Ep #184: Selling Coaching to Creatives with Jill Allison Bryan

Welcome to the Make Money as a Life Coach® podcast where sales expert and master coach Stacey Boehman teaches you how to make your first 2K, 20K, and 200K using her proven formula.

Hey coaches, so today I have a very special podcast episode planned for you. I have been following along in several of my coaches journeys in the 200K Mastermind and the Two Million Dollar Group. And some of them have very inspiring work that they have done on themselves, gaps that they have bridged to get to where they are, things that they have worked through that I think are highly valuable for you to hear from them. So, they didn’t reach out and say, “Hey, I want to teach on the podcast.”

They weren’t doing this work for anything other than themselves. But I wanted to feature their work because I felt like it would be so useful for you. So, over the next couple of months, I am going to play some of these episodes that they have recorded for you. You’re going to get to hear them throughout the next three or four months here and there. And I encourage you to take these episodes as seriously as you would take hearing from me. They are so inspiring, I’ve been following their work in my pages and it’s just in the Facebook pages and our calls.

And it’s really stood out for me so it will be extraordinarily valuable for you. It’s one of my favorite things about masterminds is you get to learn from other people’s ideas and their work. It might not be your work at the time, but it will be your work either in the future or it is your work, and you didn’t know it was your work. They’re going to present ideas to you and how they have worked through things in a way that will be so applicable to you and your own growth in your journey.

So, I hope you enjoy this as much as I have enjoyed hearing these and watching their journey, and learning from them myself in my own self-coaching, learning how they show up in the world has been deeply impactful for me. So, without further ado please enjoy one of our guest podcasts from one of my star 200K Mastermind or Two Million Dollar Group students.

                                                                                                                  

Hello. My name is Jill Allison Bryan. I am a master creativity coach and the founder of Creative Oasis Coaching. And I’m delighted to be Stacey’s guest podcast hoster for today while she’s spending some time with her precious newborn baby and Neil. And I am so happy for all of them. So, I found Stacey online and joined 2K for 2K first in March of 2019. I went on to join my first round of 200K Mastermind in August of 2020. And I am currently in my fourth round of 200K and will be starting my fifth round this August.

So, though I have been a certified master creativity coach since 2009, I have made more money by far in the past three years since I began working with Stacey than in the entire previous decade from 2009 to 2019. And I’m going to share a bit more in detail about that later but for now suffice it to say that the 2K for 2K process and the 200K processes work even for coaches working within the creative realms. So that’s what I’m here to talk with you about today.

And I’m going to first address three myths about selling creativity coaching. And secondly, I’m going to share the cornerstone of my own coaching method that I use to help multi passionate creatives move out of their overwhelm and into inspired action so that they can turn their creative dreams that are in their head into reality out in the world. So, this brings us to myth number one.

In order to be creative or hire a creative coach you must know how to paint or draw. One of my missions in life and just in general, certainly as a creativity coach but just in life is to broaden the definition of what it means to be a creative human and to live a creative life. So many people immediately want to pigeonhole creativity as the ability to – or desire to make art. And as a creativity coach I have helped hundreds and hundreds of people to experience more joy, success and meaning in their lives via creativity in a multitude of ways and not all of them paint or draw.

So, for example, whether you want to open a bakery, or organize a community garden, or design and sell jewelry, or record your CD. Build a photography business, or write a book, or start a podcast, or create compelling social media to boost your business that may not be a typically creative business. All of those things fall under the umbrella of creative endeavors, and they would all benefit from working with me as your creativity coach. Okay, that brings me to myth number two.

Only people who want to make money with their creative endeavors will pay to work with a coach. I’m living proof on both ends of that, that this is just not the case. The people who hire me usually fall into two categories. This is averaging about 50% hire me to help them start or grow a creative business of some kind. Or to use creativity via maybe writing a book, or starting a podcast, or creating compelling social media to grow their business.

The other 50% hire me to help them experience more personal creative joy and satisfaction in their lives. And I want to take a little bit more time just to differentiate these two and share specific examples to help you see the difference and also why it’s so valuable to both groups. So first the people who hire me as their creativity coach, who want help starting, or growing a business, or a project fall into two categories as well, the creative professionals.

So, for example, I do work with artists, muralists, mosaicists, jewelry designers, photographers, an improv instructor, other creativity coaches. I work with somebody who comes into your home and helps you redesign your spaces using what you already have, to name a few types of creative professionals I work with.

