[00:00:00] Lauren Newton: It is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you to an amazing coach. She’s one of my best friends on the planet. I love her so much and we get to just grab all of her knowledge out of her head today. So I’m going to ask all the things. So welcome, Stacey Berger.

[00:00:15] Stacey Berger: Hello, Lauren.

[00:00:16] Lauren Newton: Thank you for being here.

[00:00:17] Stacey Berger: What an absolute pleasure and you and I both love talking all things coaching, business, personal development. So, to do this formally is really an honor.

[00:00:27] Lauren Newton: We do. So, one time Stacey and I were at a retreat together in Concord, Massachusetts. And we were talking business. And then, the person leading the retreat came over and we were like, Oh, sorry. We were like, apologizing for talking business. He’s like, no, this is a good thing. It’s going to be fun to have everybody in on the conversation here.

[00:00:46] Lauren Newton: So, The Abundant Coach podcast is really, Stacey, about experiencing abundance. Yes, as a coach and all the revenue you will make and all that good stuff but also like, just having a feeling in your life. Like it’s abundant [00:01:00] and really helping our audience understand ways to navigate that. So, I’m going to be asking you lots of questions about that.

[00:01:06] Lauren Newton: But I want to start with, just give us an overview of your coaching career, like the highlight stats. So, revenue that you’ve generated, let’s start here. Let’s start with how many years you’ve been doing this revenue. You’ve been generated over those years and then how many lives you’ve impacted?

[00:01:19] Stacey Berger: Yeah, for sure. So I will be coaching now for 10 years this year. So hitting that 10 year anniversary, which is a little bit of a shock, right? How quickly a decade can go by in that 10 years have generated 5 million dollars in revenue. So very proud of that. And through the different social media platforms, speaking, coaching tens of thousands of lives impacted.

[00:01:47] Stacey Berger: And I think, that’s really important. I think, one of the mental pieces that’s so important is, when we can hook up income to impact. And that income simply is a reflection of the impact we’ve made. And that’s been [00:02:00] so important to me because, when I’m not meeting my numbers, I’m saying to myself, Hey, Stacey, you’re not making the impact. And I think that’s such a important mental move is just to hook up income and impact.

[00:02:12] Lauren Newton: So it’s taking it off of you, like, the income. It’s all about me to going, wait a second, if I’m not having it, I’m actually not making that big of a difference. If I’m not having the impact that I want to have.

[00:02:20] Stacey Berger: I think we become coaches is because, we want to make an impact. We want to make a difference in people’s lives. And so, if you’re not making any income, you’re probably not living into your purpose.

[00:02:30] Lauren Newton: That’s very true, it’s interesting cause with the income thing, I think there can be, of course, so many beliefs that we have about money and what that means over the years. And I think, probably, one of the biggest jobs we have as coaches, at least in the very beginning of our business is, learning our own limits when it comes to money and changing our relationship with it. Because you really can’t make an impact if you’re not enough money to make yourself comfortable to be able to make that impact.

[00:02:57] Lauren Newton: So, let me ask this. This is not what I plan to [00:03:00] ask now, but just because we’re talking about, so you’ve been doing this for 10 years. And I think about Mary Morrissey who founded, Brave Thinking Institute. So thank you, Mary, for ultimately being the true host of this pod cast, the true sponsor of this podcast.

[00:03:13] Lauren Newton: And I think about for her, how she had 50 years of getting up and serving this mission. And in complete transparency, sometimes after 6 years of serving this mission, I get weary with things. So, I would just love to hear a little bit about, what gets you out of bed in the morning, 10 years in?

[00:03:33] Lauren Newton: And I would also love to hear two part question. I’d also love to hear the different stages, probably, emotionally and structurally that you went through over the course of 10 years?

[00:03:42] Stacey Berger: It’s so interesting. I am so grateful to stand on the shoulders of Mary Morrissey and how she has shortcutted my learning curve, both from an awareness perspective but also a business building perspective. And I actually have a different thought of that when I think I’m [00:04:00] 10 years in.

[00:04:00] Stacey Berger: I’m 45 years old and I think, wow, imagine what I’m going to know when I’m 70. I look at the growth I’ve had in my own awareness, personal development, how I’ve evolved as a teacher, a coach, a speaker. And I get really excited about, wow, imagine what I could be like in 10 years from now, 20 years. Cause I’m just getting started in so many ways.

[00:04:24] Stacey Berger: And that doesn’t mean I don’t have my days where I’m like, Oh my gosh, can I really do this? I definitely have those days but overall, I feel so blessed to do this work on the planet that, it’s exciting to look forward to what the future holds as well.

[00:04:41] Lauren Newton: That’s really good. That’s like a great mindset, let me just say to be in to, I’m excited for what the next years bring. Cause actually like, when you really think of it, like 45 is relatively young to have created what you’ve created. And so, the excitement about, I can’t wait to see, all I know when I’m 70, that’s a really good mindset shift.

[00:04:59] Lauren Newton: [00:05:00] Cause you can look at it, I’ve been serving this vision for 10 years. It’s a long time, I’m like, I’ve only been serving this for 10 years and look at where I’ve come and look at where there is to go. So, do you notice like a lot? Cause I know, I want to just see if I’m accurate here in 2023, your business hit the million dollar and more annual mark.

[00:05:16] Stacey Berger: Yes.

[00:05:17] Lauren Newton: So, your business continues to grow, continues to get bigger and bigger. So do you see that there’s a big difference between where you are? Where you were year one and two? Just in terms of like, your day to day? Or does it surprise you that it’s not that different or how does that stack up for you?

