Have you ever noticed that the more you think about your business, the harder it feels to move? This episode explores the moment many coaches reach where reflection turns into hesitation. Joanna breaks down why staying in your head isn’t neutral. It slowly erodes confidence, energy, and income. She shares the shift that changes everything: moving from overthinking into decision-making, even when it feels uncomfortable.

Timestamps

[00:01:00] The cost of staying stuck

[00:02:00] Why decisions create clarity

[00:03:00] Progress over perfection

[00:04:00] Designing a business around your life

[00:06:00] Why action unlocks clarity

[00:09:00] Decisions aren’t forever

Momentum in your coaching business doesn’t come from finding the perfect answer — it comes from choosing a direction and being willing to move.

Make one decision today that you’ve been postponing, and take the smallest step to act on it.

Useful Links

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Signature Solution Course

Download the Free Digital version of Coaches' Planner (NEW edition 2026)

Free Essential AI Toolkit – 2 Must-Have Prompts for Coaches

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Connect with Jo on LinkedIn

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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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There is a moment in almost every

coaching business where thinking

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stops helping until that point

thinking can feel productive.

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You are reflecting your writing

notes about your niche, your

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thinking about your offer.

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Maybe you are writing social posts,

listening to podcasts, reading books, all

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of that can be useful for a while when

you are in that initial learning curve.

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But eventually something

interesting starts to happen.

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The thinking stops creating clarity,

and instead it sends you into a spin.

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It starts creating hesitation.

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And the strange thing is that the longer

you stay there, the harder it becomes

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to move and you just begin circling

the same questions again and again.

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And at some point you just

need to make a decision.

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So for you that might be something

like, should I focus on selling

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to individuals or organizations?

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Is this definitely the right niche?

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Does this feel good to me?

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Is my offer right?

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How about my pricing?

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Should I change direction again?

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And suddenly months can turn into years

in that space of not moving forward.

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And I find it really interesting

that we forget that there is no

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such thing as standing still.

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You are either on the downward

slope, drifting further away

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from where you want to be.

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Or you are on that 1% better

everyday incline to get to

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where you want to get to.

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And the problem with being stuck in

your head that no one seems to realize

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is that you just don't stand still.

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You lose so much

confidence, you lose money.

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And then people often contact me going.

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I'm desperate to build my business.

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I've got one month left of needing

to have all of my previous income.

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Can you guarantee me that I will get

my previous month's salary within one

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month and that up till that point,

they may have spent an entire year

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faffing around not earning money.

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And I certainly don't want

that pressure in my business,

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and I bet you don't either.

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So at some point that clarity

stops coming from thinking.

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And starts coming from making a decision.

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Welcome to Women in the Coaching Arena.

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If you are listening on

the podcast, welcome.

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I'm moved to YouTube recently, so if you

are watching on YouTube, welcome as well.

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I am Joe Lott, a business mentor and ICF

accredited coach, and over the past few

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years, I have helped hundreds of qualified

coaches to build their businesses around

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their life and bring in those clients.

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One of the patterns that I

see again and again is this.

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The coaches who move forward are not

the ones who have the most perfect plan.

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In fact, it's usually those

that aren't the perfectionists

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that make much more progress.

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They are the ones who make decisions and

don't feel like everything needs to be

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perfect, and then they make that decision

and then they actually start moving.

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I see so many coaches that

are super capable, circling.

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Often everybody I work with are

super intelligent, reflective,

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amazing, thoughtful people.

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Yet that can sometimes keep you

into that spin of feeling like there

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is one perfect answer and for me.

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Certainly the move to entrepreneurship

and having my own business has taught

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me that there is no one right answer.

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And in the workplace, especially

when I used to work with lots

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of rules and regulations, there

was always a right and a wrong.

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And the best thing about building your

business is that you get to create

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your own way and your own path, and

you build that trust in the process.

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Because your business will grow

through those tiny, tiny decisions

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that you are brave enough to make and

not staying circling again and again.

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This matters even more if like me, you

want your business to support your life.

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For example, my business is

school hours term time only.

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I get to do the school run every

day, take all of the holidays off,

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and that didn't happen by accident.

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It happened because I consciously

decided that that was the type

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of work I needed to create.

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So how about.

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For you, what do you really want?

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And what is a decision that you've

maybe put off up until this moment

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that is circling in your head?

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And how can you make that decision

today if you are beating yourself up,

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that you are going round in circles?

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Don't think you are alone in this.

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I have spent many, many hours in that

place too, and I kept thinking, if I

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just think about it for long enough,

somehow that perfect answer would appear.

