable and profitable health coaching business. It really comes down to your willingness to make micro-decisions as a way to get results. Now if you are ready, with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

The Blueprint

Ok, let’s pick up the narrative where we left off. What would happen if you said yes to your coaching career? What if you committed to making micro decisions to get where you want to be. To build a business that you love and serves your needs? Are you imagining what that would feel like? What would your day consist of? How would you make use of the freedom that can come with building your own business?

These were the exact questions I asked myself when I started the Coaching Hive. Just like many other coaches, imposter syndrome was creeping in and honestly still does sometimes.

But here is what I realized. If I could focus on making micro decisions - little ones, not the big gargantuan ones and use a blueprint, then building a business was not only doable it was something that had me pushing aside my imposter syndrome and doubts to pursue.

It was this revelation that focusing on micro-decision is the #1 way to get results in your business and following a blueprint is the most effective way to get unstuck in your business and stop feeling overwhelmed even if you are just getting started. These two concepts allowed me to take the next steps forward.

In the Coaching Hive Blueprint series, we will spend the next 10 weeks talking about the key elements to building a sustainable and profitable health coaching business so that you can build a business that you wake up excited to work in.

I’ll be honest, before I had a blueprint for my business the venture was messier, more overwhelming, and definitely murkier. That is why I’m sharing the Coaching Hive Blueprint with you. This is the same Blueprint that I’ve used to build and grow my business.

As a quick overview, we will talk about vision, daily rhythm, mentors and peers, products and services, the importance of a one liner, what it means to build relationships and lean into cultivating a web presence as well as building a

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Podcast Intro

Well, hi there. Welcome back for a new episode of the Coaching Hive podcast. I think you are going to love what I have in store for you today in today's conversation with Anne. We are going to be breaking down this concept of what happens when you are stuck in your head, when you have all of these amazing ideas, but it's hard to know what to do first, what to do in what order, or even just flat out where to start.

It's easy as an entrepreneur, whether you're a full-time entrepreneur or part-time or somewhere in between to know what to do next. Sometimes being stuck isn't necessarily a problem, right? We all get stuck for a little while, at some point in our business. And a lot of times that gives you some new insights, but being stuck is not a place you want to stay in. If you succumb to that decision fatigue or even indecision, your business is not going to move forward. In fact, it's going to fail and that's certainly not what we want.

Now, building your business is a whole lot like a car, so that each part is going to compliment all of the other parts of your business. And hopefully without all of the tangle-y mess, that can happen in our brains. When we think about all of the things that we have to get done. So in today's conversation with Anne, we are going to break down all of the things she has in her brain.

We're going to talk about ways to get unstuck when that moment happens, because inevitably just like a sticky note, it's, you're going to get stuck. It happens. It's part of business. The key to being a successful business owner, a successful entrepreneur is knowing what to do to get on stuck. The key is knowing who to reach out to what strategies to employ, and then knowing that just getting going is good enough. You don't have to have it perfect.

It doesn't have to be the absolute best next step. You just have to take the next step. So that is what we are going to talk about today on this episode of the coaching high podcast.

Now, if you are ready to jump in and maybe get yourself unstuck, grab a paper and pen, because you are going to gain at least one idea that you can implement right today, once you finish listening to this episode. So with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

Coaching Hive Mentoring Conversation

(Transcript is auto-generated. Please excuse any errors.)

So today what I'd love to do is hear a little bit about your business, and then I'd love to see kind of where you're feeling stuck. I know you posted a few things in the survey to let me know where you kind of feel like you're stuck and let's go from there and see what we can figure out in terms of action items that work for you right now.

How does that sound? Yeah, that sounds perfect. Okay. Yeah. So I have been coaching, you know, in some form or another for probably 15 years, you know, my, my background is actually business management and then I became a massage therapist and a personal trainer got a master's in nutrition. And from that master's in nutrition. That's really like,

we, we spent like entire semester's learning, motivational interviewing and like counseling, like not the health coaching side of it, but like, you know, like counseling people, like in nutrition and stuff like that. So there was a lot of coaching that came out of it and I did some nutrition counseling, but I really jumped right into what we call health coaching right away from that.

And for the last eight years I've worked for an organization and employee assistance program that we do health coaching. Well, it's a little, it's a little fuzzy. Yeah, No, yes. Gradually are a little fuzzy on that kind of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny because I was texting with a coworker former coworker just earlier. Cause we were both listening to our law skis webinar on scope of practice that w

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Podcast Intro

Welcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast. Over the last few weeks, you have been listening to one-on-one mentoring conversations about a variety of topics from daily routine to growing and scaling your business to lead generation. Today’s podcast will also touch on lead generation, but instead of a full conversation with a specific coach, I wanted to do something special for you. I’m going to be sharing a tiny portion of last week’s Mentoring Call inside the Coaching Hive. We were focused on brainstorming ideas for lead generators and the concept of keeping it simple.

This podcast is unique and different because we are going into the nitty gritty practical conversation of how to build your audience as a health coach. We aren’t talking about the theory, but instead how to make it happen.

You will get a lot of value out of the conversation if you have been wondering what it would be like to have someone as a sounding board or have been feeling stuck when taking the next step forward, or if you want to build your audience but can’t quite put your finger on that next step.

If I had to guess, you’ve been struggling a bit with this concept because it feels ambiguous. How are you supposed to choose a topic that will resonate with your potential client in a way that has them trading their email address for your PDF. Or maybe you are thinking that you have to have a big, long email sequence ready and that thought alone keeps you frozen in your tracks.

When what you really want is to be able to work with clients who are ready to make a change. You want to be able to walk alongside them on their path to wellness. You really wish the business side of this were a bit easier or smoother.

I hear you! Finding the right lead generator can take trial and correction. In fact, it was March of last year that I created what I thought was an amazing lead generator. I created a podcast that walked alongside the PDF and really thought it would be a hit. In case you’re wondering, it wasn’t a hit at all. In fact, only one or two people downloaded it. Now, I could have stopped there and let the lack of fireworks stop me, but instead I continued trying out different ideas. When I really stopped to think about what health coaches, like you, wanted, I struck gold with the Coaching Hive Blueprint Assessment. This is a quick quiz, that you can check out at www.coachinghive.com/assessment, that gives you a chance to get feedback on your business with ideas for taking the next step forward. Suddenly, that growth was happening. I tell you this to remind you that just like you aren’t going to make that complicated recipe to the level of perfection the first time, it shouldn’t keep you from trying and adjusting. The beauty of being an entrepreneur is that we determine our next steps and get to decide what we are willing to invest in making our business a success.

Now before we get into the conversation inside the Coaching Hive, I want to update you on that lead generator that flopped when I first created it. A year later, some circumstances changed and that lead generator now gets steady downloads. The lead generator is all about planning your continuing education credits in a thoughtful and mindful way. It gained popularity when the NBHWC suddenly changed their CE process and providers had to go through a whole new process to be approved. The moral of the story here is to adjust, but don’t completely throw out what you have created. You never know when it might be more relevant in the future. I

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Podcast Intro

Welcome back to a brand-new episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast. Today I will be sitting down with Karuna as she thinks about how to get her health coaching business up and running with a growing email list.

And she knows that starts with growing her email list. Growing an email list is an important part of building a sustainable and healthy health coaching business. After all you own your email list, no one can take it away from you. Unlike social media channels or other borrowed platforms, the email list is going to be critical to not only getting started, but then sustaining that business over time. I like to think about it as a long-range battery. It, what helps it's what helps you to go the distance with your business instead of just kind of fizzling out after a few months or even a year or two, that email list is critical.

Now, if you are starting to build your health coaching business and you aren't quite sure what things to think about, I'd love to invite you to take the coaching hive blueprint assessment. You can do that by going to www.coachinghive.com/assessment. And you will have a chance to complete a brief less than 10-minute quiz about your coaching business.

And in return, you'll get a report that shares ideas about how to build, grow, or scale your coaching business from where you are today to where you want to be. So I invite you to check that out again, www.coachinghive.com/assessment, and it will take you straight to that quiz and you can get started.

Now, if you are ready to jump in, learn more about lead generation. What I would invite you to do is grab your tablet, grab your piece of paper, your pen, something to drink, and then let's chat lead generation. So, if you're ready with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

Conversation with Coach Karuna

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I would love to hear a little bit about what you're doing with your health coaching business, kind of where you're at and where you want to be. So I thought that might be a good place to start. Yeah, I know. So I, I got my certification a year back and, and since then, I mean, I, I work full-time with,

with an organization and then I worked part-time as well as, as a health facilitator. And so apart from that, I'm now getting into my own business. So some kind of threatened, but it's, I'm in a good place because it's something I enjoy doing, you know? So, so it gives me, it gives me the ability to, to kind of walk on different levels of coaching in the way that the work that I do.

Like, I work, it's an approved training program, so I am a content creator, you know, and we, we, we put the coursework together. So a lot of facilitation training, a lot of PSA's and all of that stuff. So we train coaches to take the certification. So that's a different aspect. I did that for six years.

I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. So with my part-time job, it's a group coaching that I do, which is like a video, you know, setting. So it's a group coaching that I'm doing. And then with my own business, it's, you know, again, focused on one-on-one and a culinary culinary nutrition is what my niche is.

So, so yeah, so that's, that's, that's where I am. Okay. So when you think about that and you think about six months or a year down the road, where do you want your personal health coaching business, that culinary nutrition niche to be? Where do you want that to be? So it's funny you asked that because

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Podcast Intro

Welcome back to a brand new episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast. If you have been following along for the past month, you know that we have sat down with Julie, who is now a full-time health coach at the beginning of the month. You heard her as she was transitioning from a different full-time job into being a full-time entrepreneur. And as we have been chatting over the weeks and working on her business, you've seen how she has developed a rhythm and a routine for her day, so that she can be productive and really get moving forward. We talked about how to generate more leads. And today we talk about how do you stand out from the crowd?

How do you shift the perspective of the person who is seeing your social media posts, reading your emails, or in other ways, just interacting with you in your world. And so I think you're going to get some really great insights from what Julia and I discuss in this episode of the Coaching Hive podcast. Now, I don't want to take up any more time before we dive in, but just one quick thing, the Coaching Hive is now open for enrollment the whole way through March 31st at the end of the day.

So if you are enjoying these mentoring calls and you feel like you would benefit from a community of peers and mentors with whom to troubleshoot, think about new ideas and just get settled into your coaching business. Now is the time you can go to www.coachinghive.com/join to learn more. And on that join page, you will actually see an option to get the replay of last week's profitable health coach masterclass.

So go ahead and head on over to www.coachinghive.com/join to learn more and with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

Conversation with Coach Julie

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So you are back from spring break. Yes. Ma'am you are Ready to get back in the flow of things.

Yes. You have your letters ready to go out. Yes. And they're probably actually going to go out today or no, I'm going to wait probably till Wednesday to get them out, but I'm going to get all of them customized and just sitting in drafts so that all I have to do is just hit sand and they're there out the door. Perfect.

Because sending on a Monday after spring break, it's going to be in the midst of the flutter that happens. So I think you're smart. Yeah. So I'm going to stick to Wednesday, but I'm going to get them all drafted up today. Perfect. And then it's so easy. You can just hit, send, send, send, send, send,

and be done with it. Yes. That's the plan. Perfect. So how are you feeling about those letters? Really good. I like it. I think it works well. I need to, I want to take kind of the same concept and tailor it to companies to do what corporate wellness things. Cause that's also a big deal right now, but that's probably like a three to five on the list right now.

I'm still working on trying to get consistent with social media. I've got to get back into the swing of things as far as my working out and my eating and like the personal things that I'm working on for the personal goals that I have. So that's going to kind of be the next couple of days. Grace is out of school today. I guess teachers needed a work day to get back into the swing of saying after spring break,

I don't, I Don't blame them. So she's out of school today. I've got doctor's appointm

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Podcast Intro

Welcome back to a brand new episode of the Coaching Hive podcast. As you know, over the past few weeks, we have been working together through some live mentoring calls with Julie. And I remember Julie is just now building her health coaching business from the ground up. She is a solopreneur and she is absolutely rocking it. She has taken this opportunity to build her business and is really focusing on the important things right upfront.

But as you know, building a business is not just as simple as getting a certificate and posting a few times on social media. So she is really focused on building out her brand while also building a rhythm, building a routine, having some really good action steps that will help her move forward in her business at a steady pace. So this week, as I sit down with Julie, you will hear her share a little bit about her rhythm. It is really coming into place. It is settling in and she's really hitting her stride. You'll also get to hear us talk about how to create a message for an audience that is engaging. It's inviting, and it's essentially riveting to the point that we want to make sure the audience is captured and ready for whatever she has to offer in this case.

It's a school district. So I hope you enjoy this conversation that I had with Julie. And remember, if you are interested in building your health coaching business, whether it is as a solopreneur, like Julie's doing full-time full blown entrepreneurship, or if you are interested in building a side business or perhaps working with a health coaching company, I have the perfect masterclass for you.

It is coming up on Thursday, the 24th. So don't delay. You want to make sure you get registered today. And we are going to talk about five really important things, five secrets that will help you build your successful profitable health coaching business. You can go to www.coachinghive.com/profitablehealthcoach to register today. The masterclass is completely free and I hope to see you there.

So, with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

Conversation with Coach Julie

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So last week you had a big to-do list. You had a big task list to tackle and you wanted to set up your photo shoots, choose a photographer, and then set up the photo shoot,

get that book. Yes. For June. Yes. You want it to be consistent on social media. You are going to maybe look at reels and hashtags and you wrote your school district letter. Yes, I did. Okay. So how did tell me about the photo shoot stuff? Is that all squared away? It is squared away. So I picked the photographer.

We picked June, we're supposed to connect back in may, once he gets back from Dubai to schedule like the actual date, but it'll be mid to late June. It'll for sure be after June 7th. Cause I was given myself 13, 12 to 13 weeks to prep. So the photographers picked the date, I mean is June. And then I picked the makeup and hair person and contacted her and she's on board for June as well.

They work together. So they know each other's how it works. Yeah. So that's done. And then Willy will, I asked for a pre-shoot meeting just to kind of get Great Clothing concepts and you know, hair and makeup so that everybody's just prepared. And I don't feel like I'm walking in trying to figure out what looks we're wanting. Right. It doesn't feel big and scary the day of it's.

Oh, okay. We're doing this. Get started. Yeah, we're executing at that point. So that is done and checked off the list for now. The letter is written and sent that to you on Friday. So

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Podcast Intro

Welcome back to a brand-new episode of the Coaching Hive podcast. Over the past few weeks, you have had a glimpse into one coach’s journey of building her coaching business from the ground up. Every coach is different, but Julie has chosen to build a solo practice that combines her personal training and health coaching certifications.

But, as you know, building a business isn’t as simple as getting a certificate and posting a few times on social media. You have to build your email list, reach new audiences, build a brand so that your potential clients know what to expect from working with you. Julie is spending the majority of her time right now serving a handful of clients and building her brand. As you will hear, we talk about everything from splitting her social media into compartments to discussing how to handle what you share of your personal life so that you meet the needs of your business but honor your family values and decisions.

Although this is just a snippet of your conversation, I think you will gain some interesting insights about how you can take action today. You’ll want to be sure to stick around until the end for your action item based on today’s mentoring conversation.

So, with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

Conversation with Coach Julie

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Last week when we were talking, it was really about flexibility and rhythm, knowing that you were going to be kind of on your own taking care of everything for the week. And we talked about, and you had really implemented some flexibility, knowing that it was going to be kind of crazy. And we talked about things like getting emails out to school districts, and I know you're working on that.

We talked about kind of keeping track of what you're doing, what you're getting done and making sure that it's simple. So one of the things we had talked about was the fact that you're in a spiral notebook and you know, my love of all things, paper yes. That you were kind of keeping track of stuff. And, you know, is there a way to simplify that process and you were just sharing with me that you had created a template, is that a world? Yes. And for that, but I just, I do, I still have my, my spiral and I write a lot of my notes in my spiral. And so like my client calls our calls, I'm taking notes and things like that, but I've got my notes now completely separated from my action items of what needs to be done.

So I'm going to give that a try and see how that works. And you might find that I loved your idea. You were sharing with me before we got started, that you haven't minimized on your computer and you're able to kind of move things around as things start to shift. And I think that's the epitome of flexibility recognizing that even if we have a template,

it doesn't have to live that way. Right. Right. So, yeah. So I keep it minimized and then I'll pull it up and add things to it. As I think about them, or as I'm working on a project, then I just pull it up, add that in. Or if I've got something that has a due date, it's really easy for me to put a due date on it.

I can highlight things that are really important or I can put them in red or what have you. So I'm going to give that a try and see how it works. Okay. So that kind of really, you know, we've been working on that daily routine, that rhythm, and I think, is it safe to say that the rhythm is that there's a lot of flexibility?

Yes, definitely right now. Okay. But It has its ebbs and flows. Yeah, yeah, Yeah. Which, you know, think about it. A tide comes in and out that it ebbs and fl

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Podcast Intro

Well, welcome back to a brand-new episode of the Coaching Hive podcast. If you were with us for episode 57, then you know that this month is all about mentoring. And last week we sat down with coach Julie and we talked about the concept of rhythm and routine in the day, so that she could really get going with her business.

Now, at the time of this recording, she was just beginning her second week of full-time entrepreneurship and finding some kind of workable rhythm was really at the top of her list of things to figure out. And so, as that episode closed, as the conversation closed, she had a good plan in place. She was ready to go out and put into practice this new rhythm that we talked about now, as with anything, you know, that it takes practice. There are going to be adjustments that have to happen. There's going to be flexibility. This has to happen because life happens. Things are always changing and flowing. And we have to remember that even with a routine or a rhythm, we have to be flexible.

We have to be flexible enough to go with the flow, to go with the rhythm, the adjustments that we need to make. So this week, what we're doing is catching up with Julie a week after, and we'll get to see and hear what her experience was like with the routine and the rhythm that we talked about in episode 57. So if you haven't listened to that one yet, go back, start there, and then join us here in episode 58, to learn more about what Julie has going on, what kinds of things we'll discuss and what your weekly action item will be with the theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

Conversation with Coach Julie

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When we think about last week, it was all about rhythm, right? You weren't focused on thinking about and integrating a new rhythm. So it was your second week paying a full-time entrepreneur. And you discovered that rhythm was going to be really important for you. Yes. Okay. So one of the things I remember us talking about is that you were going to get up early for your clients, workout with them, but then you were going to come home and actually do your own personal workout. You were going to work with them and then come home and do your own workout, get showered, get dressed and start your day. And on the days you didn't have clients, you and your husband were going to get up super early.

Yes. I work out and then get,get everyone out the door, get dressed, everything. Right. So tell me about how that, how did that go? Well, last week was my husband was sick, so he was not getting up and we had two bad weather days. So there was two days that I had my daughter at home. And one day that I had my husband at home.

So we were shifting around and doing all the tapes, which meant I didn't work out with my clients early. Cause it was, I mean, we had ice. I mean, you couldn't go. My daughter was at home, which means preparing food every hour. It seems like. And making sure things are going on. So last week schedule had to be flexible,but on the upside I worked out every day. Yeah, I did get it done. It didn't happen at 4 45 or five in the morning, but the workout happened every single day. I went to my trainer. I didn't on one day cause it was IC. But I did my trainer two days out of the three. I drank a gallon of water every single day.

I readied myself every day. So I did all the things,

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Podcast Intro

Welcome to a new series here on the coaching hive podcast. Before I share today's really special episode, I'd like to take a moment just to share a little bit about the series, because it is different from anything that you've heard here before through the month of March, you will have a chance to sit in on a series of mentoring calls that I have with one of our Coaching Hive members, Julie.

Julie is right at the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey. And as you'll hear, in fact, she's in the second week of her entrepreneurial journey, this is an exciting time in any health coaching business and Julie's business is no exception. The conversations that you hear will be snippets from larger conversations and topics that we're discussing, but I wanted to give you a sneak peek, a little bit of a window into what it's like to get started as a health coach, entrepreneur, and how to make use of a mentor. As we jumped into this conversation, I'd like you to reflect on what it would bring to your health coaching business, to have someone with whom you can regularly sit down where you explore ideas, ask questions, work through challenges and set intentions.