[00:05:35] Stacey Berger: Yeah. I would say, there’s a significant difference. When I first was getting going, it was me, myself and I, right? And so, I was responsible for all of it. And now, I have a team around me, which is phenomenal. So what it’s allowed for me is the shift has been, I get to do more of my zone of genius and I get to rely on other people’s expertise. It’s also a bit of a shift [00:06:00] because in many ways, sometimes I have to put on the CEO hat, right? And it’s a different, when you’re managing a team and running a company rather than being a solopreneur. And it’s a small team still at this point but it definitely has shifted priorities. What happens day to day operationally for sure. There’s a shift that’s happened over the years.

[00:06:20] Lauren Newton: And do you think that shift came when you hired your first employee or is it something that has been gradual or?

[00:06:27] Stacey Berger: Its been gradual. One of the Brave Thinking Institute faculty, Mat Boggs, he helped me so much as I was growing and he said, look for the rubs in your business. So look for the places where you’ve got the resistance. And because you can’t outgrow those resistance, resistance points. And so, my first hire was, I was out speaking. I grew my business through speaking and networking and I was having so many requests for strategy [00:07:00] sessions and that first call, that I didn’t have time to get back to everybody. And so, that was creating resistance, right?

[00:07:07] Lauren Newton: The problem to have. That’s like champagne problem.

[00:07:09] Stacey Berger: That was my first hire, was just a VA that could go schedule those appointments. And so, it generated revenue because I was able to talk to more people. It removed that rub and I just kept hiring for those rubs. And those resistance points. The other piece was, we would have events and we would onboard up a bunch of clients. Again, champagne problem but then the administration work that was required after that, there was a part of me that dreaded it, right?

[00:07:37] Stacey Berger: Like, I just want to go coach and I’m so happy and now I got to do the paperwork on the payments and mail things out. And it was an important thing to me. I wanted it done but I could notice in my own energy. And so, when it was time to hire, it was, what if I could outsource that? And it’s not always easy, right? I think I’ve always hired before I’ve felt ready. It’s a [00:08:00] financial investment. It’s scary but it freed my energy most importantly and then my time to go do other things that could generate greater impact.

[00:08:09] Lauren Newton: I think this is so helpful because, I know a lot of times for beginning coaches, one of the biggest, I don’t know, if complaints is the right words or the biggest rubs is that, you really are doing everything and not loving to do all of the things. And one of the advice that I always give is, you in some ways have to fall in love with the things you don’t like to do, because there would enable you to go out and impact people.

[00:08:31] Lauren Newton: And there will become a time when you don’t have to do everything. But right now, let’s let ourselves fall in love with all the parts of it because it’s what helps us to serve people. But what I also love and I think is super helpful for what you’re saying, Stacey, is that, I think sometimes coaches think, Oh, when I hit the million dollar mark, I’m going to have no problems.

[00:08:48] Lauren Newton: Or when I hit a certain level of clients, I’m gonna have no problems. And the truth is, this is human birth and in human birth, there’s going to be contrast, there’s going to be and contrast is a good thing. It’s ultimately so [00:09:00] instructive because it takes us where we want to go, growth wise. But really wanting to like, get rid of this idea in coach’s minds that like, when you hit a certain point, there’s going to be no more problems.

[00:09:08] Lauren Newton: And there’s always going to be challenges, opportunities, roadblocks, things we love, things we don’t love and just letting ourselves continue to grow through those things. I think, why we ultimately end up loving what we do. Cause we can look back and see how much we’ve grown through and be like, damn, I’m okay. Like, I’m pretty good actually.

[00:09:26] Stacey Berger: It was so fascinating to me. I was one of those people that thought, when I hit the million dollar mark, like I’ve arrived, right? There was going to be, that’s it. I have arrived and the million dollar number came and went and I didn’t even know we passed it. Like, we hit it and we passed it until a little while later and I’m going, Oh my goodness. And it was amazing how so little changed in that. Nothing really changed in that moment. I still got up, I went to work, I did the things and so to your point, there’s no arrival, there’s no end game, it’s [00:10:00] just new challenges, new opportunities, new different conversations. But yeah, my dad was an entrepreneur at heart and he said to me one time, he said, you just have to fall in love with solving problems and that’s what running a business.

[00:10:16] Lauren Newton: So true.

[00:10:17] Stacey Berger: It’s series of challenges that you get the opportunity to solve. And so that’s really sat with me over this last decade.

[00:10:25] Lauren Newton: I think that’s so important. I think you have to fall in love with every part of it. You just have to cause yourself to think the thoughts that remind you of why you’re doing what you’re doing? And what it means to you, like, beyond just personally but spiritually. Because that’s what gets you up in the morning.

[00:10:42] Lauren Newton: There are times, I did a five day challenge last week and it can be long days. It’s like you wait, I woke up, super early every morning. I’m practicing, I’m going over my notes, I’m going over my PowerPoints. I’m teaching for sometimes, I’m on zoom for three hours straight. Then there’s, okay, [00:11:00] let’s huddle up as a team and see how it’s going.

[00:11:01] Lauren Newton: And just at the level of fact, it’s like, on a spiritual side, I’ll get to there. But like at the level of human fact, it can be tiring. And I remember we were on day five of actually six days cause we did a bonus day. We’re on day five and I woke up and there was no part of me that wanted to do it.

