Ask The Experts: If You Had To Start Again From Scratch What Top 3 Areas You Would Focus On?-Ep:106

Hey welcome to sheet coaches, coaches, I'm your host, Candy Motzek. And I'm going to help you find the clarity, confidence and courage to become the coach that you were meant to be. If you're a new coach, or if you've always wanted to be a life coach, then this is the place for you. We're going to talk all about mindset and strategies and how to, because step by step only works when you have the clarity, courage and confidence to take action. Let's get started. Hi there, and welcome to this episode of she coaches coaches, the I'm so glad you're here. I've got a special roundtable episode for you today. I've gathered a group of experts, each with a wealth of experience. And I've asked them this one question. If you were to start your business, again, from scratch, what are the top three things you would focus on? Now I did this, because I know that most of you listening are new entrepreneurs, new coaches, and it can feel overwhelming. Like there's so much for you to learn. And I knew that by gathering these nine experts together, we were going to get you so much information, it was going to save you heartache, it was gonna save you frustration and save you overwhelmed. I had such a great conversation with these people. They're super interesting. And they each bring a diverse perspective, you're going to want to listen carefully to each and every one of their responses. Enjoy. So let me ask you this question first. If you were going to begin your business, again, from scratch, what are the top three things that you would focus on?

That's a great question. The first thing that pops to my mind is something that comes easy to me, because business can be a tough game. And it's important to have something that you that is your superpower, really. So that would be number one, something that comes easy to me. Number two, who wants what I have is a big one too, because we need, you know, as heart centered people, we want to help everybody but most, especially those who really want what we have. And then that brings me to three is you want it to be monetizable. That's a word, because that's all part of being in business. And yet we do want to help people. But in order to sustain that, it's important to be able to monetize it. So the people who are willing to put money and invest into their health and well being or growing their business, or whatever it is, money is just energy. So it should flow easily for everybody. So yeah,

I love that. So the three things is you, your client, your dream client, and then something that has that energy of money and the currency of money flowing. Hmm. I like that focus.

The ask you my first question. So the question is, if you were going to start your business, your practice, again, from scratch, what are the top three things that you would on?

Well, the first thing I would want to focus on is, who do I want to serve. And I want to focus on that. So many people don't. And like who isn't, you want to spend your days with who wants to who you're going to let into your brain, essentially. And the next thing I want to I want to focus on is creating my signature talk that helps people understand how I can help them what it is I can discover for them, that they can't see for themselves, and how I can help them get from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time possible. Because you know, that's why people hire coaches, right, they can stumble through life themselves, but they hire a coach to get to point A to point B faster. And so I think the third thing I would do is figure out who I don't want to serve and make it very clear. So I don't have to sort through people coming to me, because I've already assumed that people are going to come to me. I'm not have to, you know, I don't want to pray and I want to sit and wait. So I want to be very clear who I serve, who I don't serve and how I serve them and create three little pieces of content that explain that for people.

So that you know that guiding word of service, right? Showing up in each of those places to focus. And I think that that is so common for coaches and heart centered entrepreneurs these days to is we really want to make a difference, we want to have a positive impact on the world. So it just makes me think, you know, it just makes me think what's possible for us, right? If there was enough people out there doing the good work focused on their right people, and repelling, you know, I have a mentor who calls them the anti avatar, the people you really don't want to work with. And just repelling them, because they've got somebody else who's just looking for them, you know, who's just waiting to help them.

