Ep #242: Reimagine Client Testimonials: A Coach’s Guide

Hey, this is Lindsay Dotzlaf and you are listening to Mastering Coaching Skills episode 242.

To really compete in the coaching industry, you have to be great at coaching. That’s why every week, I will be answering your questions, sharing my stories, and offering tips and advice so you can be the best at what you do. Let’s get to work.

Hey, hey coach, I am so glad you’re here today. I’m so glad you’re listening to this. And before we get started, I just have to tell you something that you might find kind of funny. When I, so I record the intro to this every single time with every episode, right? And I just need you to know that when I said 242, whoo, that number, it’s just such a turn-on. I love an even number, and there’s something about 242 that just feels so good to say, to think about.

Listen, if you are like, what in the world are you talking about? Don’t worry about it, just move on, but I know some of you totally get it. Either because you also like that number or because you have other numbers that just really feel, it just tickles my brain. Like, oh, it just feels so good. So strange, I know. It’s why when I price things, I have a really hard time, right? There’s so much psychology behind pricing things at like one hundred and ninety-seven dollars or something, whatever. And in my brain, I’m like, no, 200. It’s so beautiful and perfect and even.

Okay. So that was just maybe like TMI, things you didn’t want to know about me, but sometimes I know some of you love it when I just mention some of these weird things about myself.

So, today’s episode, y’all, I’m so excited. It, I hope, is going to be really powerful for you. It’s something I’ve never, ever, I don’t think, far as I can remember, talked about on the podcast, and it’s actually not even what I was planning to talk about today. But then I had an experience, full transparency, I will tell you exactly what was going to happen and how it turned into this.

But I had an experience that really shifted something for me as a coach that I can’t not share it because it’s something that comes up all the time in my spaces. Literally all the time, in every space, in The Coach Lab, in Reimagine, in anything in between, in past one-on-one coaching I’ve done.

This is something that I have coached on so many times or that clients have asked about so many times that I felt fairly decent about coaching on, but not in a way that I was like, oh, here’s the shift. Like, here’s what you need to know. I’ve also had people request this topic on the podcast multiple times, and I just kind of always breeze by it like, I don’t know, I don’t feel like an expert in this area. And now, just because of something that just happened, I’m like, ooh, I have something to say, and it’s going to be hopefully really useful for you.

So, what are we going to talk about today? Testimonials. Which might not sound, you might be like, wait, what? I thought it was going to be something way more exciting. I cannot tell you how many times, I’m not kidding, how many times I’ve coached people on testimonials, how to collect them, how to use them, all their thoughts about collecting them or using them, all the things that stop them, right? Just from A to Z, every thought about testimonials I have coached on.

And I’m going to be really honest. Sometimes, maybe even a lot of times, I am not the best at doing this myself. Which is why I think I’ve always kind of been like, meh on coaching on it, right? Because I know a testimonial can be really powerful. I know I—sometimes I love giving them. I have certainly done very effective coaching on, you know, testimonials and all the things surrounding testimonials. But it never felt like, ooh, here’s what I know for sure.

But this episode is going to be exactly, here’s what I know for sure. Because I just had such a shift collecting a testimonial from a client, which we’re actually going to play at the end of the episode, that, it cleared it all up for me. Cleared up whatever lingering stickiness there was around it. Okay?

And the shift I want you to hear that you’re hopefully going to be on board with by the end of this episode is that the testimonial isn’t for you. I mean, it is, of course it is. It’s going to help your business for sure, but mostly it’s not for you. It’s for your potential client and it’s actually for the client who’s giving the testimonial. And I’m also going to give some options of like how to collect them because I know, I’m just going to say this up front, be very clear about it.

I know that it’s like I work with coaches, and coaches know about testimonials, and so your thought right now might be, but it’s easier to collect testimonials from coaches. And I don’t disagree with that, right? I want to acknowledge that that’s definitely a thing in some forms. But hopefully by the end of this fairly short episode, you’re going to see that that’s actually not true. But yesterday, I would have said you’re right. But I’m going to give you some options on how it might actually be easy for you to also collect testimonials, no matter what type of coach you are.

