Welcome to the Rich Coach Club, the podcast that teaches you how to build your dream coaching practice and how to significantly increase your income. If you're a coach and you're determined to start making more money, this show is for you. I'm master certified life coach Susan Hyatt, and I'm psyched for you to join me on this journey. You're listening to episode number two, here we go.
If you're listening to this show, then you probably work as a life coach. You love coaching, you're passionate about your profession, and also, you'd like to start making more money, like, maybe a lot more money? So what's stopping you from earning more? What do you think is limiting you? Is your income limited because of your intelligence? I'm guessing no. Is your income limited because you lack credentials, you lack training? Probably not. Is it because you just suck at coaching? Is that why you're not making more money? That's probably not it either.
So what's the issue? What's blocking you from doubling or tripling or quadrupling your income? That sounds exciting, right? The issue most likely is lack of confidence. And in order to build a profitable coaching practice, selling our programs and daily deposits rolling into that bank account, you need confidence with a capital C. You need to feel confident about your coaching skills, confident about what you're selling, confident about what you're charging.
You need to feel confident that your work leads to results. Think about something you feel totally confident about. Maybe something like making your mom's famous banana bread recipe. It's the best recipe hands down and it creates the best banana bread on the planet. Maybe people always rave about it and if someone ever asked you, "Hey, do you have a good banana bread recipe?" You'd be like, "Hell yes I do, and lucky you because here it is." Total confidence.
Or maybe you feel totally confident about recommending your hair stylist to your friends. She is the best hair stylist in town, no question. She is a goddess with hair. And whenever you recommend her, your friends are like, "Oh my god, thank you, she is the best." You have total confidence recommending her and sending new clients to her.
That same level of confidence that you feel about the banana bread recipe or your hair stylist, you need to feel that same level of confidence about yourself and your coaching practice, your services, your programs. If you lack confidence or if your confidence is constantly swinging up and down and all over the place, you're going to struggle to earn money consistently. It's that simple.
So the good news is confidence can be built and strengthened, and that's our focus for today's episode. I want to help you build 10 times more confidence in yourself as a coach in your work and in the prices you charge. By the end of this episode, I want you strutting down the street like Beyoncé in a gold sparkly dress with maximum confidence and a wind machine blowing your hair. Actually, I am going to Beyoncé this weekend and I am wearing a gold sparkly dress so I'll practice for y'all.
Alright, if that feels a little unrealistic, how about this? By the end of this episode, I want you to feel a little more confident than when you first started listening because that's doable, right? Maybe not Beyoncé level confidence today but at least a little bit more.
So here we go. It's time for the segment that I call Your 2-Minute Pep Talk. Oh, it's on. Drink that espresso and tat up your shoelaces and buckle your seatbelt and get yourself ready. Here's your two-minute pep talk for the week. This is the part of the show where I share some motivation and encouragement to get your week started off right in 120 seconds or less.
And again, our topic today is confidence. How to build 10 times more confidence. How can you build more confidence in yourself as a coach? Well, I want you to imagine a glass jar. You're going to fill this jar with confidence coins. Big gold shiny coins. You're going to fill it and fill it and fill it until your confidence jar is overflowing.
Here's how to fill up your jar. First, get some paper and write down the following statement, “I can feel confidence in myself as a coach for a lot of reasons. I have plenty of evidence that proves that I am an effective and valuable coach.” Alright, I'm going to say that again slowly for you so you can write it down, or of course, you can get it from the show notes, “I can feel confidence in myself as a coach for lots of reasons. I have plenty of evidence that proves that I am an effective and valuable coach.”
So write that down at the top of your page, and then I want you to start writing down your list of evidence. Evidence that proves that you're effective and valuable as a coach. One piece of evidence might sound something like this: I helped my client, Sally, find the courage to leave a deeply unhappy marriage. She wrote me an email after the divorce and thanked me for transforming her life. She says she's happier and more free than she's ever been.
Boom. You helped Sally change her life. That's an amazing piece of evidence that proves that you are an effective and valuable coach. Put that on your list. And then write down another piece of evidence. Maybe you'll write down something like this: Last week, I got a text from a former client who told me that she loves the audio meditation that I recorded for her. She listens to it all the time and it really helps her to calm down and feel less stressed.
