Ep #106: Everything You Need to Know About Coaching Masters

Hi, this is Lindsay Dotzlaf and you are listening to Mastering Coaching Skills episode 106.

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.

Hi coach, I am so glad you’re here today. Before we get started I want to just kind of give you the setup for what is happening during this podcast just in case you can hear it in the background. So I had my podcast recorded early, I was right on time, all of that. And then I left town and went to New York City, which is where I am right now recording this because when I went to turn in my podcast there was no audio.

I have no idea what happened, but sometimes these things happen. This is the first time this has happened for me where I’ve recorded an entire podcast without audio somehow, but here we are. So I am sitting in a hotel room in New York City. And the reason I’m telling you this is because you might hear lots of honking. Why is there so much honking? It’s so funny, such a stark contrast to where I live. Just lots of noise.

But you might hear lots of honking, or some construction, or just loud noises in the background in general. I apologize ahead of time, we will obviously try to edit those out. But we can only do what we can do. So if you hear it, just know I’m in the energy of New York City. I love it here, it is amazing. And also just a little loud when you’re trying to record a podcast.

So, today what I want to talk about is the Coaching Masters mastermind. If you’re listening to this in real time, the applications open next week. And I’ve been getting a lot of emails, a lot of questions, and some DMs on social media and on Instagram. So I just thought you know what? I’m just going to record a podcast answering the questions, talking about the Coaching Masters mastermind and what it is, who it’s for, all of that.

If you listen and you are like, “I must join, this sounds like what I’m ready for. This sounds like what I’m wanting, what I’m craving,” you can find more information, all the links, in my show notes. But for now, I’m just going to dive in.

So here are some questions that I get just a lot, just in conversation and then also, like I said, in emails and in DMs on Instagram. So one question that I get a lot is just why did I create Coaching Masters? Like where did that idea come from? Why did I think it was important? Why did I feel like it was something kind of missing in the industry?

And I just know, for me, first there are lots of reasons I created it. But for me, one thing that I think about a lot is just I don’t love to do things that I’m not great at, right? Especially when I think about working with my clients, serving all my clients, being the best I can be for them, making sure they are creating the results that they want.

When I was first a coach, and even still today, really, I am constantly thinking about are my clients getting results, right? Like they’re paying me money, I love to be a good steward of your money, of my clients’ money, right? I want to be sure that when you’re paying me money, you are getting the results that you sign up for. In the beginning of my coaching, I really kind of had some difficulty with that in my mind, right? Like I would spend so much time kind of obsessing over it and thinking about like, but how do I know that my clients are getting results? I got coached on this a bunch.

And so over time this is one of the things that kind of came out of that, is this space where I help my clients be sure that their clients are creating the best results that they can and just ways for you to know, right? Like how do you know? That was one question I always had, is like but how do I know? I really want to know. And so that is one reason I created the mastermind.

And another main reason is that when I started working with a lot of clients and really started growing my business I began looking for, I already had a certification and like several different trainings. But I began looking for some kind of space where I could go to be a better coach, but not in a way where I’m learning more of what I already know.

So, for example, a lot of coach certifications you go there, you get certified, and then some of them have a master coach certification. And usually, as far as what I can tell in all the research that I’ve done, the certification is like them teaching you their style of coaching, their tools, all of that. And then their master coach certification is all that same stuff just kind of on the next level, right, on a new level. But I was looking for a space where it wasn’t just this one method. And I couldn’t find it. So I decided I would create it. Now, I do have a master coach certification. I am certified to the Life Coach School, I have a master coach certification through the Life Coach School. But what I have created has nothing to do with that. I am not teaching that material, I’m not just like re-teaching someone else’s material because that would be weird.

I think of Coaching Masters as a place where any coach from anywhere in the industry can come to refine their skills, to hone their skills, and to really think about like, okay, I have all these different trainings. A lot of my clients have multiple trainings, multiple certifications sometimes, or they have a background in like an expertise in another area that they are wanting to combine with coaching.

So I always think of it as like bringing all of that, and then taking that and saying what is my style, right? Like here are all of my tools, all of my knowledge, all of my expertise, how do I combine that to create a coaching style that is just my own?

