0:00

Welcome to Crafted to Thrive , the

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globally ranked podcast for entrepreneurs

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living with chronic illness . I'm

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your host , nikita Williams , and after

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being diagnosed with multiple chronic

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illnesses myself , I figured

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out the surprisingly simple

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missing links to growing a profitable

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business without compromising

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my health . Since then , I've

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helped dozens of women just like

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you learn how to do the same . If

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you're ready to own your story and create

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a thriving business that aligns with your

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health and well-being , you're

0:34

in the right place . Together , we're

0:36

shifting the narrative of what's possible

0:38

for entrepreneurs with chronic illness . This

0:41

is Crafted to Thrive

0:43

. Hey y'all

0:46

, in this episode , I'm going to talk to you all

0:48

about how you can decide if you want

0:50

to become a coach as a chronic

0:52

illness warrior , and why

0:54

I believe it's probably the

0:56

easiest business model

0:59

to step into to make part-time

1:01

income with part-time

1:04

hours , very , very part-time hours

1:06

, on low energy and

1:09

with the biggest return . And

1:11

I want to talk about this because I've

1:14

been really reflecting on my own journey

1:16

and how I'm thankful for

1:19

coming into the world of coaching

1:21

, and I've also had some sales calls

1:23

recently about this

1:25

idea and the things that

1:27

are holding them back from

1:30

doing something like coaching

1:32

or consulting . And I want to

1:34

answer the question for you . If you've

1:36

been wondering could I be a coach ? What

1:38

is a coach ? How does it even work

1:41

? What do I need to do

1:43

? And so this is kind of going to be the beginning

1:45

of a brief series on

1:47

how to become a coach . First

1:49

, how to start and make a part-time income . Secondly

1:52

, how to transition to making

1:54

full-time money on part-time hours

1:57

and part-time things and like

1:59

what you need to do in

2:01

order to be successful at

2:03

it , even during

2:05

the tougher times of living with

2:08

the ups and downs of chronic illness . Now

2:10

, before we get into this , I am

2:13

recording this in DC , my

2:15

first time in Washington DC . I'm here

2:17

for a conference for my sales

2:20

coach and I'm here with

2:22

my husband and I have to be fully

2:24

transparent as I record this episode One . I'm

2:26

so late this week for recording this

2:28

. Usually I get these things recorded my solo episodes

2:31

recorded way in advance , but I've

2:33

been in a flare up myself , I had to travel

2:35

in a flare up myself and

2:38

I am going through some serious grief

2:40

. And you know people people say

2:42

don't share the

2:44

wound like

2:46

don't share the open . You know scar

2:48

, share the wound like once it started to heal over

2:50

. I think that's true for most of us

2:52

and I still I think that's true for me but I'm I'm

2:54

a fast processor and I'm

2:57

also a fast healer to some

2:59

degree , and I'm also a verbal

3:01

processor . So if that's you , you

3:04

know what I mean and I'm also a verbal processor

3:06

. So if that's you , you know what I mean

3:08

. So , on this trip , I can't help to think about

3:10

a year ago this time I

3:14

was getting ready for

3:16

Brooklyn , new York . I was traveling by

3:18

myself , I was in the best

3:20

physical shape and the

3:22

most confident I've ever been in my body

3:24

, even

3:30

though I dealt with , I deal with and I was dealing with

3:32

ups and downs . And

3:39

I have been having this hit hard feeling of grief , and grief that comes with living with chronic

