Episode 40. Business Tips & Lessons from My Clients

Today, I’m turning the spotlight onto a few of my clients! 

I asked my clients to share their responses to several questions because I was curious to hear from them and I think some of you may be able to relate to their journeys and would benefit from hearing their insights and tips.

I was able to collect responses from eight of my clients, some of whom are one-on-one clients and others are inside my group program. 

Each of them are at a different phase of their business journey, career,  and life, so this is going to be super cool to be able to hear from them.

In This Episode:

Questions I asked my clients to share their thoughts on

The questions I asked them to share their thoughts on are:

  • What has been your biggest win(s) so far as an entrepreneur? 
  • What was the most challenging part about building a business? What helped you navigate through this?
  • What is one of your favorite mindset shifts or a thought that has been helpful in pushing you forward? 
  • What do you enjoy most about building a business? 
  • Why do you do what you do? What is your why? (Both for yourself, your future, and for the impact you want to make.)

For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to share their responses in alphabetical order according to their first names.

Brittany – web designer and instructor for academics and STEM professionals

First, we have Brittany who is a web designer and instructor for academics and STEM professionals. 

Specifically, Brittany helps academics create websites that highlight their projects in six weeks or less so that they can ultimately stand out online and create extra income both in their academic careers or side hustles. 

One of Brittany’s biggest wins was something that actually happened recently. 

She shared that there was one week where she signed on four new clients, and the coolest part is this happened over email. 

And she signed two of these new clients while on vacation! This is pretty cool. 

Since, Brittany has created multiple four-figure months in her business, even while working a 9-5. 

She’s also going to be transitioning into a full time PhD student this upcoming fall.

Beyond the clients and making an additional stream of income, one of her biggest wins has been her continuous commitment to building this business.

She mentioned the concept of playing not to lose. 

To her, the fact that she’s still here after nearly two years since having the idea of starting her business and not giving up on this idea, is a win. 

AMAZING. Seriously, this is so admirable, because so often, we see entrepreneurs quit. 

Let’s be honest, it’s really easy to quit your business when you aren’t seeing the results you want. 

I personally really resonate with Brittany’s win because as someone who did quit my business for 6-7 months in the beginning, I now have mad respect for entrepreneurs who keep pushing forward.

When it comes to challenges, Brittany shared that there were two periods during her business journey where she didn’t sign on any new clients. 

These months caused her to doubt whether she should keep going and whether to continue putting time into building the business. 

Brittany also mentioned that during these periods, she was especially prone to getting distracted by new strategies and what others were doing. 

She felt tempted to try to do more and more instead of focusing her energy on a few key things, such as one signature offer or one specific platform. 

Brittany said that she had to constantly remind herself that what she was doing was enough. 

Many of us can relate to this situation. 

I think Brittany brought up an excellent point about the importance of avoiding shiny object syndrome or comparisons, especially during moments where you’re starting to doubt yourself. 

Instead, this is the time to double down on what’s already working and improve on the basics so that they work really, really well. 

Because if nothing is super solid yet, and you’re dabbling in too many things, it’s more difficult to truly master one or two key strategies and start seeing results.

One of Brittany’s favorite beliefs is “Clients are within my sphere of influence,” which helps her adopt a mindset of wanting to help people. 

She also recognizes that potential clients may come from unexpected places, and she may not even know them yet. 

For instance, many of her clients find her on Twitter, but they don’t follow each other until after becoming clients.

I resonate with this sentiment as well. 

It’s always a pleasant surprise when people apply to my programs because I never expect it. 

Sometimes they have been following me for a while, while other times, they don’t engage with my Instagram stories or content, and we’ve never spoken before. 

There have even been instances where the person doesn’t follow me at all. It’s fascinating to see where clients can come from.

When asked what she enjoys most about building a business, Brittany mentioned that she has gained confidence in public speaking, working with clients, and connecting with like-minded individuals. 

She also shared a powerful realization: “I can’t believe I’m using a skill that I started on Tumblr to create additional income.”

Let’s now dive into why Brittany does what she does. 

Here’s her response verbatim: “In my niche, I want to encourage more STEM graduate students and professionals to build their self-confidence through their online presence.

