Hey, this is Lindsay Dotzlaf, and you are listening to Mastering Coaching Skills, episode 306.

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.

Welcome, coach. I’m so happy you’re here today. We are going to dive right into part six of this unfinished series, where I am kind of doing a 10-episode wrap-up of this Mastering Coaching Skills podcast, only to then begin an on-ramp to something new and exciting right in the same feed. So, stay tuned to see what’s coming.

But one thing that’s happening right now is I have asked you all to submit questions for a Q&A episode that I will be doing as part of this 10-part series. And you have been submitting some amazing questions, but I got one question—oh, and let me say, you can still submit your questions. You have at least, from the day this episode airs, you have at least one more week to submit your questions. We will put the link in the show notes, and I will include the exact date the questions need to be submitted by there, okay? But I got one question that I thought, you know what, this deserves an entire episode. So that is what I’m doing today. Today we’re going to talk about, do I believe the coaching industry is going to stick around? Can it withstand the test of time?

So, if you’re interested in what my answer is to this, I’m so glad you’re here, because that’s what’s about to happen. So, let me first read the exact question. This was submitted by an anonymous listener. Thank you so much for this question. I’ve done so much thinking about it, and hopefully, this is the answer you’re looking for. Of course, I do wish that you were sitting right here in front of me having this conversation so I could hear your thoughts that are underneath the question, but I’m going to do my best to address them, okay?

So here’s the actual question that was submitted, the exact question: “Do you believe the coaching industry can withstand the test of time? Of course, change and evolution are inevitable and necessary, but sometimes I worry the industry doesn’t have longevity.” Amazing question.

So, I’ve actually heard some forms of this in different ways, but I think the easiest way to approach this first, in general, is I want to address it as two different things. First, coaching as a concept, like, do I think coaching will stand the test of time, and then coaching as a business. Do I think the coaching businesses will stand the test of time, and what does that mean? Okay?

So first, let’s just think about coaching as a concept. The first thing I’ll say is the short answer to this, will this stand the test of time? Yes, absolutely. As long as humans are in their current form, yes, I do believe that coaching will stand the test of time. And here’s why. First of all, humans have been doing some version of coaching for as long as we’ve been around. There have been teachers and mentors and elders and friends who ask amazing questions and all the versions of support that you get in your life, whether they come naturally and they’re free, whether they’re someone you hire.

The word coaching, in the way we talk about it today, might be a fairly new word to describe the concept, but the concept of coaching has been around forever. Humans have always been supporting each other, teaching each other, coaching each other, mentoring each other, and just in general, supporting each other. We’ve just developed different ways to do it and different ways to talk about it.

And I want you to think about this. If we think about—I’m going to talk about coaching in the today’s traditional sense, which would mean you are somehow hiring a coach or asking someone to be your coach, and you’re having some sort of interaction with them that might include teaching, addressing your mindset, addressing your nervous system, looking at what do you want, thinking about you as an overall human, as the whole package, having you kind of say, here are some things that I want in my life, and the coach saying, “Okay, let’s figure out how to get them,” and then using many different forms of support to help you create what you want to create.

When you think about it that way, the value of coaching will never go away. Here’s why I say that. I think one of the single most important things that happens in coaching, inside of coaching containers, all different types of containers, is a client being able to say something out loud to another human. That makes a huge difference. It’s so different saying something that might feel scary and vulnerable out loud to another human. There’s something different about that than other forms of claiming that you want something.

So maybe thinking about it over and over just in your own head or journaling it and writing about it, or even telling your mom or telling someone who just loves you unconditionally that even if they think, “Well, that’s a crazy idea,” they might not tell you. They’re just going to support you and love you anyway. There’s something so special about claiming, here is this thing that I want to create, I don’t know how, can you help me? It can feel, again, extremely vulnerable, and there can be transformation just in the claiming of it.

