Now is the perfect time to pursue your coaching business, as Jo Lott emphasizes the thriving state of the coaching industry and the urgent need for coaches in today's world. Many people are actively searching for guidance in personal development, work-life balance, and achieving their goals, creating a unique opportunity for coaches to step up and make a difference. Joanna encourages listeners to overcome self-doubt and the fear of a crowded market by leveraging their unique stories and perspectives.

Key Timestamps:

[00:01:00] - Why the coaching industry presents perfect timing

[00:02:00] - Importance of showing up and marketing consistently

[00:04:00] - How coaches are needed more than ever

[00:05:00] - Why does waiting for the "perfect time" hold you back

[00:07:00] - Leveraging technology to start your business

[00:09:00] - Using your unique story as your superpower

[00:12:00] - Closing thoughts and resources

There is never a perfect time to start, but taking small, consistent actions can lead to significant results. By utilizing free technology and resources available today, aspiring coaches can launch their businesses with minimal risk and maximum potential for impact. If you would like my help check for resources in the links below.

Useful Links

Download the Free Digital version of Coaches' Planner (edition 2025)

Signature Solution Step-by-Step Self Study Course

How to secure more coaching clients' free training

Download the 12 ways to get clients now

Learn about The Business of Coaching programme

The Next Level Mastermind details

Connect with Jo on LinkedIn

Rate and Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Women in the Coaching Arena helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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.

I'm so glad you're here.

I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor and ICF accredited coach and I help coaches to build brilliant businesses.

I know that when you prepare to enter the arena there is fear, self doubt, comparison, anxiety, uncertainty.

You can tend to armor up and protect yourself from vulnerability.

In this podcast I'll be sharing honest, not hype, practical and emotional tools to support you to make the difference that you're here for DARE greatly you belong in this arena.

Hello, welcome to the 98th episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

I am so glad you are here.

I'm really excited for this episode.

Why now is the perfect time to go for it in your coaching business because this was the first ever episode I recorded and I wanted to do an updated version.

So if you have been hesitating, waiting for the perfect moment, or holding yourself back in some capacity of doing all of the things that you know you are capable of, this episode is the nudge you have been waiting for to move you forward and show up for yourself this year.

The first reason why now is a great time to go for it in your business is the coaching industry is thriving.

It is the second fastest growing industry of the world, the first being tech, which as we know is huge.

And I don't suppose anything will ever overtake tech.

People are prioritizing personal development, work, work, life balance.

They are searching for purpose more than ever.

So your ideal clients are out there right now actively searching for someone like you, whether that is as a career change coach, improving relationships, achieving their business goals or other personal goals.

They are looking for guidance and you could the answer.

I love knowing this to be true.

When I see some clients and others I know absolutely thriving and other people can think no one's prepared to pay for, for example career change coaching.

And then you see someone else who has got career change clients.

So in other words, they have just told more people about their business than you have.

Because yes, a lot of people will not prioritize paying for this, but some people will.

So you are looking for that top 3% of your ideal client who are ready to buy now.

They've perhaps sat at their desk long enough miserable and they are ready to take action.

If you are not getting the leads that you want into your business, then you need to show up more and do more marketing.

Sorry, I know that's really depressing, but really think about how you can get in front of even more people.

If you want to do this, then you need to really, really focus.

So for example, I am doubling down on my LinkedIn in the first quarter of this year.

I intend to double my followers within that first quarter and it's taken me five years to build the ones I've got.

So obviously that's a super ambitious goal.

But sometimes I feel like everyone must have seen me on LinkedIn.

And then you join another community perhaps and realize that there are so many coaches in there that have never heard of me.

So therefore it's up to me to go bigger and help them to discover this podcast and my work.

So if you have been holding back, thinking the market is too crowded, remember this, no one has your unique voice, perspective and story.

People need to hear it in the way that you personally share.

Okay?

Second reason why now is a great time to go for it in your business is the world needs coaches now more than ever.

The events of the past few years have left people rethinking their priorities.

There is that collective shift towards that purpose and meaningful work, but most people don't know how to get there.

As a coach, you are not just building your business, you are changing lives and championing your mission.

So the ripple effect of your impact could be enormous if you commit to going all in.

The work you are doing matters right now.

People are waiting for the exact transformation you provide.

It's up to you to help them shift their beliefs and realize that this is possible for them if they decide to put the work in.

Third reason why now is a great time to go for it in your business is because there is never a perfect time.

Except for right now.

We have all heard the slogan the perfect time to plant a tree was 50 years ago.

The next best time is now.

And we've all been guilty of waiting for something to push us into doing this.

I'll launch my business when I feel ready or I'm busy because it's Christmas right now, so it's not the right time.

But here is the truth.

The stars rarely align and there is no such thing as ready.

Tiny actions will mount up to huge results.

This doesn't mean you having to, for example, go to the gym for an hour a day every day.

