Hey, this is Lindsay Dotzlaf, and you are listening to Mastering Coaching Skills episode 271.

To really compete in the coaching industry, you have to be great at coaching. That’s why every week, I will be answering your questions, sharing my stories, and offering tips and advice so you can be the best at what you do. Let’s get to work.

Hey coach. I am so thrilled you’re here today. First, if you’re listening in real time, happy New Year. Happy 2026. This is the very first episode of the year. And I am going to start off with a little something different for you. And I’m just going to tell you right now, you may want to pause and just go figure out how to save this episode so you can come back to it later, because this entire episode is going to be a permission slip for you to build the business you want to run this year.

So I’m not doing goals or a word of the year or helping you make a plan. I’m giving you something I think you might need a little more. So here we go.

Coach, you have permission to have way more fun. Permission to rest. Permission to tell everyone you’re a coach like you’re announcing you’re in the Olympics. Permission to take naps. Permission to take up so much more space.

Permission to be calm. Permission to set your own path and stop giving an F what anyone else thinks. Permission to take time off. Permission to not be on social media. Permission to post 10 times a day. Or take a three-month break and see what happens.

Permission to eat lunch while working or take a long lunch every day for two hours. Permission to start working at noon. Permission to start working at 5 a.m. Permission to sleep in on a Tuesday or any day. Permission to never do a webinar. Like ever.

Permission to not have a lead magnet, or a funnel, or a content calendar. Permission to pivot anytime you need to. Permission to keep going. Permission to make a ton of money. Permission to have as few clients as you want. Consistently, and not want to grow past that.

Permission to change your mind about what you want your business to look like. Again. Permission to stay exactly the same next year. Not every year needs to be a reinvention or a growth year. Permission to breathe deeply and often.

Permission to wear sweatshirts to coaching calls or heels and your best red lipstick. They both work. Permission to work from bed sometimes. Permission to have a messy office and a thriving business. Or an immaculate office and a messy business. Permission to take client calls from a closet while on vacation because you didn’t want to cancel them.

Permission to call in sick to yourself. Permission to go for a long walk. Permission to go for a walk and write content over voice notes or practice your offer out loud with the trees listening.

Permission to cancel. A meeting, an offer, a coffee chat, anything. Permission to disappear for a week because you need a minute. Permission to close your business for the holidays. Permission to go on vacation and not think about your clients or your business for even a single second.

Permission to not obsess over your business in your off hours. Permission to say no. Period. Permission to say yes and mean it. Permission to ask for help. Permission to pay someone to help you with your least favorite task. Permission to just Google it.

Permission to feel like you have no idea what you’re doing and still be a great coach. Permission to say, “I don’t know,” to a client. Permission to cry during a heavy session. You are human. Permission to have a shit day. Permission to not be inspiring. Permission to be boring sometimes. Permission to be inconsistent. Permission to contradict yourself. Permission to say the same thing 100 different ways until it lands.

Permission to care that your voice sounded weird in that pretend podcast episode you recorded. You’ll get used to it, promise. Permission to immediately delete the email from someone telling you they don’t like your voice. It happens. Trust me.

Permission to let your website be imperfect for another year. Or to not have one at all right now. Permission to delete the thing you spent three weeks creating because it’s not quite right and you just know it’s never going to be. Permission to forgive yourself for that investment that didn’t work out. Permission to let a launch or goal flop and just try it again next time. Permission to charge more than feels comfortable. Or permission to charge less than the industry says you should. Permission to raise your prices without adding anything new. Permission to change your prices mid-year because you feel like it.

Permission to be more successful than coaches who’ve been doing this longer. Permission to be less successful than coaches who started last week. Permission to be the least experienced person in the room and still raise your hand. Permission to be the most experienced person in the room and still feel so much uncertainty.

Permission to feel like a fraud on Tuesday and still show up on Wednesday, because imposter syndrome isn’t proof you’re doing it wrong. It is proof you’re growing. Permission to have a tiny email list that loves hearing from you. Permission to not have a signature framework or proprietary method. Permission to not have a compelling origin story. Permission to not know your ideal client avatar beyond people I love working with, especially in the beginning. Permission to only work with clients you’d actually want to get coffee with.

Permission to really, really love your clients. Permission to have favorites, maybe just don’t tell them. Permission to coach clients outside of your niche if they ask, and you want to. Permission to coach your friends when they ask, and you want to. Permission to turn down a client who can pay but isn’t a great fit.

Permission to fire a client. Permission to tell your clients they can’t drive while you’re coaching. Or you fill in anything that distracts you from being the best coach. Permission to have boundaries so firm, they surprise even you. Permission to unfollow every coach who makes you feel behind or less than. Permission to stop policing other coaches. Permission to be jealous of another coach and not shame yourself for it. Permission to have complicated feelings about the industry. It’s unregulated. There’s some nonsense out there. That’s not on you.

Permission to break rules you learned from your certification or business coach. Permission to outgrow a mentor and move on without guilt. Permission to invest as little or as much as you want in your own coaching.

Permission to copy anything you love about any of my content. As inspiration, of course, don’t copy it exactly. Always make it your own. Permission to try something you’ve never done before. Permission to try something you’ve never seen done before. That’s originality.

Permission to make decisions that don’t make sense to anyone but you. Permission to let some things in your business be embarrassingly easy. Permission to have your best year yet and let the world know. Permission to be further along than anyone knows because you don’t perform your success online.

Permission to talk about your business at dinner parties like it matters, because it really does. Permission to not talk about your business at dinner parties because you’re off the clock, and that matters too. Permission to quit something. Permission to quit anything. Permission to get a job if you need to support yourself and your business isn’t doing that yet.

Permission to celebrate for no reason other than it’s a Thursday. Permission to find coach besties that only, only uplift and motivate you and maybe challenge you every now and again. Permission to have a hobby that has nothing to do with personal growth. Something gloriously unproductive.

Permission to not monetize every gift you have. Some things are just for you. Permission to not have a morning routine, or have one and skip it half the time, or have one that’s dialed in and strategic and it feels amazing. Permission to be deeply ambitious and want to close your laptop at 2 p.m. Both can be totally true. Permission to let your business enhance your life instead of consuming it.

Permission to go slow. Permission to have your business look nothing like you imagined and love it anyway. Or love it even more than you ever thought you could. Permission to let people be wrong about you. You don’t have to correct them. This one’s hard.

Permission to hate selling and do it anyway. Or love selling and not apologize for it. Permission to be in a hard season, grief, health stuff, life falling apart, and let your business hold you instead of demanding from you. Permission to not have it all figured out and still help people who have it less figured out than you.

Permission to have dreams so big, they would stop Beyoncé, Walt Disney, or Shonda Rhimes in their tracks. Permission to trust that you are not behind. You are on your timeline, and that’s the only one that even exists.

Permission to disappoint people who expect you to keep doing it the old way. Permission to trust yourself more than you trust any coach. Permission to feel proud of yourself. Out loud. Really loud. Without dimming yourself so other people feel comfortable.

Permission to stop apologizing. And permission to apologize when you’ve made a mistake that needs repair. Permission to stop waiting for permission from a mentor, a certification, a follower count, or a sign from the universe.

This is your permission. Go do your thing.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Mastering Coaching Skills. If you want to learn more about my work, come visit me at lindsaydotzlafcoaching.com. That’s Lindsay with an A, D-O-T-Z-L-A-F.com. See you next week.