[00:11:16] Lauren Newton: It was just like, the human part of me, I should say, there’s no human part of me that like wants to do this today. And the thing that got me to do it and gets me to do it anytime, I have that feeling is like, thinking about that one person who is mind’s going to be blown? Whose business is going to grow? Why am I serving this in the first place? Why did I want to come and do work at Brave Thinking Institute? And then, once you’re plugged in as Mary Morrissey would say to that mission, I’m like, I could go double today. I’ll go double, I’ll go triple today. But it’s like the human side of us, like wants to pull us back to, this is just hard.

[00:11:50] Stacey Berger: I think it’s so important for new coaches to know. I didn’t always want to go to the networking event. I still don’t always want to go to the networking event. I don’t always want to make that cold call [00:12:00] or that sales call but we cause ourselves to do it. And so to think, that was easy for Stacey or Lauren or no. But it was in service of a bigger purpose and mission.

[00:12:12] Lauren Newton: Got to have the in service of, cause like, when something’s on your calendar that doesn’t seem fun, I’d much rather sleep in or do whatever. But like, when you really think of it as, what happens when I go this path? What happens when I don’t? Like, I want to be serving the mission.

[00:12:26] Lauren Newton: Okay. So let’s go back to the beginning of your career as a coach. So for you, just take us into, how you discovered coaching? Was it something you’d always want us to do? Just give us like, how did this all come about?

[00:12:39] Stacey Berger: So, my background is business management marketing. I said, my dad was an entrepreneur. My parents were small business owners. I never wanted to own my own business because I saw how hard they worked. That was a not it for me. But was in the corporate world.

[00:12:54] Stacey Berger: I did looking back on it. I did a form of coaching and mentoring in the business world. So mentoring [00:13:00] entrepreneurs, I didn’t know what a life coach was. Like, 10 years, like the landscape and coaching has changed significantly over the last decade. But had a desire for something more. I’d always had this spiritual piece of my life and the corporate piece, they felt very separate. And just really had a calling, there’s got to be more to life than this. Had three young kids at home, wanted to be spending more time with my kids and ended up walking away from that corporate career, knowing there has to be something more. I didn’t know what that was.

[00:13:31] Stacey Berger: I ended up actually hiring a career coach to help me. Who am I? What do I want to do?

[00:13:36] Lauren Newton: Let me make sure I’m clear. So you actually left the job before you knew it?

[00:13:41] Stacey Berger: Oh yeah.

[00:13:42] Lauren Newton: Wow. So how was that? That has to be scary as hell?

[00:13:46] Stacey Berger: I had 3 young kids, 1, 3 and 5 year old, my husband, Jeff. He’s a stay at home dad. I’m breadwinner for the family and just, yeah, it was absolutely terrifying [00:14:00] on one level. And I knew also that it was time, right? It was time to make a decision, to do something differently.

[00:14:08] Lauren Newton: Like spiritually, it was time. I just can’t cause myself to go anymore.

[00:14:12] Stacey Berger: Yeah. Just lots of changes in the industry, core values not lining up. I was finding myself complaining more and more. And that always drove me crazy. I would say to people, if you’re not happy, go do something about it. And now here I am the one that’s not happy, not doing something about it. So it was okay, Stacey, take your own advice.

[00:14:33] Lauren Newton: Good though. That really is good advice.

[00:14:35] Stacey Berger: Yeah, and so left that, hired this career coach and things just kept coming up around coaching. Discovered Mary Morrissey had a coaching certification program. I had known about her work loved her work, love the spiritual component of it. And so made a decision, Hey, I’m going to go do this certification. And even if I don’t build a business, it’s a life [00:15:00] skill.

[00:15:01] Stacey Berger: And so I went into it, maybe this is an opportunity. But either way, this is something that’s going to serve me if I go back into corporate, if I build a business, got certified, fell in love with it, let me just share a little bit about making the decision to Brave Thinking Institute.

[00:15:15] Stacey Berger: I think this is important too. Again, the landscape was very different at the time but I was looking at executive coaching programs. I interviewed a few different coaching programs but what I loved about Brave Thinking Institute was, they had the spiritual component. And that was really important to me but they also had the economic engine. I had grown multimillion dollar businesses in the corporate, 60 million companies but I didn’t know how to build my own coaching business.

[00:15:43] Lauren Newton: It’s very different actually.

[00:15:45] Stacey Berger: And I knew enough about business that, there has to be a model here. And so, they really helped me hook up my two passions. I loved business and I loved the personal development, spiritual component of it. And [00:16:00] the other piece that was so important to me, we mentored entrepreneurs and in corporate. And so, I wanted after support, I didn’t want to get certified as a coach and then go, okay, now what? I wanted somebody to hold my hand and say, here’s what we do. And so those three things were really important to me.

[00:16:20] Stacey Berger: And in many ways, I feel like I lucked out finding Mary at that time and just so grateful. I do believe it’s the Harvard of coaching certification programs. And just so grateful to be a part of that. It’s been 10 years I’m still holding their hand, right? Because, I see so many coaches now struggling, they have a certification but they don’t have the economic engine, they don’t have the marketing, they don’t have the sales, they don’t have the enrollment piece. And so, just feel very blessed about that.

[00:16:49] Stacey Berger: And so got certified and made a commitment. So this is what my path look like. I said, I am all in for six months. I am going to go home. I’m going to [00:17:00] do everything I can for six months and then I’ll reevaluate. Am I going to turn this into a business or am I going to go find a job?