Okay? So, first, before I dive in to all the things, I want to say, the episode I was actually going to record was an episode about Reimagine, my mastermind, and some of the things I hadn’t said about it yet. And then I was going to play a testimonial at the end, or a couple of testimonials or whatever, because I’m currently doing some short videos with clients asking them questions and hearing them celebrate kind of their befores and afters.

And I will be sharing all of these. You can find them on Instagram @LindsayDotzlaf. You can find them if you’re on my email list, you will be seeing some of the videos that I’m recording. And that was going to be it.

I’m a little late turning this podcast in, just again, full transparency on all the things. I’m a little late turning this in and so it’ll be coming out maybe five days from when I’m turning it in, and the episode was going to be just a very short and sweet, like, here are the reasons you should join. Honestly, I didn’t feel super inspired to record it, but it was just like I have to record something. This is what it’s going to be. I’m selling this thing, so why not?

But then today, I got on a video with one of my clients in Reimagine and she changed something for me.

Okay, so let’s dive in to testimonials. First, I’m going to tell you the things I most often hear, the thoughts, the objections to collecting them and or sharing them. And I want you to see, I want you to identify yourself in any of these, if you do.

Maybe you’re a coach who loves sharing testimonials. You love collecting testimonials, amazing. You probably are still going to get something from this. I’m going to give you some also alternate ways to think about it and to collect them. But here are the main thoughts I hear about testimonials, especially when people come for coaching on it, right? Because they say, it just feels really selfish. It’s so selfish, it’s all about me.

Also, I hear it’s very private. I don’t know how to ask, like request this thing from my client or ask them these questions without feeling like, you know, we’re digging into their private things that shouldn’t maybe be shared. Another one I hear sometimes is I’m not worth it as the coach, right? It feels uncomfortable to hear a client saying good things about me, or I don’t deserve them to say these things.

Sometimes I hear it’s—they’re just kind of an afterthought. I just forget about them because they don’t really feel that important except when I’m selling something and then I’m like, oh yeah, this is important.

This is the one I relate to probably the most, is it just being an afterthought. Not that it’s not important. I previously had a lot of reasons why I do think that they are important, but you know, I’m just busy running my business and it would just, you know, time would go by, I wouldn’t collect it, and then it’s kind of like, okay, well now it’s kind of too late, or it felt too late. So I can relate to that one.

A big one, probably these are the two biggest ones, the last two I’m going to say. When I’m asking for a testimonial, it feels all about just caring about sales or tooting my own horn. I’m only doing it for the sales. And then the other one I hear often is, but it’s just like coaching itself isn’t about me. It’s about the client. And so then when I ask for a testimonial, it feels like it’s about me.

And those last two, obviously, all of them really are very, pretty connected, right? Around you see some themes there. Those are the ways I hear my clients describe it. And I want to be very clear, I see this at every level of business. I see this with new coaches, coaches that have been coaching for a while, asking their clients for testimonials, or they just don’t maybe have a good process for it. And that’s where it kind of becomes like, oh, it’s an afterthought.

Now, I want to talk about how all those things I said are not true or some of them may be are sometimes a little bit true and kind of what you can do about it, what, how you can think about it instead and how you can alter your testimonial collection process to match some of the thoughts that you have, but also to match the times when some of those things are true, right? Like it is true that coaching can be a very private thing, especially depending on your niche. So I’ll address that.

Okay, so let me talk about some of the ways that some of the thoughts you’re having about testimonials aren’t true or aren’t maybe true in the way you think or, you know, kind of ways to navigate them when they are true and to just give you some alternate ways to think about testimonials. So first of all, I want you to conside— what if a testimonial is really all about celebrating a client’s growth in lots of different ways. And it’s also a gift to the client. Now you might not be able to get on board with this yet. And actually, I’m not going to even expand on it. I’m going to come back to this one at the end. You’ll see what I’m talking about.

