Feb 14

Feb 14 Case Study 1: From Hard Work & Health Challenges To Alive & Successful

When I met this client – let’s call her Sally – she had come to me after just finishing a group program. Sally felt like she knew what she needed to do, but she wasn’t taking the action. Sally felt unclear, overwhelmed, and what I like to call frazzled – there was so much energetic urgency about her to quickly jump from thing to thing in conversation, and move something forward in attempt to get results.

One key thing I knew is that I needed to help her slow down, go back to the basics to build from clarity, then identify how she best worked so we could find strategies that worked for her that she would actually take action on and therefore achieve results.

I want to give her so much credit – she was hell-bent determined on becoming a full-time coach and leaving her day job to feel the success that she craved. She also knew that, even though investing another large sum of money felt a bit scary, she didn’t hesitate – she knew she couldn’t figure this all out on her own, at least not quickly, and having the right support, completely personalized to her, was going to be worth it. She also fully showed up to each of our calls and in Voxer to get the most out of our time together, and it absolutely paid off.

Here's exactly what we did using my Signature Framework:

Foundation

For Sally, we started getting clear on what she does, who she helps, and her goals as her Foundation. There were two key areas we focused on:

We dove deep into her own version of success. Coming out of a group program, it’s easy to be in the “group-think” mindset and lose sight of our own version of success, what’s important to us, and how we individually best work. But like many others, Sally initially had a difficult time identifying what she wanted, so instead we started with one of my favorite questions: “What pisses you off?” With this, we identified what she actually wanted, what success looked like for her, how she spent her time, and how this successful version – this future version – of her carried herself, what she believed, and how she lived. This exercise also gave us clarity to why what she had been doing wasn’t working. Her values weren’t aligned to type of action she was taking. Some of the time constraints of working her day job didn’t work with the strategy she thought she was supposed to do.
We got crystal clear on her business– what she did (and didn’t want to do), who she works with (ideal client), what sets her uniquely apart, her program, and how she best works.

Strategy

A few tools I use include Human Design, the Enneagram, and Myer’s Briggs to better understand tendencies, personalities, and how you best work. Using these along with the patterns I had noticed in our coaching calls, a few things that stood out about Sally:

She needed to feel good and authentic in the actions she was taking. Simply positing on social media every day or following someone else’s prompts wasn’t going to work for her – which is why she had been procrastinating. As a deep, intuitive, and caring soul, she had to take more time to feel into what she wanted to say, craft her posts by leveraging her strength for writing, and only post them when she felt good about sharing the content. We also had many conversations around giving her permission and time to feel into what she wanted to share and to allow herself to not sharing everything.
We recognized Sally's fear that hard work could sabotage her own health. From a previous experience with this, we did a lot of working through this and identifying how she could work so that she wouldn’t have the same experience. This was crucial to her success. Believing that hard work in her business can lead to getting sick was subconsciously holding her back from taking action. Overcoming this and allowing herself to work differently was a key factor to her success.
We created a simple strategy that she knew worked. A lot of this process involves unlearning what you’ve been taught – the things that have worked for other people to achieve success. I helped Sally determine what she had learned that felt good and what didn't, giving her permission to let go of the rest. We also identified what had already been working for her and what she most enjoyed, alongside what she had learned and could use. From this, we created a simple strategy that worked best for her that she could stay consistent with to get results.

Operations

There are two key areas of operations that best supported Sally in her results.

Now that she was clear on what she did, who she helped, and how she helped them, we had to make sure that she was set up to take on clients. This involved updating her socials and website with her new, clear messaging. Then, her calendar link where potential clients could book a call with her. Then, getting an invoicing and payment system set up so that clients could pay her. Finally, creating a simple process to onboard clients, communicate with them, and work with them. These systems and processes freed up her mindset and energy from feeling any worry about taking on a client – she was ready and open for business.
Then, it was important to intentionally design HOW she worked. Considering the health challenges she experienced when she had worked too hard in the past, and her current situation feeling frazzled to get her business up, running, and signing clients, there was a key disconnect. In the exercise we did to determine Sally’s version of success, she talked about wanting to feel ALIVE every day while doing the work she loved. During our calls, she also mentioned how she would like to get her life back, since she was spending all her extra time outside of her day job to figure out her business. Because of this core difference between feeling alive, joy, and spaciousness in the future, and her feeling frazzled, overwhelmed, and exhausted now with little social life, this disconnect was the thing that needed to change. When it came to HOW she was working every day, I challenged her to slow down, create more balance, and invite more feminine flow energy, as well as set aside time to rest and play. She had to start creating the success she wanted NOW