[00:17:08] Lauren Newton: Interesting. You gave yourself like a six month runway there.

[00:17:11] Stacey Berger: Yeah, I did and I think that was really important, because in that six months, I wasn’t wondering am I doing the right thing? Should I do this, should I not? And as you and I both know that indecision creates this dissonance, right? And so looking back I think, what a great unconscious competent move.

[00:17:30] Lauren Newton: When you put any sort of panic or like, Oh, let me go back and forth about this. You just put that on pause for six months. And you were like, I’m all in. So did you even revisit it at six months? Or was it just like by the end of six months, you were like, I don’t even need to revisit?

[00:17:42] Stacey Berger: Yeah, I didn’t even need to revisit it. And not to say that six months was easy, it was hard. You’re starting a business, right? I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit as coaches that, this isn’t just open your doors and they’ll come. You’re creating something, you’re [00:18:00] birthing something new and that takes a lot of work, a lot of energy, a lot of effort. And so, I never want to tell anybody it was easy. It was a lot of work, it was a lot of effort. And because I put that work and that effort in, I did see results quite quickly.

[00:18:15] Lauren Newton: I think that the such important thing is like, the beginning is absolutely going to be rigorous. The beginning of any business, not just a coaching business. And I think that can be the thing that gets newer coaches off track is thinking that they’re doing something wrong if it feels hard or thinking they’re doing something wrong, if it takes a little while to get started. But if you look at any startup business, like forget the coaching industry, just look at a tech startup. Like every startup business is going to have that time period where they’re like, is this going to work? And they’re not doing anything wrong if that’s what it feels like.

[00:18:46] Stacey Berger: Yeah and I love listening to business podcasts about other entrepreneurial journeys. Because it doesn’t normalize a lot of that other businesses struggle with cash flow and processes and the work that goes in. [00:19:00] And so I think seeing yourself through that lens is not just a coach but a business owner. can be very helpful.

[00:19:06] Lauren Newton: Amen to that. So one of the things I want to go back to that you said when you were sharing your story about deciding to quit your job, you decide to do coaching, you find Brave Thinking Institute. You mentioned that when you were in corporate, the spiritual felt separate from that.

[00:19:21] Lauren Newton: So for a lot of coaches, especially coaches who decide to go on a more spiritual coaching certification like Brave Thinking Institute, or of course, there’s others that have that spiritual element to it. How did you then go from this feeling of, Oh, corporate and spiritual are separate. To I know, you’ve coached a lot of professionals, a lot of business people, you’ve gone in and done speaking engagements at businesses and things like that.

[00:19:44] Lauren Newton: So, how did you get over the hump of keeping those things separate? Like, there’s corporate over here and there’s spiritual over here?

[00:19:50] Stacey Berger: Great question. I would say that’s something that has evolved within me over the years. And so in the beginning, I was still trying to [00:20:00] find language that I thought people would be okay with. And Ooh, I don’t want to say the wrong thing. I was definitely more hesitant in the beginning about what that looked like and I realized now that had nothing to do with them. That was the separation within me. And so the more that I’ve done my own inner work, my own awareness work and realized that there is no separation, not just in corporate and spiritual but in anything. And the more that I understand that I own that, I live from that. I don’t care who I’m speaking to, right?

[00:20:33] Stacey Berger: It could be a top athlete, a CEO, a business owner, a stay at home parent, it’s all the same. Transformational principles work no matter who you are. And sometimes you have to adjust your language a little bit depending on your audience. But when you understand the truth with a capital T and how to produce transformation, it really takes. It removes any barrier, right? We’re all the same. [00:21:00] We’re all in this journey.

[00:21:01] Lauren Newton: I think that’s like the brilliance of the system that Mary Morrissey has set up with the Brave Thinking Institute certification is, yes, it has a spiritual element to it but in service of, right? It’s not like, let’s just sit in a circle and be kumbaya, right? There’s a level of it having the purpose of this is for transformation, is for results, is for it becoming easier and more efficient and smoother.

[00:21:25] Lauren Newton: And so I think that combo makes it easier as well. Cause I’ve talked to coaches and I felt this way myself. Like when I would think about going into a business or corporate. I like imagined these like robot beings where like, business people were somehow different or separate because I wasn’t a business person so I didn’t know.

[00:21:41] Lauren Newton: And then you come to the awareness, like, we’re all seekers. Ultimately, like everybody is seeking something more because that’s just the spirit of human nature. And you realize like a business person isn’t just cut off from their spiritual source. So super powerful.

[00:21:56] Stacey Berger: And I really, it was interesting as I started to understand [00:22:00] transformation, I could look back at the corporate experience and go, Oh, that’s why that project was successful. Oh, that’s why that one wasn’t because we did this. Again, consciously, unconsciously and Oh, we missed this piece over here. And that’s why that one didn’t have the results. So again, when you start to understand truth and true transformation, you can see it everywhere.

[00:22:24] Lauren Newton: So true. So tell me a little bit about, every coach has their thing that they love to focus on. Now there’s fundamentals and we talk about that all in this podcast all the time but like for you, Stacey, what has been your bread and butter? If I had to point to one thing, that’s my bread and butter that creates success that I do over and over again, what would you say is your bread and butter?

