00;00;03;23 – 00;00;31;29
Lauren Brollier Newton
Welcome to the abundant coach. I’m your host, Lauren Brollier Newton. This is a weekly podcast about creating full spectrum success with a thriving coaching business, while making a profound difference in the world. Each week, you’ll discover insights, strategies, and inspiration to help you attract your ideal clients. Facilitate real transformation in their lives, and grow your coaching business while living your purpose with true freedom and fulfillment.
00;00;32;02 – 00;00;55;09
Lauren Brollier Newton
Well, welcome back to the Abundance Coach. I am really, actually quite happy about this particular episode because I think the rebel in me, I’m actually internally quite rebellious in nature. The Rebel in Me is so happy about getting to share this episode with you. So this episode is titled The three Worst Pieces of Business Advice that I am glad that I never followed.
00;00;55;11 – 00;01;17;19
Lauren Brollier Newton
And I’m sharing this because these three pieces of advice I’m going to share with you are so common, so common in the coaching world right now. And I still think they’re terrible advice, and I’m still super grateful that I never followed it. And I understand. Let me just be clear. I understand why people give this advice, and maybe it works for some people, but it doesn’t work for me.
00;01;17;19 – 00;01;33;16
Lauren Brollier Newton
And I’m super happy that I decided to be a rebel. Like I’m not doing any of that. And I’m going to tell you why. So I am going to start with a Walt Whitman quote, and I think you’ll laugh when you hear the quote is based on that intro I just gave you. And the quote is, dismiss whatever insults your soul.
00;01;33;18 – 00;01;52;22
Lauren Brollier Newton
And so I believe that when we’re building a business, there’s all kinds of advice all over the planet, including the advice you get on this podcast. But it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for you. And I think as business owners is very important for us to build a business. Was soul like a business that you’re in love with, that you like the things you’re doing for it.
00;01;52;22 – 00;02;07;10
Lauren Brollier Newton
Like we’re not going to be in love with every single little bit. But I can tell you, building my my business, I loved it like there was. Yeah, there was some hard stuff. In some ways I had to stretch myself, but I don’t look back at any of it and think, oh, I hated doing that. I hated doing that.
00;02;07;10 – 00;02;28;04
Lauren Brollier Newton
No. And I think it’s because I just dismissed whatever insult to my soul when it came to the business building. And because I was super in love with Brave Thinking Institute’s model, that we train our certified coaches with, I had a model where I could truly dismiss these three things I’m about to tell you and have a super thriving business with something that really felt aligned with me.
00;02;28;07 – 00;02;50;20
Lauren Brollier Newton
So dismiss whatever insult your soul, including these three. What I believe are terrible pieces of business advice for the new and upcoming coach. So the very first one I’m going to call the wake up at 5 a.m. hustle, slay, work hard, slay all day, create more hours in the day mentality. Simply stated, anybody that’s telling you that you have to like hustle.
00;02;50;20 – 00;03;10;09
Lauren Brollier Newton
So hard, like the word hustle I get for some people and it’s expansive that you’re like in that creative flow and you’re just go, go, go, go, go. I get that some people interpret hustle that way and if so, like that feels expansive. But the type of hustle I’m talking about is like that. Stressing, striving, pushing your way to success.
00;03;10;13 – 00;03;32;17
Lauren Brollier Newton
Who can? I mean, what can I do? Where can I be more and more and more to get where I’m trying to go? Like that kind of beseeching sort of energy around building a business? And I’ll just tell you this, I don’t freaking want to wake up at 5 a.m., like, I don’t want to do that. I value relaxation and sleep way too much to buy into some model where I have to wake up at 5 a.m. I get it.
