#1 Thing Every Client Should Do Before Hiring A Business Coach

Today I want to talk about the number one thing I wish every client would do before they hired me as a business coach. Or should I say, the single most important question I wish every client clearly knew the answer to, before reaching out in my DMs or applying to work with me. 

Okay, so what the heck am I talking about? 

Finding Clarity On Where You’re Going And Why

I’m talking about having clarity on where you’re going and why. This aha happened in my business relatively recently. It's a crazy story and I want to walk you through what happened and the lessons learned so you can realize the importance and the value of understanding where you want to go and why and how that's helpful in working with a business coach. 

So storytime. What happened? How did this come to be? Well, when we think of a customer journey, there are lots of ways people funnel into our offerings. They end up hiring us for our stuff. In this specific example, I've worked with this person previously, and we worked on some specific things in their business –it worked, growth happened. Then we worked in a different capacity when I had this group offer that this client was a part of. 

Here’s the thing, I could tell their mindset was just not fully in it. At the time, I was less aware, I didn't see the patterns, and I couldn't wrap my head around it. But now I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, what was hanging them up from taking action towards their goals. Obviously, taking action is a big piece of what I do and help people through. I teach them how.

For this client, it wasn't that she didn't know what to do. She had big goals and dreams of changing her business completely. She knew what to do. But there was something much deeper going on preventing her from taking those first steps to execute this amazing goal she had. 

Now, I am a big why person because I believe it's important to understand why we do what we do to feel confident in our choices. All of that was there for this client. But there was something deeper preventing her from taking those steps. As a business coach, I couldn't get to the root of it. Now, I don't feel like I failed this person. I don't have any regrets about how we work together, but there was something missing that I couldn't help her with.

Getting A Different Perspective On The Problem

Thankfully, this client actually went to Baja with me and my co-host Karina, who is a mental performance coach on top of being a yoga teacher.

Karina has this really unique hybrid of skills that I really got to understand at a deeper level on our retreat. What we realized is that every client I have should just go to Karina first because she was able to get to the root in a way that I wasn't. Because the issue, the doubt, the questions, the uncertainty didn't stem from a logical business place. It was a mindset thing. And I am not the best person to solve that riddle. 

I know that now. At the time, I didn't know this. 

So this client hired me and we worked one on one on a specific part of business and we leveled up there. Then we said, oh, we want to go chase this next thing. We were clear on what that was and what that looked like and why we were doing it. I was feeling awesome about the game plan but there was just something holding her back. 

Like most of us, she had some aha moments in Baja. When she came back, she ended up working with Karina, who was able to dig so deep to the root and unearth what was blocking this next step for her. And it’s completely transformed how we will work together moving forward in a way that I can't even put into words yet. 

Now if I've worked with someone previously, I just need to be brought up to speed on where they're at and where they want to go. And her ‘where do we want to go’ comment was not even a full sentence. It was a phrase because she had that laser clarity of what she wanted to work on and she was ready. 

That's when I had the realization that this clarity she had wasn’t from the work we did together. The groundwork was there, but working with a mental performance coach like Karina really helped her gain that laser clarity in a way that I never could have. It also means our work moving forward is going to be so much more impactful –which in turn, got me fired up and excited to support this person. 

When I think of her and other clients I've worked with that go really far, that accomplish a lot of goals, that cover a lot of ground, a lot of change happens, the common theme is –they know where they're going, and why. 

Even if you're not actively looking for a coach, I think this step is so important. Every business owner should walk through this. I want to help you dissect where you're going, and why. Maybe you know where you're going and why. But we can execute it together. Or maybe you realize, gosh, I can use some help figuring this stuff out. Well, I have a solution that will accomplish both needs. 

Tips To Figure Out Where You’re Going And Why

Back to my client –the root thing was unearthing what was stopping her. In business, we often think, Well, I don't know how to blah, blah, blah. When we dig deeper and ask better questions, we find out the majority of the time, what's keeping us from taking action isn't that we don't know what to do. It's a limiting belief. It's a fear, it's a doubt, it's anxiety, it's pressure from partners. It's a lack of confidence. There's so many other things happening internally, that's preventing us that's important to identifying what that is. 

So I really believe for this particular client, she now knows what was holding her back. She was able to look at it in the face to know all of the things we talked about previously, we can just plug them in and execute on them. I'm pumped for that, because it means little BS and we have a really clear through this next chapter that she is so ready to live in. 

Another important thing to recognize here is the work that got you to where you are today is probably going to look different than what's going to get you to where you want to go. This client is a great example, because a lot of that mindset stuff wasn't in a book, it wasn't in a podcast, and it wasn't some meditation that did it for her. It was working one on one with an expert, and that's specifically what she needed. But that takes someone realizing to go, hey, I have bigger, better dreams for myself. I recognize I don't have the tools to get there. 

Maybe you're not quite in a position to hire a coach, that’s okay. Just be honest with yourself. You might have some big goals and dreams you would like to achieve but you find yourself stuck. You’re not really growing, not executing on those goals and dreams, you're just on a hamster wheel. You keep moving, you're tired, you're burning out, but you're not getting anywhere. It may be because you don't have the tools to do so. And it doesn't mean you're a failure. 

It's so important to recognize that there may be that gap, but you have the opportunity to see that gap and go out and find those tools to support you. Maybe that's hiring a coach. Maybe it’s listening to a podcast or going to a business conference. There's so many other solutions that could be the right one for you. The first step is recognizing you need one of them. 

How A Business Coach Is Different From A Mental Performance Coach

So let's talk through how I differ from a mental performance coach, because I think there's a time and a place for both. What's really cool is I actually do a lot of the same work with clients. It's just the verbiage is different. The questions are different. 