[00:22:45] Stacey Berger: I would say it’s changed over, so this is one of that has shifted and what really was the bread and butter in the beginning and when I say in the beginning probably, for the first seven years [00:23:00] was speaking on other people’s stages and networking. And just getting in front of as many people as possible but speaking and yeah, networking and just building relationships was bread and butter and that’s still really important. What’s shifted now just for us to be able to make a bigger impact and to impact other more people, is running our own events. So we run some fairly significant large events three times a year. And I would say that’s now the bread and butter. And one of the ways that we’re filling those rooms is through the networking and the speaking.

[00:23:36] Stacey Berger: But there’s been a shift. Why I think that’s important is some, I see coaches that come to my events or they see the events and they go, I want to do that. And I like to remind them it didn’t start there. It didn’t start there. It’s not easy to fill a room. But it’s years and years of planting seeds that has reduced that result is how I would say that.

[00:23:55] Lauren Newton: It goes back to the thing of, nothing’s going wrong [00:24:00] if you’re ramping up. And so like for a new coach, a lot of times there’ll be like, only five people showed up for my workshop. I’m like, dude, I’ll take 5 people all day long that are interested in hearing about this work and want to know more.

[00:24:11] Lauren Newton: And then eventually that 5 turns to 10 and that 10 turns to a hundred and so on. But let’s not stomp on the sprout cause it doesn’t look like Stacey Berger stage yet. Like, all of these things, I think sometimes coaches are like, Oh, I’m doing something wrong. And it’s like, no, that’s how it looks for the beginning for all of us and it’s good.

[00:24:28] Stacey Berger: It’s very good. And without the 5 people, there’s not the hundred people and you need the 5. And I’ve spoken to my share of empty rooms and 3 people showing up and people don’t see that we forget. Again, 10 years in, right? 10 years in.

[00:24:45] Lauren Newton: Okay so, I want to talk briefly. I think this is a good idea. We’ll see how it actually plays out but at Brave Thinking Institute, we always say that there’s four pillars to coaching success. So there’s coaching and curriculum, there’s business building, there’s [00:25:00] marketing and there’s enrollment. And so, I want to just do like a lightning round, like, I want to hear what you think are the most important things about each pillar of what makes a successful business.

[00:25:10] Lauren Newton: So when you think coaching and curriculum, what has been your most important there?

[00:25:16] Stacey Berger: A transformational system. So it’s not somebody just showing up, what do you want to talk about today? It’s actually taking them through a structure that works.

[00:25:25] Lauren Newton: Amen to that. Yeah, because what I noticed and maybe you noticed this too, Stacey, as we learn to be coaches. It can be tempting to get really involved in what’s going on that day for the client. And it’s not that we don’t want to help them transform that but also, if all you’re ever doing is like plugging holes and problem solving what’s going on that day.

[00:25:45] Lauren Newton: The awareness of how to create quantum leaps, massive results. Like it never gets there because you’re always just like plugging holes in that day’s bucket, so to speak.

[00:25:54] Stacey Berger: Yeah and I’ll tell my clients that the moment you hear me make agreement with one of your [00:26:00] conditions, fire me as your coach, right? I think as a coach, our

[00:26:04] Lauren Newton: Damn. I like that.

[00:26:05] Stacey Berger: Greatest job is to be able to hold space and to create a container where we know that they’re greater than any condition, any circumstance, any situation. And so if you’re plugging holes all the time, there’s more opportunity to make agreement with their conditions and their circumstances too.

[00:26:21] Lauren Newton: Yeah, I love that. That’s like the best quote ever. If you see me agreeing with your conditions, fire me as your coach. That’s so great. So for coaching and curriculum, what would you say to a coach who’s listening to this, who maybe isn’t a transformational coach but is more a directive coach, like a real estate coach or a health coach, like what would be your advice for them to add structure? Like how do you know what the structure is?

[00:26:44] Stacey Berger: Great question. I would say, start with the end in mind. So what’s the result that you feel like that client requires or your ideal person wants? So starting with the end in mind and then really considering what steps are required [00:27:00] in order to get to that result.

[00:27:02] Stacey Berger: And you don’t know what those steps are, then you want to find your own mentorship of somebody who can show you that process and show you that system. But I would say, start with the end in mind and then put a structure in place of the steps that you know, if people followed those steps and that structure, they would absolutely produce those results.

[00:27:22] Lauren Newton: Amen to that. I think it’s so helpful. I think one of the things that I see coaches that don’t have a structure, like we were given when we became certified at Brave Thinking Institute. Curriculum, a step by step of what to do in your coaching sessions. And I think that can be one of the most challenging things as curriculum development.

[00:27:40] Lauren Newton: If you’re just starting from scratch. So yeah, for sure. Great advice. Start with the end in mind. Okay. So for the business aspect, what do you think is the most important thing you would give advice to a new or an up and coming coach?

[00:27:53] Stacey Berger: This is an interesting one. Again, I think as coaches, a lot of people get into coaching because they want to help people. [00:28:00] And I would say, the mind set around, I’m also a business owner. And so adopting that mindset that yes, I want to help people but I’m also operating a business. So I think for most coaches, that’s a mindset piece.

[00:28:14] Stacey Berger: Again, I feel really blessed that I had a business background. And understood that not everybody does but I would say just really owning that this is a business and the business itself also requires structure. When it comes to your finance and when it comes to your time and what does that look like?

[00:28:32] Stacey Berger: So setting those things in place, I would say, don’t let it become consuming but not to make it so big, so overwhelming but also recognizing it’s a very important.

[00:28:42] Lauren Newton: Yeah. Love that. Okay. What about marketing?

