Resources

Here are most of the resources we have used to grow and scale our business. Over the years, we have used many differents platforms but those are the ones worth recommending.

How to Answer the Question, “What Do You Do?”

“But what do you really do? How to discover what you really do?”

Have you ever had someone ask you this question and then completely blank on an answer? Sure, you know what subjects you teach, what exercises you share, the marketing category you’re in, but when you try to say those things aloud you miss out on your true purpose.

You miss out on the deep transformations you facilitate.

Most of my clients come to me unable to answer this question. They don’t quite know or can’t articulate their true purpose, the transformations they create. So, we help them get crystal clarity on what they really do, and distill the transformation they take their clients through.

But why is this so important?

It’s not so much an “elevator pitch” that we’re after here. If you can’t articulate the transformation you deliver, early on in the process, then you’ll quickly run into the issue of “Is it enough?”

Is it enough to devote your life to?

 

Is it enough to charge your clients the high-ticket price?

Coaches who can’t answer this in a satisfying and inspiring way, panic. They end up with random exercises that are cute and look good on paper, but don’t actually deliver. Their confidence suffers, their prices waver, and their clients make it through their program with mixed results.

In Impact with Influence, we take our clients through a five-question process to get crystal clarity on what it is they really do. Now, in the program, we go deep into the nuance, tease apart each layer, and get the phrasing exactly right. But if you’re struggling to understand what you truly do, these five questions are a great place to start.

How to discover what you really do

1. What part of the process excites you the most?

When you wake up in the morning, what are you excited to get out of bed and do? What energizes you and brings you joy in the work?

Are you always looking forward to group calls? Do you love new client meetings? Identify which activities or pieces bring you joy.

2. What part of the process do you fear the most?

This question has a lot to do with imposter syndrome. What parts of the process drain you or make you feel like you aren’t good enough?

You need to be aware of any fear you have in order to address it. If you aren’t even aware of fears you’re internalizing you’re going to avoid these tasks or hesitate to act. Clarity is the first step.

3. What part of the process do you have control over?

These are the pieces that you feel solid about. You’re confident you know this part well and believe you have the right to teach this.

So, what abilities are you confident in? Is it your ability to hold space for others? Or your deep knowledge on the topic you’re teaching?

4. What part of the process am I building control over?

To discover what you really do, it’s important to not frame this response as, “Oh I have no control over this piece!” Instead, frame it around what you are working to build control over.

The nuance is to look for things that bring you joy that you’re wanting to develop, as opposed to the things you think you should develop. Instead of trying to white-knuckle or develop discipline, work with your energy to build more control.

5. What guidance comes to you?

What is the next step that comes to you naturally? This is not “What do I do next” or “What are my next actions?” Don’t force or judge the response that comes to you.

Allow your intuition to bring you responses. Be open and receptive to whatever might come into your brain.

Story Time

It’s this last question that most of our clients struggle with. In fact, we recently had a client who sat on a call for nearly 20 minutes without anything coming to her.

We were worried she was going to leave, or that our time would run out, because we really wanted to get her to that next level.

The problem is, the more rushed you feel, the longer it’s going to take. You want to empty out your energy and put yourself in a space where you’re receptive and inspiration is drawn to you.

In the realm of intuition, where symbols and snippets intertwine, there are moments when a persistent thought emerges—a subtle whisper urging you to consider a change. Perhaps, like the gentle hum of a melody, the notion to cancel timeshare may find its place in the mosaic of your intuitive reflections. It might not be a logical puzzle piece at first, but in the tapestry of your inner guidance, it could be a crucial thread, suggesting a potential path of liberation from commitments that no longer align with your journey. Embracing your intuition means acknowledging these inklings, allowing them to weave seamlessly into the fabric of your decisions, guiding you towards a more harmonious and purposeful existence.

What to do next

When it does come to you, write it down, document it, so you can revisit it later without forgetting it. If you keep pulling at it, over time, things will become clearer and that random image or snippet will reveal its deeper meaning.

Learning to wait for this guidance is pivotal. This particular client was sure it wasn’t going to come, and then it startled them when it came to them suddenly at the very end of the call. She got her “a-ha!” moment and we were able to round out the process to help her truly identify her magic.

If you’re interested in learning how to further develop this guidance and discover what you really do, make sure you check out Impact with Clarity. We’ve taken our most impactful, tangible exercises (like the five-question exercise above) and put them into a condensed program that offers a wealth of valuable insights.

We’ll give you the mechanics to help you get to a deeper layer of clarity.

Virginia asks Geeta: “How do I let go of my clients’ pain?”

Virginia asks:

How do I LET GO of clients’ emotional pain and RECHARGE after a call? How do I detach from THEIR results?

MY RESPONSE:

Virginia, let me introduce you to one of my favorite topics: Setting healthy boundaries.

How do you not take on your clients’ pain, angst, desire, etc.? By making sure your own boundaries are clear. Healthy boundaries start at home. If you’re getting your validation and significance externally from your clients, it’s going to be difficult to set those boundaries. First and foremost, you need to focus on yourself.

It’s not easy, believe me, I know. I remember in the early days when my clients were getting great results, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was living on borrowed time. It felt like I was a fraud. I didn’t believe in my own power, and I thought it might be a fluke. One of the best things I did was I designed my program for ME. I worked with a mindset coach to get to the root of this feeling of not being enough. I sat in that space of not knowing, of feeling like a fraud, of being afraid, and just let those emotions be.

It was all about me, and then I went through the program, I did the work, and transformed my own mindset. You can do this too, Virginia!

When you set healthy boundaries, you have to be willing to act in your own best interests. You have to ask yourself, what do I need right now? The trick, however, is not letting your mind answer. Your brain will tell you that you need to do more, take bigger risks, be more organized, buy another program, blah blah. But if you listen instead to your intuition or somatic wisdom, your body will tell you the truth.

Your body will tell you that you’re tired, that you need to pause, that you need a break. Your body will bring to the surface your root fears, the true pain beneath your anxiety. Sitting in that space and naming your fears out loud will help you identify what it is you really need.

When it comes to boundaries, it’s about taking your energy back and being your own best client first. Your needs come first. What will improve your mental health? What would make you be a better version of yourself? When you’re able to meet your needs, and put yourself in a good place, you’ll be better able to help your clients. If you neglect your needs, you’ll become resentful, under resourced, a victim or what I now call “Wounded.”

In fact, I feel so passionately about this, I created a deep dive into the energetics of success – the plane at which to solve these core problems of “not enough”, “unworthy”, “incapable”, etc. And unlike just about every other personal development course out there, our focus is NOT on fixing the problem at its root…

(yeah read that again)…

It’s not about FIXING the wound, Virginia, but it’s about having just enough awareness of the wound and the patterns it creates, so you can step back into your highest, Creator self and be guided by your own innate wisdom. It’s the “mindset” that everyone talks about these days, but few actually know how to teach or implement reliably. I believe that when you place your energy in Creator (a concept that I discuss in great depth in Impact with Clarity), the healing happens as a sort of side effect of you simply creating the life you want.

How rad is that?

Instead of having to toil away at healing first and only then being allowed to pursue your soul’s calling. Love yourself and trust yourself. When you do, you can take that practice and extend it to the client. You can hold space for a client who is struggling because you’ve been there. You know their pain and can hear it. Discover what’s underneath it. Go deeper.

In that space, your client can free up their inspiration, creativity, and excitement. You invite them to see their problem in a new light. Remember, you’re not there to fix issues, you’re there to help them get in touch with their own truth. When you do that, the call will recharge you instead of depleting you.

But, we all have off-days, so here’s one last tip. When I have a bad call or feel strung out after a meeting, one thing I do is take off my make-up and change my clothes. I physically wash away the bad energy and mentally send the client love, and then I make a clean break. I leave their pain with them and turn my focus inward to feel into my own negative emotions that might be lingering.

This allows me to figure out where they live in my house. I look for those emotions in myself and sit with them and understand how this person is helping me release my own pain. Again, for a deep dive and step-by-step process to really master this, so you can use it reliably (not just once in a while), get special pricing on Impact with Clarity for a limited time.

How to Know When it’s Time to Quit

Few entrepreneurs talk about this publicly or honestly, but everyone reaches a point where they recognize that they feel like quitting. But how to know when it’s actually time to quit?

Quitting, giving up, letting go, it’s often not hardwired into the entrepreneur’s DNA. We’re told to stick with it, be persistent, and persevere, but that’s not great advice when you start to feel frustrated or resentful. So, what do you do when you don’t know if it’s your resistance talking… or if it’s actually time to give something up?

That time I almost quit…but it wasn’t time to quit!

In 2016, I had just given birth to my second child. She was extremely colicky and woke up every 40 minutes. I was not getting a lot of sleep, and I was exhausted. You might be thinking, “Well duh! It’s normal you want to quit when you’re tired!” That was the story I wanted to tell myself.

That this was just a physical thing, a temporary phase, nothing else. But thankfully I’m a journaler. When I was journaling, all the thoughts I wasn’t allowing myself to think, that I had locked in my mental closet, spilled out onto the page.

I realized I wasn’t loving the conversations I was having with my clients. I loved my clients, and the process of coaching, but I wasn’t excited by the repetitive nature of my program. It felt limiting to me. At the time, I was only offering one program and doing it over and over again was burning me out.

Honestly, I was bored. That’s where my fatigue was coming from. Yes, there was a physical fatigue from not sleeping, but my mental fatigue was coming from this lack of growth. My purpose had expanded.

Quit Vs. Pivot

Now, before we dive in and I share with you how to journal this way yourself, there’s a difference between quitting and pivoting. Quitting means fully walking away from your entire business, from the lifestyle, from being a coach/entrepreneur. If it’s time to quit, you’ll know.

Pivoting is more nuanced, and requires a deeper level of discernment. Ultimately, one is not better than the other. At the end of the day, I want you to have a better framework for decision-making. I don’t want you to make decisions – especially really big ones – from a place of resentment, anger, or frustration.

Instead of giving into your negative feelings, and acting from a place of pain (what I call “Wounded” and explore much more deeply in our self paced Impact with Clarity program), I want you to dive into that pain deeper and identify exactly what about your current situation is draining you.

Only when you develop a way to learn from what’s going on can you harness those learnings and move forward. Here’s how.

Listen to Your Intuition

The first thing I want you to do when you’re thinking about quitting is to listen to your intuition. Intuition is your knowingness that trumps your intellectual knowledge. It’s what you somehow know and have access to that doesn’t always (or even often) make logical sense. If you’re unclear and don’t have a solid process for getting in touch with your intuition and inner wisdom, I highly recommend taking Impact with Clarity.

Because the processes I teach you there transcend all the strategic and tactical moves you’re currently obsessed with and spending energy on. Playing from a place of deep knowingness—where you have access to and confidence in your decisions—is ultimately exactly what’s going to get you the freedom you seek. Slow down and reread the above sentence. Feel it. Does it resonate?

If it does, here’s that link.

If you’re not sure yet, try this exercise and see where it takes you. The last thing I want is for you to put me on some sort of pedestal and believe ANYTHING I say that doesn’t feel like your truth. This is about you becoming. Becoming the teacher you’ve been looking for.

Are you growing towards your goals?

A huge piece of discernment is being able to tell when you’re no longer growing. Because the Soul’s work in this lifetime is growth, expansion and fulfillment. Anything else is a distraction.