Even if you just do 10 minutes a day, that will be better than going all in for a week and then giving up and doing nothing.

I experienced this when I started a 365 day yoga challenge probably about eight years ago now actually.

And I was able to color in this diagram with different colours depending on how many minutes I did yoga.

Some days were eight Minutes that was brown, my least favourite color.

Some days were 12 minutes.

Then I got orange.

If I wanted purple I had to do 20 minutes and it really helped me to not want to not color in a square because it would ruin my picture but also strive to just do that extra thing so I could choose a color I liked.

Sounds really simple, but it has been a habit that has completely transformed my life as I still practice even for a few minutes every single day.

So what small step can you take today to move your business forward?

That might be sending that email to an old colleague who you know is a real connector.

It could be reaching out to a potential client who you had a discovery call with a few months ago to see if they are still looking to work on their goal.

Or it could be finally launching your website.

Whatever it is for you, just start make that small move and know that it's those small steps that will lead to your great success.

Success.

The fourth reason why now is a great time to go for it in your business is because technology has made starting even easier than ever.

You can use social media for free.

You can use tools like Canva for free to create great images.

You can even create free websites these days.

So the bar to entry has never been lower.

I have a local shop about five houses down from me that has just opened and they've spent 18 months getting that shop ready.

The amount of money that they have spent on builders and buying all of the stock, it literally pains my heart.

And we've shopped in there every single day since it opened about two or three weeks ago because I am so desperate to support it, knowing all the hard work and money they have invested in that business.

This matters a lot to me because my family used to run pubs.

So I grew up above pubs in London and again, it hurts my heart every single day to see all of the traditional London pubs shutting down.

I went ice skating last night in Battersea Power station, which was lovely.

I actually had my first four years of my life in Battersea and so to drive past all the pubs that we used to have or friends of ours had that were all now shut down or made into houses was so, so sad.

So the fact that you can start a business for absolutely nothing and it doesn't need to completely destroy your life, like for example, the shop down the road, if that shuts down, or the pub that we used to live in, because that is a huge outlay for your family, you can genuinely start your business for free with no risk at all.

All that you need to do is actually raise the bar above most people who are not consistent and who won't show up for their dreams to learning how to market your business and you will thrive because most people are not prepared to put the work in to really refine that skill.

Leverage the tools available for you right now.

Start small and think big.

Okay?

The fifth reason why now is a great time to go for it in your business is your unique story is your superp.

You might think you need more credentials or experience, but what really sets you apart isn't another certificate, another training.

It is your lived experience, your passion and your ability to connect with others.

You will attract your type of people and other people will attract their type of people.

All people care about is that you understand where they're at, that you know where they want to get to and you are willing to show up and help them.

Take steps forward in your marketing until the time comes comes when they are like, yep, do you know what?

I've had enough of this.

I'm actually ready to go all in.

So your takeaway here is to stop doubting your worth and start getting to know your authentic self and know that this takes time.

Most of us have spent years in organizations conforming to who we're meant to be and what we're meant to say and what we're meant to do.

So yes, it's going to take time to unlearn all of those habits that you have picked up and to really start thinking like, what is my view on this?

And that isn't always something that can be rushed.

And I know it's super frustrating when you're marketing your business and you just don't know who you are and know that I went through exactly the same thing.

I listened to all of the advice which was show up as your authentic self.

And I just didn't know who that was.

And I found it really frustrating.

And it takes honing your craft, getting to know yourself, committing to personal development to really start to feel so comfortable with who you are and your views.

So most people are in exactly the same place as you.

If this is how you feel and the only way you get to know what you think is by marketing, that is the joy.

Because you have to think about what you want to share to learn how to articulate your message.

So there are five reasons why now is a great time to go for it in your business.

The world is ready for everything you have to offer.

You have everything you need to get started.

Like I said, there's an extremely low bar to entry.

It's just like this podcast is now in the top 2% of all podcasts because most people get no further than about 10 podcast episodes.

So it's not like things have to be perfect.

I just need to show up with more commitment than most people and commit to the skill of learning every single week how to be better.

And I can thrive in my business just like you can too.

Thank you for joining me in today's episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

I would love to hear how you are feeling at the start of new year.

Do drop me a line on LinkedIn as Joanna Lott and let me know your insights.

Please share this episode with anyone who needs it to help them to show up and help more people get coached.

You are capable of so much more than you think you are, better than you think you are.

And like I say at the end of every episode, trust yourself, believe in yourself and be the wise gardener who keeps on watering the seed.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

I have a mass of free resources on my website.

JoannaLottsCoaching.com that's Joanna with an A and lot with two T's.

JoannaLettsCoaching.com and I'll also put links in the show notes below.

Let me know if you found this episode useful.

Share it with a friend and leave me a review and I will personally thank you for that.

Remember to trust yourself, believe in yourself and be the wise gardener who keeps on watering the seed.

Get into the arena, dare greatly and try.