How to Build a Coaching Business from a €35 Workshop with Vicky Schilling

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re overcomplicating this whole “build a coaching business” thing, this episode is for you!

In this first conversation in the Ripe Practice series, I’m joined by Vicky Schilling: Trust Yourself Coach, author, and someone who has been building her business for over a decade.

What I love about this conversation is how easy and ordinary Vicky's beginning is.

No big leap. No perfect plan. Just a €35 workshop… and a willingness to respond to what people actually needed. 

Vicky generously shares her experience of what it really looks like to build a coaching practice over time, including the doubts, the pivots, and the moment where it all starts to hum! I know you are going to love this one.

Connect with Vicky:

• Website
• Substack & Podcast
• Instagram

***

Apply now for Ripen www.saspetherick.com/ripen 

Join The Coaching Well for Group Supervision here

FREE Private Podcast Bold not Beige: Why your coaching isn’t selling and what to do about it  here

Website: www.saspetherick.com | Instagram:  @saspetherick

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Hello and welcome to Courage and Spice Coaches, where you build your self-belief and your business in under 30 minutes a week. I'm Seth Etherick, your host. I'm a coach, supervisor, and unapologetic self-belief nerd. My mission is simple. I want your coaching practice to feel like a right. Let's go. Okay, folks, this is one of my favourite kinds of conversations, talking to real life coaches about what it's actually been like to build their practice, all the doubts, the decisions, the stuff that worked, the things that didn't. And I'm going to kick off this series with the one and only Vicki Schilling. She's here with us today. She is the Trust Yourself coach. She helps ambitious solopreneurs who are ready to stop hesitating, start leading, like heck here. So in the vibe of my podcast, too. Vicki is a published author. She's got a book called Just Start. She's a podcast and a Substack all about trusting yourself as a business owner. And I know Vicky because she's also a certified self-belief coach. And that's where we got to know each other. To know Vicki is to adore her. So all the way from Dublin. Hi love. We're so glad you're here. Thank you so much for having me. I'm honored to be the first up. Yeah. I just thought I really want to start having proper, real, down and dirty combos about this business called coaching.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Yeah, absolutely. There's so much that doesn't get talked about, and it's nice to actually, yeah, un unveil it all and just show the highs and lows.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Totally. And also I think just the accessibility. Like I think if you're listening in and you're like, oh, I think I might like make the leap, like you might find it's a kind of anticlimactic jump, not a massive parachute build on the way down type leap, you know?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'm sure we'll go into it.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

I hope so. So can you kind of take us back to the beginning? And how did you find your way into coaching? Like, give us give us the the scene, set the scene for us.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Great. Well, I'll try and do the potted version. I always worked in the music industry when I was living in London. Um, and sorry for anyone disappointed that says I'm tuning in from Dublin, but I sound like this. I am British, I was brought up in England, um, and worked in the classical music industry for 10 years. Met an Irishman that refused to leave Ireland, and we did a long-distance relationship for about two and a half years before I gave up trying to convince him he needed to come to London and thought, what the heck, why don't I try living in Ireland? And at the time I was kind of falling out of love with the the music industry, that the part I was in, it was quite commercial, um, and had started blogging, blogging about healthy eating, the kind of stuff that I was going through. I'd just turned 30, I was struggling with IBS and just kind of opened this whole world of people doing something different. I'd been so immersed in the music industry, I was like, wow, okay, this is new. Um, so moved to Ireland and started to kind of suss out like how can I make money here? The industry, classical music industry is not the same, and I kind of wanted to step away from it um while in Ireland. What can I do? I had this blog, I started connecting with people, I started running events, running retreats, and we're still like, what's my thing? Like, what I want to work for myself, I want to help people, I want to have an impact. And I just I couldn't quite see what that was. I didn't want to train as a nutritional therapist. I could see some people had done that, health coaching. I was like, no, that's that's not quite it, that's not for me. So I went to a networking thing, it was actually online, um, uh, an event uh sort of group organized here in Ireland, and someone turned up as the kind of guest speaker for the evening, teaching us all about coaching and what coaching was. And I just sat there and was like, ah, that's it. That that's the thing I've been looking for. That's me. That's how I can help. It's not being a nutritionist, it's not being a recipe developer, it's not being, I don't know, an influencer or a blogger, it's it's it's the coaching bit. And I realized that's actually what was people were asking me for help with, you know, how did you get your business off the road? How did you get your blog working? I was like, I could coach people around this. So I immediately he was setting up a coaching, a kind of arm of Ericsson International Coaching, which is actually a Canadian company, but he was um launching kind of in-person coaching training in Ireland for the first time. So I just that was it, have my money. I signed straight up to the first in-person training and fell in love with it.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