I want to help them recognize the value of their ideas and work so that they can earn higher wages and free themselves from an academic system that doesn’t support or value them.

On a personal level, I want to create a future where work is optional for myself and my family.

Having a side business and network will be beneficial in case I need to take care of my parents or kids, and pursue my hobbies such as music and cooking from scratch every day.” 

It’s a powerful mission, and Brittany is doing amazing work in inspiring other graduate and PhD students.

If you want to connect with Brittany, you can find her on Instagram, but she is more active on Twitter. You can also visit her website.

Crystal – dietitian helping Asian women break free from yoyo-dieting

Let’s shift the spotlight to Crystal, a dietitian who helps Asian women break free from yo-yo dieting, heal their relationship with food and their body, build inner confidence, and achieve their health goals in a sustainable and enjoyable way.

Crystal’s biggest wins have been working with amazing clients from all around the world and helping them get life-changing results. 

Another win for her has been guesting on podcasts and sharing her message with the Asian community.

As someone who has worked with Crystal for around two months now, I can attest to this. 

A good proportion of our coaching calls are spent on how she can better serve her clients and help them achieve both inner and outer results. 

She really cares about her clients, and her message resonates with her target audience. 

This is reflected through her podcast interviews, as well as how she has been attracting many of her ideal clients to her programs.

Crystal then shared that her biggest challenge while growing her business was showing up consistently and believing in her message and work, particularly when there were no external validations. 

This could mean no new applications to her program or new direct messages (DMs) inquiring about her program. 

She then shared that what helped her navigate through this was mindset work, intentionally choosing a new thought, as well as getting coached.

 This is a really good point. 

A lot of times, it’s not that your strategies and action items aren’t working, because usually, they are. 

People are silently watching and creeping your content and listening to what you have to say. They’re thinking. 

But, if you start spinning out and showing up in a defeated or discouraged and non-enthusiastic energy, that’ll deter those people who are thinking about working with you. 

That’s where mindset work, thought work, and getting coached really come into play. I love this.

On that note, some of Crystal’s favorite thoughts to think are “Things are working,” “My ideal clients are watching and thinking about working with me,” and also “Giving values (to my community) & delivering the best service (to my current clients) matter more than vanity metrics.”

Yes, yes, and yes. 

One thing I really believe in is that there’s no guarantee how long it’ll take to get your business to where you want it to be. 

No business coach can promise you that. 

And that’s why it’s so important to have a clear reason for why you’re doing this. 

It’s so important to continue showing up even when there’s no “external validation.” 

Keep showing up simply because you want to show up and share your ideas, message, story, and work. 

Simply because you want to give value. 

And when you come at it from that energy, people can tell, and over time, that’ll help others recognize your dedication to helping people.

Here’s what Crystal loves most about being an entrepreneur: she said that “Being my own boss, working under my own terms, and only doing what feels aligned to my values & beliefs” is what makes this journey so much fun.

The reason why Crystal is building this business is first, she wants to have options, be able to spend more time with family, and have location freedom. 

She also wants to enjoy her work (so that it doesn’t feel like a job!) and feel fulfilled from her work. 

In terms of the impact she wants to make, it’s important to Crystal that she is able to help Asian women reject diet culture, build a healthy relationship with food and self, so they can live their life fully, positively impact people around them, and raise confident children with positive body image & healthy relationships with food. 

Seriously, Crystal has shared with me time and time again how she wants to be different from all the other dietitian and nutrition coaches online. 

She is really dedicated to transforming the lives of her clients. It’s amazing. 

You can find Crystal on Instagram.

Jennifer – coach helping introverts and multi-passionate individuals leverage their strengths to build thriving businesses in an extroverted world

Let’s shift focus to Jennifer, a Coach for Creatives who helps introverts and multi-passionate individuals build thriving businesses in an extroverted world. 

She believes that the world we live in wasn’t designed for introverts and creatives, and her goal is to redesign it.

According to Jennifer, the biggest win is simply starting and taking at least one step each day to continue, regardless of how big or small or visible to others it is.

She mentioned something quite profound. She said, “I’m the only one who will be a constant on this journey, and as long as I think I am doing enough, I’m doing enough. It’s a win that builds up and gets bigger over time.”