And then the other people may have businesses or professions that aren’t necessarily seen as stereotypically creative businesses such as a yoga instructor, a diversity and inclusion facilitator, an ordained minister, a sound healer, an event planner. And other types of coaches who want to work with me to use their creativity again to either create compelling content, make some fun reels for Instagram, start a podcast, write a book, or create an event. So that’s what the 50% who are really wanting to make money with their creativity hire me to help them do.

Then the other, around 50% of my clients hire me really to help them make their personal creative dreams come true. These dreams are often not tied in any way to creating income. They may be passion projects. I’ll give you some examples.

Starting a community garden, organizing their creative space in their room, and finally giving themselves permission to actually open the creative materials that they’ve been buying for all these years. And use them to have for the fun of it, creativity time, such as crafting, scrapbooking, collaging, writing poetry, or learning to play an instrument, or picking up an instrument that they played when they were a kid, and they haven’t touched in ages.

I also help people strengthen their creative habits who are experiencing or about to experience a big change in their life. So, their children are about to go to school, or they’re about to be empty nesters, or they are getting ready to retire. So, once they do retire or once they do find themselves with more time, they’re going to already have good creative habits in place so they can enjoy that time with the creative experiences that have called to them for months, years, sometimes decades.

So, for example, they may have always wanted to be in a band, or write a memoir, or travel, or take photographs, or create a big family history project, start a non-profit organization. The thing to remember is for these people, having someone who can help them finally get out of their own way and move past the blocks that have held them back, procrastination, imperfectionism, the inner critic voice and overwhelm.

So that they can finally say yes to themselves and the creative endeavors that they’ve put on the backburner again usually for years, decades even sometimes. Those experiences that will bring them so much joy, and purpose, and meaning to their lives, that’s priceless. And in fact, the meta story of this is that was me when I first hired my very first coach, I wasn’t even sure exactly what I wanted to do. I had a lot of creative ideas. I only knew that I felt frustrated and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the creative possibilities that were in my mind.

At that time, I was working on writing a book, I had created a pilot for a TV show, I was doing a little voiceover work, and jingle singing, and acting here and there. And I was also feeling a pull to make music again which I had done in college and after college. So, when my daughter started kindergarten I suddenly found myself with more time for creative pursuits, but I still wasn’t able to focus and follow through with them in a way that felt satisfying.

So, when I learned that there was such a thing as life coaching and that even more specifically there was a creative coaching available, I hired my coach as soon as I found her. And that changed my life forever, it’s not too dramatic to say that. I was finally able to narrow in my focus, I began with music, and I began just for my own pleasure, sitting down at the piano and playing again a few times a week for a couple of minutes which reacquainted me with my love for making music.

And then I began performing around town again. I was reacquainted with my love of performing. And that grew into finally writing songs and recording my solo CD Dancing in Limbo which is something that I had wanted to do for years. I had performed on many other people’s CDs, but to have my own solo CD was a dream of mine.

So, the joy and personal fulfilment that I felt from that alone, just that, finally answering my creative calling in me to make music and to share my music, that was worth every penny I paid for the coaching at the time. Even though making my living with music was never even a consideration.

Now, because the creative process is non-linear, meaning it doesn’t work like a mathematical equation or a scientific formula, there’s always this beautiful mystery surrounding it. And when you’re open to it you never know where it might lead, but you have to show up in the first place to see where it might lead. And for me it led to my coaching career. Because I had personally experienced so much happiness and satisfaction through getting back to my music, which of course had a positive ripple effect throughout my life and all of my relationships, and everywhere I showed up.

Because I was showing up as my most fulfilled and authentic version of me, and that was only possible because I had chosen to work with a creativity coach. And I decided then to earn my certification and become a coach myself. So, by the time I was ready to plan a CD release for my CD Dancing in Limbo I had all of the coaching and tools that I needed at the time to create something much more ambitious than I ever would have on my own.

I was able to concept and host my CD release as a fundraiser. It was an event that took months to plan and execute. I enlisted over a dozen sponsors. I invited 13 female artists to contribute works of art inspired by the 13 songs on my CD. I created videos for each of those artists to share on a website that I created. I shared that with local media. And ultimately hosted an event called Infinite Possibilities: A Night of Music, Art, and Women Helping Women. And we had a silent art auction with all of the paintings.

We had my performance of all the songs on the CD with a full band. We had a raffle and if I do say so myself, a hell of a party. And we ended up raising a lot of awareness and over $10,000 after expenses for Women for Women International. So, the reason I love to share that story is I feel like it’s almost my thesis as a creativity coach. I had never done anything remotely close to that in my life. And I didn’t come from a family of fundraisers, or people that – my mother is so shy.