Now with our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let's jump in.

Conversation with Coach Julie

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I wonder if we can kind of start by you telling me just a little bit about your business. I know that you are just getting started. You just moved from being kind of part-time on the side,

thinking about it to being that full-time entrepreneur. So catch me up and tell me a little bit about your business and what it's going to look like, what you want for it. Okay. So, yeah, so it's just a matter of going from having a little bit of time during the day to do my business to now a full time being able to do my business.

So it was from doing a little bit here and there and really took me about a year to figure out what I wanted it to look like and what it could be moving into a full-time role. So it's more of now a reality of, okay, I've set my plan in place. I've done all the things. The website is up. I have my packages in place.

I have my pricing in place. I do have clients. Now the next step is really continuing the awareness of my business and to grow that so that people know I'm here and what I'm doing, and then also to naturally grow clients. And I'm really, I'm not as focused right now on the quantitative goals. As I am the qualitative goals, I feel that's better for me and doesn't cause me as much stress and anxiety of thinking.

I have to hit this number. I have to hit this number. And if I don't hit this number, oh my gosh, what's going to happen. So I'm really taking the approach of qualitative goals and qualitative measures of am I doing X number of posts every week? Am I posting to the social pages in my area? Am I emailing people? Am I talking to my center of influences to let them know what I'm doing?

Am I reaching out to doctors? Am I going to all of my networking events? So even Bible study, I'm in a Bible study. So letting them know what I'm doing. So that's really the focus I'm taking right now. Cause not everybody knows about my business, right? So it's really hard to put a quantity or a quantitative goal on, I need to get 10 customers in the next two months when I don't know that that many people know about me yet.

So that's really the direction I'm taking for this first three months is just doing as much PR work for my business as much branding work for my business because everybody associates me with my old company. And so now I'm letting them know, Hey, you need to change my email address. This is what I'm doing. You know, this is what my structure looks like right now.

So that's really what I'm focused on for the next three months. Okay. So really building

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Welcome to a new episode of the Coaching Hive podcast. Before I share today’s episode, I’d like to take a moment to appreciate something small, but fun. Today’s date, when this episode is airing, is 2/22/22. I know this probably makes me a little geeky for having such a big smile on my face, but I love those little moments in life. It is all about appreciating the day, the little things and the big things, and all of the in-between things.

And that brings me to our final episode in the Uniquely Yours series. Building a coaching business that allows you to find freedom is a game changer. Talk about generating more big moments.

Finding freedom in your business is akin to winning the lottery, except the lottery is a game of chance and finding freedom in your business is something that you have 100% control over.

What would you gain by finding freedom in your coaching business? Today we are going to explore that exact question and I’ll share some ideas for finding freedom.

With our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let’s jump in.

Introduction

It was a little over a year ago that I woke up and realized that my life was no longer my own. I was constantly sneaking away from family time to grade, staying up late to teach, and missing bedtime to get back to students. Imagine my sweet son’s face each time I said the dreaded words, “I have to work this weekend, tonight, every night this week.” What I saw was sadness, confusion, and even acceptance. Luckily, I was also the recipient of unwavering support and love from my son and husband. We had been piecing together my work obligations for many years so that I could first stay home with my son, later be there to pick him up after school, and more recently to homeschool him. I knew that I didn’t want to miss anything else. I needed more freedom in my work and that came with owning my own business.

Now I bet that many of you listening are shaking your head. You would love some additional freedom, more say in how you spend your time, and even more opportunity to do what matters most to you in your life.

If I were to ask you how you came to your goal of being a health coach, you probably wanted a few things. You wanted to maintain or reclaim your own health, you wanted to help others, you wanted freedom. You wanted to be able to help the maximum number of people on their health and wellness journey while enjoying the benefits of being an entrepreneur, right?

You seized the moment, decided to dive in and launched your coaching business. These are all exciting things. They bring the health coaching world into the spotlight and offer more attention to the importance of health and well-being.

Freedom is at the forefront of your mind right alongside helping others achieve their health and wellness goals. You are really looking forward to investigating what you would gain by finding freedom in your coaching business.

As you continue to build your coaching business, you have lots of ideas, new contacts, exciting opportunities, and the list goes on. You find yourself saying yes to everything and yes to the opportunities that you didn’t even know you were saying yes to at the time.

Suddenly you are losing sight of that freedom that you were working toward because you are helping the world. You are guiding people each day toward their wellness vision, but internally you are beginning to feel worry and concern that this isn’t exactly what you signed up for. You are beginning to notice that your work hours are bleeding past what you

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Welcome to our third episode in our Uniquely Yours Coaching Hive podcast series. In episodes 53 and 54 we explored questions like, “How do you build a business that you love day after day, month after month, and year after year?” and, “What will happen if you have contentment built into your business each day?” The answer is simple, you are building a thriving coaching business that you love. This is the goal, right? But success doesn’t necessarily mean hustle and it doesn’t necessarily equate to a whirlwind roller coaster ride.

Today we are going to talk about something important to every business: boredom. In fact, what if I said to you right now. Every business should have the opportunity for boredom. Do I have your attention? I hope so!

With our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, lets jump in.

Introduction

When you think of the word boredom, what comes to mind? Is it a younger you on a car ride saying, “Are we there yet?” Or perhaps you have been on the receiving end of that oft asked question. Maybe you think that boredom equates to something being wrong or not enough being done. And maybe it means something else entirely to you. I’d like to invite you to reflect for a moment here and think about what the word boredom elicits for you.

Now let me ask you a question, what if boredom is actually the secret sauce for a successful coaching business? Would you like to be bored in your business?

The quick and dirty answer is often no when I ask this question. Who wants to be bored? Most people become entrepreneurs to stay engaged, on the cutting edge of things, and immersed in the activity that comes with owning your own business.

Entrepreneurs are on a go-go-go track to build a successful, profitable and fulfilling business.

But let me ask you again, what if boredom is actually the secret sauce for a successful coaching business?

Let me paint a picture for you. You have decided to build or grow your coaching business. You are creating content, brushing up on your social media skills, meeting with potential partners, researching websites and software. You are carefully tracking your expenses and income. You are thinking about the next big steps and then jumping in so that you don’t get left behind in the race to build a successful and thriving coaching business.

Imagine you are that coach. Do you see yourself? Now with that in mind, let me ask you another question. How do you feel? Are you energized or tired? Are you exploding with creativity or struggling to write one social media post? Have you found something innovative or are you merely getting by with your clients?

On the outside you look like a busy, successful entrepreneur, but on the inside you are finding it challenging to stay engaged in your business because it just seems to take and never give. You might even be wondering if it is worth it to coach anymore. It feels like a lot more work than a 9-5 job. Maybe you are ready to give up your flexibility to work for someone else. Maybe you are looking around for that flexibility you thought you might have as an entrepreneur and you can’t find it.

If there isn’t some down time or time for boredom, when will the innovation happen? The rejuvenation that comes with stepping away from something? Even the joy of knowing that something will keep turning when you don’t log in for 24 or 48 hours?

You are creating that business that is running you instead of you running it.

Main Section

It doesn’t have to be this way. You can have a business that is successful. You can be a thriving coach AND have a business that ha

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Welcome to our second episode of the Uniquely Yours series on the Coaching Hive podcast. If you remember last week’s episode

you’ll know that I posed a thought for you to explore. When building your coaching business, focus on your path first and foremost. This week we will extend that thought a bit more with the idea that you want to spend time and energy planning for contentment inside your life and business. Today we are going to think about this concept of contentment, and you will walk away with an action item to help you begin the process of building contentment into your coaching business.

With our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, lets jump in.

Introduction

What will happen if you have contentment built into your business each day? You know, that feeling of satisfaction, ease and just plain enjoyment with what you are doing.

The challenge is that this isn’t usually how we operate. Think about a 9-5 job. Is it about experiencing contentment or is it about hustle, getting things in by deadlines, and following someone else’s agenda? Likely all those things.

Now think about an entrepreneur who is in a race to build a big business or even just a successful one. It is about hustle, long hours, worry, getting things done by a deadline, and maybe still following someone else’s agenda (or path like we talked about in Episode 53).

How many people do you know who build contentment into their day-to-day lives? You know, the stuff that happens outside of work hours. This has been a big challenge, especially in United States culture where an individualist approach to life means we are always stretching to reach ahead or trying to keep up.

None of these scenarios lead to contentment. In fact, they probably lead to the opposite and include burnout, dis-ease, and even feeling frustrated with life.

The question remains, what will happen if you have contentment built into your business each day? In truth, this doesn’t happen by itself. You must spend time and energy planning for contentment inside your life and business.

No one wants to feel frustrated, burned out, constantly hustling, or worrying about deadlines. Most people, given the choice, would eagerly sign up for satisfaction, ease, and enjoyment inside their life and business.

This brings me back to last week’s idea that when building your coaching business, focus on your path first and foremost. With your path in mind you have already taken a giant leap toward contentment because you are pursuing the business that you desire. But why stop there? What if you could incorporate 3 things into your business that will build contentment.

Would you do them?

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Here they are, three things that you can do to build contentment inside your business.

The first is to craft a mission statement that you incorporate into your daily routine. This was something that I was lacking early in the Coaching Hive. I knew it in a broad strokes kind of way, but it wasn’t until encouraged by Donald Miller of Business Made Simple, to put that mission into words and make it a part of my daily routine that I saw contentment and confidence flowing into my business. The beauty of a mission statement is that it is just one or two sentences. This is not a dissertation that you have to write. This

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Welcome to a new episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast. Today we begin a four-part series on creating a business that is Uniquely Yours. As we prepare to jump into this topic, I’d like to share with you an idea that is critical to remember if you want to build a successful coaching business that you love. When building your coaching business, focus on your path first and foremost.

With our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, lets jump in.

Introduction

The real question here is how do you build a business that you love day after day, month after month, and year after year?

This concept of building a coaching business by focusing on your path first and foremost sounds good, right? But how many of us do that? It is easy to get caught up in the stories of other coaches, the processes they followed, the templates they used, and even the exact path they took to success. After all, if they followed the path to success, can’t you do the same?

But what if you follow that path and meet success along the way only to discover that this path you are on, doesn’t fulfill you, it doesn’t meet your needs, or leave you excited to wake up each morning and work inside YOUR coaching business?

On the outside you have a successful coaching business with clients, a filled calendar, and reliable income coming in. That isn’t the problem. It is the stuff inside. You are working inside a coaching business that doesn’t have you excited to learn more to better serve your clients and so you stop growing as a coach. You might even come to resent the clients and not be able to serve them to your best ability. Take this a level deeper and what happens when you are not fulfilled in your business?

The client whom you are guiding on their health and wellness journey isn’t seeing the results they desire because the coach guide isn’t a fully present guide.

Most people rely on following in the footsteps of others without realizing that those footsteps might not help you build the business that you love day after day, month after month, and year after year.

In fact you might find that you have veered completed off what was to have been YOUR path as a coach.

This leaves you regretting your career, feeling burned out, and maybe even guiding clients down paths that are not right for them. Your coaching career can become part of the health problem instead of the solution and that is certainly not what you want. After all, you likely became a health coach because you wanted to help others achieve their health and wellness goals.

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You might be imagining this bleak picture right now. You are trudging to your office, whether virtual, at home, or somewhere in your town and you feel the weight on your back of working inside a business that doesn’t bring joy, set your mind free to learn and grow, or bring a lightness to your step.

We have all seen people approach their work this way and you may have even felt this in the past, but that doesn’t mean this always has to be the case. Most recently I have seen a monumental shift in several coaches who chose to make a shift and create their own path forward. With guidance, gumption, and enthusiasm they are learning from others, but sticking to their path.

That is the critical component. They are sticking to THEIR path. Not someone else’s path. But how do you do that? How do you stay true to your own path in the day of social media where everyone else seems to have it figured out and present a specific process, template, or set of guidelines to follow?

I’ll let you in on a secret.

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Welcome to our final episode on keeping time in perspective. Before we get started today, I’d like to ask you a question. How do you stay anchored in what is important? There are so many distractions out there that it is easy to become scattered in action and thought. If you lean into that scattered mentality, it can easily derail your progress and even your commitment to your dreams and vision. Today we are going to talk about how to stay grounded yet open, anchored yet flexible and you will walk away with one action item to help you stay anchored this week and keep the big picture in mind.

With our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, lets jump in.

Introduction

Imagine you are working along in your business, you have task lists, you are sharing your message, you have your priorities, your pillars, your backlog, the yes and ideas overflow tasks all nicely sorted. In fact, things are humming along nicely. But you sit down at your desk one day and you realize that you aren’t sure where you are headed. So many people outline a task and then doggedly move forward because they committed to something, even if that commitment was just to themselves. There is comfort in having order, especially the kind of order that Agile systems bring to your business. There is a clear path and process for getting things done and that leads to increased efficiency and efficacy.

BUT, it is easy when you get into these brief sprints to lose sight of the big picture. Stepping back every once in awhile will help you stay grounded in your vision and pillars. What if, instead, you take time each week or even each day to explore the big picture?

Staying Anchored

Let’s back up for just a moment and think about the concept of an anchor. Think about a boat who drops anchor. What is the purpose of the anchor? It is to keep the boat from drifting off course while other things are being attended to. Maybe that is resting, eating, charting a new course, or something else entirely. A secure anchor means that the boat isn’t going to move into dangerous waters, but an anchor doesn’t keep the boat from moving at all. The chain that is attached to the anchor allows the boat to move with the water. It is not made of concrete or stone.

When you are working inside your business you are focused on many tasks, much like a boat captain would be focused on many tasks at once. You are thinking about the direction you are taking, but you are probably looking at the nitty gritty details that must be attended to at any given time. You might be working on a new product, meeting with a new client, preparing a marketing package, networking, learning about a new approach to managing client progress, or any other number of tasks that a coach encounters in their business. In this way, you are a captain of the boat. The captain doesn’t just stand at the helm of the boat and hope that they are able to get to the destination. Instead they are working on each component step-by-step.

In this series, we have discussed the benefits of Agile for staying focused, saying yes, knowing when to say no, and even choosing the right opportunities, but there is one thing we haven’t talked about and that is staying anchored in your vision. Just like the boat captain is always aware of the destination, you must also be aware of the destination so that you aren’t simply adding to your backlog, spending time on meaningless tasks that once were critical but now are not needed, and creating to dos because someone else is doing something that is working.

How can you stay anchored? Remind yourself dai

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Welcome back to our series on keeping time in perspective. We are halfway through this series on keeping time in perspective, with a discussion of Agile and how you can say yes to the important tasks and no to the tasks that do not align with your pillars and vision at this time. Having an ideas overflow space in your business allows you to dream without worrying that you need to implement right at this moment. With our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, lets jump in.

Introduction

You can have your priorities, your pillars, your backlog, the yes and ideas overflow tasks all nicely sorted, but then a new opportunity pops up. What do you do? Do you say yes and throw everything out of whack or do you say no to preserve the order? It can seem complicated and opportunities, especially if you are open to them, are abundant.

So what do you do? You obviously can’t say yes to every opportunity that arises, just like you probably don’t want to say no to every opportunity. There must be a balance and finding that balance can be made a little easier with Agile in your life. You definitely don’t want to miss out on an important opportunity when it arises.

Choosing Opportunities

Before we talk about how Agile can help here, lets pause for a definitely of the word agile from dictionary.com: “quick and well-coordinated in movement”. This leads us to believe that the Agile system for time and project management should be flexible and fluid. Something that can change quickly and with coordination and it can. The beauty of Agile is that you aren’t locked into a specific set of tasks in a specific order for the entire year. You have your backlog, but then you are pulling items in or adding newly discovered items to a sprint every 10 days, or whatever time span you choose. This means that you don’t have to stay stuck with a set-in-stone plan for the year that ignores that fact that life and opportunities are fluid.

With that settled, there is space and a place for opportunities as they arise, now you can put time and energy into deciding WHICH opportunities to say yes to and which will get the no or maybe later designation.

Let me give you an example to get us started. You are a new coach, you just finished your training, have a brand-new certification but you see this other specialized training that looks amazing. They open just a few times a year and you are really excited about the content. Do you say yes or no? The answer depends. You have to think about not just cost but also time. Remember that time is finite. You don’t have an endless supply. When you look at your time what will fit into your schedule? If you are hoping to make progress in building your coaching clientele, this course might be a no for now even if the finances make sense. You might also consider if the course will be more impactful after you have more coaching experience. Will the content make more sense and be more readily applicable? You also want to consider our good friend procrastination. Take a look at your backlog. Are the items on that backlog ones that make you nervous, push you outside your comfort zone, or are labeled as large? Are you inviting a new opportunity to push these tasks that you have already identified as critical to your vision and the pillars of focus back for a little while? Why might that be?

These are tough questions and conversations to have with yourself. In fact, it can be very helpful to discuss these kinds of questions with a mentor or your peer community. Fellow coaches who have been in your shoes and

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Welcome back to our series on keeping time in perspective. Last week I introduced the process of using Agile in your coaching business to make the most of your time but also to keep the time you have in perspective rather than overloading yourself. We focused on what you are saying yes to last week. Now we are going to shift gears and think about saying no so that we continue our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision in 2022.

Introduction

Here we are. As I mentioned, last week was all about saying yes, but in a way that respects the time that you have and keep it in perspective. Instead of overloading your task list, you make use of a backlog, then methodically and intentionally move items to your sprint then on to your in-progress list and ultimately crossing the finish line and putting your tasks in the done category. Perhaps you even do a victory dance like we do in our home.

I shared that although I don’t use Agile following the exact tenets of the process, I’m hoping to get there as I work through my backlog of work and ultimately get ahead. Chances are, you were thinking that sounds nice and on the other hand you were thinking that it sounded impossible. Your backlog was just too long. In preparation for today’s episode, I took a moment to see how many items are on my backlog of this recording in early January. There are a whopping 70 items, all at least 4 steps each on my backlog. This doesn’t count the items on this sprint, but I’m confident that I can accomplish all of these tasks in 2022.

One reason is because I’m saying “no” more often. Are you ready to hear more about that?

Saying No and the Backlog

At the end of 2021, you explored the pillars where you would like to focus for 2022. These pillars were aligned with your mindful vision and will help you immensely here. So if you have those pillars, go ahead and pull them out. If you don't, you might go back to the end of our 2021 season.

Take a listen to those episodes. Again, there episodes 45 through 48, but I think you'll find episode 45 and 46, the most helpful here. So you have your pillars, you have them in front of you. And what I'd like to do today is share a trick that I discovered as I was creating my backlog. I crafted my pillars. I knew where I wanted to spend my time and attention focus my energies in 2022 so that I could make more progress on my mindful vision for my coaching business.

This is what many coaches hope for. They want to make progress in their mindful vision. And so when I looked at that backlog, I was very intentional. In fact, last week I shared with you that I have my backlog divided into different categories. What I didn't tell you is that I divided them by pillar that I wanted to focus on.

And so what you have here is you have a backlog and you have your list, right? You can look at it, maybe you categorized it just based on similarities. That's a great place to start. What you can do now is take a look at your pillars, see how they align with those different categories within your backlog. Maybe it's a perfect one-to-one match.

That's amazing if that happened, that means those pillars are really at the forefront of your mind and of your attention, but chances are, they are not 100% aligned mine weren't at first, but that doesn't mean they can't be. So take a look at your categories in your backlog. If you did not categorize everything, just look at your whole backlog list.

And as you go through your backlog, identify which pillar each of those backlog items will align with. If you get to

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Welcome to a new year with the Coaching Hive podcast. To say last year was a whirlwind would be an understatement, but with action comes clarity. And this year, I will be guiding you in gaining clarity as you take action in your coaching business. We are starting off 2022 with a series of episodes focused on time.

Introduction

In thinking about the upcoming year, a few words come to mind: simplicity, clarity, and vision. In fact, we wrapped up 2021 with a series on your Mindful Vision for your business in 2022. What about you? When you think about the upcoming year and your business, what words strike you as most important? If you haven’t had a chance to think about that, it can be a powerful experience. I say this even though I’m not typically one to choose a word for the year. In fact, I still can’t do that, but I do have those three words in mind that will guide my actions, decisions, and path. They allow for flexibility and freedom as well as grounding and meaning.