One very interesting thing that Jennifer wrote was “I honestly don’t have my business basics down yet, but I don’t have to have those at 100% to coach. My ability to coach: hold space, be present, provide perspective, and help my clients is separate from my business basics. 

This mindset shift is also a big win for me. I believe it’s this shift that I attracted and signed my first client before I even announced my offer or created a sales page. Mind-blowing, right?!” 

And then she also added “By the way, “mind-blowing” was not in my vocabulary before, but it is now because there’s no other way to describe all that I’ve created and done as an entrepreneur.” 

And I agree with this as well! 

Building a business on social media is mind blowing!

Also, I think one thing that’s often hard for us to grasp is believing that we do have value to offer. 

Each of us really do have something that can help someone else, and that’s something that we can build our business on, especially at the beginning. 

For Jennifer, the most challenging part about building a business was starting. 

She was scared to put her ideas out into the world

She wrote “I remember sitting in the discovery call with Cheryl and telling her I was unsure what type of service-based business I wanted to pursue, but in my heart I knew it was coaching. I think more than failure, I was and am afraid of success. New levels bring new devils, and I was scared to face the challenges that would come with the next level.” 

She then wrote “At the same time, I couldn’t resist learning more about coaching. I couldn’t resist the knowledge that it’s possible for me. I recognized that I don’t have to do this alone, and working with Cheryl has gotten me way further than I would have on my own. I’m sure I’d still be thinking but not doing anything about it if I didn’t commit to receiving her help. And I say commit to receiving help very intentionally. Signing up for coaching is different than actually receiving it.” 

Once again, building a business is truly mind-blowing. 

It constantly allows us to discover what we are capable of and what’s possible for both ourselves and our clients. 

I’m thrilled that Jennifer brought this up.

Building a business enables you to step out of your comfort zone and create not only income but also the impact that you previously thought was possible but never truly believed in. 

Through your business, you begin to realize that “WOW, this IS possible.”

Jennifer’s favorite thought that keeps her calm, relaxed, and self-compassionate is “I’m just getting started.”

She tends to default to rushing, feeling like everything is urgent and wanting to do all the things to avoid falling behind, so this thought keeps her in check.

Because Jennifer runs her business while also working a traditional 9-5 in which hustle culture is very prominent, it takes a lot of effort to keep herself from buying back into overwork and burnout-inducing productivity.

Making new friends who are also entrepreneurs, side hustlers, coaches, introverts, and creatives is Jennifer’s favorite thing about being an entrepreneur. 

She felt really alone before, and her loved ones supported her in the ways that they knew how, but she felt like she couldn’t expect them to support her in the ways that she needed. 

The new friends she made are the support system she needed.

Jennifer’s overarching life purpose is to use her own light and joy to bring out the light and joy in others. 

Her strengths don’t necessarily correlate directly to causes like curing cancer or fighting climate change, but that’s not where her interests lie. 

However, whether she’s standing in her capacity as a coach, a friend, a daughter, a sister, or a marketer, she’ll be helping others create the impact they’re meant to make in this world.

This is amazing! 

Jennifer is a coach who is truly driven by the impact she wants to create in this world. Since we started working on her business around mid-May, I have never heard Jennifer talk about being in a rush. 

She has not mentioned any urgency about signing clients, nor has she expressed feeling like she’s behind in her business. 

Most of our conversations have centered on the impact she envisions and how she can show up in the present moment to be an example of what’s possible for her ideal clients.

You can connect with Jennifer on Instagram.

Kelly – Career strategist for high achievers

Next up is Kelly, a career strategist for high achievers who typically works with people with advanced degrees looking to take their careers to the next level or start a new job search.

For Kelly, one of her biggest wins is seeing the growing interest in her content and becoming recognized as an authority in her field. 

Through her content on LinkedIn alone, Kelly has been invited to guest on several reputable podcasts and even received job offers from universities, which is really cool.

One of Kelly’s biggest challenges has been breaking out of the employee mindset and feeling like she has to work extremely hard to earn more money. 

However, that’s not necessarily the case. 

Contrary to what we’ve been taught in school or the workplace, constantly overworking does not guarantee success in business. 

