Q1: Why did you decide to start a coaching business?
I started my coaching business because I was tired of IT and being in IT Support; working shifts and having someone else decide when I had to work, when I could go home, or when I could eat lunch! Regularly having to learn another operating system or software package just to keep my skills constantly current knowing that all that time and energy spent learning the earlier one was now obsolete. Ugh.
I loved the customer service and troubleshooting parts, particularly the high adrenaline hit I’d get when big servers went down, having to do some quick troubleshooting and techy techy fixing, yeah, it felt so good!!
I was drawn to coaching because I’m a people person and I just love helping others but in meaningful ways! When I saw an advertisement for a Life Coaching course it just made sense. I could learn how the human operating system worked and then any courses or information I learned would only ever build on it, giving me an arsenal of ways to help other people, but REALLY help people. It turns out I still use my troubleshooting and customer relationship building skills in this area too!
Coaching and assisting someone to completely transform themselves, their relationships and their business is something that really lights me up! A high you just can’t get from doing work for someone else, as good as some of those moments have been.
Being someone with a huge heart, loads of compassion and always the go-to gal for my colleagues and friends relationship issues, it seemed to be a natural fit for me to go into a space of coaching.
I also think I’m naturally someone who doesn’t fit in the box of a regular job, it feels very stifling and bat sh*t boring if I don’t have enough variety, new things to learn, new things to do, and outlets for my highly creative brain to go nuts on coming up with new ways to do things, or new projects to kick off. I am an ideas generator and I regularly get ideas for other people’s businesses that ignites them and their business, it’s the BEST!
So many entrepreneurs have similar aversions to limitations and desires for this freedom to work on our own terms, doing something that lights us up that feels purposeful to us.
Q2: How does your business differentiate itself from other coaching businesses?
~Business Game Changer Special Promotion~
Having been in the space of relationship coaching from 2008 – 2014, then focused on a mix spiritual mentoring, personal healing and business coaching from 2015 – 2019, and after a few years off being Mum to my littles, coming back to the business world I had to ask myself the question – How can I incorporate ALL of my passions and skills into one thing and make the most difference to people.
Some experts say you need to pick a niche in one of the 3 core niches most people seek services from – Health, Relationships and Wealth. “Pick one and stick with it”. Ugh. As a multi-passionate and extensively skilled coach in multiple areas, this was a problem. I couldn’t get behind any direction for a little while…. Until I got a great piece of advice that freed me from these perceived limitations… “F*ck the rules*!”
So out the window the rules went and what do you know, a clear niche emerged where I can use ALL my skills in personal transformation (emotion mastery, mindset repatterning and baggage healing), relationships, working in a FLOW state, energetics and business…
And how did that all fit together? Drum roll please…!
I am now The Entrepreneurs Relationship Coach! I work on 3 core areas – self, relationships and business. I work on people’s deepest level transformations, simultaneously teaching them how to build healthy relationships, design a healthy self-care and productivity plan, teach them how to access and work in a connected FLOW state, always operating from a soul aligned place, which is working smarter not harder. I still see so many entrepreneurs getting addicted to taking action that leads to burn out before success (I’ve done it myself!!!).
Looking at the issues in anyone’s relationship reveals so many clues as to what is happening internally, and then looking for the ripple effect of the same problem in other areas is a serious game changer! My highly developed intuition means I can get to the root issues fast.
Working with just a business coach will get the business going but often misses how to keep a relationship thriving at the same time. A relationship coach generally doesn’t have enough business knowledge to make any real difference to the business, and a transformation coach, while working on the inner world, doesn’t teach strategies and skills to make relationships or business better.
I do it all because I know how it’s all connected.
Q3: What are the most common problems faced by women starting or running their own business and how can these problems be overcome?
Most problems faced by women with regard to their business are internal ones.
- Over-giving – This often comes from an internal lack of self-worth and confidence, or needing to be validated as worthy, which is understandable when it’s a new set of skills or first time business. It’s important to establish boundaries around how much time, energy and expertise you will give people. If you don’t, they will drain you without paying you what you deserve. The solution: Have clear boundaries; create a client “Agreement” which states what the boundaries are, this will save you a lot of headaches!