Now, I know you aren’t listening today for me to expound upon three words that have been on my mind as I contemplate the new year, but I promise there is a path here. Think about building your business.

What would you like to say yes to in the coming year?

With your Mindful Vision, from episodes 45-48, do you now have more clarity?

You might be shaking your head no and I get it. It is really easy to say that everything will align with your vision because in some way it will all be linked. And you are right, many different activities can be directly linked to your business, but not every activity will be as important or helpful to your business.

This is where you have to stop and decide what to say yes to while keeping the amount of time you have in perspective.

Over the past few weeks, this has been a hot topic in our house. As an entrepreneur you can easily focus on the tasks that are interesting, quick wins and ignore the harder more daunting but infinitely more important tasks. Maybe those bigger tasks that seem daunting are what will move your business forward the most but you can’t find the time or energy.

What if you tried something similar to an Agile approach?

This is something that I recently implemented inside my business and we are even giving it a whirl in our homeschooling routine as a way to manage and master time. Using an Agile approach definitely makes you keep the time that you have in perspective, helps you get the big things done, and get those other satisfying, “yes” type tasks taken care of as well.

I don’t follow the letter of the law with Agile because Agile is not deadline driven, but I hope to get to a place where I can use Agile in the way it was intended. For now, I’m taking the pieces that work for me and building from there.

Remember, keep your time in perspective. You can’t do everything all the time in the exact way you’d like.

If you are ready, I’ll give you a sneak peak into how I’m keeping time in perspective this year in my planning and aligning everything back to my vision. Doing this is not only bringing clarity, it is bringing simplicity and ease. It's already bringing simplicity and ease. And I'm just getting started. Does that sound like something that you want to have inside your business? Probably shaking your head. Yes, I can. I can understand. And I can agree.

Agile Process Explained

Let's talk for the remainder of our episode, our time

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Introduction

Do you ever have that moment where something unexpected comes up that completely throws your plans into Welcome to our final episode of the coaching hive podcast for 2021. I cannot believe we are here, and I am so excited to jump into our planning conversation for 2022.

Music

I'm Dr. Moira, and this is the Coaching Hive podcast.

Overview

As a reminder, as this series has been focused on getting your plan for 2022 in line. Now in the past few weeks, we have been talking about the concept of what are your three big pillars. What things do you want to focus on in the new year? And sometimes when we take this step back, we look at three big pillars instead of all of these big goals, and I have this and that and that to do, just identifying a few pillars where you'd like to focus your energy and your attention can simplify everything so much.

And then what we did was we got a little bit zoomed in just a little bit further and started thinking about what would it look like to work on these pillars? What would it look like to explore even on a quarterly basis, what you might do to work toward these pillar ideas? And the reason we look at that quarterly approach and a pillar concept is because life happens,

things are going to change. You can plan out every single week of next year and two weeks in something might shift and it throws the rest of your plan out of whack, right?

When you take a look at the three big pillars that you'd like to focus on, this can sometimes keep things a little bit more flexible, a little bit more free flowing while still allowing you to make progress in your coaching business so that you can better serve your clients.

Taking it a Step Further

We started with those three pillars, and then we kind of zoomed in just a little bit and started thinking about on a quarterly basis, maybe even just the first quarter, maybe that's all you're looking at right now to keep that flexibility in play.

Maybe you look at that first quarter and you say, okay, I know that I want to focus on pillar one this first quarter. I'm not going to worry about pillars two and three. They're not as important right now. You can start ordering your pillars. So quarter one, maybe you're focusing on pillar one, let's make it easy. And as you think about pillar one, you start to explore what are some things that you could work toward that move pillar one forward. This was still a pretty picture, wasn't it? And we talked about the fact that that's okay. You can, if you're ready, take that approach and zoom in a little bit more. And even, maybe look at the three months of the first quarter, if that feels too much right now, you're not alone. In fact, I was talking with someone earlier this week, who said, I have made plans every single year. I create a vision. I create my plan for the year and it never works. And it feels like I'm failing. And so we talked for a little while and thought about this concept of let's just start with three pillars. Not just start there, let them settle, see how they feel. What do you think about them?

Keep in mind what you've accomplished in the last year where you'd like to grow and what you can use from this past year to support the pillars moving forward. And what she came back with was in 15 minutes, she said, well, I have my three pillars. This feels so much easier. It feels lighter. Then coming up with this big plan, this big vision. And I do advocate for coming up with a vision of course, for your business, but it doesn't always have to be complicated. And it doesn't each moment doesn't have to be complicated. And that's kind of where we're focusing as we wrap up 2021 is keeping things simple.

You have your pillars, you are building on things that you've already been successful with, or you're using those strengths that you used in the past to grow those pillars

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Introduction

Do you ever have that moment where something unexpected comes up that completely throws your plans into disarray? If you are a planner and have been anticipating these plans for quite some time, you may be hesitant to create long-range plans or even a vision that extends past next month. Even if you aren’t a planner, but had your quickly thrown together unceremoniously dashed, you may be hesitant. What is the point, you might be thinking. I get it! Honestly, I had that happen this past week as I was finalizing my plans for 2022, but here I am back again this week sharing the importance of thinking strategically about your goals and vision for your health coaching business.

It is easy to be disappointed or hesitant to make plans, especially after the last two years have shown us that planning means being prepared for the unexpected and knowing that it can all change in a heartbeat.

So, today, let's keep it simple and find the middle ground. Flexible planning that allows for life’s speed bumps yet helps us to stay focused and moving forward.

Quarterly Planning

Last week, in Episode 46 I shared the idea of thinking about your upcoming year and identifying 3 main pillars that you would like to focus on in your business. These provide a strong foundation and often can be accomplished in a multitude of ways. Remember, I just said flexible planning is the key to thinking about the upcoming year.

Today let’s break this down a bit further. And, as with last week’s episode, I’ll keep this short since you are likely looking forward to a little quiet time as the year winds down.

Let’s talk about quarterly goals. It is important to take those 3 big pillars where you’d like to focus and think about how they can be accomplished. After all, you don’t go from start to finish without some stuff happening in the middle. How will you make those pillars become your reality at the end of the year? The honest answer is slow and steady effort and progress. Your big pillars won’t be accomplished overnight, but they can be accomplished with a little persistence and attention.

Take a look at those pillars and one by one, I want you to think about how you can work toward them throughout the year. How could you break down each pillar into 4 parts? What happens when you do this, is that you gain insight into your time. You make more progress with your whole business in mind and the outcome for the year.

Taking this first step is fun. You get to be creative as you think about all of the ways you can bring the pillar to fruition. Remember, when I started out this podcast saying that sometimes things happen. You have no warning and it completely changes everything. When you plan for the pillars in a way that you explore the different possibilities, these unanticipated shake-ups have less lasting impact. Yes, they change the trajectory a bit, but there are already other paths in your mind for still accomplishing the pillar you outlined last week.

Now, imagine if you didn’t take this time to think about the different ways to achieve a pillar of your plan. That shake-up might feel more catastrophic or insurmountable. You wouldn’t have identified other ideas as possible avenues for the pillar.

BUT because you DID explore and plan this quarterly breakdown now you have more flexibility and greater insight into the possibilities. This comes with more ease.

Doesn’t that sound nice?

Now as you begin to think about your quarterly options, keep in mind all of the important things that already exist on your calendar. You might have time blocked off for birthdays, holidays, rest, vacations, and just plain mental health days. Those need to get booked in before

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Introduction

Do you feel overwhelmed when you think about planning for the upcoming year? There is such a big push at the end of the year to begin thinking about that next and that can be overwhelming, but today I’m going to share with you the first step of my process for planning with clarity and confidence for the upcoming year.

You don’t need to feel overwhelm, frustration, or worry about being unsure of those next steps and in the new year, I’ll even take you a step further to help you craft your Mindful Vision for your business. But first, let’s keep it simple.

Three 2022 Pillars

Welcome back to a new episode of the Coaching Hive podcast. As I mentioned in the intro for this episode, today is all about starting a 3-step process that we will continue through the end of this month.

Planning is an essential part of building a thriving coaching business and has the added benefit of helping you to feel more comfortable each step of the way with a clear path to walk.

This week we will look at the big picture and then over the next two weeks we will steadily move toward a clear focus with more and more details. How does that sound?

A little simplicity is a good thing. And when you think about your business simplicity, clarity, and confidence create the trifecta for action and progress.

Without further ado, grab a pen and paper. Even if you typically take notes on a tablet or other kind of device, if you are able, I strongly encourage you to grab a piece of paper for this activity. The physical process of writing can often unlock ideas and paths that we otherwise might not uncover. It can be so much easier to get closer to your truth and your desires for your business with the action of writing.

Now, you might be thinking that a blank page is not your thing. Grab a small sticky note, a scrap of paper, or anything that you have laying around. It doesn’t have to be a big blank sheet of paper. You could open your notes app, but give the paper method a try first.

What we are focused on this week are the big picture goals for the year. This may not sound tricky, but what if I said to keep this list to 3?

Chances are, you will not start there and that is ok. If you are using sticky notes, grab a pile. If you have a sheet of paper grab your pen. Now take 5 minutes and be sure to set a timer. Jot down one idea per sticky note of what you want to accomplish in 2022. If you are using a sheet of paper, just jot down your list.

Once that five minutes is up, if you find that your ideas a slowing down go ahead and stop. If you looked at that timer and seriously contemplated adding another 5 minutes because your ideas are really flowing, go ahead and add another 5 minutes. BUT no more than an additional 5 minutes.

Once you have your initial list of what you’d like to accomplish in 2022, I want you to take another look at the ideas that captured your attention.

If you are like many, you listed more than 3 things. I know that I do that when I first start this process. In fact, I often have 10-15 things. Can you imagine implementing 10-15 major items next year? It sounds exhausting and walks the line for overwhelm. Definitely not the simplicity that we are after when crafting a path forward.

This brings me to the next step, look at your list and see how they can be lumped together. The idea here is to simplify the list you have. It is likely that several of the items you have identified are actually part of a bigger concept. It is that bigger concept that becomes one of your 2022 goals. Think of it like a pillar. The pillar will contain more detail, which we will talk about in coming weeks, but right now we wa

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Introduction

Welcome to a new month and a new topic here at the Coaching Hive! Last month, we spent a lot of time talking about measuring progress and that really sets us up nicely here at the end of the year, to start thinking about vision, start thinking about planning and to take time to remember where we have come in the past year.

What have we accomplished?

This month is all about vision and planning for the upcoming year. But before we do that, I think it's really important to take a step back. This is a wonderful time and important time to do a bit of reflection. I know that so many people are focused on the next steps, the new ideas, what's hip and happening for the next year.

I don't know about you, but my email inbox is full of emails, reminding me to set my plans, to create my vision, to think about next steps. What are the predictions for next year? And all of that is so important, but just as important as planning for the future is looking at what has occurred in the past. And I don't say this as a way to kind of get stuck in the past, but instead we can use the past to help inform our next choices.

Reflection

All right, this episode is going to be a short one because the bulk of it really falls on your shoulders. I want you to have an opportunity to do the reflection, and if we keep this episode short, you'll have more time to do that.

Here's what I'm thinking of in terms of reflecting over the past year. This is something that I do for myself personally, we do it in our family, and I do it for the Coaching Hive business as well. And what happens is we take time, step aside and step out of the busy and the hustle of the day to day in looking back, you will be so much better able to decide where you want to go and what you want to do in the upcoming year, which means that your vision, your plans for the next year will be a lot more meaningful. They will be more polished and they will ultimately help you take the next right steps in your business.

So here are a few of the questions that I have for you today.

What do you want to celebrate? What has gone well? What have you accomplished in the last 11 months of the year? What would you like to celebrate?

And also, what would you like to let go of when you think about the past year as you think about your reactions, your feelings, your thoughts, the processes you implemented, the products you unveiled? Is there anything that you would like to let go of something that really didn't serve you or serve your business or your family? Well, that you would like to say this was an interesting trial, but I don't think I want to carry it forward into the next year.

These are really great ways to start your reflection. Now, when you do this, I want you to be sure to remember the measuring progress series. We're not looking to judge the accomplishments or judge what you want to let go of. It is simply a tool to help you decide where to go next with a more informed process. In fact, this is going to take some time.

I would encourage you to find a quiet place several days this week, maybe even over the next week or two, maybe it's 15 minutes or 30 minutes, or even an hour. If you have it at a time and sit in the quiet and reflect for me, I sit in my office. I have a foot salt lamp that when you turn it on, it gets really warm. And I have a comfy chair and I have a fuzzy blanket. And what I do is I bring a hot cup of tea or sometimes hot chocolate. And I bring my workbook or a notebook with me where I take all my notes and get my thoughts out about what I'd like to do and work on what my vision is. But I use this to kind of keep track of all of my thoughts. I'm a sticky note kind of girl and sticky notes get lost. This is too important to put on a sticky note. So, I sit with my hot cup of tea or hot chocolate. I sit in my chair, and

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Read the Conclusions to get the FREE pdf download used in conjunction with this podcast episode.

Introduction

Here we are on the last day of November and as I pull out my planner and road map for 2022 I’m thinking even more heavily about progress and how to measure progress. As a coach you are likely thinking about progress from many different points of view. You are considering your client’s progress toward their vision, you are considering your own health and wellness progress, and your business progress as an entrepreneur.

Progress is exciting to think about, and it can be a bit overwhelming at the same time. When you start measuring and thinking about progress it can lead to a feeling or desire to do something about the progress you have made. Maybe it is to amplify the progress you have already experienced, maybe it is to adjust course and take a different path to progress, and maybe it is acknowledging that bigger changes might be on the horizon.

Regardless of what you feel when you think about progress or when you sit down to think about progress with a client, it is critical to take things one step at a time. Today, I’d like to share with you three things that can help you move through this process of thinking about progress without the feeling of overwhelm, questioning, or highs and lows.

This is so important as you and your clients work on the next steps. By exploring the process of thinking through progress you will feel enlightened instead of burdened and hopeful instead of lost.

Are you ready? Grab a pen and paper, your tablet, or the free downloadable PDF that I created with the 3-step process we are about to discuss. If you want to grab the PDF, head over to www.hivechallenge.com/progressguide and I’ll email you a copy of the Progress Management Guide right away.

I know I’m ready to dive in and if you are too, let’s get started.

Ideas for Processing Progress

I promised you three steps for moving through the process of thinking about progress, but first lets take a look back and gain some context. At the beginning of this year when I started this podcast and moved more fully into my role as a coach mentor, I was looking at the progress or lack there-of with a critical eye. Often what happened when I looked at a new metric was that I would shut down. My brain saw the gaps and the negatives. The wins were so small at that point that I felt like they were barely there even with a magnifying glass.

It was in those moments that I realized the importance of having a plan for looking at the progress measurements. I needed that information so I couldn’t just ignore it, nor could I allow it to derail the progress I was making.

Enter these three steps that I’m about to share. It has shifted my perspective when I work on personal or professional plans and I think it will help you as well. Now, as promised, here are the three steps.

Step 1: Before looking at any metrics or progress measurements first identify one plan, or piece of a plan that went well.

Why would you do that before even looking at what worked? The answer is simple, you are priming your brain to see the good and the growth that has occurred. It is kind of like a seatbelt. It is getting you ready for a safe trip. By identifying a positive you will be more inclined to see the progress measures with an eye toward what HAS happened rather than what HASN’T happened.

For example, when I started my podcast I didn’t immediately have a lot of listeners, but each time I sat down to explore the metrics I first recogn

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Introduction

Welcome to the Coaching Hive! If you are a new listener, I’m Dr. Moira your guide and mentor on your path to realizing the coaching business that you envision.

I am so excited you're here with me today.

Gratitude, according to Dictionary.com, is the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful. This week in the United States we celebrate Thanksgiving. It is traditionally a time for family and friends, many people spend the month of November practicing the art of gratitude.

Because this is the week of Thanksgiving, this will be a very short episode so that you can take time to reconnect with your family and friends. Give them a call, FaceTime them, send a text letting them know what they mean to you.

I do want to spend just a little time talking with you about the connection between measuring progress and gratitude. At first glance, they may not seem or feel connected, but they are intimately connected.

Think about the last time you were successful with a task or goal. Did you take time to reflect and recognize what that success brought you either personally or professionally? Or did you simply keep moving forward?

This is where measuring progress, as we’ve talked about over the past several episodes, is more than just a number or series of numbers. It is about the whole being.

It might make intuitive sense to say ok I’ll stop to express gratitude for the success, and maybe you have done that. Maybe you’ve even done that regularly, but what about expressing gratitude when the goal or plan doesn’t meet your expectations?

If you think about those same earlier episodes, I bet you are shaking your head no. You know that this is an equally good time for gratitude. Let me give you an example.

Perhaps you were hoping to welcome 5 new clients to your coaching practice this month and at the end of the month you realize that you welcomed one new client. At first glance this does not meet the numbers goal you had in mind, but let's explore it from a different perspective and see how gratitude can play a big role in moving forward into the possibilities.

During this month you signed one new client and in working to expand your practice you also did the following tasks. You met 3 new possible community partners, were consistent on your social media platforms, and you even researched a new tool that you think might help your clients. In other words, you may not have met that number goal, but you made progress in many others directions that will support you in future months as you welcome more clients into your business.

Let me ask you, do you have something for which to be grateful? Yes. You can still practice gratitude even when the progress doesn’t happen in the just the way you hoped.

Conclusions

I promised you a really short episode so that you can go spend time reflecting and reconnecting. The key point to this episode is that as you look for and find opportunities for gratitude, it becomes easier and easier to see the good. When you shift to this positive mindset of possibility, possibilities often seem to become more abundant.

On that note, to all of my USA listeners have a Happy Thanksgiving and to everyone, I hope you have a happy, safe and peaceful week. I’ll see you back here next week for a new episode of the Coaching Hive podcast. Have a great week!

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Introduction

Welcome back to another episode of the Coaching Hive podcast. November has been such a big month for so many. I am part of an entrepreneur group who is working fearlessly on launching a new set of workshops. There are some amazing topics and I love the diversity that entrepreneurship allows. Here at the Coaching Hive, I’m preparing to launch a new workshop called Finding Time in the In-Between. No magic wands, no extra hours, no overwhelm are required to take action on your coaching business in December. If that sounds intriguing, I’d love to have you join me. Just send me a quick DM saying "I’m in" or an email to moira[at]coachinghive.com and I’ll send you the details ASAP.

Now what does all of this have to do with today’s episode of the Coaching Hive podcast? I’m glad you asked. November is all about measuring progress. So far we discussed the concept of a holistic view of progress in Episode 40, and then in Episode 41 we took time to talk about the fact that you are enough just as you are. There are some podcast episodes that I come back to time and again when that entrepreneurial journey gets tough. Will Episode 41 be one of those reminders for you to keep working? I hope so!

So where am I headed with today’s episode? Funny thing happened. I had this idea and was so excited to record the concept for you and then, I got distracted and could not remember what I wanted to share. We’ve all been there. In fact, if I don’t write it down, I probably won’t remember that idea two days from now. I’m focused in the moment and rely on my lists. How about you?

What that means is that I sat down and realized that I needed a new idea and I realized that we shouldn’t make things more difficult than they need to be. This led me down a path that I want to share with you today. Are you ready for today’s topic?

Plain and simple. Remember that measurement is not about judgment.

In fact, I would encourage you to look at measurement of progress as a tool much like you would look at a Philips head screwdriver, a lawnmower, or a drill as a tool. It is the same as a spatula, pot, or mixer in your kitchen. The same as a hairdryer, mirror, or brush in your bathroom. These are all tools. Now if the lawnmower doesn’t work in the way you expect, do you berate the lawnmower for underperforming? Probably not. You would look pretty silly standing on your lawn telling the lawnmower you were disappointed in its performance or ability to trim the grass to a specific height, right? So why would you berate yourself or judge yourself when the progress isn’t exactly what you hoped for when you made your plans?