Yay, you recorded a meditation that really helps someone. That's another piece of evidence that proves you are effective and valuable as a coach. Keep going. Write down as many pieces of evidence as you can think of and write down victories that you've helped your clients achieve. Write down thank you letters and emails and positive reviews that you've gotten from clients, and write down nice things that clients have said to you on the phone too. Things they blurted out at the end of a coaching session.
I actually write those down in my planner when they happen so that I can keep track and sometimes I use them as little testimonials on Facebook, but for the purposes of this, you want to keep those things so you can remind yourself that you're awesome as a coach. Write down specific ways that you've improved people's lives. Write down credentials that you have too. Degrees, certificates, life experiences, goals you've achieved, challenges you've overcome, experiences that make you really good at what you do.
Then you can write down some of your favorite moments as a coach like maybe there's a person from your last class who stuck around until the very end just to give you a hug and say thank you. Keep adding to your list all day long, all week long, month long, all year long. And if you can only think of one piece of evidence today, that's alright. I bet tomorrow something else will pop into your mind, and when it does, write it down.
Keep building your evidence list. Keep adding to it and as you do, you can close your eyes for a moment and you can visualize a big shiny gold coin being added to that confidence bank. Each victory, a new coin. Every happy client, a new coin. Every piece of evidence, a new coin. Soon your confidence bank will be overflowing. The more confidence you have in your abilities, the more money you're going to make. Confident coaches become rich coaches.
So keep filling your confidence bank. I'm sure you already have plenty of reasons to feel confidence in yourself, but it's just a matter of remembering those reasons and making a list and reading it back and reminding yourself that you are seriously awesome and you are effective. Totally worth hiring and totally valuable for your clients.
Okay, I just want to point out, there's a big difference between arrogance and confidence. Arrogance is delusional. It's fake, it's insisting that you are a coaching rock star but without any evidence to prove or support that claim. That's not who you are. And arrogance also I think means - it's this attitude that you're somehow better than everyone else. But that's not what we're doing here. We're talking about true confidence. True confidence is all about gathering evidence to prove to yourself and to prove to potential clients, hey, I'm seriously good at what I do. I'm an effective coach. I can help you and here's my track record to prove it. I've got receipts, yo.
True confidence comes from recording your achievements, your big achievements, your little achievements, and celebrating each one because that achievement is real. That's true confidence. Know that you are worth so much. Keep writing it down and keep those pieces of evidence and filling your confidence bank until you totally believe it.
Ooh, that was a fun pep talk. I hope you enjoyed that little exercise, and I hope you're already thinking of lots of ways to fill up your confidence bank. And now, this is the part of the show where I give shout outs to some very special lovely people. And today I want to give a special shout out to Amy Love. Amy is one of my favorite people on Facebook. She's always so supportive, she's always commenting, giving the thumbs up on Facebook, pumping up other people, and I just announced that I'm doing a special event for life coaches on October 19th and 20th in Chicago, and she's like, "Oh my gosh, I had a trip planned to Maine but detour, going to Chicago."
I just want to say thank you, Amy. And hey, if you've got something to say about this show, please send an email to my team, post a five-star iTunes review about the show or post something on social media, and you might hear your name on a future episode. I love giving shout outs to folks in my community so holla at me, thanks for your enthusiasm, I love you right back.
So now we're at the part of the show where you can lay back, pour yourself some hot tea, and relax into your comfiest chair because it's time for an interview. Yay. Today we're chatting with the lovely Adrienne Dorison. She's a business coach and consultant and she's been coaching for about four years now, and she specializes in efficiency in your business.
She has a new business called Run Like Clockwork, you're going to want to listen in and hear about this. So I wanted to interview Adrienne because her story is amazing. She used to have a lot of mental blocks but she overcame a lot of things. She crushed $45K worth of debt, she left her corporate job, and she's now built a multiple six-figure business.
Over time, she figured out how to boost her confidence and boost her income. So today, I want to chat with Adrienne Dorison about her journey and find out how she changed her mindset. She is a super inspiring person and I know you're going to fall in love with her just like I have.
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Susan: Alright, welcome everybody. I have the amazing, illuminating, illustrious, Adrienne Dorison here with us today. Hi Adrienne.
Adrienne: Hi. Illuminating, I love it.
Susan: You are illuminating and you have like - in addition to illuminating, your just vibe, like, you've got that hair. I need that hair.
Adrienne: Well thank you. It's part of the gig, you know?
Susan: It is part of the gig. I unfortunately had extensions that never looked like your hair looks. So you guys go look at her headshot in the bio. It's ridiculousness happening.
