Case Study: Nikki Lerner, Culture Coach

Hey everyone, Scott Perry here, Chief Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose, with one of my most successful coaching clients and favorite people, Nikki Lerner, to share a little bit about her experience with our long-term coaching relationship. Nikki, thanks so much for joining us today.

Hey, thanks Scott.

So tell us a little bit about you, your business, and what you do.

Sure. Um, well, I'm based in Columbia, Maryland, and I am a culture coach. And what I do is I build multicultural leaders. It is the, the skill set that leaders will need not only now but into the future to stay relevant. And so I work to help awesome impactful leaders do that and build that skill. And I also help organizations as a whole move from historically monocultural to healthy multicultural in their work and in their life.

Yeah, I love the work you do and the difference you make, Nikki. What was the, um, what was the biggest challenge that you were facing when you came to me and we started working together?

I didn't know what I didn't know, uh, and, and that felt like a, like a heavy weight on me, um, and actually was keeping me, I believe, from moving forward. It was actually one of my greatest fears when I opened up when I started working for myself was I was afraid that I was going to make a decision or not make a decision based on information that I didn't know. And so I was really looking for someone to walk alongside of me. I didn't even know this kind of coaching existed, Scott Perry, really. But I was looking for somebody to walk alongside of me who was ahead of me just so that I could at least try to mitigate that risk that I was feeling in some way. So that was really my biggest problem, honestly.

And you and I have been working together for a long time when we often are trying to recollect how long it's been. I actually looked at my Google Calendar. Do you know how long it's actually been?

No.

It will be 3 years in just a few weeks. And—

Wow!

I, when I reflect back, I see that quite a bit has changed because you've changed, not, uh, you've changed a little bit about the way that you were working because back then you were working much more as kind of a one-on-one, almost more of a life coach type of situation and not doing the work that you were doing. Um, now do you remember, do you remember why specifically you chose me as a coach and decided to work together?

Ooh. Well, you know, initially when I was exposed to you, Scott Perry, and the couple of calls that I had been on with you through another program, the language and the vocabulary that you used to describe the kinds of work we were doing was totally new for me. And that was one of the things I thought, wow, I'm intrigued. Every time this guy speaks, like, I'm intrigued or I feel like, huh, I didn't, never thought about it that way. Or there was some new frame or something like that. And I was drawn to that. And along with that is, you know, I tell people when I talk about you, 'cause I talk about you a lot to my friends, that, while I think you and I being creative people share a lot of the same love for certain things, you are not like me at all. I mean, and what I mean by that is the way that we see what we do, the core of it is very similar, but the framing and the expression of it is very different. And that is also what drew me to you is I need somebody that sees things differently than I do, not the same, in order to challenge me and to keep things interesting in my world. And I needed that. And third, Scott, I don't know if I've ever told you this, but, and this is an intangible, there was something inherently about you that I just trusted. When I was exposed to you, I thought, I just feel like this guy is authentic, uh, that he's showing up. This is what you see is what you get. Uh, and that made me feel like I could trust you.

Yeah. Well, I remember back in those days, so just for reference, Nikki and I first collided in Seth Godin's Freelancer Workshop, which I was a head coach in for several years. And, um, yeah, I remember I— you were one of the more memorable students in that first cohort. Uh, You were there at every meeting, ready to do the work, always eager and open for having people reflect what they were seeing in your work and wanting insight into, you know, how you could grow into your potential as a freelancer. So I was thrilled. I remember when you reached out to me to consider a coaching relationship, and I'm more, you know, I remember the challenges at the beginning. And I'm just wondering if there was anything in particular, because again, we've been working together for a long time. So was there anything particular early on that really helped you? And why do you think it was so effective?

I think much of your messaging around just, you know, what you always term as the smallest viable step, was just so empowering to me. You know, the way that I'm wired, I'm a visionary. I'm a big picture kind of person. I love living in the clouds and in the future and the, you know, all of this. I love that. But sometimes I can, uh, get overwhelmed if I start thinking about too many steps. Um, and one of the most important things for me was the way that and this is why I say you're not like me, is the way that your brain is able to analyze and break down, okay, here's the big vision. Now, how do we get there? And what are the steps? I needed that so much to take it out of my head, to try to get, you know, we've been working on this, try to get unattached emotionally to too much, 'cause I can get very attached. You know how many times you talk me off the ledge about some things? Those are the things that have been the most powerful for me, particularly at the beginning, is really saying, oh my gosh, I could actually do this thing, whatever that thing is, because Scott keeps wooing me into the smallest viable step. Yeah. And once I do that, then it's okay, what's the next step? And I have needed you to do that for me because at some level, Scott Perry, as you have invited me into the small steps, it has actually created space and allowed me to stay who I am in the big vision. I've never actually verbalized that until this moment. Uh, but it's like this dual nature, right? Where I don't feel like I'm going to get lost in the steps because you're walking alongside with me. So I can actually stay in the dream and the vision phase because I know that you're leading me somewhere as well, uh, in those steps.

Yeah, well, what I love about that reflection is it's something that I try to do with every client, which is to help people become fully— embrace fully their hidden wholeness and step fully into their power and their agency over their the way they see themselves, the world, others, and, uh, and the possib— and then stepping, like, like you said, we talk a lot about what's essential and how do we learn to do it effortlessly. I think you probably say that in almost every session.

Yeah, pretty much.

What do you think, um, you know, just in general— so again, almost be 3 years and a couple of weeks, um, what's happened for, for you over that span of time in working together?