Let me ask you a question, and you will need what you learned in last week’s episode to answer. Are you still “enough” even when the measurement doesn’t pan out the way you hoped?

Yes! You are enough. That is definitive. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for growth, but please if you find yourself judging your work harshly ask what it will accomplish. Chances are it will ma

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What happens when you are working toward your goals and you suddenly realize that you aren’t going to accomplish that important goal fully. Or you are going to miss the deadline? Or maybe you find out that the goal you set doesn’t actually get you where you need to be?

Those words creep in. I’m not good enough. Who am I to be doing this?

Last week in Episode 40, we talked about measuring progress in a holistic way. Just to quickly recap, we can’t just rely on the numbers we need to make sure that we are using subjective measures as well. These are going to help us look at the whole situation rather than just the black and white picture.

Let’s face it, progress is anything but black and white. It is not clear-cut and especially when we realize that human beings are part of the equation.

Now moving forward this week with our concept of measuring progress I’d like to share something with you that I hear on podcasts time and again. In fact, I listen to all kinds of business professionals and thought leaders and one theme that comes through time loud and clear is the encouragement to remember, “I am enough.”

You see, when something doesn’t work perfectly, it is easy to place blame and often people blame themselves, particularly when they are entrepreneurs. You want to do your absolute best, you want to make sure that you are helping others and serving them to the best of your ability. Those are all noble goals and make you a hero. You are there to help others.

What this doesn’t say is that you need to be perfect, know everything, or have all of your ducks in a row right now all at once.

How many times have you wondered to yourself, “Do I know enough to help this client?” “Am I qualified enough to reach out to the local chiropractor and share my services?” “Do I have enough experience to guide others on their journey?”

You know what all of those questions have in common? Two things. The first is that you want to avoid failure. As human beings we are hardwired to want to avoid failure. I’ll talk more about that in a minute. The second thing that all of these scenarios, and more, have in common is the word, “enough”.

Lets break this down. Do you want to avoid failure? Of course! Do you want to make sure that you are successful? Of course! We like to feel confident, forward-thinking, and sure of what we are doing. We don’t want to fail.

Are you ready to hear what the great thought leaders often say?

“There is no failure, only learning”

“Progress over perfection.”

“Just take action”

“Get scrappy to find a way forward”

“Perfection is procrastination in disguise”

All of these indicate that we need to reframe how we think about the situation. What if you were to remove the concept of failure from your vocabulary? That neural pathway in your brain would slowly shrivel as it is no longer used. While that pathway that tells us we might fail shrivels up, new pathways are being formed. The ones that remind us that each step is progress. That perfection is not necessary or required. That taking action is the right action regardless of the outcome.

These positive pathways become stronger and stronger the more we use them and shifts our mindset from being fixed to one that says we can grow and learn.

Let me give you an example that happened just this week. I am working on a new workshop for the Coaching Hive as part of a peer entrepreneur community that I participate in. I had a few ideas and we were tasked with posting the idea to see if it got traction and if it did, great! You move forward with that workshop idea. I followed the format suggested, posted, and

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Introduction

Welcome back to a new episode of the Coaching Hive podcast. I am so excited. You're here with me today. We are starting a brand-new month, November, and we are heading into the end of 2021. And I, for one, want to make sure that I'm ending the year on a strong note. Last month in October, the podcast really focused on getting on stock.

This is something that we focused on inside the Coaching Hive with the members. And it's something that I talked with you briefly over the month with last month. So when you get unstuck, that's a great thing. It means that you are starting to move and movement means progress. So how do you measure that progress? That is where the coaching had members are focusing their month of November.

And today, what I'd like to do is kind of bring you into the loop with our Coaching Hive members just a little bit, and give you a taste of what things you might think about as you start to explore your next steps. So if you are getting unstuck, that means you're ready to take some action, right? And one of the places that can move you right back into feeling stuck is this overwhelm chances are you have some sticky notes somewhere, maybe it's on your phone. Maybe it's an actual sticky note and it has 8,000 things listed. You have a nice long to-do list. You're excited you have all of these things to do. And I know this to be true because I have talked with many of you over the months, over the years. And one of the biggest things that I hear time and again, in fact, it happened just today as I was talking with another coach and she said, I have all of these ideas. I don't know where to get started. So if this month is all about measuring progress, that means we have to actually get started, take a step, choose an action, and then follow through.

If you are feeling like, yeah, ready to get started, I'm ready to get unstuck. I want to make that progress. So I have something to measure. You are in the right place today. We are going to talk about choosing that right first step for you so that you can then start looking at how far you've come and what those next possible steps might be. If you are ready, let's go ahead and jump in.

Taking Action

So today we're thinking first steps, because we want to be able to measure the progress we've made on those first steps. If you have a tip, a to-do list, if you have a sticky note nearby, here's what I want you to do, pull it out. So you can pause the podcast pulled out that to-do list or that sticky note.

And I want you to put a star or highlight the, that you feel like would give you the most joy to tackle right now. What would give you the most joy? The most sense of fulfillment and the most sense of progress right now, choose just one or two items. Ideally, just one. But if you can't choose, choose one or two items that would give you that great sense of fulfillment and then take a step back.

I want you to reflect on why you chose those specific items. Is it because they're easy? Is it because they can be accomplished quickly? Is it because you know that it will lay the foundation for everything that follows in your business? Why did you choose that item or two off of your to-do list? Now, what happens if you don't actually have a, to do list? I know that some of you are creatives. You have all of these ideas in your head, but you don't necessarily get into the planning all that much. So you don't have 8,000 sticky notes like I have on my desk. And that's okay. When you are thinking about what one or two items would give you the most joy, the most fulfillment and that most sense of progress, search your memory stores, search those lists in your brain. And I want you to get one or two down on paper. The reason that I'm asking you to put something down on paper, is it the physical act of writing will help you to connect with that task more? It will help you to decide, is this something

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Introduction

Today on this episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast I want to share a journey with you. Parts of this journey you might be screaming “this is me!” and other parts you might shake your head saying, “nah”. I encourage you to listen and see what resonates with you. The more reflection you do, the easier it is to see a way forward. What you will hear are bits and pieces of the experiences that I have heard over the years from health coaches both new and experienced. Successful coaches and those who are struggling to find their way forward.

I want to welcome you into this dialogue today as a way to begin the conversation on how you can take your passion and make a difference in the way that you crave. In a way that is right for you. No two coaching journeys are the same and this means that no two paths are the same. You can walk a very different path from the coach to your right and to your left and yet still make a difference and become the coaches you dream of becoming. That is one of the things that makes health coaching so incredibly amazing and rewarding.

Are you ready? Let’s dive in.

The Journey

You are a certified health coach and feel hopeful about helping the world. You are a mission and passion-driven active health coach who wants to help transform the world into a healthier, happier, and more fulfilled place. Because you are passion-driven, you are dreaming big. You can see yourself becoming credible, experienced, and even renowned.

You envision success that helps you to conserve your financial resources so that you not only can support your family, but also give back. You are able to conserve time because you have clearly identified your peer community and you are working with coaches who are committed and ready to make a change in the world, just like you. You are accumulating your resources every day. You are becoming more confident, you are productive, your client base is your dream client base, and you are really transforming into the coach you envision who is changing the world. You are at the forefront of the health coaching movement.

There are a few stumbling stones in the way, though. You need to fill your calendar with clients and the seemingly simple processes that you have bought just don’t work the way you hope. You are feeling frustrated, confused, and worried. You might even be waffling about your mission as a health coach. That self-doubt is creeping in even as you think to yourself that everyone ought to have access to a trained, passionate health coach. You shouldn’t have to throw away your dream of coaching but you know that something has to change.

I understand exactly how it feels to know what you are meant to do, know it is right, but still have that voice inside that questions your decision to pursue health coaching. But nobody should have to experience that self-doubt, frustration, or concern over following their purpose. Your dream and purpose are important, and a mentor can hold that space for you while you explore how to move forward.

What you really find yourself needing as a mentor holds the space is that you need some stepping stones to help you move forward. You need a Blueprint, but perhaps even more importantly you need unwavering support for your vision. A community space to express your thoughts, feelings, worries, and wins. You need a ready-made learning plan that helps you make progress while conserving time.

You might know this to be true, but are asking yourself, “What happens if I don’t find this?” You could lose your time freedom as you go back to or stay stuck in a 9-5 job that is no longer fulfilling. You may lose the financial freedom that comes from owning your own business. You might eve

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Prologue

Welcome to a new episode of the Coaching Hive podcast with Dr. Moira. I am so excited that you are back with me this week for our really interesting conversation with coach Imrana. Imrana has been a coach for several years, and I love the way she combines her physical training with her health coaching background and how it all comes together. I love the unique outlook she has,

and you can hear her even talk me through some of the challenges that I experienced in my own mindset surrounding exercise. So I hope that you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed having this conversation with Imrana.

Conversation with Imrana

(Transcript is auto-generated. Please excuse any errors.)

I'll go ahead and jump right into the conversation. It was a great one. So I just want to thank you so much for sitting down with me today. It's a pleasure. I know we have worked together in the past, but it's been a while since we've had a chance to reconnect and I'm excited to hear just a little bit more about what you're doing with health coaching. So would you share just kind of where your journey has taken you recently, Recently?

So I have decided that besides doing the private coaching, so I do fitness coaching as well as the health coaching. And usually most of my clients, they, they, they want both and ultimately in real life you kind of need both right to be successful. And so, but I find that I also just want to make sure I'm in touch with the community. So I work at a local gym and then I also kind of just, you know, kind of do like little group sessions as ad hoc as people, you know, want them, if I meet them in a social setting or something, and they're like, oh, okay, you do this. All right. Let's, you know, kill me, kind of get together and do like a short exercise, a group class or something like that.

So when you kind of mentioned people coming up to you in social settings and developing those ad hoc groups, what are they wanting right now? It's really that social aspect because they've been missing it. So the one-on-one coaching, but like many people are still doing it, but there are, there's a whole different group of individuals who are really seeking that, that group feeling.

Right.

So a lot of people are interested in a group classes. So it's that group of individuals who also, they want to get back into like having group events. And they're missing that. That's such a double, double opportunity there because you get the group kind of aspect of it. You get that social need fulfilled, but you also get to deal with your health and well-being at the same time.

So that's perfect. Especially as things start to open up a little bit more and we start to move back toward, I guess, a new normal, whatever that kind of is depending on where you are, but having that opportunity to connect and also at the same time, take care of yourself. What a neat, neat chance. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, even though the, when you do physical fitness, it's supposed to be a mood lifter. Right. But it's just not enough anymore just doing that by yourself. So there's that psychological aspect, right. Psychological and social aspect. So those needs also need to be met in order to kind of goose that mood even more. Yeah. That makes me think of the wellness wheel with all of the different components of wellness and really,

Really Yes. Because it's not just about you're right. It's not just about getting out and walking or biking or swimming or running, whatever it is. It's about all of the other stuff that makes us healthy. It's not just the movement. Yeah. It's having those conversations with individuals, however short, they are in those, in those type of settings.

It's So yeah, you were saying it's, it's really nice to have that opportunity, even for those small conversations, even when they're short, they can still be kind of

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Introduction

Hi there. It's Dr. Moira with the Coaching Hive and I have something fun and exciting for you today. As you know, inside the Coaching Hive, we take a Progress-Driven approach to learning, but that doesn't mean that there isn't self-reflection and fun and discussion around those opportunities. And today I want to give you a sneak peek into just a little sliver of the most recent Coaching Hive masterclass on getting unstuck.

And if you are new to the Coaching Hive, when we approach masterclasses as a group, what happens is we talk about the concept in terms of just definition and basics, but then we dig deeper and we look at the concept in this case, getting on stock from a coach perspective and the client perspective. We talk about the theories. We talk about the tools and we talk about what it looks like just to simply use what we've talked about, because the benefit of progress driven learning is that it indeed helps you to make progress. And part of that process is making sure that you are reflecting and taking time to think and absorb the information that you're learning. And I did something special for my coaches this time within the coaching hive and included an entire self-reflection module that I am going to give you a peek at.

They just got access to this yesterday, and I am so excited to share this little glimpse of the coaching hive masterclass that was released for October. I cannot wait for you to experience this self-reflection. Grab some paper, grab a comfy chair, and hop right in.

Coaching Hive MasterClass Excerpt

Hey, there is Dr. Moira with the Coaching Hive, and I want to take some time to welcome you to our newest masterclass on getting unstuck.

Now you'll notice it seems a little bit more relaxed and familiar here today, and that's for a reason, I promise you we'll jump into something that's more formal here in just a few minutes, but with our concept of getting unstuck, I thought it might be helpful to take just a few minutes and explore that idea of being stuck and also kind of to take some time for self-reflection.

So I’m in my office and this is my chair for self-reflection. I have a nice pillow. I have a salt lamp at my feet, and this is where I come to stop and think, and to explore where things are kind of rubbing that don't feel quite right in my business and my life and my relationships. And in that self-awareness comes a lot of power.

What I'd like to do with you right now is to kind of take a step back and encourage you to go sit in your quiet space, explore where you're feeling stuck right now, and not just to explore where you're feeling stuck, but to also maybe take a journal with you, maybe not right away, sit in the silence for a little bit and explore where you're feeling stuck, but then also explore why explore, why you're feeling stuck and start to notice where the most tension is coming from. Is it from something that is internal? Is it an internal expectation that's leading you to feel stuck? Is it more of an external expectation? And as you do this exercise, what I want you to notice is that if it's an internal or an external expectation, that's leading you to feel kind of stuck. Is this something that has grown out of a societal norm or essentially the external world, the external world creates a lot of noise. The external world creates quite a bit of expectation. And sometimes we internalize that as our own expectations. When in fact it is an expectation that someone else has created and that can lead us to feeling stuck.

So I want you to very intentionally approach this MasterClass by taking time first, like I'm asking you to do now, and I'll include some space in your workbook for this MasterClass to do this activity. But I really want to, to take 15 minutes, maybe take 20 minutes if you can carve that out in your busy schedule and think about what

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Prologue

This past week was open enrollment for the Coaching Hive and throughout the week I shared several ideas on social media, and there was one IG Live that focused on getting unstuck, which happens to be the Coaching Hive focus for October and I wanted to share this conversation with you. I hope that you are able to gain one idea for your health coaching journey for those times when you feel stuck.

Music and Intro

I'm Dr. Moira. I'm a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world. But I haven't always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I was hesitant to take the next step and wasn't sure what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step into my passion and purpose of guiding health coaches on their journey from hesitant health coach to committed health coach, with a unique approach to coach growth, the Coaching Hive Blueprint combines creating a mindful vision with inspiring guidance and progress-driven learning. The coaching hive podcast is your glimpse into the concepts, ideas, and approaches that underscore the coaching hive while giving you the opportunity to implement tools and tips along the way. Are you ready to dive into today's podcast, then let's go and remember that this podcast is family-friendly, so go ahead and play it through your speakers.

IG Live Conversation

Are you feeling stuck in your health coaching journey? The Coaching Hive members are wrapping up Implementation Month in the Coaching Hive and feeling stuck and frustrated is common as you are building a coaching career, but it doesn’t have to be that way and that is one of the things that we work on in Implementation month.

Let me ask you a question. Would you rather feel hesitant and stuck or committed and confident?

I bet I know the answer. Committed and Confident. There is nothing wrong with being stuck and frustrated, but if you stay in that space it can keep you from the career of your dreams and even worse, that ripple effect as you help clients won’t happen. Lets face it, most health coaches get into this career because they have a passion for helping the world be a healthier place. Is that you? Do you want to help the world be a healthier place, but you feel stuck? Let me know in the comments.

And I’m going to share a few ideas that have helped the Coaching Hive members get unstuck. Now I have to be honest every time I say get unstuck I think of the book “Little Blue Truck” and how they all work to get the truck unstuck from the muck. Imagine this live being me helping you get unstuck from the muck because the world needs more health coaches. It is difficult to navigate healthy living these days and finding balance in our lives, right? In fact, this is a big reason that I created the Coaching Hive Blueprint because getting stuck is so common in health coaching and it doesn’t have to be.

So, would you like to hear a few ideas that might help you right now?

First up. I want you to really think about why you are feeling stuck. Is it external expectations? Internal expectations? Perhaps you don’t know what direction to travel in first. I have worked with a lot of coaches who get started with great enthusiasm and passion and find they are stuck so they attack all sides of the problem. They purchase programs, templates, get involved in all kinds of social media groups and what happens is that the overwhelm, confusion, and frustration grow with each new addition to their toolbox.

Why does this happen? When you are focusing on too many things you can’t focus on the right things. What if, instead of pursuing everything, you pursue one thing. One concentrated thing at a time. Your focus is progress-driven, whether it is mastering so

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Prologue

Well, hello there. Before we jump into today's coaching hive podcast episode, I want to share just something special with you this morning, and that is the coaching hive. Doors to membership are now open for the first time. Since February 21, we are welcoming new members with the coaching hive blueprint to focus on mindful vision, inspiring guidance and progress driven learning.

If you are interested in learning more, please go to www.coachinghive.com forward slash enroll. And you won't want to delay because the coaching time doors are going to re-close so that we can focus on our new members, celebrate them, help everyone to make the kind of progress that the coaching hive is all about. Now onto our coaching hive podcast.

Episode of the day, I had an opportunity this week to sit down with a dear friend and colleague John Zebell, John has truly traveled a unique journey, but I think it's one that we can also relate to. And in this episode, he is going to share some of his ideas about self care and how that has really evolved over time for him.

He has been an educator. He has been a coach. He has been homeschooling dad. He has worn all of the hats and it is such a unique opportunity to sit down with him in the quiet for just a few minutes and learn from the wisdom he has gained over the past several years in particular about how to care for our own well-being so that we can support others in their well-being.

I think you're going to love it and let's go ahead and jump right into that conversation.

Music and Intro

I'm Dr. Moira. I'm a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world. But I haven't always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I was hesitant to take the I'm Dr. Moira. I'm a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world. But I haven't always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I was hesitant to take the next step and wasn't sure what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step into my passion and purpose of guiding health coaches on their journey from hesitant health coach to committed health coach, with a unique approach to coach growth, the Coaching Hive Blueprint combines creating a mindful vision with inspiring guidance and progress-driven learning. The coaching hive podcast is your glimpse into the concepts, ideas, and approaches that underscore the coaching hive while giving you the opportunity to implement tools and tips along the way. Are you ready to dive into today's podcast, then let's go and remember that this podcast is family-friendly, so go ahead and play it through your speakers.

Conversation with John

Moira: All right. Thank you so much for joining me today. I am so glad to sit down with someone who I consider not just to be a colleague, but a friend as well. And I was thinking back today, how long we've known each other. And my best guess is somewhere around 12 or 13 years, which I can't believe, but it's been a while since we've had a chance to sit down and chat. And I'm really looking forward to sitting down with you today.

John: Yeah, me too. I think it has been like 12 or 13 years. It's hard to believe It really is.

Moira: But before we jump in, I know we're talking self-care today, but before we jump into that, I wonder if you might just share a little bit about yourself. I know we've worked together in education before, but that's not all you are all you have done. So I'd love to hear just a little bit more about who you are.

John: Yeah. So I have, I've been a teacher, I've been a college professor. I have, I trained to be a counselor in health psychology. I ha

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Music and Intro

Connecting to the Health Coaching World

The world of health coaching is blooming before our eyes. The opportunities that are arising from health coaching are opening up in a way that we have never seen before. More and more companies are opening positions for health coaches, entire businesses are making health coaching their focus, and boutique health coaching businesses are also rising in number.

But the problem is that health coaching opportunities are still so new that it can feel like we have to be someone other than who we are. It can get scary to stick to who you are and not sway. After all, in a new career in an emerging field it is easy to feel like you need to bend to fit in. The opportunities feel like they are exclusive, and you have to have the magic key to open the doors.

I mean how many times have you thought to yourself that you need to shift your niche because you aren’t sure that you can work in the niche that really excites you? Or perhaps you’ve asked yourself if people will hire you without this or that credential. Maybe you are concerned that clients will not be willing to partner with you if you don’t conform to more norms.

