Seventeen years into her coaching career, Becky Mollenkamp is honing into the job she
Find out how the mindset coach and time-tested creator Becky Mollenkamp is evolving her creator business to do more of the work she is passionate about.
What happens if you let go of the "shoulds" and began trusting your instincts?
For the mindset Coach Becky Mollenkamp the decision to stop being a'shoulder' changed everything -- and that includes her profession.
Becky aids people to make the transition from "small company owner" to CEO and develop viable businesses that don't burn out. Through her Gutsy Boss brand, she has assisted thousands of customers identify their own "shoulds' and define success on their goals.
She brings nearly 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur to her work, including running a six-figure content marketing company before launching her coaching business in 2015.
Recently, we spoke with Becky to hear how her business has evolved over the last couple of years and look back on the journey she took to create. The company is moving through a period of transition, when she is focusing the area of working with small entrepreneurs and their advisors and employees.
Keep reading to learn how Becky has grown her business by trusting her instincts and getting rid of the "shoulds" -- and has helped other entrepreneurs do the same.
Finding her calling as a mindset coach
While Becky has been an entrepreneur for over two decades, coaching wasn't an integral part of her plan.
"What drove me to the coaching path was my brother's death in 2010 due to a fatal overdose of heroin. It really shook me from my bed," Becky explains.
"I lived a life filled with'shoulds' and going through the motions performing all the tasks that a good girl's supposed to be doing. It made me realize that my life is much too brief to live a life that isn't exactly what you want to live."
"I didn't know what I was looking for. But I knew that I didn't want that," Becky remembers. The writer shut down his business and moved back to her parents' home. Then came the internal work of figuring out what she wouldwant her life to be like.
Becky started to rebuild her writing business. "It was what I knew and could be successful in. However, I realized that what I actually wanted to do was assist others in breaking away from the "shoulds"."
Then she began coaching.
"I discovered that I can help others who are going through the same things which I've gone through. And that's really the reason I realized it's what I'm destined to be doing. This is my passion."
Her experience as an owner of an agency and her an increased desire to aid other people make Becky's unique outlook a perfect match to coach people's mindset.
"I'm an expert in strategy, nor am I a consultant, but actually an instructor. Thus, I guide people to their own conclusions and their own knowledge of the things they would like to achieve in their lives or business, and then help people move forward with that," Becky explains.
To help other people to live their values better, she also brings her own principles into the process. "I'm female-focused coach and that means I respect lived experiences as well as being trauma-informed. the coaching I provide is about empathy, not blame or shame."
Inspiring by her experience and experience, Becky began building her coaching online business however, it came with a lot of "shoulds," too.
Tuning out the noise about the way an online business ought to appear to
When asked about the challenges in establishing her coaching company, Becky laughs. "There was no challenge I did not face. I feel like I had every obstacle."
The battle of the 'shoulds was played out in this instance, also. "I think the greatest problem was the voices in the internet area about how businesses ought to look as well as how you should conduct it, and what that you have to accomplish to be successful," she says.
In retrospect, Becky finds this common myth that says business owners who don't commit to their business from the beginning aren't confident in their abilities, and therefore privileged. "I didn't know that when I was younger, and I was filled with regret and a feeling that I wasn't doing a good job since I was still required writing [to pay the billsto survive]."
The woman recalled thinking "Why could I not make this coaching process more effective and more quickly? What could be wrong?"
Most people can't afford to jump in to a brand new venture full-time -- and that's perfectly fine! This can be a gradual procedure, but this doesn't mean you're not determined or worthy of being an entrepreneurial.
"I was forced to perform my own work to release me from that blame and shame and recognize that advice to go all-in] was not practical for the vast majority of people."
"The biggest challenge initially was to realize that I was able to gradually transition from writing a business into an entirely new venture." She focused on shifting her workload by 25% every year. The initial year, it consisted of 75percent writing and 25 percent coaching. "Honestly this is the first year that's 0% writing," Becky tells us.
"That was a gradual transition. Letting it go and then getting rid of the shame about that, to realize that it's okay, might be the smartest and most efficient way to start a new business rather than feeling as if they must go all into it or that they do not believe in themselves."
Becky had a hard time treating herself as the CEO; to appreciate the importance of her work , and to think in the big in the big.
"You could be a freelancer, you can become a sole entrepreneur and you could be an owner of a small-sized business with just a few consultants . But you are still the head, you are the CEO, you are the visionary," she emphasizes.
"It's about confidence in showing up and saying, "I'm confident in what I'm doing. I can do this.'"
The CEO's mindset is a central theme of her work with clients.
A more targeted client (while offering her services to a wider audience)
Becky's career is going through a change: She's narrowing her focus on coach midsize businesses and the teams they lead .