Also, when you think about this act of saying the thing out loud, whether it’s maybe one-on-one to a coach or even in a group, there’s a word Maggie Reyes, my friend, loves to use, or words, a concept called emotional titration, and I think that can happen in these settings, right? That vulnerability that you feel saying it out loud to one person and then maybe saying it out loud to a group is the thing that can lead into claiming it out in the world when you’re actually creating it.

And you have to be able to claim that you want something in order for the world to know to give it to you, whether that’s communicating your intentions or your plan with family members or in a work environment, a corporate environment, in your business, just being able to say the thing out loud and not feel absolutely ridiculous and even start to know, hey, this thing might be possible. Maybe even being in spaces where you see other people do it or working with coaches that you know they’ve done this thing, they can certainly help me on my journey.

Another piece of this is just having someone’s undivided attention or even a group’s undivided attention. In this world today is quite rare, and it’s part of what you pay for when you are working with a coach. Just knowing that someone is going to show up for you in whatever contracted time you have with them, only thinking about what you want or what the client wants and how to get there, and then using both of your brains together to create that, using the genius that both of you are bringing.

That creates something very different that can’t really be replicated in other ways. It can’t be learned in a course that you’re just consuming. It can’t be replicated in certain ways with AI at this point, if that’s one of the things that you’re wondering, like, will that take over coaching? I’m guessing that might be an underlying thing here. There’s something about real human brains coming together to create something that, at least as of now, can’t be created as it actually happens in the real world.

It also kind of matters that the attention is costing you something, knowing that someone is spending a whole hour of their life, let’s say, for example, and can have real reactions to what you’re bringing and what you’re saying, and you don’t know exactly what they’re going to say, is also very different than interactions you might get when just talking to friends or when talking to AI or any other forms or talking to just a teacher maybe in a more of an academic setting. There is something very different, again, about these interactions that at least as of right now, can’t be fully replicated in my opinion.

There’s also something very special that happens in groups that, at least in my experience, I don’t think can be replicated, which are hearing that you’re not alone, hearing that other people have thoughts similar to you, that you’re not special, like in a bad way, right? You’re the one human who can’t create this thing that you want, but just seeing that other people, “Oh, they’re struggling with this too,” just creates something that is hard to find in other spaces.

There’s also so much learning that happens by watching someone else get coached, especially when it’s someone that you know maybe they’ve created something that you want to create, just hearing the way that person thinks, the way they ask questions, the way they navigate their situation, thinking about, “How is this different than how I’m thinking and what I’m doing?” There’s so much learning that can happen there.

And there’s something very special that happens in a group that I actually don’t think we talk about often enough, which is showing up to be useful to other people or to someone else. To know, hey, you have a resource that can help the room. You have something to offer here.” You say something, and the other person says, “Oh my gosh, I never thought about it that way,” which just can create more confidence for you just as a human and can create maybe more confidence in the thing that you’re moving towards.

And then one of the most important things I think that happens in coaching relationships, and why coaching, I think, is going to stick around and why it will be super valuable, is less of the things that are said. Of course, that’s important too, but also picking up on tone shifts and slight pauses or hesitations, or the thing that they feel like you’re saying without actually saying, or just noticing, “Oh, you look uncomfortable all of a sudden,” or, “You look excited all of a sudden,” or just those human things.

Now, I do know that some AI is learning to do this and is getting better at it. I’ll be curious to see how this goes as it keeps evolving. So, who knows? Maybe in a few years, someone might be listening to this and thinking, “Well, that’s ridiculous because that’s a thing that’s now happening and is very common.” But in my experience, and I certainly have not used all the forms of AI, but it just isn’t something that’s happening in that environment.

And it might not be something that’s happening when you’re just talking with your friends or talking with your family because those people are just not—that’s not their job, right? They’re just listening. They might have opinions, but they’re not attuned always to, “Oh, what was that?” Like they don’t bring the curiosity of, “What was that little twitch of your eye or the deep breath you just took?” or the “What’s going on under the things you just said?”

