You may have seen my social media posts on how I became interested in psychology, but I thought I’d let you know how I got into coaching and how I am different from other small business coaches.
Experience in small business before becoming a coach
Yes, I have run my own product-based small business outside of business coaching. Yes, my small business was successful (I fell out of love with it). Yes, I have seen the growth of websites and social media in business since 2000. I say all of these things so you know that I have been there as a small business owner with a product-based business and now a service-based business.
While I was running my product-based business, I made and sold school hair accessories (ecommerce and F2F), I grew the number of business friends I had. I started selling on Facebook, before there were Pages and before I had an ecommerce store. As Facebook’s business offerings grew, I adopted them and my friends saw how I was growing my reach and audience – and they started to ask for advice.
The more small business owners I coached on Facebook, the more I understood and learnt about the psychology behind the platform. I could see, from my previous experience building websites and apps for Federal Government, that user experience and behaviour was important to online success. I took this practical online experience and applied it to social media and my own website. I then taught it to other business owners.
The benefit of holding tertiary qualifications in psychology and business is that I have the theoretical understanding of what I apply in practice. I need to understand why. I can also look at recommendations others make and see where they can be improved or improvised.
I still learn, try, test, revise, and explore. I believe it’s important that I can emapthise and coach from a position of like lived experience and not just theory or what I have helped others through.
Mindset matters more to small business success
I started my small business coaching in social media techniques, then I added the application of psychology and user behaviour to the
practical techniques I was teaching. What I discovered that even when I taught my clients how to market their business online, many didn’t. I had to work out why.
What I realised was that their mindset was blocking them from marketing their business. More often than not, a small business owner would come to me for coaching on a technical skill gap only to really need help on the underlying mindset/fear issue that was actually holding them back most of all.
Some of the small business clients I’ve had through my coaching have been struck with imposter syndrome, fear of failure, not valued their time, not valued themselves, fear of success, money blocks, a fear of not providing, or people-pleasing to mention a few. All of these things have, in one way or another, prevented them from marketing or delivering in their small business.
I realised that you can have all the technical skills and support but if you don’t have the right mindset, you still won’t do the work you need to progress your small business.
I have seen and guided many clients through personal hardship that has negatively impacted on their business. We are so much of our business’ success. That can not be ignored. You can’t continue to just push through it.
Doing the work as a small business coach
Understanding the importance of mindset, I work on my own. I have overcome a fear of public speaking, fear of success, and I’m navigating the ends of Imposter Syndrome. It has been confronting and rewarding all at once.
I have confronted what others have told me I should be and do, only to realise down the track that it came from their own fears and insecurities.
I have learnt SEO because a client had been lured into and expensive contract with a provider, only to be able to out perform the provider when my client realised it was all a “pitch”. I’ve implemented my learnings on my own and other client sites so that we can all succeed.
I have learnt and implemented Profit First so that I can help my clients improve their profitability and found contentment again in receiving more for my efforts and still seeing my coffers grow.
Early on I was caught by the shiny object I was led to believe business coaching could be, only to see that it is often smoke and mirrors, hiding great advertising debt and little to no profitability.
I coach, turn around, and grow businesses to multiple six figures while I am content to have a small business that provides the life and additional finances my family needs. I’ve seen other businesses coached into ventures outside of their values, only to become burnt out and disenfranchised with their business has gone (and small business coaching).
I can not stand hypocrisy and so I can not coach from this place. I will always walk the walk, often before my small business clients.
Individualised small business coaching
While my coaching is based on my signature system, it is flexible enough to be able to be individualised to each small business owner.
Starting with mindset places the owner at the centre of the journey, not the product, service, or funnel often prioritised by other small business coaches.
Starting with people ensures that the coaching is individualised, even when small business owners share similar mindset issues. We all come to these places from our own experience, without own preconceptions, our own self-belief, our own skills, and our own destinations.
I believe that you started your small business for your unique reasons and in your own unique style and image. I don’t want to mould your business into what I believe it should be, I want you to help it to become all it is you knew it would be. That requires an individualized approach to your business and your circumstances.
Summary of how Kara Lambert differs in the world of small business coaching.
I hope you can see now how I differ from other business coaches. I have tertiary qualifications in psychology & business and also grassroots experience in my own product and service-based businesses. I know that so much of who we are goes into our business, but also how much of how we see and believe of ourselves prevents it from being all it can be. I walk the talk, cry the tears, and suffer the growing pains of building a small business to the size you need. I put you at the centre of the coaching so that you and your small business can thrive. If you have any questions or would like to know more, please reach out.