So it’s about celebrating their growth and it is a gift to them. The other thing that testimonials do is they really help your ideal clients find you because clients talking about working with you and their transformations and their growth in their own words is really going to help bring in more of your ideal clients, right? Because people will hear that or read it or whatever, whatever form they’re consuming it in, and they’re going to see themselves in the person talking about it.

And what if the client who’s working with you, if they love the transformation they’re getting so much, probably will want other people to have that as well, right? If they think about other people in the world having the experience that they were having before they hired you, my guess is they’re going to be really thrilled thinking about their words helping someone else navigate the same situation.

Talked about this a second ago, when it comes to something being private, right? Yeah, sometimes what if it is private and what if it could stay that way? Right? Your client giving you a testimonial doesn’t mean what maybe you see often, especially in coaching spaces, especially with business coaches, for example. It doesn’t mean you have to share their name, their photos, a video, any of that, right? It can be private or personal and you can help it be sure that it stays that way.

So depending on what your niche is, right? If you are a, let’s say you’re a sex coach or you’re a grief coach, or you are a stop overdrinking or some kind of addiction coach or support. People hiring you for those things might not want their names, photos, words splashed all around, right? Because it might feel very private or they might not want other people to see. But that’s okay, there are so many ways around that.

If you’re thinking that, oh, this makes it all about sales, here’s what I will offer. This is a two-part. It’s both and. First of all, it is about sales. It’s about helping people truly understand the work you do in a way that only a client can say it. That’s always going to be better than the way you can say it. Always. I’ll fight for that.

And also, stop making it all about sales, right? Whenever I hear someone say this, like, ooh, it just feels like it’s all about sales or bragging about myself. Whenever I dig into it and I’m like, ooh, let’s examine your testimonial process, I’m like, oh, right, because you are making it all about sales. You’re not thinking about why is it so important that the client goes through this process.

You’re really thinking about what is the, you know, what’s the way you’re going to turn it around and position it so that other people hear it and hire you instead of thinking about what if this is a part of your coaching process that wraps up the entire client experience for them.

And for the people, like I said a minute ago, and for the people who are really searching for that exact same type of support, and because you’re not going to be as good at saying it as your client is, they don’t quite connect with, you know, the thing that you’re selling.

Okay, so let’s dig into some tips and some like how moments of collecting testimonials and then I’m going to wrap, like bring it back to how it actually is celebrating growth and a gift for your clients, okay?

So first, some hows. First of all, I want you to hear this. I’m going to say it slow. Stop asking for testimonials. That is not the way to position it. You have to say it differently, especially if you don’t coach entrepreneurs or coaches or, you know, anyone in the business world that understands fully what a testimonial is.

If you are a dating coach, you should not be saying, hey, can I grab a testimonial from you? No, your clients don’t care about that. They don’t want that. Why would they want to do that? I mean, they might be very grateful for you and they might like, okay, sure. But I promise you, there are way better ways to ask for it and to really get an incredible testimonial.

Okay, so what would those ways be? Instead of saying, can I have a testimonial? I want you to think about how can I capture their before and after in a way that feels really powerful for them and for your potential clients, and maybe even for you, right? For the way you think about yourself as a coach and the way you exude confidence as a coach.

And when you’re thinking about the before and after, there are so many ways to capture that, right? It could be, you could position it like, hey, can we hop on a Zoom and talk through all the wins you’ve had? Let’s celebrate all the things. It could be, you know, here are some questions for you to consider. I would love to see your answers.

And I’ll get to this in a second. We’re not, there’s nothing about this that’s tricking a client into sharing something that, you know, they don’t know is going to be used as a testimonial. But what I’m just suggesting here is that you just don’t call it a testimonial, right? I mean, you can say that word, but just don’t position it as, hey, can you give me a testimonial?