Now, of course, some great friends or family members might be coaches without even being trained as coaches, right? They might be actually very good at this. I always say that I was definitely a coach before I was a coach. I was the person in high school that the people wanted to come to. “Let me talk through this thing.” And it was often because I would show up just very non-judgmental. I would have lots of questions. I was so curious. I think I’m just always curious about the other humans. So that is just something I’ve always brought.

Now, of course, now I have all this coach training, and it does help me show up even more powerfully as a coach. But I just want to be sure that you know, I am not suggesting that these types of things can’t happen in your everyday conversations with people that you’re close to because they certainly can, and of course, in other spaces of support like therapy and things like that.

Now, just as the person suggested in their question, I do think that there are things, and this is an opinion, I don’t actually know that I’ve seen tons of proof of this, but my thoughts are, there are things that will and are becoming less valuable over time.

So if you’re selling just a course or just a simple framework with no support with it, or you’re just selling information, information is certainly something that is becoming easier and easier to find. But even then, I do have clients that sell courses and that sell things that I would consider more like just information that I don’t know. I think at least at this point, there are still plenty of buyers in the world who are looking for things like that, knowing that the teaching is just coming from another human.

So that kind of leans back on just coaching as a concept and the overlap of coaching with teaching and all the other methodologies. That just isn’t going away. And we’ll get more into this in the second part about coaching as a business, but depending on the type of coaching that you offer, yes, there may be bigger adjustments that need to be made or bigger changes coming to whatever it is that you are offering.

But coaching as a concept, my overall answer is no, it is not going anywhere. It is here to stay. Will it evolve over time? Absolutely, just like it always has. Will it possibly evolve faster than ever due to some of the new tools we have and access to AI and computers and all the things? Absolutely. But at least as of right now, I absolutely do not think that coaching with other humans is going anywhere.

Now, let’s dive into the second part, which is coaching as a business. And do I believe that will remain relevant and stand the test of time? Again, my answer is yes, but it’s different. I do think that it is important to think about that first part first, right? Like the relevancy of coaching in general.

We’re going to use that to answer the second part, is coaching as a business going to withstand the test of time? My guess is this is probably more of what the person asking the question meant. Because there is a slightly different answer to this, I think, and I want to be real with you around this and not just give you fluff or reassure you.

So, first of all, I do think that some of the industry’s reputation has earned it a bad rap in some ways. Now, don’t let that freak you out. But I’m going to address a couple of them, right? Some things like unsubstantiated income claims that you see everywhere. I think that’s getting less and less. I think that’s getting also cracked down on, which I like, but that, it just does something to an industry where it’s like, do we know this is happening? Even if they’re true, there’s just like a, from the outside watching, like, “How can this be true? Is this real?”

There’s not a big barrier to entry. I also think, and I think this is great, I think that this is becoming a little untrue as well. I think buyers, like the more people understand what coaching is, the more savvy buyers become. And so I do think the barrier to entry is raising a bit, and I think that’s a good thing. I don’t know if this is just because of what I’m paying attention to or if this is real, but it does feel like in 2020, for example, there were a lot of big claims, a lot of coaching programs popping up that were like, you know, “Get certified over the weekend, be selling coaching by Monday,” that kind of hurt the industry a little bit. I haven’t seen nearly as much of that, and I think that’s a really good thing.

Now, maybe they’re still out there. I’m definitely open to being wrong about this, but this is just my experience, and I work with so many coaches from all over the industry that have so many different backgrounds and trainings and certifications. And at least the coaches I work with that are doing great work, I don’t hear them talking about these things as much, and they certainly aren’t showing up in my algorithm anymore. So either they’ve gone away really or they’ve just gone away from my attention.

And then one thing I think is happening a lot right now is—and I know this because my clients come to me with questions about this—one thing you have to remember, especially if you are consuming social media and you see things about coaching on social media as a coach, you have to remember the algorithm is targeting you, and there are many business coaches that are very loud, very good at marketing, and who have very loud claims about how they can help you make all the money.

