business development

3 Questions to Ask Yourself That Will Upgrade Your Coaching & Client Work

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Of course, learning new skills and techniques to use with clients is important and really helps you go deeper and stronger with them. You absolutely need that. But another thing that’s really helpful is simply asking YOURSELF questions that will take you deeper into your own inner wisdom, your own self-awareness, and your own understanding of your client’s situation.

Here are 3 questions I recommend journaling on after EVERY client session you have over the next week or two. You will learn LOADS from this and upgrade your work through it. Eventually, you’ll automatically start asking yourself these questions while you’re actually in session, and be able to fine tune and strengthen your sessions right then and there.

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3 New Developments That Completely Change Your Practice

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Just like every industry, the coaching and transformation industries go through different cycles and stages of evolution that are critical.

Right now, we are going through MASSIVE developments that are changing EVERYTHING about the industry. The more you know and understand what these developments are, the better equipped you’ll be to grow a business with staying power.

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A Not-So-Secret Ingredient to my Coaching Secret Sauce

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My first business coach, who in so many ways was truly a wonderful coach and mentor, taught me a lot about boundaries. She was the first person to really open my eyes to the dangers of over-giving and allowing yourself to be treated (or treating yourself) like a doormat.

I will be forever grateful for all she taught me in this area. I really learned how to respect my time and respect my boundaries because of it.

But.

And this is a big “but”.

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I was scared to post this….

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In lieu of a full blog post, I wanted to share with you a recent post I wrote on Facebook.

I was scared to hit post on it because I know it’s a little controversial….
and I wasn’t sure if it would trigger some people…
but I ultimately decided to post it because I feel so strongly about it.

It’s about coaching & coaching skills & ethics & so much more.

You’ll see it got some attention and a lot of folks commented very passionately on it.

Here it is: https://www.facebook.com/joanna.lindenbaum/posts/10155812738623437

Would love to hear your thoughts!

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of the Coaching Industry

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More and more women who come to me start by saying they don’t really trust the coaching industry.

They share that the marketing they see feels really glitzy and sales-y, as if celebrity coaches are inflating what’s possible as well as what’s really happening in their own business.

They tell me they’re scared of needing to have “Hell Yeah” attitudes in order to succeed, or being inauthentic in order to attract clients. They also admit that they feel pressure to spend what feels like a bazillion dollars in order to receive “formulas” that they sense aren’t really for them.

Hearing all this saddens me greatly.

Because I know that there are some not-so-pretty things happening in this industry that I love so dearly. And I also know that those not-so-pretty things are damaging women more than supporting them.

The coaching “noise” is everywhere — over social media, in your inbox, spoken from colleagues. It’s hard to know what’s Truth and what’s not.

If you’ve been part of my community, you know that over the last few years, I’ve spoken out more and more about what I call “glamour coaching” and why it is dangerous.

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Leading your clients when your personal life takes over

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Joanna Lindenbaum and children

A few years ago, while I was leading a group call with nearly 30 women, my parents telephoned me on both my home phone and my cell phone 4 times within about 2 minutes.

I could feel my heart start beating faster as I was coaching. My mother has had MS for 30 years, and there have been many emergencies, hospital visits, and even life-support situations over the years.

A version of me 3 years ago would have tried to ignore her calls until I was done teaching — yet be scared & un-present to my teaching the entire time — because I wouldn’t want to come off as unprofessional.

An even older version of myself would have freaked out completely, told the folks on the call that I needed to reschedule, and then go on to deal with whatever was happening.

Last week, instead, at an appropriate pause in between spotlight coaching moments, I let the women on the call know that my parents had called 4 times and that I was concerned enough to feel I should call back, but that it would only take a moment. I asked everyone on the call to hold for just a minute and quickly called my mom. There was a slight emergency situation, but nothing very serious. I was able to get off the phone in under 90 seconds, return to my clients with full presence, and then take care of the situation at an appropriate time.

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The Struggle About What To Charge

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In this moment, I can’t actually think of any client I’ve ever worked with that hasn’t at some point wondered or (most likely) agonized over what to charge. And I confess, I certainly have grappled with this many times in the past as well.

The question about where to set your rates brings up a whole slew of internal questions and judgments:

How valuable is my work?

What will people think when they hear my rates?

What are other people in my industry charging?

Will anyone buy from me at all?

Am I undercharging?

Am I overcharging?

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How to Effectively Analyze Your Marketing Efforts

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When your marketing and outreach aren’t yielding the results you want, a common mistake is to try to change everything about the marketing at once — you scrap your launch or your entire funnel or your system for bringing on new clients and you start from scratch.

For example: You send out an email to your community about a new program. The email leads readers to your sales page, and you don’t make too many sales.

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Leading your clients when your personal life takes over

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Joanna and her kids

Last week, while I was leading a group call with nearly 30 women, my parents telephoned me on both my home phone and my cellphone 4 times within about 2 minutes.

I could feel my heart start beating faster as I was coaching. My mother has had MS for 30 years, and there have been many emergencies, hospital visits, and even life-support situations over the years.

A version of me 3 years ago would have tried to ignore her calls until I was done teaching — yet be scared & un-present to my teaching the entire time — because I wouldn’t want to come off as unprofessional.

An even older version of myself would have freaked out completely, told the folks on the call that I needed to reschedule, and then go on to deal with whatever was happening.

Last week, instead, at an appropriate pause in between spotlight coaching moments, I let the women on the call know that my parents had called 4 times and that I was concerned enough to feel I should call back, but that it would only take a moment. I asked everyone on the call to hold for just a minute and quickly called my mom. There was a slight emergency situation, but nothing very serious. I was able to get off the phone in under 90 seconds, return to my clients with full presence, and then take care of the situation at an appropriate time.

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Why I work on some evenings these days…

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Last week was Autumn Equinox which — among other things — is all about the energy of Balance.

During the time of the Equinox, the daytime hours are exactly as long as the night-time hours. The Earth is in a beautiful moment of balance between light and dark, Winter and Summer, inner and outer energy.

So this is a wonderful moment to reflect upon how you are creating balance in your life and in your business.

Balance is one of the most important elements of any successful and happy business. And when things aren’t in balance, you feel off, resentful and most likely are not creating what you want. For example:

–Working so much that you don’t have enough time for rest, self-care, family or the other priorities in your life
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