There’s always another way of doing things, especially in business where you get to make the decisions.

The biggest mindset shift for Kelly has been changing her perspective on timelines. Initially, she felt pressure to sign clients immediately and to receive feedback and recognition quickly. 

Now, she has fully embraced that it often takes time to achieve these goals.

I am glad that Kelly brought this up because it is a common challenge for coaches and entrepreneurs to worry about where their next client will come from. 

Understandably, they feel the pressure to find clients quickly. 

However, being in a rush to get clients is not the ideal state of mind to be in. 

As we mentioned earlier, there is no guarantee when clients will come.

Therefore, if you are committed to this business, you must also be okay with the possibility of not seeing results within your self-imposed timeline.

Although you can blow your own mind very quickly, there is also the possibility that it takes longer than expected. 

You have to be okay with either scenario and continue showing up, regardless of the outcome. 

Clients will come, but they need to see your commitment to the business first before they are willing to commit to working with you.

Moving on to what Kelly enjoys most.

She shared that she enjoys the fact that she has learned so much. 

For example, Kelly wrote that she has learned how to make her content really good and appealing to her target audience.

Finally, the reason why Kelly does what she does is because she loves helping people find jobs that they really enjoy and love, and look forward to each week. 

Kelly’s personal journey and her career story are actually fascinating.

Learn more about Kelly and all the amazing things she has created throughout her life and career. You can connect with Kelly on LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also visit her website.

Kristina – English Pronunciation Coach

Moving on to Kristina, who is an English Pronunciation Coach. 

She helps people become more confident in their English-speaking abilities so that they can stop missing out on opportunities. 

In terms of her biggest wins as a business owner, Kristina said that the biggest win of all is realizing that she created this business on her own. 

As she continues to care for her business, it will continue to grow. 

Kristina used to wait and see if she got lucky and if entrepreneurship would “happen to her.” But she found herself disappointed when it didn’t. 

This is such a good point. 

Aspiring entrepreneurs have a lot of ideas and do a ton of planning, but they don’t necessarily execute. 

Even if they do, they don’t always give it their all. 

Taking action is a necessary component to seeing the results and outcomes you want.

The most challenging part of building a business for Kristina is staying the course, even when she wanted to quit. 

Even when she felt like no one was paying attention, even when her brain was telling her “this isn’t working,” that was something she had to navigate. 

As we discussed earlier in this post, this is one of the most challenging thoughts that entrepreneurs will have. 

That’s why it’s so important to get coached, do your self-coaching, and be highly aware of the thoughts you’re thinking.

Balancing her priorities was initially difficult for Kristina. 

She wanted to spend time with her friends, family, and enjoy leisure activities without sacrificing her business. 

After working together inside Cheryl’s one-on-one program, Kristina realized that it doesn’t have to be the case. 

She found that the activities she needed to do took hardly any time at all, and now she can enjoy her free time with family and friends.

Kristina also wrote that a lot of people say they can teach you how to make business simple but she was always skeptical and thought that was just marketing talk. 

But after working with Cheryl, she realized that the activities she needed to do took hardly any time at all and she is now able to enjoy her free time with family and friends.

Kristina’s favorite thought is that “this can be easy.”. 

She sees that she doesn’t need all the bells and whistles to work with clients, and once she has worked with one client, she can repeat the same process. 

Another thought she likes is “I’m in this for the long term,” which keeps her grounded and stops her from feeling guilty when she takes breaks.

Kristina brings up an amazing point about how we should build a business that does not feel like a second full time job.  

Kristina’s advice is to keep the business simple and do those things really well. 

Building a business that takes over your entire life is not sustainable in the long term.

Regarding Kristina’s favorite part about building a business, she enjoys meeting new people and hearing their stories. 

She is excited that there are so many different directions she can take her business. 

While this used to overwhelm her, she is now excited that no one is telling her what to do or following certain rules, and she can experiment and see if certain things work.

As for Kristina’s mission and why she does what she does, she said: 

“Honestly, I’ve been ‘unofficially’ helping people with their English for a long time. I volunteered at English speaking clubs, and I even found a client from Craigslist when I was living in Toronto.

