Ep 10: How I went from employee to entrepreneur & built my coaching business!

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Have It All Podcast brought to you by me, Emma Naylor, Life Purpose and Career Coach. This podcast is for the ambitious and motivated individuals who are ready to take the next step in their life and turn their dreams into their everyday reality. To guide them to live a life of fulfillment within their career, purpose and beyond, and to show them that you really can have it all.

Welcome back to the youe can have it all podcast. This week I'm going to talk around how I went from an employee to an entrepreneur and built my coaching business. One of the most commonly asked questions that I get in my DMs or whenever I put question time up on my stories is how did I go from working full time to to coaching full time in such a short time period? And in this episode, I really, really want to share with you honestly and truthfully what I did that worked, what I did that didn't work. And if I was to start again, what would I do differently? So I'm going to take you back to December 2020. I just bought my dream home, adopted my dog from Greece, and had always said once I felt settled in my personal life I would take a leap with work. Now I was sat in my home going to a job every day that didn't fulfil me and I knew it wasn't forever. I knew at some point I'd have to take this leap and make change, but I had no idea where to start. So Fast forward to January 2021. I invested in a mindset coach. So I invested in a coach for myself who has actually become a wonderful friend of mine now. I invested in this coach and I decided that I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, what the blocks were that were coming up, why these blocks were there, and fundamentally work through these blocks in order to be able to take that next level in my career and in my life. I always knew that I wanted to be a coach, but I let the fear, and I'm sure there's so many of you that resonate with this. I let the fear of what others were going to think about me stop me from actually doing it. I wanted to become a coach many, many years ago and I let the fear of others opinions stop me. So once my coach and I had established that I wanted to go down the coaching route, I decided I wanted to launch a podcast. So this podcast that we're talking about was once called All Is Wellness and I decided that I wanted to launch a podcast. I wanted to start putting myself out there so I pretty much took action really, really quickly. Was I scared? Was I petrified? Absolutely, I was. But because I'd started doing the work on myself, I was able to separate that anxiety and that fear and, and actually be able to step into that higher version of myself and be able to put myself out there and start showcasing what I could do, start putting myself out there, start getting a name for myself. Once that podcast went out, I knew that I wanted to share and support people and help people, and that's when it really solidified with me that coaching was what I wanted to do. So in April 2021, I invested in a course called the Killer Coach Course with Becky Raybon at Get Lit. I invested in that and I knew that that was going to take me from A to B to show me how to start a coaching business. In May, I invested in my coaching accreditation with the Coaching Masters. And then in June, I quit my full time job. So for a lot of people, that's very, very quick. It's very, very quick to go from deciding in January that I wanted to be a coach to quitting my job in June. Now, did I quit my job and go coaching full time? No. I took a role that covered my bills, that covered the expenses and the outgoings that I had to pay every single month. Was it a massive shift from what I was used to making to suddenly making? Yes. The lifestyle that I was able to live had to change, but I knew that by making this sacrifice in the short term, I would be able to. To reap the benefits in the long term. So I literally had a job, a part time job where I worked 20 hours a week, covered my bills, covered my expenses. So I knew that at the end of the month, everything was covered. There was no luxuries, there was no holidays, there was no trips. But as I said, I knew that this was going to be for a short term, short period of time. In August 2021, I was accredited as a coach. And. And three days later, I signed my first client. The reason I believe I was able to sign a client three days after accrediting as a coach was because I had been showing up and embodying that higher version of me, the version of me that was a coach, that version of me that was already showing up as the next level of myself. Did it feel uncomfortable? Did it feel very unnatural? Absolutely. But once I signed that client, I looked back and realized that that version of me had existed. Whether or not I had signed a client, I was already a coach. I was already a podcast Host I was already embodying all of those skills and I had all of the knowledge that I needed. A piece of paper for me in this industry was really important. I wanted that accreditation and that certification. And again, I've gone on to do the NLP and do other certifications as well. But the reason that it was such a big moment in my life was because once I'd had that piece of paper, I was able to fully embody being that coach. And therefore, once I signed that client, I had that realization of