So the very first question you must ask yourself is … Where is my energy parked? Ever heard that old chestnut: “What you focus on grows”? Well, what it leaves out is that it’s entirely possible for your conscious mind to focus on one thing (your goal or desired outcome) and your unconscious (or wounded self) to focus on another thing (usually a story of lack). The problem is that your Wounded Self has high speed to your subconscious (or manifesting) mind. And your poor Conscious Self only has dial up. So which messages do you think get through? The ones from Wounded.

Here’s a quick gut check to do (I have a much deeper and more robust process in the actual program).

Check in with yourself and see if any of these stories feel like they’re on the money:

  1. I’m not worthy—I am not a lovable or good enough person for this much amazing to happen to me or for it to last
  2. What I want is not available to me
  3. I am not capable enough/ don’t have the endurance for this (often happens to folks who had inconsistent feedback from father figures in childhood. They work super hard but feel unable to control whether or not they’ll “win”)
  4. It will be taken away anyway, so why bother
  5. I don’t have what it takes (need to get more certifications/ training before I can have what I truly want
  6. I am fundamentally broken (I can work harder than anyone else and still never get anywhere because the rules of reality don’t seem to apply to me and my reality is broken)

Ding Ding Ding! If any of the above wounded stories hit home for you, chances are no amount of strategy is going to solve your problem. This isn’t a lack of effort. It’s a lack of internal permission and alignment.

So what to do next?

Look, you can keep scouring the internet for free information, or you can get proven processes that actually work to connect you with your own internal wisdom. Because I freaking promise you—the teacher you’re REALLY looking for is yourself. Trying to learn your truth from other people is going to drive you banana pancakes, unless what they’re teaching you is to tap into your own innate genius.

You are good enough and wise enough.

It’s time you start believing in yourself and taking control of that brilliance of yours. Sounds good?

Click here and get special pricing for a limited time.

It’s time.

Amanda asks Geeta: “What percentage of coaching is hands-on?”

Amanda asks:

What percentage of coaching is hands-on (face to face, phone calls, etc.) versus just giving your students materials, homework and resources? I tend to spend so much time with my clients. It’s hard to step back and let them be or give them stuff to do.

MY RESPONSE:

Amanda, what this says to me is that you’re taking on too much responsibility! Typically, when we overstretch ourselves, it’s usually one big pattern playing out that has two sneaky sides to it.

  1. We don’t trust ourselves. If we aren’t fixing problems or helping people, we don’t feel like we’re good enough.
  2. We don’t trust our clients. This is actually a projection of the same thought pattern. It seduces us into thinking our clients lack the motivation, depth, and discipline to do the work. So we feel the need to coddle, cajole, hover over or punish them.

Often when we have this pattern with clients, it shows up closer to home with our family and especially parenting relationships, so examine those for yourself.

The issue is that when you’re operating from this energy, no amount of work you do is going to make you feel good enough. That’s why at Impact with Influence, we do deep mindset work alongside curriculum design. You need to be able to have the tools and resources internally. This way, you can come to the table willing and able to hold space for your client’s pain.

And show them that you trust them to create their way towards the life of their dreams. Holding space for someone this way is hugely empowering to both sides because it focuses your energy and attention on capability rather than lack.

When you hold space for someone, your greatest gift to them is the gift of emotional neutrality.

You bring a level of calm and curiosity to the conversation that allows you to crystallize the problem, peel back the layers, and discover what the root issues really is. This engages your client in the process, and invites them to meet their pain with curiosity and creativity. But in order to work that magic, you need to make sure that your program is structured in such a way that your one-on-one meetings aren’t bogged down by repetitive conversations or busywork.

The way you do that is by balancing your curriculum around mini breakthroughs, Amanda.

There’s no magic percentage or number, it all depends on the larger transformation that you are moving your clients towards. Start with that end-goal transformation and move backwards, identifying the mini moments, breakthroughs, and milestones that compound over time. When you’re clear on what those baby steps are, you can identify which ones can be automated through thinking exercises, templates, videos, etc.

The best part about doing it this way is that it allows you to go at the pace that the clients bring. If someone is a beginner, you can go slower and take your time. But if they’re advanced, they’ll zoom through the thinking exercises because they’ve already figured it out. This way you can get into the meatier parts much faster.

These automated processes and exercises will also help diagnose your clients. They will allow you to maximize the one-on-one time you do have with them. If they can come to these mini revelations on their own, you can use your meetings to hold space for larger problems, peeling back deeper layers. And if they struggle with certain exercises, you’ll know exactly what to discuss and work through on your calls.

Think about it.

This allows you to automate the approximately 80% of repetitive work that you have to do with each client to effectively onboard them. Which then frees up 100% of your energy to focus on the 20% that is deeply customized and pure magic.

This is what drives results.

Now you’re much more likely to stay deeply engaged and interested in the work. You’ve set yourself up with time and energy to explore the real reasons any client is stuck. You will no longer get bored with the repetition and will protect yourself from drudgery.

What do you think this will do to your bottom line? All of this requires you to start with clarity of exactly what you want to create and what your deepest genius is. Want to get a taste of our main Impact with Influence program, but in a more condensed, affordable way that’s good for both brand new and advanced coaches? Use this link to get 70% off Impact with Clarity for a limited time.

And if you haven’t already, join our free FB community where we’re having deep, thoughtful conversations about the energetics of transformation, program design, pricing and much more.

ASK GEETA

Darden asks Geeta: “How do I expand my business without burning out?”

Darden asks Geeta:

How do I simplify business, get the results I want, and expand online with my programs without feeling like I’m burning out or sacrificing my well-being by trying to do it all?

My response:

Darden, this is literally what Impact with Influence was designed for!

When I first started out, I had all the same questions. In fact, I even created a full half-hour training dedicated to this very problem!

But I’ll quickly summarize the answer to your question here.

The first thing you want to do is figure out the nuances of your fear. What this question tells me is that you have a galloping fear of success. Some part of you is self-sabotaging because you’re scared that, if you’re successful, you’ll “burn out” or “sacrifice your well-being.”

Take time to sit with your fear, feel into it and dig deeper for your truth. Name the fears that are sitting underneath that fear. Fear of losing control, fear of failure, fear of being a fraud. Feel into these emotions with your body, and write down your fears. Only once they have a name can you begin to address them.

Then, you can start to simplify your business in three steps.

 

  • Get crystal clear on who you work with.

I’ve found that the fastest way to burn out is to help people who aren’t ready for my help.

When I take on a client who isn’t prepared to own their own transformation, 90% of my effort goes into helping them get ready. By the time we reach actual life-changing work, I’m already burned out.

That’s why it’s crucial to identify your ideal client. Who is the best fit for your program? At what point in their journey are they ready to work with you?

Take the time to get crystal clear on who that ideal client is, and run every prospect through a vetting process.

  • Design a scalable program

Next, you want to create a program that isn’t based solely on 1:1 coaching. As much as I love 1:1 coaching, it’s not scalable because you can only work with so many people before you do, indeed, burn out.

You can’t truly have freedom if you’re always on call. You need a program that can scale.

I advocate for a hybrid program that combines group coaching with 1:1 customization. In a hybrid program, you can templatize some aspects, share responsibility with others, and still build out the space to work your magic without consuming all your time.

  • Sell a transformation

Finally, you want to make sure your program curriculum is designed in such a way that your clients have truly massive transformations. Not only should your program be life-changing, but you need to be able to clearly articulate what that transformation looks like.

The bigger the transformation, the more you can charge for your program.

The clearest way to articulate this is by nailing the before and after. Clearly identify the beginning pain and contrast that with the transformed future.

Pain creates urgency, but bliss gives permission to buy.

The clearer you are on this, the easier it is to articulate it in a way that makes people want it.

Once you’re able to price your program at a premium, you’ll be able to scale and reinvest that money back into resources and people to help you grow without overextending yourself.

The Number One Rule of Performance

I love being in front of the camera, but I do use the Number One Rule of Performance.

If that makes you want to barf in my hair, bear with me – I have a gift for you. And let me assure you, it wasn’t always this way… When I first started working in television, I had to stare into the black hole of those giant broadcast cameras. I had been comfortable being on stage, but now speaking to a camera, into a void, I was frozen.

Without the instant feedback of human interaction, I found myself getting exhausted. It would quite literally suck the energy out of me. Until I learned to bounce my energy off the camera. Which is what I want to teach you to do today.

Now, being in front of an audience has become such a part of my life, that I constantly have people telling me, “Wow, I can’t imagine being on camera all the time. How do you always know the right thing to say?”

The truth is, I don’t.

In fact, just the other day I screwed up on a group coaching call and a metaphor I was piecing together fell apart. Instead of letting it derail me, I admitted to it, and we all had a good laugh together before moving on.

I release the need to be perfect while maintaining effortless authority by deploying the number one rule of performance:

 

Have fun.

If you screw everything else up, and get this one thing right, it’ll probably still work. But if you do everything right, and screw this up, it won’t work. If you’re not having fun, your audience will be wildly uncomfortable. You’re their emotional portal. If you’re enjoying it, even if you bungle it, the audience will go with you and experience your mess up as you being authentic and intimate.

If you’re being vulnerable, even if you’re crying, but you’re comfortable being witnessed in that space, then your audience can feel comfortable too. But if you act like you’re embarrassed or want to hide, your audience will feel very strange watching you.

Part of being a coach is performing, and that can often be the trickiest part for people. They’re brilliant and empathetic, offer great advice, and want to share their experiences with a wider audience. But for many, the idea of a wider audience is terrifying. This is particularly apparent in the days of Zoom presentations, when you’re speaking to a laptop camera instead of to a real audience.

A lot of coaches prefer one-on-one, and in many ways, I do too. But I also cherish the opportunity to share my message with a large group on my Facebook Lives or group coaching calls. So today, I’m going to share with you the exercise I adopted when I first started working in television that helped me overcome my fear of performance.

The “Audience of Spirit”

So how did I get over my “freeze” in front of those huge broadcast cameras? Instead of imagining people on the other end of the camera, which can sometimes be distracting, I imagined I was talking directly to God, or the Universe, or my own higher Spirit.

Speaking to an audience of a higher power takes away the pressure or judgement that you might screw up. Even if I rambled, or messed up my words, or forgot my lines, I’d be forgiven. There’s something about that relationship that makes me want to lean forward and give more.

It helped me conquer my fear of the camera.

Everyone has spoken into a void before. And I’m not about a “cold” void. I’m talking about a void free of judgement, the warm receiving space where you talk to a higher power, the universe, even your higher self. This is where I go to experiment, to feel myself, to play out my stories, and re-experience them objectively.

I have cues that keep me on track (which I’ve written about in a different post), but I don’t sweat the details because the universe or spirit doesn’t mind. It’s a loving audience. Practice telling your stories to this higher concept. Find that warm, embracing place where you can build your confidence before sharing your stories with the world.

How to Tell Impactful Stories

How to tell impactful stories? I’ve always been a storyteller. I began writing at a very young age, and as I grew older I went into the live news business, where I got to tell vital and captivating stories on a daily basis.

Today, I continue to tell stories, in team meetings, on group coaching calls, on Facebook Lives, mentorship calls and in writing these posts and my books.