3:41

illness , the constant ebbs and flows and ups and downs

3:44

of being someone

3:46

one time and then

3:48

being someone else another

3:50

time . It kind of feels like and

3:52

this sounds so drastic , but it's really

3:54

how it kind of feels , and this is

3:56

some ways that I know . I've heard my clients

3:59

explain it it's kind of like having

4:02

to grieve a version of yourself

4:04

as it like

4:06

slips away and then you

4:09

embrace the new version of yourself

4:11

and you do this process

4:13

over and over again , right , and

4:15

so , while I am going to share with you

4:17

why being a coach is amazing

4:19

and why it has been one of my things

4:22

that I'm so determined is

4:24

working and will continue to work for me

4:26

, doing the things that I mentioned before

4:28

that you want to do , which is pay some medical

4:30

bills , which is to have some

4:33

fun money , which is to add

4:35

to your household , have a livable income

4:37

. It might be even to be

4:39

able to replace your spouse's

4:41

income or add to his income . I

4:44

want you to hear me

4:46

when I say this If you're in the season of

4:48

you were doing great and now you're not

4:50

, or you're feeling like you're , I

4:52

don't know , something's shifting

4:55

, something's changing and you're

4:57

feeling this overall

4:59

cloud of sadness , or

5:02

maybe you're thinking , you're afraid . I want you to give

5:04

yourself permission that what you're

5:06

likely feeling is grief when

5:09

you live with chronic illness and

5:11

you have highs and lows and

5:15

they come and go and you can do everything

5:17

right . Right , I was doing everything

5:20

quote , unquote right , and

5:22

some new stuff came up into my body and my

5:24

world . And here I am dealing with it right

5:27

, and my body's very different . I'm here in DC

5:29

with my husband , who I love , and I'm so thankful

5:31

for having such a great partner

5:33

who just not only is a best

5:35

friend but gets me and supports

5:38

me . But the

5:40

other thing that comes with this grief is a determination

5:42

to continue to live

5:44

my life . I just

5:46

think about if I didn't take time and

5:49

do some of the scary things of

5:51

like just fear of being like imperfect

5:54

and going on stages and speaking

5:56

or meeting new people in different places

5:58

, I could be looking back

6:00

in the last year in a lot different

6:02

light . Like man , I really didn't do much

6:04

. I really didn't accomplish much as far as my

6:06

external growth . I didn't really

6:08

get my growth edge right , happening

6:10

like I didn't even experience or discover

6:12

it . And what

6:15

I'm grieving right now was just a life

6:17

that felt like it was scary

6:19

and hard , but in such a good , different kind of

6:21

way . And this year it's scary and hard , while

6:24

my body is scary and hard , but in such a good , different kind of way . And this year it's scary and hard while my body is scary

