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I’m delighted today to share with you all a guest post from one of our newest graduated Beautiful You Life Coaches – Katherine Mckenzie-Smith – on gaining clarity and confidence as a new life coach. Katherine is an absolute inspiration and through her commitment to her study and a new life is now writing and blogging regularly and working with a number of paying clients too. She graduated just two weeks ago. Her words on how to gain clarity and confidence as a new life coach from a position of being really stuck in a less than happy inducing career and mindset will leave you inspired and help you understand that if you’re committed to creating a new life for yourself – anything is possible.
It’s hard to believe that less than six months ago I was in a pretty bad place. I had finally, (after almost two years of procrastinating), finished my job in television and not taken on any more contract work. I was about to start my training with the Beautiful You Coaching Academy but I was stuck in a world of self doubt and anxiety.
As someone who can put the pieces of problems together and always see multiple scenarios and solutions, I was stumped. Even though I knew lots of coaches who had incredibly successful businesses, I couldn’t see this being a reality for me (and maybe that was the problem).
I was absolutely overcome with fear, self doubt, and comparisonitis.
I spoke to lots of close friends, family, and even the pros about the future that lay ahead of me, shrouded in fear and doubt, and they saw something I couldn’t see yet. It was frustrating to not see it until, one day, I decided it was time to get over myself.
That only I was creating this reality.
That only I could control what happened from here.
And that I had to get out of my own way before I completely lost the plot.
So I did.
And, suddenly, everything in my life, (and particularly in my business), changed. On my last day of work, I got my first paying coaching client – perhaps the true sign I needed to know I was doing the right thing. Opportunities have come up for me and my business and my blog started growing in whole new ways.
Plus – and possibly most importantly – I finally started to feel happy and confident in myself. A beautiful consequence of this being that it instantly uplifted my business once again.
What was once a vicious spiral of self doubt has become the positive upward spiral I have always dreamed of. And I can truly attest to it being because of a few changes I made to my beliefs and my mindset.
If you’re at the beginning of your journey as a life coach (or finding yourself in a bit of a slump), here are my best tips for how I got from uncertainty and doubt in my ability and my business to clarity and clients in a very short space of time:
Find your community and let them believe in you until you can
Despite my own fears stepping in as I stepped up into my new journey, the wonderful people in my life all believed in me so much, I will never stop being grateful to them.
At first it made me feel like a fraud. Why did they think that? Were they lying to make me feel better? How could they think that when I hadn’t even started, had no clients, and really didn’t know how to help myself, let alone anyone else?
BUT eventually I stopped myself and realised that maybe there was some truth to their unrelenting encouragement and enthusiasm (despite my own reservations). When I saw myself and my potential reflected back to me, it actually started to sink in. It was time for me to step up and start realising that if they believed in me, I better start believing in me.
Look out for the people in your life who are reflecting your true spirit and what they see in you – it might come in the most unexpected places – but cherish it (and ignore any negative crap) and eventually, you’ll come around!
Invest in yourself
Take a course, get a coach, see a kinesiologist or psychologist, buy some books, go to a conference. Making a time and financial investment shows your ego that you’re taking control whether you like it or not and it’s time for your inner meanie to fall into line. This happened last year when I invested in Marie Forleo’s BSchool and again this year when I joined the Beautiful You Life Coaching Academy.
Once I found myself in a supportive learning environment with other gorgeous women going through the same thing, I started to build my confidence and step into being a coach.
Own it
Oh this is the biggest one! It took me MONTHS to even say out loud that I was a life coach. I was worried what my friends would think, I was worried how strangers would react. But, you know what, people will feel the energy you put out there. I embraced being a life coach wholeheartedly and kept saying it to people until it started to just feel right.
Now I realise that my confidence begins the second someone asks me what I do and, more often than not, people are fascinated by the concept and want to know more OR they know someone who is looking for what you’re giving. And that’s where some of the most unexpected clients come from!
Understand that different people are looking for different coaches
Depending on the online community you’re part of, you might have noticed the recent boom in life coaches. This is not a bad thing. Even if you start out wondering how you fit in, (I know I sure did!), we all have different skills, unique abilities, and personality traits that appeal (or not) to other people.
I found it so difficult to understand why someone would want to work with me when they could choose from so many incredible coaches out there. BUT if you replace coaching with something else, like cafes, there are SO MANY cafes out there, with their own uniqueness and they stay open and thriving – especially when there are other successful cafes around. People like different types of coffee, different surroundings, different elements of a cafe, or they like to move around from one to another.
The minute you realise that there are lots of clients out there all looking for different things and that you can’t be everything for everyone, you will become a truly incredible coach.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
Practice everything! Practice saying out loud who you are, what you do, and what your business mission or philosophy is. Talk about it as much as you can and get comfortable with it (it gets easier the more you say it).
Get practice clients and trade them coaching for a testimonial and sharing your business with their network. Know your ideal clients and approach people who fit into that category and then practice with them so you can learn to easily identify the people you LOVE working with.
