190 - Business Lessons and Goals for 2024: Building Successful Coaching Business

Episode 190 of the Life Coach Business Building Podcast

Can you believe it? Another incredible year has flown by, and I'm buzzing with excitement to share the business lessons that 2023 has gifted me! This year has been filled with so much change and growth, both personally and professionally, and I can’t wait to share them with you. 

In this episode, we're going to dive deep into my journey throughout the past year. We'll explore the strategies that hit the bullseye, those that missed the mark, and the pivotal changes I made that propelled my business growth. I'll be giving you a behind-the-scenes look at how my 2023 unfolded, and I’ll walk you through some standout moments, key takeaways, and valuable business advice that you can carry forward into 2024.

So, if you're pumped to kick off the New Year with a bang, then make sure you stick around until the end, and let's create some magic together this 2024!

👉 Don’t miss the chance to Immerse yourself in the wisdom of 30 expert female coaches to helping you create the life you've always dreamed of this 2024! Sign up for the FREE Design Live & Thrive Summit here!

👉 Create a profitable business that looks good and sets you up to be respected through the Fast Track Business Building Boutique Program 

👉 Check out my FREE Canva Workshop and learn how to create stunning graphics for your coaching business! 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave me a review and forward this to a coach who is building and growing their coaching business. CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A REVIEW

Don’t forget to connect with me on social media: Instagram | Facebook

Transcript:

I also want to recommend that you stop working so hard. I know for years I worked way, way too many hours. I thought it was something I could brag about, that I worked seven days a week and that I stayed up all night working on my business. That is nothing to brag about. I was consuming so much information, reading so many books. I thought that was so great, but really, what that kept me is confused and it didn't keep me on track, doing the things that I really knew I needed to do. Hello, I'm Debbie Shaddard, the host of the Life Coach Business Building Podcast. If you are ready to have more clients in your Life Coach business, then you're in the right spot. Each week, I'm going to teach you super simple strategies to grow your business without feeling overwhelmed and without spending money on paid ads. Now, if that sounds interesting, stick around and let's get started. Business Lessons I'm here to give you some advice on what worked for me in my business and what I know will work for you. I'm going to share the details to what you need to do in 2024 to have a successful coaching business. Alright, let's get started. Learning a successful coaching business is so much simpler than you would expect. There are some very basic things that I continue to do in my business and that when I look at my successful clients, they're doing the same thing. So here they are. Get ready. I'm going to give those to you and then I'm going to share the highlights of what's happened for me this year. I'm going to share the lessons that I learned that you're going to want to use in your business. I'm going to share about some of the things I did right. I'm going to share about the shifts that I made that also really helped me grow in my business. I'm going to share about the Debi 2.0, and I hope you have a 2.0 version of yourself in 2024 and then I'm going to give you some best advice to start the new year. So let's talk about something exciting that happened inside of my business this year, and that was the launching of the FastTrack program. You know I have the business building boutique and as I started 2023, I realized that I needed to be able to offer something for everybody. So the business building boutique, what I now call the VIP program is a very high level, high touch program where we really walk side by side with you. There's a lot of time spent with you. But I had people saying I want to work with you but I don't have that much time. I don't have four hours a week to invest with you, which is what the business building boutique always had been. So I stepped back and thought you know, I've got a really great program. The business building boutique works the principles, the process. You guys have heard about the pieces that I have the roadmap guidebook. I have these 12 steps that I take people through to build their business. I have the education to support it. But what people really love is the coaching that we provide, and I say we because I have an incredible mindset coach, tai East Glen. She is in on every single call. Plus, I have a great team that also supports my clients. So I knew that there had to be a way to be able to offer all of this to other clients. So that is where the fast track came. The fast track is about half the amount of time it's about 90 minutes a week and it's also about half the price. And I launched that program April 24th and we've had 40 women go through that program and let me tell you the fast track ladies, they don't mess around, they have less time with me. They're very committed and they get their businesses built. The results that everybody's had between the VIP and the fast track has been incredible. So if you want to know what they did that worked, I'm going to tell you right now. Number one they made decisions. I try to make the decisions for you and I try to help you, but ultimately they made the decisions. They asked me sometimes what should I do? I told them what I thought they should do and then they decided they took action. Love the coaching that I do with my clients is about getting your business built, getting those foundations done, setting up this professional coaching brand, learning how to do the marketing. But it's doing the marketing is talking to people about your coaching business. So they took consistent action. They told people that they were a coach. Yes, you guys, nobody gets it. Nobody understands what coaching is, and so it's your job to explain it to everyone. It's your job to explain it even to the people who are not interested, because they might know somebody who needs your support. We collectively in twenty twenty four, all of us need to do the work to let people know the value of coaching. And the last thing, that the most successful clients that I worked with. They gave themselves time. They were not trying to figure out how to make a hundred thousand dollars in two months, right, they said well, now I'm gonna not worry about a hundred thousand dollars right now, I'm gonna worry about getting a business built that really will stand the test of time. They recognized that kind of all the stuff that goes online where there's the shiny objects that looks so good, the quick solutions, the DM's that they were receiving about Getting all these leads, getting booked calls, all this kind of nonsense is just that it's nonsense. Yes, it's possible to build a really successful business in a year or two, but not a hundred thousand dollars in just a few months. Y'all know that's true. So the clients that really had the best success they just said you know, I know it's gonna take some time, is gonna take some effort, is gonna take some work and I'm willing to do it. You are gonna hear in a podcast in a couple weeks from now about a client, amber she, sharing the details to her first year she made ten thousand dollars. In her second year she made fifty. But I love it because her second year her goal was only thirty. So you know she set herself up for success by having a goal that was attainable, and then we just work to keep going. She got to that goal and then we just kept going. So imagine if you could do that in your business. That is so possible and I'm sure she probably can reach a hundred thousand dollars in a third year. How amazing is that? That could be you too. But you have to keep working. You have to come to coaching when you're stuck and you have to get the mindset to help and you have to get the next steps. That's what works with my clients. I want to recommend that you stop working so hard. I know for years I worked way, way too many hours. I thought it was something I could brag about, that I work seven days a week and then I stayed up all night working on my business. That is nothing to brag about. I was consuming so much information, reading so many books. I thought that was so great. But really what that kept me is confused and it didn't keep me on track, doing the things that I really knew I needed to do. So I want to recommend to you there is no secret, there isn't really that one thing if you guys know about the business building, but you guys talk about these twelve steps and each one builds on the other. You know you set up this professional brand. That's like the foundation, the anchor. You write this amazing marketing message because you understand your niche client. You work on an offer that delivers