So, also, think about giving options. So for all your different clients, right, for maybe neurodivergent needs, for different ways they might think about visibility, for anonymity, for all the things. You could do it on video. You could just do some audio clips that either they send you or that you have a back and forth on. It could just be written, right, where you ask them some questions and get their answers to it. You can ask them if they want it to be completely anonymous, if they want it to be like first name only, if they want it to be fully exposed, first name, last name, photo, all the things, right?

Just thinking through like, what is your niche? Who are your clients and what of those options make sense to them? And even if you have a niche that feels like your client should want to be very visible, you never know for some reasons, they might not want to be. So even still giving them the option of, you know, kind of more not video, not whatever, not like full name, any of the options. Just let them do whatever they feel most comfortable doing.

Also consider, along that same line, some clients might love the exposure. They might love the idea of having you talk about them and you talk about the things that they are working on and their growth and all the things with their full name, with their photo, with a video, right? With all the things, just put it out there as much as you can. Some clients will love that. And what might be weird for you if you’re someone listening who’s like, oh God, no, gross. That’s probably just your thoughts about it. That doesn’t mean you won’t actually have some clients who still would love it.

I have participated in so many types of coaching, and I will say before I was a coach, I may have been a little more, you know, like I’m not sure if I want you to share all of that. But I’ve always been a pretty open person, which is why I think things like podcasting and just talking about what I’m working on and being transparent comes pretty naturally to me. Like I actually think transparency is just a value of mine is what I’ve been leaning into recently and like really learning about myself. I love to be transparent. I love to just talk about all the things like very unfiltered way.

There are other people out there like me who will say, yes, please, right? Now, there are times in the past when I’ve been asked to give a video testimonial and then it was like, ooh, that feels uncomfortable or awkward. And that was the only option that I had.

And so I had to make the choice between like, okay, can I psych myself up to do this video and be on camera saying the things versus if they had just given me a written option or something like that, it may have, you know, been a lot smoother for me. They may have actually gotten a much better testimonial because I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t thinking about, is this what they’re looking for? Is this the right thing?

Okay, next thing, make it as easy as possible. You have to do all of the heavy lifting, right? So that might again, look different depending on what form of testimonial you’re doing, but here are a couple tips. Ask really clear questions, or ask them to respond to very clear prompts or, you know, just make it somehow, especially if it’s a written testimonial or something that you aren’t interacting with them and you’re just asking them to like, hey, send me these things. Be as clear as you can. Make your prompts super clear, questions very clear.

You could also offer to do a Zoom with them and you ask the questions, you talk through some things, and even if you aren’t going to use the Zoom, right, and you could give them that option up front. But even if you aren’t going to do that, you could just get on Zoom, ask questions, or on voice message or on Voxer or wherever you can have a back and forth. You hear all of their words and then you put them together into a testimonial.

You know, not to edit it in favor of the coaching, but just so that they can show up naturally and answer questions, and then you take them. You could even use AI to do this, but just put, you know, here are the questions, here are the answers, and ask AI to put it together for you into a testimonial.

And then key right here, send it to them for approval. If you’re going to do something like that, right, if you’re going to take their words or do some sort of interview and then arrange it into, you know, something you can share on a website or on social media or whatever, make sure you get their approval of the final edit, the final draft.

Also, always make it completely optional. Even clients that have incredible life-changing experiences, they just might not care to do that. Might not be for them, and that’s okay.

And the last thing, be completely transparent. So this isn’t a trick. It’s not like, hey, let’s celebrate your growth, and then you take it and use it as a, you know, a testimonial on your website or wherever. Always be transparent, either before or after.

So, and here’s what I mean by that. Before, so if you’re planning on using it, if your plan is to collect testimonials to use on your website, on social media, wherever you’re going to use it, on your podcast perhaps, tell them that that’s what’s happening ahead of time.

And tell them what the process is, right? So if you’re going to get on Zoom, ask them some questions, but you’re not using the video, you’re just gathering words so that you can use those words somewhere else, tell them that’s what you’re doing. And tell them, I’ll send you the thing to make the final approval. And if you don’t love it, we will never use it, or you can edit it or whatever.