[00:28:45] Stacey Berger: Marketing, I think some of the best advice that I received early on is that 85% of your time is in marketing and advertising in the beginning. And that means you’re networking, you’re calling, you’re speaking, you’re posting on [00:29:00] social media. And I say, do the things that are going to make the cash register ring.

[00:29:04] Lauren Newton: Yeah.

[00:29:05] Stacey Berger: With calls are you making getting in front of as many people as possible? And is 85% of your time doing that? Because if it’s not, chances are, it’s going to take a lot longer to build the thing. So do it and do it when it’s uncomfortable.

[00:29:19] Lauren Newton: So good. Couldn’t praise that answer enough because one of the things that happens when I like, get in there and evaluate a coach’s business, who’s saying things aren’t working is, I see a lot of times like, there’s busy work on the calendar, like, Oh, let me design my logo. Let me make my website. Let me spend two hours on this flyer. And none of that stuff is actually going to make the cash register ring. This is like such good advice, get in front of people. However, you’re going to do that speaking, networking, social media, however you’re going to do it, email lists, get in front of people.

[00:29:52] Stacey Berger: And do it without a website and do it without a business card and do it without branding and a professional photo shoot. [00:30:00] None of that matters if you’re not getting in front of people. And I see it all the time too, Lauren. I just got to get my branding right. And I got to get my backend and my website, it’s busy work.

[00:30:09] Lauren Newton: Have you ever seen Amazon’s logo?

[00:30:11] Stacey Berger: Yeah.

[00:30:11] Lauren Newton: It’s just an arrow and there’s a huge story behind how it was literally like, let’s just pick this one. And it’s a multiple billion dollar company. And we actually don’t care that Amazon is the logo that is like a curved arrow. Like we don’t care. I’m just happy that in rural Wyoming I can get stuff in two days.

[00:30:27] Stacey Berger: And remember, you’re your business. Your logo’s not your business. You are your business. Coaching is a relationship business. You need to go out and build relationships.

[00:30:36] Lauren Newton: Yep. That’s such good advice. I’m so happy that I’m not like the only one ringing this bell all the time. Because I know it can seem in this world, very sexy to have the perfect label and the perfect website. And the thing is, if you love that and you’re also willing to get in front of people like go do it but don’t let any of these things become excuses for not getting started. Like Stacey said, you [00:31:00] don’t need the logo. My logo for my business before I came to Brave Thinking Institute. Is a cursive font that I found in Canva that I made in 30 seconds and I never changed it and no one cared. So it’s like, it’s only a big deal If you make it into a big deal. And like i’ve always said, if you just have a heart for helping people and like the willingness to put yourself out there like, There you go.

[00:31:21] Stacey Berger: I made 10 phone calls a day. And I think that’s another great test is, if someone’s struggling in their coaching business, really look in the mirror and ask yourself, how many phone calls have I made today? How many people have I talked to? And I would say, that’s usually what it comes down to is, Oh, I called one person this week and they got their answering machine and I didn’t call back. It’s usually just quantity of connections.

[00:31:47] Lauren Newton: Totally. And it’ll exponentially grow if you can just let yourself get started. Because in the beginning, you’ll have to make a lot of calls, not a lot of response. But then you’ll get that one person that answers that gives you that speaking engagement. And there’s 15 [00:32:00] people there and 6 of them are super in.

[00:32:02] Lauren Newton: And then it’s like, starts to just be more of a snowball effect where, it’s not that we’re going to stop making the calls. It’s just, we don’t feel like nothing’s happening. Like just knowing that’s happening. Speaking of that, I’ll just give a quick tip that, when you feel like nothing’s happening, cause I know a lot of coaches feel that way.

[00:32:19] Lauren Newton: We still sometimes, Stacey, feel that way. Like, nothing’s happening. One of the things that I love is just asking yourself, what’s at my actual evidence of that? Have I been in the voicemail of every person I’ve called listening to it and knowing what they were thinking? Cause they might be thinking about calling me back and then it’s not true that nothing’s happening.

[00:32:38] Stacey Berger: The affirmation that I would say to my and I still say to this to myself, is I’m planting seeds. I planted seeds today. So even if I would speak and nobody would be interested, I planted a whole bunch of seeds today and I would just trust that, there would be a part of me that would be disappointed. But I would trust that, hey, I have no idea to your point [00:33:00] what conversations are happening and who’s thinking about calling me right now and just. Putting that out there that it will, I’m planting seeds and I will reap them.

[00:33:08] Lauren Newton: Yeah. And people come out of the woodwork like, you’ll have planted a seed and then years later you’ll see them and their life is totally changed or ready to change because of something that happened five years ago. And ultimately the vision is not just about someone signed up today. The vision is the impact for most of us. And we know that’s happening. Like, we can trust that’s happening if we’re getting in front of people.

[00:33:32] Stacey Berger: I had a client. I’ll just quickly run an event that came to this event. She has been on my email list for seven years and enrolled in coaching this year. This was her moment. But the fact that I’ve been showing up in her inbox every week for the last seven years, planting seeds. And you just don’t know who you’re impacting and what’s happening.

[00:33:55] Lauren Newton: And how awesome is that to keep showing up for people? Okay. So last pillar would [00:34:00] be enrollment. So what would be your biggest advice or most important thing when it comes to enrollment?

[00:34:05] Stacey Berger: Again, I’m just singing Brave Thinking’s praises here. But the fact that investing in that certification program, there was an enrollment script. I have no sales training. That is not something that I’d ever been professionally trained in. And so I would say, get a script that works, right? So investing in some sales. Training, enrollment training to follow a system and a structure that works. It’s been returned 5 million dollars to me investing in that script, right?