6:26

and hard , honestly . And

6:28

I just want to

6:31

offer you the permission that

6:33

if you're in a space where you are

6:36

in a good space , you're in a transition

6:38

, your body's kind of in that cycle

6:40

where things are going well and

6:43

if you're holding back on anything

6:45

, look for opportunities to do

6:47

it , even if it's a little scary

6:50

, even if it's out of your comfort zone . Those

6:53

things are the things that give you capacity and

6:55

hope . When you're in this season , like I am

6:57

in , which is a feeling of

6:59

frustration , honestly

7:02

, and also determination , the two

7:04

of those very much live in the same space

7:06

right now for me , and

7:08

this is why I so

7:11

I want to share with you why being a coach

7:13

is probably one of the best ways to

7:15

make an income and have

7:17

the space , emotionally and mentally

7:19

and spiritually , to be able to process

7:21

stuff like this and live with

7:24

stuff like this as a coach . So

7:26

what is a coach ? If

7:29

you look up the word coach , you're going to find a whole

7:31

lot of different definitions , but

7:34

my definition for a coach is

7:36

really someone who takes something

7:38

that they themselves are passionate

7:40

about , that they

7:42

have done and

7:45

are really good at it right

7:47

, and so there are different

7:49

things that could be , and I think a lot

7:51

of times we think about coaching in such a

7:53

professional space

7:55

of like someone

7:58

who is got a

8:00

degree or has an MBA and

8:02

things like that , but really a

8:04

coach is someone who's just dedicated to

8:06

a practice of a skill or

8:08

a passion . Okay , right , and

8:11

so that could be your form of creativity

8:13

. It could be watercolor

8:15

, it could be crocheting

8:18

, it could be singing

8:20

, it could be music of some

8:22

sort , it could be public

8:25

speaking , it could be business

8:28

in general , it could be graphic design

8:30

. It could be what you learned

8:32

in your schools , like if you went to school

8:34

and were an MBA and a holistic nutritionist

8:36

, or you love talking about

8:39

food . You've lost weight , you love

8:41

how you've lost weight . You've been able

8:43

to help others to do that

8:45

. Maybe you have some

8:48

experience in a specific

8:50

genre of work , like a specific

8:52

tech company or tech roles

8:54

. Maybe you worked in corporate environments

8:56

before as an executive admin or

8:59

as a team manager or a secretary

9:02

or some sort and you

9:04

have helped people . You've been

9:06

practicing a skill for

9:08

a while and you have developed competency

9:11

where you understand and know a thing

9:13

really well . So , for example , for

9:15

me , I've been doing some form of marketing

9:18

digital marketing since I was in high school

9:20

. I also have done some type

9:22

of supporting small businesses in some ways

9:24

since I was in high school , where I

9:26

have helped small businesses grow . I have done

9:28

community events , I've done marketing

9:31

, I've done ads , I've done all

9:33

these different kinds of things , and it's something I've kind of pretty

9:35

much like dedicated myself in being and

9:37

it's become a skill where I have helped

9:39

people . It's something I can literally talk about all day

9:41

long , right ? So a coach is someone

9:44

who is dedicated to a practice

9:46

of something that you talk about with

9:48

ease , you do with ease , and

9:50

oftentimes people think about coaching

9:53

as this thing . Well , if you don't have an

9:55

MBA , if you don't have a

9:57

bachelor's degree or an associate's

9:59

degree you haven't gone to college then you can't be

10:02

a coach . Some of my most successful

10:04

and amazing coaches don't have

10:06

a degree and they're making millions

10:09

and helping other women make millions of

10:11

dollars . Right , there are women who

10:13

are not making millions of dollars , but making what

10:15

they want and what they need and helping

10:17

other people do the same thing , and

10:19

they don't have these grandiose experiences

10:21

of like MBAs and PhDs and

10:23

some of them are don't get me wrong

10:26

my sales coach . She's an amazing social worker

10:28

. She won awards for being a great

10:30

social worker , but she's an amazing

10:32

business and mindset coach . She's amazing

10:35

and she has helped hundreds

10:37

of women make anywhere between

10:39

six to seven and eight figures in

10:41

their business all from the

10:43

fact that she practiced the skill of selling

10:45

. That was her dedicated practice , and

10:48

it doesn't take long . Some people think that

10:50

being a coach means you have to have

10:52

10 and 15 and 20 years experience

10:55

in order to become

10:57

a coach , and all you really

10:59

need to do is need to be at least one to

11:02

five steps ahead of someone else who's

11:04

trying to figure out what it is that you know

11:06

. And that's really

11:08

the cool thing about coaching is that

11:10

it's not that difficult

11:13

to get into . If you have created

11:15

the result and the skill for

11:17

yourself , you can teach someone

11:19

else . And so why

11:21

is coaching often like

11:23

, not something that people consider , especially

11:26

those with chronic illness ? Well

11:28

, I find that what happens is a

11:30

lot of times , the skills that we develop become

11:32

really difficult because we've been doing them

11:34

in containers and environments

11:37

that weren't made for our lives with

11:39

chronic illness . So , for example

11:41

, you might have been working

11:43

in corporate and you were really good

11:45

at your job , you were passionate about it

11:47

, but living with chronic illness

11:50

and doing it in the corporate , patriarchal

11:52

world that we live in , racist world that

11:55

we live in , who doesn't leave

11:57

space for living with chronic

11:59

illness and disabilities , visible or invisible

12:01

in their world

12:03

, may have made it seem like you're

12:05

really bad at your job or not

12:08

competent , but in reality , if

12:10

you had the space to do it the way that

12:12

, aligned with your life and your body , you

12:15

would excel at it . And , matter of fact , there are your life and your body . You would excel at it . And