So that’s one of my very favorite things about this space that I have created, is I do bring in so many different coaches, so many different niches, so many different styles of coaching. And we’re all working on the same thing, but not everybody has just these few specific tools that they’re using. Which, to me, just makes it all more fun.

Another question that I get pretty often is how is Coaching Masters different from the Coach Lab? So the Coach Lab is a program that I created that launched this year, in 2022. And it is more of a foundational skills program. So it’s not just for new coaches, but there are, you know, I attract a lot of new coaches into that program.

But a lot of established coaches as well who just want to be sure that their foundations are solid. Or who are maybe looking to start a new offer, or a new style of coaching, a new format of coaching and they’re wanting to use, like kind of check in on all those foundational skills for that new thing, right? For creating that new container, taking all of those skills and making them fit into this new thing that they’re working on.

But the way the Coach Lab came about is I’ve been running the Coaching Masters mastermind for, as I’m recording this, the one I’m about to launch I think will be my 10th round. So I’ve run nine rounds of it. I launched my very first one in 2019, we began in 2020. And one thing I started to notice is that we were spending a good portion of maybe the first third of the mastermind really making sure that everyone that was there was kind of all caught up and on the same level when it came to foundational coaching skills.

So over time I really started taking note of that. So what I did is I took that kind of first third of Coaching Masters, I took that all out and created the Coach Lab. So that is kind of where the Coach Lab came from. So when I think about what the difference is, the Coach Lab is making sure we all have the same foundations, that we’re all kind of starting in the same place, that every coach has all the basic skills that they need for their coaching practice.

And then Coaching Masters is the next step from that, right? It is now that I have all these foundational skills, how do I lean into coaching mastery? How do I find my specific style of coaching? Because coaching, just like learning anything else, first, you just have to learn this skill, right? And so many coaches want to skip this part because it can be a little painful because there’s uncertainty, and you question yourself, right, and all of that. And you just can’t skip it.

So first, you have to learn the basic skills. You have to practice it over and over and over and over, which is what I teach in the Coach Lab. And then once you’ve done that, you can then start to think about, okay, how do I now make this my own, right? How do I take what I know, and create something that feels like an extension of me? Which is how I kind of think about my coaching.

I want every coach to feel that way, but you can’t skip the beginning, right? So if you already know like, yeah, I feel great about my coaching. I learned to coach from somewhere, I learned to coach in the Coach Lab and I feel really great about these skills, maybe it is time to think about exploring coaching mastery.

I think that’s where coaching becomes just a lot more fun. It is where you can kind of learn a more calm, certain, confident energy around your coaching. Coaching Masters is also different than the Coach Lab because it is a six month container. So it is a more intensive, a much smaller group six month container where we focus solely on your coaching. So we create your processes, your intellectual property, your coaching strategies, right? Like you really develop all of that and make it your own.

And depending on how long you’ve been a coach, some of you are doing this for the first time, and some of my clients who come into Coaching Masters, first you’ve heard the interview with Sheri, right? She’s joining for the fifth time.

Some of them have done this before, and they just keep coming back to hone the process, to understand it better, to use the process when they’re making any changes in their coaching. Maybe you’re creating a group or moving into group coaching, or coaching in a program, or doing a course and you’re really thinking about like, how do I use all of my skills, all of my coaching ability in this new way? So that’s one thing we do in there. The other thing is we do a project, this is a new thing. And if you listened to my podcast a few weeks ago I talked about this, about the in-person event. So I do have a Coaching Master’s Live, which is so fun. Just really, I still feel like I’m reeling from that. I just loved being around my clients in person so much and I would love for you to be a part of that.

But one thing that we do is we pick a project, everybody has a project, kind of picks one big thing that they’re working on for their coaching. So it might be a new program, a podcast, a workbook. Some sort of asset that helps with your either content delivery, or coaching delivery. Everybody picks one and works through it. So it’s a much more smaller group, more intimate, everybody’s involved in what everybody else is doing and invested in each project, getting all the things done and all of that.

