Ep 210 - Taking the Right Action to Grow Your Business

Episode 210 of the Life Coach Business Building Podcast

In this episode, we’ll dive into the importance of taking consistent action to grow your coaching business. 

If you're struggling with mindset, commitment, purpose, planning, or prioritizing, you'll find this episode packed with practical tips and inspiration to help you get things done. 

All progress starts by telling the truth, and this episode offers a much-needed reality check to help you assess which actions are not moving you forward. 

Stop reading 10 books at once. Stop taking more courses. Stop asking other people what they think. Discover the power of taking the right actions to gain the confidence and momentum you need for real progress!

Give yourself the grace and space to build your business with confidence and consistency. So, drop the distractions, tune in, and start taking consistent action today!

👉 Head over to https://debbieshadid.com/take5 to discover how just five questions, five minutes in the morning, and five minutes at night can help you gain clarity, focus, and productivity to get your mindset right!

👉 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:

Preview: If you are in a mood where you're like, I'm uninspired, I don't know, I can't get with it. Do it anyway. Look at your schedule of what you need to do for your marketing. And if you don't know what to do for marketing, you guys, we need to work together. Seriously. That's what I help people do is figure out how to market their business, but figure out what your marketing should be and do it consistently.

Intro: Hello, I'm Debbie Shadid, 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 gonna teach you super simple strategies to grow your business without feeling overwhelmed and without spending money on paid ads. If that sounds interesting. Stick around and let's get started.

Welcome to today's podcast. Today's all about taking action. And I have to tell you, I don't know if it's funny or not, but I'm taking action and recording this podcast all over again, because I got too close to the end. And I looked up and we must have had a power flash or something and my camera went off during the middle of the recording. So here I am again, take two, excited to be here to talk to you about taking action in your business. 

Many of you might already know me as the action coach, and I want to tell you exactly what that is all about. The women that I work with. I tell them exactly what actions to take and as an action coach, there is nothing more that I love than women taking action in their business. I truly believe, honestly, that when you know what to do, when you have a clear direction based on your niche, based on where you are in your business and you go to do it. You take action. Action creates confidence and you will gain momentum and you'll grow your business. I mean, you will. It's just very difficult not to, unless you are not taking consistent action. And we'll talk about that. 

Now let's talk about mindset for just a minute, because of course mindset has something to do with action. But I want to tell you the main piece that you need to do is the mindset self-coaching. Y'all know we are doing our new business growth self coaching training. And I'll tell you, we wanted to teach women that because the action-taking that you take in your business goes hand in hand with the action of self-coaching. Now, I don't want you to spend all day long self coaching. In fact, I have a method called the take five method. We can link that right here, but it is five minutes, five questions, five minutes in the morning, five questions, five minutes at night so that you can get your mindset right. So head over to debbieshadid.com/take5 and you'll find that quick self coaching method. But I want you to be onto yourself. Because what happens when you are building a business is you can be easily distracted by other things. When you are tangled up in tech and you are so frustrated over something that you cannot do, and there's nobody who can answer your question.

It is very easy to say to your girlfriend, Oh yeah, I think I'll go to lunch. It is very easy to find yourself scrolling on Amazon. That's my place, you guys. It's very easy to find yourself, um, doing the laundry and you have to be onto yourself about that. You know, it's interesting because I'll catch myself in the middle of something and then I can realize, oh, wait, I got distracted because whatever I was doing.

With something that was a little bit challenging, you know, maybe I'm in the process of creating something new and I don't have an answer right then. It's so easy to get distracted. So the mindset coaching is important. I'll tell you in this business growth mindset coaching that we're doing. I really feel like I've mastered catching myself and that's because I have been dedicated to working on mindset coaching every day. That is an action step in itself. But again, do not spend too much time on that because I need you to take action that involves marketing. 

So Thais Glenn, our mindset coach. She has repeated this quote over and over. It's Dan Sullivan's quote. And it says all progress starts by telling the truth. So the first thing that I want to ask you is, are you telling the truth about the action that you have taken in your business?

And I'm going to tell you, we hear it week after week from our clients. Somebody said the other day, you know, I've been working on my business for X amount of time and it's not working. And it was like, okay, wait a minute. What is working on your business? Let's be truthful. What have you actually done? And for that amount of time, have you been consistently like every day working on your business five days a week?