Adrienne: It's all real hair.
Susan: It's all real hair. It's so good. But I didn't invite you on to the show because of your hair. I did invite you on to the show though because these are conversations with inspiring coaches who are doing great work and making great money, which I know you are. You have lots of exciting things happening. And so we were talking about this before I started the recording. You are a coach and a consultant. Can you just explain for people what you think the difference is between the two? Because I think there's a lot of confusion in the coaching industry about whether or not they're a coach or a consultant.
Adrienne: Right. So I do both was my answer to you, right? Like, I do both coaching and consulting, and when I'm wearing coach hat, I would say I'm coming from a more question perspective of me helping my clients get to the best answers for them on their own, but through my question asking lens. Like, I'm going to put my coach hat on - I tell them this – “I'm going to put my coach hat on and I'm going to help you get to your answer, whatever is best for you, on your own by my guiding you through that process.” And then when I put my consultant hat on, that is where someone might be asking me something specific that they want an actual - maybe it's a tool, tactic, strategy that they're asking for my advice on as a consultant because I have an expertise in the space.
And so rather than me move them in circles with questions, like I would in my coaching and like, having them get to their own answer, potentially they don't have their own answer for a tactic, a strategy, a specific tool or something like that. And so I'm going to - they really want my advice in that capacity. So I'm going to give my specific targeted advice. I'm going to say here's what - and I am very clear about those lines. So when someone's asking for maybe more consulting, I'm going to put my consulting hat on and say this is what I would recommend, but again, they still get to make their own decisions on whether or not they implement those things.
So I think it's very different, like, if I'm wearing a coach hat or a consulting hat, and I also can move between both of those in a given program. Some of my programs are just consulting. Some of my programs are just coaching. And if I ever want to cross those lines, I'm communicating that with my client. Like, “Hey, we're going to move into - I'm going to put coaching hat on here” or “Hey, is it okay if I put a consulting hat on here because I think that maybe you need more targeted advice on what needs to happen here?”
Susan: Right. I love the way that you articulated that. I do think that that's important because the coach training background that I come from - so I was trained by Dr. Martha Beck and also Brooke Castillo - is a very thoughtwork-based model on coaching someone, which is very different than being a business consultant, which I also do some of too. And so it's like, okay, if I'm coaching you, I'm helping you find your own answers, and if I'm your business consultant, I am advising you on what to do and I feel like those two things are very different, and I love how you say like, hey, I'm putting my coaching hat on now versus I do think that there's some stuff in the industry where people are calling themselves coaches but coaching is not happening, or people are calling themselves a consultant and there's no training to be a consultant. There's no consulting happening.
Adrienne: There's no expertise for advice to be given, which is fine as well, but don't market it as that or don’t, you know, sign up for that if that not what you're getting, right? So I think it's super important to be really clear, and sometimes people want specific consulting. There are certain times when someone asks for a consulting type of response, and I let them know like, this isn't a consulting type of question. This is a coaching question and I'm going to guide you through that.
Like one time someone asked - this was very recent - someone asked me a specific question about should I use all my old content or should I start creating new content from scratch. Like, basically should I use the old content or throw it out, and I was like, I could give you a consulting answer on that but the root of it is you're unable to - you're paralyzed in decision-making and that's what I want to do some coaching around, right? I need to get you feeling more confident in your decision-making. So I coached them around that first, and then I went to the consulting hat and I said, alright, now here's consulting hat, here's what I would do. You know, I can do both.
Susan: Both are so valuable and I think that that's what makes you such a powerhouse as a coach and consultant and business owner. And like, I think of a recent example in my own practice where I signed up for someone to tell me what to do, there was no like, thought work coaching that needed to happen is our friend Mariah is helping me with an ever growing sales funnel and so she's videoing herself giving me feedback and she's like, why are you dressed like a librarian on the sales page, right?
Adrienne: That's my favorite ever because I can just hear her saying that but she's giving you very targeted feedback. She's not telling you how you feel about this, asking you how you feel about this.
Susan: Right, right, there's no like - you know, I'm asking her to boss me around. That's really different than what we're talking about here today. So let's talk about the type of coaching that you do. Talk a little bit about what's your favorite kind of client to have and your favorite services and programs that you're offering right now.
Adrienne: So I would say this is maybe a cop-out answer but like, someone's who's coachable, right?
Susan: That's not a cop-out. I think all the life coaches listening...
Adrienne: My favorite kind of client.
