Welcome to The Productive Life.
In this episode we are talking about how to find the right coach for you.
Welcome to The Productive Life podcast hosted by me, Megan Minns.
This is the podcast for entrepreneurs who want to be more productive in their
business and their personal life because as a business owner,
your business and personal life are connected and we can't talk about one
without talking about the other. Each week you'll learn about productivity,
organization, personal development, self care, business strategies and more.
And now let's get started.
I'm recording today's episode from my home office in Houston and it is pitch
black outside because I'm actually recording this pretty late.
It's eight 30 at night.
I've got my almost empty glass of red wine cause I've actually recorded four
episodes today and I usually don't record this late,
but I tried to just do things that feel good when they feel good and I am in a
pretty good groove with recording episodes right now,
so I figured let's go ahead and do another one.
So I am really excited to talk to you about how to find the right coach for you,
what to look for and share a little bit about my perspective on finding the
coach for you and why you might even want a coach.
So I think we need to start there. If you've never worked with a coach before,
why do you need a coach?
Do you need one? What? What's the whole thing with coaching?
I think the best way to describe it is a pretty cliche example,
but I have found it's just the one that makes the most sense to the most people.
It's that if you look at any professional athlete or performer or singer or
anyone --anyone who is a professional anything-- they have a coach.
Whether it's a coach that helps Tiger Woods when the masters or if it's a coach
that helps whoever just won the basketball tournament that just happened. Y'all,
I'm sorry, I'm not like the most sportsy person, but you get the point.
Athletes in particular are known for having coaches.
And while I don't want to have to go down this whole sports metaphor of how we
are high performers as business owners and we need coaches,
the same principles are true, that I really believe that no matter what you do,
whether you're a coach, a service provider, a course creator,
a or you maybe have a physical business, who knows, anything and everything,
even if you're just a professional working a job that you love,
a full time job or a part time job.
I really believe that a life and business coach can be so transformative to the
way you play your game, whatever that game is.
I have worked with coaches on and off since I started my business and I was
definitely working with coaches while I was side hustling and while I was fully
self employed you can work with coaches in a lot of different ways.
I would say the biggest ones are usually either a one off session with a coach
where you have a one,
one time session where you try to get a lot done in that one session but there's
no ongoing support and on the other end usually some kind of ongoing
relationship. And I am talking mostly about one on one coaching here,
but this could apply to a group coaching program as well, probably.
I really love working with a coach for a few different reasons:
I think it's really great to have someone in your life that you can talk to
about your business without ever feeling an ounce of guilt.
Because if no one in your personal life as an entrepreneur,
it might feel like it's hard to talk to someone about it and if you're a
solopreneur or maybe you have a team but you don't feel like you have that
person you can just access and talk to about your business,
then this is going to be a game changer for you because it feels so good to just
have that permission to just share your ideas and talk about your problems and
have a partner in solving them.
And usually you also want to work with a coach because you want to learn
something.
You want someone who can teach you how to do something that you maybe not
strategies like that you don't know how to do,
but who can really help you identify problems that maybe you're not identifying,
who can give you some --help you come up with some creative solutions for them,
give you some new insights, hold you accountable,
be your partner and achieving your goals.
That's what I really like to look for and I have worked with mentors and coaches
and in all different capacities and they're all incredible.
I really want to zero down, or zero in,
on this conversation about how to find the right coach for you and this is very
fresh on my mind because I actually just hired a new coach so I actually did
stop working with my coaches when I started working full time in February of
2018 I think I had some weird mindset block around the idea that once I was an
employee I didn't need a coach because I didn't have my own dreams anymore.
I dunno,
it wasn't a healthy story to tell so I don't even don't even worry about it.
It was not the right approach mentally because I just really like having that
kind of support no matter what I'm doing professionally.
But I hadn't worked with a coach since then. I did actually do one,
one off session with a,
with a coach that I really like in the Summer of 2018 and that was great,
but I recently in the past few months have been realizing that I,
I really need that support. I need that help,
especially as we start doing more with my business. Again, I'm looking to grow,
I'm stretching myself in new ways,
challenging myself in new ways and I have some pretty big goals for this year
and I was really feeling like there were moments where I was hitting some
resistance or things felt hard where I felt stuck that I wished I had a partner
to help pull me out of that --help me work through that,
help me push past that and I felt like I didn't really have that even though I
had some friends I could talk to you and I could like mention it to my husband
or some of my friends.
In real life, it just, it wasn't the same thing.
I really needed someone who knew strategies to help me push through that
resistance, helped me see things from a different perspective,
challenge me in a way that I want to be challenged.
And so for the past few months I was kind of putting it out there that I was
looking for a coach and really I would say the past two weeks got very serious
about it.
So what I'm about to outline for you is exactly what I went through to find the
right coach for me and y'all, I'm so excited to be working with my coach.
We've already been talking this week.
I have my first real call with her tomorrow,
and you know you've found the right coach when you're just like,
can't wait to have your first call with them and you just get so excited.