I love that. Do you know so many coaches I talk to have had that experience? I had the same kind of thing. It was like someone put a name to something that I was already mulling around, but I didn't quite have the words for it. And then, did you have that same thing where it was like love at first sight as soon as you start the training?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

The training just blew my mind, absolutely blew my mind. We did three days in person, and the first I just felt like my whole world had changed, the way I listened to people, the way I interacted, the way I understood how how people thought, just and that was on the surface. That was, you know, the first eight hours of training that I've ever had. Like it was unreal. And I just was like, I can't ever do anything other than this, I can't unknow this information. It was it was wild.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

I love that so much. I I had the same experience. It was like, oh my god, I've come home, like these are my people. And then I immediately did that really annoying thing where you then try and coach everyone you know.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

I literally remember doing that, going back to the UK and seeing my friends and sitting around the dinner table and like slowly moving conversations and coaching talk. It's like, oh, God, stop being that idiot. But yeah, I just loved it. Yeah, yeah, I love that so much.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

And so I wonder, was there a moment where you thought, oh, this is actually a business? Like, this is a thing that could work.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

So that was a kind of gradual transition. I had this blog, and then, like I say, people weren't asking me actually about the healthy eating recipes that I was trying to make or how to stock your fridge for you know great gut health or whatever it was that I was desperately thought I I kind of wanted and thought that was the path. What they were asking me was, how did you get the website set up? How did people start paying you for this? How did they how did you do a mailing list, you know, like all of those things? So I ran a little workshop and was like, okay, well, how to start a blog? And people signed up and I just couldn't believe it. I was like, okay, yeah, this is amazing. And actually, then just from a 35 euro workshop, I then thought, right, well, I could lead that into one-to-one coaching where I could coach people, and I'm sure we'll cover this. I was coaching them, um, mentoring and teaching them on a lot of the practical aspects, but using coaching skill to be able to help them through the mindset challenges and the blocks they might be having in setting up their own blog, their own business. And yeah, yeah, yeah. That that was the kind of segue where I was like, oh, people could actually pay me money directly. I don't have to keep contracting, I don't have to keep working for other people. I could actually have my own vision and mission with this. Um, so yeah, it was just a little 30-35 euro workshop that I started doing. I was like, oh, I can actually earn money doing this.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

I love that. And and I wonder, like, do you remember how that felt? Like just to set that up and that people started signing up. Like, can you kind of take us into that, what that experience was like for you?

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Yeah, it's really weird when you say that. I can remember the room I was in, I remember the bedroom, I remember the graphic that I designed. It I can remember it feeling like a real leap. It was a bit like I have no idea if this is gonna work because all I'd ever posted on my Instagram or blogged about to that point was food and recipes, and you know, I'd never really kind of taken it sideways and go, hey, do you want to do what I'm doing? And would you like to create a blog? I it was just that I knew that from the direct messages and the conversations that I was having. So it felt scary, it felt untested. I'd never it sounds really silly, like I'd never earned money for myself, like I'd always earned money by fulfilling, you know, work doing a PAYA job, working for an orchestra, working for an agency, um, you know, kind of assisting and being a contractor. But this was me and like what was in my brain being the thing that I was selling. Um yeah, it felt it felt really, really weird, really crazy, but also then in my flow. I remember being sat on my bed and remember where I recorded it. I've still got the recording, still clips of it that I send to people now, like almost 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Um yeah, and I was like, I just loved it. I could talk easily for those two hours, answer everyone's questions. It was like, this is great.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Yeah. And you know, if if we think about what you actually did, like to remove the kind of magic and mystery and luck situation, because I think that's what we might interpret that as at the start, right? But actually, what you did was you had a bit of an audience and you listened to what they wanted, and then you met that need. And I can't even tell you like how many of us take a really long time to figure out that out.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