00;03;32;17 – 00;04;01;12
Lauren Brollier Newton
Like I’m saying, I get the people who are like, add more hours to the day, be awake before everybody else is awake. But I’m like, what if I don’t want to? Can I not build a successful business? And so when I very first started teaching, I think I, said this in a different podcast episode, but when I quit my teaching job and started coaching, I was so sick of waking up early, I’d wake woken up at 5 or 5:30 a.m. for years to get ready and get on my commute, be to work at seven because the kids came at eight, you know, or whatever the deal was that I was just like, I’m not
00;04;01;12 – 00;04;17;27
Lauren Brollier Newton
doing that. I’m sleeping in however long I want, and that’s how I’m going to build my business. And for the first, I would say probably five months of building my business. I like, slept until nine, like just stuff I hadn’t done since I was like a teenager. I was just like, I’m not doing it that way. I’ve done it that way.
00;04;17;27 – 00;04;41;20
Lauren Brollier Newton
And teaching the whole reason I’m trying to get out of teaching and do something different is so I can love my life too, while I’m helping other people. So. And I built a very successful business, never doing the 5 a.m. thing. Now, that is not to say, let me be very clear that there haven’t been moments in time where I’m like, ooh, I would love to get in some more practice or I would love to blah blah blah, so I might get up at 5 a.m., but I’m not forcing myself.
00;04;41;20 – 00;05;06;20
Lauren Brollier Newton
I’m not getting into this slay hustle, wake up at 5 a.m. paradigm because it’s a requirement only if I love it. And I actually think that that mentality amongst some people who train entrepreneurs and coaches and things like that is a turn off to those of us who don’t want that kind of lifestyle because it’s like, okay, so I guess I’m just not going to build or I’m not going to build with you because I don’t want that.
00;05;06;22 – 00;05;28;01
Lauren Brollier Newton
You know, I was thinking back as I was preparing for this particular episode to when I very first got certified as a dream builder coach here at Brave Thinking Institute. There’s an exercise that you go through somewhere in one of our trainings where you list out your own personal core values, like what are your core values? And there’s a description of like it’s anything that you personally value that’s important to you.
00;05;28;03 – 00;05;51;21
Lauren Brollier Newton
And and I wrote down it. I wrote down for this very reason that I’m sharing here. I didn’t I wasn’t able to describe it as clearly as I am now, but the one of the first core values I wrote down is relaxation slash downtime. I have always been a person that loves downtime. I want to binge watch Netflix, and I don’t want to feel bad about that.
00;05;51;23 – 00;06;03;23
Lauren Brollier Newton
I want to have a glass of wine at night, and I don’t want to feel bad about that. I want to wake up at eight sometimes and not feel bad about that. I have a high value on laying by the pool and read a book. Lay by the pool and scroll. I mean whatever it is you want to do.
00;06;03;23 – 00;06;26;18
Lauren Brollier Newton
Like the revel in me when I would listen to these kind of gurus be like, wake up at 5 a.m., get rid of your TV, blah blah blah. I’m like, I don’t want to, so why are you just telling me I should? And it felt so empowering to write down as my own core value that I value downtime, that that is going to be very important for me, who I am moving forward.
00;06;26;18 – 00;06;44;04
Lauren Brollier Newton
And that’s part of who I am. And I love that. For years, I tried to push that out of myself. When I was building my other business, I had listened to my my essential oil supplement business. I had listened to people in the business building, been saying these very same things, get rid of your TV and do this.
00;06;44;04 – 00;07;03;10
Lauren Brollier Newton
And I really tried to push myself like that. And when I was building that first business and I tried to be something I wasn’t and be like, okay, relaxation is a paradigm, so I’m not going to do it. And I’m like, it’s not. If it feels life giving, like, that’s what I’ve learned in these last seven years since I met Mary Morrissey and Brave Thinking Institute is if it feels expansive, it’s not wrong.
00;07;03;11 – 00;07;23;23
Lauren Brollier Newton
It’s it’s it’s yours. And so I think a terrible piece of business advice is get rid of your TV, wake up at 5 a.m. unless that feels expansive to you and life giving to you. I don’t think that’s a solve for a long term, sustainable thing. If that’s not really who you want to be or who you are.
00;07;23;26 – 00;07;42;03
Lauren Brollier Newton
So I guess what I’m saying to you is it’s okay to value downtime and relaxation and binge watch. And my husband and I just what did we just binge watch? What? We’re always watching a new series and we watch at night. Well, in like five nights we’ll finish the whole series. And I love that. I don’t want to I don’t want to have to not do that to be successful.