And what I see in my world, when I’m doing the actual day-to-day coaching, is not that. I do see it when I go online, but I don’t actually see that in my world. Now, I certainly have some business coaches in my membership and in my mastermind, but for the most part, many coaches I work with are in very different industries. And so my brain just gets constant proof all of the time that other coaches are making it work, they’re making money, it’s still extremely relevant. For some of them, this has been a better year than they’ve ever had. They are very good at being transparent and open and honest, which I think is a little bit of what the world is asking for right now, and that is really working.

And so if part of this question is coming from kind of being in a coach vacuum where all you see is other coaches selling to coaches, or you have this thought that like, only coaches buy coaching, go find proof that isn’t true. Like, join a group that is coaches that aren’t all business coaches, or find some colleagues and friends who are making it work and succeeding in their business right now who aren’t business coaches, because I think a bit of a vacuum can happen there.

And I want to share something that’s so interesting related to this topic because it happened right before I got on to record this. So one thing I do when I write my podcast episodes sometimes, depending on the episode, is I will write out the outline using my own brain on my own, and then sometimes I’ll pass it through AI, and I’ve created in Claude, a project for my podcast.

So, you know, I don’t have to give it all the information every time. And I’ll say something like, here’s the question, here’s what I’m thinking, here’s what I want people to take away, here’s whatever. And I will have it kind of poke holes, right? I’m not saying like, “Rewrite this for me,” or, “How do I make it better?” I’m like, “What am I missing? What am I not addressing here? What might this person actually be asking that I am ignoring?”

So, among the answer, here is what Claude told me. First of all, it was very interesting to see. It was actually like defending AI. And at one point, it said, “The real threats aren’t AI at all. They’re saturation, a decade of income claim marketing eroding consumer trust, and possible FTC or state-level attention to those claims, and the fact…”—he said fact—”…that a large share of industry revenue is coaches selling to other coaches.” And then he continued on with his answer.

And I, after all of that, I said, “Okay, I’m curious about something.” I said, “I’m curious about this.” And then I, in quotes, said what he said, “and the fact that a large share of industry revenue is coaches selling to other coaches.” And then I asked, “What data are you using to support this?” Because sometimes my clients come to me with this, and I ask them, “What makes you think this?” or, “Where are you getting this information?” Not because I’m like, “Oh, you’re so wrong.” But I’m just really curious.

So I asked Claude the same thing. I’m like, maybe there’s relevancy to this. Is there are there facts here? Let me find them. Here’s Claude’s answer. When I said what data are you using to support this, Claude’s answer is, “None, actually. That was inference stated as facts and I’m glad you caught it. What I was actually reasoning from, and then he gives a few things. One of them, ICF’s global studies size the profession and show growth in practitioner accounts, but they don’t actually segment revenue by client type.”

So, while there might be, the profession is growing, and also the number of clients is growing, for some reason, Claude made that mean, therefore, it must be because they’re feeding each other. And then he says, “But there’s no actual X percent of coaching revenue comes from other coaches at all. I can’t find that figure anywhere.”

And then the next thing he says, “What I was really doing was pattern matching from the visible surface of the online business coaching world. The masterminds, the launches, and the ad targeting. The fact that the loudest and highest ticket offers in that space are often, but not always, aimed at coaches and course creators, especially from some of the bigger-name original coaches. That is only a real observation about one very tiny segment, and I generalized it to the industry, which isn’t at all supported.”

Then he says, “And that segment is such a small slice of coaching overall. Executive and leadership coaching, internal corporate coaching, health coaching, family coaching, personal life coaching. These are mostly funded by other organizations buying coaches for all clients who are non-coaches, not to mention all of the organizations that are now hiring coaches to support the other work that they do, like online medical practices, health practices, and many, many other areas.” So interesting, right?