You know? Uh the fascinating for me, a lot of the clients that I've helped subsequently, there's a lot of that. Like, I they're trying to teach things that they think people should know, and actually they're not actually teaching or coaching or um meeting people at the point where they are saying, This is what I need, or this is what I'm looking for, is and that's around the messaging and and also psychologically, in you you can't force down the throat some of someone something that you think is really important to them, but they couldn't care enough about. So it was, it was a real I remember actually doing a survey, or not survey, kind of poll on my Instagram saying, What would you like my next freebie to be? And someone sort of saying, you know, helpfully being like, Oh, you know, great recipes for people that work from home or something. And I was like, a bit boring. And then someone saying, you know, how to start getting paid. And I was like, Oh, okay, like that was the shift to me. Like, okay, actually, that excites me, and it's something that you want as well. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

I mean, that's the recipe, right? Excuse the pun. That is the recipe, something people want and excites you, and it it like it meets a need and it excites you. Like, that's all that we're doing. I think we complicate business so much. Like one of the things I say all the time to coaches and ripen is way dumber people than you have figured this out. Way dumber, you know, less trained, less experienced, they give less of a shit, like all of it. And I think what you're beautifully um illustrating is I asked the people what they wanted, and then I gave it to them.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Yeah. That was it. And that it was as simple as formula as that. And I think you're right, it's so easy to overcomplicate, think, and I see a lot of this around, you know, messaging and marketing gurus and kind of stuff. We can get ourselves completely in this spiral of, oh, I'm not saying it right, I'm not doing it right, actually bring it right back to what are people saying that they want, or what are you seeing people, even if it's not on your content, but in networking forums or in person or on social media, what are they saying? What are they saying they're struggling with? What are they talking about? How can you help them? How can you answer that? That's literally a business.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

I think that's the thing, isn't it? Like just literally being a bit fascinated by the people you want to work with. Like, what are they saying? And I think we I know I've done this so many times where I kind of get a bit excited by the coachy language, rather than just talking to someone like they're a mate who doesn't know anything about coaching, where you just say, look, this is where I think I can help. And if you're feeling a bit like this, here's why I think this this will lead to these outcomes.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

And I think you you have to be really, you have to really love on those people as well and be like you say, be really curious about them. I think that's what where the segue for me was in stopping doing the kind of wellness retreats that I was doing alongside a nutritionist because it sounds really awful, but I was like, I just didn't care about those women and their health and wellness and well-being. I obviously I want everyone to be healthy and well. Sure. That wasn't what motivated me. I was like, I can't get excited about this person as an ideal client and delivering what they want. What excites me is people trying to start their own businesses, you know, being well qualified, doing nutrition or coaching or whatever it is, personal training, yoga teaching, breath work. I've, you know, I've coached all of those people and helping them have the self-belief and have the tools to go and impact more people. That for me is crazy exciting. And I can't stop talking to those people and finding out what they want and how I can help them.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Yeah, I love that so much. And so I think that's the other part of this that I think is so helpful for listeners is you didn't try to help everybody. You were like, if you're in the wellness world, I'm your gal. I can show you how I did this.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

And that's because, like you say, I I inadvertently I'd built an audience of those people because I'd I'd, you know, dabbled in it a little bit myself. I was, I wasn't ever pretending to be a nutritionist or qualify, I was just checking out recipes and sharing, and naturally that's who gravitated around me, and I was following and I was engaging with and I was talking, and that's where then it kind of led naturally out of that. And yet I didn't then want to coach anyone. And I remember the coaching training saying, technically, you can now coach you know, rocket scientists if you like, but I the passion for me was I've met all these amazing people, and often they're kind of career changers, they're people that feel really passionate about movement and nutrition and you know well-being. They may be burned out from a corporate career, and I wanted to help them make that step and do that and use the coaching for that. So that's what fired me up. I knew I I can coach anybody, but these were the people that made me excited. Love it, love it so much.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

