Tag Archive for: business coach

Ch-ch-ch-changes and why you should ALWAYS go with your gut

You know that feeling in your gut I always tell you to listen to no matter how unpopular the response? The whomp that wakes you up at night, leaving you sweaty and out of breath?

As entrepreneurs, opinions abound on how we should run our businesses. They come from family, industry leaders, clients and – most importantly – ourselves.

Yet it’s not popular for us to listen to our thoughts. We’re quite adept at ignoring our needs in favor of everyone else’s. Too good.

If there’s one thing you’ve learned from me over the years, I hope it’s that you must always, always, ALWAYS be who you are.

“But,” the naysayers cry, “if we want to be successful, shouldn’t we listen to our clients first?”

Hell no.

We’ll never make everyone happy.

Ever. No matter how hard you and I bust our asses, people will not be satisfied. Concerned friends will crop up. The dreaded “competition” will rear its head.

They’ll whisper: “What the hell is she doing?”

(For the record, it’s good to keep ’em guessing. Mystique and all that.)

Sometimes even the most successful people get overwhelmed by what they think they should be doing, rather than listening to their gut. So many people rely on us as entrepreneurs – employees, suppliers, assistants, clients, kids and spouses – to name a few.

This is why the coaching field is wildly popular. A nice kick in the ass to keep us on track works wonders. It’s what I’ve been doing for years with writers.

During my time with them and through building my business, I also learned how to use social media to bring in badass clients. I wrote my own copy, mastered social media, done the invoicing, contracts, scheduling, follow ups, and on and on. I built this place from the ground up.

mantra12iphoneFunny, it didn’t dawn on me until a few weeks ago that I am an entrepreneur too.

So when the idea hit me – holy fuck, I can show entrepreneurs how to build their own successful businesses – I tossed it into the pile of later to-dos.

I kept my focus where it had been for as long as RebeccaTDickson.com existed: on writers. I played with coaching entrepreneurs, hosting hour-long sessions on the down-low. Because if anyone knew I was doing this, I could lose everything I worked so hard to build.

But you know…

That damn pang in the gut does not go away. It demands to be given audience no matter how hard we ignore, deflect, even run.

My new entrepreneur clients got results F A S T. The kind they wanted, needed, craved. And that sat with me during my writing client calls. It ate dinner with me. It even kept me awake at night.

How could I possibly leave writer coaching when I was so successful?

Unsurprisingly, the answer was as simple as the shit I’ve been preaching to you forever:

Sometimes doing what’s right isn’t what’s popular.

More often than not, doing what’s good for you will not please everyone. So the hell with it.

Sound the trumpets. Here’s a big, fat, hairy announcement:

From now until the next gut-achingly induced change, I show business owners and coaches how the hell to build a life for themselves. I help them find clarity, clients and cash. A schedule they can live with. The kind of mindset that helps you attract the right clients and the money. And perpetual fucking giddiness, the kind of happy that only comes from doing what you love on your own terms.

I’m showing them the tools and the path. And I’m doing it without apologizing.

What this means

Rebecca T. Dickson is a business coach who ALSO helps entrepreneurs pen the books with which they want to build their platforms. In short, I’ll show you how to build your biz from the ground up, how to make money and I’ll edit the shit out of anything you need polished before it goes public.

I’m done with everything else.

Is it scary kicking paying customers to the curb? Fuck yeah.

Is it terrifying to have spent tens of thousands of dollars on a website redesign and new packages and courses, all of which I am now abandoning? Yep.

What will people think? Whatever they want.

This is about me. What lights me up, makes me leap out of bed in the morning and dance because I’m so excited about doing work I love.

Because when we do what we love, we are passionate. And passion means our clients benefit in ways you can’t imagine. We naturally over-deliver. The people we serve get twice the value.

Soooooooo, while I’m going to miss the hella awesome clients I’ve had for years, I’m not sad about switching gears for two reasons.

First, I only want to do what I am passionate about. It’s how I best serve people. And second, if I did my job right, they should be able to fly on their own.

So I’m not sorry to leave them…

Because they don’t need me anymore.

• • •

If you want to see the next version of RebeccaTDickson.com and all the business badassery, be sure to get on this list. In the coming weeks, this site will be overhauled. New offerings, new images, new ways to work with me. I can’t wait to help you! xo

Everyone starts somewhere, and it’s never where we want

We’re talking about switching gears, making money and valuing yourself.

When I started coaching writers, I was afraid people wouldn’t buy into my passion or expertise. What if I sucked? What if I didn’t earn enough to support myself?

Sure I was a long-time journalist and editor, but what if I couldn’t teach?

My doubt showed in my pricing. I launched my site and sold one-month packages for a measly $429, including unlimited editing. Of course, it worked. But I barely made enough to eke by. Eventually, I bumped it up to $629.

If you’ve never edited and coached writers, let me just pause right here and tell you: it’s a shit ton of work.

So yeah, I was making money doing something I loved. I had plenty of clients and many more who wanted in. It was great.

The thing that wasn’t great? Working 80 or more hours each week and still scraping change to buy groceries. Talking to clients every Saturday for more than a year straight, and spending every Sunday editing. Staying up late five nights a week to meet deadline.

Here’s the thing:

I started coaching writers because it was what I thought I knew best. And my clients validated my worth. What I didn’t anticipate was how much more qualified I was for other endeavors too.

But the most curious part of it all began when my dream shifted. When one piece of the puzzle didn’t fit anymore.

After seeing my success online, friends and family asked for marketing and social media tips. How can I get there too?

I wanted to tell them. I knew exactly what they could do to reach their potential. But I was so damn busy with writing clients, I didn’t have time.

So I upped my prices again.

Instead of working with so many people that I couldn’t stop to eat dinner with my family, I allowed myself to focus on the people who really wanted and needed my services. And freeing up time during the day meant I could answer questions for busy entrepreneurs, too.

That’s when I started taking courses online, digging further into what it meant to be a truly great coach.

The similarities between coaching writers and entrepreneurs are interesting. It’s hard for everyone to see their own problems because we’re too attached to our skills and programs.

Sometimes, what you’re really paying for in a coach is someone to point you in a direction you’ve been meaning to go anyway. (Tweet that.)

The pull from writing to business became too obvious to ignore: If other people saw my strengths, it was time for me to put on my big kid, no-more-fuckery pants and do this damn thing.

So I did.

My writing clients now pay for intense three-month packages ranging from $2500 to $7500, practically seventeen times what they paid originally. But this isn’t about what I earn. It’s about how investing in yourself – taking yourself seriously – can transform your life.

And it doesn’t happen overnight. When I first launched those writing packages, I earned $212 in the entire month that followed. It takes time to transition, for your audience to see you are serious about what you do and who you want to work with. The following month, I saw my first five-figure profit.

In the end, people pay for a result. And they don’t care if it takes you 100 hours or 10 minutes. It’s something they cannot do on their own.

So now I’ve freed up time to work with entrepreneurs, making both writing and business coaching fresh and interesting.

I hired two new writing coaches and two editors and I have a brilliant team of women who keep me on track. This allows me help YOU get back on track too.

Want to know what happens when you understand your value? The world shows you what you’re worth. (Tweet that, too.)

This is about valuing yourself for what you provide and putting your money where your mouth is.

If you have a dream and the drive to make it happen, you’re going to get there. That doesn’t mean you won’t need help. Trust me, I know.

Still, it’s time you start asking yourself if you’re serious about your dream.

Because I started from the bottom too.