Then he says, “This tends to dominate Instagram and podcast ads, which makes it actually look bigger than it is. So the honest version of what you asked into my point is a lot narrower. The online coach-to-coach segment has sometimes an appearance of a closed-loop dynamic that could possibly make it more fragile than other coaching as a whole. And most of your listeners live in a completely different segment of the industry. It still might be worth speaking to, but you’re right, what I said was very inflated and has no basis in reality.”

Okay. I want you to really take that in because if that is at all connected to whether either the person who asked this or anyone that is listening. If this is a thought you have ever had, you might even need to rewind and listen to what I said because I think this is a very important thing to think about. And the more you’re telling yourself that coaches only sell to other coaches and you’re not looking for proof that is different… I mean, I’m not kidding. I could give you so much other proof. But if you’re not doing that, you’re going to keep believing it. And then if you are, for example, interacting with at least my version of Claude, he is only going to reinforce that claim.

So I just want you to be very careful. I want you to get good at—this is a side tangent about AI—but when you are interacting with AI, I want you to get very good at hearing claims like this and questioning them. Sometimes they might be real. But I want you to ask, where did you get this information? What are the actual facts here? Tell me where you got them. You just want to be sure that you know exactly what’s happening before you just move forward with the information that it gives you, assuming it’s just true.

Okay, let’s move on. So, when it comes to the business of coaching and do I believe that it can withstand the test of time, my answer to that is also, yes. I do think that it may evolve. I do think changes could happen. There certainly are things that have always been true. This is not a new thing. But there are things that could happen like there could be a body that decides to regulate it in a way that it’s not right now. There could be new laws to pass. There could be anything like that could change at any moment.

I do actually think that would be quite tricky. I think there are even, this is already happening in some ways, and there are organizations trying to do this in some ways. But because the term coach and coaching encompasses such a large group of different things, I actually think it would be quite hard to regulate all of it. So don’t let that be a fear, but also just know going in.

Of course, something that’s brand new—I’m going to say brand new as in coaching as a business in the form that it’s currently being sold is very new compared to all of the history of time. So something that’s brand new, of course, there could be changes, regulations, rules, whatever, put in place at some point. That’s just something that you should know. Does that mean coaching will be irrelevant? No, but it could affect your coaching or your coaching business.

Now, again, keep in mind, the way the term coaching is used right now, it encompasses so many things. So I think if a body were to come in and say, okay, here’s how we’re going to regulate this, it wouldn’t actually affect the entire industry. It would probably affect parts of it at a time or something like that.

What I will also say is that this is a question that’s been asked since I became a coach. So sometimes I hear this question, do I think it will remain relevant or will it stick around? And often it’s framed as, because of what’s going on right now, which can mean many different things. But I promise you, I have heard that question since I became a coach. So maybe the circumstances have changed. There’s different reasons someone might ask that question, but it has always been there. So if it feels new, just know it’s new for you. Maybe something has come into your consciousness or your awareness that’s prompted the question for you, but it’s not actually a new question. It just changes.

I do think one reason that happens, besides just coaching in general being a young industry, young business industry, one reason that happens is it’s a very easy place for our brains to go when things feel hard. Right? So when my business feels hard or when things aren’t going the way I want them to go, I’m not going to lie. This is a thought that pops up for me on occasion. Is this even possible? Are people still even doing this? Do people even want coaching? And then I remind myself of all of the things that I’ve talked about in this episode.

So, just notice that. If this often comes up for you when things feel very hard or when something in particular has come into your awareness and it just keeps popping up, this broad, general question can be a really easy place to go because it’s impossible to answer, so it’s easy for your brain to just go there. I can’t give you a definitive yes or no. I’m giving you the best answer to the best of my ability right now. And I’m telling you all the reasons why I think it’s super relevant and always will be in some form. But I could probably do the opposite too. I could tell you ways that things that will evolve.