12:17

, matter of fact , there are probably people who are like you are

12:19

amazing at this . There are probably people that

12:21

think that you do more than the average

12:23

Joe , but someone

12:26

else might have an opinion about the fact that

12:28

you might have to take some days off of

12:30

work or that you have had

12:32

to take leave and all of those

12:34

things right . So that's

12:37

some of the reasons why you may not

12:39

have considered coaching being a thing for you

12:41

. Other things are people

12:43

feel like coaching is just made for like business

12:45

, and , yes

12:47

, that's one of the cool ones . This

12:49

is why I do what I do , because I love talking about

12:52

business and helping people grow their businesses , but

12:55

it's also for people who are just

12:57

wanting to learn the new skill

12:59

that you're dedicated to as well , right

13:02

, or maybe it is

13:04

another person in your world

13:06

that is looking to learn

13:09

the skill and develop the passion that

13:11

you have for what you do . So

13:13

there's so many different reasons why

13:15

you can be a

13:17

coach , and it doesn't have

13:20

to be for business

13:22

, like it doesn't have to be for helping other business owners

13:24

. It could be helping your neighbor down

13:26

the street knit her

13:28

first blanket for her

13:31

granddaughter or

13:33

for her niece or for her sister-in-law

13:35

right , it could be if you

13:37

are a coach . If you want to be a coach for business

13:39

, it could be that you don't want to do it for any other

13:41

business . Maybe you're a photographer . Maybe

13:44

you want to help someone else become a photographer

13:46

. Maybe you want someone else to become

13:48

a nature guide

13:50

. Maybe you want someone else to be

13:52

able to share what it's like

13:54

to plan and decorate and

13:57

do event planning . You want to help someone else . Really

13:59

, at the core of being a coach

14:01

is wanting to help someone and supporting

14:04

someone get to where they want

14:06

to go . And what's

14:08

beautiful about this that I have found in my journey

14:11

with my business as a coach

14:13

is that I get to design the

14:15

space and the offer

14:17

and how I will deliver

14:20

that offer at my own pace

14:22

and my own capacity , without

14:25

any strings attached . So

14:28

here's another reason why

14:30

you might have discounted coaching for yourself

14:32

. Again , kind of going back to the same thought

14:34

You've discounted

14:37

your skills and your

14:39

talent Because you

14:42

believe you're not good at them anymore . And

14:45

it's only because maybe when you were experiencing

14:48

the height of your chronic illness

14:51

like if you were , like I mentioned in

14:53

a previous episode , the different phases maybe

14:55

if you were like a newbie chronic illness warrior

14:57

and you were going through all

14:59

of these things , you may have just lost

15:01

sight of what you're good at because

15:04

you are too busy and are still too busy

15:06

trying to survive , right

15:08

? So if you're in the awareness

15:11

phase now as a chronic illness warrior and

15:13

you're kind of getting your jive

15:15

in , like getting your groove , I should say , in

15:17

understanding where you are and how your body's

15:19

working , or if you're an OG

15:21

and you're still looking for ways to grow

15:24

and contribute to your household

15:26

, or just make an extra money , or

15:28

like start a full-fledged business that's

15:30

profitable , and you may

15:33

have thought I could never be a coach , but

15:35

I can offer you this question

15:38

for you to consider Are

15:41

you a person who loves to help people

15:43

? Are you a person who

15:45

loves to help people ? Are you a person who loves to see other people succeed ? Are

15:48

you a person who really

15:50

wants to be involved

15:52

in helping someone take one

15:55

step forward and be excited

15:57

that they made it to that one step . Is

16:01

that something you want ? Is that something

16:03

you already do , right

16:05

? So before I became a coach this

16:07

is going back to my story a little bit . Before I became

16:09

a coach , I was doing digital marketing , so I was

16:11

doing websites , landing

16:14

pages , facebook ads , email , social

16:16

media , marketing management . I was doing

16:18

all of that stuff right , and I did

16:20

it because it was something I did . I

16:23

didn't necessarily love it , but what I did love about

16:25

it was when I got on a call with a client

16:27

to talk about what their vision

16:29

was , what their mission was , who are their

16:31

people that they wanted to connect with , who

16:34

did they want to be Like , who was their

16:36

dream client and their avatars and

16:38

things like that . And when

16:40

I started discovering and dabbling

16:42

in coaching , when I started to like pivot

16:45

into doing a coaching business , I

16:47

found that most of my testimonies from

16:49

those clients that not only did they enjoy

16:51

the result of what happened during the marketing

16:54

, but what they really loved was

16:56

those sessions where we talked and I helped

16:58

them get clear and understand

17:01

what next steps or what was for

17:03

them or what wasn't for them , and

17:05

because of that I realized

17:08

, oh , I was already coaching . So

17:10

I want you to take a moment and think about where

17:12

in my life am I already a coach ? Where

17:15

would someone else say , yeah , such

17:17

and such has helped me with this because she

17:19

shared this with me , or this tip or this

17:21

tool or this resource ? And

17:24

, yes , you're probably already coaching people

17:26

for free . That's the beautiful

17:28

thing about being a coach . Now

17:30

, if you're a person like that's a big you

17:32

know , big picture person who loves

17:35

to see the big picture but is able to see the little

17:37

nitty gritty and in between , coaching

17:39

is also a really great fit for you as well

17:42

, because a lot of people have great

17:44

ideas but they don't know how to

17:46

go from the idea to implementation

17:48

. And if that is your gift

17:50

, you could be a coach , and

17:53

I can almost guarantee most of my chronic illness

17:55

warriors here . We've had to either develop

17:57

the skill of seeing a bigger

17:59

picture and figure out the small steps the hard

18:01

way , or we figured out

18:04

ways to make shortcuts and make it easier

18:06

, right , and those are the things

18:08

that people want help with . Now

18:11

, the next thing that you might be thinking . I could

18:13

never charge to help people in this

18:15

way , and I want you to take a

18:17

moment and think about . How much

18:20

money would you pay for someone

18:22

to help you learn the skill

18:24

that you took decades to learn and

18:26

half the time ? How

18:29

much money would you pay for someone to help you learn the skill that you took

18:31

decades to learn , and half the time ? How much money , how much energy would you receive back

