I Am the Catalyst for Change!" | Unlocking Lily Ep. 14 | Coaching Journey

Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of Unlocking Lully. So I have a dream to live in a world where we can all move towards our truest potential, which is what led me to leave my corporate job to work and mentor under Evan Carmichael. Today we're building a business around my speaking and coaching, and all of you are invited to join me on my startup journey. So far, all of you have been following my speaking journey. I have spoken at TEDx, I've spoken at congregations and even libraries, and I love it, and I have many more coming my way. But I do have another love, something that brings me a lot of joy and happiness. That is being a coach. I have coached hundreds of people in finding their one word and helping them with their business and life. So today I'm going to share with you how I became a coach. So when Evan Carmichael and I first sat down to strategize how to move my business forward, one of the things that he suggested I do was to be a coach. And I was so reluctant about it because I did not see myself as a coach. I saw myself as a speaker, and it was never part of my plans. To that point, I've only been prepping to be a speaker. I have done workshops in front of large groups of people, so doing one-on-one coaching was something that didn't even cross my mind until he had mentioned it. So I hemmed and hawed for a bit, and eventually I said yes. I said yes because my main objective in going on stage and speaking in front of thousands of people is because I want to be the catalyst to help someone change. I want to be able to show people that they can live their true potential. So really, coaching is no different. I could still do the same thing, just on a one-on-one basis instead of a large group. In addition, I get to take some of the common problems that come up during my coaching sessions and bring them as themes on stage so I could help even more people. So knowing those two things, I took my workshop and I customized it in such a way that was suitable for a one-on-one coaching session. So I set out to do 100 free coaching sessions. And the reason for that is like most new businesses, you want to give out free trials and free samples to see if people actually like it. And see if it's a good fit for them. But obviously the goal is to provide so much value in that free trial or free sample that people would become paying customers for you and even give you some referrals. So we gifted a bunch of free sessions via our contests and promotions. And then the day came, the day of my first coaching session ever. I remember feeling so nervous. I was like, sweating all over the place. In fact, I'm like sweating right now thinking about it. And I was like replaying all of these like worst-case scenarios over and over and over again in my mind. And I was like secretly hoping like maybe he just won't show up. Maybe he'll just cancel last minute, but that's okay. It's okay if he cancels. But he did show up. Not only did he show up, he actually showed up early. And I was really awkward in the beginning, but as the Session went on, I became more comfortable. I found comfort in knowing that I can help him. So during our session, he expressed to me that he's an aspiring entrepreneur and he really wants to start his own business, but he's afraid to leave his job because of his finances. But he also hates his job and he doesn't want to be there anymore. So during our session, we walked through the One Word Process. He ended up discovering what his one word was. And we also strategized how to start his business without risking the finances at the same time. So we ended the call. I felt like it was a great session for me, it was a great session for him. We ended it, it felt great. But it wasn't until the next day when he sent me an update, which was a screenshot of his website that he started for his own business, and there he featured the products that he wants to sell. And he said that it was all because of our coaching session together. And that made me so happy, and it brought me so much joy. And that joy brought me some clarity. That clarity in knowing that this is something I really want to do. It really did fill my soul thinking about it. But I didn't want it to be like a one-off thing. I wanted to get so good that I could become someone's ongoing coach because I want to be with them every step of the way. I don't want them to leave after the first session and not know what's going to happen next. I want to be with them in their journey because I know how lonely it can be to do everything on your own. So I made it a goal to convert every single free session and provide so much value that they'll come back and become my ongoing client and I get to be part of their journey. So I knew in order for me to have people coming back as my ongoing clients, I just needed to get a lot better as a coach, like a lot better. And I knew it was going to take time, it was going to take practice and experience, but I also did not want to wait 10 years before I got there. So I decided to really immerse myself and dedicate myself in becoming the best that I can be in coaching. Coaching. So I sped up the process by doing these following things. Number 1 is I got the help of my mentor Evan. So after every session I would make a list of the things that I did really well as well as the things that I needed improvements on. So he would give me suggestions on all the things that I can improve. And every time he gave me a suggestion, I would go back, apply to the next session, and again and again and again. And I saw that my sessions were getting a lot better thanks to Evan. But in addition to that, I also wanted to get the help of external sources, so I started reading books on coaching. I read 5 books on coaching and how to make myself better. I also did 2 online courses to help my coaching as well. I even spent probably 100 hours dissecting Tony Robbins do his interventions. To really, really focus on what he's doing really well to see if I could bring that to my coaching sessions as well. So I did that over and over and over and over again. And eventually, after 50 sessions, someone asked me to be their ongoing coach. And that made me so happy. I'm like, finally, it is paying off. My goal is finally coming true. But at the same time, I still continue to do my free sessions. And the reason for that is like many businesses, you want to have a steady flow of new people coming through. If you think about a restaurant, they rely heavily on foot traffic for people to come in and experience their service and product and their food too. And if people really like it, they'll come back and become long-term customers. And that's the same for me. I wanted new people coming in and trying my service. And again, providing so much value that they become my ongoing clients. So I kept on doing that over and over and over again. And eventually, one ongoing client turned into two, turned into three, five. And today I have 15 ongoing clients and I get to meet with them on a regular basis to help them with their life and business. And I get to see them change. I get to see them grow after each session, and they give me updates on all the things that they're doing towards their mission and it makes me so incredibly happy. And most importantly, I get to be part of their journey in realizing what they truly want out of life. And that, I don't think there's anything else that makes me happier than knowing that I could be part of someone's life in that sort of way. And I feel like I'm just getting started. So I'm going to still continue to do what I'm doing and I'm going to keep going until I continue to grow that 15 into 20 into 30, maybe 100. I don't know. But all I know is I want to continue to help people and impact the world in a positive way. And the lesson that I learned from this experience is that you have to be flexible and open-minded with your how, but be stubborn in your mission and your why. So my mission was to be a catalyst to help someone change, to really show people what their true potential is. And my how was through speaking, but that didn't really matter whether it's speaking or coaching. It goes all in line with what my mission is. Not only has coaching helped me add another layer to my speaking when I do go on stage, but has shown me something that I never even thought of before Evan had mentioned it. It makes me so happy to be a coach. Like, I love Wednesdays because I get to be a coach and I get to meet with my ongoing clients as well as new clients. I loved it so much that I actually opened up an extra day. I gave up my Saturdays to be a coach because it makes me so incredibly happy. And that goes to show, when you're open-minded enough in your how and your path, you just never know. You might discover something that will give you incredible joy and happiness. And I have a special shout out from Melissa O'Brien. Melissa, thank you so much for being there for me since day one and always writing sweet, supportive comments to help me to keep going. Your presence is much, much appreciated. Finally, the question of the day is, what is your dream business? Write in the comments below and I'll join in on the discussion. Thank you so much for watching and more importantly, being part of this journey with me. It's been 7 months. But I feel like I'm just getting started, and I couldn't ask for a better community than Believe Nation to be part of my journey. So thank you so much again. I will see you guys all very, very soon. Bye-bye. Raise your standard. Apple, at the core, its core value is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better. Not one drop of my self-worth depends on your acceptance of me. I don't ever give up. I'd have to be dead or completely incapacitated.

Hey, Believe Nation, if you want to see my all-time favorite top 10 rules of success, I have a very special secret video for you. These are the individual clips that I have personally learned the most from and applied to my life and my business. Check the link in the description for details.