But along with this emerging health coach job market is a real opportunity to be who you are. It is my job…it is our job to disrupt that drift toward operating to fit in. It is our job to stand up for the change we want to see. It is our job to use our message so powerfully that we can be exactly who we are and recognize that this is who we are meant to be.

Now is the time for us to stand and believe in who we are as individual health coaches from individual backgrounds with individual niches, expertise, and desires. It is time for us to celebrate one another exactly as we are.

In the Coaching Hive, we have monthly calls that cover MasterClass content, Mentoring topics, and Implementation. As a peer community these are unique times to come together and support one another and be that change. This past Monday was one of those calls. We were gathering to discuss the previous two MasterClasses, one on Group Coaching and the other on Emotional Intelligence. These calls are a forum to express out thoughts, ideas, and questions in a non-judgmental space. What comes from these opportunities is nothing short of inspiring. This week was no different. We began discussing the concept that we are not for everyone and that is ok. Instead of forcing ourselves to fit into a box that may not fit, we discussed the idea that some people may not be our ideal client and that is ok. We do not have to serve each person nor does each person have to like our coaching style and philosophy.

Self-Care and Shifting our Approach

But how does this fit into our September podcast theme of self-care?

Spending time trying to fit in and shift who we

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Introduction

Welcome to another week with the Coaching Hive podcast. If you remember from last week, September is all about self care. And this week I have something really special for you. I went outside my comfort zone to help promote self-care and the coach that I am welcoming onto this week's podcast did the same thing. So without further ado, I'd like to welcome Jeannie.

She is a national board, certified health and wellness coach, and a friend of mine and colleague. And I am honored to have her here on the podcast today, where we are going to dig into and dive into self care. Are you ready? Let's go.

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Conversation with Coach Jeannie

Moira: I'm glad that you're here. And I would love to take this time together to talk about self care. We're both, which is right. And I wonder if you could just share with everyone what led you to health coaching?

Jeannie: Hmm, good question. I think the main thing that drove me to it is, is for myself, I have been working my whole life trying to lose weight and, and figure that whole thing out. And then when I realized that health coaching really does work because I worked with a health coach, this is fantastic. I've got to learn how to do this.

Moira: So I think that's kind of how a lot of people come to health coaching is they realized the benefits of having some help in achieving their health and wellness goals. And so we kind of jump in wholeheartedly. I kind of came to it from a situation I needed to be as healthy as possible because we were trying to have a family and I needed to make shifts and my husband needed to make. And so I jumped in and then realized the power of coaching, right. Just we need coaches as a compliment to all our other healthcare providers.

Jeannie: Right. Definitely. And it just, it helps you keep it accountable. It keeps you on track without worrying about going to the doctor or trying to figure out if a medicine works or, you know, it's just a different way to change your life and your behavior, just a whole different pathway.

Moira: Yeah. It really is. And something that I think is starting to really pick up and gain some momentum here, especially in the United States as we have our certification.

Jeannie: Yeah, definitely. I'm sorry, you cut out just a little bit. So I kinda missed that last piece, but yeah, having that board certification, just validates what we're doing and makes us more credible. It really does. And I think a lot of times now our healthcare providers are more willing to work with us as health coaches because they realize that we're doing things from science backgrounds.

Moira: Right?

Jeannie: Absolutely. And that's what makes me more credible at work. I'm, I'm trying to incorporate this health coaching practice into a surgical office that I work for and having that board certification made all the difference and being able, and I know everybody can't

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Introduction

Welcome to a new month with the Coaching Hive podcast. Here we are. It is September and I am ready for the fall months. Now here in South Carolina, we are not going to have fall weather for probably another two months easy, but my brain is already getting there. I'm already thinking about how I want to settle into the fall months and really take care of myself as we move into these shorter days where self-care really seems to be a little bit trickier. The time when it gets darker earlier. We start to snuggle in, we get on the couch a little bit more.

So as we say goodbye to the summer weather, September is going to be all about self-care. Why? Because I can't tell you how many times I've heard “There isn't enough time for self-care” or “If I want to be a truly effective entrepreneur or who needs that frou-frou stuff anyway, I'd rather see progress in my business”.

Do You Have the Time?

You have probably either heard or said something similar self-care is often put on the back burner, and I can see why you might say these things and do that because I've been there. I've done that as well. And you think to yourself, okay, I'll do that. When I get the next items ticked off my to-do list,

I'll do that when, and you know what I'll do that when becomes days and weeks and months, and maybe even years down the road. And it might be because you're thinking, well, why would a bubble bath or a massage or a walk or a bike ride, or even painting my nails, be an integral part of my business.

Let me tell you, it is an integral part of your business and maybe painting your nails is not high on your list. Maybe it is not a form of self-care for you, but for others, I would argue it is. Maybe it's that time of the day when you sit down, and you let your brain calm down. You let your body calm down and it gives you kind of a mindless task to focus on so that you can sort through your thoughts.

You know what happens when you sort through those thoughts? You have an a-ha moment where something new and innovative comes to mind. What happens when you go for that walk? Not only are you engaging your core muscles, not only are you getting your heart rate up and improving your cardiovascular health, and you're allowing your brain to function more effectively, more efficiently. You are going to allow your body to get a better night's rest because you have taken a walk. And I don't know about you, but when I'm walking, I often have those a-ha moments. I also tend to come back from that walk, ready and reinvigorated to sit down. I'm more

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I'm Dr. Moira. I'm a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world. But I haven't always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I was hesitant to take the next step and wasn't sure what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step into my passion and purpose of guiding health coaches on their journey from hesitant health coach to committed health coach,

with a unique approach to coach growth, the Coaching Hive Blueprint combines creating a mindful vision with inspiring guidance and progress-driven learning. The coaching hive podcast is your glimpse into the concepts, ideas, and approaches that underscore the coaching hive while giving you the opportunity to implement tools and tips along the way. Are you ready to dive into today's podcast, then let's go and remember that this podcast is family-friendly.

So go ahead and play it through your speakers.

Introduction

This month has been a big one at the Coaching Hive as we focused on passion and purpose. In Episode 28, we sat down with best-selling author, Amy McLaren as she launched her new book, Passion to Purpose. The Coaching Hive has welcomed 29 book club members, gained NBHWC Approved Continuing Education Provider status, revamping the website and member’s area, and preparing to re-open the doors of the Coaching Hive all while still serving our current members with a Group Coaching MasterClass, Discussion Call, and Mentoring Call.

Which brings me to a little bit of a behind the scenes tour here at the Coaching Hive. Starting a business was NOT something I would have identified as a passion or purpose of mine. In fact, if you ask Nate, I was staunchly opposed to self-employment because I crave stability. Things have a funny way of changing and as your passions change, you can often find your purpose shifting or even changing. That is the beautiful thing about life. We can move and shift as our passions and purpose evolve through adulthood.

Whatever your passion might be, and if you aren’t sure, I highly recommend reading Amy McLaren’s Passion to Purpose book, questions often arise as part of the implementation of your passion to feed your purpose. One of the big perceived roadblocks can be money. After all, you have likely discovered at this point in your life that money doesn’t simply grow on trees. And you may be thinking about the cost of following your passion. Believe me, when Nate and I discussed starting the Coaching Hive at the end of 2020, finances were a big part of the conversation. We knew that we had several home projects that needed to be taken care of, things that couldn’t be ignored like high radon levels and a failing retaining wall that would have been disastrous. We also knew that these home projects couldn’t be spaced out. They had to happen in 2021 to prevent further problems. So yes, money was at the forefront of our minds. I’m an adjunct professor and contractor instructor. Neither of these positions affords us much wiggle room and something was going to have to go to have time for the Coaching Hive. Money was definitely at the forefront of our minds.

We questioned if it was the right time, how we would cover the financial aspects of starting a new business and while all of this gave me the heebie jeebies, we both knew it was right. Nate could tell that this was a way to make my passion come to life. He had made a job change about a year earlier to find more fulfillment and now it was my time to make a shift.

So are you ready to talk about the behind the scenes of Coaching Hive? I want you to see what is possible with little time and money and a whole lot of grit, determination, and scrappiness. Before we go any further, I will

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Music and Intro Message

I'm Dr. Moira. I'm a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world. But I haven't always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I was hesitant to take the next step and wasn't sure what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step into my passion and purpose of guiding health coaches on their journey from hesitant health coach to committed health coach,

So go ahead and play it through your speakers.

Introduction

Your journey is your journey. We all come to our business with a passion to help others with a passion, to learn and to grow and to deep down, make the world a better place. And one of the great things about social media is that we have this opportunity to see all of these success stories. We have an opportunity to see how other coaches and other business owners are making a difference, but there's a darker side to that. And it comes when that little voice in our head says, but that's not what I'm doing. What am I doing wrong? Why isn't it working for me?

And my answer to that little voice is your journey is your journey. It's not anyone else's. So as we continue our month discussing this concept of passion and purpose, I'm really called to think about this concept that we can have similar passions in life. You can look left and look right and see someone who has a similar passion. If you've done any continuing education, probably they have a similar passion in their life because you both signed up for the same training or the same masterclass. What have you, but that doesn't make you the same. And it's easy to forget.

The Challenge Illuminated

In fact, Amy McLaren reminds of this fact with her words, “I genuinely believe you can’t connect to your purpose until you are connected to you passion. And passion can only be a constant source of fuel when you are connected to who you are – in other words when you’re not living someone else’s version of an ideal life, but rather are living your own unique vision of who you are and following the yellow brick road to all the stuff that makes you even more of who you are.”

Like I said, it is easy to get caught up in this concept that we have to be similar. We don’t. Everyone's journey is different. And the more trainings I participate in, the more I realize and internalize that your journey is just that. Yours.

Let me give you an example, say that you are browsing social media; maybe you're checking out your favorite health coaching group. And you see the administrator of that group or some frequent contributors talking about how full their schedule is, how they have this best approach to finding clients or to building their business. And you think, I thought my approach was working. I've gotten clients and I feel like I'm making progress, but maybe I'm doing something wrong because my business doesn't look like theirs.

You let that self-doubt creep in. And this is particularly the case when we have a financial component tied up to our success as business owners. Of course, we want to be profitable, right? We want to be able to pay our bills. We want to be able to give back monetarily to our communities and to the world in addition to making a difference in our health coaching clients' lives.

So you start to say, okay, well, this admin for the group, man, th

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I’m so glad that you are back on this passion and purpose journey with me. I know that usually we keep the Coaching Hive Podcast brief so that it easily fits into your day. Last week’s interview with Amy McLaren was full of wonderful insights and ideas and you may still be working through that episode, so today’s episode will be brief in hopes that you take time to finish listening to Amy’s thoughts in Episode 28. As a reminder, there is still time to join the Passion to Purpose book club by going to bit.ly/passiontopurposebookclub and entering your name and email address. I hope to see you in the book club soon!

Music and Intro Message

I'm Dr. Moira. I'm a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world. But I haven't always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I was hesitant to take the next step and wasn't sure what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step into my passion and purpose of guiding health coaches on their journey from hesitant health coach to committed health coach,

So go ahead and play it through your speakers.

Introduction

I’m going to put it out there. Finding your Purpose is Woo-woo. It is not the best way to grow your business. Wait a minute, what did I just say? Finding your Purpose is Woo-woo and it is not the best way to grow your business. Have you ever been told that and now wonder if it might be true? I know I have heard those and similar sentiments before and it is easy to believe that when you explain to people that you are really looking to live your purpose and you get some weird looks. Someone may say to you to stop relying on self-help books and still others might say that purpose doesn’t pay the mortgage or fund retirement. They shake their heads and they wish you “luck”.

Shift Your Perspective

But look at Stu McLaren. He is a multiple 8-figure business owner. He has grown his successful business to the point that it supports the foundation Village Impact’s operating costs. His family has a goal in life to give 90% of their wealth to do more good and to live on the remaining 10% BUT he doesn’t want to give up their lifestyle. So he lives in his passion and purpose. In fact, their purpose as a family is to effect change in the world and specifically in Kenya with education. So, let me ask you a question, if someone, like Stu McLaren, who is committed to living his purpose can be a successful entrepreneur, why can’t you?

Feel Inspired

And Stu is not the only one in this situation. So, what do Stu McLaren and others like him do? Stu leans into his passion and shifting as that changes over time. His business has grown by leaps and bounds as has his ability to do good in the world. And this is primarily because he is working within his purpose not just to make a dollar. It can feel scary, and if you read his wife Amy’s new book, Passion to Purpose, she will tell you it is scary to lean into your passion and live your purpose especially if you are in a comfortable situation right now. It can mean big changes, tough choice

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Book Club Information

Hi there. It's Dr. Moira. And I just want to take a minute of your time before we jump into this amazing podcast episode. It's an interview with book author, Amy McLaren. And I wanted to take a minute before we do that, to let you know that we have a book club forming on the book, passion to purpose by Amy McLaren.

The coaching hive book club is a virtual live opportunity to come together. Have discussions. Think about how to lean into your passion and purpose and how to let others know about your passion and purpose in life. We have our very first conversation on August 16th at 8:00 PM Eastern, but this is just an introduction. It's a conversation. It's a welcome. And then we have our very first book discussion on August 30th at 8:00 PM.

Eastern time, we will come together, meet, live for conversation, and we will break the book down into manageable chunks. I know August is a busy time of year, especially as we move into the school year as we move into the fall months. So we'll take a laid back approach to this. We're going to break down the book into several parts.

Amy has done a fantastic job doing this for us, and we are going to follow her lead. She hasn't been so thoughtful in making this book manageable and relatable, and you'll want to grab a cup of tea, cup of water, cup of coffee, whatever it is you drink, sit down and settle in with the book. You may find that you can't put it down once you get started.

I had that problem. So if you would like to join us in the Coaching Hive, passion to purpose but club, I would invite you to go to bit.ly/passiontopurposebookclub. And just fill out that quick form and we'll get you all of the right emails, all of the right links. You need to join us to participate in the coaching high passion to purpose but club.

And without further ado, you have been so patient, here is our next Coaching Hive podcast episode with Amy McLaren.

Music and Intro Message

I'm Dr. Moira. I'm a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world. But I haven't always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I was hesitant to take the next step and wasn't sure what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step into my passion and purpose of guiding health coaches on their journey from hesitant health coach to committed health coach,

So go ahead and play it through your speakers.

Introduction

(Transcript is auto-generated. Please excuse any inaccuracies.)

Moira: Today I have the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with Amy McLaren about her brand-new book that releases in August passion to purpose. And Amy is the CEO of Village Impact, which is a charity that she and her husband's do found together. She's also a mom. She leads a mastermind and she wrote this book. I'm not sure how she found the time, but it is amazing. And I know this isn't all that you do,

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Music and Intro Message

I'm Dr. Moira. I'm a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world. But I haven't always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I was hesitant to take the next step and wasn't sure what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step into my passion and purpose of guiding health coaches on their journey from hesitant health coach to committed health coach,

So go ahead and play it through your speakers.

Introduction

Welcome to a brand-new month with the Coaching Hive. And this one is going to be special. This month is all about passion and purpose. And in this month, I have an extra special something coming your way. Next week, I am sitting down with book author, Amy McLaren, to talk about her brand-new book that is releasing on August 10th about called Passion to Purpose. In fact, Amy’s new book is so empowering that I am offering a free virtual book club for Passion to Purpose. If you are interested in joining the book club, we will have a private Facebook group, private Telegram channel with daily inspiration, and live virtual discussions to create authentic connection and progress toward leaning into our passions and purpose. Head on over to bit.ly/passiontopurposebookclub to sign up today.

Before we jump into today’s topic, I just want to share with you a little about the book. I cannot wait for you all to read this book. I have been pouring over it for the last few weeks, and it is already filled with sticky notes and ideas and insights and thoughts and aha moments that are really driving a lot of things right now. I keep going back to it and finding new nuggets of wisdom. Each time I read the book, it is with different insights. I think this book is a game changer. So much so that my Founding Members inside the Coaching Hive membership are receiving a free copy as a gift.

The book club begins this week with our first live discussion on Monday, August 16. Join today to catch the conversations leading up to the book launch. Again, that link to join is bit.ly/passiontopurposebookclub.

Purpose

Ok, now let’s dive into today’s episode with something that I saw pop up in a health coaching group that I'm a part of. It just really stuck with me, especially because I had Amy's Passion to Purpose book on my mind. I thought it might be helpful to have a conversation here about the post I saw. A health coach posted they were feeling frustrated about how to find jobs and it's frustrating because the health coaching arena is still very new.

Not everyone respects the health coaching certification, even the national board certification isn’t always recognized just yet. And many employers are still trying to look for nurses instead of recognizing what a health coach, even without that RN degree can offer to their clients. And this coach was sharing that she was feeling very frustrated, kind of beaten down that there weren't jobs. She felt like it was a situation where it was kind of like that hidden secret until you're in the club.

You don't know that there aren't as many jobs as you might expect until you are a health coach. And while that's changing, you know, th

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Music and Intro Message

I'm Dr. Moira. I'm a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world. But I haven't always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I was hesitant to take the next step and wasn't sure what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step into my passion and purpose of guiding health coaches on their journey from hesitant health coach to committed health coach,

So go ahead and play it through your speakers.

Welcome

Welcome back to our podcast series on communication. At long last, we are here at the end of the month. We have talked about everything from questions to affirmations. Last week, we talked about reflections and if you've been following along, you know, that we are working on our Motivational Interviewing OARS as a foundation for the conversation about communication that we've been having.

And so, we are now to the S of OARS, which is summaries.

Introduction

Summaries are a wonderful technique to use, but I think often forgotten in the rush of time. So last week we talked about reflections and the fact that reflections really honor our client's time, because what we're doing is showing that we are in the moment we are there with them. And by reflecting, we can highlight what the client is saying, show that we're listening and really help them to gain more, understanding more insights into what it is they're thinking and feeling and what they want to accomplish. So where do summaries fit into this pattern of communication?

Superstar Summaries

Summaries are a form of reflection. However, they are more like a paragraph. So, when you took writing back in grade school, middle school, high school, college, whenever you took writing classes, you were probably instructed on some kind of five paragraph essay where you had an introductory paragraph, you had three paragraphs of content, and then you had a closing paragraph. Okay.

The opening paragraph, in the five-paragraph essay format, was all about where are we headed. What do we already know? And what are we going to be doing? And this concept holds true in the coaching setting as well. What we learned in communicating in a writing format carries over into our coaching conversations in a really cool way, because with that opening summary, when you sit down with a client for a session, you welcome them. You offer that warm welcome, and as you sit down to talk an opening summary sets the stage. It will help the client to remember what you talked about in the previous session. And also, what to expect from this session. You can offer options. You can summarize what they've talked about in the past, and then really think about how that plays a role in where they want to use their time today. So that's that opening summary. It is truly about setting the stage, just like in that five-paragraph essay.

It's that first paragraph of that five-paragraph essay. Summaries, paragraph style, lots of reflections all in one place, they are affirming to the client, just like a regular reflection because it shows the client that you remembered what they said. You were able to think about that, you were able to integrate it into your understanding of the client, and they got the chance to hear their ideas back. And if you've highlighted it, it also gives them a little bit of confidence that what they're saying is meaningf

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Music and Intro Message

I'm Dr. Moira. I'm a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world. But I haven't always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I was hesitant to take the next step and wasn't sure what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step into my passion and purpose of guiding health coaches on their journey from hesitant health coach to committed health coach,

So go ahead and play it through your speakers.

Welcome

Welcome to a new episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast. I'm Dr. Moira and your guide on this journey to moving from feeling hesitant about your health coaching career, to shouting that you are committed and confident to help you find your voice with more ease. This month has been all about communication. And more specifically our OARS when thinking about coaching and building a business communication is key.

Communication is key actually to everything we do in life. That is why I love learning about coaching techniques so much. They are almost always applicable to your everyday life outside of coaching and who doesn't love a good conversation. That's balanced and thoughtful, a really meaningful conversation do love when you make a request and you are met with someone who's really listening. Of course.

