EP 73: Why I Finally Hired a Coach (And You Should too!)

Ep 73 Why I finally hired a Coach

[00:00:00] All right, Allison here, and we’re getting personal today. Okay. Um, so I wanna know question. How long have you been banging your head against the wall trying to solve the same problem in your business? So I, this episode is gonna be real personal about me and my recent experience hiring a nutritional coach.

It has taught me so much about the parallels in business personally. Um. And to be frank, just a spoiler alert, in six weeks I’ve gotten results that I couldn’t achieve on my own in the last five years. Like coin blank, it’s crazy. So struggle, four or five years I’ve been trying to lose the same 10 pounds I lose two, gained four, and I just waffled back and forth doing all the same things, right?

Lose it, gain it, repeat. Intermittent fasting, carb cycling, keto hormone cycling, calorie counting, MyFitnessPal. Okay. All the things I’ve, that I’ve all worked in the past, right? Plus [00:01:00] some more age appropriate things that were supposed to work and didn’t. So just like in business, I read all the books, I listened to podcasts, I did all the things.

Um,

and just like you probably feel in your own business. You’re reading all the books, you’ve listened to podcasts, I mean, hello, you’re here, you’ve bought courses and maybe even completed a few of them. But the problem isn’t the knowledge. Knowledge and knowing what to do isn’t getting you the results you need.

And that’s definitely how I felt, um, before I hired a coach. So where was my breaking point?

We had an on honest conversation where my coach just straight up said, Allison, you probably know everything already. And [00:02:00] that that was so validating and freeing, like, yeah, I do. I’ve been trying to do this for a really long time by myself, but she was very clear that the value in hiring a nutritional coach was in accountability.

Somebody checking in, somebody getting up in my business and the application of that knowledge at the right time in the right way. So this, I was, I was so refreshed, I felt very validated for her to just be like, yeah, you probably do know everything. Yet here I am still banging my head against the wall, not being able to do what I think should come naturally and easily.

Right? So very much like in our businesses. You don’t need another course. You don’t need another podcast or somebody else to tell you what to do. You’re in the same position, right? You have a head full of knowledge, steps, concepts, ideas, [00:03:00] plans, but nothing’s actually happening. You’re probably spinning your wheels.

And what would it look like for someone to get up in your business and tell you what to do when? How, for how long, how frequently to be the most ex, uh, most effective business woman you can be right? To get the clients faster, to be more profitable, to transition from one genre to another, or one business structure to another.

What would it look like to have somebody up in your business? Just sit with that for a minute. So what, what does coaching actually look like? So. Y you know, we’ve talked about coaching before on this podcast. Melissa and I are both coaches in, in different areas, uh, for the business side of photography.

But when it comes to hiring a nutritional coach, like there are some really strong parallels, right? For one thing, I’m tracking my [00:04:00] data in an app. If my coach can see everything I see. But she had a different interpretation of some of that data. She spots patterns I missed. She can tell when I’m getting close to my limits.

She is seeing the same thing I see. But she sees it differently. So she’s got that fresh perspective, right? She has tools and resources. So I actually, because I’m, I’m working with a coach, she’s got a special app that I wouldn’t otherwise have access to. She’s giving me tools and resources to protein drinks and dessert bars, and things that are gonna help me get my goals without making me feel miserable, right?

Things I’d never heard of. Options, resources, tools. We’re talking about strategies that I’ve never carb, cycling, cheat days, different things on how to apply those to my life to make, make this long-term sustainable. Right? But also, she’s got the experience and the knowledge as an expert to [00:05:00] speak into all of these things, to assimilate all that knowledge that I already had and make it more effective for me personally.

But honestly, I think the biggest. The biggest benefit to hiring this coach has been, um, when I feel defeated. When I feel like, especially in that beginning when you’re, you’re, you feel like you’re doing all the work, but there hasn’t been long enough, you haven’t done it long enough to see any changes or any scale victories or any of that needle literally moving.

It feels demoralizing, right? Like you feel like, oh, I’ve been doing this for two weeks now. There should be something to show for it. And there’s not. She talked me off the ledge. She was able to say, she was able to remind me of normal fluctuations. She was able to keep that bigger picture that I had in mind with some tough love, um, in the forefront of my head, right?

