How Coaching Changed Annabelle’s Life!

All right. Hey everyone, Scott Perry here with another one of my rockstar clients. This is Annabelle. And Annabelle, thank you so much for showing up and letting me ask you a few questions about your experience with our coaching relationship. Before we dive in, please just tell anyone that's tuning in, who are you? What do you do? Where can people go to learn more about you and the difference you're making?

Great. Hi, Scott. It's great to be with you. And I am Annabelle Kutt. I am a somatic psychotherapist. I have a private practice, and then I also work with therapists supporting their journeys, um, in developing their work as somatic therapists. So the, um, best place to find me, um, is probably the therapist— the website I have for therapists, which is annabellekutt.com. And, um, my private practice is movementmatterstherapy.com.

Fantastic. We'll make sure everyone has links to access those resources. Um, so what was the challenge that you were experiencing before we began our work together?

Yeah, so I've been, you know, working with other professionals has been a passion of mine for forever. Um, you know, so when, when I had the opportunity, I started doing workshops and training and, um, you know, presenting at conferences and doing supervision and consultation, but it's always been sort of on the back burner, and it's always sort of popped onto the front burner for a minute here and there and gotten a little flare, and then, you know, kind of had to burn— put it back to the back burner. So over the years, there was a real sense of, you know, kind of one step forward, two steps back, two steps forward, half a step back. And so like really getting a sense of wanting some clarity in developing the path and in creating real momentum was the, was the real sort of sticking point.

Yeah, I love that. Clarity and traction are, are key themes that keep coming up over and over again. Well, why did you choose me specifically over all the other choices that you had in terms of finding someone to guide you and help you get unstuck and going in the right direction?

Yeah, yeah. Well, first, somebody that I really trust recommended you, so that, that always helps. And, you know, it didn't take very much sort of peeking in your corner to like really get a sense that I liked where you were coming from, that your values and your focus aligned, you know, really well with what was important to me. You know, I was really attracted to the combination of you know, like the values-driven piece, but also the prosperity piece. Like, we're going to do real work and get real stuff done, and we're not going to do it in this like nutty, you know, crazy hoopla, you know. And I like that you're not lingo-driven and like you're a very real human being. You know, I like that you talk about the reason you're doing what you're doing is so that you can have a nap with your grandson. And I'm like, okay, yes, like to, to, to make the work fit the life and not the other way around makes just so much sense.

Well, I really appreciate that reflection because it is my mission in life for more people to build businesses that fund and fit the lifestyle that they actually started their business to fund and fit in the first place.

It was very easy to have those things get lost from one another.

Oh, absolutely. It's easy to, to get off track or lose track very quickly. Was there anything particularly about what we did that you found especially helpful and why do you think it was so effective?

Yeah, I mean, I think, um, my experience of working with you is that you're so much more than just a sounding board. And I feel like a lot of people who, um, support people, whether it's personal or professional, casual or, you know, much more formal, like the sounding board piece is really important. But I also felt like you kind of collected the sounds, so to speak, and started to make a melody out of them. Like there was a sense of like, oh, like let's pull these pieces in and let's let those pieces go. And it wasn't even let's let these pieces go forever, but it's like, I think one of your real gifts is keeping in the center what needs to be in the center right now. Like we're not making next week's dinner, we're making tonight's dinner. And we wanna make tonight's dinner maybe with a thought to how we wanna make dinner in general,, but we're not gonna just get all tripped up in too much stuff at the same time. So I feel like that really, in terms of momentum and traction, was super important.

That's really— I love those metaphors. Thank you for that. Well, what, what's actually happened for you and your business since our work together?