00;07;42;03 – 00;08;12;04
Lauren Brollier Newton
Like, I don’t believe in being on a planet where it’s an either or. And that’s one of the powerful things about Brave thinking. Institute is always asking us for the yes and yes. You can be successful and you can binge watch. All right, enough of my soapbox on number one. You get the point. So if you’ve been thinking that you have to like, you know, hustle, slay, suffer, burn, you know, feel the burn to be successful, I’m here to I’m here as proof that you can build a multi-million dollar business and still binge watch and wake up at eight.
00;08;12;06 – 00;08;48;13
Lauren Brollier Newton
All right, number two, for the worst pieces of business advice that I’m glad that I never followed is this idea of you have to have a very specific niche. And the niche, as these type of gurus describe, it, is more of a like person, profession type thing. So, for example, I helped 40 plus car dealership workers increase their sales or I help, women in the acupuncture industry get more clients, but only if they’re spiritual.
00;08;48;13 – 00;09;11;16
Lauren Brollier Newton
I mean, I don’t know, I’m making it super simple. I help moms over 40, live a life they love. So I’m really, like, niche in terms of a demographic. They’re like, it’s a mom. She’s over 40, so she has to have a kid. She’s over 40, and this has to be the thing that she wants. Now, I’m not saying that if you’re super passionate about that particular group, that you shouldn’t do it, but what I see is the exact opposite.
00;09;11;18 – 00;09;33;18
Lauren Brollier Newton
People who start with like this heart for helping people with a certain problem or a certain thing, trying to pigeonhole themselves into one group and then not feeling expansive about it. And what happens there is they get they’re so not expansive about it that they can feel it, feel confused if this is really their niche or not, and then they’re never freaking helping anybody or doing anything with their business because they’re in this stuck, confused mode.
00;09;33;20 – 00;10;01;05
Lauren Brollier Newton
And, I’m not saying there won’t come a time where you get super specific about the person that you serve, but in my experience, I’ve never personally known a coach, and I know coaches for Embrace Thinking Institute many, many coaches of all different niches and all different realms or whatever. And I’ve never seen this work for a beginning coach that I’m going to reach super hard and really grow super fast, not feeling expansive about that.
00;10;01;05 – 00;10;20;21
Lauren Brollier Newton
And if they do, it doesn’t last long, because I have had conversations with people who blew up online or something for something super hard for specific, and then when they evolved, they lost their audience. So here’s my recommendation and here’s why I don’t like that advice. That’s not really a niche. That’s like a demographic. You’re speaking to a demographic of people.
00;10;20;23 – 00;10;41;24
Lauren Brollier Newton
And, I guess it can work, but I haven’t seen a lot of beginning coaches go in and be like, I’m so passionate about only this one demographic. What I have seen coaches be passionate about and what I was passionate about is helping people solve specific problems. So if you can think about helping people solve a problem, then who cares?
00;10;41;24 – 00;10;59;29
Lauren Brollier Newton
If I mean, in my personal opinion, who cares if you’re in front of a group of moms or business owners or entrepreneurs or farmers? If they have the problem that you solve? My guess is that you would probably be willing to help them, at least in the beginning of your coaching business. So when I was certified as a dream builder, coach and dream builder is what it sounds like.
00;10;59;29 – 00;11;17;00
Lauren Brollier Newton
We help people discover and build a dream and give them a very proven art and science of how to build a dream, even if it seems like you can’t achieve it. And so you could think that the niche is okay. Someone who has a dream. But then you’re talking about like the entire population and or, you know, at least those who have admitted to it.
00;11;17;00 – 00;11;37;08
Lauren Brollier Newton
And that is a pretty loose niche. But I would just say this every time I went to a networking meeting, I help people who know there’s more for them, and they’re just they can feel it inside that there’s more for them. They’re just not exactly sure what it is. I also help people who know exactly what they want, but they’re tired of having to stress, struggle and, burn out trying to get it.