this is exactly what I'm meant to be doing. But it wasn't just an overnight thing. The work had been building up over the months before. So in August and in September, I started signing clients. I was working clients one to one. In October of 2021, I was invited by Becky to be a coach on the kcc, which for me was a real big circle moment where I was able to support other women who were in my position that only a few months ago I was in that exact same place. And it was amazing to be able to hold that space and talk about the success that I'd had in such a short amount of time and really hold that space and show them that that was available for them. The end of 2021 was a really interesting year because it was the real first kind of few months that I was actually doing this full time. I didn't have that kind of part time job anymore. I was working, just coaching full time and I was actually making enough money to be a coach full time. Now when it got to January 2022, I really knew that 2022 was going to be the year that I was going to solidify and really mark my name in the coaching industry. And in January 2022, I hit my first 10k month. Now, I'm not the sort of coach that will always talk about 10k months, 5k months, you know, 20k months. For me, that's not the reason I started coaching, and we'll talk about that a little bit later. But the reason that I want to bring that up was because in such a short amount of time, from when I decided I wanted to be a coach in January 2021 to January 2022, I had been able to move through so many different levels and so many different steps, stages of myself that I truly, truly believed and truly, truly knew that this is what I meant to be doing. And the biggest shift for me was the mindset. One, yes, you can learn all about the, you know, the practices that you do. You can get accredited, you can have a great website, you can have social media. But for me, the biggest shift that I've had is the one in my mindset. It's truly, truly believing that this is what I was put here to do. And once you have that shift, everything changes within your business, within yourself, with how you show up, with the boundaries that you set. And for me, that was such another really pinnacle moment in my business that just showed me again, Emma, this is exactly why you're meant to be here. The start of this year has been absolutely great in terms of the business. There's been a few personal things that have been going on, and I'm very, very thankful that I've been able to take a pause on my business and step away. And my business hasn't been too affected of the fact I had to take a few weeks off, as I said, to deal with some personal stuff going on. But the beauty of that is running your own business and being your own boss. You are able to take a pause when you need to. You're able to take that break when you need to. And for me, again, it really solidified why I want to be my own boss and running my own business. More recently, in March, I launched my first group coaching program, which, if you have never done that, is quite an interesting and daunting experience when you're just focusing on one to one. Of course, you're sort of just signing one client and you don't need to be building out this group. When you are launching a group coaching program, it's really, really reliant on how many people you're getting in the group. You know, you don't want to be launching a group coaching program with one person. This is where I really had to trust that the right kind of clients would be drawn to me. And actually, on one random Friday, just after the launch, I got two Clarity calls booked in on the same day. Both of them had calls, signed on the spot, paid their deposit, and they were the second two people in the group. Because I really believe that I moved away from that needy energy, from that pressure, from that stress and truly, truly trusted. I know that this program is going to attract the right people. This program that I'm building has been built for the people that need it. And I really, really trusted that the community that I built, the people that were seeing it, were going to be the right people to come into the program. And they were. We have one spot left on that program and then we'll be closing it, and then we're figuring out if we're going to be relaunching it, if we're going to be doing it on Evergreen. But that is a discussion for another episode. More recently, I've been invited to come back as a KCC coach again. And for me it's really interesting because it's really been a whole year since I started investing in myself as being a coach. So this time last year I had just started the KCC and I'm so humbled that I've been asked to come back again so and support another group exactly where I was a year ago, full of fear, full of, you know, anxiety, full of unknown questions, full of, you know, fear of what the next step looked like. And in June this year, I will be celebrating one year of self employed, which is absolutely crazy. And it's really interesting to look back when I share this story about how quickly things have moved because this time last year I was sat, having no idea what the next year would look like, having just invested in myself and fully taking that leap of faith, not actually knowing what was on the other side. So what I really, really wanted to do was share how I got there. So I really wanted to obviously sort of talk you through