I love speaking with people from other countries and learning about their culture, so this niche was just a natural fit. When I lived in Korea for six months and got lost on a bus in the middle of nowhere, it was a huge wake-up call. 

I was in awe of how many people have to learn English as their second language and navigate in a largely English-speaking world. I don’t want people to see their English level as a limitation, and I want to help more people overcome their language barriers so they can live their life in English when they want to. 

Personally, I’ve always wanted to build something that was my own, that would allow me to travel when I want to, get all the vacation days I want, and spend quality time with my loved ones. I’m excited to see where this goes.”

You can find Kristina Instagram and LinkedIn and you can check out her website.

Phung – exercise physiologist and personal trainer who help women, especially women of color, to overcome the limits of their life

Let’s move on to Phung. 

Phung is an exercise physiologist and personal trainer who focuses on helping women, especially women of color, to overcome limitations in their lives and find the most meaningful way to be healthy, as well as rewrite their family medical history.

For Phung, her biggest wins are the results of her clients. 

She has helped several women so far this year to overcome their lack of motivation and start enjoying exercise. 

One of her clients is now going kickboxing twice a day, for three times a week, which is a great improvement. 

Hearing this makes me really happy because working with clients and seeing them succeed is what makes building this business worthwhile.

When it comes to the most challenging part of building a business, Phung said that it would be not seeing immediate results. 

She compared this to starting exercising, where we typically won’t immediately see six-pack abs. 

Building a business takes time, effort, and patience, just like building a six-pack. 

It is a common challenge for most coaches and entrepreneurs, and it takes time to see the impact and results you want. 

Stay committed to your vision and the impact you want to create.

For Phung, she enjoys shifting to genuinely wanting to help people on social media instead of viewing showing up online as a task. 

She also focuses on building genuine connections with people. 

This subtle shift can change the game for how entrepreneurs feel in their business, allowing them to have more fun and feel happier.

Wouldn’t you want to feel happier and to have more fun in your business? 

Instead of focusing on where clients are coming from and feeling like you have to show up in order to sign clients, wouldn’t it be more fun to show up because you want to?

Phung values the freedom of being able to stick to her own values and beliefs when building a business. 

She recognizes that the fitness industry is notorious for using tactics and misinformation to make a quick buck. 

That’s why it’s her mission to stand out as an educated and credible coach who does not perpetuate this misinformation to her audience or clients. 

As someone from an academic background, this approach using evidence-based methods is music to my ears.

Phung’s mission is to teach women how to take control of the narrative of their body, mindset, and unique capability to break the glass ceiling. 

She aims to empower women of color to overcome the limits of their daily schedule and achieve their ideal body, so they can break the generational cycle and get what they rightfully deserve by building intentional systems that anchor them when the storm breaks out.

You can find Phung on Instagram or check out her website.

Quinton – money coach helping people in their 20s become financially literate

Quinton is a money coach helping people in their 20s become financially literate. 

Specifically, he provides coaching to help you conquer financial struggles, build confidence and take control of your personal finances. 

Quinton’s biggest wins so far would include helping clients solve their financial problems and be on route to achieve their goals. 

Another win would be building a lot of connections online and making friends with fellow entrepreneurs. 

He also mentioned some mindset related wins, such as jumping out of his comfort zone and being able to navigate thoughts related to imposter syndrome, worrying about what others think, failures, and so on. 

Furthermore, he also touched on having learned new skills that he wouldn’t have been able to learn in school or from a corporate job. 

The most challenging part for Quinton was mindset. 

Specifically not knowing what to do when he was just starting out was one of the biggest hurdles. 

He then shared that investing in a coach really helped navigate through this. 

This is an interesting point. Because there are literally endless possibilities in terms of things you can do in your business, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. 

That’s why working with a business coach can help you streamline down your to-do list and also personalized a game plan for you that makes sense for your time capacity, personality and goals.

As for his favorite thoughts, he talked about the importance of realizing that a lot of things on social media are not fully true or that it’s just simply marketing. 

He talked about how a lot of things you see on Instagram are really glamorous, but they can also be misleading, especially if we fall prey to comparing ourselves to a perceived version of someone on social media. 