00;11;37;10 – 00;11;59;18
Lauren Brollier Newton
And so I was speaking to a broad group of people, but very specifically to what they’re feeling inside the person who doesn’t know what they want, but they can feel there’s more, or the person who knows exactly what they want, but they’ve noticed that there has to be sort of a push energy trying to get it. That speaks to a very specific person who’s at least aware enough that that’s what they’re experiencing.
00;11;59;25 – 00;12;20;12
Lauren Brollier Newton
And that became my niche. Now, over time, I realized that I was serving primarily women and primarily women who were professionals, like lawyers, doctors, that kind of thing, or women entrepreneurs. So professional women who became my niche. But over time, when I realized that’s who really liked working with me. Now, I could have I could have chosen a million different things.
00;12;20;12 – 00;12;45;09
Lauren Brollier Newton
I could have said spiritual women entrepreneurs. But the truth about my work was I didn’t care if they were spiritual or not. When they came to me, as long as they were open to going through a spiritual process. Most of my clients did not call themselves spiritual when they started working with me. So if I would have tried to niche to that, because my program is somewhat spiritual, I would have felt constricted because I wouldn’t have felt like I was really empowering or helping people.
00;12;45;11 – 00;13;02;10
Lauren Brollier Newton
Now I’m saying that this is me. I’m just giving you my experience. But this idea that you have to find such a specific demographic to market to like, I don’t necessarily think that’s true. All right. So I follow this coach. I’m just gonna give you a perfect example of someone who is not doing anything based on a demographic.
00;13;02;17 – 00;13;22;17
Lauren Brollier Newton
She’s doing it based on a problem that she solves or her expertise. And so you look at Jenna Kutcher, free advertising for Jenna, please come on the podcast, her Instagram page, she’s got 1 million followers and she and her tagline is grow your business without burnout. So all of a sudden, I know business owners and those who have the problem that she solves is she helping you grow.
00;13;22;17 – 00;13;44;12
Lauren Brollier Newton
So maybe you’re stuck, stale or stagnant, but she’s helping you do it without the feeling of burnout, stress, struggle, or whatever. Very similar to I don’t want to wake up at 5 a.m., right? So does Jenna call to me? Yes. I’m a I’m a business owner and I don’t want to do it with stress struggle. Perfect. But notice that she doesn’t say stay at home moms or acupuncturists or coaches or men or women over 40.
00;13;44;14 – 00;14;05;05
Lauren Brollier Newton
She lets be the problem that she solves speak for itself. And so she didn’t have to go ultra niche here. Now let’s look at her last post. Is she she post something that says you ought to be here? What my team didn’t talk about at our team retreat, she says funnels. Nope. Legion. No scaling strategies? Nope. Instead, we focused on this.
00;14;05;08 – 00;14;28;06
Lauren Brollier Newton
Okay, so I know when I look at her Instagram, she’s somebody who’s a helping a business owner do it without stress or struggle. But if I go through her page, she’s not always just talking about that. She’s got pictures of herself trying on clothes and her family and being a mom and all sorts of different things. So it’s implied that if I am one of those things, a woman, a mom, someone who likes clothes shopping, whatever it is that will resonate with her.
00;14;28;14 – 00;14;46;17
Lauren Brollier Newton
But she’s not saying I have to be that demographic in order to work with her. All that she has told me so far is that she can help me grow my business without burnout. And so what I’m suggesting is a worst piece of business advice is the super demographic style niching that I see out there. And it’s not necessary.
00;14;46;17 – 00;15;06;06
Lauren Brollier Newton
And in fact, it’s just going to confuse you, stop you from growing your business. You’re going to stay stuck before you even start. And I just think it’s so not helpful. So I for my whole career, had a very broad niche, the broad niche that I just told you, people have no idea what they want. They just know there’s more for them or they know exactly what they want.
00;15;06;06 – 00;15;21;24
Lauren Brollier Newton
They have a goal. They have something they want to achieve, but they’re tired of stress, struggling and burnout to get it. And guess what? Because I’m a life coach and not necessarily a business coach, can people be in all sorts of different categories, like they have a goal with their business, they have a goal with their weight. They have a goal with their relationships.