Okay. So if you have listened to episodes 23 and 24, you know that I am going to talk about motivational interviewing today. We are talking about our oars and we have just two more components to discuss. We had already discussed open-ended questions. We talked about affirmations, and now we are moving on to our reflections. And it's so important to have a good understanding of OARS because they provide a foundation for creating effective communication.

And so, as we talked about questions, we talked about this idea of really making them open questions. We want to make sure that the client has to think before they respond, because that's when you get to the heart and soul of what it is they want and what they need out of their wellness journey. And last week, when we talked about, we talked about them as being a way to help fill a client's bucket, help them to know that they have strengths to get through those difficult times. So we talked about open-ended questions. We talked about affirmations. We are going to talk about the "R", which is reflections.

Introduction

What role do reflections, really play? We could certainly spend the entire podcast today talking about all of these different types of reflections that exist all of the definitions, all of the examples, and while that would certainly be worthwhile. And I do encourage you to look over that. It's not where I want to focus our time for today, but if you're interested in kind of the nuts and bolts of reflections, there are a lot of great resources out there. I'll link a few of my favorites in the show notes, but to give you a heads up, of course, the motivational interviewing book that third edition by Rollnick and Miller, that's a great one, has a lot of good examples. So do the motivational interviewing tips by Molly Kellogg. Those are both at the top of my list, the motivational interviewing tips and the motivational interviewing book by Rollnick and Miller. They give a lot of examples. They give a lot of information. They give definitions, they give you real world ways to use these things. So if you're new to reflections, t

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Welcome

Hi there! I’m Dr. Moira. Welcome to a new episode and a new week with the Coaching Hive. If you are new, welcome, and if have been listening since the beginning or somewhere in between thank you my friend. It is always a pleasure to have you here with me.

As we continue to journey through our Coaching Toolkit Communication Basics this week, I’d like to quickly recap last week’s episode. We talked about crafting “Quite a Question” and I’m curious. How did it go? What resulted in your successes and what is still feeling complicated? What are your plans for continuing to practice? Let me know. Reach out to me on social media and send me a DM.

If you have studied Miller and Rollnick’s Motivational Interviewing framework, you are familiar with OARS and recognize how that our month is focused on honing our skills with OARS. Last week was all about questions and it makes sense that this week would focus on Affirmation. If Motivational Interviewing, or MI, is new to you I highly recommend reading the MI In Nutrition and Fitness by Clifford and Curtis and Motivational Interviewing, 3rd edition by Miller and Rollnick. Our OARS, the focus of this month’s podcasts, stands for open-ended questions, affirmations, reflections, and summaries.

When working with health coaches I have noticed something interesting in the questions I receive about affirmations. The first is to find out WHY they are so important and the second is HOW to make them easier. Let’s tackle those questions one at a time.

Introduction

To start, lets consider what an affirmation is. According to Miller and Rollnick, affirmations are designed to highlight client strengths and acknowledge their effort. Why are affirmations so important? The way I think about it is that a client needs to know their strengths in order to get through the difficult times or challenges that they encounter on the change journey. For example, if you have a client working to increase activity and stay consistent we know they are going to have challenges along the way. One day they might be sore, they might strain something that requires rest, or they might get sick and need to take it easy for a week. These all break that consistency cycle.

Imagine that this client has a coach who tells them, “Good job!” each week when they share their weekly success. What will happen when the client hits that bump in the road? Likely they will think back and recognize they were successful in the past, but not have any idea of what they did other than a, “good job!”. That doesn’t necessarily help them troubleshoot the challenge and get back on track.

Now imagine this same client has a coach who tells them, “You persisted even when you were sore this week. You were determined to make progress.” Now when the client hit a bump in the road they will remember that they are persistent and determined. In applying those strengths to their story, the client now changes their thinking and knows that they have done this in the past.

Same client, same situation, two different coach responses. Two different outcomes.

That is the power of affirmations. They are often forgotten, but so very powerful.

Awakening Affirmations

If you are ready to awaken your affirmations and invite them to the coaching conversation lets talk about a few simple techniques for incorporating them seamlessly, or at least a little easier.

The first step to crafting quality affirmations is to put the attention on the client using a “You” statement. In fact, that is one of the key components that Rosengren included in a 2009 practitioner workbook on MI. In fact, lets walk through Rosengren’s key components right now before going any further:

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Welcome

The Coaching Hive Podcast is entering an exciting time. This is our 6th month in existence and it feels like a lovely and big milestone. Back in January when I sat down to talk with my husband about starting a podcast, we were excited and not a little unsure about where it would take us. We had no idea that 2021 would bring family challenges and loss, but stayed committed to the podcast and sharing the Coaching Hive message each week really anchored us and our mission for helping everyone to have access to health coaches by guiding you. Health coaches. We are being more intentional in celebrating each win and success so I hope that you will sit back and join me in celebration. We now have a steady following and I appreciate you. If you have gotten anything out of the previous episodes, I invite you to leave a review on your favorite podcast provider.

Now that you have indulged me in a bit of celebration and looking back, it is probably time to get to our main topic for today. For the past 22 episodes we have talked about mindset, efficiency, focus, mindfulness, motivation, change, and so much more. This month I thought we might go back to the basics of our coaching toolbox and talk about our communication skills. Not only do communication skills play a big role in our coaching conversations, they are also an integral part of our coaching business. If you are ready to dig into communication, I invite you to grab a drink, a notepad, and pen, and play this family friendly podcast through your speakers.

Introduction

Ok, you have committed to listening to this podcast so why don’t we jump in?

Often you are faced with asking the right question of a client, fellow coach, mentor, employee, or even someone in your family. You can feel frustrated that they misunderstand the question, you might feel nervous about asking the “right thing” in the “right way”, or even knowing what to ask to elicit the information you are seeking. In this episode I will share ways to minimize these concerns and maximize your ability to create “quite a question”. One without these challenges.

Crafting powerful questions can be challenging because of so many factors. One of the big challenges is that we all communicate in a slightly different way. We all have our favorite word patterns, short cuts, and terms that we use. This means that your question has the possibility of being confusing or completely misinterpreted even if it is clear as day in your mind.

Add on to that, most English words are either positively or negatively charged. One study by Garcia, Garas, and Schweitzer notes that while we tend to use more positive words, negative words have more informational value to them. So as coaches, when we use positive language, we may actually have to use more words to explain our point or to craft our questions.

Another challenge in crafting a quality question is that your experience with the language matters. If, for instance, English is your second language then you may craft a question or interpret a question differently from someone for whom English is their first language. If you have ever sat through an English grammar class, you know that the English language is highly nuanced and complex. When we add in familiarity as a component of question creation it is even more nuanced

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Welcome

Hello! I’m Dr. Moira. Welcome to a new episode and a new week with the Coaching Hive Podcast. If you are new, welcome, and if have been listening since the beginning thank you my friend. It is always a pleasure to have you here with me.

The month of June has been all about embracing change. As we have discussed, change can be challenging, but it can also be so rewarding. As we wrap up this month on change, I’m going to really ask you to go deep and examine where you are in your health coaching journey so that you can act today and build the business you envision. Nothing about today will be easy, but it is well worth the conversation. So, if you are ready to dive into today’s podcast, let’s get going and remember that this podcast is family friendly so go ahead and play it through your speakers.

Introduction

You already know that today will ask you to really be honest, you know that we are going to talk about change, but beyond that it is still a mystery. Here is my first question to get you thinking. Are you ready to make a change to become a committed health coach? I don’t know the answer to that question, but let’s start with what I do know.

I know you are a hesitant health coach if you are doing one or more of these things right now:

You are pursuing multiple trainings as a way to find the solution to growing your business but not seeing the results you want.
You are posting on social media every day but not finding your ideal client who is willing to book that consultation or sign up for your paid coaching program.
Participating in multiple health coach social media groups but getting confused and frustrated by the mixed messages you are receiving.

You are probably experiencing frustration as a health coach because you aren’t creating that traction or growing your business as fast as you would like. You may even be getting more unfocused as you pursue other revenue streams until your health coaching business becomes more profitable or you wonder if you should even continue to pursue health coaching right now.

If you are shaking your head yes and this describes you, and you want to be a committed health coach who is satisfied with their business and coaching schedule, then this episode is for you.

I completely understand why you might describe yourself as hesitant when you think about your health coaching career. After all, there are so many people out there who don’t even know what a health coach is! Then there are others who don’t believe that a health coach can help, and there is even a lack of cohesion within the field about what is within our scope of practice and considered ethical. Talk about a lot to wade through in your decision to commit to health coaching.

I am part of a variety of health coaching social media groups and am inundated with mixed messages and confusing advice every day. As an experienced coach and mentor, I have learned to tune these conversations out and offer guidance when necessary, but it is alarming how frequently these conversations occur. I was talking with my husband not too long ago about this and mentioned that I find it strange that as a profession we offer so much to our client’s well-being, but aren’t always as openly committed to serving our colleagues in the same way.

I have had numerous aspiring coaches reach out confused and concerned about how to choose the right health coach training program or what next steps to take because there are so many conflicting answers out there.

So I get where the hesitancy comes from. In fact, I’ll tell you just a little bit about my experience when I first became a health coach. I was a new mom, still teaching as a college professor remotely (long before it became

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Welcome

The month of June is all about embracing change. This can be a difficult process, but often well worth the fear we can feel. If you are ready to dive into today’s podcast, let’s get going and remember that this podcast is family friend so go ahead and play it through your speakers.

Are you ready? Here it is, plain and simple.

Introduction

Let me set the stage for you. You are a passionate entrepreneur, you have a family, you have friends, and you have responsibilities. Maybe you volunteer regularly, have favorite hiking spots, and love to spend time with your dog. You cook more days than not, plan the meals, and take care of the laundry. You might enjoy hanging out with friends, spending time in your garden, checking in on family, and caring for your parents, your children, your loved ones. Perhaps this is all true and you fall into bed exhausted at the end of the day because once again your schedule has ruled you and it won. You are hesitantly approaching your health coaching career because of the potential for burnout and exhaustion. And goodness knows you are already tired.

But what would happen if you had a magic wand that could give you the power to manage your schedule in a way that you still got your work done, you had time for friends, family and important experiences in life without getting exhausted? Would you approach your health coaching career with commitment and confidence?

There are wildly successful, passionate entrepreneurs all over the world who accomplish this feat of magic, except it isn’t magic. They manage their schedule instead of being exhausted by their schedule. Amy Porterfield calls it adding more intentional margin to her schedule and recently introduced a 4-day work week for her employees. In a recent podcast episode (378) Amy said, “I wanted more intentional work margins for my team and for myself so that we could spend more time with the people we love, doing the things we love. Two, for many years as an entrepreneur, I didn't even know it was possible to not work seven days a week. I hate to even admit that, but it's true. I don't want that for you. I don't want that for my students.”

As a student of her Digital Course Academy in the past several months, I have seen firsthand that she is always looking for ways to encourage balance and taking charge of her schedule rather than her schedule taking charge of her. You can even see this in the quote I shared from her podcast episode, but she isn’t the only one making these shifts and recognizing the importance of balance and insisting on saving time for life. For living.

It is often talked about that six years ago Gary Vaynerchuk wrote a blog post stating that he works 18-20 hours a day. He has had HUGE growth in his business that can make you green with envy, but who wants that lack balance. In fact, Gary Vee recently came out saying that he is now getting up to 10 hours of sleep a night thanks to Covid. He is getting the necessary sleep and being incredibly productive during his waking hours. Think about that for a moment. If he is sleeping up to 10 hours a day, that leaves 14 hours left for work.

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What if families were able to create a balanced lifestyle that allowed for down-time, fun time, rest, activity, intellectual and emotional stimulation, time to be spiritual, and time to pursue hobbies? This is what would happen if health coaches were accessible to all.

Dr. Moira Hanna

Introduction

I’m Dr. Moira. I’m a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world, but I haven’t always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I wasn’t sure if I could make it work or even what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step up and step into my dream of guiding health coaches on their journey from Hesitant Health Coach to Committed Health Coach. With a unique approach to coach growth, the Health Coach Catalyst program creates a strong hexagonal effect. The Coaching Hive podcast is your glimpse into the concepts, ideas, and approaches that underscore the Hexagonal Effect while giving you the opportunity to implement tools and tips along the way. Are you ready to dive into today’s podcast? Then let’s go and remember that this podcast is family friendly so go ahead and play it through your speakers!

Welcome to our 20th episode of the Coaching Hive podcast and I thought it would be a good time to slow down, take a step back, and reintroduce you to my purpose and mission with the Coaching Hive as well as invite you to join my free Coaching Hive Momentum Facebook Group today.

Are you ready? Here it is, plain and simple.

Purpose

Everyone deserves to have a health coach.

The Topic

Having access to health coaches is how we make the most of modern medicine. It is how we alleviate pain and illness that is preventable or manageable. It is how our kids experience a more generative and successful life than we are experiencing. Having a health coach is how we change the health of the world to be one of growth and prosperity for all.

Impact

When there are health coaches for every person, regardless of race, color, socioeconomic status, education level, or family history we are committing to caring for one another. In that shared commitment our society as a whole move forward in a way that allows for improved problem-solving, better use of resources, and thriving physically, emotionally, and mentally.

But society is still set up to focus on illness rather than health. Medicine rather than prevention. Privilege rather than equality of access. Instead of guiding people to choose health from day 1, we wait until there is sickness to have this conversation. When a family has a history of chronic disease, it is assumed that this will continue instead of being minimized or prevented. And it is wrong!

What if you Dreamed

How much better would our world be if instead we focused on creating health and well-being for all? If every family had a health coach to walk alongside them to navigate those difficult challenges that arise? What if we had a world where it was normal to find a health coach at the grocery store to answer questions about labels? What if each workplace had a health coach on staff to work steadily with employees on improving their health and well-being no ulterior motive, simply to be healthier? What if it was normal for each person to have a wellness vision and not just a career goal? What if families were able to create a balanced lifestyle that allowed for down-time, fun time, rest, activity, intellectual and emotional stimulation, time to be spiritual, and time to pursue hobbies?

This is what would happen if health coaches were accessible to all. It is what I stand for as a Coach Mentor and entrepreneur. My mission is to support health coaches on their journey from hesitant to committed health coach so th

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With each step and concept that you explore with your vision, it will grow and change. When we stay committed to embracing that change our vision not only becomes clearer, it is motivating and exciting.

Dr. Moira Hanna

Introduction

This month of June is all about change. From changing your limiting beliefs in Episode 18 last week to changing your business momentum by crafting your vision this week. Change is required; why not embrace change. Albert Einstein said, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” It is important to remember that we have to put thought and effort into change. It doesn’t just magically happen. It takes patience, guidance, and action steps to move forward.

If you are ready to take action, embrace the change, and craft your vision then let’s get started.

The Topic

Before we dive right in, I want to be very clear. Your vision is uniquely yours and it always will be. When I first started as a health coach, I didn’t really have a vision and that made attracting clients very difficult. In fact, I didn’t have much direction at all because I didn’t know my purpose and what I wanted at the end of the day. My vision was murky at best.

When I tried again to build my coaching business after time away teaching, I was much clearer on who I wanted to serve, what I needed to learn, what support I needed and even what my financial goals were. With a clear vision in mind, I was able to identify the right next steps.

Now that the Coaching Hive is nearing its 6th month, I find that my vision for this community has become laser focused. That vision helps me better serve our members and plan for the future. I also have a sneaky suspicion that it helps me be more creative when solving challenges and thinking of next steps. Definitely an added bonus.

When you think about your coaching practice, remember your vision is uniquely yours. I have one question for you. Are you ready to embrace change and craft a clearer, more committed vision of your journey to becoming a committed health coach?

If you answered yes, let’s get started.

The Steps

When you think about a vision, what comes to mind? Is it a single sentence? A paragraph? Something longer? Something shorter? Maybe it is a picture. What is included in your vision? What topics are covered?

We all have a slightly different view of what makes a compelling and useful vision. In my Health Coach Catalyst System, the very first step is a 10-week course on crafting your health coaching vision. In other words, crafting your quality vision takes time. It is detailed and there is a lot of different information that goes into it. It doesn’t mean that you can’t pursue your coaching in the meantime, but it does mean that a vision takes not only

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I’m not good enough and don’t know enough to be a successful health coach. This means that I really can’t spend money on my business or make it a priority.

Dr. Moira Hanna

Introduction

The Topic

I’m not good enough and don’t know enough to be a successful health coach. This means that I really can’t spend money on my business or make it a priority. You will never be good enough to work with clients. If you have said this or some version of this to yourself, your friends, or your family, I get it. You aren’t sure you are capable and don’t want to waste money, the time of clients, or your own time pursuing something that won’t or can’t work. On the flip side of the coin there is that little part of you that wants to show that you are capable and worthy of the risk, time, and money that it takes to start a new business. I used to have those same beliefs. In fact, I had them all rolled into one big bundle of goop.

SHIFT Your Perspective

But if this belief, that you aren’t good enough to help clients was true there wouldn’t be any health coaches. As some of the best business leaders and thought leaders in the world will tell you that they had those same beliefs, but look at them now. They are leading thriving businesses.

Look at Amy Porterfield. She is a leader in digital course creation space and is so down-to-earth. She has over 20 full-time employees, but she admits freely that there were definitely times along the way that she didn’t feel like could succeed. In fact she shares her profits and growth along the way and there are several years that were not profitable, but she didn’t give up.

Look at Brandon Lucero a messaging guru. If you watch his promotional videos, he explains that he felt like right before his latest venture really took off. He felt like he was at a low, that he couldn’t make it work, his family was pressuring him to try and find an option that would work. And he was very passionate about messaging. And so, he said you know what? I’m going to make this work. And he did. That doesn’t mean that he didn’t have doubts.

But let me bring this even closer to home for a moment. You may be thinking Amy Porterfield, Brandon Lucero, ok they have big businesses, but let me bring it closer to home. If you listened to Episodes 14, 15, 16, or 17 you have heard the experiences of 4 health coaches. Coaches Julie, Anne, Lynn, and Nik have created successful coaching businesses and didn’t hesitate to hop on the Coaching Hive podcast to share their words of wisdom. But do you think they always believed that they could be successful and never had any doubts? Probably not.

What if we look at this from an even simpler standpoint? When you are learning to drive do you automatically feel like you are the best driver out there or do you worry about being good enough? Now did that feeling keep you f

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Nik: On one end, we had the spa and as you all know, the pandemic hit. Moira: Yes. And so, tell me about 2020. What happened? Nik: Yeah, let's talk about 2020. You really had to shift. We had to shift in a major way. I call it the Pandemic Pivot to Prevention.

Introduction

In this episode, I sat down with Coach Nik. I have known Nik for several years and have been in awe as she has overcome. Challenges has had to make shifts in her business, has set her own health to rights, continues to step outside her comfort zone and serves her community with conviction. It is an absolute honor to have this time with her.

And I hope that you find her words and wisdom, not only inspiring, but motivating as you take on your own challenges. So, let's jump right in and sit down with Coach Nik.

Interview

(Please pardon any inaccuracies in this auto-generated transcript)

Moira: I am so happy to be able to sit down and talk with you today. Now let's set the stage here. I wonder if you could share with me just a little bit about your background and what led you to health and wellness coaching?

Nik: Yes. Well, you know, I've always been a fitness fanatic, a gym rat, one person that did not meet motivation or a buddy to be fit. So Zumba was a perfect transitioned from my personal interest to being able to help others. But I'll tell you Zumba was amazing and singing the clients really respond and get excited about their health, but more was needed.

And after about two years of enjoying Zumba, I kept getting these questions about nutrition and other aspects of health. And I said, well, it's time to do more. Let's go full circle with this. And that led me to coaching. You know, initially it was, let me get some basic nutrition under my belt. And then when I came to understand the power of behavior change, psychology mindset shifting, it just may sense to become a master certified health coach so that I could do more than empower women with knowledge. I could actually help assist them with the change process so that they could engage in, in lifetime or long-term sustainable habits.

Moira: Wow! So you bring up such an interesting point already. You know, you went from Zumba into trying to learn some nutrition stuff because you wanted to be able to share that information.