I mean we did nothing like that, so it was all new to me. And the reason that I love sharing this part of my story as a creativity coach was because it’s such a beautiful example of how the non-linear path of creativity and the value and importance of following even your personal creative dreams can lead you to places you might not expect. I didn’t start working with a creativity coach because I wanted to host a massive fundraiser. Again, that wasn’t even on my radar as a possibility.

But because I gave myself permission to get clear on and go after my own personal creative dreams, the byproduct of that was the infinite possibilities fundraiser. And interestingly, the success that I created with that really lit the fire within me to shift my focus to my Creative Oasis Coaching business. And to really start helping other creative people and other people who had creative dreams to turn them into reality because I now knew firsthand how extremely amazing that felt, joyful and satisfying that could be.

And I just wanted nothing more than to help other people have that same experience. And that brings me to myth number three.

Creative people and people who need help bringing their creative dreams to life won’t pay for coaching. Again, I am living proof that this is not true. Not only did I very happily pay for the creativity coaching I received, that helped me to get back to music, and record my CD, and host that fundraising event. I have personally created income every year since earning my coaching certification. And looping back to the non-linear nature of creativity and therefore life because I actually, I believe that our life is our canvas. And how we live it is our greatest creative endeavor.

Coaching has helped me to make massive transformation once again in my life more recently. So, after a pretty messy divorce that had a lot of legal and financial upheaval and fallout. I had a choice to make about three years ago. I could either transform what had been my part-time coaching business for over a decade, into a full-time career. Or I could sell my home which I didn’t want to do. And I just needed to figure out how the hell to provide for myself and my daughter.

So, since I had been out of the full-time workforce other than my part-time coaching for over 20 years, this felt daunting to say the least. And in my heart I really knew what I was meant to do. I was meant to continue to help people bring their creative dreams to life. But I had no idea how to grow Creative Oasis Coaching to the level I needed and wanted to. So fast forward to today. I have grown my business into a successful mortgage paying career, did not have to sell the house. I remained true to my heart’s desire.

The life that I live is full, and rich, and filled with art, and music, and supporting people, and causes that I love. I enjoy more beautiful and creative friendships and connections than I ever have before. And I get to make my living helping creative humans or humans with creative projects, turn those projects and their dreams and ideas into reality. And there were plenty of times over the past three years that I wanted to give up but luckily we know who I was working with and that didn’t happen.

So, what I did do, and this is for anybody who’s just maybe starting 2K or thinking about joining 2K. I committed to figuring it out. And Stacey has created such great containers for us to have a safe place to commit. I practice believing in myself my dream 100%. Many days it was only 5% and I would build on that. I utilized the resources of 2K for 2K and then 200K when I was ready for that. I got clear around my vision which included letting a lot of stuff go.

I think I got coached by Stacey in 2K and she’s like, “Just one-on-one, let go of the retreats and all these other things that you’re doing”, which was painful at the time. But of course, I’m happy I followed her advice now. I had a plan to make it happen. I got the coaching and the support that I needed to stick with it even when I hit bumps in the road. And believe me, there have been plenty of scary bumps in the road, that’s life. So, it feels so gratifying to me right now.

Three years since I first started working with Stacey that I get to help my clients in the same way. I get to help them stay the course with their eyes firmly fixed on their creative dream no matter how audacious until that dream becomes their new normal. And just in the last three years since I first started working with Stacey to grow Creative Oasis Coaching again from a part-time endeavor for a decade into my full-time career. I have created about $375,000 in revenue.

And I’ve had the opportunity to help more amazing people from all around the world than I ever have before to help turn their creative dreams into their reality. So, what are the people who hire me as their creativity coach have in common then if some of them hire me because they do want to make money with their creative endeavors and some of them, it’s a more of a personal passion project?

Well, usually they have never ending to-do lists and often because they tend to be multi passionate lifelong learners, they have a multitude of creative projects, and passions, and possibilities, kind of constantly whirling around in their brain. You can’t see me, I’m whirling my finger around over my head. I call it the idea tornado. And when this is the case there are a few things that happen or can happen. One, you end up only taking action once in a blue moon when you happen to feel inspired, you wake up and you feel, yes, today is the day I’m going to create.

For me it used to be, I would only write songs if I was feeling particularly moody and hopefully it would be raining outside, and I could light a candle and then I would sit down and write. And I had all the time in the world, so that wasn’t happening very often. So, when you’re waiting for inspiration to strike rather than having a plan this means that sometimes maybe you’re only working on your podcast or your book once a month or once a quarter rather than on a consistent basis.