Right? Just be so transparent. You can be transparent also without saying, send me a testimonial, right? It can be very transparent that like, if we both love this, if you don’t mind, here are the places I will be using it. I think that’s super, super important.

And when I say sometimes be transparent afterwards or ask for permission afterwards, that might be for example, a time that you aren’t planning to collect testimonials, but maybe you have a Facebook group, you have some sort of community, you have wherever you correspond with clients and they send you something that you didn’t ask for that’s really lovely or they comment in your community something that you’re like, oh my gosh, people need to hear this or see this or whatever. Don’t just share it. Please, for the love, don’t do that. Ask them, would you mind if I share this on my Instagram?

I have found that almost always clients say yes to that. Now, again, I do coach coaches, so I understand that can be a little different. But even before I coached coaches, my general life coaching clients, we were talking about all of the things and they had my phone number usually, they would text me these things and I would say, oh my gosh, do you mind if I share this? And then I would give them the option, I can share it with your name, without your name, like what’s your preference? Okay? So always be transparent, always be open.

Now I want to circle back to thinking about how it is a gift to the client. And this, again, when I play the testimonial clip at the end of this, you’re going to see what I mean. And I’ve always known this, but just doing this today with my client, it just really clicked something for me.

So, first of all, I want you to think about how a client talking through their results, talking about where was I before? Where am I after? How it really could deepen their transformation, right? It really gives them a moment outside of the coaching, outside of doing the actual work to examine how far they’ve come. It gives them a moment to reflect on it, right? It can help really solidify that growth in there.

Because you know, even when they stop working with you, even if they’re renewing, actually, you could still do all of this. But let’s say they’re going to stop working with you. They’re going to go about their life, use everything they’ve learned with you, all the growth they’ve had and apply it to the rest of their life. But they’ll have moments because they’re human, as are all of us, where days feel hard, right? If you’re a relationship coach, they’ll have days where their relationship feels hard.

But taking this moment to really show them, here’s where you were, here’s where you are now, that’s such a gift that they will be able to take that with them. So even on the days that feel hard, they’ll have that to be able to check back in with, especially if you’re sharing it with them, right? Whatever you put together, it could be really powerful to not only post it wherever you’re going to post it, use it however you’re going to use it, that they give you permission to, but also saying, hey, you need this. You might need to come back and look at this some days.

There’s also a certain vulnerability in the practice of owning their achievements, owning their goals, owning their success, whatever that means for your clients, right? And that vulnerability can really open something up that may not have opened up otherwise.

And then the last thing is, think about how it builds their identity as someone who invests in themselves and creates the results they want to create. And when I say invest, I don’t necessarily mean money. It can be money, but it could also be time, it could be attention, right? If you, let’s say you coach single moms, for example, right? Your clients might not be used to spending lots of time or money on themselves. Obviously, that’s not always true, but if that’s a thing for your clients, right?

Showing them the results of their investment, of the time they took for themselves, of that maybe hour a week or so that they spent with you, just thinking about themselves, not doing all the other things that pull their attention away from them. And this is true for so many niches. So just consider that.

And it could also be money, right? How a financial investment in themselves, especially if they’re someone who has money thoughts about that, who has beliefs like they’re not worth investing in themselves, they’re not, you know, whatever, all of the thoughts are, there are many, many of them that our clients bring, it can be really powerful to show them. Look what happens when you take time for yourself, when you take money for yourself, when you take attention and care and put that into yourselves.

Hope this blew your mind. I hope you learned a ton about testimonials and why I will fight for them all day, why they’re so important. If you have any questions, please, you can find me on Instagram @LindsayDotzlaf. You can send me, always send me any questions you have. Also, that’s really useful because it gives me ideas always for the podcast.