But I think it's so true that as coaches, when we get into our trainings, we go, oh, there's more to it than just sharing nutrition information. And it sounds like you really, that really resonated with you that concept of how do we actually coach our clients, not just tell them information and say, you need to, but taking it that step further and coaching.

Nik: Yeah, that's it hits it on the nose and that's an integral piece that is missing and that's gonna shift the paradigm of health. That's the component.

Moira: It really will, and really walking alongside our clients instead of that traditional, you have to kind of concept that sometimes

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There are a lot of experienced coaches out there that have a lot to share with younger coaches and their experience and wisdom can really benefit us and benefit our profession in general.

Coach Anne Overall

Introduction

In this podcast episode, I have an opportunity to sit down with an overall a national birth certified health and wellness coach. She is truly blazing a trail forward and really supporting not only her clients, but other coaches as well. One of the ways that she has been giving back is through clubhouse. She has been helping lead clubhouse rooms on a variety of topics for health and wellness coaches. She gives us her time and energy with such joy that it's contagious. So, without further ado, let's jump right into this conversation so that you too can experience this contagious joy that Anne shares.

Interview

(please pardon any inaccuracies in this auto-generated transcript)

Moira: I'll be honest. I've been watching all of the amazing things that Ann has been up to recently, including becoming a guru with clubhouse that is so much fun. It sounds like a blast and that you can create so many neat connections through clubhouse.

Anne: Listen In and just see how it works. If it's a lot of fun, you can make good connections, you can share with amazing people. And I love it. I really do love it.

Moira: That Sounds amazing. And I know you're going to have so many words of wisdom and encouragement to share as you've been growing your coaching business. And you've been doing it during this virtual time, which I know has been tricky for so many and you are just thriving. I'm so happy to sit and talk with you today.

Anne: Well, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you.

Moira: To set the stage. Could you share just a little bit about your background as well as what led you to help them on this coaching?

Anne: Sure. Well, I'm an older coach. I'm in my early sixties and I raised, I was in the Air Force. Initially loved the Air Force served my four years, but I had to get out to start a family because I'm married a wonderful Marine and they had stationed us apart from each other a lot. So, we decided, you know, I would go ahead and do that. I have three beautiful children and I needed to work. So I wanted to stay home. And I, I opened a licensed daycare facility in my home, and it was, it was a great experience. I had over 75 children go through my daycare, some of them up to eight years, their families. Yeah. So, I have a big extended family. Now a lot of kids that I feel like are partially, you know, my kids, but yeah, I did that 17 years when my youngest went off to school finally to college, I decided to stop because it really had wrecked my health. I was working 50 hours a week taking care of up to eight children, two babies for preschoolers and two before and after school, along with raising my own three kids, I took care of all my own business. Y

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The other tip I would give coaches is something my nephew said, said to his wife actually. And she passed it onto me. She said for every hurdle that, that we successfully like jump over, someone else has decided to stop.

Coach Lynn Logg

Introduction

Interview

(please pardon any inaccuracies in this auto-generated transcript)

Moira: Today I have the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with Lynn. Lynn is a national board certified health and wellness coach, and has really been growing her business and learning a lot through the process. I am looking forward to hearing more about her journey as a health and wellness coach, as well as the tips she has for new and aspiring health coaches. Welcome Lynn.

Lynn: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Moira: Oh, You're very welcome. I'm so happy that we're able to sit down and talk today. Fantastic. So to set the stage, I wonder if you could share just a little bit about your background as well as what led you to health and wellness coaching.

Lynn: Background includes a degree in psychology, an undergraduate degree in psychology and also a classically trained chef. So coming into the coaching world kind of grew from that,

but I think the most pivotal thing for me was working for the American Diabetes Association. It was my first job out of college. And, you know, I got to see firsthand the impact of, of that disease on families with children with diabetes, but then also on adults in most cases had significant weight issues. And so, you know, I don't, I don't think that anybody wakes up each morning and says, I'm going to make some really poor health and wellness decisions today. You know, I'm going to eat bad. I'm not going to exercise. I don't think people do that. But what I am learning is that people don't realize the impact of these decisions. They don't understand what the long-term effects of not making well choices. And so for me, it's all about educating people and helping them to see, see the benefits of making better food choices and working towards living a healthier lifestyle.

Moira: I think you bring up such an interesting point there that we don't wake up necessarily every day saying I'm going to make a bad choice today. We don't do that, but we do walk past the pantry and say, Oh man, those cookies they look good. Maybe I'll just have one today. And you know, sometimes that one turns into two or three as we're walking by the pantry three times that day, because Oh, the first one was really good, but we don't intentionally set out to make those kinds of choices. And you saw that firsthand as you worked with the American Diabetes Association. It's not that we intend to make choices that aren't going to support our health and wellness, but they do happen.

Lynn: Right. Right. And for me it was what was amazing, was seeing the transformation. They get to the other side of the room and they go through that door. And you know, you

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I use the walking book club as a tool to help my clients engage the mind and the body. So we have a friendly rule that you have to be listening to move.

Coach Julie Kaminski

Introduction

Interview

(please pardon any inaccuracies in this auto-generated transcript)

Moira: All right, welcome today. I have Julie with me, and she is a national board certified health and wellness coach. Julie has a really unique and interesting approach to her business that I can't wait to learn more about. I am sure that Julie's going to have a lot of words of wisdom and encouragement to share. We've been chatting here just for a few minutes before we got onto the podcast. And I love to hear about all of the changes coming and how she's growing her coaching business, especially in this virtual time, as things have shifted and changed. So welcome, Julie.

Julie: Well thank you for having me.

Moira: You are very welcome. I'm so happy to be able to sit down and talk with you today. And I know we talked a little bit before, but I do like to keep our podcasts kind of brief just to make it a little bit easier for everyone to be able to listen and learn a little bit. So, if it's okay with you, I'd love to go ahead and just jump right on it.

Julie: Absolutely. Let's do it.

Moira: Awesome. So, to set the stage, I wonder if you could share just a little bit about your background as well as what led you to help him on this coaching?

Julie: Okay. So I was an athlete most of my life. I was a synchronized swimmer through college, and then in college, they cut it from the athletic budget and I replaced it each in group fitness group fitness led to a personal training and way back, gosh, 20 years ago, before wellness coaching started to evolve, I was doing it kind of intrinsically in the clients that I was working with because it was not necessarily about a great bicep curl or lifting weights. It was really a much more holistic approach of the people that I was working with. And then, well, coaches came into being and I trained with them and they gave me the, the foundation of what I was doing intuitively with great training and kind of pulled it all together. I also, in, in somewhere in there, I got a master's in counseling and I taught group fitness up till the pandemic, which is about 35 years. And maybe the pandemic was the way for me to actually maybe exit group fitness as I'm, as my body's aging. So I've shifted more towards health and wellness coaching. And I found kind of an interesting niche, which I think we'll get to. And that's the walking book club, but kind of three sets of skillsets have come into play the counseling, the coaching and the train.

Moira: I love that every time I talked to a health and wellness coach, I hear such a diverse background. And I think everyone brings something just a little bit different to the table, which makes our field so unique and just charismatic.

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Question 1: What are the pros of saying something about the situation? Question 2: What is the cost of responding? Question 3: What is the cost of not responding? Question 4: What industry organizations exist to help promote broader knowledge and best practices?

Dr. Moira Hanna

Introduction

Diving In

Welcome to Episode 13 of the Coaching Hive Podcast!

As the month comes to a close, I am feeling excitement. I know that many of you have started to take action, making a commitment to progress over perfection and have even implemented a mindfulness practice to be more in the moment. Our world is a noisy place, and it takes intention to calm our body, mind, and spirit to be more present in the everyday and with our clients during a coaching session.

The Topic

This week, I was reading a Facebook forum and a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach brought up a really good question. She asked how do you handle a situation where someone is calling themselves a health and wellness coach, but are only selling a product and maybe aren’t a certified coach.

Many people chimed in with a variety of responses from frustration that it diminishes the work we do as certified health coaches to concepts of staying in your own lane. I think that this is a great place to end our mindfulness and mindset series.

What do you do when other’s actions and words feel like they are threatening your creditability as a certified health coach? There are many different approaches as seen in the thread of comments.

This suggests that there may not be just one set response in this circumstance, but I thought I would share a few questions I ask myself before deciding how to respond in these situations. My approach has always been tempered by a mindfulness mindset as well as one that focuses on how to best use my time and energy.

So, the first thing that we need to ask ourselves is, “What are the pros to saying something about the situation?” Obviously by throwing your two cents into the ring you might be able to share your ideas with a few people. This may bring awareness, but unless you have a large and engaged following your reach may be somewhat limited. Saying something does show your commitment to the industry and to protecting clients’ best interests.

The next step is to ask, “What is the cost of responding?” There are two parts to this question. The first one is personal. Do you find responding to these situations personally draining? Does it get you ramped up? Frustrated? Defeated? Worried? If you discover that your response is primarily negative, this might be a sign that it is not a battle to be fought, at least right now.

The other side of the coin is looking at the cost to your business. Let me give you an example. What if you decide you want to make sure that others know that this particular person is not

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…as she worked on her peace walk, it slowed her body, slowed her mind, she became intentional with her breath and more aware of her surroundings.

Dr. Moira Hanna

Introduction

I’m Dr. Moira and I’m a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world, but I haven’t always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I wasn’t sure if I could make it work or even what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step up and step into my dream of guiding health coaches on their journey from Hesitant Health Coach to Committed Health Coach. With a unique approach to coach growth, the Health Coach Catalyst program creates a strong hexagonal effect. The Coaching Hive podcast is your glimpse into the concepts, ideas, and approaches that underscore the Hexagonal Effect while giving you the opportunity to implement tools and tips along the way. Are you ready to dive into today’s podcast? Then let’s go and remember that this podcast is family friendly so go ahead and play it through your speakers!

Diving In

Welcome to Episode 12 of the Coaching Hive Podcast!

Over the last several weeks we have really dug into the concept of mindset and mindfulness. For our family and our business, the first part of 2021 has been busy and challenging. It has been our regular practice of mindfulness that has allowed us to persevere and take a time out when needed.

Today we are going to explore practicing mindfulness and I’ve even incorporated time for you to practice mindfulness. A time to pause from your busy schedule and sit in the silence.

The Topic

As a coach, business owner, or just human being, you likely know how easy it is to get into a go-go-go mode. We often hear ourselves saying, “my schedule is packed” or “my calendar is full,” but continue to add things to that packed schedule or full calendar. We form this habit of saying “yes” instead of saying “maybe” or “not right now”.

What I have discovered in practicing mindfulness is that I slow down, I’m more present, and almost by default more willing to say maybe or even no. I want to protect my ability to be fully present in each activity without worrying over the next thing on my schedule or what still needs to get done. I am by no means perfect at this, just ask my husband, but the days when I make mindfulness practice a priority, I am more engaged in the moment.

Being engaged in the moment also, happily, makes engaging with clients and quieting the inner noise when coaching much easier. It is easier to offer empathy and compassion. It is easier to step into the client’s shoes and see their perspective. It is also easier to protect ourselves from taking on the client’s emotions as our own. This allows us to be better coaches.

Now, I did not start with a formal mindfulness practice years ago, and if we are honest, I’m still not as regular about practicing mindfulness as I would like, but instead I started with something a little simpler.

A licensed social worker once explained to me the power of a peace walk. “Peace” as in p-e-a-c-e, peace. I was still in grad school, was constantly busy, was stressed, but I slowed down enough to listen to what she had to say. I was intrigued. Peace sounded nice right about then. So, what is a peace walk? She explained to me that she would go outside, or anywhere that she could walk and with one step breathe in. On the next step she would breathe out the word “peace”. She would whisper on her breath out. This served to do many things. She became aware of her pace. In order to breathe in with one step and out with the next, you have to slow down. By slowing down, she was slowing her whole body. By speaking the word p

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What would happen if we flipped the script? The What if becomes a positive. It becomes a question full of possibility instead of limitations? What if? What if I take a chance and fill my calendar with clients? What if I try a new tool and it really resonates with my client? What if I craft a vision for my business and it inspires me and those around me? What if I find a community of like-minded coaches to offer support and collaboration?

Dr. Moira Hanna

Introduction

Diving In

Welcome to Episode 11 of the Coaching Hive Podcast!

After coaching conversations, emails, and just sitting in the silence, it feels like this month should stay in the trend of mindset. This might be because our Coaching Hive MasterClass for May will be all about mindfulness and I’ve already got that on my mind or it could be that I’m just really loving mindset and mindfulness as spring arrives and everything blossoms and blooms. It feels like a good time to be mindful and set a growth mindset in place.

Let’s recap quickly. Last week we spent time talking about progress over perfection and you had the opportunity to really start thinking about what you’d like to accomplish to just get started. We discussed the idea that if we wait for perfection, the chances of never even taking that first step are exceedingly high.

Let me walk you through a concrete example of this concept. Think about a baby taking their first steps. Do they wait until they know they can successfully and confidently walk across the room and back before they try? No! They take those toddling first steps and fall. The adults all cheer at the effort and the excitement of trying something new. And what happens? The baby gets back up, or some adult picks them back up, and the process begins again.

No one looks at that baby’s first attempts at walking as anything less than a success and worthy of celebration. This builds the baby’s confidence. They squeal with delight and try over and over again. They don’t know to be disappointed in their efforts. They know that they are doing something important and they want to get it right. They love the cheering and the feeling of movement.

What if we applied that same mindset to our business life? What if we chose to celebrate each small step, however wobbly, and have confidence in our ability to walk across the room even if we have never before accomplished the feat? What if we committed to being confident about our forward movement?

The Topic

That sounds nice, right? But you are thinking to yourself. Ok, but where do I get the confidence to get started? The confidence to keep going in the face of challenges and success? The confidence to embrace the doubt and say this is worth it and I am worth it? This kind of confidence that innately allows a baby to try thos

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Just get started. You don’t have to be perfect. Just do something. Put yourself out there and figure it out as you go. Focus on progress. Be consistent. Create the dreams. Just get started. What will you do to make your dreams a reality?

Dr. Moira Hanna

Introduction

I’m Dr. Moira and I’m a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world, but I haven’t always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I wasn’t sure if I could make it work or even what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step up and step into my dream of guiding health coaches on their journey from Hesitant Health Coach to Committed Health Coach. With a unique approach to coach growth, the Health Coach Catalyst program creates a strong hexagonal effect. The Coaching Hive podcast is your glimpse into the concepts, ideas, and approaches that underscore the Hexagonal Effect while giving you the opportunity to implement tools and tips along the way. Are you ready to dive in to today’s podcast? Then let’s go and remember that this podcast is family friendly so go ahead and play it through your speakers!

Diving In

Welcome to Episode 10 of the Coaching Hive Podcast! (whoop whoop. I’m ridiculously happy to reach the milestone of 10. I know this podcast is still in infancy, but each milestone is fun.

Today we were supposed to move on from our focus of mindset because we are beginning a new month. I have told you that we would start a new podcast topic each month so that we could stay focused, efficient, and cover a variety of topics, but I find that with the start of Spring I’m just not quite ready to transition to a new topic. This gives me the heebie jeebies because I’m a rule follower, even my own rules, but this topic seems right for now so we will see where the month takes us. Sound ok? Phew! Thanks for being so flexible with the plan.

Now, last week, we were supposedly wrapping up our mindset discussion and I shared with you the Mindset Refresh Workbook. This is something that I use with my coaching clients to spark exploration and action. Have you grabbed your free copy yet? If not, it is still available. You can still get it at hexagonalapproach.info/mindsetrefresh. Once you enter your information on the website, be sure to check your email and click the link to download your workbook.

If you have already downloaded your copy and gotten to work, what changes are you noticing? Have you decided what beliefs might be holding you back? Maybe you are feeling stuck. Sit with that for a little while. It is ok to take time and sit in the silence and revisit the workbook time and time again. But the workbook is not our primary focus today. We talked about that last week and you can always go back to Episode 9 to learn more about the workbook. Today’s focus is progress over perfection.

The Topic

I hope you’ll allow me to share a little about my journey before we talk more about this concept of progress over perfection. I promise, there’s a connection. So here it is, I grew up as a musician. I performed, I auditioned, and I generally had a boatload of confidence in my performance skills. Don’t get me wrong, I still got nervous, I still worried, but I knew that I was capable. Fast forward to college and I pursued not only a music degree, but a psychology degree as well. Man, that psychology degree was HARD! I have never worked so hard, so thoughtfully, so diligently, and so nervously in pursuing success. I have to admit, it got the better of me sometimes. I wasn’t always successful and by the time I got to graduate school to work toward my Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Ps

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Read the Conclusions to get the FREE pdf workbook used in conjunction with this podcast episode.

Introduction

Welcome to Episode 9 of the Coaching Hive Podcast! I am your host, Dr. Moira and today we take our mindset focus and think about how to apply the concept to our limiting beliefs for a mindset refresh.

This month has been packed with information on mindset, great wisdom from Brianna, a look at one of my favorite books, She Means Business, and a review of the scientific research on mindset. It seems to be a natural conclusion to our month to take time and reflect.

Mindset is especially key because here at the Coaching Hive, we want to be effective, efficient, and have fun so that work becomes a joy, and you have dedicated time for the important things in life like your family, friends, and hobbies. Go ahead and play this family friendly podcast through your speakers and let’s get started.

The Topic

Mindset takes attention, it takes practice, it takes patience, and it takes persistence. Mindset requires us to create habits, a concept we are covering inside the Coaching Hive in our April MasterClass because it is so important.

Before we talk more about shifting our mindset, I hope you will allow me to digress for a moment and share an experience I once had with the concept of mindfulness. Now to be clear, mindset and mindfulness are two different things, but the heart of the story applies to mindset as well.

I once had the distinct pleasure to learn from Gena Adams-Riley. She is a mindfulness guru and I loved the way that she approaches mindfulness. She told the group that we all start from a place of practice and to be kind and gentle with ourselves. What she meant is that mindfulness takes time. It takes intentional practice. Gena encouraged participants to develop a mindfulness practice and to practice everyday mindfulness.

If the concept of mindfulness is new to you, lets pause here for just a quick overview. Mindfulness is about being aware of our thinking and how that can shape an experience. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, the father of mindfulness, “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; On purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally”.

What did Gena offer to the group as a way to become more mindful? Well, the bare essentials of it come to the fact that she encouraged the group members to sit and just “be” each day. If you noticed your mind wandering, she said, maybe to the grocery list, to the to do list, or anything else, simply notice it and then continue on with your mindfulness meditation. This mindfulness practice allows a person to grow their everyday mindfulness, which happens in the moment. When actions are taking place, you allow yourself to notice what you are thinking and feeling and how that is impacting the experience. By combining mindfulness meditation with everyday mindfulness, you become more in tune with your relationships with others and yourself. Mindfulness takes time, practice, patience, and persistence. It also requires a gentleness with yourself as you learn something new.

So, what does this have to do with mindset? I already told you mindset and mindfulness are two different things. Just like being more mindful requires time, practice, patience, and persistence, shifting your mindset also requires those same things. Mindset, your belief about yourself and your potential can become deeply engrained in your thought processes and it takes time to change those beliefs and ultimately to shift your mindset.

The Mindset Refresh

Given the fact that coaches are leaders, business owners, support systems, teachers, guides, and so much more, having a positive mindset about your potential is critical to succ

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Introduction

Welcome to the Coaching Hive Podcast! For the last few weeks, we have been discussing the importance of mindset in making changes and in our daily life. Today I have a special treat for you. We are sitting down with Brianna Wilkerson and she is going to share some of her insights and expertise on the concept of mindset.

I had the chance to meet Brianna through the Female Entrepreneur Association when we realized that we are both health coaches. Brianna is a holistic health and life coach, a wife, a mama, a chai tea lover, and at-home cross-fitter.

She helps women find peace with food, feel confident in their bodies again, and develop a healthy lifestyle that’s more than just about their weight. In her sessions, Brianna supports and empowers her clients to make simple, sustainable changes that work and fit into their life.

So, let’s get started, jump in, and chat with Brianna!

Interview

Moira: Welcome Brianna! I am just so excited to have you here with me today, and I'm really looking forward to our time together. I know we've been chatting for just a few minutes kind of catching up, and I am glad to have connected with you through the Female Entrepreneur Association.