And how do you know if you’re ready? This is probably one of the biggest questions that I get about Coaching Masters, is how do you know if you’re ready. And my answer for that is if you have a solid foundation and solid foundational coaching skills, then you’re ready.

And one thing that a lot of my clients notice when they come in, is that there really are coaches from all walks of coaching life in Coaching Masters. So some have been coaches for quite a while. Some are newer coaches, but kind of have hit the ground running and are ready for this next step. Some coaches are making a lot of money and some are maybe just going out on their own.

I tend to sometimes have coaches who because, like me, they love the skill of coaching, the craft of coaching. So maybe they’ve been contract coaches for a while or they’ve been coaching for someone else, coaching in someone else’s program and they come to Coaching Masters to kind of step out of that and make their own thing, find their own coaching style outside of the person that they’ve been working for.

Or I have clients who have been working in an industry, have an expertise in an industry and now have learned to coach and want to learn how to really combine those two things and make their signature offer, their signature program.

So there really are coaches from every single level, every single corner of the coaching industry. So the most simple answer is how do you know if you’re ready? If you are ready to spend the next six months really honing your coaching, creating your own coaching style, and just kind of geeking out over the craft and the art of coaching in general. If that is you, then this mastermind is for you. It is time. Let’s go, come with me, we have so much fun.

And not only do we have fun, which I love to say that, I say that probably a lot, but we really do have fun. And it really is, like I think of this as changing the coaching industry. Because every coach that spends that six months focused on their delivery, right, and it doesn’t mean you can’t focus on other things at the same time, right? Maybe your sales, your marketing, all of that. It really does sometimes take a multifaceted approach to be an entrepreneur, to grow a coaching business.

But for me, every time someone is coming to this mastermind instead of putting it off and like, “Oh, but I’ll work on that later. Coaching mastery is for later.” Every coach that works on that earlier and really thinks about the results that their clients are creating and goes into everything they do with that focus of coaching mastery, to me, that is changing the industry. And with coaching being such a young industry, I just really love thinking about that, right?

You can go online and find some certification that you can complete in like two days and technically be a coach, right? Or even not get certified and just say you’re a coach, which is also fine if you learn to coach somewhere else, right? There are so many different ways to learn coaching, so many different ways to come into this industry, and Coaching Masters is the place to come to really solidify that you know what you are doing.

The next question I get often is, what is the structure? What does it look like? What do the six months look like? So if you’re listening in real time, this next round of Coaching Masters, as of now I’m launching it every six months, this next round begins at the end of January 2023.

And the structure is weekly Zoom calls. So every Tuesday at noon Eastern Time we meet on Zoom, sometimes I teach, sometimes I coach, sometimes we workshop. There’s a little bit of a mixed bag of kind of all of those different structures on each call. And that’s where we work through all the content, work through all the things.

And then we have a support community, a Facebook group where you can get coaching on anything and everything and sometimes post some homework and just support each other. I also encourage peer coaching, especially for those of you coming in who don’t have a lot of clients.

I know some people come in who are fully booked, who really part of the reason they’re there is to figure out how to simplify, how to kind of manage that more of a work life balance to prevent burnout, all of that. So for those of you, you might not be doing as much peer coaching. But for those of you that are coming in without many clients, I do recommend getting some coaching hours in, right? Like doing some coaching while you’re there. It’s part of why you’re there.

So there’s that as another component. And then we have the live event, which is three days of working on a project. Picking a project, working on a project, and really starting it to be sure that that project is completed within the time of the mastermind.

So I love to think of that six months as kind of a continuing ed or a master’s degree in coaching. That is what we are working on. We are spending that entire six months focused on you, focused on what you do, how you make it your own, how your clients are getting results, thinking about all those results that your clients are creating in the world and doing it together.

So if you’re listening when this comes out, if you’re listening the day this comes out, then if you are on the waitlist early applications actually open tomorrow, which is so fun. I can’t wait to start seeing them come in. If you are not on the waitlist, applications officially open November 14th, and they close November 18th, which is a Friday at midnight.

And I am selecting on a first come first serve basis. So if you know this is for you, make sure that you’re on the waitlist, make sure that you get in your application early and soon. And I cannot wait to work with you. I cannot wait to see what kind of coach you are, how you are working with your clients, all of the results that your clients are creating in the world and of the impact that you’re having.

