Do you feel like have no control over your coaching business?
Do you feel like you’re not attracting your ideal clients?
Are you sick and tired of being broke all the time?
Are you worried that you may not be cut out for entrepreneurship?
The inspiration
I was having lunch with a former colleague who wants to quit her job, find a great coach training program because as she put it, she “just so in love with the freedom entrepreneur lifestyle and cannot wait to become a fabulous coach.” You know those pictures on Instagram that show coaches coaching on the beach in the most beautiful locations around the world. I call it Instagram envy.
Her reason for choosing coaching?
The freedom. The impact. The transformation. The love. The service.
But mostly the freedom. She can wake up when she wants. Do what she chooses to or as she put it, what she’s vibing with on that particular day. She doesn’t want to be held back. She doesn’t want to feel chained. She hates routines and schedules and absolutely hate plans. She really loves her freedom and wants to celebrate her spontaneous gypsy soul.
She’s over the whole working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week thing and wants her life back. She’d love her coaching business to 3x her current $175,000 base salary so that she can support her ultimate dream lifestyle.
She wanted to pick my business coach brain to see what steps she needs to take to break free of the chains and give the middle finger to routine forever. And she wants to work 4 hours a day, three days a week. She’s committed to doing this especially if she doesn’t have to “get a routine or anything.”
I understand completely.
I used to have the same recurring dream on my lifestyle vision board. Mine includes me and my daughter just chilling and loving life no matter where we are. Part of my inspiration for becoming an entrepreneur was to have the flexibility and freedom to spend as much time with my little girl as I desired (without guilt).
Entrepreneurship In A Nutshell
This got me thinking about one of the biggest Money Mindset issues women entrepreneurs face when starting, growing or even scaling their business. (This doesn’t apply to just coaches even though I see it showing up regularly in the coaching space. I consistently made (if I’m honest, I still make) this mistake in my fashion and coaching business at least 2 days a week).
Whoever thinks entrepreneurship is a luxury walk in the park clearly hasn’t watched The Profit.
And whoever thinks starting and growing your own business is a matter of finding something you love doing/selling, getting an MBA and creating a beautiful website just hates their boss and wants to quit their job.
It’s not that romantic.
And.
Being an entrepreneur is oh so worth it.
The excitement. The highs. The lows. The wins. The fails. The learning curves. The first paying client. The first cancellation. The first six figure year. The list goes on.
And the ultimate gifts? The Service and Transformation. Plus the opportunity to stretch and grow. You can’t put a price on that!
What is Your Business Money Mindset?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If you want to create something great, strategy falls flat without a premium money mindset. All the tools, tricks, hacks, strategies and coaches won’t save an entrepreneur who doesn’t have the mindset to implement those amazing tools.
What is one of the biggest Money Mindset issues that creates consistent self-sabotage for women entrepreneurs, leading to feast and famine months?
What self-sabotaging behavior stands in the way of women entrepreneurs hitting their 10X life and business goals?
I Hate Routines
Do any of these statements sound familiar? Maybe you or someone in your circle has an intimate relationship with at least one or more of them.
I hate routine. I hate schedules. I quit my job to not have to deal with structure and schedules. I hate making plans. I never get my to do list done – I just seem to add more stuff to it that doesn’t get done. I just want to be free and do what I want when I feel like it. Schedules and routines are boring and claustrophobic. I just want to have fun in my business.
I’ve heard it all from clients (and said it all to my coach too).
While I get the whole routines are boring excuse, I’ve also learned that the single most important key to creating freedom in my life and business is to have routines, especially being a single mum juggling multiple commitments.
Some form of stability and consistency so that prevent feast and famine months to consistently hit my monthly client goals, income goals, impact, charity and volunteer goals, and enjoy work and play to the fullest.
Women entrepreneurs usually associate feast and famine months with not getting enough clients or marketing woes or feeling sleazy about sales.
Those are all true. But in my personal and professional experience, I’ve seen more of it in what I refer to as the “Start Stop” game entrepreneurs play when they experience some form of fear.
The “Start Stop” game is triggered by a reaction to success; the fear of success.
How Does the Fear of Success Create Feast or Famine Months?
Let’s take myself for example. Prior to going into coaching full-time, I noticed that I was operating under an income ceiling. If I hit that number or close to that number, I somewhere managed to create lower numbers the next month. No matter how hard I thought I was trying or what I told myself, I just never got above that income ceiling.
It was as if I’d hit my income goal and immediately pull back like I had touched a hot iron. Have you ever wondered why you consistently make the around the same amount of money or less?
Let’s say you want to make $5000 per month and for the last six months you’ve been around $4,300 to $4900… no matter what you do.
I noticed it in my business and with my client’s too. Most importantly, it was happening to my inner circle…. What’s that thing about you been the average of the top 5 folks you hang around?
Why was this happening to me?
Fear of Success. Fear of being seen. Fear of making money. Fear of playing big. Fear of earning more self-made money than I was comfortable with. Fear of being corrupt or greedy. Fear of being bad.
And the big one? Who did I think I was? Who gave me permission to earn money?
Forget the whole God is my source – I am abundant line I love to tell myself.