Susan: Yeah, are you able to be coached? We like you.
Adrienne: Love those kinds of clients. Ones who are really able to surrender to the process and know that they are making an investment in this work which means that anything that they come to the table with is fair game, but it's going to be uncomfortable and they're willing to go there, and they know that they're already a great person and they're probably achieving great goals, but they want to be even better. Like, that is fun for me because it's challenging. I like to challenge myself. It's not super hard to take someone who has, you know, nothing, and turn them into average. I want to take really great people and turn them into the best.
I'm like - I love being challenged in that way, and those people are usually really open to coaching because they understand there is an opportunity for continuous improvement, that we're never going to be the best but we're always in pursuit of this best version of ourselves. So that's really fun for me, and like, my business lens, consulting lens is operational efficiency, which is really nerdy. But it's all about like, the backend, all the day-to-day operations of your business and how do we get you operating at CEO level and get the team running like clockwork, right? So that is what I love to do and I love being able to move in between both of those coaching and consulting hats because they are both involved in the operational process. I have to coach my clients to be the best leaders for their team, which is definitely more on the coaching side, and then consulting side is like, oh, I see a process here that's super inefficient, this is what we need to do to fix it, right?
So I think that what I'm doing now allows me to play in both of those spaces really well whereas before I felt like maybe they were a little bit segmented, where they had to be different programs or something. And now I'm working with just really - I would say established CEOs. They have a business, their sales - they sell a product, they know it works, they believe in what they do, and they're trying to get even better and reach more people with their work. And so it allows me to kind of do both things that I do at the same time.
Susan: That's awesome. So I'm curious of the evolution of your practice. So how many years have you been in business now?
Adrienne: Just over four.
Susan: And your first year in business, what was the kind of coaching you were doing then and how were you getting clients in your first year compared to today?
Adrienne: So first year, and I would say the subsequent two years after that were more just - I think I was doing a lot of the same things that I do now but I was doing them under the guise of much more generic business coaching, business strategy versus like, leaning more into like, you know what, my main expertise is actually operational efficiency, which maybe doesn't serve the brand new business owner as much as the established one. So I was working with a lot more beginners or mid-range, anywhere from zero to $100,000 in their business, which is amazing. Those are still like, established, advanced entrepreneurs.
But now I would say I'm working much more with anywhere from multi six-figures to multimillion all the way up to $10 million in revenue a year. But in the beginning, I was getting my clients - I was just putting myself out there. I was still working in my corporate job when I first started my business and I started it as a side hustle and I was like, I don't even know if I like doing this. So, I need to like, practice to make sure that this is the right move and that I can get people results doing this. And so the first thing that I did was I just posted on my Facebook page and I was like, “Hey, I'm starting to do this on the side,” it was something that I did at work in the corporate capacity but never for small business owners or anything like that. So I just kind of put it out there that I was going to do some free sessions just to like, see if I could get some results, and then from those free sessions, I started getting paid clients and I was getting referrals and I was - now I had some testimonials and things that I could talk about.
And I loved it and so I was just - it was all through Facebook and like, reaching out to the contacts that I already had in my inner network. And this is the - still the same place that I start today whenever I'm trying to grow my business or generate new leads or drum up some business is like, who do I already know? Who do I already know that might have an interest in what I do and how I could serve them? So it was just getting comfortable with asking people that I knew or that knew me in that previous life, in that previous sphere. I even emailed my dad and my brother. Like, I was like, here's what I'm doing because they were both in the business world and I was like, if you know anyone who might benefit from this, please feel free to introduce us, right? I just had to get out of that like, scary, I'm afraid to do this space.
Susan: Well, I think that that's so important because one of the things that, you know, I talk with entrepreneurs all the time about is being confident enough to reach out to your sphere of influence and talk to people that you already know in real life about what it is that you do and all of us get nervous, have limiting beliefs that come up when we're pitching ourselves. But what is it that you think is so important for business owners in terms of developing their confidence enough to pitch themselves even to their brother or their dad like you did? What is it that you told yourself that helped you develop that confidence? Or do you have a little trick that you teach your clients in order to become that confident female business owner that, you know, puts herself out there?
Adrienne: Yeah, so I think that for me. And I have like a little cyclical visual that I would refer to. But it’s like that action creates clarity and that that clarity is what creates confidence, because we usually don’t feel confident when we feel like we don’t know what we’re doing or don’t have it all figured out, and so we stay paralyzed. But the truth is – and we think, “Oh I just need to think on this some more. I need to go in the bat-cave and work on this some more before I put it out there because I’m not confident yet, so let me work on it some more in my head.” And I just knew that working on it more in my head was only making me more and more nervous about it.