Oh gosh, man, it's been, it's been quite the 3 years. The things that are on top of my head is one, I will say that my investment of time and financial resource and energy with, with you is one of the best investments I make, period. And that I've ever made. And as long as you'll have me, like you're stuck with me, man. And working with you, I believe has been one of the most important factors of the success that I've had as a person and then flowing into my business. So I can say that. So the second thing I'm thinking of is, you know, so much of our conversation, Scott Perry, if I could boil it down, is you saying, go, go, go. I mean, there's more words than that, uh, but that's how I feel after our conversations just in general. And again, I need that. I need someone to just say it. I mean, I have my own self-motivation, and it's really great to have somebody outside of your own head saying, go, go, go, or you can do it, or of course, of course, this just makes sense. My business has grown, particularly in the last 2 years, exponentially. My gosh, it's probably grown 100%, you know, 3, 4 times than it did when I started with you. I think when I started with you, as you said, I had a couple of one-to-one clients and a handful of speaking engagements. And now I've got long-term, long-contract clients who are investing financially at a level that I like and they like. We're doing really good work together. I'm able to pass along my best ideas and my best work to them. And I think the best thing that has happened is that I have— I'm learning, still learning, but have certainly learned to trust myself more. And that is directly connected to the work that you and I have been doing.

Yeah, I love that. And I, you know, just in full disclosure, I remember, well, there's two things. One is the very first session that we had, I remember the big takeaway was I have a podcast that I haven't launched yet and I have some episodes. What do you think I should do? And I was like, launch the damn podcast.

Launch the podcast today.

And I have had a podcast for years before you and I met.

Yeah.

How many downloads on average does your podcast, each podcast episode get now?

Um, between, between about 150 and 200 downloads a week. Yeah.

It's, it's 200 to 250. I know this. And my podcast gets 25 downloads per episode. So you have 10x'd my achievement as a podcaster and then you have reached, you know, a, a, a financial level that has, I'm quite sure, surpassed my own. And that's, you know, one of the things that I love most is seeing my clients do far better than even they could have imagined. I remember when those hard conversations about your, I think, $100 an hour one-on-one coaching sessions, and to think, you of where you are now, it's, it's, it just really, uh, it, you inspire me and the, and the way that you have stepped into your power and really made change happen. Um, and so how, how, how has your life changed as a result of, you know, the, the changes that you've gone through and the growth that you've had in your, in your business?

Well, my life has changed in a sense that I have sense of rest and a sense of peace internally that I am doing the things that I wanted to do, uh, and that feels amazing. I've, I've, I feel like I'm only on the cusp of really seeing what I could do, uh, but the fact that I'm moving towards it is huge. Um, so there's that. The second thing is that myself and my business as a result is very centered and very clear. I know one of the first things that we worked on was, what am I doing? What am I doing? Who do I serve? And, you know, we've gone through different versions of that, but I'm at a place now, 3 years later, where— and I'm sure maybe year 5, it'll get tweaked even more. But at least here in year 3, I'm very, very clear on what is the work that I do, who are the people that I serve, who are the people I do not serve. Because I didn't know that before you and I started talking. You know, just kind of like everybody's my client. That means nobody's my client. But being very clear on my people. Who are the people that I serve? Who are the people that need me? And those, those things are the biggest change, I think, more than anything else to the business that I'm running.

Yeah. Well, just to reflect back, you know, what, what, where do you think you would be now if you hadn't trusted yourself enough to invest, invest in yourself and our work together?

I think I would have been sitting here kicking myself, uh, because I would have been obsessing over money and time and is this the right thing. And, you know, and if I ended up not doing it, I'd be sitting here 3 years later with the same amount of time wondering like, dang, should I work with Scott Perry 3 years ago? You know, that's what I would be doing. So, so there would be that. I certainly think I would still feel like I didn't know what I was doing or felt like I had the permission to do so. And quite frankly, who knows? I mean, a year after I opened my business, I may have gone back to working for someone. You know, I mean, I may go back to not doing this. And being able to work with you and the support Helps give me the confidence to just keep going and saying, no, this is the new normal. No matter what happens, um, this is the new normal that I'm pursuing.

Yeah. Well, thank goodness that you did trust yourself enough to invest in yourself. And, uh, cuz the difference that you make is profound and, and rippling ripples of influence keep spreading. It's just been amazing to watch you continue to have see your impact deepen and widen as, as you've progressed. So just in wrapping up, if, if anyone that's watching this is kind of on the fence about whether they should book a call to talk to me, you know, to book a discovery call and talk about the possibility of working together, and what, what would you say to them?

I mean, do it. What do you, what do you have to lose? Um, you're certainly not going to get worse. By talking to Scott for a discovery call. There's no, you know, there's no pressure. I can tell you that. It's not like I booked my discovery call and then Scott was showing up at my house every Sunday afternoon.

Like, I couldn't find out where you live.

That's right. That's right. Like, are you ready? Are you ready to go now? Are you ready to do it now? You know, like, there's no pressure. So there's no such thing. You say this, Scott Perry. There's no such thing as a right or wrong answer about booking a discovery call. Like, just do it. 'Cause even if the answer is no, whether from Scott or from you, you still spend, I don't know how long it is, but you spend those minutes together with Scott and he just asks you some great questions. So I mean, you win either way. There's no way to lose even in just booking a discovery call. Like just do it, just do it. It's the, do something for your own business and for yourself.

I really, really appreciate that, Nikki. Nikki, you know that you are one of my most favorite people in the whole world. I am— it is a privilege to be able to meet with you every week and to have been bearing witness to just an extraordinary journey, not just in, you know, you leveling up your, your, your game, your revenue, your client types of clients that you're working with and and so forth. But you just really are making a huge difference in the world. I know that there's even more, uh, great things ahead for you and for the people that you serve. I am deeply and profoundly grateful for this time, uh, with, with you today. Thank you so much.

Thanks, Scott. Back at you.