my timeline because I think it's quite important to see how, how quickly things move for me, which also shows any of you out there who are in the position that I was a year ago, this time next year things can look completely, completely different. And the best time to take action is right now. If you've been questioning, should I do this, Should I not do it? Should I take the leap? Why do I keep questioning it? There's that niggling feeling. And I had that niggling feeling for so many years and didn't do anything about it. And it's so important to listen to that niggling feeling and go, you know what? This is exactly what I'm going to do. I'm scared, I'm fearful, I'm full of anxiety. But I'm going to take the first step and then the rest of the path is going to follow. So as I said, I'm going to share with you how I got there. So the first thing was I got really, really, really focused on what my goals were, what my drivers were, you know, why I wanted to do this and why it was so important for me. I set myself a goal of six months and said, I'm going to get my head down, I'm going to work, I'm going to make the commitment to doing it. Now. One of the big things that I had to do was I had to figure out, right what is important now. Did that mean sacrificing things financially? Did it mean sacrificing some time that I needed to do? Now, I'm not saying that you have to lock yourself away for six months, spend no money, not see any friends, but it definitely was something I needed to do in terms of sacrificing going out for dinners all the time, buying coffees all the time, spending all the money freely like I used to when I was in a full time job, having taken a role that just covered my bills, I was in a position where I needed to be a little bit more careful. But I knew that it would pay off in the long run. I had this trust in this feeling that I knew by making this commitment and the sacrifice for a short period of time, I would be able to reap the benefits in the future. So for me, getting really laser focused and putting the things in place was a massive, massive catalyst for me being able to even start my journey. The second thing was investing in myself time and time again. I've worked with multiple coaches since the start of my journey and I'm continuously doing both the inner work, but also furthering my education with the accreditation, with the nlp, with further life coaching program courses, with doing the mindset work, with doing the inner work, with investing in a breath work coach. All of these things were something that I needed to continue doing. Because you've probably heard this time and time again, the work is never done. We are constantly a work in progress and it's very easy when we get to that point that we think is the end goal to stop doing the work on ourselves. There are so many free resources out there. You don't constantly need to be investing in a new coach and paying thousands of pounds every time. But you do continuously need to find meditations that work for you, breath works on YouTube that work for you for free masterclasses. It's constantly evolving yourself to get to that next level. One of the things I also did that massively helped was saying no to things that were not going to move my business forward. Something that I was really good at. I was good at taking on lots of new opportunities and I really do believe that allowed me to get where I am today. But I also did say yes to a lot of things that I probably shouldn't have said yes to. So I always ask you to sort of ask yourself, is this opportunity getting me closer to my goals? And if it's a hard no. Then make sure that you pass on the opportunity and spend more time on the things that are actually going to get you to the goals that you have already laid out. One of the other things that I did very, very, very, very well, I believe, and I'm a very outgoing, extroverted person. So for me, this comes very, very naturally, was I networked like crazy. I got on podcasts, I got in front of the right people, I put myself forward for things, I got support groups, I supported myself with the right people, surrounded myself with the right people as well. And for me, I really got in front of the right people and had the right conversations with people, even if it was just an initial chat or reaching out or engaging with them or I really wanted to be at the forefront of a lot of people's minds. And that's how I got the KCC coach position, because I was able to put myself out there in front of Becky and her team and engage. And every time there was an opportunity to do something, I was always the first to put my hand up and volunteer. So for me, that was a really big thing that I believe I did very well at the beginning of my journey. For me, this piece of advice is something that I heard really early on, which actually I do believe is probably one of the biggest playing factors in how I've grown my business and how I have been successful in such a short amount of time, is to keep showing up even when it gets hard and even when you don't want to. And when I talk about things getting hard and getting difficult in this industry, you can have clarity calls. And this is something I really struggled with at the beginning. I'd have a clarity call with someone, then I wouldn't hear from them, I wouldn't hear from them. And the easiest thing is to go, they don't think I'm good enough as a coach. They don't