Brianna: Me too.

Moira: So today, as you know, I've been talking with my listeners about mindset this month, and I know that's something that's also important to you and you really see the value in. I thought it would be really great to just kind of hear a little bit about what you're doing. You are a health coach, so I'd love to know a little bit more about what you're doing in your coaching practice right now. And then maybe we can talk a little bit more about mindset.

Brianna: Yeah. Well, thanks for having me. Yeah. I think mindset, no matter what coaching sphere, or actually what business you're in, is so huge. And particularly with my clients I've kind of niched down and focus on that in regard to mindset around food, their bodies and themselves, because I think when it comes to whether it's sustainable weight loss or any health goal, many of us women have emotionally and mentally charged goals that are connected to how we view food, our body and ourselves. And so right now, I'm kind of really supporting women in finding peace with food. You know, try not to see food as like an enemy or something that's just for comfort, but something to fuel us, but also finding peace with their bodies. Just, you know, I just had a nine-month-old, so our bodies are going to change, all the time. And how do we start to love our bodies now versus when it is a certain size or a certain shape, and really honor it, because if we don't take care of our bodies, we cannot show up well in the world. And then ultimately, I want to help them develop a healthy lifestyle, beyond just their weight. I do think weight loss is something we can go towards, but weight isn't the only measurement of our health. And so, I really just want to help women see that our is not in our weight, but also our health is not necessarily in our weight either.

So yeah, so through one-on-one coaching, through my own podcasts, through challenges, different free resources, I'm just trying to kind of help women see that they're more than their weight.

Moira: So you're really helping women view health and wellness more holistically, not just that number on the scale when we step on. That, it's so much more than any number can ever tell us. That it's truly about that whole body, that whole wellbeing, everything, including mindset and how we view ourselves and our weight and food and everything combined. I think that's so important and so needed in our culture where we do tend to get very number focused, right? We step on the scale and look at the number. Is it the number we want? No. Oh my gosh. But instead, really

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Introduction

Welcome to Episode 7 of the Coaching Hive Podcast! I am your host, Dr. Moira and for the past two weeks we have been exploring the concept of mindset. First, we talked about the definition and last week we took to the research to find out the impact of mindset on your business. This week we continue the conversation by looking at a popular Hay House author, Carrie Green, and her book titled, She Means Business.

Here at the Coaching Hive, we want to be effective, efficient, and have fun so that work becomes a joy, and you have dedicated time for the important things in life like your family, friends, and hobbies. Go ahead and play this family friendly podcast through your speakers and let’s get started.

The Topic

Are you the type of person who sees a book that is pink with gold foil, a fancy script for the title, and a subtitle that includes the word “wildly” and writes it off as fluff?

If you are nodding yes, I’ve been there. I have passed over so many books that seemed to be fluff simply because of the cover. It is a mindset, a mental attitude or inclination, that has us prejudging something before we even take a closer look. Now we have all been told not to judge a book by the cover and this is one of those books. It has a beautiful cover and I bought it because I liked Carrie’s work, mindset, and approach to business, but honestly, I would have skipped it over in the bookstore.

Remember that pink cover I described? Carrie actually talks about the pink color used in her branding as being her favorite color. Early on she had people criticize her color choices, but she held to what she liked. This was her business and she liked pink. She adopted a mindset that helped her see these critics as people with opinions that were different from hers. She didn’t give in or give up. She kept her pink signature color and it still stands today as the primary color of the Female Entrepreneur Association. Although purple is my favorite color, pink is a close second and I happen to love her color scheme. Imagine, though for a minute if she had let critics of her color choices literally color her business. What mindset would she have had? Probably not one that was empowered, and her business might have become something she didn’t love. She might have begun to make changes based solely on what the critics thought rather than keeping her mindset focused on what she wanted for her business. This doesn’t mean that she tunes out the critics, or ignores good comments and advice. It simply means that she has a mindset that she is the business owner and ultimately, she has to be ok with the choices she is implementing. But you didn’t start this podcast to learn about book cover color choices. So let me tell you a little about my experience with the inside of the book.

The Ideas

When I opened She Means Business for the first time, I had a problem. I got sucked in. I couldn’t put it down. In fact, I had picked it up as I was getting ready for bed and Nate, my husband, came in a while later curious because I was still awake. I had a goofy grin on my face and distinctly remembering telling him that I needed to read Carrie’s book every single day. It was uplifting, it was motivating, and it really reminds us that what we achieve takes really hard work, but it is worth it when you build something that you are excited to wake up to each morning.

As a member of the Female Entrepreneur Association, I was curious to see if Carrie’s abundance mindset and positive approach to learning, growing, and exploring came through in the book. It is clearly evident in her podcast and everything she does in the FEA. And guess what? The book delivered in a BIG way.

The book is divided into three parts t

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Introduction

Welcome to Episode 6 of the Coaching Hive Podcast! I am your host, Dr. Moira. Last week we started our exploration of mindset. We talked about the definition of mindset and even some resources to check out. If you missed it, no problem, you can always catch Episode 5 when you subscribe on your favorite podcast provider.

This week we dig deeper and talk about the role of mindset. As a business owner, health coach, or just human being, at some point you have had doubts and your mindset may have shifted a bit. You may find yourself grappling with those doubts and your mindset may even tell you that you can’t improve. What you do when that sneaky self-doubt gremlin creeps in? What does the research say about mindset?

The Topic

Let me paint a picture for you. An instructor noticed for over 5 years that her students were graduating, feeling the excitement of a hopeful future, but showing signs of being confused about next steps. This happened over and over, and it was difficult to see talented coaches struggle to find their way forward, but not have solutions to offer. Some coaches found their path and flourished while others remained unsure of the next steps.

Fast forward and we come to the Coaching Hive Hexagonal Approach that launched in February of 2021. If you haven’t guessed, I am that instructor who spent over 5 years seeing students, talented coaches, search for the best path forward after graduating. Here’s the thing, I had a fixed mindset that I couldn’t do anything to help. In December, though, I had the chance to speak with a mentor and she asked me what I really wanted to do, and I knew that I wanted to support coaches AFTER they finished their coaching program. There are many great coaching programs out there and, having helped to develop the content for one of them, I knew the aspiring coaches would be in great hands if I stepped back, changed my mindset, and chose to say that I CAN offer guidance after graduation. This mentor asked me what was stopping me, and I realized, truly, it was just my mindset. I felt like I couldn’t make a difference. I couldn’t help. The only reason I couldn’t help is because I had the mindset that I couldn’t.

The Ideas

Our mindset plays a role in what we choose to try, where we focus, and even with whom we associate. In fact, mindset impacts everything. Having the right mindset can change your business from “ok” to “great” and your joy in life from “eh, so-so” to “fantastic”. Now, mindset is not the only determining factor here, but imagine if you made the choice to think that today is going to be an awe-inspiring day with opportunities, fun, and connection. Wouldn’t that mindset prime you to notice the good? The chances to reconnect with friends and family? The moments that often pass us by that create smiles when noticed? Of course, it would!

When you adopt a positive, growth-promoting mindset, it can have a big impact on your business momentum, but don’t take my word for it. Let’s head to the research to explore what has been uncovered about the role of mindset.

The Research

A good place to start is with Zhao, Wichman, and Frishberg’s 2019 study in the Journal of General Psychology. Zhao et al. examined whether mindset would be able to mitigate the effects of self-doubt. Previous research has certainly sugg

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Introduction

Welcome to Episode 5! I am your host, Dr. Moira. Welcome to a new month and a new series of podcasts. Episodes 5 through 9 will be all about mindset.

If you are new to the Coaching Hive Podcast, we take a month-long look at a single topic or concern that impacts health coaches along their business journey. We take this month-long approach to support the Coaching Hive mission of empowering coaches to be focused with their learning intentions while maintaining forward business momentum.

This is a 5-week month, which means 5 entire conversations about mindset. I’ll keep today brief and just offer a review of the concept of mindset. In Episode 6, we will discuss the concept of overcoming doubts, in Episode 7 we will focus on the concept of modeling mindset for our clients. Then, because of that magical 5th week we will have time for a book discussion in week 4. We are going to discuss a book called She Means Business by Carrie Green. I think you will like her vibe, her mindset, and her approach to business. Then in that 5th week at the very end of the month we will wrap up the month with Episode 9 and a “Put It Into Action” challenge.

Keep sending me your ideas, challenges, and successes. I’m always here to offer ideas and encouragement on your journey.

Before we head into our main content for today, remember that these podcasts will always be child friendly, so go ahead and play it through your speaker while you tackle other small tasks.

Now let’s jump in!

The Topic

Mindset is a hot topic these days. Every time I turn around it is there, but what exactly is mindset? Well with a 4th grader in the house, we have a number of dictionaries so I decided to pull one out. I reached for the Merriam-Webster version because the Compact Oxford was not quite as easy to grab. I took a look at the actual definition in the Merriam-Webster dictionary and here is what I found. Mindset is a mental attitude or inclination. When thinking about the concept of mindset, it is most often paired with the terms “fixed” or “growth”. There is a huge body of research surrounding the concept of mindset and the seminal research was done by Carol Dweck. This body of research grows every year because mindset has such important implications in our everyday lives.

The Ideas

Now I promised to keep today’s podcast a short so let’s just take a quick overview of mindset. And I thought some examples might be a helpful way as we orient to this topic. Let’s explore the concepts of fixed mindset and growth mindset more specifically.

A fixed mindset is exactly what it sounds like. It is inflexible. A fixed mindset is one that does not change. A fixed mindset does not allow for the same possibilities and opportunities that a growth mindset will allow for.

For example, a coach with a fixed mindset may see a client who is struggling with what seem like simple goals and label that client as “impossible” or maybe they believe that the client is just unable to change. A coach who looks at their own skills and feels like they can never get better has a fixed mindset. The concept here is that you either have it or you don’t. It is not something that can be learned or changed. It is either there or it isn’t.

Now a coach, on the other hand, with a growth mindset is going to believe that they can change and learn and grow. With that same st

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Read the Conclusions to get the FREE pdf download used in conjunction with this podcast episode.

Introduction

Welcome to Episode 4! I am your host, Dr. Moira. I hope you are enjoying our month of podcasts on focus and efficiency. This week we wrap up our month with the Put It Into Action challenge. If you missed Episodes 1-3 you may want to start with those before tackling our challenge. All episodes are available and waiting for you on behealthyhive.com as well as all of your favorite podcast providers.

For those of you just tuning in, the Coaching Hive podcast looks at topics and concerns that impact health coaches along their business journey to guiding clients to improved health and wellness. The Coaching Hive empowers coaches to be focused with their learning intentions while maintaining forward business momentum.

Here at the Coaching Hive, our mission is to be effective, efficient, and have fun so that work becomes a joy, and you have dedicated time for the important things in life like your family, friends, and hobbies.

This podcast is rooted in learning and efficiency. In fact, to be more effective and efficient, each month we will focus on a single topic. That means 12 new learning topics a year AND time to dig in without feeling overwhelmed.

Let’s review a little bit about how this podcast works. At the start of the month, we will introduce our topic and learn a bit about why it is important to you as a coach. In the second and third weeks, we’ll dive a little deeper and explore the opinions and ideas of other coaches as well as the research on the topic. In the last week of the month, I’ll offer you a chance to challenge yourself. This challenge encourages you to experiment and put into practice what we’ve been talking about throughout the month in a very specific and detailed way. I’ll even include a PDF to walk you through the “Put It Into Action” process. You may be thinking, “But, Moira some months have 5 weeks,” and you are absolutely correct! We will always end our month with the “Put It Into Action” challenge. When there are five weeks, we will tuck in a book discussion just before that challenge.

I love hearing about your successes and helping you find solutions when you get stuck. I’m always here to offer ideas and encouragement every step of the way.

Just like me, you might be busy; you’re listening to this podcast as you take care of other tasks. These podcasts will always be child friendly, so go ahead and play it through your speaker while you fold clothes, prep your dinner, or make the bed.

Now that we have those details and reminders out of the way and you know where we’re headed, we can continue with our topic!

The Topic

For the past three episodes, we have been discussing the concept of creating efficiency and focus in our coaching business and in life in general. This is something that, when we spend a little time on, can actually save us time in the long run. It can be difficult to stop and tackle one task at a time, or to sit down and plan out how you want to move through a long “to do” list.

I get it. It can seem like a waste of time to plan your “to do” list rather than just jumping in. The opposite is actually true. When you have a clear plan, it can be much easier to move forward efficiently and effectively.

This brings me to our “Put It Into Action” challenge. At the end of each month, I challenge you to take the month’s concepts and intentionally use the information. Are you ready for this month’s “Put It Into Action” challenge? He

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Introduction

Welcome to Episode 3! I am your host, Dr. Moira. I hope you are enjoying our month of podcasts on focus and efficiency. If you missed the first two podcasts this month, that is ok, they are ready and waiting for you on behealthyhive.com and all of your favorite podcast providers.

Let’s review a little bit about how the podcast works. At the start of the month, we will introduce our topic and learn a bit about why it is important to you as a coach. In the second and third weeks, we will dive a little deeper and explore the opinions and ideas of other coaches as well as the research on the topic. In the last week of the month, I’ll offer you a chance to challenge yourself. This challenge encourages you to experiment and put into practice what we have been talking about throughout the month in a very specific and detailed way. I’ll even include a PDF to walk you through the “Put It Into Action” process. You may be thinking, “But, Moira some months have 5 weeks” and you are absolutely correct! We will always end our month with the Put It Into Action challenge. When there are five weeks, we will tuck in a book discussion just before the challenge.

I love hearing about your successes and helping you find solutions when you get stuck. I’m always here to offer ideas and encouragement every step of the way.

Now that we have those details and reminders out of the way and you know where we’re headed, we can continue with our topic!

The Topic

Many times, in the coaching world we can become overwhelmed, we are taking on additional clients, thinking about marketing, juggling a day job while growing a coaching business, and all while trying to be present for our family and friends. It is difficult and without being efficient, overwhelm creeps in.

I was talking with a group of coaches just this week about how important it is to stay on the lookout for signs of burnout and overwhelm. It is a topic that I often discuss and for the past two podcasts, we have been talking about building efficiency in our business and our life. By letting go of multi-tasking and narrowing our focus to specific and meaningful tasks we get more done in a smaller time span and that overwhelm that we feel diminishes.

When we are focused, efficient, and less distracted by the things that don’t require our attention, we also become good role models for our clients. Over the past few weeks, I have been gathering ideas and tips for being focused and efficient from a variety of coaches. In this podcast, I’m going to share some of their best ideas with you.

We are all different though and what works for one person may not work for you. It is im

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Introduction

Welcome back! I am your host, Dr. Moira. I hope you enjoyed Episode 1, which was an introduction to efficiency by finding focus. If you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, that’s ok. You can always go back when you have a moment.

For those of you just tuning in, the Coaching Hive podcast looks at topics and concerns that impact health coaches along their journey to guiding clients to improved health and wellness. The Coaching Hive empowers coaches to be focused with their learning intentions while maintaining forward business momentum.

Let’s review a little bit about how the podcast works. Last week, at the start of the month, we began our series and this week we dive a little deeper. As always, I’ll offer you a chance to challenge yourself. I love hearing about your successes and helping you find solutions when you get stuck. I’m here to offer ideas and encouragement every step of the way. Next week, I have something fun planned, and then we will wrap up the month with a “Put It In Action” challenge. This challenge gives you a chance to put into practice what we have been talking about throughout the month in a specific and detailed way. I’ll even include a PDF to walk you through the “Put It In Action” process.

Now that we have those details and reminders out of the way and you know where we’re headed, we can continue with our topic of efficiency!

The Topic

We are going to pick up today where we left off last week. We were discussing ways to find focus and this week we are going to talk about a key concept that fits right in. It is one that you have all heard about: multi-tasking. But is multi-tasking a boon or a detriment to our efficiency? That is the question we will explore today.

When you think about the term multi-tasking, what comes to mind? For me, I think about having my phone and planner nearby, my email open on my computer, then the actual task that is supposed to be getting my attention pulled up on my screen as well. I am engaging with all of these different possible tasks and current tasks at the same time, at least theoretically.

Multitasking by definition is the ability to “engage in multiple tasks aimed at attaining multiple goals simultaneously” (Sanbonmatsu, Strayer, Medeiros-Ward, & Watson, 2013). Research shows that people pursue multi-tasking for different reasons and with strikingly different levels of success.

Remember, just a minute ago, I asked you to come up with your image of multi-tasking in your life. I said, “When you think of the term multi-tasking, what comes to mind?” Do you have your idea of “multi-tasking” in mind yet? Were you able to think about that example while I continued with my own and even shared a definition with you? Maybe you are thinking, yes and maybe you are thinking, no. We will talk more about that today.

But I do really want you to think of a time when you multitask. You might be multitasking right now; I even gave you permission to do that when we got started. Maybe you are taking a walk and listening to this podcast at the same time. Perhaps you sit

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Introduction

Welcome to Episode 1 of the Coaching Hive podcast. I am your host, Dr. Moira and it is great to be here with you today. We look at topics and concerns that impact health coaches along their journey to guiding clients to improved health and wellness. The Coaching Hive empowers coaches to be focused with their learning intentions while maintaining forward business momentum.

At the Coaching Hive, we strive to be effective, efficient, and have fun so that work becomes a joy and you still have time for the important things in life like your family, friends, and hobbies. Yes, I said hobbies. If you are thinking there isn’t time for hobbies, you might be right. There have been seasons of life where hobbies weren’t possible, and other seasons where I simply didn’t work efficiently, effectively, and in a way that prioritized self-care.

As an educator with over 15 years of experience and coach instructor for the past 6 years, my schedule is always packed, and I have become an expert in efficiency.

This podcast is rooted in learning and efficiency. In fact, to be more effective and efficient, each month we will focus on a new topic. That means 12 new learning topics a year AND time to dig in without feeling overwhelmed.

Let’s talk a little about how the process works. The first week of each month, we will concentrate on getting on the same page, talk briefly about the topic and where we are headed. We might even complete an action item to get you in the mindset for the month. Then, throughout the month we will zero in on the important concepts and details. We will wrap up each month with a “Put It In Action” challenge. This challenge gives you a chance to put into practice what we have been talking about throughout the month in a specific and detailed way.

Just like me, you might be busy and listening to this podcast as you take care of other tasks. These podcasts will always be child friendly, so go ahead and play it through your speaker while you fold clothes, prep your dinner, or make the bed.

Now that we have those details out of the way and you know where we are headed, on to this month’s topic!

The Topic

In the beginning of a new year, we often find ourselves setting new goals, setting intentions for this to be the year that everything goes smoothly, and choosing a word for the year (gosh, I see this all over my Facebook feed and no, before you ask, I have never come up with a word for the year because I worry it will lock me onto a path). What this all boils down to is the idea that you are finding your focus. Just like we use focusing tools such as agenda mapping with our coaching clients to help them find focus, we must also be intentional about finding focus.

This month, the Coaching Hive podcast will be all about focusing for efficiency. Being focused and efficient often allows you to accomplish what you set out to do AND without the feeling of overwhelm. What could be better?

Let me give you a quick example of what I mean before we jump into the details. I love to learn and read. In fact being a learner is my number 1 strength according to the Clifton Strengths Finder. This means that as a professor and instructor I am probably in the right career, but it also means that I am constantly piling up books, articles, websites, and podcasts to devour. The problem comes in that there is not time to go through EVERYTHING I pick out. I have to focus in on what is most important, set priorities, and then make some cuts. Not everything has to be read or listened to right now. Some items might go onto an “optional” list. Without finding focus for my learning goals, it can feel overwhelming.

Harvard

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About this episode

Welcome to The Coaching Hive podcast. I’m Dr. Moira and I empower coaches to take a focused approach to learning. As an educator with nearly 15 years of experience in higher education, 10 years of experience as a health and wellness coach, and six years as an instructor, preparing coaches to sit for the national certifying exam for health and wellness coaches I know what busy means. The Coaching Hive is all about making learning easier, more accessible, and of course streamlined for your busy schedule.

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