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The perfect niche, the perfect

offer, and it's just worth knowing

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that there is no such thing.

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And all of those things will grow with

you as you grow your business, and you

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only get that clarity after you start.

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Definitely not.

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Before something surprising happens

once you start moving and the very thing

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that you were waiting to feel certain

about begins to start to reveal itself.

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So they always say that you can't

see the top of the staircase until

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you have taken that first step.

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And I totally agree.

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One of the biggest shifts I see

in my clients is when they realize

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this and start to become less

attached to everything needing to be

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perfect, to not having a guarantee

that their niche will work to not.

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Having to feel like it has to

be the perfect offer, and it's

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the one opportunity you've got.

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You don't need that

flawless marketing plan.

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You don't need a month's worth

of social content scheduled

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before you put that one post out.

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You just need to make a decision about

the direction you are heading in and

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that you are willing to experiment with.

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And all businesses are built

through that iteration.

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There is no such thing

as perfect thinking.

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If you think about Amazon that

literally started from books on Kindles.

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I mean, it's insane how they

took that first step, perfected

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that, and then grew from there.

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So just like you can grow from

exactly where you are in this moment.

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Something else also happens when you start

to finally decide your energy changes.

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You stop circling decisions and being in

that constant doubt where you are half in,

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half out, where you're not really sure if

you want to go all in on your business.

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Because if you go all in, then.

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You might actually fail or succeed.

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So unless you take that risk, then

you will never know if you can

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build the business of your dreams

like I have managed to do right

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now through taking that tiny risk.

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Deciding to go into executive coaching,

realized that I actually hated executive

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coaching, and what I really wanted

to do was help people change career.

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Then realizing I absolutely love

business building because in

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my opinion, I have no idea how.

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You are else meant to do it

when your kids start school.

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Like how do you drop them off, get

to and from London with all of the

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panic that the trains are canceled?

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How do you get all of the holidays?

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So for me, my next step after

executive coaching, career coaching

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was business coaching because I

absolutely love building businesses.

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So I've seen this many

times with my clients too.

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Sometimes someone spends months trying

to perfect their perfect positioning.

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Eventually they just decide, this is the

initial direction that I'm going in, and

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suddenly your business starts moving.

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And not because that decision was

magically perfect, but because

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the momentum finally begins,

it only begins once you start.

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There's also something else worth

talking about here that deciding

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doesn't mean you are deciding forever.

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So just for today, not for forever.

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Make that decision on your niche,

your offer, everything can change.

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You can make another decision

in the future and make those

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changes just as I have done.

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The path is just never straightforward,

and you have to be prepared to go

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on that swirly path to find your

own personal route to success.

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Sometimes coaches worry that choosing

a direction means closing other doors.

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One of my clients once joked that she

really, really didn't wanna close the

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door to all of the imaginary people that

were queuing up at it to work with her.

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And it's really, really true.

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If there aren't people queuing

up to work with you, then it may

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feel like niching down will stop

all of these people queuing up.

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But it's actually the opposite, whereas.

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If you speak to that one individual person

with radical empathy, they will come your

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way versus trying to speak to everyone

and usually therefore speaking to no one.

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When your work becomes clearer and

your decision making becomes clearer,

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everything you want will come.

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Whether that's the.

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Hours that you want to work, whether

that's the type of clients that you

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want to work, the type of pricing

you will find your way through being

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brave enough to make those decisions.

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Sometimes the biggest progress will come

from a single decision that you have

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been postponing and that will free up.

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So much energy to continue and do all

of the marketing and amazing things

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that you want to do in your business.

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Take a moment now to think about what

decision you have been postponing.

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Often that decision will be the doorway

to the momentum and release of energy

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that you really need in this moment.

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Most coaching businesses are not built

by people who feel completely ready.

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I have worked with tons of

successful people now through my

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own clients and in masterminds

that I am part of, and everybody is

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just finding their way as they go.

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So don't feel like

everyone else has this sus.

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They really don't.

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They are just the same as you

making those decisions, not

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knowing if it's the right decision.

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But being brave enough to make them.

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Anyway.

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If you are a coach building your

business and you would like to grab a

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checklist I've created for you on 12

ways to get Paying Coaching clients,

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then you can grab that in the show notes

or in the description below and start.

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Implementing today.

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I find the Pomodoro

technique really helps.

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So set that timer for 15 minutes.

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Choose one of those 12 ways

and actually do it right away.

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I hope you loved today's

episode, and like I always say.

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Trust yourself.

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Believe in yourself and be the wise

gardener who keeps on watering the seeds.

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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.