So I I'm curious to know, like, what has felt hard about because you've been at this for 10 years now, over 10 years now. Like, what's felt the hardest? What's being the bits where you're like, oh god, here we go.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

I think and obviously your content has often speed spoken to this, it's the kind of dark side of the people that use the word coach and the the circles that I certainly have been sucked into in myself when I got started in how do I market this? Everyone else seems to be making loads of money, everyone else seems to have it nailed, you know, everyone else's messaging is really compelling, and you know, there's lots of urgency and they're charging large amounts of money. Like, how do I learn how to do that? And and then coming out the other side of that, being spat out the other side and going, Do I even want to call myself a coach? Because my God, I do not want to be associated with any of that. I want to distance myself. So there was a period where actually I kind of re-branded a little and leaned more into the mentoring side and kind of accepting that perhaps it it wasn't, I just wanted to distance myself. So that felt really hard. And it's been, it hasn't been so hard coming back to really owning the term coach now because I've let go a lot of the practical teaching and I really want to lean into the self-trust and um the self-belief stuff that I've learned with you as well. But that was really hard watching a lot of people use the term coach and then treat people in a really appalling way, and then think that I was somehow going to be associated with them if I did anything in a simple way in a similar circle. So that that felt really hard. That was a lot for me to, and it still is, I think, a lot for me to go, oh, I think I'm getting a little bit close or a bit worried that people are gonna think I'm that type of coach, quote unquote.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah, yeah, I hear you so much. It's hard, isn't it? Because I think there's a there's a kind of mix in there too, right? There's the folks that are willfully and quite intentionally trying to rip people off because they kind of they're kind of the influencer, the coach fluencer types, you know, um, and their driver is kind of self-serving. And then I think there's a lot of us that are much more wanting to be in service, but we're trying to shout louder than those guys, and it can be a bit like, oh, how do you do this? Because actually, if you do show up on social media with a ton of integrity and nuance and all of that good stuff, you know, the the algorithm goes, Well, you're a bit beige, no thanks. Yes, and you kind of get ignored. So there, I wonder, like, how do you kind of navigate that these days?

SPEAKER_01 16:53

I think it's putting the blinkers on often for me, and just really coming back to like what do I want to say, and who exactly is it am I trying to think about? And I do that cliche thing of like, I've got a list of who my ideal clients are, and I think what do they need to hear from me today? And I try and just shut out who else they might be following. I did a really massive cull on on social media and you know, a really good look at even you know, podcasts I was consuming or whatever else it is. I appreciate not everyone is in social media, but um, you know, just to really clarify like I don't need lots of these voices, I don't need any more comparison than we already bring on ourselves anyway, spirals that goes into to just go, what do I want to say and who today needs to say it? Even you know, the clients I work with currently, or the people I've spoken to on Discovery Calls, I'm like, right, that fuels me for for content and what they need to hear, and um and and just focusing on that really rather than what I've done. Totally.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Yeah, I love that so much. Have you heard of bloom scrolling as opposed to doom scrolling?

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Yes, I have. That's much nicer, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Right? Yeah, I heard about that, like just this in the last week, and I'm like, oh yeah, I'm so doing a cull. That's yeah, that's probably how I'm gonna spend my Good Friday.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Yeah. I also did um on someone else's recommendations uh set up, and I said for years I wouldn't do it, set up a private Instagram account where I can follow the things that we like you said, the the bloom scrolling stuff that's funny, the stuff that's engaging, the stuff that's uplifting. Um, and then my business account is literally to go in, post, and engage with the people that follow me and come out again rather than get sucked in. Yes, well, the algorithm now thinks you're a coach, so you must see all these other 500 coaches who are doing brilliantly, and you know, that kind of spiral of the explore feed. So separating the two. If I'd like to go and bloom scroll, I do that on my private account where I'm following all that fun content.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

It's funny too, because I think my explore page is full of um women over 50 live lifting weights and dogs.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

So the algorithm is paying attention.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

It's like, oh, the algorithm is paying attention to everything, you know, and probably listening in and all of that shit too. So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Love it. So you talked a bit about comparison there, and obviously you're all about self-trust. And I think there's such a lovely kind of meta relationship between those two things. And I wonder like, is that how self-doubt can show up in your business? Like, what's when self-doubt shows up, like where you get a bit wobbly, what's what what shows up for you? How do you experience it?