What I love about forming partnerships is there's times where you need each other, there's times where you can lean on each other. And it's important to understand how working with a business coach could look different than working with a mental performance coach. 

Dig Deep Into The Why

So one thing I do with all of my clients is I start with a why exercise. I dig deep into who they are and why they are the way they are and how they make decisions and what is most important to them. I use the framework from Simon Sinek, Start With Why. He has a follow up book where you Find Your Why. And that’s a hugely important facet of my onboarding process. Because I think all of us need to know our why. If you don't, it just makes it hard to know when things are either aligned or in conflict. So I start there. 

Understand Your Values

The second thing I always do with people is encourage them to do a values exercise. I love doing it one on one, but I also really love doing it with teams because then you can see where do we overlap? Where are we different? What goals do we have what's important to us? 

A great example is one of my recent clients who has a leadership team. One of her employees values family and personal time so much. You can't touch that. She would rather honor that and have that time with her family. and friends then make more money. As a business owner, that’s important to know. Because then you can use that as a way to reward people and honor that. It also means if you're constantly in conflict with that, no dollar amount is going to buy you out of that scenario. 

So understanding your values and your why, as a baseline is so important. But here is where I recognize the gap. The people who work best with me, they know where they want to go and why. I think a lot of people know they want different, they just don't know what that means. And that's where a mental performance coach could be really helpful in identifying the ‘where they're going’ piece. 

Karina, the mental performance coach, and I were joking that everyone should start with her and finish with me. We should tag team or support people in that way. And there's definitely something to that. 

Karina really helps people understand their mind, how it works, how they make decisions, how they get motivated, their routines, and get clear on where they want to go. She helps them see that version of themselves. And I help them execute on how to do it. 

So that's what's really cool about this client’s story. It was living, breathing proof of someone who needed to walk those specific steps. If we had continued working on this new goal, without the mental performance piece, I can say confidently, I don't know that we would have achieved her true business goal. 

But now, I know there's nothing that stands in the way between the execution and the idea, we just got to do it now. That's what's really cool about getting really clear with where you're going and why. 

Revisiting Your Why, Because Your Business Evolves As You Do

I recognize maybe I'm not the best person to do it for you. I would argue even that as a business owner, it's so crucial to revisit this because it changes. I think another thing we don't recognize is that the where we're going and why may change. 

I've worked with business owners where we start tackling one thing and in our time together, sometimes we pivot to something all together. I'm coming to a place where I love being a part of that process and being supportive for someone. But sometimes it would be better suited if the business owner just sat with themselves for a while and got clear on where they want to go and why before hiring me. Because we would actually be able to execute on more. 

I love to be efficient and efficiency comes with confidence and clarity. That's where Karina was able to support in a way that I was not. 

I think this story today is a prime example of the power of coming together and community supporting each other, and ultimately asking for help. Because at the end of the day, what got you to this point in business is not going to be what's going to get you to that next level. It doesn't mean there should be shame or guilt or fear in that it's empowering. It means the solutions lie within the people next to you who can help support you, the people who are further down the road, the people who understand your blind spots and how to get to where you want to go. And also the people who ask you the tough hard questions of where do you want to go and why. All of this can help create a path that makes sense and aligns with who you are for the right reasons. 

Before you seek any help in business, whether it's a course, or a website, audit, or a coach or hiring or a workshop on key words for websites or a networking event before you go invest on your business and your time, money, whatever. Get clear on where you're going and why. And really be confident in that path before you open yourself up to receiving anything else or any other kind of support, regardless of the investment level. That is probably the most important part of being a business owner is being able to discern what is for you and what is not. Because sometimes things may be for you, just later. Be okay with that. 

I encourage you to really just take the time to get clear on where you're going and why. 

Get Unstuck At The Baja Business Retreat

I hope you feel a sense of relief with this. Because if you're stuck, and you are the person who feels like you know what you should be doing, and you beat yourself up because you haven't done it or whatever that may be, odds are it's one of two things. Either 1) there's something deeper rooted that is causing doubt, fear, uncertainty that needs to be addressed. Or 2) there's a lack of a plan or strategy, or clarity on what next steps to take.

Now, I have a solution for both of those. Karina and I partner up and do this amazing business retreat in Baja, Mexico once a year. Unfortunately, this is going to be our last year, because I have some life changes coming up. And I am both honored and excited but a little bit sad, because it's one of the most unique experiences I've ever been a part of. 

During the retreat, the stuff we dive into includes helping people identify what's stopping them and what's getting in the way. Because very rarely is it the ‘how.’ Sometimes it is and that's where I love to help support people. But with my business background and Karina’s mental performance coaching, we're able to really get to that root cause together in a way that is really unique. And then we have the tools to help you work through it. 

This is the kind of stuff that we do in the retreat. We also go whale watching and surfing and it's really close to the beach. It's beautiful. But the deep reason that we're there is we want to equip people with the confidence, the clarity and the peace, to be able to make decisions and execute on their goals and dreams. And that also means honoring their life, too. 

Because a lot of business owners are burnt out. They're burning the candle at both ends. They're exhausted, they're overwhelmed, they're lost, they're confused. And we love to clear the way and help people recognize that what they need oftentimes lies within them. They just haven't unearthed it yet. 

So if you're feeling stuck, if you don't know where you're going, and why, if you are ashamed that you've been saying this goal out loud and have made little to no progress on achieving that goal, then Baja may be the solution for you. 

I would love for you to reach out. The next steps for this are really simple. You go to our website, you read more about what we're about and what we're doing. Apply if you think you're a fit, because we also really want it to be a very curated, impactful group of people that can support each other. That's it. We'll get notified when you apply. We're both open books, feel free to message me on Instagram if you're thinking about it.