So these steps have really helped me find the right coach for me. So I'm,
I'm really excited for them to help you find the right coach for you, too.
Okay, so let's dig in.
So really these are just questions that I'm going to walk you through that you
need to ask yourself and answer in order to guide you through finding the right
coach.
So the first thing you need to ask yourself is what do I want to accomplish?
So take a few minutes and write down what you're actually trying to achieve
right now. Whether it's in the next 90 days, the next year.
Like what are you striving towards?
What are you trying to build or grow or launch or what goals you're trying to
hit personally or professionally.
You need to start there because once you know what kind of goals you're trying
to hit,
it's going to help inform you on what kind of coach you need and maybe making
sure that you are finding the right coach who can help you with those specific
things.
So first take a few minutes and map out exactly what you're trying to achieve
right now.
The second question is where do you need help? Where are you getting stuck? Where,
you know,
you're probably not looking for a coach unless you are realizing that there's
moments of resistance. There are things that hold you back.
There are things that make you feel stuck and like, it feels hard,
and you don't know how to keep going and you don't know what to do next and you
feel a little lost in it and that's pretty normal when you're going through
phases of growth, but you can find someone to help you get through those.
So what is holding you back? Where in the process are you getting stuck?
Like what are the things that really are proving challenging for you?
One thing for me recently, just to help put an example to this,
was mindset issues.
I've been really leaning into exploring mindset for the past few months and I'm
loving it and I feel like I've grown so much in this area.
But as I step into this next level of my business, I have,
I realized that a lot of fear and uncertainty and resistance came up when I had
the moment where I could do something radical to step into that next level.
I froze and I pretty much had a week, this was last week,
I pretty much had a week where I froze and I got stuck and I just did nothing.
Like, I did nothing that helped me towards my goals.
Even though I was working and I had my job and it was like doing things and it
was being productive as we've talked about.
It's not just productivity for productivity sake,
it should be intentional and so I totally did the thing that I know better than
to do, but I got stuck. I froze.
I froze in this mindset of fear and insecurity and doubt and over analyzing
myself and feeling like I didn't know enough and who am I in an explosion of
mindset issues came up out of the blue.
And even though I have some tools in my tool belt to work through those,
doing it alone wasn't getting me there. It was a whole new level that I,
I haven't,
I haven't ever experienced crossing that threshold before and I didn't,
the tactics I thought I knew how to cross it weren't helping me.
I was still stuck, and I was stuck because I was able to hide being stuck.
No one else knew I was stuck. No on Instagram knew I was stuck.
I was no one on my email list knew I was stuck. It was this,
this little hidden secret and so I could just be stuck and no one knew and I
just was having this moment as I was stuck.
How many times did I say that word in this podcast that I was like,
if I just finally had the coach, I know they would help me get through this.
They would hold me accountable. They would have identified this,
they would give me tools and tactics and support in pushing through this and
challenge me. And I was like, that's what I need.
So that was really pushed me over the edge with, with working with my coach.
But where are you stuck? Is it mindset? Is it strategy? Is it doubting yourself?
Most of it's probably mindset related when you boil it down,
but like maybe it's not. Maybe you don't know where to start.
Maybe you don't know the next step. Maybe you don't know the strategy.
Maybe you need help in a lot of different ways. So where are you getting stuck?
The third question to ask yourself is how much support do you want right now?
I have definitely been in phases where I don't want an ongoing coach.
I just want a one off session. That's all I need. Let's get in, let's get out,
I'm good.
And then there are other times like for me right now where I know I need ongoing
support. If you're in a period of really big change,
you probably might --I don't want to make you, you do whatever you want.
In my experience, when I'm in big periods of change,
I like ongoing support because I know that there's a difference between planning
for the change,
being in the midst of the change and then dealing with life after the change.
So I'm going through some big changes right now in my life and I knew that I
wanted someone to help,
help me through all parts of that transition and that change.
So what capacity do you want? Do you want one on one? Do you want a group?
Do you want a whole year? Do you want one session? What are you looking for?
So kind of figure out what kind of support you really wanting.
Then at this point, after those three questions,
you should be able to have a good idea for what kind of coach are looking for.
And hopefully you have a few people in mind already.
So I want to one stop you that if you're at this point and you have no coaches,
like don't even know who to work with. Maybe like stop here.
I mean the rest of the questions are going to be helpful as you look at people.
So mean keep listening. But I would say before you come to step four,
you really want to probably have a few people in mind.
So when I was just recently hearing my coach,
I had a few coaches that I worked with previously.
Some people I've been connected with recently on Instagram.
Some people I've been following and really like what they're doing.
And I had a few people in mind already of who I thought I wanted to work with.
So after asking those three questions, I moved on to question four. And again,
you know, you can keep going even if you don't have that list,
but it's the most effective when you do have a few people kind of in play
already.
So the fourth question is are they the people that you're considering working
with and learning from,
are they living the life that you're trying to live and are they,
is their business the type of business you are trying to build?
