Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Lee Chaix McDonough, Founder of Coach with Clarity, located in New Bern, NC, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
At Coach with Clarity, we show women in helping professions how to blend their existing training, experience, and wisdom with a proven coaching methodology to expand their impact, influence, and income by doing what they love.
To be a Coach with Clarity means placing a high value on intuition, innovation, integrity, and inclusion, not just in word but in deed. Through our coach training programs, we support our clients in deepening their mastery as a powerful coach while growing and scaling a prosperous, profitable coaching business.
Tell us about yourself
I started Coach with Clarity after over 15 years as a licensed clinical social worker and public health professional. While I loved supporting my clients as their mental health providers, I hit a point in my personal and professional journey where I wanted to explore other ways of serving others.
It was also about this time when my husband got out of the Air Force, entered private practice as a periodontist, and bought a dental practice. We quickly discovered the unique stress that comes from working in your business as a clinician and your business as a practice owner. I remember thinking, "If only there were a therapist just for businesses!" I started researching what was available for business owners, and that's when I found coaching. I strongly felt that becoming a coach was the next step in my journey, so I completed a coach training program and started my coaching practice.
Interestingly, the more people I coached, the more they asked me, "Tell me about this coaching thing! Can you help me become a coach too?" That's when I decided to pivot into training & education for coaches. Now, Coach with Clarity is accredited by the International Coaching Federation for initial certification and continuing education.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I'm very proud of the Coach with Clarity podcast, my weekly show about the business and practice of coaching. We've published one week since March 2020, and every episode focuses on helping coaches take action to improve their coaching skills and business savvy. It's been a real labor of love, but I'm incredibly proud of that body of work.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Being a business owner - especially an online business owner - can be a very lonely experience, especially when you're first starting and/or a company of one. That loneliness can lead to a lot of challenging thoughts, like "Who am I to do this? Do I really have what it takes? Am I a total fraud? Who will actually pay me to help them?" Those lovely limiting beliefs can take their toll, which is why mindset work and partnering with a coach is so important.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Start by getting super clear on the "Big 4" - identity, audience, approach, and offer.
• Identity: What matters most to you? Why are you the perfect person to do this work?
• Audience: Who do you want to serve? What do they want? What do they need?
• Approach: How do you serve your audience? What theories and frameworks support your work?
• Offer: What do you specifically offer your audience? How does that meet both their wants AND their needs? - When it comes to your marketing strategy, start simple. Choose two marketing tactics - one designed for your audience/ideal client and one aimed at your referral sources. Test those two tactics, ideally for at least 60-90 days, and let the data inform whether you keep, modify, or delete the tactic from your strategy.
- Find your community. As I mentioned before, entrepreneurship can be a lonely place. Connect with other business owners, join a mastermind, be a part of a virtual meetup, and develop relationships with other entrepreneurs.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.coachwithclarity.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachwithclarity/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachwithclarity/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lcmcdonough/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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