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Of the six Ps that we talk about, the kind of things that come up and and the resistance, the way the resistance shows up for me is uh like top of the list is procrastination and it's but it's productive procrastination. Like I'm a doer, there's lots of us that are you know overachievers, um, you know, that that's just how we've been programmed, that we need the adulation, we've succeeded academically, and just working harder is going to be the answer. And I think I'm now aware through the self-belief coaching and that kind of awareness of it's I don't want to say busy idle, but it's it's busyness. I can keep I can fill the hours very easily, but often I'm not doing the thing that really moves the needle, you know, the the thing that's a little bit stretchy, a little bit scary. Um, and I have to have have a word with myself and have a word with that part of myself when when that happens, because the the wobbles just make me go into organizing things into folders or just you know making a few more social media posts rather than actually moving on to the next thing.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Totally get you. Yeah, yeah, that um my current is like procrastining, I think, because I just my website feels quite new, it's about not quite a year old, and I just love going in and faffing a little bit. Like that's my favorite. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

I can't I can't remember who said you should save that as like a reward to yourself. Like, can you do something a bit specific and then be like, cool, I get 15 minutes to go and faff on my website now? Like that becomes the treat rather than the thing that fills up the hour that you actually had to work on your business.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

That's FAP advice.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

I feel beautifully coached.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Thank you. Yeah, that's great. That's great. So I guess what has been like the biggest shift you've been able to m make? Like, what's moved you kind of practically, internally? What how come you're still doing this 10 years later? Like, what's that about?

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Such a good question. Um internally, and it will sound very cliche, it's being coached myself. I think actually as much as we are coaches and know the tools, there's nothing like actually doing it with another human. So being a coach myself, being able to have a mirror shown up and someone go, uh, can you see what is happening here? Um, I've worked with a couple of great coaches that have come through Self Relief Coaching Academy Roof. The Pound White, Ray, Dodd. And again, just their kind of ability to hold that mirror up for me has been really helpful in just seeing what I'm doing and you know, where I'm overcomplicating or procrastinating on things and just having that sense of accountability, even though I appreciate that's not what coaching is for. That idea of like, I can see where I'm getting in my own way here.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Totally.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

So definitely on the internal side, using the SBCA tools, but certainly doing that with other humans is super helpful. And then uh the practical stuff that's really like moves the needle, I think goes back to what we were talking about before. This idea of really mastering and enjoying. I enjoy writing anyway, but enjoying the idea of how do I articulate what my clients want and what their desires are, trying to really lean into marketing that's not pain point pokey, which I think goes back to that kind of nasty, aggressive coaching marketing playbook, which is, you know, you feel crap and you have to buy my thing. Um, and just learning and and enjoying how to convey the value of coaching. Um that for me has really helped keep me going, keep me going with it, and and just understanding there's a process that we never we never have it perfect and polished, and you know, it's it's constantly evolving anyway. Like I'm I'm constantly evolving on what I want to say and um how I coach people as well. So yeah, being coached and really like just enjoying the process of the the messaging. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Yeah. You know, it's um people listening in who've been listening to me bang on about my own kind of health journey over the last year, probably unsurprised. But I see so many parallels, right? With if you're going to change your relationship with your business or your body, then you've got to love the process. Otherwise, you get to the end of it. And are we ever at the end? Or you get to where you think you want to be, and you're like, well, oh yeah, but I hate my life, or you know, this isn't fun. Now I've just got to do this more. You know, it's like you gotta find the thing that you can sustain. Otherwise, you just either won't do it or you'll hate doing it. And neither of those are reasons to be doing this.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