So I was like, oh, action, and I saw this through practice, that action was what was going to create that clarity for me and that that clarity through the action was what was creating more confidence. So it became this, like, cyclical loop because then once we have more confidence, we take more action. So I was like, okay, I have to take action on these things. I have to understand what my goals are and know that by not taking any action, I’m not getting any closer to them. So what do you really want, Adrienne; what do you really want? But for me, action is always the thing that creates confidence because it’s like – I mean, I have a background in athletics and sports and so I always pretty much can equate everything to that somehow. And I’m like, you know, the way that you show up and have more confidence on game day is by practicing.
You practice and you train and you show up in the months previous to game day or to race day so that you have more confidence to, like, let go of the control and just know that you’ve prepared. And most people just think that they should have all the game day and race day confidence on day one, and you’re not going to. If you haven’t prepared, if you haven’t trained, if you haven’t practiced, then it’s going to be really hard to show up on game day and win. So for me, it’s just about the daily action, those small wins that constantly build up to race day ready.
Susan: I love that. Number one – I’m a quick start, which means I learn through actions. I don’t know if you’ve ever taken the Kolbe? Are you a quick start as well?
Adrienne: I’m a quick start.
Susan: Yeah, so we…
Adrienne: But I have some decent follow through as well, which is probably why, operationally, I’m good there as well.
Susan: Right, well I do think that you’re hitting on a point that I hope all of you coaches listening to this are paying attention to because I think that thought work is the answer to all the world’s problems. However, I think that we can use our own coaching tools against ourselves and get stuck in paralysis of analysis and try to think our way through something when – like you’re saying that action is – you’re ready to take action; you’re just stalling by thinking more. And by thinking more, you’re getting into a spin-cycle. So if you can’t find a replacement thought that propels you into action and you’re just spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning, then action – I agree with you, taking action can create a result that then gives you real life evidence that, “Okay, let’s go, keep going.” And the second point that you make, I think, is so important, that none of us – which is why I’m asking every single guest, like, talk to me about your first year in business. You still had your full-time gig, right? And you started as a side hustle.
Adrienne: Yeah…
Susan: I think so many coaches listening to this podcast or looking at you or me or any of the guests that I’m going to have online and think, “Wow, she sold out that retreat in 24 hours. I should be able to do that.” And I hope you do, but there’s lots of tiny movements that have happened behind the scenes for months and months and months in order for that to happen.
Adrienne: Years and years and years…
Susan: Right, years and years and years.
Adrienne: And that’s the practice that we put in, right. And a lot of the practice that people put in, you don’t get to see. That’s the boring stuff behind the scenes that I’m not putting on social media all the time. I mean, if you wanted to have like a Big Brother cam, you could see the practice. You could see the training, you could see the consistency of day in and day out what it actually looks like. But what you see is the front, the launch, the retreat, you know, the full coaching practice or whatever it is. And that has come through, I think, action and consistency in the day to day that, for me, is so important; so, so important, to be consistent through the process. Because you will learn so much through that action and consistency about what is a yes and what is a no for you.
I think it’s really hard to know just in theory. Sometimes you do know, gut-wise. But like you were saying, if you have that assuredness, there’s no, like, I can’t really tell. By taking action, you will know if you’re moving in the right direction or not. The action shows us either this is a yes or ooh, no, no, I’ve got to go the other way, right? So either way, I feel like it’s a forward movement versus just sitting and thinking and over-thinking.
Susan: You know, I think I know the answer to this question from you, but what’s your advice for a coach who’s not earning as much money as they want to make and they’re, like, sitting on social media, hating on people who are successful?
Adrienne: Well, I think that you have to identify what are the things that are working in your business right now and how much energy or practice are you putting into those things? And when we get really honest ourselves, a lot of times, we’re not spending enough time in the actual action or in the practice or in the process and we’re never going to get the results that we want that way, especially by looking at other people. I mean, that’s just a recipe for disaster.