And is the working on your business, just throwing up a social media post, or are you doing all of the things that are necessary? I mean, are you spending 25, 30 hours a week working on growing a business? Every single week. So be honest with yourself. When you say it's not working, look and see what you've actually done, and then judge. Like, what is really going on? We can't even assess what's going on until we really get honest with what you have already done or not done. 

So I want to talk about your commitment because this commitment that you have to your work, that has to be big because when you have to learn the technology, when you have to do the marketing, when you have to do workshops, when nobody shows up, when you have to do group coaching with one person, I have done all of those things.

When you have to do that, you better have a big commitment to your niche client. Or it is not going to work. So you have to find that if it is not a commitment to your niche client. Then it better be a commitment to making a living. So for me, both of those things have been driving forces. When I first started my business 25 years ago, I did not have somebody to tell me what to do.

I had to figure it out. In fact, I started a magazine that was a franchise magazine and they didn't even have a prototype. So I had to figure out how to sell. Because I had to make a living that was the driving force. I was committed to making it work because I had to make a living. So I had to figure out how to sell something with no prototype.

So what is your level of commitment? My commitment was to the financial obligation that I had to my family. I had a commitment to my business and failure was not an option. Do you have that same commitment? Again, get real with yourself. If you only want to have a few coaching clients, if this is really more of a hobby, if you are not looking to build a big business, then just be honest with yourself because then you can adjust the actions that you need to take and be an integrity of where you are. So actions that you take, they will create change for you. 

Let's talk about the actions that will create momentum. And let me tell you what momentum will generate confidence. One of the things that has been so life changing for me is that I take action even when I don't feel like it. Because of that level of commitment that I have to myself, to my finances, to my family, to our responsibilities, I take action.

Even when I don't want to, even when I'm sick, even when I have something else that's come up, that sounds more interesting to do, I do it anyway. And that means that sometimes I'm up here late at night because maybe the day got away from me somehow finishing up my day because I made the commitment and I took action.

So if you are in a mood where you're like, I'm uninspired, I don't know, I can't get with it. Do it anyway. Look at your schedule of what you need to do for your marketing. And if you don't know what to do for marketing, you guys, we need to work together. Seriously. That's what I help people do is figure out how to market their business, but figure out what your marketing should be and do it consistently.

All right. So that action will create change in your business. You guys hear about the compound effect for me all the time. You do not get to where I am or where the person is that you admire without taking consistent action. So many of you are looking at. Some coach that's made a lot of money in your niche. And you're like, I'm going to be like that, but you're not even taking any action. You're also not looking at the fact that maybe they've been working at their business for 10 years. So get honest with yourself about where they are, where you are and what it's going to take. All right, all progress. Moves you forward. Okay. So keep working on your business. 

I talked with a coach today on a consultation call and I said, well, tell me what you've been doing. Tell me where you're at. She said, I have been working on my business for two years and I want to tell you guys, she did not have a website. She had not had a paid client. But she said, I've been working on my business for two years. And the thing is she was onto herself. She knew that she actually wasn't really taking action. She knew that if she was taking action, especially the right action, which we'll talk about, she knew if she was doing that, she actually would have a business.

So there she was on the consult call saying, look, I need some help. I need some accountability. I know you've done it step by step. I need that because. I am all over the place. Y'all feel like that? Part of taking action is being a good planner. Now, first it starts with making a list. So start today by making that complete list of what it is you think you need to do.

Then once you make the list, what you do is you mark off three quarters of the things that are on that list, because chances are, they're not things that will actually get you a client. Chances are some of the things that are on the list are the actions you do not need to be taking. There are actions like searching for a domain name that is the perfect business name. It does not matter. Use your first and last name. Add the word coach if you need to, or whatever it is, strategist on there. Just pick your name and get on with it. You do not need to be worrying about getting the very best program name. It doesn't matter. It really doesn't you guys. Someday you can pick the best program name, but right now what matters is that you are doing the work to move your business forward by marketing it.

So plan your time, make that list, then block your calendar. Do not underestimate how much time it takes for the actions that you want to take. Don't set yourself up to fail. Build in breaks. Oh, you guys, I'm so bad at doing this. I have a lunch blocked every day and I don't do it. I get to, you know, Four o'clock in the afternoon, like I am today.