[00:34:38] Lauren Newton: Good point. Okay, so let me be devil’s advocate. I don’t know if that’s the right word but what about the person who says script? That’s going to be a natural. And how am I going to do that? And what would you say that? Cause that’s like, for some people in the beginning, one of their biggest setbacks is, I feel weird.

[00:34:52] Stacey Berger: I think it’s like, investing in a McDonald’s franchise and then saying, I’m not going to follow their system. I’m going to go do it my own way. [00:35:00] And in the beginning, it does feel mechanical and it doesn’t quite feel authentic. But the thing with the sales script that works is it’s been tested. And so, why not follow a proven system and the more that you do it and the more that you read that script, the more that you work with your script, it no longer feels, I still use that script 10 years later, just so you know, I still have it in front of me, I’m still reading the script. It lives within me now, so it doesn’t feel like a script.

[00:35:29] Stacey Berger: It feels like a system that’s going to help somebody create transformation. And so, instead of seeing it as a script, it’s a tool to support somebody in transforming their results. And I believe in investing in shortcuts.

[00:35:43] Lauren Newton: Yeah.

[00:35:44] Stacey Berger: So find experts that know what they’re doing and get that return. So from an enrollment perspective, I would say, find a system that works, use it and once it lives within you, then start making changes but don’t [00:36:00] go making it your own, right? So let it live inside you, test it, try it and then if you want to modify it and make it a little bit more you but use it, it works.

[00:36:09] Lauren Newton: I love that. I think that, one of the things I’ve been thinking about a lot lately as I’ve worked with coaches, train and certify coaches and all of that. Is there’s a way that you can answer yourself when you have a challenge and objection. So, if your mind is saying to you, Oh, this script doesn’t feel natural, it doesn’t feel conversational and then they don’t use it. But there’s another point of access. And that could be, is there a step I could take to make this feel more conversational? Oh, I could practice it a hundred times and then it will be conversational because it’s in me now. So I love when you say, get over it.

[00:36:42] Lauren Newton: What we’re really saying that I love that. Because at a certain point it really is. Okay, I’m going to let the fear win. I’m going to let the objections win. Even though at the level of fact, if I’m honest with myself, I have no idea what I’m doing. Whereas I’ve been given a structure where we know what we’re doing and a willingness to let it show me what it can show [00:37:00] me.

[00:37:00] Lauren Newton: Give it a whirl. Okay, so let me ask you a couple other things. I think this is a juicy question and I think it’s great, especially to ask someone who’s been 10 years in. I’m going to say, I will ask every guest on this show the same exact question.

[00:37:13] Lauren Newton: Cause I think it’s so valuable, no matter how down the road you are. If you had to start over from scratch right now, what’s the first thing you would do?

[00:37:21] Stacey Berger: That what’s coming to mind and it feels a little esoteric though is, I would have more faith. So my first year in business, I was operating out of fear. I had three little kids. It makes me just want to cry. Like babies, I had to put food on the table. And so, a lot of what I did was around fear.

[00:37:43] Stacey Berger: I was somebody who in the corporate world never worried about money. Didn’t necessarily make a ton of money but I was more interested in growth and impact and learning. But when I got into my own business, all of a sudden I was really fearful. So there was a lot of scarcity lack.

[00:37:58] Stacey Berger: Am I going to be able to do [00:38:00] this? And I didn’t like that. And it was very uncomfortable and I just wish, if I could go back and do it again, I would say, Stacey, get back to impact, back to faith, trust yourself, trust the process. And I wish that’s what I would change but as far as the system and like certification and the action steps, I wouldn’t change anything. It would be more within me.

[00:38:23] Lauren Newton: Yeah, I think that’s such a great answer. I think that for many people, not just coaches but people that we coach. So people that you’re coaching your business, they’re not coaches. They’re all different backgrounds, all walks of life. They might be coaches but they might be pediatricians or stay at home moms or looking for a new job or looking for love or all these different people that you serve.

[00:38:42] Lauren Newton: And what I have found with serving coaching clients, people who want life coaching is that, a lot of the actions that get taken out of stress, push energy, those kind of things. And the more I coach people, the more I realized, the first thing I want anybody to do is if there’s a fire, stop, drop and [00:39:00] roll.

[00:39:00] Lauren Newton: If you’re feeling constricted, stop and calibrate your energy, stop and get yourself into a more expansive state. Cause if you’re generating ideas and taking actions in that push state, you will produce a more constricted result. And so it’s like the more I learn, the more I teach, the more I realize exactly what you’re saying is like step number one, connect to the power inside of me.

[00:39:22] Lauren Newton: For me, it’s higher power, spirit, God. But that’s not going to land for everybody but it’s like, get reminded about that first, get impressed with that first, then go do your thing.

[00:39:31] Stacey Berger: Yes, absolutely. It’s the being over the doing. And I was really good at the doing. I was well trained in the doing back to my parents being small business owners, right? It was work longer, harder, faster. And I feel like I’ve definitely repatterned that. I do not work longer, harder, faster anymore but that’s only come from me working with my own coaches.

[00:39:55] Stacey Berger: So let me also say that. Is I didn’t get there on my own, that was [00:40:00] me working with my own coaches who had a higher level of awareness, who reminded me that, who repatterned that. And I would say, to all coaches and I say this to my clients, don’t hire a coach that doesn’t have a coach. It’s one thing to know about transformational principles. But I can’t see my own blind spots. And so I would attribute a lot of my success to, I’ve invested every year at fairly significant levels with my own coaches because I want to keep expanding my own awareness.