Yeah, I think the main thing is that I do have a lot, um, well, a lot of things. I have a lot more clarity about a lot of things. Um, and I have, um, sort of an interesting combination of more patience with things as well as more willingness to take the next action steps because they feel smaller and doable and more manageable. So, you know, things like, oh, what am I doing with my Substack publication, right? That's, that's an example of one where I still don't have an entire, you know, plan mapped out, but I do have a much greater sense of kind of why I'm doing what I'm doing. And that, you know, kind of keeps the fuel for the fire of consistency and, and curiosity. And then the other piece that I think has been really, really helpful is really getting a huge value out of learning how important it is to follow up on the relationships that are part of the business. Whether it's, you know, a potential, like a little tiny one-off with somebody on a social media situation, or whether it's a deeper relationship with existing clients. About the work, not just doing the work. So that sort of, that it's more than a feedback loop. It's much more of a, it brings an organic sense to the work evolving from the work instead of creating the work and offering it. It's like the work comes from the work and then it goes back into the work.

I love that. You're really speaking to something important to me, which is work-life integration. Like we're not two human beings or we don't have to be two different human beings operating in two different tracks trying to achieve this mythical work-life balance. Like we can be, show up fully in our business and in our personal life for ourselves and for other people. It's a, it's a really powerful frame. So in addition to the clarity and confidence that you have in business direction, um, what has the impact been just, you know, in your life in general, um, that level of confidence and clarity in your direction?

Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing is probably really about like not only how okay it is, but how important it is to simplify. Because that's also helping me see that more and better sort of across the board. That like, why am I making this thing into such a big project over here? Or why am I making such a big deal of this other thing? And, and it really does go to the work-life relationship. I really like your idea of integration. I've been talking about work-life resilience actually has, has been one of my ideas. And so if I'm less feeling pressured about sort of this abstract, I gotta do this, this and this and this, like I get more time, I get more energy. So it really kind of across the board, just that narrowed focus makes more breathing room.

That is really beautiful and brilliant. Um, so where do you think you would be right now if you hadn't trusted yourself enough to invest a little bit into finding that clarity and confidence that you were looking for in establishing business direction?

Yeah. I mean, I think I would be farther back in the, in the process. And I also think that I would, um, you know, do other things also to help support that. But I think that this really has gotten me less stuck in some of the eddies. So I think I would've been more stuck in more of the eddies and the more stuck in the eddies, the less, you know, so it is, it is absolutely a positive feedback loop. Like you get outta something and then you have more to move forward from that and, you know, and that helps, you know. So, um, I think that really, um, it's not so much a specific thing is different. It's like I got, I have more of what I need and less of what I don't.

Beautiful. Well, for anyone, our relationship is, as coach and coachee, started off with a free Catalyst Exchange where we just tried to make, provide you with a little sense of clarity about what you're actually trying to accomplish and where you are and what you already have to help you get there. For someone that's tuning in and checking this out because they want to know if this might be for them, and they're, you know, feeling hesitant about going ahead and just reaching out for that free Catalyst exchange, what would you tell them?

Well, for your sake, I feel a little bit bad about my, my advice because my advice is like, just do it. Like, I don't care if you like what it's about or how serious you are. Like, I feel like, Scott, you give so much. You're so generous with what you have to offer. And I feel like in very small, short ways, you give so much value. Like, you're, you're, you have this ability to sort of like see the tree for the forest, you know, like you really like that tree, that's where we want to focus on. And so if you have one email exchange, like, you get something out of it, and if you have a bunch, you get more, and if you do more, you'd get more. So my advice is like, there's zero, there's nothing to lose, and, and you know, potentially quite a bit to gain.

I love it. Well, of course, I couldn't agree more. Annabelle, I really appreciate— number one, I appreciate the difference that you make in the world. And what a privilege to be able to walk alongside you for the last 30 days or so and helping you establish that clarity and confidence and direction. And so you get real traction and start to build momentum towards, you know, closing the gap between where you are and where you want to be with your business so that you can be a greater value and service to the people that you care about. And I really appreciate the thoughtful responses to just reflections on our relationship over the last 30 days. And I really look forward to continuing to follow your journey and see your continued progress.

Likewise, likewise, really appreciated it.