What if the safe, smart vision you’re holding for your coaching business… is actually fear in disguise?
In this episode of The Solo Coach Podcast, we’re diving into the subtle but powerful ways fear can shrink your vision and how to catch it before it clips your potential.
If you’ve ever second-guessed your dreams or called it “being realistic,” this episode is for you.
We’ll explore:
● How “smart” dreams can keep you stuck
● Why shrinking your vision doesn’t protect you
● How to hold a big vision and feel grounded
As a solo coach building a meaningful business, this episode will empower you to expand your vision and root it in confidence, not fear.
What You’ll Learn:
● How to recognize when fear is masking as logic
● The truth about expansion and why it can feel awful at first
● A powerful reframe to help you ask “Why not me?”
If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review! Your feedback helps other solo coaches discover the show and grow their businesses with clarity and courage.
Transcripts
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There's fear that gets a lot of airtime in the coaching world.
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What if I'm dreaming too big?
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What if I'm being unrealistic?
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But this fear creates a problem.
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It keeps you dreaming too small.
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And when you're building a coaching business, a business that's supposed to
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carry your gifts out into the world, dreaming small just doesn't only limit
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your income, it limits your impact, too.
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What if the vision you're holding, the one that feels safe and reasonable and small
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smart, isn't actually the one that would set your life on fire in
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the best possible way?
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What if you've been calling it being realistic when really it's just fear
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wearing an outfit, a different one, when being realistic is
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really fear in disguise?
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Let's talk about that.
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It's easy to convince ourselves that we're being wise by setting careful goals,
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by lowering the bar just a little.
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Not enough to notice, but enough to avoid looking foolish if it doesn't work out.
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I know you've done that, because I sure have.
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Right?
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These are little, tiny unconscious decisions we make based on this fear.
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It feels safer that way, doesn't it?
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I mean, you can stay in motion.
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You can feel productive.
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You can protect yourself from the sting of disappointment and from the sideways
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glances of people who don't quite get what you're building.
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That doesn't really happen, by the way.
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But here's what I've learned the hard way.
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Shrinking your vision doesn't actually protect you.
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It just keeps you from ever finding out who you could have been if you'd
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given yourself the full chance.
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When you're growing a coaching business, being grounded doesn't mean trimming
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your dreams down to a reasonable size.
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It means balancing your expectations, letting the timeline stay flexible
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without gutting the vision itself.
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It's balancing being re realistic in quotes.
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With moving forward steadily.
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It's balancing dreaming big.
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With moving forward steadily.
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You don't need smaller dreams.
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You need stronger roots.
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So a true vision requires confidence and a bold why not?
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The kind of vision that lights you up from the inside out.
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It's not about ego.
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It's not about proving anything.
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It's about answering a quieter question. Why?
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Why not? Why not me?
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Why can't I live the life I can feel pulling at me even when it scares me?
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Why can't I build a coaching business that does just pay the bills but feels like a
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living, breathing extension of my soul?
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I'm not talking about forcing yourself to say you're going after
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something grandiose.
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It should be whatever fits you just make sure that it isn't smaller than what
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you're capable of, and smaller because of fear.
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And the kind of small that just keeps you frustrated.
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It's not easy, I know.
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Believe me, I know.
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Matter of fact, it's one of the hardest things you'll ever do is holding a
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vision despite fear, doubt and worry.
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But here's what I want you to know.
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The future you want with your business isn't reserved for them.
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The ones you look at and think it's easier for them.
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The they once thought that future belonged to someone else too.
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We're all them to somebody.
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We all start out wondering if we're good enough, smart enough, capable enough.
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Problem is, is when you feel those things, you allow it to shrink
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your business vision.
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It's never been about being one of the chosen few.
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It's always been about how you choose to see yourself and which barriers you decide
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you're no longer willing to believe in.
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Building a successful coaching business isn't about waiting for someone to choose.
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It's about choosing yourself first.
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Expansion.
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Expansion triggers contraction, and that's normal.
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Here's another truth we don't talk about Enough.
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Growth doesn't always feel good in the moment.
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Boy, does it not always feel good.
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Sometimes expansion feels exactly like fear.
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Like standing at the edge of a cliff with the wind in your face and
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absolutely nothing to hold on to.
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Uncertainty is a threat biologically.
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Biologically speaking.
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So when you step into bigger spaces, bigger dreams, bigger risks, bigger
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visibility, your brain will sometimes try to pull you back to safety.
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It's normal.
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It'll whisper doubts.
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It'll manufacture urgent little tasks to keep you busy.
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Second guess things that felt clear just days before.
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And it will point out all the things you've failed at to get
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you to stop and turn back. Back.
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None of that means you're on the wrong path.
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It means you're walking forward, creating your path because you know you can.
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This is a quiet invitation to expand your coaching business vision.
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So maybe today's question isn't am I dreaming too big?
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Maybe it's this. We've.
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Where have I been?
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Calling it being realistic when it was actually fear.
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And even more importantly, when.
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What would change if I asked myself, why not?
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Why not me? Why can't I do this?
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You don't have to rush.
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You don't have to bulldoze your way there.
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You just have to be willing to hold the bigger vision, even when it makes you feel
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uneasy, even when you're afraid of looking foolish.
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That's where the tipping point lives.
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That's where the real you, the one you may not have fully met yet, is waiting.
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And that's how the coaching business you were meant to build finally