And, practice helping others, asking questions, and providing great service because – at the end of the day – that’s what being a life coach is.
What’s your best tip for overcoming uncertainty and becoming a confident coach (or your biggest struggle)? Leave a comment below and who knows who you might be helping!
Katherine I am SO happy and excited for you and inspired by these words 🙂 You are living tangible proof (so tangible I can actually hug ya!) for me that if you place the intention from the heart and leap, the net shall appear. So much love for you xoxox
Thank you Claire! I know Katherine will love and appreciate your words.
Oh Claire, you are a beautiful soul and I’m so grateful to have you in my life. So exciting being in this together and seeing how far we’ve come in the short time we’ve known each other!
That analogy- the cafe one? That just killed some of my self doubt. Ahhh *breathe*
Thank you for your words x
Brilliant Ainslie! Anything that knocks the old self-doubt on the head is a good thing.
Oh Ainslie, that is so wonderful to hear. It’s little steps at a time!!
This is such a great post! Every single suggestion is stuff that I am working on increasing in my own life so seeing how successful they were to you is inspirational. Cannot wait to do B-School and seriously thinking about BY Coaching Academy myself 🙂
Thank you Sophie and I’m sure Katherine sends her heartfelt thanks too. So amazing you’re thinking of joining us for a course sometime soon. We think it’s pretty amazing when it’s launching coaches like Katherine. She’s an inspiration.
Thank you, Sophie! It sounds like you’ve already got some good starting points and I cannot personally recommend BY Coaching Academy enough!
Thanks girls, its going to take me a year or so to save up the money but my intuition is growing too loud to ignore!
This course is special, it’ll still be around and going strong when you’re ready 😉
Oh Katherine, what a post! So amazing to see how you’ve grown – thinking back to us meeting just over a year ago to where you are now – aaaamazzing!!! I’m excited to see where this journey takes you and even more excited for your lucky clients! Yay!!
Pretty incredible growth isn’t it Amy? Thanks for your big cheer for Katherine. We send the same to you!
Oh Amy, thanks so much! This past year has been huge for both of us on so many levels and who knows what this next year is going to bring for us! Thanks for your beautiful support (and you too, JP, you are just wonderful x)
Absolutely love this article Katherine- thank you for sharing your experience with us. Your passion and enthusiasm just bounce from your words and I’m so, so pleased for you.
I love what you said about ‘understanding that different people are looking for different coaches’- this is definitely a little gremlin that I need to deal with.
Thank you again my lovely! xx
Hooray to gremlin slaying Katie! Thanks for being a part of our community.
No problem at all, Katie! Thanks so much for letting me know that my experience connected with you! Here, here to gremlin slaying!
Congratulations Katherine! Thank you for sharing your experience, it’s very inspiring. I am so eager to start the BY Coaching Academy, I’ve missed the opportunity this year but so looking forward to the next course.
Thanks Alexandra! We hope to see you in another round of the course.
Thank you, Alexandra. It’s been an incredible few months! I’m so excited for you hopefully doing the course soon! I kind of wish I could do it again (I’m really missing the weekly calls in my life!)
Amazing post Katherine – a message I needed to hear loud and clear today. The cafe analogy sang so loudly to me – divine timing (isn’t that always the way!) Big gratitude for sharing this, thank you. Chloe 🙂 x
Don’t you just love how we receive what we really need when we need it Chloe. So glad you found Katherine’s post.
Chloe, it makes me so happy to read this! I love when that happens and I’m just so humbled to know that being vulnerable and sharing my story might touch someone else and help them on their journey too. Thank you so much for commenting x
Such a great post Katherine. Especially relate to the bit about feeling like a fraud. That’s still one I’m working through.
I can’t believe how much you have grown since starting the course together back in Feb. It has been an absolute joy to witness and it inspires me no end. Love you lots x x
Thanks for dropping by to support your fellow coach Nicola! You were wonderful throughout the course. So great to see you now putting yourself out there.
That’s so beautiful of you to say, Nicola, and I’ve watched and been inspired by so many pearls of wisdom you’ve shared throughout the course too. So delighted to be in this with you, lovely!
Woohoo go Katherine. Beautiful to watch you grow and flourish. So happy for you and to see your coaching business really take off too. Big congrats. xxx
Thanks for sharing in Katherine’s joy Corona!
I’m so overwhelmed by all these amazing comments, thank you so much, Corona!
Great article Katherine. I found myself resonating with so much of it. Go you for putting yourself out there! Thank you for sharing your story and showing the rest of us that it’s perfectly normal to feel this way 🙂
Thanks, Naomi! I’m so happy that sharing my experience has helped you with your journey! Watch out, the next few months are going to be pretty amazing for you 😉
Thanks Katherine for sharing. My thought on becoming more confident is just by practicing. Keep on practicing with clients and you will develop more self-confidence. Love the photos by the way! 🙂