Keeping my eye, my eyes on the prize and keeping me on course instead of just giving up. And. Opening a bottle of wine, which is what I have done in the past and wanted to do in the moment, right? Like [00:06:00] truth be told. But at the end of the day, despite all those benefits, what really motivated, motivated me in the beginning was the money.

I literally was putting my money. Where in my mouth was I was investing in a coach financially, and I. Was more accountable and have been more accountable to my wallet and my financial investment than I have been to my own self and my own goals. Does that make sense? Like I am more willing to work hard and do the work, the dirty work, whether it be unpleasant or not, because I’ve put so much money into this investment.

I, I don’t want to walk away from this without the results I came to get. And so. As sad as it sounds, I think we are all, I think human nature, we are all more accountable to the money we, where we invest than we are to our own personal goals. Um, so I wanted to see [00:07:00] results for this investment and it’s not a bad thing, it’s totally motivating.

So in the same way as entrepreneurs, we are far more willing to invest in a book, a podcast, a course. But we cringe when we look at the price tag of investing in our, in ourselves personally. Somebody to like walk side by side, link arms, dig deep and get into that dirty, gritty mess that is business, right?

So, but I want you to think about it. I want you to like change the mindset on that. Like what is a return on investment mindset? In other words, what is the cost of not hiring a coach? For me personally, it was continuing to gain weight, just getting older and not being able to lose it, um, more efficiently, um, getting bigger, longer, like all these things.

I wasn’t interested in doing all these things that I, I struggled with. That was, I was willing to pay an investing coach in order to avoid[00:08:00]

not reaching my goals. Right. Does that even make sense? So in your business. Like how many sessions are you missing out on? How much profit are you leaving on the table because you’re not changing your structure or you’re not sure how to approach the actual nitty gritty of switching your business structure or pivoting genres.

Like do the math. What if you had a steady stream of clients ready to pay your highest prices? What would that do for you? Like, think about that. What are you missing out on? Because you don’t know what to do next, or you haven’t gotten the support that would get you results faster. So talking about results, six weeks versus five years.

I, in the last six weeks of having this coach, I have gotten lower on the scale than I have been literally in five years. So I danced around at, at my lowest point I got, I got [00:09:00] close. But here in six weeks, I’ve done what I was not capable of doing. In a long time with the knowledge I already had. Right?

Remind you. I haven’t learned anything new. I’m just working with somebody that’s holding me accountable. But what made the difference, right? What has been different about these six weeks? I, I did the work. You know, my coach is virtual. She’s not in person. Like, she’s not doing anything physically for me.

Um, but it was consistency, it was support and it’s accountability, right? It’s the same when you hire a business coach. Hitting your goals, and sometimes the fastest way forward is not investing in tools but yourself. So what area of your business needs a coach? Let’s talk about your, let’s, let’s think about your business right now.

Okay? Knowledge isn’t enough. You need application, and you need accountability to get those results. So where in your business have you been spinning your wheels? What is your quote? [00:10:00] Same 10 pounds in your business, right? What things are you waffling back and forth on? You get somewhere and then you, you make progress, and then you fall backwards.

Or you don’t make progress or you don’t make as much progress as you expected. Are they marketing strategies that aren’t working? Do you have profitability issues? Do you feel like you’re doing all this work, shoot and burn, like doing so much work but you’re not getting profitable enough? Um. Are you restructuring from an all-inclusive model to a hybrid or an in-person sales model?

Um, are you moving your business? Are you moving from one country to the other, another country, one side of the, um, US and Eastern seaboard, or are you moving from sort north to south? I mean, climate changes are gonna really affect your ability to shoot outside at least, um. Or, or are you staying in the same place but you’re completely pivoting genres to account for your family, life’s family, work life balance.

You know, if you’re a wedding photographer and having children, like you don’t necessarily wanna be working all the all weekends anymore. [00:11:00] Right? Especially as kids go to school. If you want to completely shift to something that a school day, um, daytime hours only. That’s a different clientele. Like you might as well be re relocating.

You’re gonna have to shift everything over, right? But those are real reasons to hire a coach so that you can get results faster. So, my encouragement to you quit learning. I know you’re listening to this podcast. Turn it off. Start doing something. Start doing something that’s gonna move the needle in your business.

And. I’m biased, but I think it’s hiring a coach. Um, you, you probably already know everything. Value is in the accountability and, uh, I would say putting your mouth, your money, where your mouth is creates a completely different level of commitment to your goals. So invest in yourself. If y’all have any questions you wanna hire, hire us.

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