18:33

if you could do that and

18:35

you just had to pay some

18:38

money for it ? Think about it . What

18:48

would you pay now to have the answer to a big question in your mind about living with chronic

18:50

illness or starting and growing a business ? How much would you pay now

18:53

in order to have a result of having

18:55

more flexibility and freedom in your life ? How

18:58

much would you pay for that , right

19:01

? So this is

19:03

the first episode of many late episodes

19:05

in this little series , but I wanted you to start thinking

19:07

about could you be a coach , and

19:10

how are you already a coach ? All

19:14

right , this was going to be a brief episode , y'all , just

19:16

because I'm literally is

19:18

late and I and I'm not joking I

19:20

wanted to get something out to you guys to think about . I've

19:23

been thinking about this often because a lot of my clients

19:25

that I've been working with are

19:27

starting or working on becoming some

19:30

type of coach or consultant , and

19:32

in my sales calls I've been having lots of talks

19:34

with clients who are like thinking about how

19:37

can they make additional revenue that

19:39

allows them to capitalize on

19:41

having more flexibility and freedom . And

19:43

I often ask have you thought about

19:46

coaching ? And many of them

19:48

have dismissed it for a lot of the reasons

19:50

I mentioned here , and

19:53

some of them are like yeah , I wanna do it , I just

19:55

don't know how to do it . And that's where we

19:57

have made a plan for them specifically to

20:00

start a coaching business and make it easy

20:02

for them to do it right . So

20:04

if that is you , then I want

20:06

you to step into the show notes and

20:09

click on the link to book a sales call

20:11

with me to learn how you can start

20:13

your own coaching business , if that's what you

20:15

want , or how you can just start

20:17

and grow a business . It doesn't have to be a coaching business

20:20

, but I do recommend if you're a chronic

20:22

illness warrior , it's one of those

20:24

things that you could consider , even

20:26

if you already have a pre-existing business

20:28

. This is a great piece

20:30

of business that you can add or offer

20:33

, that you can add to your business right now that

20:35

can bring you easy revenue

20:37

into your business . So

20:39

, even if you're a jewelry maker right now , even

20:41

if you are a designer

20:44

, even if you are a nutritionist

20:46

, you could add an aspect

20:48

of coaching for other nutritionists , other

20:50

artists right , you could

20:53

add an avenue of coaching for other

20:55

people who want to learn more about a specific

20:57

topic in what you

21:00

do . There's so many ideas that

21:02

could help you bring in just an extra

21:04

thousand dollars

21:06

a month , maybe $2,000 a month

21:08

if you already have a pre-existing business and

21:10

you want to bring in some revenue . So

21:13

if that's , you , book a

21:15

call with me . I'd love to work with you . You can

21:17

learn how to work with me one-to-one and

21:19

my container , where you learn how to

21:22

make 100K specifically with

21:24

the systems , team mindset and

21:27

community aspect , all with

21:29

me , one-to-one with you . Or

21:31

in my group program called Chronically

21:34

you and Profitable , where you learn

21:36

how to do this in a self-paced and

21:38

coaching experience , where

21:41

you learn how to do this with a little bit done

21:43

with you work together inside

21:45

of a community . So , either

21:48

way , all you got to do is decide to book

21:50

a sales call with me and we'll work out which

21:52

one of these offers might be a great fit for

21:54

you . So , as always

21:56

, remember you are crafted to thrive

21:58

, and thanks for tuning in . And our next

22:00

podcast is actually going to be talking about email

22:03

with a beautiful guest and we're going

22:05

to be answering the question are you

22:07

making the most out of your email ? When

22:09

it comes to clients

22:12

that have already been in your world , who

22:14

may not have made the decision to work with

22:16

you yet , and how to have them convert

22:18

with ease , that's what's coming up

22:20

in our next episode . That's

22:23

a wrap , y'all . Thanks for tuning in

22:25

to Crafted to Thrive , the podcast that

22:28

helps entrepreneurs with chronic illness

22:30

to thrive and build a holistic

22:32

business and life . Check out

22:34

our website at craftedtothrivecom

22:37

for this episode's show notes and all

22:39

the gifts and goodies . Connect with

22:41

me on Instagram at thrive

22:43

with Nikita for more tips and behind

22:45

the scenes and more . Tag

22:47

me to share what you loved about this episode

22:50

and I'll feature you on an upcoming

22:52

episode . So

22:54

until next time , remember , yes

22:56

, you are crafted

22:58

to thrive . Peace

23:02

.