I’ve come to learn that there’s an art to telling stories. Not just in crafting them, but in sharing them with others. In being vulnerable and authentic, without meandering or compromising your authority.

None of these things came naturally to me at first, despite being a storyteller at heart. I had to practice and learn, and there were a few exercises and prompts that helped me along the way. Here’s how to tell impactful stories for your target audience.

How to tell impactful stories: Learning What Makes a Great Story

Maria asked me recently, “How do you know what stories to tell? And connect them with the tools or the work?”

I had to think about that. These days, it comes naturally to me. When someone asks a question on a group coaching call, I can pull a related story out of my mind, share it, and connect it to the lesson we’re discussing.

But I didn’t start there. It took years of practice, of watching others, of telling stories over and over again to learn where to start, where to end, and how to connect it to life.

Maria wanted to know more, so I gave her this exercise.

Stand in front of the mirror every day for 90 days and tell a story. For the first 30 days, just tell a story about your day. Whatever story you want to tell. It doesn’t matter the length or topic, just let your feelings guide you and talk to your audience of one.

While you’re speaking, watch yourself. At first, it will be distracting and awkward, but if you’re paying attention, you’ll notice where you lose your train of thought, where you stumble, or fumble for words.

You end up realizing where your stories start and where they end. You’ll learn how to structure your stories better, and know where to end them appropriately instead of petering out. And, you’ll learn to pick yourself up again when your story inevitably falls apart. Once you develop that skill, you stop worrying about it and can be fully present and confident.

After you get used to telling stories, add a layer of complexity.

Days 31 to 60: Distill the takeaway

Perhaps 30 days into this exercise, add this one simple piece: At the end of your story of the day, talk about the key takeaway of the story. This has you flexing the muscle in your mind that gleans meaning, that distills sense, and that knows how to present it succinctly. It may evolve naturally, but over this next stretch start doing it deliberately.

I want to remind you to be kind to yourself. It will be tempting to compare yourself to me or someone else you know who has been practising this skill for decades and is very good at it. You’re just learning.

Important note:

Your ability to reach mastery depends on just one thing: the meaning you assign to failing at this task. If failure means that you’re growing and not there yet, even day over day; if you’re willing and able to recognize progress, you will gain mastery. I guarantee it. I’ve seen miraculous transformations from folks who were truly terrible storytellers at first but who gave themselves grace and who celebrated the wins.

Days 61 to 90: Create a tool

Then, in the final 30 days, you’re going to tell the story, glean the meaning, and now present some kind of tool. In a coaching context, you’re conditioning your neural pathways to reach into your directory of coaching tools, exercises, etc. and hook them up to story-based problem-solving. It’s still raw and authentic, but you’re learning to pull from your tools and make connections.

Now that you’ve practiced, you’ll be able to see the progression of your storytelling. You’ll hone your intuition and get a feel for how your stories should start, end, and lead into a tool or lesson.

The storytellers we admire have practiced and perfected their stories over years. There’s so much structure to it, but it’s an art, not a science. You have to know the rules and then break them creatively. If you just followed the rules of storytelling you’d be boring. You need to follow the structure but not rigidly to subvert expectations.

But learn to walk before you try to pole vault.

Don’t try and write beat poetry before practising the alphabet so frequently that you run it on muscle memory.

Overacheivers are great at sabotaging success by skipping steps, overoptimizing by adding too much complexity too soon, comparing their first steps to some pole vaulter’s jump and then using all the data collected to confirm their subconscious belief that they’re not good enough.

#askmehowIknow

Storytelling has to come from a place of exploration and curiosity. It’s not about perfection or being robotic and rehearsed. For me, it’s just play. It’s about feeling.

I’m able to be spontaneous because I had enough basic structure memorized. You’re cementing the storytelling structure, not the stories themselves, in a way that appeals to you, that feels right when you deliver it a certain way. Then you can start to share those stories with others.

Did you find this post helpful? Help me help others share the depth of their experience through powerful storytelling by sharing this post with a friend (or friends) who you know can create great healing with their own stories.

xoxo

Geeta

 

How to Invite Clients to Invest Big Bucks

It’s hard to be a really effective coach when you’re constantly distracted by money thoughts. And for most of the folks we work with, those money thoughts come from charging too little. There is no one-size-fits-all pricing structure. There isn’t a magic dollar amount that you need to charge just because everyone else is. But how to invite clients to invest in Big Bucks?

So what should you charge for your coaching? I want to help you find the right answer for you.

Tune Into Your Body

Before you go any further, you need to feel totally aligned on your truth. You need to face any fears, insecurities, resistances, or imposter syndrome that may come up initially in response to raising your prices.

I wrote about a body scan exercise to help you face your deepest insecurities head on. So before you go any further, go read that post and finish the exercise so you can move forward with clear insight into your true resistances around charging more.

Invite clients to invest with Pricing That Feels Right

Pricing is as custom as a fingerprint. Once you’ve completed the body scan exercise, you should have much greater clarity into your objections. Now, it’s time to move through those objections, figure out if they’re real or if they even make sense.

You see, fear of rejection or failure isn’t really about money. You could be rejected for $5 or $5,000. The number is not the problem — it’s more that your brain has created an unconscious association that leads to all sorts of assumptions. You see, any rejection is not about you. It may not even be about your work. But it can often feel that away and that shuts down our creativity and we go into fight, flight or freeze mode. So how do you solve this?

By shifting your focus away from you, away even from the client, and towards the problem.

What problem do you solve? And what does this problem cost your clients?

Go category by category. What is it costing your clients to continue to have the problem they’re having? How much is it costing them in time, money, energy, relationships, and effort? How does this problem manifest in all areas of their life? Now you understand that you’re not just solving one problem — you’re addressing all the ways that problem connects to other aspects of their lives. Now it doesn’t feel so unfair to charge a premium.

The money that will solve a lot of your problems will help you solve a lot of their problems.

Now it feels like an equal exchange.

Show That You Have the Goods to invite clients to invest

Next, you have to demonstrate that you have a process you’re totally comfortable with that makes sense to your users. If you can show that process to them, and the transformation you can bring, it will put the price point into perspective for them. Lay it out for them very clearly. “We’re going to follow steps 1,2, and 3 to move you through this pain into bliss.” From there, you’ll be able to gain the clarity and permission to proceed. You’ll provide a shift in how you understand the problem and a different set of tools to address it.

Instead of just saying “My program is amazing,” you need to actually show how it works. Paint the picture for them, so that, not only are they ready for the program, but you both are on the same page about how you will move forward. To be clear – this isn’t you outline all the different modules and exercises, etc. It’s more about demonstrating the pillars of your program.

In our case, those pillars are:

  • Clarify: We get you clear on who you truly are, your deep gifts and larger mission, and therefore who your best fit client is (a version of you).
  • Simplify: We help you create a core offer that allows you to focus your energies instead of being spread too thin. And a simple system to get clients in the door day in and day out..
  • Amplify: We help you get in front of audiences other folks have paid to build and nurture so you can come in positioned as the expert and focus on the coaching that you do best. Two of the world’s leading PR experts co-teach this piece of our program so you can get the media to market for you.

See how I did that? Not a module in sight, but you have a clear understanding of all the mini transformations that we’re going to create together that add up to the big thing.

Your Sales Process Is a Taste of the Coaching Process

Your sales process should be a precursor, a “showing not telling” of the coaching process. You can go deep into understanding the client’s pain and feel your way for the agreement
https://fairspinca.top/. In this way, you both get a taste for what it would be like to work together.

You can propose alternative perspectives to their problem and see if they’re coachable. Are they willing to see a different version of reality? Or are they super attached to their pain? Can you coach them through their resistance to the point where they’re ready to pay a premium for your program?

They may not be ready to be helped. And that’s okay, your sales process has still done its job. And now you are both clear on where to go from here.

Position the Investment


This final piece is the most critical, but it only works if you’ve done all the other steps right. You’ve shown your process clearly, you’ve demonstrated your understanding of their pain, and you’re aligned with the client on a potential solution. Now, you’ll want to position the investment.

Caveat to this — you will only make the offer when both you and the client are 100% sure it’s the right time, and that they’re ready to work with you. If you’re both ready, then this is where you break it all down and recap the journey you’ve just embarked on together so they understand what the offer actually is.

“So basically what we’re talking about is taking you from being in pain, being lonely, hiding from opportunity in life, to feeling deeply confident and lovable, inside and out. We want to move you towards all the opportunities that come from this restored relationship with yourself, so that you can find your ideal partner. The full investment for everything we’ve talked about is $______.”

In this case, you’ve empathized with their current pain

And helped them see what kind of transformation is possible so that they understand exactly what they’re paying for. The key is to focus on the contrast between their current state and the future state you’re working toward. It’s when you put those two pieces together and demonstrate the distance that needs to be traveled in between, that allows you to charge a premium.

If the distance between pain and bliss is tiny, you can’t charge a premium. That’s fair. But if they have a long road ahead of them, and trust you and your process to guide them, then it’s worth the investment. By positioning the investment right, you’re taking them out of their analytical mind and into their emotional mind. Where all decisions are made, and helping them understand on all levels what exactly they’re paying for.

If this all sounds good to you, if it’s hitting home and you’re starting to recognize your own objections around raising prices. Check out my training on overcoming resistance to money.

How to Balance Vulnerability with Authority

Someone asked me the other day, “How do you have such courage on camera? I am always blown away by how you’re able to share so vulnerably without compromising your authority.” I have had struggles in the past with knowing how to share openly without oversharing. Sometimes, opening up can compromise your authority. So here’s how to balance vulnerability with authority.

So how do you share without vomiting your insecurities or spilling your guts in a way that erodes trust with those you serve?

I’ve found that the key to balancing being relatable with being an authority is to make peace with whatever I’m sharing. And this is simpler than you think (if not always easy).

There are two steps to Balance Vulnerability with Authority:

 

  1. Acknowledge and process your negative feelings
  2. Own the pieces you did right

Most people don’t fully know how to do the first and then skip the second.

Which means your share feels more like a vent, rant or cry for help. Which might be authentic, but which isn’t going to establish you as any sort of authority or someone to be trusted. You’ll just come across as someone who needs saving or that might be emotionally unstable.

All it takes is owning the experience. Which means I have to feel the negative feelings and acknowledge them without buying into their story.

Eg: If I made a mistake and authentically felt shame or anger, I need to feel those feelings without letting them define me (we teach clients how to do this in my programs because it’s SUCH a foundational skill and most adults have never really been taught how to do this effectively).

Processing my feelings allows me to include really deep details in the stories I tell (watch some of my Instagram reels or TikToks and you’ll see what I mean). It allows me to go where most people would shy away. And it is this that folks receiving the story experience as authenticity. It’s the most attractive quality in the world. I can tell an embarrassing story, and I’m able to have fun with it and not take it seriously because it’s obvious that I’m not hurt by anyone’s shock. I’ve owned and accepted the story. I laugh at myself because I’ve made peace with what I’m sharing.

I spend a lot of time doing the work, integrating, feeling my feelings, and making peace with things I’ve done or felt. This takes the emotional charge out of them so I can share them joyfully and empathetically, and help other people not feel so alone. So many people try to bury their feelings. If you’re still processing something, then sharing it might not be the kind of authority you want. More often than not, you’ll just end up venting. If you want to share more openly, and get vulnerable with your audience, clients, or just with friends, here’s an exercise I use to deal with any lingering, unresolved emotions surrounding certain experiences or moments.