If you were going to start, again, from scratch, start your business from scratch, what are the top three things that you would focus on,

I would focus on my mental health, mental health first, when I got out of the military, I thought I was ready to just jump back into the world I lived in before I joined because I joined it 30 That most people join, a lot of people joined, you know, straight out of school or college, I joined at 30. And so in my head, I was only in for four years. So when I got out, things would be great because I was living life perfectly well beforehand. But no, those four years changed so much of my life and my perspective and my world from being in the military. It's just different. And you live in breathed that lifestyle 24/7. So I had to really make sure I had to get my mental health back in check. And I had to take care of that so that I could move on to the other two things, which was figuring out who I want to work with. That one was tough, because I'm a social worker. I've been a social worker, since high school, I knew I was going to be a social worker. And our goal is to help like anyone we can. And I've worked in any in every field of social work pretty much. And so it's like I can do all these things. But until I really was true to who lights me up to work with who fits my purpose, that's when things started working for me. And then how I ended up being authentic, was using my story, to connect with other women that are women and women veterans and figure out really, what this path is for this journey that I have to help my baddies you serve.

Wow, thank you. So let me

start with this question. If you were going to start your business again, from scratch, what are the top three things that you would focus on?

Great question. And I think that it's one of the things that I, I see people struggle with a lot a lot of my clients struggle with, and I wish I had not wasted so much time on. Number one is really getting clear on what the problem is I wanted to solve, I spent a lot of time because I can do a lot of things, I have a lot of expertise. So do a lot of the people who come to coaching, they've got a lot of backgrounds and we sometimes flounder around trying to figure out where we really want to focus our efforts. And and in that we dissipate the what problem we solve, and so we're not really effective at answering the question, what do you do? So really get clear on what's the thing I really cared about the most, that would be number one, number two, get a lot clearer, a lot sooner, true action on who I really wanted to serve. I've I've served a number of niches and markets, I used to work a lot and in high tech. And it took me eight years to leave that niche, very lucrative, had a great, you know, kind of specialization, but they weren't my peeps. And so I wasn't really happy and there wasn't a perfect fit there. So by by trying it out by experimenting, we find out who we really do want to work with and support and who our people are. So I would say get into action on that much sooner, really paying attention to who do I like working with? Where's the resonance? Rather than who I think I should try and serve? Where's the money, where's the you know, et cetera, et cetera. And then the third thing is I would have called in support sooner, because I tend to be pretty independent. I like on self do tell the time that I didn't have to waste and I would have not tried to figure it out on my own so much because you know, I've been an entrepreneur my whole life. And it is it's one thing to have our expertise but it's a whole nother thing to get good at building a business. Tennis, and being an entrepreneur, so I would have called in support sooner.

Yeah, all of these answers are so good. And one of the things that they really point to actually two things they really point to, is that I really see this, don't chase what you think is the right idea. Go trust that, you know, the right idea that, you know, like, you are perfectly placed to help your people solve the exact problem that you're drawn to solve. So this place of believing in yourself and faith that you got this, right. And then the second thing is decisiveness. Right. Like, like you said, so many people coming to coaching are, they've got so much capability, and so they just fiddle around. Right? And just that the power of making a decision is huge. Right? So I just, I really appreciate that. And I know that it's gonna benefit the listeners a ton.

Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, part of why we Fiddle is because we're afraid. Yeah, you know, want to get it right and do the right thing. That's why I said, you know, action begets clarity. Clarity doesn't necessarily begin.

Let me startby asking you this question, Stephanie. If you are going to start your business, again, from scratch, what are the top three things that you would focus on?

I think the first thing would be relationships, like the relationship building aspect of my business. I did build relationships when I first started my business, but I think I would make that a huge part of it. You know, collaborating with people learning from people, I think at the beginning, I tried to do a lot of it by myself. So I think the first thing I would do would really be those relationships and collaborations. The next thing I would do would be way more active on social media, and not only active, understand social media, when I first started my business, I was on Instagram. And I had zero idea what I was doing, I was posting like random pictures that had nothing to do with my business. And I didn't realize that Instagram could be a tool for my business. So I think the next thing would be to really understand social media, and maybe not do all of the platforms, but just maybe hone in on a couple and understand them more and how that can benefit my business. And the third thing would be to take my email list a little bit more serious. I have a healthy email list. But at the beginning, again, trying to do it all by myself, I wasn't really sure how to grow my email list, what to do, how often to email them. So I think I would take that into consideration a little bit more. And I think having a strong email list is super important as solopreneurs or small business owners, because if social media falls off the face of the earth, that is one way that we're able to communicate with them, and not be dependent on a third party app for communication with people.