want to work with me. Maybe I shouldn't be a coach. And it's very easy to spiral now. I've been able to talk myself away from that because of the inner work that I've done. I would also be lying if I didn't say to you that in the early days, there were definitely days where I would sit there and think, maybe I should just go back to a full time job because it's so much easier. Even though I hated it, it's guaranteed money, I know what's expected of me and it's sort of someone else's problem. When you're running your own business and things don't go to plan. There is no one to turn to apart from yourself. So you really have to be in that headspace where you're able to deal with things when they're not going in the right direction or in the way that you predicted. There are also some days where you get mind blocks. You can't post content, you can't think of anything to say, you don't know what to post on social media. Your brain starts telling you that the market's too saturated, not just in the coaching industry, but any industry. You know, take virtual assistants, for example. It's an industry that's massively booming. And I have clients who are virtual assistants and they'll say to me, no, there's no place for me in the market. You know, no one's going to want to work with me. Why would they want to work, work with me? And it's really easy at that point to pack up and just go, you know what? This is not for me. Interestingly enough, I have seen it recently a lot in the coaching industry where I've come across a lot of profiles where people have been posting consistently, consistently, and then suddenly they've just stopped. And for me, it makes me feel. It makes me feel sad because what happened to this person to make them feel like they were not worthy of continuing what. What happened that blocked them so badly that they felt that they couldn't continue with this business, that they probably have invested so much time, energy, emotions, you know, physically, mentally. One of the things that I have really been able to do is understand that if someone doesn't want to work with me or I don't get an opportunity that I want to do or not, as many people sign up for something, then that's okay. But it has taken me a while and I would be lying again if I would say that there's not some days where things still go a little bit wrong and I feel a bit demotivated, but I'm able to step away and look at the bigger picture and understand that client wasn't meant for me, that opportunity wasn't meant for me. And I'm able to call in the things that I know are meant for me. And again, this is where it comes back to having those rituals, to being able to journal, to write down everything, to be able to step away and compartmentalize what is going on and understand what's in my control and what's out of my control. And that for me has been such a big factor in continuing to grow and continue to carry on even when things get really difficult. I'm now able to do that and continue showing up because I truly, truly, truly believe and truly know that my story, my offerings, will resonate with the right people that are going to turn into my clients and the people that it doesn't resonate with or the people that aren't ready to be my clients are not ready to be my clients. And that's nothing to do with me. So that was such a big lesson to learn really early on. But it's also something that day in and day out, I have to keep remembering and focusing on when things get hard. I have to and want to keep showing up and driving this business forward because I truly know that this is what I meant to be doing. And I'm not going to let one person not wanting to work with me or one person not signing up derail what I'm doing. So now to the really juicy bits of what I would do differently if I was to start again. So first of all, I would not be so worried and enjoy the journey more. I spent so many hours and so much time worrying about where my next client was coming from, worrying about if this client was going to sign up with me, really worrying about the next few months. And actually, I look back now and I do wish that I had enjoyed the start of the journey a little bit more rather than really just focusing on the future. The second thing would be celebrating my wins. Something I struggled with early on was celebrating my wins. And to be perfectly honest, it's something that I struggle with now. My expectations for myself are very, very high, some may even say a perfectionist. For me, I have very high standards for myself. And it's interesting because when I was at school, I did not. It wasn't until I really started doing something that I loved that I set those standards really high for myself. And I do often have to remind myself to celebrate my wins, celebrate the small things, the big things, and everything in between. We really need to start reminding ourselves of how amazing we are, even for the smallest things. Showing up on an Instagram story win. Those were things that I used to just think were standard. But if I look back at the beginning of my journey, the thought of showing up on an Instagram story was petrifying. And yet when I did it for the first time, I never celebrated it because I thought it was just standard in what everyone did. So celebrating my wins would be something I would start doing earlier on. I would also not put so much pressure on myself. And I think that goes Back to the