But the very last thing I want to do is share this testimonial that I collected today from my client, Amanda Gold. You’ve heard me talk about her recently on the podcast. She is currently in Reimagine, which is finishing up right now. We have I think about a month left, and we are currently enrolling for the next round.

So you know how this happened. Literally messaged her this morning. Hey, Zoom with me where we just talk about your clear before and after. I really want to celebrate you if that’s something that feels great to you. She immediately said yes. She was so excited. And y’all, she got on and blew it away. I’m not kidding. She really shifted something for me.

So, before we dig into this, I just want to say, if you are on the fence, if you’ve been thinking about Reimagine, even if this is the first time you’re hearing about it and you’re like, wait, what? What is this? We’ll put all the links in the show notes. Please join us. This transformation that she’s about to talk about. First, it’s incredible. Second, it is 100% available to you right now if you resonate with what she’s saying. Okay?

And we have all kind of levels of coaches in Reimagine, all levels, I would say not brand new coaches, not necessarily beginner coaches, not the ones that are in the phase of that just like, how do I sign a client era, which I fully understand and get. I have different spaces for that. This is more of like, I’ve been doing it a while, I’m more established, and there’s just something that I know needs to change. I know needs to shift. You’re going to hear that in this testimonial.

Hopefully, even if you are never considering joining Reimagine, you are as lit up by this testimonial and the way she talks about herself and her coaching and her coaching practice as I am.

Amanda Gold: I’m Amanda Gold and I’m a life coach for creatives, mystical weirdos, visionary misfits, spiritual types, activists, artists, and I recently have just started selling my small group program called Tiger Mystics. And really it’s just for people who want to make money and not be weird about it and be their authentic creative selves. So I love what I do. I’m also a podcaster. The podcast is called UnLightened and that exists because of Reimagine.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: Yes, one of my favorite things. And also one of the reasons I asked you to do this is because I’m so obsessed with this group that you’re creating and just really with, I love working with coaches that just have like big visions. And so watching you bring this to life, kind of having permission to fully step into like, let’s just do it, has been so fun for me. I just want to tell you that. Like I’m just really grateful to have gotten to like be, I feel like I have a front row seat.

Amanda Gold: Slash helping me create it, right? Like, it’s almost like you’re my coach or something. It’s so—

Lindsay Dotzlaf: I mean, something like that. It feels like I’m your coach, but it also, I just don’t even know how to say it. Like watching people create stuff like this just really lights me up because it is, it’s really fun. It’s like almost feels very selfish that I get to have like a little part in it, a little piece of it.

Amanda Gold: I think that’s some of the magic about working with you though, if I may say, is like there is this cool dynamic where I get so much support from you and like really, like you’re a great coach. You’re a freaking excellent coach. And also there’s like this affection or like this sincere caring that you have in your spaces that I think really helps add fertilizer to the growth. I might get emotional on these things, but like there is something so special about you and the room and like who you bring into the room that is this nurturing space beyond the really awesome coaching.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: I love that so much. Thank you. Listen, I’m not allowed to get emotional. I’m trying to focus and ask questions.

Amanda Gold: Oh, no emotions. Just kidding. It’s not like.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: That’s right. No emotions. Not allowed. Okay, so, and you told me when we hopped on here, you said, oh, I have some notes, some like I was thinking about the before and after, like kind of how I felt before and after, and then also kind of some of the actual like tangible results. So let’s start with the feeling. I’m intrigued by that and what you’ve thought about when it comes to that.

Amanda Gold: Yeah. So the best way I can describe it right now is I didn’t even realize how stuck I was until after I signed up. And what’s interesting is when you offered this mastermind, there was a part of me that was like, I got to get in there. And it wasn’t even totally in my logical brain. And financially, it was a stretch, but I knew that I had to make it work because it just felt like the next right thing for my business. Something about reimagining that felt like the next right step.