And I do think it will evolve. I think it’s already evolving. Right? Even though some of the examples I gave about AI earlier, I do think AI is changing coaching a bit. Mostly for the good or indifferent, but I think it’s our job as coaches and business owners to be aware of it. I actually think it’s part of what we signed up for, which I know sometimes is hard to hear. But no matter what business you’re running, this question would come into play. You have to pay attention to the market, you have to pay attention to what’s going on.

I’ll give you a really silly example. But let’s say you sell T-shirts and you’re known for your most popular design is a V-neck T-shirt. It’s flying off the shelves. Everybody wants it. And then fashion changes, as it does, and the deep Vs that you were selling that used to be so popular, nobody wants them because now crew neck is where it’s at. That is what everybody’s wearing. That’s what the kids are wearing. That is what whoever decides these things, the fashion gods, this is what they’ve decided. This is a thing that could happen in that business too, that simple business model. You would have to ask, is this still relevant? Have I evolved with the market? Am I paying attention?

So when you sign up to be a business owner, I don’t care what kind of business it is, this is actually something that you’ll want to pay attention to in some way. Not in a way that you’re using it against yourself. In that T-shirt example, I’m not suggesting every day that you are worried about it or that you’re obsessing over it. But you might ask yourself, how would I know what’s coming? How would I know what the newest fashion trends are, and how can I make sure I’m aware in a way that feels very useful for me?

And you can also use your own business to gather information. So if something that you’ve been doing for a very long time stops working, if it was working and now it’s not working, that’s also information. Just like if you’re selling V-neck shirts and all of a sudden nobody’s buying them, it might be, oh, wait, what’s going on? Why is this happening? There could be many reasons, but one of the reasons could be the fashion industry is changing. Everybody’s wearing crew neck. I should look into it.

The same with coaching. There could be many reasons that something that was working is no longer working. It could be your link is broken and you don’t know it or whatever. But it could also be, oh, there’s been a shift from this thing to this thing. Am I keeping up?

And I don’t say that to scare you. To me, it’s a fun part of running a business. It’s part of always being on your toes and always having to evolve and learn as we go. If that’s not something you like or that sounds fun to you, then maybe question that because running a business does just require some form of that. Again, I’m not saying be on high alert, always thinking about that, but just being in the know. What is happening in the industry?

I have had clients come to me with this drama before, but when I turn it around and ask them, wait, what’s going on in your business? Have you noticed a shift? Have you made less money? Have you, is your profit going up or down? Tell me about your business. Often, we see that it is coming from actually outside of their business. Just things they’re hearing that is creating the drama, not their actual business. Or at least that’s where it started. And then if they are in that too long without bringing it to me, then of course it does start to affect their business. Right? You can’t be thinking every day, no one’s going to pay for coaching ever again while you’re trying to sell coaching. Those two things just don’t align for very obvious reasons.

And sometimes, if you’re using maybe a group of coaches around you to gather the evidence, so in your mind, you’re like, no, but I see it. I see the evidence happening around me. Lovingly, I would also question that. Go see if you can find the other side of the story. Go see if you can find the opposite that is true. Because what I think happens, being in this business for 10 years, what I see happening is some people are just really good at some things and some people are good at other things. And so it’s what is the market favoring? And that can affect their businesses.

I have worked with clients before who are, you know, I set up this thing years ago. It’s a course. It sells itself automatically. I’ve been running the same ads for however many years. And they’re very upset that it’s not working anymore. And they have no interest in changing it. And I find that fascinating. That’s, okay, well, I do think that you have to evolve as you go. So, we can look at, is the link broken? Is it the ad? Is it the whatever? But I do think in a ever-evolving industry and world that is something that could come into play.

So do I think a set it and forget it coaching business will continue to be relevant forever? No, I don’t. And even less so than it would have been years ago. In the beginning years of online business, it was there’s one general format. Here’s what you do. If you follow this format, it will most likely work as long as you have a great product and you know what you’re doing. And now there’s just more voices, and there’s so many more options of how to do the thing. There’s not one formula. There’s 500 formulas.

