Ever wondered what's going on behind the scenes in a business? You'll find out what's happening for me at the moment in my business.

The new mentor and business shift (00:01:15) Jo discusses signing up with a new mentor and the impact it has had on her business.

Incorporating the company (00:03:40) Jo talks about incorporating her company and the new possibilities it brings.

Trademarking the podcast (00:05:45) Jo shares the process of trademarking her podcast and the importance of evaluating the risk involved.

ICF Reaccreditation Jo shares that she's just received her ICF reaccreditation for a further 3 years.

The Journey from Executive Coaching to Career Coaching (00:10:25) Jo discusses her transition from executive coaching to career coaching and the joy she found in helping people leave jobs they hated and pursue work they love.

The Challenge of Choosing One Ideal Client (00:11:39) Talks about the difficulty of trying to do two things well and the importance of choosing one ideal client and one message for your business.

The Importance of a Mentor and Reflecting on Personal Learnings (00:12:58) Jo emphasises the value of having a mentor and shares how their own experiences in career and executive coaching have helped them in their business. They also encourage listeners to share their own milestones and learnings.

Buy The Coaches Planner - Turn Your Qualification into Clients

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Useful Links

Sign up here: From Generic to Genius: how to choose a profitable niche and offer - Free LIVE workshop on 23 November at 10-11am GMT.

Meet me live to prepare for a profitable 2024 in Barnes, London, on 30 November

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If you’re kind enough to leave a review, please do let Jo know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: joanna@joannalottcoaching.com

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Hello and welcome to Women in

the Coaching Arena podcast.

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I'm so glad you are here.

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I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor

and ICF accredited coach

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

and I help coaches to

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build brilliant businesses.

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I know that when you prepare to enter

the arena, there is fear, self doubt,

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comparison, anxiety, uncertainty, shame.

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You can tend to armor up and

protect yourself from vulnerability.

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In this podcast, I'll be sharing

honest, not hype, practical and

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emotional tools to support you to make

the difference that you are here for.

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Dare greatly.

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You belong in this arena.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-1:

Hello, welcome to the 35th episode

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of women in the coaching arena.

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I am so glad you are here.

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Today is going to be a slightly

different episode because I feel like

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I am shifting slightly and I want to

share the behind the scenes with you

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so you see what a business shift can

look like and feel like, because I

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wish I heard more behind the scenes

stuff from other business owners.

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So I hope this will be useful for you.

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Last week I signed up with a new mentor.

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I have been with my previous

business coach for 18 months now.

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And so this one just came

out of the blue really?

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I wasn't kind of seeking another program.

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But you notice, like you get swept up in

the emails and what I really liked about

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him, because it's what I value massively.

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And I haven't seen out there.

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So I think.

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We always create what we want.

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And what I want is someone to

genuinely care about my success.

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And in a personal capacity, as

well as a business capacity.

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And for them to be

personally invested in me.

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And that connection is something I

seek massively to provide my clients.

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So to find someone who I feel

like will be able to do the

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same for me, feels so exciting.

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We have only had two calls so far.

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But I've already implemented loads

of the stuff he's talked about.

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And I think that's actually

a really good reflection.

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That it's actually quite easy when you

are further along in business for a really

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small thing to have a massive impact.

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Because you've already done

the hard work of building.

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So many of you are in that initial first

two years stage or something when it's

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just an uphill battle to build your

audience, to get your clarity, to know

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what you're doing in this marketing world.

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It really is the hardest part.

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And when you're out the other side,

it can get so much easier because

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like one small thing he asked me to

do resulted in a really big impact.

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Because I've done the hard work.

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And he knows that.

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It's why a lot of mentors work with

people further, along in their business

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journey, because then it's really

easy to get those big results because.

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They've already done the hard

graft before you've got to them.

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I think what, having a new mentor who

really feels invested in me, and I feel

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like we have got so much further to go.

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But already things have just opened up

and I see so many more opportunities.

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So I'm excited to see what comes of that.

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I'm actually going away for

five nights to the French Alps,

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depending on when you're listening

to this, I may already be back.

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And that is with the mastermind group.

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So it's kind of, you get mentoring, but

it's also part of a group program as well.

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So it's a bit like how I run my program.

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I think there's 10 of us

going to this amazing place.

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Um, we are going to be doing

business building and hot seats and

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obviously having a good time as well.

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So I'm so excited to be able to

hang around with other business

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owners in a similar stage to me.

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So I think that's going to

be a real pivotal moment.