Yeah, and I think we all remember the great Facebook outage of was it 2021 or something it was like, so for online business owners, it was a big deal, you know, for people that that was their main way of connecting with, you know, with their clients. So good, good advice. And interesting, the first and the third, you know, like so deepening your relationships, not trying to do it all yourself. And then the third was the email list. Those are both actually relationship tools. So it's kind of like you've kind of like your book ended it right. And then in the middle, learn your tools, focus, get to be an expert, and really use the tool to drive your business. I love that great advice

if you were going to start your business again from scratch, what are the top three things that you would focus on? I am

overly grateful that you sent me this beforehand because I think if I were to just come up with three it would probably be a mile long like the To Do lists of hindsight is 2020 is just kind of crazy. But thinking of three big things. I think it comes more not so much as like the technically what I would do, but my mindset around starting my business. So when I started my business, I started it from scratch actually I was brand new built it from nothing and an idea out there. But I wanted to be what I thought other people wanted me to be and stead of being who I naturally am and by putting myself into like a little weird pegs square hole thing. I didn't really find my flow for almost three years. So that would be the first thing I would change and probably focus on a little bit more in the beginning. The next thing is, is to outsource my finances earlier, I am good with that. But as a business owner, it's really hard for me to kind of figure all that stuff out. So I probably would have done that a little bit differently in the future. Just now I have a CPA of a bookkeeper. It was my first investment in my business, and I love it. But it took me again, like three years to figure out what that was. And then the second thing is, is to just network more than I probably did. Networking is huge. And it was a great way to scale my business. That's why I love podcasting so much. But I would have done each one of those things a little bit differently.

Cool. So in no particular order, talk to people and meet people grow your network, you know, there's that saying your network is your net worth, or your net worth is your network, one or the other. And then outsourcing the finances. Because I mean, ultimately, you could make all kinds of sales, all kinds of revenue. And if you're not making a profit, it's just churn. Right? And that's one of the things that is the benefit of actually knowing where am I at. And then the first is being true to yourself, instead of doing what everybody else wants you to do. Be true to you. And then you're working in that zone of genius, I love

this first question, Jeff, if you were going to start your business, again, from scratch, what are the top three things you would focus on?

You know, I think the first one would be be more prepared financially, you know, have some have some capital or have a line of credit, something like that, as opposed to just what was in the savings. I would talk to more people who were doing what I was doing ahead of time, instead of just falling into it. Because what I'm doing now was completely I call it a series of fortunate accidents. So I don't know that I would change that part of it. But if I had planned to more things would have been a little different. I would have done some strategic planning. Because I participated in that for other people. And I think that's very important. Third, I would have tried to gather a team ahead of time instead of as I

went, Hmm, I can't help it. I have to ask why. Well, why would you gather the team ahead of time? Well, I

mean, the world as you know, because what happens, first of all, is you find people who you think are going to make great teammates who don't. And if you already have if you've got people who are vetted and tested, and they're not going to let you down along the way. You have less heartache along the way put it that way. That's probably the primary reason.

Yeah, yeah. And I think so just thinking back to the three areas that you would focus on, I think you're the first person who has said, financial, let's have a little bit more financial resources behind us starting a business, we want it to go fast. But just because we want it to doesn't mean that it's going to happen, right?

Well, and it's why most most businesses fail. Agreed. It's money or management.