Now Quinton looks at things on social media with a grain of salt and doesn’t let comparisons interfere with him growing his business. This is also something we dive deeper into on Episode 38: Comparisons & Being Jealous of Other Coaches of The Side Hustle Club Podcast.

He then shared that his favorite part about being an entrepreneur is being able to get creative, make new friends, and use Instagram as a vehicle to help people.

Finally, Quinton does what he does because he wants to use his previous experiences and challenges with personal finance to help others so that they don’t make the same mistakes he did. 

He describes it as paying it forward so that others can become financially independent, which is something he feels school has failed to teach us. 

If anyone has ever struggled with personal finances, budgeting, saving money, or paying off debt, Quinton is a great person to get in touch with. 

He has a lot of personal experience when it comes to overcoming difficult money situations. 

Quinton gets it and can empathize with anyone who may currently be struggling with personal finance or debt.

You can connect with Quinton on Instagram.

Shandy – productivity coach helping side-hustlers get things done in their business and free up time

Last but not least, we have Shandy, a productivity coach helping side-hustlers get things done in their business and free up time so they can actually do the things they like, without the overwhelm and stress.

One of Shandy’s proudest wins is not giving up. 

She also described how she is committed to taking one small step at a time and to being consistent, in addition to staying committed to her why. 

She also wrote about how building a business can be simple and how she is currently growing her business on just two hours a day or less. 

I am so happy Shandy mentioned this. 

This is what I live for as a business and side hustle coach. Building a simple and time efficient business. Love it. 

In terms of Shandy’s biggest challenge, it would be fully embracing that there’s no one ‘right’ way to build a business. 

Even though there are countless strategies to build and scale a business, the key is to find one that’s aligned to your values and how you want to build your own business. 

One thing that helped her was to get comfortable with this is to explore and to make mistakes – she described this as the best way to figure out what works and doesn’t work for her. 

As for Shandy’s favorite thought, this one is really powerful. “I am enough. My experiences, my thoughts, my opinions, what I want to share. They are all enough.”

This one is good. 

I believe that coaches and entrepreneurs often hesitate to share their personal stories, experiences, or ideas because they feel like their message isn’t good enough. 

But I would challenge that notion. 

Who says YOUR story or experiences or ideas aren’t good enough? 

These things make up the essence of who you are. 

Saying that your story, message, and experiences aren’t good enough is like saying you as a person aren’t enough.

That’s why I firmly believe that each of us has a story, message, ideas, and experiences that are of value, especially to our audience and ideal clients. 

These are the people who would benefit from hearing about what you have to say and learning from your experiences. 

I’m really glad Shandy brought this up.

Moving on to Shandy’s favorite part about building a business, it has been learning about herself, as well as learning from her peers and clients. 

She wrote that this shows her that she is not alone on this journey, and it is awesome to be able to connect with others over their similar experiences and share their thoughts and lessons while building their businesses.

Finally, Shandy is doing this because of something that happened a while back. 

In 2017, Shandy experienced a major burnout from overworking, which led to an unhealthy relationship with herself and strained relationships with others. 

It caused her to distance herself from family and friends, her health deteriorated, and eventually, it led to a public meltdown. 

That was the turning point for Shandy. She doesn’t want anyone to go through what she went through, and that’s why she wants to use her personal experiences to help others who are getting closer and closer to hitting burnout themselves, especially side hustlers. 

Instead of reaching “Burnout Boulevard,” as Shandy calls it, she wants to help them start living a happier, healthier, more productive, and time-efficient life through coaching and simple, straightforward strategies. 

On a personal level, Shandy wants to be there for her future children.

She doesn’t want to have to choose between making an income versus her future children, so it is important to Shandy to build this business because it will allow her to create a lifestyle that lets her be present for different areas of her life that are important to her, including family and doing meaningful work.

You can connect with Shandy on Instagram.

That was a lot of valuable insights and lessons from all eight of my clients. 

I hope that you gained some new perspectives on building your own business.

I encourage you to connect with each of them as they are doing amazing work despite juggling other commitments such as 9-5 jobs, parenting, and grad school. 

We can all learn something from their experiences, and I’m excited to see what they’ll achieve in the future. 

I hope you found value in this post and I can’t wait to see how you’ll apply these lessons in your own entrepreneurial journey.

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