How Meredith Created a Fully-Booked Mentorship Using the Get and Coach Method

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Mar 10

Where She Started

I've kind of been doing coaching a long time and I just never thought that I had the credibility or whatever you need to be a coach or a mentor. And so I had helped some friends along the way become a virtual assistant or give them insight into this world of online business. And I just all of a sudden really had the passion to do it, but didn't know where to start.

And I think that's kind of when Anna and I met. It was when we started working together and I really wanted to figure out how do I put this together? I don't even know what to offer. I have so much to give, but I was just kind of confused on what do I offer? What are they gonna want? How are they gonna find me? Versus my other clients who I very much know where they are and I can find them and I know what I'm offering them. So I think there was just confusion about how I could set up a coaching practice to be successful.

Moving Past Fears and Doubts

I had so many fears and doubts when thinking about starting my coaching practice. And I feel like that's where Anna and the mastermind really helped me with confidence.

But I think too, I thought, “Why me?” Like have I built a successful enough business to show them how to do it? What if I don't know everything? I like structure. That's why I'm good at what I do. So not having it all planned out was stressful for me. Like what do I do week two? What do I do week three? That kind of thing. I had a lot of questions. But I think the main one that I'm sure a lot of people go through is just like, “Am I the right person to be mentoring people and do I have enough knowledge to help them out?”

I think I was just worried. What if no one wants help from me? Or no one thinks I'm successful enough? Or will they pay me? You know what I mean? My passion isn't getting paid for it, but I really wanna help them develop their businesses. So I think that was a real concern. I guess it comes back to asking am I successful enough for them to learn from me? That was my biggest concern in the beginning.

Facing Hurdles

As a done-for-you service provider developing a coaching program, I think a lot of the hurdles had to do with mindset and then a lot of it is developing things on the fly, which is not what I do in my virtual assistant business. So that's what's tough. Like when I'm working with one-on-one clients, I'm developing things three months in advance. So that was a hurdle for me.

But now I know why Anna was pushing me and saying, “It's gonna be fine! You're gonna figure it out. You're gonna build it out!” Because now that I've had some people go through the program, I know how to make it better. I know what we need more of. And we keep building out more things as I see what their challenges are because my challenges weren't unique, but it's good to see more people's challenges in setting up their businesses. So that kind of helps me know what we're gonna work on every week.

Getting Fully Booked From the Beginning

Part of the Get and Coach process is having people apply to work with me and I was so excited. I really had no expectations. I was like, “If one person applies, I'll be so excited because then I can help one person!” I think it was also exciting because most of the people were people I already knew or were in my community or were friends with people that I knew because my community really helped out and promoted for me too.

It was really awesome, but it was nerve wracking because what if no one applies? And I think that's always scary. When you do a new product or something, you're always scared.

Part of the process is doing a scholarship, and I awarded it to one person. And then at the time I got two paying clients from the scholarship applications. And then from there, my scholarship winner moved into a paying client and my max capacity right now because my current one-on-one clients is three. So I was maxed out right from the beginning, which is an awesome place to be. And also not only was it good because I could see them out for three months, but it helped me get to my next paying client because I was already booked. That helped me get a lot of confidence right away.

Adding an Additional Revenue Stream

Adding on an additional revenue stream to my business has been great. I don't work full time, so I only have a certain amount of hours that I can work and I already have a team, but it was really figuring out what I could pass off to the team versus what they really need me for. So then I can focus on my mentees and our session time and what I'm putting into that program. So I feel like that was really helpful for my business in general actually. Like I think it made it better because I was very concerned about time from the beginning.

Thoughts on Starting a Coaching Practice

Anyone who’s thinking about starting a coaching practice or offer, I say why not? I mean, that's kind of my advice because it's like, you have so much to share if you've already started a business or you have a passion that you wanna coach on. I just say do it. I mean, I feel like I could have done it like two years ago and I just didn't.

I should have done it when I first started because when I started had nobody. I had no one to help me out. It would've been nice to know the proper ways to do a client journey and all that stuff from the very beginning versus being in year four. And a lot of the time the confidence piece, we never give ourself enough credit for what we've already done. So I feel like you can share your knowledge and share tremendous value with other people and just go for it.

Looking Back on Her Success

Now that I’m a few months in, I think just having those clients gives me more confidence and seeing their wins for me is a big deal. In the beginning I was worried and asking questions like, “Do I have enough to offer?” But now I'm seeing that, yes, the guidance I'm giving my clients is getting them what they need, which is their own clients, obviously. And so that's helpful.

I think also the first three months was really helpful for me just because my personality type, as we kind of talked about in the beginning, is that I like things planned out. So now I do have a basic plan, but most of the time people have their own challenges in business, so we just kind of cater to what they're working on at that time.

It's funny to look back on how nervous I was, even though it was only a few months ago and I feel so seasoned now, which is odd. It's very rewarding. It's everything I knew it would be. I just had to put it together and actually step into it and do it.

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Discussed in this episode:

Why Meredith decided to add coaching to her DFY business (1:20)
The fears and doubts that Meredith had as she first decided to take on paying coaching clients (3:30)
The unique challenges of transitioning from a service provider to 1:1 coaching and how Meredith overcame them (5:00)
How Meredith felt when she first saw applications for her program being submitted and the importance of support when launching a new offer (8:00)
The results that Meredith got from her launch and beyond to being fully booked! (11:00)
What it’s been like Meredith to streamline her first revenue stream as she created a new one and leaning on her team (14:00)
Meredith’s Advice for Done For You Providers thinking of adding coaching or mentoring service to their business (16:00)

RESOURCES

PS: In the midst of this challenging time I’ve been asking myself what I can do to help? One of the #1 ways I support my clients is by helping them simplify their business so that they can increase the flow of money without creating extra work. In this season simplified visibility and sales is needed more than ever.

So if you’re craving personal support as you reposition your free and paid work, I’d love to help you simplify your sales process so that you can produce income in your business even during a challenging time. If you want support you can check out my services and book a free discovery call here, or you can send me a DM on Instagram.

Anna Rapp