Prompts for Feeling Into Your Vulnerable Stories

 
Write down “I fear” and then take ten minutes to brain dump everything that comes up.This is a great way to process and let out all those fears and emotions you have around a certain event or topic.

Next, write down “I want” and again write what comes up. Now that you’ve acknowledged your fears and discomfort, you need to ask where you want to end up. Otherwise, you will spiral after the first prompt. So now, ask yourself, what do you want to feel, have, do, be?

The last prompt begins with “I know.” These three prompts have to be sequenced this way otherwise you may get gummed up by fear. You need to release the fear and get in touch with what you want first. Then, you tap into your intuition.

I believe that people aren’t able to be authentic because they have some fear clogging them up. They are not in touch with what they really want and they let knowledge compromise their knowing. The wildest innovators, the ones we respect the most, do stuff that nobody knows. They take risks and do things a completely different way.

So then the exercise is about to tap into that courage. It’s not from having the perfect story, or all the answers, or just sharing things that are comfortable. If you’re going to practice vulnerability, you have to get in touch with who you are. What you want, and what you know, so that you aren’t afraid anymore.

This is the practice that will give you the comfort and confidence to share vulnerably. Because you have genuinely made your peace with who you are, your fears, and what you want.

Struggling with Imposter Syndrome? Read This

The only way you can be an imposter is if you refuse to take your own medicine/advice.

There. I said it.

I work with SO many brilliant coaches who genuinely care about their clients, are able to deliver results (all the while worrying that they’re not good enough) and really the antidote is to realize that as long as you are deeply committed to the work – to all aspects of the coaching process (emotional, tactical, relational, etc), you’re the real deal.

So let’s talk about the money and get rid of the Imposter Syndrome

The biggest area I see imposter syndrome come up is when it comes time to charge clients for your services. Many of the people I work with know that they need to increase their rates, but they’re still charging way too little. Often, the fear to ask for more money is a direct reflection of your own insecurity and resistance around money, as well as your deep-rooted sense of being a fraud and that you’ll be found out.

Everyone knows the little voice. The nagging sensation deep in your chest that tells you you’re a fake. You aren’t good enough. You don’t deserve success or money or happiness. Imposter syndrome is insidious because it always points to some deeper rooted fear. And it can manifest itself in some truly devastating ways. You have to figure out every fear you have that’s coming up around money, and face them head on.

Today, we’re going to connect you to your truth and your specific price, by facing your fears head on.

In this training, we’ll go through a body scan exercise to help align you with the deeper fear in your subconscious that is holding you back from charging your clients the big bucks.

Journal Exercise – Part 1

Get out a notebook and sit down in a quiet room with no distractions. Now, start thinking. When you think about raising your rates, what comes up in your body? What are the physical sensations that you feel? Chest tightness? Nausea? Racing heart? Do your abdominals flex or your legs turn to jelly? Write it all down.

Next, write down your emotions. Do you feel fear, anger, doubt, nervousness? Take note of everything going on in your body.

We start with a body scan because one of the best tools you can use to get in touch with your truth and subconscious, is your body. If your subconscious isn’t in agreement with your conscious goals, your body will tell you. Now that you have these sensations written down, the next thing to do is examine them head on.

Journaling Prompt – Part 2

When you say you’re going to raise your rates or charge a higher price, what you’re really saying is that you’re committed to showing up more. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll work more hours — it’s more about being energetically committed to the work.

That can be really scary, because like any commitment, it makes you vulnerable. So what tends to happen is a lot of imposter syndrome comes up. If you ask for more money and you’re scared it’s a reflection of your insecurity.

Start by picturing the price you want to charge. It doesn’t need to be an exact number, it can be a ballpark or rounded up.

Then write this down: 

“If I were to charge $______, I fear that …”

Take ten minutes and write out the first two or three things that come to your mind to finish this sentence. They don’t have to be profound, they don’t even need to be true. Just write it down.

What comes up? 

Maybe you’re afraid that you’ll be shut down and immediately rejected. That “no” may confirm a belief about yourself — that you’re not worthy, not good enough, not lovable. It feels heavy and devastating, but you need to acknowledge that it’s there (this is NOT the same as buying into it or agreeing with it). Just notice what’s there.

Another fear that may come up is the fear of losing clients and going out of business. That could tie back to a fear of rejection also, or perhaps a fear of failure. A confirmation that you aren’t good enough or that you’ll never be successful.

The good thing is, your subconscious mind has now given you clarity. 

I want you to notice as you feel into these fears, if you feel them in the body, what is the sensation? Write it down. Tightness in your stomach, heartburn, jelly legs, whatever it feels just write it down.

Your conscious mind may not even want to touch your true, deep rooted fear. In fact, you may find yourself coming up with these other distracting objections and resistances, but what you’re really terrified of is that you don’t have the goods.

If things become too intense or overwhelming, back off but know this is something you need to seek help with. Because it’s clouding your judgement and making you misread the data. It’s going to be very difficult to achieve your goals without dealing with this thing that’s too intense to deal with alone.You’re not meant to be alone. And you’re not a fraud.

In fact, I promise you that whatever this exercise reveals is destined to become a power source for you – it’s your story, your journey and everything that has felt like an obstacle is about to become a super power.

And if you want to do this work supported, reach out and we can chat about whether we’re the right fit and whether it’s the right time.

How Jayme STOPPED doing the “right things” and went from $1,200/month to $21,000/month

Eager to learn how to stop doing the right things? Do you feel like you’re spinning your wheels? Like, no matter what you do and how hard you work, you just can’t achieve what you KNOW you can achieve?

That’s how Jayme felt… She was doing all the “right things”…

She was offering workshops, certifications, retreats, private 1-on-1 clients, online DIY programs… You name it, she had it. And yet… She never got the expansion and the momentum she was hoping for. After investing all that time, money, and energy… she didn’t have the impact and the traction she wanted. She felt stuck. Lost. No matter what she did, she couldn’t get to the business she dreamed of. The one she envisioned every day.

But now?

She runs a successful business that’s exactly what she always wanted. She went from $1,200/month… to $21,000/month. And in this interview, she reveals the KEY insights that helped her get unstuck and in control of herself and her business.

In this video, you’ll discover:

  •  2:40 – If you feel stuck playing in the little leagues when you KNOW you can do more, watch this. 👀
  •  4:36 – What do you do when you’re working on all the right things and you still aren’t getting results? Well, you do this.
  •  7:54 – Why Jaymie was able to get one high-paying client even before starting Impact With Influence
  •  9:25 – This technique is what makes group coaching more valuable than 1-on-1
  •  10:33 – Jayme was going to invest in another program, but then she chose IWI. See what made her change her mind (Hint: You can do the same thing to attract perfect clients to YOUR program)
  •  12:20 – A behind-the-scenes look to how I run IWI (Structure your program like this and you’ll get more happy clients and case studies)
  •  17:40 – Why most experts burn out trying to sell their high-ticket programs
  •  20:05 – When you understand this concept, you’ll have the peace of mind you’ve always wanted from your business.

Don’t fall into the trap of believing that what you need is the right funnel or the right type of webinar. 9 times out of 10 your “business problem” is actually something deeper inside you… Something you haven’t accepted yet… or you aren’t even aware of. So, if you feel stuck and you feel you’ve tried everything but nothing works… Watch this video and see if any of the things we talk about make sense. For you. Just stop doing the right things, it may be the thing you didn’t even know you needed.

Use this link and book a call to explore how we can support you to go deeper and create a business that feels like a spiritual practice:

The BIGGEST obstacle in the overachiever’s path to SUCCESS

This is the BIGGEST obstacle in the overachiever’s path to success (and you can’t think your way out of it) As type A personalities we have a need for controlling everything… We want to know all the steps that’ll take us from 0 to 6 figures and from 6 to 7 figures and so on… We want to know all the tactics and strategies… which are the best and which are outdated and forgotten…

The thing is…

When you want to build a business you’re proud of… a business that makes you wake up happy and excited every morning… A business that fulfills you and where you get to do what you love every single day… Then you have to learn to let go of this need for control.

Just like Stephaney did.

Now, this isn’t easy. If it were, every single one of us would have a successful 8-figure coaching business impacting the lives of millions every year. But nonetheless… it IS possible. This is why I sat down with Stephaney and interviewed her about her unbelievable success. She made $91,000 last month with her brand new coaching business… she was able to retire her husband just 4 months after joining us… and she’s quitting her 9-5 next month.

And, like all type A personalities…

Stephaney struggled with her obsession for controlling everything. So in this interview, we talked about how she overcame this need for control, and how you can do the same. If you’re an overachiever and no matter how much you plan or implement, NOTHING seems to work… then this is a must watch.

In this interview, you’ll discover:

  • 4:40 – Stephaney was burned, barely sleeping, and a total stranger to her kids. And this is how she claimed back all her time without losing ANY productivity (in fact, she was more productive).
  • 5:40 – When she joined IWI, she thought her first homework was the stupidest thing someone had ever told her to do. Most overachievers would think this. But she did it anyway, and she got great results.
  • 6:14 – This important realization is why, even though the advice she was getting inside IWI sounded so “weird”… she still followed through on it.
  • 6:40 – “It was an explosion of amazingness.” This is how Stephaney cleared her head of all the junk she had, and allowed amazing ideas to effortlessly come to her.
  •  7:20 – Listen carefully because Stephaney shares how she learned to trust herself. How she became comfortable “moving in the dark”… and finally let go of her desire for planning, total control, and needing to know what’s going to happen before it happens.
  • 9:30 – Discover Stephaney’s process for desensitizing herself, finding clarity, and refocusing.
  • 12:55 – If you struggle with visualization, priming yourself for the day, and actually believing in your core that today’s going to be a great day… then Stephaney’s twist on Geeta’s visualization practice may work for you.

Evening

  • 17:00 – Every expert makes this crucial goal-setting mistake. But when they go deep (just like Stephaney did here), they start to live the fulfilled life they’ve always wanted.
  • 18:02 – Even though Stephaney is an overachiever, she fell behind with the program. And she was perfectly okay with it… all because of this.
  • 19:33 – When Stephaney stopped all the pursuing, obsessing, and hustling… and she started doing this instead… everything changed.
  •  20:30 – This is how Stephaney overcame her fear of rejection (the #1 sales killer)
  •  22:20 – Pay attention to Stephaney’s process for effortlessly coming up with breakthrough ideas.
  •  23:35 – This simple “future visualization” technique allowed Stephaney to shift her mindset, rediscover herself, and allow herself to be fulfilled and joyful NOW.
  •  29:22 – A random, counterintuitive way for overcoming your fear of failure.
  •  30:56 – What Stephaney would say to someone who’s considering joining Impact With Influence
  •  34:05 – When you build this inside yourself, you’ll have everything you need to be wildly successful in anything you do.

Take a look at what you’ve been doing for the past few weeks or months… If all your planning and strategizing hasn’t been working, then it could be time to try something new. Something different. Start out by watching this interview and see if Stephaney’s story of rediscovery resonates with you. 👀

Xoxo,

Geeta

Use this link and book a call to explore how we can support you to go deeper and create a business that feels like a spiritual practice:

From burned out to $70k with a brand new program

How to go from burned out to $70k with a brand new program? What does it take for breakthroughs to happen? How do you get out of that point where you’re just stuck spinning your wheels… and all you do is create more work on top of more work… but you aren’t making real progress?