The other thing you can consider is where are you—if you’re consuming this, if you’re hearing this and you’re hearing things like, well, we’re just in a trust recession and you’re hearing a doom-and-gloom message, not in a useful way. I’ve even said before, if we are in a trust recession, here’s what’s going to fix that. Being open, being transparent, being honest with your people, letting them see behind the scenes, making those more one-on-one connections, helping them feel seen. Those are all things. If it’s true that we’re in a trust recession, those are all things that are going to help.

But if what you’re hearing is we’re in a trust recession, just as an example, and I’m so sorry, there’s nothing you can do to fix it except buy my secret thing here, you might just want to question that. Because, especially on social media, especially with the way social media works now, it can sometimes be easier to get people’s attention with a message that creates a lot of fear because of the algorithm. Now, not always, this is not a black-and-white truth, but it is just a thing that you see. Oftentimes you’ll even hear those messages, but then if you are actually inside of that person’s program or whatever it is they’re selling, they’re not even saying that in there. They’re saying something very different. They’re giving it all the context. But unfortunately, in the world we live in right now, context doesn’t sell the best.

So, if you have a very scary message that gets people’s attention—and there are other ways too—but I just need you to know that this is happening. If you’re seeing a very scary message, just consider that could be part of the reason that it seems this is just true and you’re seeing it everywhere.

So I guess I would wrap this up with, if this was my question—this is to the person that submitted this question. I wish I knew who you were—but to all of you that are listening that are like, oh my goodness, thank God somebody asked this. Here’s what I would do with this. If I had this question, if I was worried about the industry not being relevant or something major changing, I wouldn’t spend time worrying. My next thought would be, okay, well, if that’s true, what would I do? What would I do about it? What would be my next move?

There are so many options. I know so many coaches who have used all of their coaching knowledge and have taken that, bundled it up, and realized, oh, actually what I love to do is this thing and it’s a slight pivot. You’ve even heard me talk to some of these people on my podcast where it’s a slight pivot because they know that’s the direction they want to go.

So if this is you and if this is something you worry about, and you can’t get it out of your mind, you can’t get it to go away, even considering all the things I shared with you today, just know that business always has to adjust to a changing market. That’s never a sign that an industry is dying. It just means it’s evolving, and that will always be true. So the more you can get on board with just asking yourself, okay, instead of resisting it, if you really can’t get on the other side of it, just spend a minute asking yourself, okay, if that’s true, I’m in charge of creating my life. I’m in charge of creating my reality. What is my next move?

You don’t ever want to be feel you’re being held hostage by this fear or by the loudest voice that you’re hearing that’s saying these things or by thinking you have no other options. If your options are endless and everything is in front of you, what would you do if it were true? Answering that might give you so much freedom to keep going and keep doing what you’re doing while also knowing that no matter what, you’ll be okay. And you know what you’ll do next.

And my other advice to you would be if this feels a message you’re constantly being surrounded by and it just feels true when you look around, maybe consider surrounding yourself with different messages because I promise you, this is not true in all of the coaching spaces or in any of the coaching spaces I’m in. I refuse to be in a space that has this message because what good would that do me? Right?

If right now, if my intention is to have this coaching business and to keep building it, I would never put myself in a situation where I’m hearing or thinking that the industry is dying or I can’t withstand the test of time. Going back to what I said at the very beginning, coaching, in all of its amazing forms, will always be relevant. But business will always evolve.

So if those two things are true, then you can just ask yourself, what does that mean for you and for your business? What do you want it to mean right now?

All right, friends. I hope that this was useful. Thank you so much. If you’re the person that sent in this question, I really appreciate you. It really got me thinking. It was a great question. Again, you have some time to submit your questions. If you would like to ask one, you can even submit it in a voice form if you would love to hear your voice on the podcast. And we will put that link in the show notes with the date that I need them by. And I will see you back here next week. Goodbye.

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.