And that's a pretty broad question, but it covers a lot of things. So for example,
if you are a service, like if you're a coach,
let's say you're a coach and you don't want to do sales calls,
then you shouldn't work with a coach who's going to teach you how to do sales
calls. If that's how they make their money.
You should work with a coach who has a successful coaching business without
sales calls. Does that make sense?
So you want to make sure that whoever you're working with is embodying that life
and business that you're aspiring to build,
that you're working towards because you want someone who can help you get there.
Now maybe they don't have to be like the most,
they don't have to be 100% perfectly living that life. They're a millionaire,
but no,
but more of like what are they embodying and is that what you're trying to
embody? Do they have the same perspective as you?
That was really important for me, especially recently.
I'm really trying to build a business where it's based around fun,
which is just the complete opposite direction than I've ever gone and I've
always come at it from like a strategic reverse engineer of your goals,
which I'm not saying is bad. I still obviously do that to an extent,
but I've really been trying to shift gears and think about it from a different
perspective of saying, I want to record this episode because it feels fun.
I literally wouldn't be recording this episode right now if it didn't feel fun.
And when I came and sat down here to record, guess what?
I actually plan on doing several different episodes, but they didn't feel fun.
So I did different topics. So it's a very different perspective for me.
I'm not trying to hustle 24/7 I'm not trying to fill every single slot on my
calendar. I'm not trying to do all the things and do the most.
I'm really trying to do less and have a higher impact and enjoy my life more and
have it all.
So I really want to make sure I'm working with a coach who's doing those things.
I don't want to learn from a coach who's working 60 hour weeks because I don't
want to have 60 hour weeks.
I want to work with someone who still binge watches Netflix and who reads
romance novels and who has time to work out and take care of themselves and has
this luxurious morning routine,
like those are the things that I'm trying to strive for and incorporate in my
life, so I want to make sure I'm working with someone who who's doing that and
embodying that already. So you want to make sure you're doing the same. So your,
like my examples don't need to be your examples.
Maybe you do want to work with someone who's just hustling and like crushing it
and doing all this stuff, like awesome.
My examples are just to help kind of make this make more sense.
Then the last question that I think you should ask yourself when you're
evaluating who to work with and who's the right coach for you is do you want to
talk to them? Is this a person that you love talking to?
You can't get enough of them. They feel like a friend,
not that you have to be best friends but that you feel like you can be yourself
with. You feel comfortable.
You don't feel like how you have to like hide or show a different version of
yourself that you can come to the conversation truly being you,
and that you can't wait to talk to that person,
because you want your coach to be excited to talk to you.
But as the client, you want to be excited to talk to your coach,
you should look forward to those calls.
You should be engaging with their stuff on social media because you just can't
get enough of their stuff already.
Like ideally you're pretty big fan and not in like,
I don't want to sound too extreme about it, but ideally you like this person.
You believe --you support them, you like engaging with them,
you like interacting with them.
The coach I just hired, we have been Instagram DM-ing.
We're doing voice memos back and forth for gosh well over a month and just like
got to know her even before I was a potential client. Now from her perspective,
maybe she knew I was a potential client. But I, you know,
I didn't even enter our relationship with that in mind and as I got to know her
better,
I realized how much I liked her and how much she embodied what I'm trying to do,
and it just kind of fell into place when I started analyzing all the different
coaches I could work with.
It was kind of a no brainer that like, well I love all of these,
all of these women, I have no negative thoughts about any of them,
but like who do I want to jump on a phone call with? Who do I want to talk to?
Who do I feel like I can be myself with? Well it's, it's this woman.
So that is really the icing on the cake.
That was like the last question that after all of this I had just such clarity
on who the right coach was for me and made that decision to work with her.
And I have my first call with her tomorrow and I just can't wait to talk to her.
I mean we've been chatting all week but I'm pumped. So,
that is how I went about finding the right coach for me.
That is really, really, this has been a great process for me.
So I hope this helps you find the right coach for you also.
And if you've gone through this process, you are looking for a coach.
I do just want to go ahead and throw it out there that I am doing one on one
coaching now. And it starts in May,
is when I'm going to start actually working with clients.
But you can go ahead and go to MeganMinns.com/coaching to learn more about how
we can work together and how I can support you.
And I really hope you do go through this process and if you go through these,
and I seem like someone you might want to work with, reach out.
And I would love to help you both personally and professionally achieve your
goals and overcome all the different ups and downs that it can take to get there,
but I totally believe in you and know that you can do it.
So that's how I found a coach. I also coach,
I totally believe that all coaches should have a coach and I really hope you
found this valuable. If so, please be sure to share it.
I would love to hear from you and again,
if you want to work together or want to learn more,
be sure to go to MeganMinns.com/coaching.
And I can't wait to hear from you. I'll see you in the next episode.
Thank you for listening to The Productive Life podcast.
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I'll see you in the next episode.