No, and I've found those pivots quite uh tricky sometimes, especially having birthed and raised two tiny humans and continuing to do so, like to do those pivots into I'm not enjoying this, so I want to change. That's quite a lot to to kind of tackle and get your brain round, though those kind of pivots for closing down a lot of stuff that was real practical, how to get your business started, all that kind of and going, no, I that just is not bringing me joy anymore. I want to lean more into the the mindset work, the self-trust work, the what's going on internally. Um, that those are difficult things for us to do to to pivot. Um they take time, like your comparison enjoying my own fitness and health journey of kind of moving towards doing high rocks in the last couple of years, which which I've would never before. But just appreciating like my way of that is just doing it really slowly and gradually, like to have gone from like not someone that does any exercise at all into someone who can go off and do that for an hour and a half. Um, it's just slow and gradual, and you just keep showing up, even if it didn't, you know, doesn't feel great at the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Yeah, yeah. I think that's the thing, isn't it? Like just being willing to show up, even if you don't feel motivated, it doesn't feel pulled together, knowing that every contribution you make counts. You're building a body of work, you know. Even though the whole world wants us to go viral, that isn't the thing. Just build a body of work over time, you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

And if you did go viral, you wouldn't be prepared for it or ready for it anyway. And that is what I'm always thinking. I I still go there, I still fall into that trouble. This is gonna be the thing. Yeah, it's gonna be the thing. Totally, everyone's gonna know it's on it. Actually, no, it's not, and that's okay. Like I'm very okay with it having been built the way it's been built, and actually knowing that the community that I've built around me, the people that like what I offer and and trust me, are my people, and that that will keep growing at a rate that I love that.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Um, I'm curious though, like if you could go back to you building that 35 euro workshop about how to how to monetize your blog. Like, what would you what advice would you give yourself starting out?

SPEAKER_01 26:42

This makes me laugh because I talked I talk about this so much and and remembering what it was like and remembering there was like a low point every week where I'd just be in tears with my like boyfriend at the time now husband just being like, What am I doing? And the voice, particularly I found like if I don't know, got up to go to the toilet or in the middle of the night, or it would just be this little voice, like, like you need a real job, like just just stop. And having to just quiet so I think I would I love the idea that I'd be able to go back and to to say to myself, like it it will all work out. You you have to just keep going, you have to keep the faith. Um definitely the bit that we've talked about, though, don't make it so hard, you don't need to make it hard, keep you know, keep it simple. Um because the more you get sucked into the the kind of business side of it, the funnels, the automations, the ads, the you know, all all at sales pay oh god, it just it can absolutely quit with you. So keeping it simple, um and just that inner work. Like I didn't realize when I you start a business, you don't realize it's gonna be inner work. I would and I was I wanted to coach, so I should have known at some level, but yeah, yeah, that never stops. It's it and I just enjoy it and embrace it. I I think I would never be as self-aware or um have understood myself if I just stayed working in a PAY job um as I am now. I just I'm so grateful as hard as it's been. Like I'm happy that I went through that. Like it is worth it. That's probably what I'd tell her.

SPEAKER_02 28:15

Yeah, I love that so much. I think that's the that is the key, isn't it? Like real it took me a little bit to realise, oh, this is changing me. Like I'm no longer that person. Do you do you know? Slight tangent. Did you ever watch This Life? Do you remember that? Um, okay, BBC drama, load of lawyers fresh out of college, they're all flat together. And there's one character in that called Anna. And I remember being in New Zealand, knowing that I was going to live in London and do my big kind of working in London vibes, and thinking I want to be just like her. And I watched it because if BBC are just replaying it, she's hard as nails, and I'm just like, oh my god, you were so like wrapped up in sarcasm and armour. And that wasn't, but that was me then. And I look back and I think, wow, thank goodness I found this work. And when did the did the work to kind of soften and open up and you know, create this amazing thing that actually helps people?

SPEAKER_01 29:26

And I definitely see that, that kind of that softness now. I and again, I don't know whether it's because I've trained as a coach or because of my age or because I've had kids or what like or just I don't, I don't know, the the transition of time, but I do see that when I coach people who are a bit younger, where that kind of self-discipline, can you just force me to do it, Vicky? Can you just be a bit harder on me or I just need to work harder or I just need to have a better plan? Or um, you know, I don't need to just cop on and stop. That's a very irish phrase. Yeah. To stop listening. I just want that voice to shut up in my head. And it's also the desperation in me now to just say, can we just be a bit kinder? Can can we just knife up the voice that's in your head and the what you're saying to yourself and and and understand through the work we've done with self-belief coaching academy about you know that part of you is doing a great job at protecting you and keeping you safe and having more compassion for how you do things and how you're wired and the journey that you've been on is a much better way. Oh, what is this? A lovely phrase, isn't there? Like, I don't know, what got you here? That kind of discipline and forcing yourself through it, it's not actually going to get you to that next level. That's why it feels stuck. So what's the worst that could happen? Just try and be nice to yourself. Maybe that would work instead.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Maybe there's a way you could do this without being a jerk to yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um so what are you building now? Like what feels possible now?