- Under valuing – Women tend to struggle seeing their true value and asking for it. It’s also one of the entrepreneurial rites of passage. You need to understand that increasing your value and sense of worth is a process. One of the best strategies I’ve come across, and have implemented, is to do 2 things. A. Find other people who do the same kind of work and see what they charge. B. Feel what’s comfortable as an hourly rate to base all of your offerings on then go for just a little more, the amount shouldn’t triggers high anxiety and stress. Allow yourself a number of clients you will do for that, 5 – 10 MAX. Then you raise your rate by at least 10% or more if you can stretch further. You should be raising your prices at the very least, once every 12 months.
- Balancing it all – There are a large number of women entrepreneurs with families and partners, who juggle it all. It’s easy to spend so much time on building the business that you sacrifice your self-care, or relationship and family time. The underlying justification for long hours is, “I’m doing this for all of us.” Entrepreneurs by nature are quite driven and willing to sacrifice in order to get ahead… but too often there is a cost. The solution here is to have a solid self-care plan because it’s the only way to have the energy to finish the marathon that is building a business without burning out, and to have planned relationship and family time that is non-negotiable so those relationships don’t become neglected and diminish over time. Keeping focused on working smarter not harder will serve you well in being able choose only the best opportunities.
Q4: What are the key elements of a successful business?
Emotion Mastery – This is having a high level of self-awareness; knowing how to feel the emotions that are triggered and having the maturity and/or the tools to process them so they don’t hold you back or become destructive to your business, you or your relationships. Intense emotions tend to be a symptom of unhealed baggage that is asking to be healed. You achieve emotion “mastery” when you’ve done the deeper inner work to achieve a higher level of emotional and mental resilience. Intense unhealed emotions and mental junk will keep you playing small; stuck in overwhelm, riddled with self-doubt, fear, procrastinating and more. Doing the emotional transformation work, not just mindset, is the fastest way to develop this.
Clarity – Being clear about what your genius is as well as your ideal client (your favourite people to work with who will gain the most from what you do), the problems you solve and how you solve them. Being clear about your business goals, the vision and purpose of the business which should absolutely inspire you every day to keep going. If it doesn’t have that level of juice, find a purpose that lights you up completely. Get clear about what marketing and growth strategies you’re going to use and find the ones that match your natural skillset and innate flow to make it easier.
Support – Whether that’s a VA or team that you hire to be a part of your business or having a group of friends who are also entrepreneurs that can be your shoulder to cry on on rough days, to cheer you on and celebrate your achievement and progress (yes, celebrate that too), just surround yourself with people who support and encourage you!
A well-developed intuition – An inner knowing of what actions and opportunities to take and what to leave or when to step back and when to sprint. This is critical to working smarter, not harder. It includes a strong faith in your inner guidance and that higher power, whatever you call it, that will be the lighthouse in the storms. You will KNOW that everything is ok, that everything happens in it’s perfect time so you can relax when things aren’t lining up or pivot because you know this isn’t the way. It will save you so much time, energy, heartache and stress by developing this as a priority
Q5: How should women business owners face the fear of failure?
Head on while embracing the message that this fear is bringing.
Every entrepreneur has to face being a failure at some point or in some way. The reality is that failure is a part of the journey. It’s how we learn to do and be better; it highlights changes we need to make, where our skills or knowledge is weakest prompting us to llearn something new or be able to see what isn’t working so we can shift to what will. And it also means we are getting somewhere! You did something and it didn’t work, GREAT! Tick that one off the list and try something else! *happy dance* ß celebrate “failure”.
Change the way you define failure; nothing is ever a mistake, there really is no true failure except giving up completely and deciding to get out of the game. You only fail yourself when you give up on your soul inspired work and opt to go back to a job where you know you are going to be drained of your life energy. Sometimes taking a break and a step back, or taking a contract or job for a temporary period of time, even if it’s 12 months or longer, is necessary or helpful, which is also NOT a failure, just a period of regrouping!