[00:40:29] Lauren Newton: I love that. It’s one of those things where, it’s always made perfect sense to me and I get how it could be, you know, scary for people who are just getting started in their business and then they’re thinking about investing in their own coach fears that come up around that. But really what I think is like, either you’re a coach who trusts your own model or you don’t.

[00:40:46] Lauren Newton: And so if you’re a coach who believes in the coaching model, why would you not give that to yourself? Like it seems so out of harmony to me, like it just seems obvious to me that as coaches, we would want to be in the structure that we believe in [00:41:00] so deeply. If we really think it’s going to be impacting people’s lives, why wouldn’t we be in that structure somewhere?

[00:41:05] Stacey Berger: As a result of that, I have clients that have been with me for nine years because they’re witnessing my growth, my expansion.

[00:41:14] Stacey Berger: So that I’m modeling it for them. And so therefore they’re saying, Hey, I’m seeing you grow. You obviously are living what you’re teaching. And so they continue to invest. It’s really powerful when you’re living what you teach and specifically as a transformational coach, that is so important.

[00:41:32] Lauren Newton: It creates trust too, because I see Stacey growing. So she’s not asking me to do something that she’s not doing. I think a lot of times over the years, I don’t think this is as prevalent anymore but like back in the day with teachers or coaches or sorts of mentors with the guru mentality, it could be like, do as I say, not as I do thing.

[00:41:50] Lauren Newton: And of course that’s not who we want to be. So I think being, like you said, being an example of growth, people want to be a part of that because that’s what they want. And so, I think that’s just [00:42:00] the most irritating thing for me. This is just little me now. Stacey and I have a practice of when there’s little me and then there’s big me.

[00:42:07] Lauren Newton: And sometimes we have little me conversations where we just need to complain about something. And it’s like, okay, go back to the big me. So I’m gonna have a little me moment here and say, I do get part of me. The human part of me does get irritated. When I see a coach who’s one way in their program and then totally different offstage.

[00:42:24] Lauren Newton: And I’m like, it just makes me sad for, I don’t think that happens a lot, not in the circles that I hang out in. But when I see that, I’m like, don’t do that. Just do what you’re saying.

[00:42:32] Stacey Berger: Yeah. And in every industry but there’s a lot of coaches out there who aren’t living in that integrity piece and that’s hard on the industry, right? But we can only do us.

[00:42:44] Lauren Newton: That is true. So back to big me, the great news, the greater me, the great news about that though, is when people do find an authentic coach like you, like our listeners who they really feel connected with. And they can see like, Oh, this person is real and honest. Like it [00:43:00] just makes it that much easier for us coaches who do as endeavor as best we can to live what we teach.

[00:43:05] Lauren Newton: It really does make us stand out and shine and make people feel comfortable with us. And you will be successful because, people have had experiences in all different industries. Doesn’t mean just coaching all different places where someone didn’t have an experience that was heart centered. So when they come to the listeners of this podcast or you or me, they’re like, Oh, this is so refreshing.

[00:43:23] Lauren Newton: This is so wonderful because someone like, actually is caring and being a part of something really great.

[00:43:28] Stacey Berger: And may I just put a little asterisk there, you said the word endeavoring and I think that’s really important is, there is no perfection happening over here, right? I was sharing on one of my coaching calls the other day that I noticed, I was sitting down, I grabbed my personal development book and I’m sitting down on my chair and I’m all ready to sit down and read. And I’ve got my phone in one hand and the personal development book in the other hand and 10 minutes later, I’m still on TikTok, right? Good intentions, not perfect, [00:44:00] right? So nobody’s asking.

[00:44:02] Lauren Newton: There’s is no such thing as a perfect coach. Hence the fact that on this live podcast, I went off on little me for two minutes. There’s no perfect coach and we don’t have to be perfect. The endeavoring is truly the most important part for sure. So I’m curious, as we’re wrapping this up here.

[00:44:19] Lauren Newton: So If there was one thing that these listeners could learn from you, if you could just summarize it into one thing, what would you most hope that they take away from this?

[00:44:28] Stacey Berger: I would say, if you truly have the vision to help people and serve people, just that it’s absolutely possible. And so, the willingness to set any doubt, fear, worry aside and continue to serve the vision. I just think, that’s what I want for everybody is just to know that you’re capable of so much more than you know. And your work in the world is important. It’s important and it matters.

[00:44:59] Lauren Newton: Yeah. [00:45:00] Amen to that. So Stacey, how can people get in touch with you? Where can they find you? Where do you want them to go to find you?

[00:45:06] Stacey Berger: Yeah, if you want to get in touch. So probably my website, it’ll take you to all the social media channels and whatever platform is most comfortable. But StaceyBerger.ca, I’m in Canada. So, S T A C E Y B E R G E R dot C A.

[00:45:21] Lauren Newton: Love that. Stacey, you are a gift and a blessing. Thank you for your practicality today, for letting us know what it’s really like and for all the help that I know you just gave thousands of coaches by your willingness to be here with us. I love you so much and appreciate you so much.

[00:45:35] Stacey Berger: I love you too and you’re doing very important work in the world, Lauren and it’s just an absolute gift to have you in my life.

[00:45:41] Lauren Newton: Thank you.