00;15;21;24 – 00;15;39;11
Lauren Brollier Newton
They have a goal with their hobbies and feel stuck trying to get it. Yeah, it doesn’t have to be business. And so I had a very broad, you would say niche and made generated millions of dollars. So I think that, this idea that we have to niche so hard or else we’re not going to get recognized online.
00;15;39;15 – 00;15;57;05
Lauren Brollier Newton
And I ran Facebook ads, too. It wasn’t like I was just networking. I ran Facebook ads, I had ebooks, I had all that kind of stuff. I had funnels eventually, and they all eventually worked and helped generate income. So this super demographic style niching idea, I just say throw it out the window, because if anything, it’s probably just keeping you stuck.
00;15;57;08 – 00;16;24;27
Lauren Brollier Newton
All right, number three of the three worst pieces of business advice I’m glad I never followed is this build your funnel first idea. Okay, so a funnel. Is everybody using a funnel, even if you don’t know you are, when this kind of funnel that I’m referring to is building an online funnel where somebody clicks your ad, they get your freebie, they get this, they get on your email list and they get follow up emails.
00;16;24;27 – 00;16;38;03
Lauren Brollier Newton
Then they go to a sales page and it’s automated. It’s not that you’re not going to have that a you do want to have that. And especially if you’re someone who loves tech and you love building those kind of things, or you feel like you’re a visionary enough that you can hire someone and have them build it for you.
00;16;38;10 – 00;17;13;01
Lauren Brollier Newton
I’m not saying don’t, but what I have seen sadly so many times, very, very sadly, is I have seen them not know what they’re doing, not really know what they’re coaching or understanding their audience not being very good at speaking, not not just being so early stages and spending tons of money on a funnel that doesn’t work because they don’t know what they’re doing yet, and expecting some sort of marketing person or funnel builder or tech person to know you and your audience, I think, is just I don’t like that.
00;17;13;04 – 00;17;27;15
Lauren Brollier Newton
I don’t like it for a big company. I don’t even like it for a small company. I’m not saying you have to do everything yourself, but I’m saying that if you don’t really know what you’re doing, don’t spend all this money on a funnel that you don’t know how to build. That’s not going to work that you’re going to have to recreate anyway down the line.
00;17;27;17 – 00;17;45;28
Lauren Brollier Newton
My recommendation is that you do the path of least resistance. You can have an easy opt in form on your website that’s up to people, and get them on your email list. You can even have a freebie that you set up and whatever mail system you’re using. I love Cartwright, I don’t get paid by Cartwright. I just love Cartwright.
00;17;46;00 – 00;18;15;02
Lauren Brollier Newton
But you can do all sorts of funnel like things without paying for the big fancy giant funnel that’s literally going to cost you tens of thousands of dollars that you would need a team to be testing and tweaking all the time. I just feel like it’s such a waste of your hard earned money and your blood, sweat and tears and your life force to try to go straight to funnel when you’re not really out there in the world doing it.
00;18;15;02 – 00;18;36;14
Lauren Brollier Newton
And I know why people do it, because it seems like it’s faster. It seems like it’s easier. It seems like you don’t really have to put yourself out there because you’re behind the screen. But to this day, I can tell you when I look at the list of clients I served, and I look at the list of coaches at our institute that I met way back when I was building my business, and since has come to the Institute because they wanted to see what I was up to.
00;18;36;14 – 00;18;54;08
Lauren Brollier Newton
And then they fell in love with the Institute. When I look at all those clients that I’m super close to that I met way back then, they didn’t come from funnels, they came from connection, they came from relationship, they came from maybe they did find me through a Facebook ad or a freebie, but I personally connected with them.