But then it wasn’t until after we’d been coaching for a while where I really saw why a part of me was calling to be in that group, like a higher self that didn’t even know that bypassed my logic brain. The biggest thing I was carrying into Reimagine that you helped me get out from under was all this rigidity and rules and structure that I had just been pouring onto myself. I can be a classic like misuser of coaching tools and other people’s ideas. I can use them against myself. And I didn’t even realize how much I was weighing myself down.

And so what I got from Reimagine was just all this gentle like peeling that away so that I could come out from under it. And then that’s when the podcast was able to be born, and that’s when Tiger Mystics got traction and I just felt like I really came alive in this room and yeah, I keep saying like it’s reimagined. Like not only have I reimagined my business, but I feel reinvented as a person, as the creator.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: I love that. That’s the whole point, right? Or at least maybe you don’t know that, but that is kind of what I think of as like the whole point is that why are we building businesses? Why is anybody building a business to just maybe like recreate a structure that they were in before or to just follow arbitrary rules that you see out in the world about businesses, right?

Like businesses are very individual and we all get to do. I always say like there are literally no rules. We are making it up as we go and I love giving people permission to like, no, like do the thing that you think is not the right way or that is your way that you think won’t work or is, you know, like this idea is crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it. And I’m like, no, no, no, that’s actually the magic. Like let’s follow the idea that you think doesn’t exist because that’s the one that people are going to love.

Amanda Gold: Yeah, and I think what’s so powerful about this too, and like if anyone who’s listening to this who thinks like, no, I’m really good at giving myself permission. I’ve been in business almost five years now and made that mean a lot of things that you’ve coached me through. But I had achieved some success and what I saw was there were rules and structures that served me when I was first starting.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: For sure.

Amanda Gold: And what you helped me with was those had kind of calcified and weren’t the correct rules or strategies for what I was trying to create next. And so there was permission, but there was also you helped me see where I was using things that I’ve maybe outgrown or that weren’t going to get me to the next level.

And again, I just can’t speak enough about just who you are as a coach and as a person that just being in your presence and in your space, it’s really safe to unpack that and like grow in the light of that.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: Yeah, I love that. Thank you. So when I think about, you’ve kind of already mentioned them a little bit, but kind of those like tangible things that you feel are really different, like either actually different because you’ve created them in your business, right? Since you’ve been in the room, or things that are just like different about you. So there’s the podcast, which you’ve started, which has been a huge celebration and so fun to just celebrate every time an episode comes out. And you have created Tiger Mystics, which is your new, what are you calling it? Group offer?

Amanda Gold: Small group coaching adventure, journey portal, mystical thing.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: That’s good. Okay. I knew the name was something exactly that and that group offer did not do it any justice and that you probably had a way cooler name. So yes. Is there anything else you would add to that? I mean, those are huge things, first of all. And I know I can see also there’ve been all these other little things that have shifted along the way. But is there anything else that you’re like, oh, I want to be sure to like mention this.

Amanda Gold: Ooh, yeah. Okay, so just talking practicalities like the money of it, you know, I had to coach myself to believe that I could make this investment work. It wasn’t easily accessible for me. I had to borrow some money and then I had to just believe that I could live into that, you know, being that person who spent the money.

I made the money back plus. So in this reimagining and in unburdening myself from all these old rules and structures, I believe that I became just more free to be myself, which amazing is more magnetic to best-fit clients and to opportunities and to money and things like that. So I’ve definitely made my investment back plus.

The podcast, like not only does it exist, but I feel amazing and totally equipped to do it consistently. And that was a big thing that you coached me on was the fear that I wouldn’t be able to keep it up. And we coached on even if I only made three episodes, that would be a win. But now I’ve like really stepped into this version of myself that’s like, oh, I got this. I can do this. I have released it every Monday 16 times now. This is a big deal for me. So, I mean, what price?

Lindsay Dotzlaf: It is a really big deal for everybody listening. This is like we had to really coach a lot on this in the best way. Just in a way of like releasing all the things that you thought had to be in place in order for it to work. And now I just get so excited every time you say that.