the results that you promise in your marketing. We work to build your email list through building options that people will Like to opt into. You guys have been so amazing joining me in my canva workshop and you know I have to say that works because it's something that you want. So when we work in the business building, which we want to find the thing that your client Works, we want to find the thing that your client wants so that your opt-in will work for you too. Then we work on learning how to communicate effectively, and often via email, with your clients. We talk about doing social media, then we talk about pricing and selling. All of those pieces collectively are what it takes to get yourself in business, to be able to continue to market, to have consultations. Then learn how to do the consultations, learn how to sell. Then, honestly, there is a skill to having a lot of clients. You have to learn how to coach multiple people at one time. I don't mean in a group setting, I'm just talking about managing a full roster of private clients. That takes skill. All of those steps. There's no one magic secret to any of it. It really requires that you do all of those. I always feel a little guilty because I'm so honest about the fact that it just takes some time. But I would rather have you come to me knowing, hey, I'm going to give myself a year to build my business. I understand now, after I've tried these other kind of bought this course, bought that course, looked for sort of the magic secret, I realize now there is no secret. It really is. I have to do all the steps to build my business For sure. The highlights were coaching. I love, love, love coaching. I love all the work that I do with my clients. It is so fun for me to help you figure out business strategies for your business. I love to help women who are stuck overcome whatever the challenge is, who are intimidated about following up one more time with somebody who said no. I love helping people get over the hurdle of sending too many emails, because in a future episode I'm going to have all the stats on how many emails I actually sent this year, how many workshops I did this year. You guys are going to have your mind blown to find out how many emails I did, how many workshops I did and what my unsubscription rate was. It was not very high. I really believe that we have to do a lot of marketing now because people have so many messages coming at them all at once, so if you're not consistently marketing, they might not see your message on the day that they're looking. So I love that coaching that I do. I also love my workshops. There are many of you. I'm so grateful for those of you who have attended my workshops, so grateful for those of you who are listening to this podcast, for those of you who interact with me on social media. That just absolutely fills me up. It is so fun, and I know a lot of you will never, never, ever, buy anything from me and I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to help you. So I probably worked with about 90 different women this year and one gentleman One gentleman Wayne. Thank you, it was so fun to work with him. So I keep my process, the process that I teach to my clients. I keep using that same process myself and I continue to reprove that what I teach works. Because I've grown my business again this year I tighten up my program. I continue to work to deliver it in a way that is more useful to you. I've relaxed more into the flow of the way my business works. We're continuing to improve our resources for you. We just last night released the newest version of the roadmap guidebook. It's now 200 pages. We also have a companion guide, a progress checker guide, that goes with it. That's 25 pages. I mentioned our mindset coach, tyce Glenn. She is magic, you guys. She comes into every coaching session and she helps really you with your mindset, but also she knows everything that I coach on. I have this team that's so incredible and I've really learned how to depend on them. I've really learned that actually they're a lot better a lot of things than what I am and if I give them the tasks they can do better than I can. So those are some of the ways that I have made adjustments to be able to support you better the business growth lessons that I have learned again that I want you to know. Number one there is still a lot of power in email marketing. You cannot send too many emails. People are not opening every email. You just have to send enough emails that, eventually, your email will get read. Everybody knows how to unsubscribe and, by the way, I have people that are even clients that unsubscribe sometime and I'm like, dang it, you're not going to get the reminder about the workshop, and that's okay. I don't take it personally. We all are trying to get through our inboxes and sometimes we have those days where we're like, click, click, click, unsubscribe, unsubscribe. You guys have done it and it's okay. It's not personal. So social media that's the second thing I want to talk about. Social media works, and why would you not be doing it? It's free, but let me tell you, you cannot judge it by the likes or the comments that you get, because you don't get likes and comments. For those of you who are liking and commenting on my stuff, thank you, thank you. But it is really a path to clients when people can connect with you through your email, through a freebie, through social media, maybe through a workshop. That is the journey to building trust with clients and that is what they need to be able to move closer to becoming your client. All right. The third lesson that I want you guys to hear is that people aren't sure about buying and it's not a problem. The expectation that somebody would find you and buy from you immediately that's just unrealistic. Now, it does happen for me sometimes and it will happen for you sometimes. But what I would rather that you do is that you have grace with people and that you say of course it's gonna be a journey. If I'm asking you to spend money with me and you've met me on the Canva Workshop, sure, I'm gonna try to sell you as soon as you come through the Canva Workshop. I want you to get on a consultation call with me. But I also understand that you've already bought coaching, that you've signed up for courses, that you've done some things that didn't work, that you've spent money that you didn't get the result that you wanted. So I understand spending more money is a hard decision. So I work to build trust with you. I invite you to my workshops, right? I nurture you through this podcast. So the lesson that I want you to hear is that you want to give time for people, that courting time, that dating time to take them on the journey with you. Give them the time to build up trust. Have free coaching with them. If you need to have more than one consultation call, that is not a problem. The fourth lesson that I want you to hear follow up with people. Following up is not hounding. Just last night, I had a client that I emailed. I'm recording this on December 30th, on a Saturday morning, and just last night, at nine o'clock last night, I emailed somebody because I have a goal that I am just a couple thousand dollars away from making, a big goal. That was for my 2023 goal and I thought you know what. I'm gonna reach back out to her at nine o'clock