That’s where Azizi was before coming to us. It was the height of the pandemic and she was being consumed by her business. She couldn’t pay attention to herself, her business, or even her children. She kept creating more things to do and putting more work on her to-do list… which ultimately led her to feeling more burned out.

Basically, she knew something needed to change… she just didn’t know what.

Fast forward a few months…

She’s made more than $70k with her new program and she loves her business. She has the impact she wants and she does what she loves every day. That’s why in this interview, you’ll discover what helped Azizi go from overwhelm and confusion… to working with her dream clients and having the impact she wants.

In this video, you’ll find:

  • 03:10 – Messaging isn’t about filling out avatar worksheets and using “power words”… it’s about communicating your ________
  • 06:15 – No one’s teaching this to business owners, which is why 99% of them are making this big, internal mistake.
  • 07:17 – Azizi’s favorite things about Impact With Influence
  • 08:30 – When you want to build a successful business with more impact and less burnout, you have to learn to do this
  • 10:10 – The grieving process of business owners that nobody’s talking about
  • 11:40 – The big change Azizi made that exploded her new, private Facebook Group. (She now consistently gets 20 perfect members per week without paid ads).
  • 15:30 – The beauty of the hybrid coaching structure (if you’re having doubts about whether you can actually help your clients, listen to this)

Listen… Business isn’t about how many tasks you have on your to-do list. If you’re struggling to move your business forward, you have to look inside and identify what may be holding you back. That’s why I suggest you click here and watch this interview I did with Azizi…

Remember, simple = profitable = sustainable.

You’re going to have to think differently about what you’re doing to change the game for yourself. If you know in your bones it’s time for a change, watch the video and take notes.

Use this link and book a call to explore how we can support you to go deeper and create a business that feels like a spiritual practice.

 

How to Choose the Right Coach

Choosing the wrong coach doesn’t just cost you money — it costs you time, energy, and most of all…

…confidence.

Your trust in yourself gets eroded when you reach for help and perceive harm. This is equally true on the other side. As a coach, working with the wrong client can cost you big. Recently, I had a call with a prospective client. He was incredibly eager and excited to work with us. He had successfully transformed his own life and now he was helping other people and it was going really well.

The problem was, when we got on the call he couldn’t articulate what he needed help with. He didn’t have a specific problem or obstacle. We tried digging into it on the call, but ultimately we knew that we wouldn’t be able to help him.

Not everybody needs a coach at every point in their journey. I know that’s shocking to hear from a coach, but it’s true. There will be times when you are coachable. When you are stuck and need an outside perspective to lift you out of whatever is holding you back. But there are other times when coaching will just be a waste of your time and resources because you’re in a phase of rest or rejuvenation and need silence from outside voices.

Recalibration

I call this a time of “recalibration” and I’ve been through many cycles like this.

My advice to this particular client was to just keep doing what he was doing. His process was working, so I told him to continue until he ran into a roadblock or obstacle. That’s the time to seek help. This isn’t to say that coaching is only useful when you have problems. It’s to say that coaching is useful when you’re clear on what you want – even if that’s an expansion of your current state of bliss.

Choose the right coach with key Criteria

So what are the criteria you look for when you’re hiring a coach? How do you choose the coach that’s right for you and where you are in your journey? There are three key criteria I consider when looking for a coach.

  • Can they demonstrate that they know my pain? 

The most important thing for me is, does this person understand my pain better than I already do? Can they present a nuanced and layered understanding of my pain and how it ties into different areas of my life?

I want to work with someone who already has experience dealing with the problems I’m dealing with. Someone who has been on the same journey and come out the other side, and now they have tremendous clarity on the issue.

  • Can they demonstrate that they get me?

I’m not going to be coachable unless I respect my coach, and believe that they’re way ahead of me in the game. I want to learn from lived and relatable experience. And I want to work with someone who isn’t going to be snowed by my charisma or BS – I want someone who can lovingly hold me if I try to squirrel away or charm my way out of thinking about something hard or triggering.

  • Can they demonstrate their success?

Not only do I want a coach who has succeeded at navigating their pain, they should be able to demonstrate the type of success I want. I don’t care if they are posting pictures on their yacht and showing off their super successful program. What I really want is a coach who can describe the process of transformation in a way that makes me go, “Yes! I want that!”

Can they show and not tell me that they know what they’re doing?

Here’s an example of how that works. 

I was working with a client recently who told me they were struggling with workload and productivity. She said her energy felt really “scattered.”

I’m very sensitive to the words people use. So the minute she used the word “scattered,” I got this vivid mental image of the energy that expands as a gun goes off. I could see her energy traveling in multiple directions, like birds taking off after a loud noise.

She came to the call expecting a step-by-step plan on time management and delegating work. Instead, we asked her a bunch of questions to pin down the real problem. We peeled back the layers, and finally realized that her real problem was she didn’t want to ask for the sale. That was the gunshot that scattered her energy.

She immediately burst into tears and admitted to the shame and guilt she felt charging her clients money.

Oftentimes, the question you ask is a distraction from the actual problem. You need a coach who won’t answer the question that you ask, but will instead ask you insightful questions that probe deep, and help you see your true problem from a new perspective.

Choose the right Coach vs. Program

A lot of people say that they only want to work with a coach in a 1:1 setting. They’re closed off to any other kind of coaching program. And I understand the hesitation. Often, folks are sold the program by a specific person, but then passed off to a much less intuitive or qualified coach.

I’ll be honest, I’ve had that experience. That’s one of the reasons every single coach on our team is a former client. Someone who paid full price, took the training themselves, and is now actively using it themselves. They bring a deep, personal, and nuanced understanding of what we do, since they’ve been on the receiving end of it themselves.

In addition to this, we only invite those clients whose own skillset is complementary to our own to join our team. So we’re exponentially expanding our team capability by bringing them on – rather than just adding on more of the same. But I also actively coach the program myself. I’m everyone’s coach. I’m in their tickets, working on their messaging, in addition to their assigned coach.

Programs vs 1:1 coaching

Over time, I’ve come to believe in programs as opposed to unstructured 1:1 coaching. As a team, we can work with a wider variety of personality types, deal with different issues, and go deeper. We bring in hypnotherapists and mindset professionals who bring a layer of experience and expertise that I don’t have. Sometimes you have to address an issue on multiple levels, so having a team that works as a collective is so powerful.

Now, this doesn’t mean I wouldn’t work with a solo coach (where I’m the client). I have and I do. But I’m looking for someone who has mastered the work so much that they have been able to structure it. That way, the time I do get with them is totally magic because they’re not wasting their time on the same crap they do with everyone else. All of that has been automated, so I get the purest form of their coaching.

Exercise: Pop into your journal and write down your thoughts and insights from reading so far. Develop your own set of criteria as inspired by mine. Remember, this is about your needs and not anyone else’s formula for success.

Once you’re clear on what you want proceed to coming up with questions that will ferret out the right fit.

Choose the right coach: what are the right questions to ask?

After considering the above criteria, I ask two, all-important questions. But I don’t ask them to the coach. I don’t have a laundry list of questions for a potential coach that I expect them to answer. That’s not effective, because it leans on the other person too much and not on yourself enough. While I use a coach’s social proof or a referral or some website research, etc to create a shortlist, once I’m serious about working with someone and getting help around a particular area, I turn in a different direction.

Towards myself

So the only questions I ask when I’m ready to hire a coach are:

  • Am I ready for healing?

No one else can heal me, except myself. A coach can give me space and processes to follow, they can show me what is possible. But only I can do the work to heal myself. So first, I need to make sure I am ready for it. I take responsibility for my own journey.

  • Do I trust this person/method to facilitate that healing?

This question ties back to demonstrable expertise. Do they show or tell me how their method works? If they can show me they get me better than myself and when they talk about their solution, I want it – then I’m ready. Looking for a team of coaches who really care, who know what they’re doing and can support your own deeper growth as you expand your coaching business? Allow us to lead by example – use this link to book a call to explore whether we’re the right fit.

Looking for more coaching tips? Continue reading in our blog. 

Fran asks Geeta: “After 20 years…is it confidence or stubbornness?”

Fran asks:

I watched your video where you asked us to think about the capabilities we’d be gaining over the next 20 years and as I was journaling, all I could think is — if I’m writing PATH posts for 20 years and I never sell out my program, I’m a loser. Will I be great at it if after 20 years I’m trying and still failing? I also wrote “confidence in who I am”- but I also thought, 20 years and I’m still trying to sell this program, is it confidence or stubbornness? Maybe I’m missing the point, or so clouded in my desperation and doubt to sell my program but I got a little stuck there…

MY RESPONSE:

Fran, you’re focusing on RESULTS, not CAPABILITIES.

For example, when you put out a podcast, you learn to record, to structure content, to upload, to edit, to look for music and choose the right tracks, to structure interviews, etc. These are all capabilities that will serve you big time in all kinds of ways. You may simply need to change the context.

Remember, Hwang Dong-hyuk, the guy who wrote “Squid Games” wrote it a decade ago and NO ONE wanted to buy it. It is today Netflix’s most watched show (even though it’s brand new and in Korean with subtitles)!!! He didn’t do it to get rich or become the most watched show. He did it because he couldn’t not do it. Quitting was not an option, even if he wanted to.

You need to find that thing you can’t quit even if you wanted to. And then find different ways to do it. And notice all the amazing capabilities you build along the way.

This is not to say there’s anything wrong with wanting to be financially successful — again, Hwang Dong-hyuk didn’t just write the show, revel in his genius and throw it in a drawer. He also was required to be an advocate for his work. It was his drive to get his work seen and experienced by the masses that kept him looking for a producer till Netflix came along.

This is about the work. Not about you.

Was Walt Disney stubborn to the point of seeming stupid? Remember when he was homeless? The only reason everyone knows his name today is because he stayed in the game long enough to find the right partners and for the time to be right. Sometimes your ideas are ahead of their time – either because you’re not ready emotionally or because the world isn’t.

Trust the work and build trust in your abilities.

xoxo,

Geeta

How to Monetize a Tiny Audience

Over the years, I have worked with “influencers” who have 100,000+ social followers and massive email lists, and I have worked with people who have tiny audiences or are completely starting from scratch. What’s funny is that both types of clients come to me with the same goal: to grow their audience and make more money. But growing an audience and monetizing an audience are two very different skillsets. And at the end of the day, it’s not the size of your audience that matters — it’s what you do with the audience you have that makes your business. In this article I will show you how to monetize a tiny audience.

Get Crystal Clear On Their Pain … As They Understand It 

Your audience is waiting for the right offer. They’re waiting for someone to come to them in their pain and throw them a lifeline. Which is why your first step to monetizing your audience is getting specific to your audience’s pain…as they understand it.

Start by mining your own healing experiences to show you understand their pain. We help our clients flesh out the specifics of their healing journey and identify the point where they decided that enough was enough. Pull out those pivotal, painful moments, and tailor your messaging to what would have really helped you in those moments.

There were times in your past when you would have rejected an offer like yours, and there were times you would have grabbed onto the offer desperately. What is the magic messaging that would have grabbed your attention? When you get clear on your audience’s pain, as they understand it, you essentially narrate their lives as they’re living it. If you can communicate what your client is going through, you’re proving that you really understand them.