When my limiting beliefs kick in, I crawl back into my “I’m not enough,” “I’m not worthy” and “I don’t deserve this” cage.
I wait patiently for someone to give me permission to step out again. Owning my value or my brilliance becomes a distant memory.
As I worked with my clients and my own mess with my coach, I noticed that by avoiding routine or structure, I was subconsciously creating the resistance and feast or famine months, and repelling the very things I wanted.
I was swimming in a sea of competing intentions. Intellectually, I want to make X amount of money, while subconsciously telling myself, “nah, not happening. You can’t handle that. You’re not ready for that. You can’t even manage the stuff you have to do now.”
How was I using the “Start Stop” game to create feast or famine months? It was easy.
I’d create 3 clients in one month, and in the next, I’d tell myself, “well I got three clients last month, so I don’t really need to do anything this month.” I thrived on inconsistency because I absolutely hate routines. I’m an artist. I don’t want to be tied down.
Some months were good. Others were bad. I was never really sure when bills would get paid because client creation and payments were always so erratic. I created only when I was in the mood. Both in my coaching and fashion business. And the dismal numbers showed it.
I felt like I was constantly on a roller coaster, but I convinced myself that at least I was FREE.
Initially, I committed to posting an article to my blog every Tuesday, but I’d do it only once a month because well, I’d tell myself I had posted 5 last month. That should balance everything out.
I committed to having 3 consultations every week. I was so inconsistent, I’d end up doing 10 one month, and 3 the next.
I committed to sending newsletters out twice a week, but I’d rock it one month and send out only 1 the next.
I was subconsciously making the choice to grow my business on shaky ground AND somehow I really didn’t appreciate the consequences of my actions on my life and business.
At one point, I thought my coach would fire me. I continuously resisted creating a plan or even just writing down my goals.
But it wasn’t working. I dreaded my to do list and volunteering became a chore because I was always worried I should be working on my business.
And then my coach asked me what I would do if I was my own client.
Does Routine Lead to Success?
So, I created a plan, a structured routine of my top 3 daily goals, and set a viable schedule for myself in both my personal and professional life.
It was amazing.
I created 6 extra volunteer hours per week and more time with my daughter.
I created consistent clients monthly.
I became someone who really wanted to create the impact I had committed to when I first made the decision to become a coach. I became my word.
I was inspired, productive and enjoyed my business. I created more ways to be of service AND alternate streams of income by writing my first E-Book, a Free 7-Day Mini Course and a 10x Money Mindset Membership site for Women Entrepreneurs and Coaches.
I went from sleeping 2.5 hours per night to 5 hours.
I created an extra 5 hours for my fashion business.
I found my zone of genius and created a work schedule that empowers me to work 4 days a week, 3 weeks per month.
Routine gave me freedom to create the dream life and business I desire. I no longer need those long to-do lists that never seemed to get done. I now do things when I feel like it (on schedule) and I still get all those core, routine, mundane tasks that need to get done in my life and business, done.
No more power leaks. And I’m learning to take tiny, consistent actions each day toward building a 10X business I love.
While I’m competently self-sabotaging in other areas (working on noticing those), I’m very proactive about being consistent with my spiritual and meditation goals, income goals, client goals, vacation goals, wellbeing and time goals, life goals, relationship goals, and charity goals.
Every now and I then I feel myself letting go of things that are currently working to slip back into my comfortable “I hate routine” cocoon, but I catch myself, notice it and ask myself what I need and who I want to be to step into my greatness?
I’m definitely not going to attract or create my ideal, premium clients from running around ragged with a “Pseudo-Free” mentality.
I notice that the clients who shift their mindset around this form of self-sabotage also increase their business, impact, time productivity and joy significantly.
Does this work for Everyone?
Every entrepreneur is different. Every client is different. I recommend being and doing what serves you best. This is what worked for me. I cut myself slack when I slip up because I’m human.
So next time you’re consistently hitting a ceiling, I invite you to consider what you’re afraid of. What are those tiny gremlins saying to you?
Ask yourself what support you need to take your power back.
Would a structure work for you?
What would that look like?
What support you need to create structure and routine so that you can take full advantage of the freedom, impact, money and service that this entrepreneur path provides.
Who would you be if you were a leader in your business? What would you create? How will it impact your life? How will it impact your clients?
Where Else Is This Showing Up?
Money mindset gremlins are not limited to money. It’s just the easiest most quantifiable place to see them.
Consider where else in your life you are avoiding structure and the spiritual, financial, emotional, mental and physical impact it has on your life, business and relationships.
What is Possible?
I invite you to consider what is possible if you believe that it’s safe to have some form of structure so that you can create a 10X life and business.
What is possible if you believe you deserve it AND you’re worth being everything God created you to be?
Cheers to your fabulous Success!
I’m MiMi Dabo and I support Women Entrepreneurs who struggle with Creating Premium Clients and Charging their Worth, to Confidently Package, Price, Market and Sell their Services to their Ideal Clients in a Profitable Niche.
I help them to ditch the crappy Money Blocks and stories, and package their services into irresistible high-end offers for their ideal clients, raise their prices or charge what they’re worth, and market and sell with ease so they can radically increase their income – while changing the world in the process. Visit www.lifecoachforwomen.com.
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