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I've never been on a retreat and

lots of people talk about that

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true transformation that can happen

when you're fully away from home

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in a completely different country.

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So I will keep you posted.

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The next exciting change in

my business just this week is

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that I incorporated my company.

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So far I have been a sole trader.

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If you have been debating the

sole trader limited company thing,

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I loved being a sole trader.

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I really didn't want to incorporate my

company, but at some point, people start

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saying, oh, it's more cost-effective.

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So I thought the time

was right to do that.

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It feels really weird to finally

incorporate my company years on

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from establishing my business.

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And again, it's just that

new beginning new chapter.

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It makes me feel like I have got new

possibilities to build this business on.

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I'm the true model for what I always

talk to my clients about, which

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is start now get perfect later.

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So all of this stuff that many coaches

love doing, which is like incorporate

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the company and design the logo and

get the website and do the branding.

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It's all stuff I haven't really

prioritized massively until recently.

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'cause I'm prioritizing

getting fee paying clients.

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Like that's the thing that's going

to grow my business in order to be

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at the position of being able to pay

an accountant every single month to

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run my books and file my accounts.

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I think often these things, earlier on in

the journey, can be a real distraction.

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Obviously there is a whole legal debate

about sole trader limited company.

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But personally, I absolutely

loved being a sole trader.

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So if you are early on in

your journey that's an option.

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The next exciting thing that's

been happening in my world is

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I trademarked this podcast.

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So I've trademarked women

in the coaching arena.

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We were driving on our holidays and in my

car, I, went on the government website,

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figured out how to do it applied and was

excited to receive my trademark this week.

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Lots of coaches talk to me about whether

they should trademark their program name.

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Again, it's not really something I

would probably waste my time or money

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doing at the early stages, because

two months in, for example, you

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might decide to change that program.

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So, you know, I have had

this podcast now since March.

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So it was kind of like about time,

because the risk is that if somebody

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else decides to take the name, I

might have to take my podcast down.

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So it's about evaluating that risk.

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And if you are fairly early on

in business and you haven't got

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anything super established, then

it's probably not such a risk.

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I think in business, it needs to be fast.

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Messy action.

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Otherwise you will get frozen and take no

money generating activity action at all.

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So as you can probably tell from every

episode I record, it's all about helping

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real paying clients that can help you to

do the work you're here for rather than

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getting too stuck in all of the admin.

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So whilst yes, in some

circumstances, it's a great idea

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to trademark things, weigh up.

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What's the risk.

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What's the time involved?

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What's the money involved.

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And is that right for you right now?

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The next super exciting thing I have

done is created a coach's planner.

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I am so excited about this because it's

something that I need myself to really

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plan out what I'm selling each month.

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To note down my social media stats so

I can track how they're growing each

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month to note down names of people.

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I want to keep in touch with, to

note down my niche, my offers,

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my strategy to keep me on track

pretty much, because I think most

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entrepreneurs are shiny object people.

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We love creation and therefore selling

one thing at a time, which is what

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I genuinely believe it takes to be

clear in business is a real challenge.

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So it's on sale now I will share the link

in the show notes and you can grab the

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pDF fillable copy and fill it in online.

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If that's your style, you can print out.

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Or there is also a copy on

Amazon, so you can actually

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order a proper shiny copy too.

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I will leave all of those

links in the show notes.

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So you can transform your

qualifications into clients and

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plan for your best year yet in 2024.

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So it feels like a new and exciting time

to be leaving my mark with a registered

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company, trademark for my podcast, a

tangible book related to my business

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available on, Amazon and electronically.

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It's exciting that all of the hard

work and it has been hard work.

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Has led to the place that now I feel

like, yes, I have a proper business.

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I have a virtual assistant, Jo.

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Who's amazing.

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I have a social media manager.

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Nicole who's amazing.

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And it feels so good to be supported.

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I would love to have more help because

currently I run all of my own tech stuff.

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So all these funnels and emails.

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If you're on my email list,

you'll know what I mean.

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And they are complex to

do in the background.

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So next step will definitely be some sort

of tech VA to take the ins and outs of

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the backend of my portal off my hands.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-5:

But saying that the benefits to you

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of learning how to do these things.

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And for me of learning how to do these

things is that you really understand?

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And then it feels less scary.

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And, you know, if you hire someone,

roughly how much work there is to do for

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the amount, they might be quoting you.

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So, it's such an amazing learning

journey having a business, before you

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get ready to really effectively delegate.