  • Good messaging says, “Here’s what we do.”
  • Great messaging says, “We understand you.”
  • Magic messaging says, “Here’s what we do, and we do it this way because we understand you.”

Your prospective client’s biggest fear is that they cannot be fixed. That no one can help them. If you can show them that you see them in all their messiness, and you’re not daunted by the challenge, they’re going to jump on your offer with both hands.

Own Your Authority

Who is the most successful client in your program? Right away, your answer should be, “Me.” You are your own best case study. You are living your program and following what it teaches. That’s what allows you to coach at a level of depth.

Now, you need to share your story in its entirety with your audience. Vulnerability is a crucial part of being a great coach, but it’s not enough on its own. You also have to own the authority piece.

Sara Blakely, CEO of Spanx, is one of my mentors and a phenomenal human being. She has a huge social following because she tells two parallel stories: the story of a ditzy mom and the story of a super successful billionaire.

The first story says, “I’m one of you.” The second says, “I’m also a billionaire CEO.” It’s the combination of both stories told together that makes us want to listen to her.

What I see too often with my coaches is that they tell the vulnerable stories but they don’t own their authority and take back their power. You need to structure your messaging to say, “Yes I was a mess, and here’s what it felt like. But then I went through my process and here’s what happened next.” That way, your audience will not only relate to you, but they’ll trust you enough to listen to what you have to say.

Balance Your Content to monetize a tiny audience

There are three types of content you can produce for your program. There’s content that always has a call to action. The kind of content that says, “Click here!” “Buy now!” “Make the call!” But if you constantly asking your audience to act, they will quickly get tired of your pitch.

The second type of content is my personal preference. This content provides a certain amount of value, a taste of your larger message that concludes with something like, “Want more of this? Take action now.”

The final content type is a pure value piece, whether that’s an informative video or a downloadable PDF, that doesn’t include a path to action. There may be a reminder or an encouragement piece, but the content itself stands alone. The key to successful programming is to balance all three types of content. To provide just enough value without giving away your work for free, and to encourage your audience to act without pressuring or bombarding them.

Have a Sales Process That Works

The final and maybe most important piece to monetizing your audience is to have a sales process already in place. In the past, I made the mistake of doing a 5-day challenge. A challenge where I put out freebies and downloads every day for five days. Hoping to gain trust and prove I had the goods.

As noble as it sounds it didn’t work. Because at the end of the five days, I wasn’t able to monetize effectively. I put out this valuable content. But I didn’t have a sales process to harvest the goodwill, the trust, and the connection I had created. Today, I structure content by giving enough value so my audience can open their minds and increase their understanding of what is possible. Then, once they’re intrigued, I give them a clear path to take action to get where they want to be.

That’s how you sequence your content and keep your audience coming back until they get to a place where they’re ready to commit. That’s how you tune in to your audience, no matter its size, and convert them into sales.

Did you love our article about how to monetize a tiny audience? Continue reading in our blog. 

How to Gain Confidence in Your Coaching

Your confidence in your coaching ability is the number one thing that will blow up your business in the best possible way. No matter where in your coaching journey you are. Whether you’re a beginner just starting out or have a decade of experience under your belt. Increasing your confidence will help you shatter that ceiling that has been holding you back. But how to gain confidence in your coaching?

In this post, I’ll dive into some specific steps to help you gain confidence in your coaching and take your business to the next level.

You Always Have One Client

No matter the size of your business, you always have at least one client — yourself. Being a willing participant in your own coaching is the first step to solidifying your confidence in your coaching ability. You need to believe in your own medicine, you need to practice what you coach and you need to be your own ideal client.

Because when you see how your advice and approach interacts with real life, you’ll have a clear sense of what works and what needs tweaking. And the stories you’ll be able to tell will have the type of detail that only true lived experience can generate.

Look back on the specific details of your journey from pain to bliss. Where did you begin? What pain did you experience, what resistance did you face? Then, what were the crucial moments or key revelations that moved you forward? Pull out those critical components of your journey and systematize them. If you can sequence the journey properly for your clients, you will be able to smoothly move them from stuckness to nirvana.

Gain confidence by demonstrating the process

Your clients don’t want a jack of all trades. They need a thought partner who has been through what they’ve been through and come out the other side. They’re willing to pay big money to release their pain, and in order to do that they’ll need to work with someone they trust has the lived experience to help them. But they won’t know that you’re that person until you clearly demonstrate your process to them.

It doesn’t have to be showy or complicated. You don’t need a complex website or series of videos. Sometimes, it can just be a simple explanation that clearly shows how you get your clients from point A to point B. It’s not enough to say, “Oh, I’m an amazing coach and can definitely help fix your problems!” You need to show your audience how you do it. If you can describe the process in a way that makes someone want it, then you’ve done your job.

Connecting stories to what you do helps you understand it better

Once you are able to describe the process, then you need to give concrete examples to illustrate it clearly. We once had a client who was struggling to make money in her business. She was a business coach, and she helped her clients building very successful income streams. But she was unable to create it in her own business.

We sat her down with our mindset coach who helped her unearth a very specific memory regarding money and guilt from childhood. The most interesting thing about this memory was that the client had completely forgotten about it for almost 3 decades!! But the pattern the memory created, of, “I don’t dare ask or receive money because it will make the people I love sad” was stuck in her subconscious.

Once this story was revealed, we refined the messaging and she began telling that story in public. She immediately started filling up her program and even had to delay her launch because she had a waitlist.

Demonstrating your process and illustrating it with real stories will not only draw more clients to you. It will also continuously reinforce your coaching abilities. By telling the tale of your transformative coaching, you’ll be building momentum, taking you further and further.

Gain confidence by demonstrating your ability to listen for the truth

Building your confidence in your coaching ability means learning how to see what’s actually going on. The vast majority of people who come to you for help are going to bring you the wrong problem. If you don’t learn how to listen deeply, you’re going to compound the problem instead of solving what’s really going wrong.

I once had a client who came to us wanting to grow his audience. I asked him a few insightful questions and realized he had a very different problem on his hands. The problem was not the size of his audience. It was that he didn’t have an effective way to monetize his audience.

If I had helped this client grow his audience, I would have compounded the real problem and both he and I would have felt like total failures. Thankfully, I was listening deeply and asking the right sorts of questions, so the real problem was revealed very early on. And then we were able to focus on fixing it.

We tweaked his messaging and made his offer significantly clearer from a client perspective. Now his prospects were able to understand what was in it for them and how his skills pertained to their issues. That same client made $100K within 8 weeks of us starting. Watch an early interview with him here.

Learn to hold space for yourself.

Finally, if you want to grow your confidence in your coaching, get yourself a good coach. If you want to up your coaching game, be the client of a coach who knows what they’re doing.

A good coach can help you fix and shift the root issue holding you back. It’s going to be difficult to gain deep confidence in your coaching abilities without working with a coach yourself because you have not lived that kind of transformation. It’s like learning to give a massage from a book. It is useful up to a point, but if you’ve never gotten a life-changing massage. It is going to be really difficult to be a life-changing massage therapist yourself.

Nothing will give you confidence in both the process of coaching and your own coaching abilities like living the transformation yourself. Because then you are proof that it works. You have felt the shift in your body and you aren’t going to have any fear or shame or doubts holding you back. You’re going to be excited to share it and that’s what will draw people to you.

Looking for help to grow your coaching ability while you grow a successful and life-changing coaching business? Watch this 27 minute video that maps out our process. It also shows you the only growth levers you need to focus on.

exercise to overcome sales resistance

A simple exercise to help overcome sales resistance

At some point in your coaching business, you’ll reach the pivotal moment when you need to ask for the sale. For many people, it’s the hardest part of running a business. They shy away from pitches, mumble through the call to action, and vastly undersell their program. Sales resistance is the fastest way to self-sabotaging your business. Overcoming that resistance means facing it head-on, and digging in deep to discover the pain, false beliefs, and toxic relationships that are at its core. Like all the work I do at Impact with Influence, we begin from the inside out. If you’re facing sales resistance, you have to start by looking within you and identifying the root of your fears. In this post, I’ll detail a short exercise to help overcome sales resistance to get you started.

Journal Exercise

Grab a notebook and a pen and give yourself 30 minutes to do some journaling. Make sure you’ve given yourself the time and space to give this your full attention. Start by asking yourself this question: What is my own biggest resistance to the selling process? Feel into this question. Don’t just use your intellect but really tune into your bodily sensations.

  • What physical reactions do you have when you ponder this question? Does your heart rate go up? Do you feel antsy? Write down any physical sensations that arise when you ponder this question.
  • Next, start writing down the stories that surface in response to the question. What interactions have you had in the past that made you uncomfortable with regard to sales? Did you have an uncomfortable interaction with a sales associate in a clothing store? Were you bullied or pressured by a car salesperson? Did you buy something from a place of desperation or scarcity that came back to haunt you?
  • Next, explore any emotions that bubbled up. Anger, shame, guilt, etc. Note them down and notice any physical sensations that might be linked to them. Eg: A tightening in your chest, a fluttery pulse, etc.

Step 2 of the exercise to help overcome sales resistance

Write down every detail, no matter how small. You might be surprised by what comes up. Now, ask yourself: What do I fear will happen if I receive a lot of money?

Follow the same process as above, noting the physical sensations, the tangible stories, and the emotions that arise at the thought of receiving money.

  • What physical sensations do you associate with receiving money? Does your stomach clench? Do you feel a weight being put on or lifted off your chest?
  • Next, ponder what scenarios might occur if you were to receive money. Are you afraid of the person you’ll become if you make more money? Are you worried what you might have to lose to get the money? Or are you afraid of burnout, or wrecked relationships and health? Maybe you’re worried about judgement or rejection from friends and family.
  • Finally, what emotional response are you registering? Relief? Guilt? Fear? Write them all down, positive or negative.

Response

What I want you to do here is respond with compassion. Don’t judge what comes up – it’s merely information. Imagine you’re talking to a small, vulnerable child. You wouldn’t be critical or demeaning. You would be understanding and inviting. This feeling of willingness and invitation is the portal through which we will transform the rest of the process.

Once you’ve completed this exercise, head over to my post on How to Overcome Sales Resistance for a more detailed guide to transforming your sales process.

And if you’re looking for deeper training on messaging, sales and coaching techniques that will help you serve your clients better while growing your coaching business, read about the Impact with Influence program here to understand more about how we can help.

overcome sales resistance

How to overcome sales resistance

You can’t be an entrepreneur without sales, but this is by far the area my clients struggle with the most. So many people have incredible resistance to sales. They’re afraid of rejection, they don’t want to come across as “salesy,” they worry about pushing their clients away, or they have hidden toxic beliefs about money, but how to overcome sales resistance?

You’ll notice I started by talking about your own potential resistance to sales because that’s what often gets mirrored in those we speak to. We’ll also be discussing the natural sales resistance that prospects bring to calls. Whatever the resistance is, the key is to shift the entire sales process and position it so it feels more like an invitation than an ask.

Before we dive in, however, check out this journaling exercise to help you first dig deep and feel into your natural resistances concerning the sales process.

Invitation vs. Sale

When you get on a sales call, are you trying to make a sale, or are you extending an invitation? That might sound like a question about semantics, but it’s really about the energy of your intention.

