Professional Evolution
I have been helping coaches scale - and build 6-figure practices - since 2008. I have also owned my own business - or have been in business for myself - for all but two years out of my entire adult life.
I would often say to myself, "who wouldn't want to own their own business?" In true disbelief, that any such person might exist.
That was a long time ago.
Plenty of people - let me tell you - Don't want their own business - and they just may not be cut out for it.
And many humans go into business and shortly thereafter have a very rude awakening. I understand why: they went into business because they love something. Maybe they take their hobby or their interest or their desire to help others in some way and assume other people will love it too - or understand it's a unique and profound benefit - and perhaps they will, but as the business owner - to be successful - you still need to learn about business.
And the last thing a newly certified holistic practitioner wants to hear is that they really have to learn how to sell. But, of course, sell in a way that does not compromise their holistic values.
But all the things: ethical sales, marketing, compensation for those who work for you (and payroll tax if you intend to make them employees, along with benefits packages - if you offer them - advanced communication skills and conflict resolution, basic economics and economic trends, ethical sales, social media, branding, your own personal image and look, because whether we like it or not, our appearance is the most immediate extension of our marketing for our business - and people are deciding whether they like us or not in the first few seconds when they meet us - or online with simply our profile photo - or a single post.
And, finally, if I have not mentioned it yet: ethical sales,
which is really the client acquisition process.
Once they express interest, what steps do you need to take when? In what sequence? What would produce the optimal result?
I can tell you from experience that simply changing the last line of an email from "let me know if any of those work for you" to "which of those options works best for you?" will have a tangible impact on the result - and even the speed of the response.
And let's not forget the "people problems".
This is the human factor. It may be within ourselves - something we struggle with - or it may be in the dynamic between you and your partners, employees, team members, clients, etc. Insufficient or ambiguous communication, a lack of aligned purpose and values to name just two huge ones.
Some of you may have had your eyes glaze over several lines ago. some of you may even have a headache after reading that partial list of the things one needs to at least be aware of best practices if not competent in the area themselves.
Heck, after you read that, some of you may have even been talked out of it - and thought maybe your job is just fine and you'll keep the security as unfulfilling as the job may be.
But for those of you who have that deep yearning to live your Purpose after that purpose has found you, at first, perhaps you are scared - it's so big! Then perhaps you attempted to deny it or push it away. But it does not really go away. True Purpose is always universal and Spiritual in its nature - and in the chord - the note - it strikes in our hearts and souls.
Trying to deny Purpose is like trying to deny Spirit itself.
If you choose that - what ends up happening is you are there in your secure job - satisfying yet unfulfilling job - and you suffer from a low-grade soul-level ache - if you have felt it, you know what I mean - and the only true salve for that is to choose a new path; a path that integrates your Purpose and your prosperity.
That can look different for each solopreneur in terms of how you flesh it out - your unique offering - but the structures within and the structure of your program when we work together remain largely the same:
What most business coaches and business trainings skip over is the most important part: your mind and emotions.
Fear, anxiety, guilt, shame, discomfort with initial awkwardness we all have in the beginning as we get our bearings, overwhelm, "imposter syndrome", beliefs about business, money, the markets, etc.
Perhaps the fear many people have when starting their first business. Their discomfort at times when it comes time to discuss the financial terms of the agreement - and the questions of value of your offering - and if you collapse the personal and practical domains of self-esteem, the questions of your own worth as a result (Pssst: one has nothing to do with the other), taking someone saying "no" personally, beliefs the economy and economics - and confusing it with politics - or humans in general (I would guess there are many wealthy artists in our modern era whose parents - at one point early on - asked them if they thought about getting a "real job". Or a belief about money and spirituality being in conflict - rooted in the reality that before free enterprise became ... well, freer... you had to enslave, rob, extort, inherit, or conquer to gain wealth.
That is simply no longer accurate.
Today, we can offer our deepest gifts for the benefit of another and through serving them and healing them realize what they envision, we can become wealthy.
We address all of the emotional, mental (beliefs and mindsets) head-on. We can not step over it. We bring it into our awareness, distinguish it, and resolve it so you can have a clean and clear foundation. Some people want to skip over their phase - either because they are in denial about what lurks - don't worry, it will emerge clearly later on - or because they are simply impatient. But this phase will speed your path in the long run. Imagine - if we can clear out 70% of your imprinted anxiety responses in a 1-hour session, how much more velocity you will have as you move through giving a talk, or unveiling a new web site, or going to a networking event, or discussing the money.
Depending on the kind of business or practice you are inspired to start or scale there will be certain points of learning and development for you. Some of these will be structures we put in place, from workflow to process guides - systems that simply work. They will help you scale and assist you in having more predictable results along the way. Don't worry - we will make sure they resonate with you. Their purpose is to free you up to be more yourself while giving you a structure in the background that you can rely on to work without putting you in a box or constricting your uniqueness.
More importantly, we educate you on how to manage your own mind - to navigate your interiors - because your internal subjective experience does have structure. Knowing how to navigate that and adjust it will make you your own master practitioner and - hopefully - make me obsolete.
There are 3 components that are necessary to build a 6-figure practice:
- Provide free, useful content, including talks
- Have a comprehensive offering or series of sessions
- Have an ethical sales system - grounded in service and contribution - and use it
In this section, we help you design and structure your talks and we also help you design a 3 or 6-month offering so your clients can have greater sustainability of change and you can have financial sustainability.
And of course - there are software tools, technologies, and platforms as well as best practices and industry standards that we will educate you on as well.
We will end where we actually began - by reviewing the metrics that you visioned and see which areas we have already met those milestones, which ones need more attention, and which outcomes need a different approach - and we make those adjustments after gathering the feedback.