Susan: Right…
Adrienne: Like, I look at other people and I want to cheer them on. I want to say, “Man, that’s amazing.” And if I ever am getting triggered, I always use it as a tool to be, like, “Why am I so pissed off that this woman is making X amount of money or why do I think it’s fake?” I see a lot of that, this is too good to be true or she must be doing something, you know, that’s not right. All these things that come up for us, whether you’re saying them out loud or you’re just thinking them in your head, and I always use that as a tool for myself to analyze those thoughts and be like, “Well why is that thought coming up?” Is it because I don’t think that’s possible for me? Is it because I actually haven’t done the work that it takes to get to that point? All of those things are usually true.
And from there, I like to look at the other people that I’m either inspired by or maybe I’m triggered by and say, “What are they doing that maybe I’m not doing or maybe that I’m not even seeing that I need to focus on myself and focus on the actions that I need to be taking to start growing my own business?” Because none of this happens for anyone magically, everyone’s putting in the work if they’re successful. They are, whether they want to tell you that or not. So just figuring out for you, like, what do you need to do? And that’s why I always say, your actions, those are information. That is data. It’s leaving clues for you around what is working that I should lean in on instead of trying every new thing that comes out. So if you’ve gotten any level of success, if you’ve had one client or two clients or three or 100, go look at where they came from and do more of those things.
And if you’re not filling your days with doing those sales and outreach activities then you’re not focused on the right things if that what’s your main desire is; more clients. So you could spend hours and hours a day in the graphic design, in the email, in the sales page development, in the content creation, in the course creation. All those things are irrelevant if you don’t spend the time you need to spend selling what it is that you do and reaching out to people and connecting with people so that they can become your clients.
Susan: Oh my gosh, so you guys need to rewind and listen to that five more times because I remember when I was a brand-new coach and I had worked in sales. I started my career out in marketing and promotion and PR and then I stayed home for a few years with babies, and then I reentered the workforce in residential real estate and my husband has been in sales his entire career. He’s in commercial real estate and development and I remember, it was a big deal for me to leave my real estate career and start this company. And he wanted to see my business model; I didn’t have a business model. I was just winging it. And I remember, he came home one day and I had spent all day on a beautiful newsletter and he was like, “But what income producing activities did you do today?” And I remember, I was so mad.
So if any of you listening to what Adrienne’s saying and you’re getting mad, it’s because you know it’s true, boo. I was like, “Damn it, but this is important.” And he’s like, “Yes…” He was like, “You’ve got to get asses in the seats.” And it was hard to listen to or to hear, but I knew he was right. So with any of the courses that you guys are developing or anything you’re putting together, your primary job in the beginning is marketing and sales, whether you want to hear that or not, because it doesn’t matter how amazing your content is if no one’s listening. It doesn’t matter.
Adrienne: It doesn’t matter. I have a bottleneck system that I work all of my clients through, regardless of whether or not they’re at zero revenue or 10 million in revenue, and this works for any business. I’m going to give you the short and sweet version, but basically, there’s three different bottlenecks and what you should be setting your goals around is wherever your current bottleneck is, because if you’re focused on multiples at the same time or if you’re focused on the wrong one, you’re going to spend a lot of time on it and not grow your business. So the first one is leads, do you have enough leads to actually hit the revenue goals that you have. So if you’re just starting out, that’s probably where you need to focus. Where are the people coming from?
Are you focused on that front and marketing visibility piece to get those leads in the door? Number two is sales. So do you have enough leads? Maybe yes, we have enough leads coming through, but we’re not converting enough of them, for some reason, to hit our revenue numbers. But we have enough leads based on average conversion rates, so what we need to do is focus on how do we improve our sales conversations or sales emails or whatever vehicle we’re using for those sales. And then the third one is the delivery, or the capacity component. And this one is, do we have enough leads coming in?
Are we making the sales, but we actually operationally don’t have enough capacity to deliver more products? So that might be you need more time or you – if you have a course, that’s typically much more scalable. But what people tend to do is they start with adding more capacity when they don’t have enough leads or sales coming through. And so we’re working on the wrong bottleneck and we can spend so much time, like, “Oh I’m going to build this course or I’m going to open up this new product or I’m going to do this.” But if we’re not solving the right problem – and probably, that’s because we’re afraid or it’s hard to do the other one, which is usually leads, that people need more visibility on their work and that’s where we need to focus before we start adding more capacity to the business.
And like I said, this works regardless of what level or revenue amount your business is at. And if your goals aren’t focused around solving that problem, then you probably have goals that aren’t going to get you very far in terms of the business, right? Because usually we avoid the things that are hard, like we spend time creating that new course because, when it comes down to it, we’re scared to be visible to get the new leads.