Think about your last sales call. Recall how you felt physically during the call. What were you thinking about? Did you try to close a sale, get more money, and convince the client? Or were you open and excited to meet the prospect, connect with them, and see where the process took you (even if it wasn’t to a credit card)?

When your intention is to make a sale, subconsciously you lean in and crowd the person. If the prospect has any resistance, they’ll lean way out. You’ve given them all the power in the conversation because you’re asking them to give you something.

But when you extend an invitation, you create a partnership. The call is a shared responsibility because you’re approaching it with the goal of discovery, not money.

Overcome sales resistance with Curiosity

If you want the magic pill to cure resistance, sales or otherwise, it’s curiosity. I’ve trained clients, as well as my own team, to write “BE CURIOUS” on a post-it and stick it somewhere they can see during every sales call. It opens their subconscious to approach the conversation a different way.

Here’s an example. Last week, we had a call with a prospect who said, very early in the conversation, “I never make buying decisions on a call, so I’ll need to think about it.”

A lot of sales training will teach you to push back or challenge this kind of statement, or even borderline bully them. But if you listen with curiosity instead of pushback, you’ll hear this sentence differently. Now, what I heard the client saying was, “I’m asking for space to come to my own conclusion.”

So, instead of pushing, we created that space right there on the call. That very person ended up changing her mind and purchasing then and there. In the end, your job is not to make the sale. Your job is to listen with curiosity and help make the prospect’s decision as easy as possible, so that whenever they make it, whether it’s on the call or later, it’s an easy decision.

Provide an Incentive to overcome sales resistance

Making a decision or commitment is really hard. It requires the changing of identities from stuck to empowered and that’s a scary transformation, especially if you’ve been stuck for a long time. You need to provide an incentive to help your prospect feel empowered to choose to change their life.

To make it easy for our clients, one thing we do as a business is literally pay them. When someone signs up on one of our calls, we take a pay cut and actually pay them back a portion of what we charge. It’s not pressuring them, but offering them something in return to make it easier for them to make that commitment.

The client who comes committed, who is willing to change identities and who won’t fight you every step of the way, is the best client to work with. The work with these committed clients is more joyful and fulfilling and produces better results, which fuels your confidence and provides you with more tools to serve clients down the road. Any money you’ve lost on the front end through your incentive is paid back with the 20-30 other clients you gain due to the transformation you provide.

Decide What the Money Is For

Self-made billionaire Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, has a quote that changed the way I approached money early in my career. She said, “Money makes you more of what you already are. If you’re an asshole, it’s going to make you a bigger asshole. If you’re generous, you just have more with which to give.”

Ask yourself, what is this money for? Are you buying more freedom and time? Are you investing in your family and your future? Many people struggle with asking for money because they’re too focused on the dollars, and not on what that money buys them.

For example, do you feel greedy when you send your client a quote with a large number on it? Imagine if you invoiced by what that money was going towards. You charged the client for a new set of tires, for a vacation with your family, for a certification course you’re taking to improve as a coach. Identify what the money is for, and you allow yourself to feel abundant.

There Is Always a Sale Being Made

We once had a client from an anti-capitalist background. She had so much resistance to charging for her work. She asked me, “What if my prospect says they’re broke. What do I do, refuse to help them?” I told her, “Your prospect is telling you a story. I’m not saying it’s a lie, but she’s embodying ‘I am broke’ as an identity, not a temporary state. If you buy that story, and help her anyway, you won’t really be helping her.”

If your prospect is presenting an identity that is broke, helping them for free confirms their identity, and now two people are broke. Neither of you has benefited from the coaching. So whether the sale you’re making is monetary or you’re selling them hope, or a transformation, or a new perspective, there is always a sale being made. If you’re one of those people who really has no trouble asking for the sale, but you are helping people who don’t have resources, I did a whole other training on how to help people find the money to work with you. <CLICK HERE>

The Call Is a Taste of the Coaching

I’ve been a writer since I was 10. The first rule of good storytelling is “show don’t tell.” If I have to tell you I’m an amazing coach, we’re both wasting our time. How are you supposed to take my word for it? You want to treat your discovery or sales process as a coaching process.

Many of my clients, however, think that this means fixing their client’s problems or giving free advice. That’s like giving a toddler a cupcake and then getting mad when they don’t eat dinner. Instead, the sales call should be about helping the prospect understand and gain a new perspective on the problem itself.

First, you must transform the problem. That buys you permission to transform the person.

Sometimes during this process, you may realize that you’re not meant to work together. Other times, you help them realize they have a bit more work to do before they can come back to you. Either way, the process works because it reveals right away whether working together will be mutually valuable.

If you can ask the right questions, you can transform the problem for your client. Stop giving free advice and start listening deeply to find the gaps in your client’s understanding of their problem. This is the real appetizer that will open their appetite for the main course.

If you want my full, in-depth training on how to overcome your money objections, click here!

How to Design a Group Program That Gets Better Results Than 1-on-1 Coaching

I have the perfect answer for your one-on-one vs. group dilemma.

Do both.

Everything changed for me when I realized I didn’t have to choose between group programs or one-on-one coaching — I could combine the two in a hybrid coaching program.

In reality, both structures are incredibly valuable. Some breakthroughs require the intimacy and trust of a one-on-one session. In these sessions, you can do deep, soul-searching work in an atmosphere of absolute. But in a group setting, you get the momentum, the community, and the thrill shared experience.

In a hybrid coaching program, you don’t have to choose — you can pull the best experiences out of both options.

How do you do this? There are three key things to consider when structuring your hybrid program.

1. You want both systems and customization 

It’s not either/or. When you structure your hybrid program, identify the areas where indivualized work is needed, and the areas that can be systematized.

What are all the steps required for each participant in your program to get from point A (their pain) to point B (the transformation you create)? What are the processes they need to get that transformation?

Now, which of those steps can be automated? And which require a deeper dive, though group and personal sessions? Map out this transformation so it runs like clockwork.

Now, you may be worried that automatizing your process will create a lifeless, cookie-cutter machine. But in reality, systematizing your program will ensure your clients receive a consistent experience.

With one-on-one coaching, your client’s experience depends entirely on how “on” you are that day. So the first client you work with in January, when you’re motivated and engaged, will get a great experience, while the client who comes to you in May, when you’re burned out, gets a significantly different one.

Each client will still require a degree of customization. The great news is, once you automate 80% of the program, you’ll have all your energy to focus on creating that 20% customization and making it incredibly impactful for both of you.

2. Design your hybrid program with breakthroughs in mind

When you are mapping out your program, start by identifying what breakthroughs need to happen, and then design for each one.

For example, my Impact with Influence team knows that by the end of week 1 of our program, our clients will have absolute clarity on who their ideal client is. By week 2, they’ll have a fully designed program. Week 3 focuses on sales training and messaging. And so on.

We’ve mapped everything out, knowing what they need to know by weeks, and we design our process to get them there.

3. Lead your hybrid coaching business by example

A client of ours, Jen, teaches PR professionals. She has a successful PR agency, but she wanted to design a program that taught other PR professionals how to build a business that felt healthy, sustainable and wildly profitable. This was a pivot from her previous foray into online courses which hadn’t worked as well as she would have liked (DIY PR for entrepreneurs).

This time though, we were using her as a blueprint to design our understanding of her ideal client. And we went to where the opportunity was lying dormant, simply waiting for her to announce her offer.

She didn’t have a big email list (all her email subscribers were around her previous DIY PR offer for entrepreneurs – a very different avatar). She did however have an Instagram following and a history of folks reaching out to her for mentorship. So that’s where we honed in.

Moral of the story: our method works best for those that are, in many ways, a blueprint of their ideal client. If you’re not the oldest and most fervent user of your own medicine, we may not be the program for you.

But if you are, teasing out the nuances and specifics of the journey and putting it into a system that’s scalable is exactly what will bust you past any profit plateau you’re on.

Ready to Start?

Nine times out of 10, the problem you think you have isn’t your real obstacle. If you’re ready to dig deep and discover what’s holding your coaching program back, we can help. Or if you’re ready to overhaul your offering and build a hybrid program that you believe in, USE THIS LINK.

This is the ONE thing you need to fix to get clients immediately

When you stop trying to fix surface-level problems, you’ll have the expert business you’ve always wanted

Cindy had been struggling for 2 years and 9 months before we started working together.

She had invested in other programs, she was putting in the work, but the clients weren’t showing up.

She’s already put in $90K to try and launch her business. 

And in return…

She only signed up 1 client during those 2 years… and they asked for a refund.

Now, this happens because most experts believe their business problems are business related. And while that can be the case in part, in most cases, there’s something deeper going on.

What you need to realize is that YOU are your business… and you have deep subconscious beliefs that are holding you back from having what you truly desire.

That’s why when you try to fix these subconscious blocks with better ads or better webinars, you feel like you’re just spinning your wheels.

That’s what Cindy found out as she went through IWI.

And the moment she was able to identify what was really holding her back? Her coaching business turned into what she had always dreamed it could be.

So, I recorded an interview with Cindy where she laid down some of the strategies she used to uncover her blocks AND sign up clients with ease.

In this interview, you’ll discover:

3:14 – The FREE tool that will help you figure out the subconscious patterns holding you back from success.

06:14 – If your content isn’t resonating with your audience… and you’re not closing prospects on the phone… it can be because you haven’t asked yourself this question.

06:35 – Cindy talks about what was REALLY holding her back and why she hadn’t seen any success in 2 years and 9 months (Hint: It had NOTHING to do with having the right funnel, ads, or webinar)

10:00 – When Cindy started doing this simple (seemingly unrelated) thing, she started getting clients left and right.

10:55 – When you want to better serve your clients, and you want your impact to be bigger, you need to go through this.

12:05 – Cindy reveals the exact thing she does every Tuesday that gets people DMing her out of the blue to work with her, co-author a book, and even speak at stages.

13:55 – Cindy was $90K in debt from investing in other programs and trying to get her coaching business off the ground. And in this section she shares what makes Impact With Influencer different from all that’s out there.

17:51 – Want to make your group coaching more powerful than 1-on-1 calls? Then you need to master this specific “Universal Thread” skill.

19:10 – Most experts are killing themselves trying to make content. They turn content creation into a JOB. That’s why Cindy shares what she learned inside IWI to become a prolific content creator (and have somebody else do all the work).

20:25 – Cindy’s advice to someone who’s considering joining IWI

If you’re an expert that doesn’t have the confidence to charge $5k-$15k for their program… if you can’t get perfect prospects DMing you begging you to work with them…

Then it’s probably because you’re trying to fix a below-the-surface problem (deep subconscious beliefs holding you back)… with surface-level tactics (rewriting your webinar for a 5th time).

Watch this video so you can start moving your expert business forward… by taking a look inside.

7 Figures Per Month By Making Her Business Simpler

How Connie’s Non-Profit Hit 7 Figures Per Month WITHOUT Complex Funnels Or Ads

“But Geeta, I don’t have a make money offer! I can’t offer my clients an ROI on their money!”

I’ve heard it all the time…

For some reason, experts and coaches believe they can’t sell their offers for $5k-$15k because they don’t have money ROI offers.