And it's like, what have I actually eaten today? I ate breakfast and that was it, you know, get outside and get some fresh air. Give yourself what you need to thrive in your business. Once you allow yourself the time, once you have scheduled breaks, then follow your calendar, be committed to what it is you've scheduled to do, have self control, set a timer, turn off your phone.

Some of you guys will say to me, maybe like when you're thinking about enrolling, you'll have had a call with me and you have a question, you shoot me an email. And you're wondering why I didn't answer you back for four or five hours, or even till the end of the day, that's because I didn't answer my email during the day. Set yourself up for success right now. When you have projects, when you have coaching clients, when you are working on your marketing, time blocks and answering emails is another time block. So turn off your phone. I do not get notifications on anything. If you have tagged me on Instagram, I have to be sitting at my desk to find it.

And I do all of that to preserve my time, to be a smart business woman. And I do all of that, which has created progress. And a successful business. You do not need to be working seven days a week. I have done that too for many, many years. If you pay attention to time and if you do what's necessary to market and eliminate all the rest of the things, and if you honor your calendar, you don't need to work seven days a week.

There isn't that much work to do. Take the other time to have the freedom based lifestyle that you want to spend the time like I do with my grandchildren. Now my little Lucy and my little Jack spend that time doing the things that you want to do. Spend the time working out as another thing. I'm doing so much of Now I'm walking every day. Give that gift to yourself because that's why you're in business. 

So let's talk one more time about the actions that are not getting you anywhere. Too much planning is one of them. Now I know I just talked about planning, but if you were sitting down and you were planning your offer, sometimes I'll see somebody on a consultation call and they literally have post it notes everywhere. I'm like, what is that? It's all of their offer. It's their whole entire course. You do not need a course until you have clients. All right. And I even tell my clients, You can map out your course, that's the action that you take, and you can do the first two modules if you want to, but after that you want to run clients through that so that you can actually create a course that people want.

So you adjust along the way. So planning that, they're planning all of the forms that clients are going to need, they're planning the emails that they're going to need. Plan that along the way when you sell the program. Have the first two modules ready. You're welcome. Email ready. And let me tell you what, there's nothing like getting ready.

When you have a client that has paid, you will get ready fast. So you don't actually need all the time. Be onto yourself about what your form of busy work is. Many of us that are here as coaches love to learn. And I know for me and a couple of people I met this week, their strength from Clifton Strengthsfinder is learner. Now, if you are a learner and you identify as that, stop all the learning. When I took the Strength Finder test, I found out that that was one of my strengths in 2013. And you know what happened? I realized then I could only take one course at a time. I could only work with One coach at a time. I could only read one book at a time that requires self discipline. It does. But all of the learning that you're doing just leaves a bunch of open loops and incomplete tasks. So set yourself up for success. 

There is a learning phase. But do your learning on purpose with the purpose of building your business. If you need to learn how to write your marketing copy, go watch one thing on writing your marketing copy and then write your marketing copy or work with us and we'll help you do it. Got to get that in there. You don't need to compare all of the versions of how to write your marketing copy. Just learn it and do it and then move on with it. So if you've not had an online business and none of you guys have, or you wouldn't be listening to this podcast, Then you do have to learn. That's what we do in the business building boutique.

We teach you the skill. We teach you how to market. We teach you how to have a profitable coaching business. We teach you how to sell, teach you all those things, but it's one and done. Then the learning phase stops. and you move into the phase of finding your people. That phase right there, that'll be the biggest phase with the most amount of time focused on it.

All right. So take action every single day, finding people to be in your world. Sometimes people say to me, my offer didn't work. And again, if all progress starts by telling the truth, it's like, how many people did you make the offer to? That's another action you need to be taking. Are you making offers?

When it comes to talking about your business, are you actually really talking about it or are you just mumbling like not really telling people? Are you delivering your I help statement with confidence and passion or are you just kind of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? Catch yourself beyond yourself about how you're showing up because only when you show up confidently, you're Do people really hear and sense that you really are doing this thing that you really are coaching?

Show up in a way that people can take you seriously. That too is action showing up with confidence. So do your marketing consistently by working on building your list. That means you have to ask people for email addresses. That means you have to communicate with people consistently. After they give you their email address, you have to be on social media.