Amanda Gold: Yeah, I know. You’re genuinely celebratory. I love it. How do you measure a whole new identity, right? Like when I see what I’ve created with this podcast, I believe so many more amazing things are possible for me in my business. And now this is where I get emotional. I’m like, it’s not about the podcast. It’s about who I became. And now it’s like, look at me go, right? Because of this support. And yeah, Tiger Mystics like I’m selling it now. Like, you know, it’s new.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: It’s just been birthed. It has just been birthed into the world. So we’re, that’s, on its own is such a big celebration.

You’ve been signing clients, one on one clients along the way, but there’s just been a lot of permission around like, you kind of said to me off-handed almost like, well, I kind of had this thing I was thinking about, but I know that’s like a future vision. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. What? Say more. And why is it a future vision? Why not like let’s bring that energy in now.

Amanda Gold: And how incredible is that to be able to collapse a timeline, right? Where I was kicking this thing down the road like maybe someday I’ll be someone who could do that, right? And instead with your support and in this group it was like boom, like let’s just go for it. Like let’s break it down into a doable piece now.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: Yeah.

Amanda Gold: That’s awesome.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: I love it. And it’s been so, so fun to watch. Is there, okay, so maybe last question. You said something about like, what’s the price on like the person I’ve become or something along those lines.

Amanda Gold: How do you –

Lindsay Dotzlaf: The question is, what was it? How do you measure it or how do you something?

Amanda Gold: Yeah. You said it, like how do you put a price tag on that, right?

Lindsay Dotzlaf: Yeah. The question is who have you become?

Amanda Gold: Oh my God. What? Oh, like I’ve become, okay, here’s what, here’s what it is. Like I’ve become someone who can actually feel, like I’m so proud of myself and so connected to myself in such a deeper way. It’s like the results don’t matter in a sense of like I don’t need the results to feel good about myself today. Like I’ve just stepped into loving my effort and loving my energy and loving my bravery and my courage and just all the work I’ve done. And so then now I’m creating results in a much more fluid, easier way. But the first thing that happened was like, I just really like myself a lot more. And you coached me, like I still have a human brain that talks a lot of shit.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: But as we all do, or most of us anyway.

Amanda Gold: Yeah. But I’m like excited about myself and my life and I feel like more rooted in my whole life. Like being in this mastermind, it changes how I’m showing up with my friends, it’s changing my marriage, it’s it’s everything is just, it ends up being so much more than the business, right? It’s like I came home to myself and then I was able to feel more at home in my business. And then I’m just a freaking badass. Like and I just believe that so much more and I’m so excited. And I have so much love to give the world, like through all the things I’m going to make.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: It is taking all my effort right now to just sit still and listen without just like jumping up and down. Like literally, I feel like I could jump up and down about that.

Amanda Gold: I feel like there should be an image of us just jumping on that and hugging each other. This is nice. It’s good shit.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: You’ve also become a person who takes a solo retreat and carves out time to just be like, guess what? Next week I’m just going away and working on my business.

Amanda Gold: Yeah. Tomorrow I’m loading up my car after my Friday morning coaching call and I lovingly told my clients, y’all get a week off. Like I have no guilt around that. And I’m loading up my flip charts and I’m going to go jam with my business and it’s going to be so much fun, me and my business.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: So fun. Okay, we’re going to wrap this up. Thank you so, so much for doing this. I they don’t know, but I asked you last minute because you do, would you mind like hopping on? And you were like, hell yes, let’s do it, please. So I’m so grateful for you. I’m having so much fun watching all the things that you’re creating. I’m just going to keep like shouting about you from the rooftops because your energy is so fun. People need to know you. And yeah, thank you so much.

Amanda Gold: Thank you. I mean it. Like thank you for creating this offer and for putting it out there and for being the human that you are and just holding us in this space. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: Thank you.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Mastering Coaching Skills. If you want to learn more about my work, come visit me at lindsaydotzlafcoaching.com. That’s Lindsay with an A, D-O-T-Z-L-A-F.com. See you next week.