I can’t wait to see you there so we can get to work. I would love to share with you, also, a quick five minute audio of a promo video that I’ve created for Coaching Masters just in case you’re still on the fence, you still have questions, listen to this video, or audio I suppose. And if you still have more questions, please get a hold of me. Reply to an email, get on that waitlist, do whatever you can, reach out to me. I will answer any questions you have. All right, see you there. Bye.

Kimberly Mathis: Coaching Masters is the graduate degree of coaching skills.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: In the Coaching Masters mastermind we really focus on taking those foundational skills that coaches already have and really leaning into making them their own.

Taking the skills that they have already learned, wherever they’ve learned them, and I try my best to create an environment where they can kind of flourish in who they are. Instead of learning more of how to coach someone else, I show them that they already know how to coach, and in this container what we’re doing is taking everything that they know and just really helping them mold it into the coaching that they want to do.

Jess Johnson: You should join Coaching Masters if you just want the deeper dive into being the absolute most incredible coach that you can be for your clients as quickly as you can.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: In Coaching Masters I help coaches move, kind of move on from the foundational into what is their coaching mastery.

Brig Johnson: It’s like she sees the talent that you have within you and you’re like, “I need to be this,” and she’s like, “Excuse me, do you not see this big mountain that you already have and you’re wanting this pebble?”

Lindsay Dotzlaf: I help them just really hone their skills, like find their style as a coach. We really lean into what are their values as a human and how do they incorporate that into their coaching, into their coaching style? And we really get specific on their process.

So we do a lot of coaching on their process, whether it’s the first time they’ve really gotten clear on their process or maybe they have a new offer, they’re may be going from one on one, creating a group for the first time, or creating a program for the first time. And I just help them walk through, okay, what is your process from start to finish?

And then, of course, the last step is we simplify it because our brains love to offer at first like, okay, here are all the things, all the steps. And so we kind of start there and then just work down until just a few steps.

Jess Johnson: Being able to own your process and your authenticity as you make decisions about who you want to be as a business owner and how you want to show up as a coach.

Kimberly Mathis: You should join Coaching Masters because improving your capabilities as a coach and how quickly and easily you get your clients results is always going to help you be more successful.

Jess Johnson: And I think that is such a gift that I’ve been given through Coaching Masters, being able to really step into that, like if not me, I know exactly who to ask to get help. I don’t have to know everything. I’m real good at emotions, like weight loss stuff, I mean, there’s emotions around weight loss but that’s not necessarily my wheelhouse. My wheelhouse is self-acceptance and emotional freedom.

And being able to go through Coaching Masters, really understand what my strengths are, and own those instead of feeling like, “Oh, I got to be able to manage anything and everything.” Nope, but I do know who to go to either help this client or if I need to refer a potential consult somewhere.

I just love that spirit of abundance in the community that she attracts. It’s not like this competition between each other, it is how do we learn? How do we help one another? Maybe this person doesn’t work with me, but I know exactly who to refer them to.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: One thing we talk about a lot, especially in the mastermind is resting your brain and taking time off.

As a coach I think it can be easy, especially when you really love your clients and you really love what you do, it can be easy to go to the place where you’re just thinking about it all of the time and constantly thinking about, you know, what’s the next thing? What’s this client’s breakthrough? What is this client working on? How can I show up better for this client?

And while that’s great and I, of course, encourage my clients to think about their clients and want to be a great coach, taking time off from that and just being in the humaneness of life, right? And just showing up, being with your family, being with yourself, resting, making sure that you’re taking care of yourself is, I think, what makes coaching even more powerful when you are on.

Brittany Deer: My favorite thing that I taught myself while working with Lindsay was how to succeed without putting pressure on myself.

Lindsay Dotzlaf: A lot of my clients are clients who think that there’s very much a right way to do things. And a lot of the work I do is showing them there’s not necessarily a right way, there’s your right way.

Jess Johnson: Be the ideal coach for your ideal clients is what Coaching Masters is going to give you, faster than you can imagine possible.

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.