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Now I would love to reflect on the journey

that has brought me to where I am today.

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And that includes the ups and

the downs and the changes.

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And I had a really great coaching

session just now about how attached

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we can get to what we have created and

what we've done so far in our business.

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Even if what we are attracting is

not what we thought we would be

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doing in our coaching business.

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I started off doing executive coaching.

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At that time I'd left an organization that

I wasn't happy in its very controlling.

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So I think after many, many years

within that organization, adjusting

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who I was meant to be, what was

meant to say how I could keep in

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the good books, essentially at all

times with all people was exhausting.

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So when I started coaching

within organizations.

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I found it really stifling.

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To hear, I guess, where I had

been reflected back at me.

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So feeling like they had no control

and they had to stay at this

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organization because the holiday

was good and the pension was good.

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And I was just like, thinking, gosh, C'mon

there's a whole world out there because I

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had discovered this whole world out there.

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All I'm saying is it

just didn't bring me joy.

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It wasn't what I wanted to

hear about when I was into

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this world of entrepreneurship.

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Loving the fact I can do anything I want.

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I can create anything I want.

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There is no ceiling.

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So I soon realized executive coaching

was not really what I wanted to do.

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Which led me to career coaching, because

then what I obviously loved is helping

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people leave those jobs that they

hated and get into work that they love.

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And I absolutely love career coaching.

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It was a super hard

decision when eventually.

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I moved into business coaching.

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Because if someone's literally going for

an interview that next week, or you can

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do their CV and have such a massive impact

on them in such a short period of time.

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So I really adored career change.

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Obviously, sometimes it was way slower if

people were actually completely changing

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career thinking about what they want next.

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Sometimes it was years before

that actually happened.

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Then it's a bit more like just loving

watching that discovery and the journey.

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Because I was very visible and I did

lots of talks and run career training

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and organizations, and did lots

of ones, one with an organizations

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on career stuff specifically other

coaches started asking me for my help.

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So that is how two years ago

now, I started my business

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coaching program on the side.

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So I had my career business as well.

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And like I say to anyone that

works with me on this podcast all

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the time, it's really difficult

to do two things really well.

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So at some point you

probably will want to choose.

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So you are running one business

with one ideal client, one offer,

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and one message rather than

completely frozen into what to post.

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So I think I posted nothing for four

months because I was in this quandary

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that many of you find yourself in.

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I have not really knowing who

I was talking to, what business

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I was trying to attract.

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And that is why it can be so

helpful to choose one ideal client.

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And then you will never,

ever run out content.

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Because when you know, your ideal client

inside out content is just everywhere.

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So I took that brave decision

eventually to go all in on

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my business coaching venture.

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And I've absolutely loved every moment.

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I think many of us are trying to

provide the solution that we want.

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And so it's a real joy to see

people go on that journey, see their

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confidence, grow massively and see

them charge for coaching, raised their

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prices, massively all of the things

that can come from having a really

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good mentor client relationship.

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So wherever you are on your journey

right now know that it's not wasted.

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Those two years I spent in the career

and executive space have really helped me

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massively in my business now reflecting

because I have my own learnings to share.

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And also, I talk a lot to my

clients about behind closed doors,

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you can do all sorts of things.

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Like for example, I have

three of my clients currently.

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Doing a project for me running

workshops and doing one-on-one coaching.

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So it doesn't mean that you have to say no

to any work that is outside of your niche.

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It just means in your marketing that

you are super clear, super specific.

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I would love to hear your

story, your milestones.

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What has been your

biggest learning so far?

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Please do drop me a message

on linked in and let me know.

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So with that I will do a quick recap

on what I covered in this episode.

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So how important a new mentor can be?

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And what shifts it can

really open up for you.

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And I'm excited to share more about my

journey as I continue this relationship.

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Then I talked about the fact

my company is now incorporated.

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So I'm getting official.

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I have trademarked the podcast again,

another little tick in the official box.

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I have created a coach's planner.

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You can either buy the downloadable

PDF fillable copy, or you can go on

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Amazon and buy yourself a hard copy.

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I will put links in the show notes.

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It's called the coaches planner.

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So thank you for being part

of my business journey.

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It's going to get a whole lot

more exciting because I have

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run my main flagship program.

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The business of coaching

for over two years now.

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And so I'm excited to think

about my next offering.

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And so watch this space.

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And like I say, at the end of every

episode, trust yourself, believe

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in yourself and be the wise Gardner

who keeps on watering the seed.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

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Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.