There are many motives for this change:
Her work is aligned more closely to her own experience and learnings as a business owner.
Her time and talents as a service makes Becky the biggest amount of income.
It's the work she enjoys most.
Based on her own journey, Becky wants her clients to experience "the transformation that happens internally when you start treating your company like a business and treating yourself like an executive."
"I worked on a personal basis, and still do, but I'm now looking to work more with women, mostly with mid-sized businesses," she describes. "It's about work-life harmony for them as well as working with their employees or their consultants to offer them coaching so that they can improve their work-life balance."
The change will create an impact on Becky's bottom line, too.
"You cost more for coachingbecause you charge more], and you need to get one person to make the same amount with those guides for $7 or even a $200 course. I have to sell many more courses and guides] which means I need to include a lot more people on my list because the majority of clients change into something." The clients of coaches are more likely to recommend others, which means even higher potential revenue for coaching later on.
That said, Becky plans to continue providing her services to a wider audience even if it's not the right fit for her new one-on-one coaching.
"I'm continuing to run my venture as I've been doing it. That's Gutsy Boss, and helping both businesses and individuals," Becky explains. "I do not want to let them go behind. I've worked with some individuals for a long time, and many of them are on my podcast, or they're in my email list."
To address the needs of those who are in, Becky has repurposed a lot of her existing content into Gutsy Guides that help tackle particular issues like boundary-setting and making huge demands, and overcoming imposter syndrome.
"Generally the people who are in that category are mid-career professionals, and rather than doing lots of one-on one for them, I offer an array of tools which they can utilize for self-help with these issues," she says.
Now, when someone discovers Becky's work they can fit in one of two categories:
Coaching clients who are interested in becoming potential coaches
Individuals who can benefit of Becky's self-guided mini-course , self-study program in addition to Gutsy guides that are hosted by Becky through
How can she determine what segment a potential customer fits into?
With automation, segmentation, and a little ideas from the Golden Girls.
Utilizing automation, segmentation and fun tests to match potential clients with the best services
Becky offers a test on her site: "Which business owner are you?" The six-question question (built by using Interact ) tells visitors the Golden Girls-inspired business owner personalities they like: Newbie (Rose), Flirt (Blanche), Pro (Dorothy) and Sage (Sophia).
Each persona represents a different phase of business ownership from first steps to experienced professional.
"To be precise, this is a more advanced opt-in to email," Becky cautions fellow creators. "I don't recommend you start with something similar to this, if you don't yet already have an opt-in... My experience was that I started by downloading a simple file. It's the easiest way to go."
When you're ready to segment your audience A more sophisticated opt-in such as Becky's test can aid you in this process. The segmentation can be used to automatically approach them with targeted offers that match their individual needs or level of expertise.
Automated email campaigns are created by using ConvertKit This means that she doesn't have to spend precious time sending out the correct items to the appropriate individuals.
"It takes place when I'm asleep," she describes. "They're getting their email series, and if they want to purchase these guides, they're priced super affordably. It's an easy decision, and a really easy system."
Becky is aware that her business will expand with her business
Since Becky's company has grown as well, and so too has the method she employs .
Becky introduced (and occasionally removed) different products as her business grew and expanded, which included the digital downloads, further classes, as well as group coaching.
Right now Becky is preparing to launch her 2023 Gutsy Accountability program that includes group coaching, downloadable resources, coaching 1:1 with Becky, and/or live workshops, depending on the programs clients choose.
"I love being able coach groups since all the resources I would like to make available can be stored in the system. Clients are able to and get the items. I am able to create assets I already own available to them. It really makes that less effort. And they can pay through . I don't have to worry about any of it."
's embeddable buy buttons and checkout experiences make it simple for customers to purchase programs like Gutsy Accountability without leaving the site's landing page.
Throughout her creator journey she has allowed Becky the freedom to study these different product types to determine what's best for her as well as her customers.
"Almost every week I've had someone reach out to me and tell me, 'I'm sure the product you're using , inform me about it' which I'm always happy to hear," she says.
"I believe it's beneficial for people to know you can build on this platform... There's everything you need here at a price you can afford."
Make your own decisions and develop your business in a way that's loyal to you.
Becky's closing advice to creators is similar to the advice her advice to her clients: Go with your gut.
"Listen to your gut. Most of the people that come to me... they have many doubts and they don't feel confident This creates a feeling of being stuck and then they feel like they're not making any progress in their business. And that's so disappointing. That's the feeling I'm able to remember," she says.
"In first place, trying to trust your self is essential to achieving any kind of successful experience."
Becky's coaching company has seen a significant improvement from the first time she launched her course on in 2018. But her core and the soul of her coaching -- supporting others to release those "shoulds and'shoulds' -- is still unshakeable. We can't wait to find out where the next four years (and even beyond!) will take Becky and her business.