Even if you don't want to, yeah, you can build a business without it, but why would you be on social media? I had another consultation today and the lady said, Oh yeah, I'm on, I'm on social media and when I'm on social media, I'm really consistent. And then I'm not. And I had looked at her Instagram page and that was the picture that I saw. You might as well forget it, you guys. If you're on Instagram, you've done 10 posts and then it's six more weeks or three more months and you do 10 more posts. Forget it. That's not getting you anywhere. Only consistency for months gets you somewhere. How did I get my business built? I built it because I had one person that I got one email address from.

Then I got the second, the third, the 10th, the 20th. I had a workshop that nobody came to. And then one person came to me. I sold a group coaching program that had one person in it. This is how you start your business. And how do you get where I'm at? You keep going and then pretty soon your workshops are full.

So be telling people, be promoting your business day in and day out, be offering your services. Now the last action that you take in your business is coaching. Now isn't it ironic you're a coach and the last action step you take is coaching and it really is the least amount of time that you spend in your business is the actual coaching. I know you're thinking that cannot be true. But I can tell you for sure in my world, most of my time, 75 percent of my time is still on marketing. 25 percent is coaching. I don't know when it will ever flip for you, but I don't know anyone that is not marketing their business more than they are coaching.

So the work never ends. And that's not bad, you guys. It's just reality. If you want to have a consistent coaching business, a thriving business, you have to be consistent with your marketing. The work never ends. And that is okay, my dear. So how can you start taking action? Number one, stop listening to everyone. I tell clients when they come work with us, I say, please, please. Unsubscribe from all of the other things. You've just spent money with me. You told me you want to make progress and I want to help you, but you have to stop listening to everyone else, right? There's lots of people that will get you to the end.

I happen to think our way is the best and I would love to support you, but there's lots of people. Find your person that will tell you step by step what to do. Stop reading 10 books at once. Stop taking more courses. Those are not the answer. Do not ask your peers anymore what it is you should do. They do not know because they have not had success. Stop asking people what they think. Do not ask your spouse or your sister or your coworker, Hey, what do you think? They're not going to be able to tell you what you should do differently because they don't know. They are not in the marketing world and they can't give you feedback. So stop doing that and start taking that consistent action.

Enlist an expert. Find somebody who knows what they're doing. Get your questions answered from somebody who can actually answer them. Once you have an answer, then get into gear, find out what your next steps are and do it. One of the things that people need is accountability. And although I'm not an accountability coach, there is natural accountability in the work that we do in the business building boutique.

How does that happen? I have a bunch of action takers. I've got a bunch of coaches that are working with me in the business building boutique. In fact, I tell people, who is my program for? It's for coaches who want to finally get their business built. It's for coaches who want to learn how to do this stuff and get it done, get it behind them.

All of the big learning curve just sat and done. everything implemented. What happens is that in our group coaching, people are taking action. And so it provides this natural inspiration and this natural accountability. You're like, I don't want to show up next week or in the Facebook group and not have accomplished anything.

I want to be able to share what my win was for this week. I want to be able to say, Hey, I did the thing that I said I was going to do. So find your people, get your accountability. All right, you guys, you have to do the work and I have to tell you, Once you start doing this work, do it, not short term. One interesting change that I have made as I approach my 60th birthday next month is I don't even have a retirement date in mind.

I'm so inspired by my work. Who knows how long I'll work? I mean, I think at least 10 or 15 more years. And I think I can make a huge difference in the world in the next 10 or 15 years. And I know you can too. So don't think about this being a temporary thing that you're doing. Think about this as being the last chapter that you are in for the long term building your business.

Give yourself the space to build your business. Take consistent action, no matter what. Allow the compound effect to take hold so that you too will show up in a place where you finally have the business of your dreams because I want to tell you what you guys, it is amazing. I have a business that far exceeded what I ever expected. And I am so grateful that I took consistent action. 

So if you need an action coach, I want to invite you to connect with me, come to our open coaching this Monday, debbieshadid.com/opencoaching and find out what it's like to be coached by us. Get your next action steps. I'll give them to you and then stay with us and learn about how we can support you for the long haul so that you can finally take the action you need to have a profitable coaching business. All right. You guys have an amazing week. We'll see you next time. Bye bye.

Outro: 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 gonna teach you how to use Canva to create beautiful graphics to market your life coaching. All right. Have an amazing week. I'll talk to you very soon. Bye bye.