Number two, all of those ideas whirling around in your brain, and the idea tornado can lead to overwhelm. And that overwhelm is fueled by thoughts like I don’t know where to begin, I have too much to do. I don’t have enough time to do all of this. I don’t know what to do next to name a few. Those kind of overwhelm thoughts can often just stop you in your tracks. You’ll just stop before you even get started. So, you stay stuck and take no action at all and that’s when you end up staying in the dreaming phase without a way to move into the doing phase.

And then number three, you just keep adding new ideas to your never ending to-do list. You have this long list, and you cross two things off and add three more on. So, you never feel the satisfaction of completion energy and are left in this constant state of not enough-ness that feels like you’re on a hamster wheel. So, after all of my personal experiences and the coaching that I have learned and the coaching that I have used, I created a process that I now use personally and teach my clients to use to solve for all of these issues.

I made it easy to use. I made it repeatable and empowering. And it’s designed to help you, these are the things I think that you need to do in order to turn your creative dreams into reality. That is give yourself permission first off, to prioritize your creative dreams. Have a way to keep your creative dreams in front of you, front, and center of your thoughts rather than continuing to let it slip to the bottom of your to-do list which happens with so many of us. Have a simple process to help you work with all of the possibilities floating around in your brain.

Choose your next step and then make that step as doable, and easy, and enjoyable as possible. And then practice intentionally choosing ahead of time how you want to think and feel as you take that next step. And then this is such an important part that people fly by. Purposefully look for, and acknowledge, and celebrate the steps that you take, what’s going well and what’s working. The result is you’re going to feel so much more clarity around your creative endeavors because you always know where you’re headed, you know how to get there.

And most importantly, you know how to get there with as much ease, and joy, and meaning as possible. Your mind feels more calm, you’re going to have greater focus and follow through because you always know that next step to take. And because it feels doable, and meaningful, and fun you also have this regular sense of, and you’re celebrating it, you have this regular sense of, and when I say regular, I mean a consistent sense of completion and fulfillment rather than frustration that comes with that never ending to- do list and the idea tornado.

It’s like a cycle that I’ve created. So, this means you get to experience that self of purposeful meaning on purpose. And this step by step method that I again use myself and I walk my clients through, I call it the magic action plan. It serves as a literal map M-A-P to keep us on track and moving in the direction of our creative dreams, making them happen and most importantly really enjoying the journey along the way otherwise we really can get stuck in that if, when kind of mindset, like I will be happy when I have signed three clients. I will be happy when I’ve completed three paintings.

And then the bar always moves. So, this gives us a way to be in constant completion and celebration and our brain really loves that. We’re telling ourselves good job a lot. For my clients that means they are producing and experiencing more soul satisfying and income producing results than ever before. They’re landing high end art commissions, writing their books and memoirs, screenplays, they’re starting podcasts. They’re using their creativity to have fun creating viral reels on Instagram which are boosting their revenue and client numbers.

They’re creating and teaching their own workshops and just so much more. Again, and I don’t have the exact percentage here but well over 50%, feels like closer to 75%, between 50 and 75% of my clients re-sign with me, if not once, multiple times even when my prices increase. Because they’re getting what they came for and they enjoy the process. So once again that myth of people not paying for creativity coaching is it’s just a myth. So that’s it. That’s what I have for you today.

I want to once again thank Stacey so much and say congratulations to her and Neil. Thank you for inviting me to be the guest host on your podcast. You can connect with me to learn more about how you can work with me as a creativity coach and to help you bring your creative projects and dreams out of your head and into the world, and have fun while you do it by visiting my website. You can book a Creative Oasis Clarity call at creativeoasiscoaching.com\creative-oasis-clarity-call.

And you can also follow me, or we can connect on Instagram. On Instagram I’m Creative Oasis Coach. And on Facebook I’m Creative Oasis Coaching. And I just want to leave you with my philosophy and that is this. When you give yourself permission to finally bring your creative dreams to life you will be a happier, healthier, more fulfilled human and the world will be a better place. Alright, that’s it, thanks so much for listening. Have a great day. Bye.

                                                                                                                  

Hey, if you’re ready to make money as a life coach, I want to invite you to join my 2k for 2k program where you’re going to make your first $2,000 the hardest part using my simple 5 step formula for getting consults and closing new clients. Just head over to www.staceyboehman.com/2kfor2k. We’ll see you inside.