last night to send her a message and said tell me what's happening, what are the remaining questions that you have, so that you can get clarity on this and get started. And you know what happened. She joined last night. So give people time and space and then follow up. That is not hounding. Follow up, say what can I do to help you. How can I help you feel more comfortable and confident in the decision that you make? Okay, so what did I do right in my business? Number one, I did not buy into a bad economy, and I want you to stop listening to the news. I want you to stop listening to the coaches that are telling you things are rough. I'm not saying that the economy is perfect, but what I know for sure is there are always people who have money, so our job is to look for those people. There are people whose income, whose lifestyle, whose situation has never changed by one single penny. They are still spending money. The world is still going on. I know there's horrific things that have happened. Again, I'm not making light of any of that. I'm just saying if you buy into the economy as bad, then you will not find your people and you will discount your prices, and when you discount your prices, you will not be working with the people that will get the best results from your coaching. You want to find people who want to invest in themselves, who want to do the work, who are ready to do the work. Those people will pay full price for your coaching, and there are millions and millions of people that we get to choose from. So our only job is to market to those people. So that's the number one thing that I did right this year. I literally would turn off podcasts as soon as I would hear somebody talking about it, about the economy, and things have slowed down and the coaching business has changed. I'm like, ah, I'm not gonna listen to that, which is how I sold another $100,000 more than I did last year. That's how I've continued to grow my business is. I will not listen to what people are saying about that. I believe there are plenty of people that have money in this world that want to do coaching with me, and it is the same for you. So the second thing I did right is that I continue to offer real help to people in my workshops. If you've attended my workshops, I teach you what my clients are learning. I also stay and I coach you at the end. You know. I know for sure that if I help you, you still need my help beyond this workshop, and I know that some of you guys will never, never, ever be able to buy coaching. And if I can help you make a difference in your world and in your business, then I wanna do that. So offer real help. Continuing to focus on the workshops has been my favorite way to connect with people, and I love to teach people how to do that. That's one of the things we do in the business building boutique and everybody loves to learn, so it's a win for me and it's a win for them. I think lots of people benefit from what it is I'm doing. The third thing that I did right is I'm consistent. This is something I'm really good at and something probably a lot of you guys need to get better at, but I'm consistent and it pays. This podcast is one example of that. I am nearly at 200 episodes and still the podcast is growing and I can tell you it's just been in the last few months that people will tell me wow, I've listened to every episode that you have or I've listened to you on the podcast. You know my podcast listens this year doubled. They doubled. Thank you tish, my podcast editor and manager. She's done a great job of getting us more exposure. So, but it is that consistency in recording it and the consistency of doing it, the consistency in all those things, that really that compound effect comes into play and it works All right. The fourth thing that I do right and that I really want you to do is that people appreciate my honesty. I don't sugarcoat things and people say I like it because you're real. You tell the truth. If I make a mistake, I own it. If I don't do something right, we make mistakes. Look, the summit that is coming up january 12th and 13th. You know we've made some mistakes with some of our speakers. Like the details, like On a website page, we have a title wrong or we put somebody's name wrong two or three times. We know what our name is and yet we didn't put it in the document correctly or on the website correctly, on the social media post. But look, all those things can be fixed. We all make mistakes. We all Just own our mistakes and then we fix them. We do the best we can do. So don't make promises you can't keep. Don't sell something that you cannot deliver. Don't sell a result that's impossible for people to get. Let's talk about the shifts that I made In 2023. I said you know there's a debbie 2.0 that I'm gonna work to reveal in 2023, so I hope you look for your 2.0 in 2024. So I had to make a lot of shifts. I knew what the problems were that I had in my business and just personally that I needed to change. The first big thing was to let go of control. I wanted to control everything. I wanted to control what my clients were doing. I wanted to control that they did the work that I wanted him to do. I wanted him to control if they were talking to people, if they were making offers. I cannot control what you do. As much as I want it. I can't want your success for you more than you want it for yourself. I always tell people I'll hold the space for you until you believe in yourself, but I can't make you do it, and I really wanted to control that. You can't control the outcome of your clients. You can control what you do and you can be your best. I can improve what I provide for you. I can Bring on more coaches and more support to give you your best, but I can't make you do it. I can give you the best of us, but I can't make you do it. So how to let go of control? I had to change my mind about time. You've heard the podcast about that, but I had to figure out what was the real issue about time, and for me it was that I had this rushing feeling all the time in me. It wasn't really about the clock, it was about the internal clock that I had going. Now I have to ask myself okay, I have this much time that I'm working. What do I want to use that time for? So if I don't have time for everything, what am I gonna use the time that I have for? What can I do with the time that I have? I also work closely with a personal coach since april. That's been a game changer. This coach, christine recker you guys, she's amazing, she's the arm coach. She has really helped me and I have brought every week when I meet her, I bring to her the things that I know that I'm not doing as good as I could be doing. I bring to her the thoughts that you don't want to share with anyone else. And I have allowed her to coach me. I haven't come there ashamed. I haven't come there embarrassed. I haven't come there with excuses. I've come there saying like, look, I realize I'm doing this, help me get to where I'm not doing that anymore. I realize I'm having this thought that's not serving me, but I don't know how to get out of that thought. I've allowed her to coach me on the same thing over and over and over. So I know that coaching you guys, coaching is magical and if you get with the right person and if you do the work on your part, it really works. So the roadblocks which I still have. Some