Mindset

Mindset is always the underlying core to every area of business so there’s a lot I’ve already covered. But here are a few key mindset shifts we made:

Underneath feeling unclear and overwhelmed, imposter syndrome was getting in Sally’s way. From both the general, “can I really do this?” worry to the “Am I the one to help my ideal client?” for the specific work she does, we had to create new evidence for building her confidence. We also used some mindset tools to help rewire her beliefs, such as RRY, CBT, and NLP.
With her frazzled energy, we focused on getting her back to feeling safe, calm, and back to homeostasis in her body, especially with the past experience of health challenges. It was my job to always respond practicing this first – calm, collected, grounded, stating the facts, and asking questions from there, one at a time. Our coaching container became a safe space for Sally to work on her business, but also show up as all of her, even when she wasn’t feeling calm, grounded, or safe, and that’s what made all the difference.
Building Sally's Self-Trust. I always tell my clients, I’m never going to tell you what to do – I’m here to teach you how to fish, not give you the fish to eat. This was also key to developing Sally’s self-trust for making decisions for her business and gaining the proof that she can make decisions that get results. In turn, she trust her ability to make decisions for her business and gains more confidence in herself as a successful business owner. And she definitely did!
Gaining Confidence in Business Results and Success. In making decisions and seeing results, she also shifted her mindset from “I don’t know what I’m doing and I need help,” to “I know what I’m doing and have a strategy that works.” This is a crucial belief to your business success! And yet another one that continues to build more confidence.
Shifting from feeling like business is hard, exhausting, and creates health issues, to building a business that can foster ease and flow. Sally learned that she could listen to her body, adjust how she worked with her energy and even cycle-sync her business to her cycle. She could have a simple strategy that feels good to her, fits her and how she best works, and get the results she desired. She could also create more time in her work-life-balance to get her life back, enjoy other things that were important to her, take action in her business, and also create spaciousness for feminine flow.

Client Case Study Recap

In just a few months, Sally created more results and momentum than she did the entire Group Program:

She was determined and knew she wanted/needed private support, and showed the F*ck up for herself and her business.
She got crystal clear on her own version of success and the Foundation of her business.
She leveraged energetics, authenticity, and her strength for writing to design a strategy that fit how she best works.
She overcame a core health fear that was holding her back.
She created processes + systems and intentionally designed how she worked and balanced life & play to feel more alive now.
She overcame imposter syndrome, created safety, built self-trust, and gained confidence as a business owner while creating new evidence that business could foster ease + flow.

As a result, Sally...

Knew what she needed to do to get results
Had a strategy that worked
Trusted her decisions
Felt confident to do the work she loved
Signed aligned clients
Booked speaking opportunities
Got her life back and has more balance
Left her day job

Now it's your turn!

Coaching Questions to Ask Yourself

Where do you know you need support to help you achieve results faster? Why is it important for you to achieve these results?
How do you define your own version of success? To help you, ask yourself: “What pisses you off?” Then, use that to identify what you want instead.
What sets you apart from other people who do what you do, and how can you leverage that to reach and speak to your ideal client?
What past experiences do you have that may be holding you back from taking action or achieving the success you desire?
What might you need to unlearn or let go of?
In considering HOW you currently work, what is one disconnect from where you want to be and where you are now that you could shift HOW you work to have what you want now?
How can you help yourself get back to feeling safe, calm, and back to homeostasis in your body when you’re working in your business – what tools could help you? (i.e., Meditation, go for a walk, make a cup of tea, do a breathwork exercise, etc.)

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Danielle Uhl, MSOL, is a Certified Coach & Business Mentor, passionate about coaching business owners to build their own version of success and scale a profitable business so they can flourish in Business AND Life. She offers a blend of coaching, courses, and tools to create a business they love, an ease-full bespoke strategy, freedom-infused operations, and a #WATCHME® mindset that makes up her signature framework. Her #WATCHME® brand encourages them to pave their own path and create their own version of success.

After 10+ years in the corporate world working in Management, Human Resources, and Communications, Danielle took the leap to pursue her dreams of being an Entrepreneur. Since then, she’s built and scaled 3 profitable businesses from the ground up, including photography, coaching, and virtual business services, and graduated business school with a Bachelors & Masters degree.

In addition, Danielle holds certifications in Professional Life Coaching, Transformational Coaching, NLP, and CBT for Coaching, is the host of the #WATCHME® Podcast, and is as Multipassionate as they come, also spending her time as a professional photographer, professional singer, avid traveler, horse trainer, fur-mama, and wife.

Follow Danielle's adventures and get inspired on Instagram at @danielleuhl_ or learn more at www.danielleuhl.com.