00;18;54;10 – 00;19;32;01
Lauren Brollier Newton
Now I know I’m hearing the objections from people saying, well, that would. If that were true, then people would never scale. But that’s actually not what I mean. I’m not saying each personally getting a phone call for me, I’m just saying that ways that I connected with them reached far beyond the funnel itself. So what I’m saying is, I actually think the better way and the more, cost effective way is to learn what you do really well, whether you’re great at giving workshops or you’re great at social media, or you’re great at speaking engagements, or you’re great at whatever it is, then you can build a funnel that surrounds around that thing that you’re
00;19;32;01 – 00;19;52;17
Lauren Brollier Newton
good at, that you know, that converts. Now, this episode is titled the three Worst Piece of Business Advice I got. I never followed and this one I’m talking about starting with a funnel. It’s true that I’m glad that I never followed starting with a funnel, but I got to a point, I would say almost three years into my business where I decided that I did want a fancy funnel.
00;19;52;19 – 00;20;09;00
Lauren Brollier Newton
So, this is the piece of advice that I wish I hadn’t followed, but I did follow. I decided to make a funnel, and I thought it was going to work because I was pretty good at what I was doing so far, I’d already generated, you know, probably I’d probably at that point generated maybe a half 1 million to $1 million in my coaching business.
00;20;09;03 – 00;20;30;18
Lauren Brollier Newton
I could do this funnel thing, and I create this funnel and it doesn’t work. I mean, it just flops. And there was so many things wrong with it because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. First of all, I trusted the tech person, the person who was setting up the funnel to give me the marketing and content advice, which was not a great move because that person, it’s not their fault.
00;20;30;26 – 00;20;53;00
Lauren Brollier Newton
It’s just they weren’t an expert in this field the way that the funnel was set up wasn’t great. Because of the, you know, the content that I chose, the way that the funnel was designed didn’t work. Had a lot of back end stuff that I didn’t understand. And it costs $15,000, so $15,000 for something that didn’t work.
00;20;53;00 – 00;21;17;29
Lauren Brollier Newton
Now I think it’s gotten way cheaper. This was, you know, five years ago. I think it’s gotten cheaper and easier to build funnels. Like I mentioned, I love Cartwright. You can just build your own funnel right in there. But back in the day, you know, 15 grand flop. And I was so heartsick over it. I remember calling Matt Boggs, who’s who’s the co-founder of the coach Certification division here at the Institute and just sobbing like, Matt, is it not some marketing genius?
00;21;17;29 – 00;21;38;00
Lauren Brollier Newton
I’m like, is there any way to save this funnel? And when he looked at the elements of it and he looked at the content and everything, he was like, dude, sorry, but no, this is not I don’t think this is going to work, you know? And so it was a it was a hard lesson. And this is why I’m saying don’t build it when you don’t have a clue about what really works.
00;21;38;02 – 00;21;57;18
Lauren Brollier Newton
And you and especially finding someone that if they say that they know how to help you build a funnel that will convert, have them prove it to you. Show me ten clients that you’ve worked with that you’ve helped. Have it convert in this industry because, it’s such so then so then fast forward. Now I’ve already got $1 million annual business.
00;21;57;21 – 00;22;28;07
Lauren Brollier Newton
And I decided that I’m going to now create another funnel. And I hired someone that I trusted who did have experience in this industry, and it flopped again. But this time I spent $60,000 and it was on me again. I take full responsibility for not knowing the right questions to ask, for not understanding where the profit was going to come from, from not having enough, excess in my bank account to cover what it was going to cost to test these Facebook ads and get it up off the ground and running.
00;22;28;10 – 00;22;47;00
Lauren Brollier Newton
So $75,000 of mistakes. And I know some of you are listening to this going, oh my God, what a waste of money. And I felt that way too in the beginning. But what I learned from this is that when we do things based on not knowing what we don’t know, we learn so much from it. And so I don’t regret building either of these funnels.
00;22;47;00 – 00;23;07;06
Lauren Brollier Newton
But I will tell you that I believe that you have to know so solidly how a funnel works, how it’s going to adjust itself, or you have to have someone on your team who’s so good at their willingness to test it, give you advice, give you feedback that it actually works. So when you see these people being like, build a funnel, you’re just going to make millions.
00;23;07;09 – 00;23;34;05
Lauren Brollier Newton
I’m in an infinite universe with infinite possibilities. Yes, you can do that. Or you could make, you know, a good, healthy income. And I don’t want to be a, you know, naysayer here, but I’m just going to say have a strong vision, know what you’re good at, know who you want to serve, know what’s going to work, get good advice, do all those things before you just go wasting money on building fancy funnels because you see other people out there either doing it or advertising it.