Susan: It’s such a good point. And as you’re talking, I’m like, “Where’s my bottleneck? Every one…”
Adrienne: But that’s the thing that people say, “I have all three.” And I’m like, but you can’t have all three. You could have all three at the same time. You might, but we have to solve the most important one first. So if you feel like you have all three then which one do we need to actually solve first in order to open up the growth channels, right? So for you, Susan, you might be saying, “I don’t have enough time left in my business so I need to add a new revenue stream or another different way that I deliver.”
And then, what’s going to happen, once you solve that bottleneck, guess what happens? Now you have the first one again. This is why it works at any level of business, because it doesn’t depend on your revenue levels, it depends on where your business is at. So once you open up more capacity, guess what you have again; a leads problem. So go solve that one again. Once you open up more capacity, you can pump more leads into the system, and so it’s like we never solve all of our problems. That’s not the point of life, it’s just…
Susan: Hey, goodbye, goodbye, fired, I don’t want to hear from you anymore.
Adrienne: That’s not the point, right. We have to constantly just know that, like – I was talking to someone about this the other day; the problems I have now in my life and my business, these are the problems that I prayed for three or four years ago.
Susan: It’s true, you have to remember that.
Adrienne: Yeah.
Susan: So let me ask you this; what do you feel like is something that costs nothing, or almost nothing, that makes you feel confident, successful, and rich? Because this is a Rich Coach Club, which yes, it can mean deposits, but rich has such a broader meaning.
Adrienne: I love the term rich and I use this a lot in my previous podcast as well because it’s such a textured word to me. And when I think about my own life and something that is pretty much free is the opportunity to take care of myself, I would say, and put myself first. And that means that I have the freedom of time and space to do that. I also have the freedom of choice to do that and I have the personal responsibility to do that and I don’t take that lightly because I actually follow through on it.
So for me, it’s like waking up and going to work out and having this really luxurious space in my day for myself to say, “This is something that makes me feel really good. It’s something that makes me feel powerful. It’s something that makes me feel strong. It’s something that makes me feel confident.” So for me, the act of moving my physical body, I think, serves me in so many other ways. Like, I use my physical body as a tool to grow my mind and to grow my confidence, but it’s so fast, the way you can do it with your physical body. It’s much harder, I think, in other capacities because we don’t get that tangible physical reaction, but I’m training myself and I’m building confidence through that physical training.
So I think that exercise is the greatest gift that you can give yourself in terms of growing your mindset and treating yourself like you’re someone who takes care of yourself and that you have the personal responsibility to do so and that you’re worth doing that, like you’re worth the time that you spend on that. And for me, that’s just the ripple effect. Like, if I am having a tough workout and I get through it, now I’ve just proven to myself, “Hey, Adrienne, you can do hard things. Look what you just did.” And I use that for the tough things that I do in business or in a sales conversation or, you know, in life, in relationships. Like, “Hey, remember when you thought you couldn’t do hard things or you thought you couldn’t finish that and you did? Here you go again…”
Susan: I also think you and I are so likeminded about this because I actually think that all of my best ideas and all of my guidance from my higher self or from god or the universe, all of it is coming to me through my body. So if I’m not moving my body, then all that guidance gets stuck.
Adrienne: I so agree.
Susan: It’s so good.
Adrienne: And I think, for me, there’s an energetic act of, like, putting yourself as a priority that also allows the ideas to flow and it feels, I don’t know, I guess abundant to be able to say, number one, I create the space for this. Because it’s not like I do this at 10am. Today, I woke up at 5.15. I create the space for that space and it’s so important to me to show myself that I’m an important part of my life and that it’s a responsibility that I don’t take lightly and I think that if you’re not doing that, I think it’s really hard to show up for other people.
And that, I think, like, is the biggest thing for me. Like, when I’m working with clients, I’m like, “We are working on your physical self and putting yourself first as well.” Because a lot of my clients work with other clients too in their businesses, not necessarily coaching businesses, but they’re working with other people if they have a product or service to sell. I’m like, “There is no way that you’re able to show them the priority that they need if you can’t even prove to yourself that you’re a priority.” So it’s like they have to do that first.
Susan: So good, and it ties so into this confidence piece that’s the theme of this episode today. I am definitely somebody who’s with you on this, that in order – I think the fastest way to develop confidence is to show yourself that you matter. And one of the best ways to show yourself that you matter is to move that body because it’s spiritual and practical, so double-whammy.