perfectionist. Putting so much pressure on ourselves, we can easily fall into that lack mentality, to that needy energy, which in turn means we're not going to attract the right clients, which in turn then means we're going to put more pressure on ourselves because we're not attracting the right clients or attracting any clients at all. It's a bit of a catch 22, but it's about really enjoying the process, trusting the process, not putting so much pressure on yourself, and really trusting that actually the people that are meant for you are going to find you. I wouldn't spend so much time on my colors and branding and website because that for me evolves as I go. I spent so many hours making sure that my website looked a certain way when actually most of my clients, when I've spoken to them, have never actually seen my website. Most of them come through Instagram and then they have a conversation with me and they don't look at my website because they're building that relationship with me, not through my platform. However, I would definitely recommend having a website. I just wouldn't spend a as much time as I did. The final thing that I would have done differently was definitely, definitely, definitely show up sooner. As a coach, I was so petrified of what other people would think, of what my friends would think, of what my family would think, that when I first started the KCC back in April last year, when my coach would post a picture on her Instagram story, I would turn my camera off and ask her not to tap tag me. That's how petrified I was of other people seeing what I was doing. I was so riddled with fear. And actually once I told everyone they were so supportive and even if they're not supportive, that's nothing to do with you being able to show up authentically as yourself, as that next version of yourself earlier on in your journey is going to allow you to start embodying that version as soon as you start. So. So for me, that would be my biggest, biggest piece of advice. Start showing up as whatever it is that you're doing. If you're a yoga instructor, if you're a virtual assistant, if you're a marketing manager, social media manager, start showing up as that version of yourself. Even if you're still studying, even if you're still learning, even if you're still very, very early on in your business, you want to start showing up as that version of yourself from day dot. So just want to give you an update of where I am today and things that are going on in my business. This is all possible for you. And as I said, this time last year I was in such a different position. So I'm working with a number of one to one coaching clients. I'm finishing up with a few at the moment, but I have been at full capacity, which has been amazing. I'm not currently working on any other side projects. I am coaching full time. I've recently launched my mastermind that will be starting at the beginning of May. And as I said before, we have one spot left. The things that I'm working on for the future, I'm working on really scaling that one to one to make it that high ticket program. I'm also looking at continuing my group coaching. I've really enjoyed building out the group coaching program. I absolutely love holding space for multiple women at the same time. And there's plans for me to potentially turn that into Evergreen, to turn that into a program where people can join at any time. And there's also another program, a shorter program that's also in the works at the moment. So things in my business are growing, things in my business are evolving. And if you had asked me this time last year where I would be in my business, I would absolutely have not said where I am right now. It's still very interesting when I say I'm proud of myself because there's still this inner voice that says to me, don't be arrogant. You're so arrogant you shouldn't say you're proud of yourself. But actually I am proud of myself. As I said, I'm proud of myself for showing up even when it's gotten hard. I'm proud of myself for saying yes and taking opportunities even if I felt like I had no idea what I'm doing. And I'm proud of myself for continuing to grow and doing the inner work on myself. I really wanted to share this journey because there are so many women out there who are sitting on the fence saying, I know that there's something else available for me. I know what I want to do, but I don't know where to start. I don't know how to take that leap and quite frankly are absolutely petrified. If there's anything that you're going to take from this podcast today, it's that I want you to take that leap. I want you to give yourself permission to move away from where you are right now and take that first tiny little step. It doesn't have to be the full jump. You don't have to know exactly how the path of the road is going to look. But by taking that first step, the rest of the path will come. And that is something I promise you. Unless you take the first step, nothing is going to change. So I really hope this episode has inspired whoever has listened to it, and that you are going to put that work into action. You're going to take that first step, and that this time next year, you're going to look back and be so thankful that you took action, even though you felt you weren't ready. I hope you all have a beautiful rest of your week, and I will see you next week for another episode.

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