That’s just nonsense. In fact, to tell you the truth…

You DON’T need a money ROI offer to raise your prices…

You DON’T need a “7-Figure Lead Gen Funnel” or the latest Facebook Ads hacks…

Instead, when you want to get to 7 figures with your business (without working as a full-time marketer for your business)…

When you want to actually have an impact and do what you love everyday…

All you need is two, simple things.

The same two things Connie used to hit 7 figures PER MONTH with her non-profit. While running a coaching business at the same time.

Now, I recorded an interview with Connie so she could share with us the two biggest needle movers that pushed her to the 7-figures per month mark…

And I’m excited for you to go through it so you can start making the same changes in YOUR business!

In this video, you’ll discover:

* The critical tool that helped Connie break through to 7 figures per month (she thought she was already great at it… but she was wrong) – 4:00

* If you’re struggling to attract the RIGHT type of clients who will happily pay you $5k to $15k for what you do… this may be the problem – 5:45

* Facebook Ads are great, but when you fix this thing, people will start throwing you referrals left and right. You’ll have qualified people reaching out to you without paying for a single ad – 6:05

* This isn’t going to be for everyone… but if you haven’t been feeling that confident lately about what you do and how you do it, then watch this part – 6:45

* One of Connie’s BIG takeaways from Impact With Influence: Don’t sell your services. Instead, here’s what you do… – 7:15

* If you’re an expert, then getting accountability is MORE important than your lead gen tactics or your next webinar script, and here’s why… – 9:15

* This “magic potion factory” story is for those experts who feel guilty and ashamed because they can’t grow their own businesses (but they can do magic for others) – 10:50

* Connie’s biggest pivotal point in business had NOTHING to do with business – 12:00

* Most experts put all their focus on WHAT they do. Smart ones focus on WHO they do it for. However, happy and successful experts focus on their WHERE – 15:11

* Where do BIG breakthroughs come from? They come from p______ – 17:30

* If you want to have a bigger impact in the world… if you want to show up better for your people… then you have to do this counterintuitive thing – 19:36

* Leadership is not about charisma or rewards. Real leadership is inspiring people and getting the most out of them. And this is how you do it – 20:32

* Here’s why Connie doesn’t need to pay for ads. In fact, all her growth has come from focusing on two FREE strategies – 22:20

* What do you do when you’re at capacity and can’t take more clients? Well, you create so much demand for what you do that people start waiting with their credit cards in hand… just hoping you make them an offer. Here’s the easy way to do this – 24:20

Whether you can offer your clients a  clear financial return on their investment or you can’t…

This video will show you what you REALLY need to raise your prices and attract the right type of clients who’ll pay you what you’re worth.

And it has nothing to do with marketing or sales (if it was that you’d already have a thriving expert business).

So, if you want to know what the two most important fundamentals are for any expert business…

Need help building these 4 levers into your business or identifying where your actual bottleneck is? Use this link to speak to someone on my team about how we can help you.

The 4 Levers to Pull to Grow Your Coaching Business

What do you believe is your biggest obstacle to succeeding in your business?

Take a moment and think about it.

If there was one lever you could pull that would solve everything you’re struggling with – or at least make everything more manageable – what would it be?

In my 8+ years of coaching, I’ve experienced both struggle and abundance. And in that time, I’ve watched really brilliant people flounder in a sea of overcomplication. Without a framework to build your business on, it’s too easy to get lost in the shuffle.

I’ve identified 4 things that will make or break your coaching business. These aren’t “tips” or “tricks” or advice on which marketing platform to choose. These levers go much deeper, and get at the core of your business to help you discover the best and highest use of your time.

If you align these 4 levers, your business will grow without the hustle or brute force. Instead, it will feel almost effortless! You’ll be achieving your goals with ease.

1. Clarity on Your Results

You know those weight loss before-and-after pictures you see online? They’re a fantastic, visual tool for showing off a tangible transformation. 

But often, when people apply to work with my team, they can’t articulate the transformation their coaching services will deliver. Instead, they focus on the content of their program, their offerings, their coaching style, details of their coaching sessions, their marketing plan, etc., and they lose sight of the results. 

What is the transformation that your business will create? What is the before, the problem that your client comes to you with, and the after, the transformation that comes from working with you? 

In other words, what result will you help create for your client? If you can’t articulate this transformation, then your ideal client will be unable to find you. They won’t know if your program is right for them, or if it will help them achieve the transformation they desire.

So gaining clarity into your results and the transformation you promise, is critical.

2. Clarity on Your Ideal Client

How many client avatar and demographic exercises have you completed? This work is helpful and necessary, but in the end it only gives you an algorithm, not a person. In order to reach your ideal client – your target audience – you need to know who they are at their core, not just what they look like or their income level. 

You need to know what your ideal client feels like. What is their internal world? What messaging gives them goosebumps? What solutions are they desperate for? What are they scared to admit to their family… or even themselves?

If you don’t know these details regarding your ideal client, you’re building your entire program and marketing plan on a very shaky foundation. Too many people focus on the strategy or the platform before they have crystal clarity on who the client is. But how can you know where your people are if you don’t know who your people are?

What I find with the clients I work with is that lead generation isn’t their problem — oftentimes, it’s that they lack clarity on who their ideal client is. No one is picking up their information because they’re not sharing it with the right people. 

Once you find that ideal client, you’ll be able to understand their pain and position yourself as the solution to help them move through it.

3. A Clear Structure For Your Messaging

We love information, but there’s a big difference between knowing something intellectually and knowing how to use and apply it to your behaviors and actions. When structuring your message, you need to be able to set it within a powerful context and give your prospective clients enough information to nourish them, not just fill them up. 

This is my problem with the “tips and tricks” format. Some people have great success with this structure, but 90% get nothing out of it because they aren’t giving people enough relevant context. When you give people a list of tricks, they get seduced by the dopamine rush of learning new information. 

But if you don’t also give them enough context to understand how and where to apply those strategies, they won’t see any meaningful results. Now, the whole premise of your program hinges on something that didn’t work. So they’re gonna think – “Oh, I already know that info and I still have that problem so I must need something different.”

You have to really understand how to set the context and how to position your advice so that when you share information, it demonstrates your expertise and gives people the ability to apply it.

When your message is clearly grounded in reality, and your prospective clients are able to get tangible results, it will open their appetite for the real thing.

4. A Sales Process that Actually Converts

I’ve worked with clients that have all the other levers at play. They had clarity into their transformation, they understood their audience, and had a clear message, but they were unable to make the final sale. Starting a coaching business was no problem, but deep down, they were ashamed of asking for the sale. They had internalized fear of judgement, or rejection, or greed, or they didn’t want to come across as “salesy.” 

Many of these clients were really comfortable teaching, but when it came time to sell, they mumbled their way through it. They had the offer, they just weren’t making it, and their business results suffered.

Having a sales process that actually converts is crucial to making all the other three levers succeed. 

I tell my clients to think about the sales process as their first taste of coaching. Coaching is all about knowing how to move through a client’s fears and hesitations and ease them into a new way of thinking. 

Clinching the sale is the same process — you identify whatever might be holding the potential client back. Concerns about money, fear, anxiety, whatever it is, a good sales process, like a good coaching process, will move through those fears to a positive action (signing up for your course).  

In a successful sales process, you’re able to give a prospect a taste of your coaching style. You will get to know their fears and resistances early on, and have greater insight into how to work with them in the future.  

Want a deeper dive into these principles? Watch me talk through these steps in this video.

Need help building these 4 levers into your business or identifying where your actual bottleneck is? Use this link to speak to someone on my team about how we can help you.

How to Ask Life Changing Coaching Questions

One question that keeps coaches up at night is, “am I really going to deliver results?”

This is the question that stands between so many great coaches and earning the premium their work is worth. It’s the question that threatens their alignment.

But what if we told you that with a handful of simple but totally life changing coaching questions, coaches can find their alignment and begin earning the premium they deserve?

It’s a bold claim! But Geeta Nadkarni backs it up. Geeta says,

“Quite frankly, if you’re a coach, and you’re not asking deep enough questions, the problem is that your clients, in their pain, in their confusion, in their grief, might actually lead you to the wrong problem which will then have you spending all your time and energy fixing the wrong thing which then doesn’t get them results, erodes your confidence and womp, womp, right?”

So what do you ask? What are the questions?!

To avoid spending too much time on the wrong problem, ask these incredibly simple, yet deep questions that Geeta has used over the years as she has grown her 7 figure plus coaching business to what it is today. Read on to learn how she breaks down the process of how to ask deep, meaningful questions that will get the results you and your client want!

1. What is the problem?

The first question is “what is the problem?”

Identifying the problem starts with asking “What?”.

Full disclosure, these questions will seem so simple, almost stupid. But that’s exactly why they work so well.

The first step is identifying the problem. Start with “What?” and then listen very, very carefully.

You want to listen for the facts and context, of course, but also for the emotion. If your client is dysregulated emotionally or physiologically, they need to become regulated for their thoughts and concerns to become clear. Take it slow, so they can move through the physiological process of regulation.

You want to be listening for emotion and for contradictions. Notice when someone who has a lot of options acts like they don’t have any. This is totally normal, but a big reason coaches can become stuck. It’s easy to over learn negative things and underlearn positive things— it’s normal, but once you can identify the contradictions, you can move past it.

Take it slow. Walk with your client through specific actions they can take. Listen for the specifics, so you can coach effectively. Listen for the context before offering any specific tactical coaching. Once the “what” is identified, you’re on the road to solving the deeper issues in play.

2. Why is the problem the problem?

The second question is “Why is the problem the problem?”

Once your client has identified the problem, don’t be fooled by the obvious. The obvious is the costume— the smoke screen. You often still don’t know what the true problem is.

When you ask a question with genuine energy and curiosity, even the simplest question can lead to an “aha” moment. Questions that may seem stupid at first glace actually serve to slow down our thinking. This slowing down aids regulation in your client and in you, the coach. Remember, your level of emotional regulation is contagious, resulting in greater regulation for your client, too! So stay regulated within yourself to be equipped to guide your client to regulation, too. It’s win/win.

Gently dig for details. How is this affecting how they show up in the world. Often they have not connected the dots. “What is actually going on?” often the subconscious pattern surfaces. Asking the right questions will help you solve the right problems.

3. What is your evidence for this?

The third question is “What is your evidence for this?”

When working with clients, take care not to take their word for the problem too quickly, as people often amplify their own confusion. It’s possible that they haven’t identified the right issue yet. Slow them down and help them question their own assumptions. A client who is convinced he needs a larger audience of potential clients may actually need to refine his messaging instead.

Find evidence in measurable results and metrics, and look for different ways success will manifest for clients. Once you gather the metrics and your client agrees, go after as many as possible. Build momentum through victories large and small.

As you approach your coaching clients, take the time to slow down and ask these simple but powerful questions. You’ll soon find yourself coaching them into more clarity and confidence. Deliver results to your coaching clients with these simple questions by Geeta Nadkarni.

Would you like more life changing coaching questions for your coaching business?

If this content resonates with you, be sure to reach out and request the remaining two questions _________ (here) to level up your coaching services. And, remember: slow down. Ask simple questions that may seem obvious. Maintain confidence in your ability to help your client move toward their own “aha” moment. Soon you and your coaching clients will be leveling up!

If you loved these 3 questions and want to integrate them better (or if you’re a more visual or auditory learner) we highly recommend watching the video Geeta made about them and sticking around till the end where she has a couple of hidden (free) goodies to offer.

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