SPEAKER_01 31:01

So this has been a long pivot for me because, like I say, I two years ago, three years ago now, because my son's two, um, I closed everything down. I did a real like, I'm just throwing the baby out with the bath water, and was like I just I closed down my mastermind that was running, I closed down my uh membership, um, I stopped doing my one-to-one coaching within the kind of frameworks that I was doing before, and did the training um with Self-Breeding Coaching Academy and was like, right, this is where I want to kind of pivot it into. Um, what I want to build now is I think a product really of what we're all going through now is more of a community to get back. I really miss my membership, so I would like to build another membership. Um in the life that I have, I've got two young children who are five and two. At the moment, I'm kind of working as well in another job, not coaching anymore full-time just because of finances and paying for childcare, which is outrageously expensive here in Ireland. Um, I need it to be like a low touch, but I will still want it obviously to be really high impact. I want to attract in those kinds of solopreneurs that know and want to do that inner work on themselves that have kind of reached that plateau. They know another course, another Instagram algorithm hack is not the answer to taking their business to the next level. And actually, it's the internal stuff where I can deliver little pieces of coaching, a kind of monthly call, just something like that is what I'm envisaging for the next stage. Um, for the um and being able to, you know, do more guest speaking and things like that, which I've always found has really banded my audience really nicely. I don't want to and ever want to completely rely on something like social media. I'm not totally that in love with it. So I like to have a kind of different ways of bringing bringing people in. So leaning into that a lot more. So yeah, that's where I think things are going for me in the next few years.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

Love it. Love it so much. And and that's the beauty of this work, right? That it conflicts to where you are and what you know what capacity you have at the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

And that's it, and that is not one thing that's better than the other. I still love one-to-one coaching. It's just I don't have a huge amount of capacity for that right now. Um lovely in the groups that you've run and other groups that I've been in where actually just connecting with other people, whether that's in real life or or online, that are going through the same things, feeling less alone, talking out what goes on in our heads, um, understanding it, have someone reflect back a different take or a different approach, I just find so, so valuable now. So that's what I want to be able to do for others.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

Amazing. And you've got a substack right now with a podcast. And so you're like very much still connected and in this industry. I think that's the the beauty of this, is I see you letting your work fit around your life, which is aces.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

Yeah, and I just I love, like I mentioned before, with the book and things, I love writing. That is my way of articulating myself. I know not everyone is a massive fan of that, and I love podcasting as well. Like so often what I with the uh my my substack is called the business of self-trust. So I really I write long-form articles there, and then I kind of record them in a more conversational way. It's not just dry me reading it for a podcast audience, because I know some people just love the audio, don't they? On their commute or their walk or something, and that's a lovely way to connect with people and just sharing it, insights from clients, things that I'm going through myself, ways I use the coaching tools on myself to help help me, observations. Um, yeah, I I really enjoy that as a kind of format and a way to yeah, build build relationships with people, especially with kind of TikTok generation of everything being short, snappy nine-second videos that actually we've got that. No coaching is nuanced and there's depth and there's grey areas, and that's where um Substack and Longform for me it's um like such a joy. Totally love it.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

Well, Vicki, I'm so grateful to you for hanging out with me and um kicking off this series of these lovely ripe conversations. Um, yeah, can't wait to see you in Ireland.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

I know, come over soon. I'm really looking forward to seeing you. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

Personally, I can't stand ads and podcasts. A couple of ways you can really support Courage Inspical Coaches is to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And if you have a moment, leave a five-star review and a note about why you enjoyed listening in. This genuinely helps more thoughtful coaches find the podcast, and it means so much to me too. Thanks so much for listening in. I'll see you next time.