The message in having a fear of failure’s message is “this is really important to you”. You don’t fear failure if you don’t really care about it… This is good news because it means you are on the right track even if your fear has you second guessing yourself sometimes! What you are doing is SO important to you that you are afraid you won’t measure up, achieve it, or never be good enough somehow. It’s all BS of course and that’s the gift. You have to go over the BIGGEST hurdle you will ever face in growing your business to the level that you and it know you want to go – YOU.
When a fear of failure comes up, get excited because it’s up-level time! I guarantee you that it shows up when you are actually ready to grow and expand, presenting you with an opportunity to clear any emotional and mental baggage keeping you from up-levelling, anchoring you into a deeper belief in yourself as you choose to keep moving forward anyway. You’ve got this!! Keep going!
Q6: What three pieces of advice would you give to a woman planning to start her own business?
Work with a coach or experienced entrepreneur from the start. Use them for the quickest and easiest ways to get started saving you time, energy, money and heartache. Let them help you get all the clarity pieces done that I shared earlier, and guide you through the first stages of starting your own business because there are a thousand ways to waste time and money in this phase. Having an experienced entrepreneurial mentor will help you get all of your clarity pieces and a solid plan in place which is critical.
Make it as easy as you can financially, give yourself a good 6 months of financial cover so you have time to get your business producing an income. Being financially stressed will influence the decisions you make (not in good ways), it will determine how hard and how long you push yourself (most driving themselves into the ground) and it will erode your health and relationships simultaneously. It’s not worth it. You’ll need to invest in your business, especially being a new entrepreneur so ideally save up some capital if possible. Always keep buffer account with a few thousand dollars minimum for the times where the money coming in and out doesn’t quite match up timewise. And always replace any money you take out of it, it will alleviate a lot of stress. If you can stay in some kind of income producing work/a job while you do the start-up piece, do it but set yourself a timeframe to get out so you don’t get complacent and your business becomes a thing you’ll do “one day”.
Make your self-care plan non-negotiable. Start your business with this as a foundation and you will have the internal fuel, energy and inspiration to get your business all the way to the level of success you desire. Your business, its ability to attract opportunities, the perfect clients and grow exponentially is directly connected to the amount of energy YOU have internally. If you get into burn out, your business loses. End of story. This is one thing I wish I’d mastered all those years ago, then I wouldn’t have lost momentum in my business when I burnt out. Plan holidays, recharge time, have a good work/life balance coupled with a very effective time management plan in your business. This balance is the key!
BIO:
Rach Wilson is “The Entrepreneurs Relationship Coach”, helping entrepreneurs create an EPIC relationship AND a thriving business without sacrificing either one. Other coaches work on the singular area to “fix” the problems but miss the symbiotic relationship between the 3 core areas of self, their relationship and the business that when all 3 areas are looked at together, can have a game changing impact. She is 3 different kinds of coach rolled into one!
Rach isn’t your typical Relationship, Transformation or Business Coach; she is your no BS, tell-you-what-you-NEED-to-hear coach but biggest supporter. She’s highly intuitive with 16+ years in business, she often helps her clients create programs, design their business to fit with the desired work/life balance, write books, find the best growth strategies that align with their genius, time and resources.
With her highly unpredictable family life, and still being part time Mum, she has had to master working in a FLOW state to attract in opportunities, support, ideas and more, so that any work time she gets has a massive ROI. Burn out is just not an option anymore and this is what she helps her clients master so they can get their time and energy back, increase their profit and ignite passion in their relationships so they can truly have it all!
Because of her extensive personal and professional experience across the areas of relationships, business, spiritual/energy, personal transformation (emotion mastery and mindset repatterning), she has a Mary Poppins bag of solutions that the average coach doesn’t think of, and she can see things others can’t. She doesn’t just think outside the box, she lives outside it.
Email: rach@divinerelating.com Website: http://divinerelating.com
FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/coachrachwilson