Adrienne: Double-whammy. It’s also, like, a very easy tool to show yourself how to set goals and create incremental improvements. You wouldn’t go to the gym and start lifting 100-pound weights if you had never done that before. But sometimes, in our business, we expect that of ourselves and it’s like, “No, you start with the five-pound weights.” Do that successfully and then add on. So it’s such a great tool for, I just think, everything and it’s immediate. You can do it today.
Susan: Absolutely, and I think that that’s such a great place to wrap in terms of this episode and thinking about, for yourselves, in developing the confidence for your practice, what’s one little thought you could think? What’s one little action step that you could take and what’s something that you could commit to that you could do consistently to grow your practice in a new and different way? So, Adrienne, talk to us – of course, we’re going to have in the show notes how everybody can stalk you online, but where do you want these people to go so that they can connect with you and learn more about what you do?
Adrienne: Yes, so if you want to stalk me online, the best place to go is – I’m @adriennedorison on all social media. That’s hard to spell, so look in the show notes. That’s where we post, you know, all the dog photos and the workout pics and business stuff too. So that’s the best place to find me. My business is called Run Like Clockwork. So if you’re interested in operations stuff and that side of things, you can just go to runlikeclockwork.com.
Susan: So good. Thank you so much for being here with us today, Adrienne.
Adrienne: Thank you so much for having me. It’s been really fun. I love chatting with Susan Hyatt at any moment I can, so even if it’s on a podcast I appreciate that.
Susan: Thank you.
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Aw, what a beautiful interview. Don’t you love Adrienne? Such good stuff. I told you, you would. So remember, today’s topic is how to build 10 times more confidence in your work. Here’s one more quick idea for you; start a love file in your inbox.
So a love file is a folder inside your inbox where you keep positive grateful happy notes from clients and colleagues and customers. And if you get positive feedback from a client, it can go into the love file. So if you get a positive review about your latest ebook, it goes in the love file. If you get a sweet message from someone who reads your newsletter, it goes in the love file.
And then, if you’re ever having a moment where your confidence feels shaky where you need a little boost, head into your love file, read a few messages, remind yourself that you are amazing and helpful and valuable and that you are contributing good things to the world. I know a lot of coaches and entrepreneurs keep a love file. It’s so simple, but it’s such a great idea.
It’s probably been about six or seven years ago, but I had a group. One of my group programs was called Make A Scene and the participants in that group bought a beautiful box and they all wrote love notes to me and put it in the box and I still have it. Sometimes I pull it out when I need a boost.
There’s a lot of crumby things out there that can derail your confidence just temporarily. There’s online trolls, haters, cynics, bullies, and there will be launches that don’t go perfectly or slow sales months or maybe a coaching session that goes pretty poorly. Those kinds of things can really shake your confidence, for sure. But having a love file is a great way to get yourself back on track, to restore your confidence, after it’s been shaken.
Make a love file. Do it. Every email that you store in your file is yet another coin in your confidence bank; cha-ching. Okay, so that wraps up today’s episode. Your action step for this week is to start filling up your confidence bank. You can start by making a list of evidence to prove to yourself and remind yourself, “Hey, I am an effective and valuable coach.” And you can also start a love file in your inbox and store positive feedback there.
Those are just two ideas. You can probably think of even more ideas. Do whatever you want to do, just do something this week, big or small, to add some beautiful gold coins to your confidence bank. Again, confident coaches become rich coaches. Make some deposits into your confidence bank and then watch as more deposits start rolling into your real bank account too.
So I mentioned earlier in the episode that I’m planning a large amazing event for life coaches. You’re going to want more information about this, so check out the show notes. There’s going to be details there for how to enroll. Have a beautiful day.
Alright, thank you so much listening to Susan Hyatt's Rich Coach Club. If you enjoyed today's show, please head over to shyattagency.wpengine.com/rich where you'll find a free worksheet with audio called 3 Things You Can Do Right Now to Get More Clients. You can download the worksheet and the audio, print it out, there's a fun checklist for you to check off. Just three things to do. Check, check, checkidy-check.
This worksheet makes finding clients feel so much simpler and not so scary. So head to shyattagency.wpengine.com/rich to get that worksheet. Over there, you're also going to find a free Facebook you can join especially for coaches. Bring your coaching practice and your income to the next level at shyattagency.wpengine.com. See you next week.