of them I've been able to eliminate and that's been amazing. I've also worked to let go of the control with my team and my team who's listening? I love you guys so much and I know that I gosh. It's hard, you guys, as you grow your business, to let other people do things, and they can do the things so much better than me and I want to let them do it and I want to set them up for success. But that's hard. That required me To again let go of controlling the details. I know there's plenty of people and everybody that works for me thais, catherine, christine and tish they all can do better than me on so many things. So thanks for putting up with me. But there is a process of bringing on a team and letting them do the work and also providing the guidelines, for my realize that when I'm not clear with them, it is a problem for them because they don't know how to do what it is they need to do for the success of my company. So there is a skill and learning how to be a good manager to your team, and so I worked with a coach on that specifically too. I work with somebody who's really helped me see where my weak points are as a manager. She's helped me to work with my team in a better way. In fact, we're going to bring her on and in January we're having a first team meeting with her, where she's going to help us learn how to work together. See, these are all things you didn't know as you grew your business that you would be facing. When you think about having this big business which I never imagined I would have one this big you don't realize what it takes to put all the pieces together. One of the tasks I'm still working on is really setting up those detailed processes. I've put that off for years. Honestly, I've known for years that I needed to have really very specific steps for my team members to be able to execute the things I need them to do. But I've always said, hey, I need to focus on growing my business and not focus on the details. The truth is, it was kind of like how you might feel about doing your bookkeeping for taxes. I just didn't like doing it. I just didn't want to take the time to do it. So that's been something I've been working on. That's a shift that I've made. Debbie 2.0 knows how to manage her team better. She's prepared her team by giving them very specific directions. Also, debbie 2.0 finally lost some weight, so I lost 35 pounds this year. Thank you, christine. I realized I didn't have to eat cake at a wedding. That's the joke that I have. But it's true. You can feel whatever feeling that you're avoiding when you're trying to eat. You can be bored at night and not snack on things. It's amazing what happens when you get some coaching around why you might be overeating. So that actually was easy. I just decided for me that I was a naturally thin person and I just started eating like a naturally thin person and I quit judging myself for what I was eating, for what I wasn't eating. I also decided that the Debbie 2.0 had a hobby and gave herself time for that. I deserve to have time for that. You guys deserve to go exercise. So I'm finishing up this podcast and I'm running to play pickleball. So that's my thing. Yeah, I'm one of those crazies who loves pickleball. So the Debbie 2.0 is rested. I work fewer hours. I move my body more. I eat better. The time that I spent with my family, with my granddaughter Lucy and my soon-to-be grandson Jack you know I'm present with them. I'm present with my coaching clients. I'm not trying to look at any other screens while I'm doing it. I'm literally talking only to you as I'm coaching you, because I want to be present in all that I do. So there are so many people that can help me and I love that I can depend on that. So what is the best advice that I have for you this year? So I want you to set a goal that kind of semi-blows your mind but that is attainable, because then we can get you there. I told you about the goal that you're going to hear about my client, amber. Her goal was $30,000. We could literally make a plan to get there and you know what happened she ended up at 50. So let's do that. Let's make a goal that's attainable. Also, let's make a huge goal, that where we can say million-dollar. Debbie, what does she do differently to get to that same goal? So that's kind of two different goals, but for sure, get one that you can reach. Also, please stop judging others. All right, you don't know what their situation is. You look around at everybody else. Some people look really good and you're measuring yourself, your own success, against them. We do not know what they've done. We don't even know if they've ever made any money in their coaching business. So don't judge yourself against others. Don't judge them. You don't know their situation. You also don't know what they have going on in their life. Sometimes we like to criticize. There's been a lot of criticism to a lot of coaches this year. It's been fun to, you know, point a finger at everybody, and that's to me again, wasted time. Focus on what you can do. Don't worry about what everybody else is doing. Just believe that people have done the best that they can do. Sometimes I don't do right and I hope that you guys give me the grace. I do the best that I can do under the circumstances that I have, and sometimes it's not perfect, and that's the same way for everybody else. So focus on what you can do. Looking at the negative that other people have done or haven't given you, that just drags you down. It's not a win for you. So thank you guys. So so very much to my team, to Christine, to Catherine, to Tish, to Taiz. Oh my gosh, I love you guys so much. Thanks for all you've done. I cannot wait to see what 2024 is going to be to my coach, christine. Thank you so much. I attended some amazing events this year that really helped me. I went to an event in Miami with a life coach school. I also went to an event in Texas with a life coach school. Y'all know that. I went to the School of Self Image had an event in New Orleans. I went to that. Events are so helpful for me to get away from work and to step into a place where I can just learn and focus on myself To my clients. Oh, my goodness, I have to end this podcast with you. The fact that you've invested your money with me and that you've put your trust with me, that you have shared your concerns, your worries, that you've shared your passions, your goals, your insecurities, your victories oh my goodness, I could not say enough how much that means to me. It is literally gosh Well. Anyway, I can't cry on the podcast. I just love you guys so much. Thank you. Thank you, thank you to my fans, followers, listeners. You guys, I love you. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to help you, to take the 25 years of experience that I have and to try to drill it down and to make a difference for you. All right, you guys. I cannot wait to see what 2024 is going to be. Let's go make some magic together. Have an amazing day. I'll see you guys very soon. Okay, ladies, that is it for today. Before we go, I want to invite you to head over to DebbieShadid.com. I have this incredible Canva training specifically designed for life coaches, where I'm going to teach you how to use Canva to create beautiful graphics to market your life coaching business. All right, have an amazing week. I'll talk to you very soon. Bye, bye.