00;23;34;08 – 00;23;58;21
Lauren Brollier Newton
So I said great many things there. So let’s review the three worst piece of business advice that I’m glad I never followed, and also the ones that I did follow and probably shouldn’t have number one, is I don’t believe you have to wake up at 5 a.m. to be successful, or get rid of your TV or your Netflix subscription to this idea that you have to niche on some sort of demographic level super hard before you could get started.
00;23;58;26 – 00;24;17;00
Lauren Brollier Newton
Totally false. And three build a fancy funnel. First is terrible business advice, and I think you should know what you’re good at first and then build whatever you need to build from there. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you enjoyed my humor as always. It was just such a privilege to get to connect with you and talk to you.
00;24;17;02 – 00;24;29;11
Lauren Brollier Newton
We love hearing how you love this podcast, so subscribe! Drop a review. We would love that. And until next time I will see you on the next episode.
00;24;29;13 – 00;24;54;04
Lauren Brollier Newton
Thanks for joining me this week on The Abundant Coach. Visit our website at Brave Thinking institute.com/coach certification, where you can dive even deeper with additional resources and exciting opportunities. Be sure to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcast so you’ll never miss an episode. And while you’re at it, if you loved the show, please rate and review.
00;24;54;06 – 00;25;06;08
Lauren Brollier Newton
To find out how to jump start your abundant coaching career and more about my journey to seven figure coach, check out our free Meant to Be a Life Coach quiz available at bti.com/coach quiz.
00;25;06;10 – 00;25;08;06
Lauren Brollier Newton
I’ll see you in the next episode.
If you’ve ever felt like the advice you’re “supposed” to follow to grow your coaching business doesn’t actually feel right to you… this episode is your permission slip to do it differently. In today’s episode of The Abundant Coach, host Lauren Brollier Newton gets candid about the 3 worst pieces of business advice she’s glad she never followed—and how ignoring them helped her build a multi-million dollar coaching business with freedom, joy, and integrity.
From the glorified 5 a.m. hustle to hyper-specific niche pressure to the funnel-first myth, Lauren breaks down why these popular pieces of advice often backfire—especially for heart-centered coaches who want to make a real impact. Instead, she offers a refreshing, real-world perspective on how to create success by honoring your values, leading with connection, and growing your business from a place of alignment.
Whether you’re just starting out or trying to scale, this episode will help you sidestep costly mistakes and give you a grounded, empowering path forward.
Lauren kicks off this episode with a powerful Walt Whitman quote: “Dismiss whatever insults your soul.” It sets the tone for a deeply personal and refreshingly rebellious conversation about building a business that actually feels good to run. If you’ve ever felt resistance to advice like “wake up at 5 a.m.” or “ditch Netflix,” this episode will validate your instincts and help you build success your way.
Lauren challenges the pervasive idea that waking up before sunrise and grinding nonstop is the secret to success. She shares why she values sleep, downtime, and Netflix nights—and how rejecting hustle culture allowed her to create a business she actually loves.
💡 Key insight: You don’t have to suffer to succeed. Your business should be built around your values, not against them.
The pressure to find a super-specific niche keeps many coaches stuck. Lauren breaks down why demographic-focused niching often backfires and how solving real problems is a much more effective—and sustainable—way to grow your coaching business.
💡 Try this instead: Focus on solving a meaningful problem you care about. Your people will find you.
Lauren shares raw and expensive lessons from building two funnels that flopped—one that cost $15K and another that cost $60K. Her takeaway? Don’t start with a fancy funnel. Start by building real connection, testing your message, and doing what works first.
💡 Bottom line: Funnels amplify what’s already working. They don’t create success from scratch.
If you’re ready to launch or grow a coaching business that feels like YOU—without burning out or wasting time on outdated strategies—the Life Coach Accelerator is for you.
This free, 5-day challenge will help you:
👉 Join the free challenge now and catapult your coaching career into motion!