Yeah. Yeah. Great. Yeah. And so just that having that extra cushion, reduces the stress. And that, you know, gives you, I'm a big proponent of managing your stress so that your brain can think better, you can make better decisions, you can, you know, you'll just have way more of that intelligence available to you. So really, I really appreciate you bringing that up. And I just, there's one more thing here. There is a whole thing in the coaching industry, about people who want to quit their job, just because they've decided they want to be a coach. And I think they do themselves in and their clients a disservice. And so I really, I just that alone, I so appreciate you bringing it up. It's going to help somebody right? Yeah,

well, and then we've both seen that and we both work with folks who who either left the job too early, or are so desperate to leave the job. That I'm just gonna say it the way the way we always talk about they reek of desperation when they're trying to sell you their package. Right. And people feel it they know that and desperation makes people run away. Mm

hmm yeah, for sure. Yeah.

It's like being a being a salesperson on straight commission. You know, that's what like drive is so important. So if you're if you're if you got salespeople out there and you expect them to reform on straight commission Think how you would feel if you didn't know whether or not your rent was going to be paid. It's just not it's not fair. Yeah. And it's a bet the security of the rent being paid, then they'll perform better because they will reek of desperation. When they're trying to

sell everybody and everybody wins, then yeah, everybody wins, right? Because the clients also when they're getting what they want.

The first question is, if you are going to start your business from scratch, what are the top three things that you would focus on?

That is such a good question. And I'm gonna give you two because one of them's broken down into pieces. So the first one I call my magic rule of one. And I know for entrepreneurs, and it doesn't matter what kind of business but in the coaching business, especially, we entrepreneurs in general, we're creative, and we like to create all kinds of things. We love helping everybody. So here's the magic rule of one because as Confucius says, A fox cannot chase two rabbits at once and be successful. So here are the five ones, you need one niche, not six, not seven, and no, you can't help everybody. I'm sure you've heard people talk about this before. This is not something new to your listeners, I'm sure. So one niche. And for that one niche, you need to solve one problem, we can all help our clients solve many problems, I, you know, I could be talking to a lawyer who's a client, and she could bring me her life problems. I'm sorry, but that's not really my zone of genius, but it does, because it impacts for business. But that's not what I talk about when I'm marketing myself. So one problem, and then you need to create one solution for that one problem. So that means one core offer not six, not five, not three, one, then you need to know the number four is you need to know one, and I'm going to use the word method that you are really great at getting your message out there. So for instance, I'm a teacher at heart. And speaking for me is the one method that I really focus on to get my message out there. So we've got niche, one niche, one problem, one solution, one method. And then I say, one social media platform. And for many of my clients, we don't even use social media. But that's another whole discussion. So that's the magic rule of one. So that's my first tip. My second tip is to what is your definition of success? So you know, as you said, behind me, I have these it's a hashtag work less earn more, if you want to work less well, what does that? How many hours a week? Is it mornings? Is it afternoons? Is it two hours? Is it three days a week? Is it that you want X number of holidays per year? Be really, really specific. If you want to earn more, what does you know? What does that mean? How much is more, right? Like, for instance, when I was you know, 20 years ago, I might have said, an answer very different than what I would today. So I'm really happy I work three days a week, you know, I earn multiple six figures, my husband's retired, it gives me time to go boating with them. That's my definition. So those are my two quick answers for you. And I hope that gives your listeners, these coaches who are just starting out gives them some somewhere to start.

And one of the things that I like about what you've shared here is that I talk about much the same thing. And now they get to hear it from two different voices. So I'm hoping that what that means isn't, oh, more than one person is saying this to me, right.

Jen, question number one, if you were going to start your business from scratch, what are the three things that you would focus on

talking to people? I think we get so wrapped up in all the little how to choose the I'm not not saying a business plan isn't important, but we get caught up in in all these little things, just meet people and make connections. That's not only is that a important thing So your business, it fulfill, it will fill your cup, making those connections. The second thing that I would say is belief, believe in all the possibilities believe that it's already happening for you, it's going to happen. It might not happen at the exact moment that we always want for it to. But all of us believe that all these things that you're you have already experienced are what has led you to this point. And I would say the third thing is, Do not hide it, regardless of what phase you're at in your business, even if you are still in that corporate role. And it's a side hustle. Don't ever be afraid to show up as a professional business woman business owner that you are.