Well hey there! Welcome to this episode of the Biz Balance Podcast! I’m your host Karen Greenoe and today I’ll be sharing a surprising little fact about my business. And that is that I have turned down every single request for one on one coaching in the past six months. But it's not for the reason that you think. It’s not fear of not knowing the answers. It’s not overwhelm from my already long to-do list. It’s not that I don’t know how to get started. It is simply this. The desire to impact more lives. And in this episode, I am going to tell you exactly how I came to my decision.

But before we go any further, I want to let you know that this episode is brought to you by my totally free Master Class, “The 3 mistakes I made when I hired my first virtual assistant...and how you can avoid them.” Just head over to karengreenoe.com/masterclass to snag your spot. If you’ve listened to any of the past episodes of this podcast, you will know that hiring my first virtual assistant changed my work and personal lives in ways I cannot even imagine. It gave me the time to take a step back and work ON instead of IN my business. Buuut I didn’t do it perfectly from the get go! It’s been a process of perfecting over the past five years and I am going to share my insider tips with you! So if you are ready to hop off of the hamster wheel of your business and get back to what you love doing, you won’t want to miss it! Head on over to karengreenoe.com/webinar and sign up today!

Now, onto the coffee date that changed everything!

About a year ago I sat down with my friend Stephanie Neuman, who is a brilliant marketer and girl boss, to pick her brain about business coaching. She has years of experience in the sales coaching arena so I knew she’d be the one to ask. I’d just gotten the bug to start helping other female entrepreneurs, specifically those in the wedding industry because I was veeeery familiar with the struggles we all went through, but I had no idea where to start. Up until that point, I’d had one lunch meeting with an industry friend of mine where we talked through some of her biggest challenges she faced in growing her business, but that was the extent of my coaching experience. Even though I’d only had that one experience, I felt like I was being called to do something big. I felt like I’d done something right in my business and I could share that with other women who were struggling with the same exact things in their business that I had only a few years before.

Stephanie, bless her, listened to me pour my heart out. I was filled with passion and I know she could tell. She nodded silently. When I was done, she said something I did not expect.

She said “Karen, if you offer one on one coaching from the get go, you run the risk of burning yourself out faster than you can make an impact.”

Woah. I don’t know what I was expecting her to say, but it wasn’t that. But that is the beautiful thing about asking a friend for advice. A good friend will tell it to you straight and they won’t sugar coat it. We should all be so lucky to have friends that aren’t afraid to be honest with us even if they know it’s not what we wanted to hear. And you know what? It was exactly what I needed to hear, even if I wasn’t ready to hear it.

I would be lying to you if I said I didn’t leave that coffee date feeling a little bit deflated. I had this whole picture in my head of how this new offshoot of my business would look and I felt like it was crashing down around me. But, like so many things in life, it turned out to be quite the blessing in disguise.

After that meeting, I made a bold decision. I decided to not even create a fee schedule for one-on-one coaching. I know first hand how enticing a paycheck can be when you are first starting a new project. Trust me, in my first company, Lily Greenthumb’s floral design, I took anyone and everyone who walked through my door who was willing to pay for flowers, even if they were not my ideal client. I didn’t want that to tempt me when I knew that accepting one-one-one coaching could eventually lead to burn out. It wasn’t worth risking the FOMO. So I pushed that possibility out of my mind completely.

I started to look at different ways that I could impact more than one person at a time. Group coaching? Maybe. But how do I find like minded women who all are interested in learning the same thing at the same time? Full immersion events? Possibly, but coming from an events background, I know how expensive and logistically challenging planning an experience like that can be. Big shot out to Rachel Holis and the Rise Businesses Conference! Girl, I cannot even imagine how much work that is for you and your team to coordinate!

And that’s when it hit me like a bolt of lighting.

A PODCAST.

I knew from talking to so many women in the wedding industry that we all struggled with the same things. Time management, building a team, managing clients, getting stuck in the busy work. We all have the same challenges. And if I were to put together well thought out content that I could share on a public platform, I could impact more women that I ever could in a lifetime of working if I were to sit down with each one of you one on one.

I’m not going to tell you that it was all sunshine and roses. Even thought I was excited about the potential the podcast held, I was also terrified. I don’t know if I’ve shared this yet with you, but I actually changed my major in college from business to sociology for one reason. I was paralyzed with fear by one graduation requirement...public speaking. And, although I’m in my sounds studio, also known as my walk in closet, instead of on a stage, there was a decent amount of starts and stops in those first few episodes. Thank goodness my dear husband George, who is my master of editing, is so patient with me! But all of that was worth it to have the opportunity to impact you and your business.

On top of this podcast, I have another project in the works that will impact even more entrepreneurial women, but you’ll have to wait to hear about it!

So there’s my reason. I do not want to risk burnout before I can impact you and your business. I know that my time is limited between being a wife, raising two little girls and running multiple businesses, but I don’t want that to affect how I can help you and your business.

Don’t get me wrong, I may offer individual coaching some day, but not in this season. And I’m ok with that! Big things are happening for me and I know they are happening for you too. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to hop into your earbuds and encourage you today. We’ll catch up next time!

Oh, and before I go, don’t forget to go over to karengreenoe.com/masterclass and snag your seat for my free master class. You won’t want to miss it!