Episode 59

full
Published on:

4th Jun 2025

Am I a Bad Coach? Spotting the Signs & Fixing What’s Broken

Have you ever left a coaching session wondering, “Was that any good?” Or worse, have you had a coach who clearly wasn’t?

In this eye-opening episode of The Coaching Clinic, John Ball and Angela Besignano tackle one of the most uncomfortable but important questions in the coaching world: What makes someone a bad coach, and how do you know if that someone is you?

Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been coaching for years, this conversation explores:

  • The warning signs of ineffective coaching
  • Scripted coaching vs. presence and real connection
  • Why imposter syndrome never really disappears—and how to work with it
  • The difference between growth and actual red flags
  • How to develop your unique coaching style (without copying others)
  • When passion for the craft trumps polished delivery

You’ll hear honest stories of coaching gone wrong, tough lessons learned, and why being committed to growth (not perfection) is what really matters.

If you're serious about being the best coach you can be—and staying human in the process—this episode is for you.

👉 Subscribe to the show and leave a review if it resonates.

🎥 Also now on YouTube! Search The Coaching Clinic to watch and comment on the episode.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: Bad Coaching Experiences

00:27 Identifying Bad Coaching

01:00 Personal Coaching Stories

02:06 The Importance of Effective Coaching

02:22 Self-Evaluation as a Coach

02:04 Challenges and Growth in Coaching

05:28 Commitment to Improvement

06:21 The Value of Professionalism

13:09 The Coaching Industry Boom

16:02 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

18:24 Conclusion and Call to Action

Want to contact the show? You can leave us a voicemail. It's free to do, and we might feature you on our next episode. All you need to do is go to https://speakpipe.com/thecoachingclinicpodcast and leave us a message. You can also find our clips and full episodes on the exclusive Coaching Clinic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@coachingclinicpodcast

You can send us a video or voice message on LinkedIn:

John's LinkedIn Profile or go to PresentInfluence.com for coaching enquiries with John

Angie's LinkedIn Profile or visit AngieSpeaks.com

2023 Present Influence Productions Coaching Clinic: Grow Your Coaching Business & Master Coaching Skills 59

Transcript
Angie:

John,

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John: Angie.

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Angie: Have you ever had

coaching That wasn't good.

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John: Yeah, more than once.

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Angie: So what did you do?

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John: I told the authorities that they

were harboring aliens from another planet

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and they were never heard from again.

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Angie: No.

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What did you really do?

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John: I sacked my coach

and I told them why I.

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Angie: So did that feel awkward?

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John: Oh yes.

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It would've been way better

if I'd spotted the issues

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beforehand and there were clues.

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Angie: So this should be fun.

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Let's open up the coaching clinic.

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John: now.

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I definitely had coaches.

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I've had to sack Angie, how about you?

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Have you ever had that experience

of just not getting great coaching?

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I.

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Angie: I have to say yes and yes.

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There was coaching that I had, that

I actually wasn't, I didn't pay for,

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it was provided to me by a company

and it was the worst, but I didn't

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necessarily know it was the worst.

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I just felt very frustrated by it.

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John: Mm.

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: I probably have said this at

some point on the show before, but

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of the worst coaching I ever had was

from people who are reading a script,

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taking you through just a process and

very, very rigidly sticking to that.

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And they're just waiting for you to shut

up so they can ask you the next part

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Angie: Oh my gosh.

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That's awful.

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Yeah.

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John: hate that.

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You know, when you can tell that

they're reading what they're saying

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to you as well, so it doesn't even

sound natural when they're doing it.

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that stuff is crazy.

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You know, I've had

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Angie: Do you feel like you're calling

a customer service one 800 number and

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they're like, yes ma'am, I understand.

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Please allow me to, you know, X, Y, Z.

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John: The tonality of these bots.

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Automatic callers.

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Yeah.

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: when you know it's not a real

person that you're speaking to,

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that's what it ended up sounded like.

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So yeah, that was horrible.

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Coaching where it's just been

ineffective and the coach has just.

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I dunno, don't feel like

coaches should be enablers.

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You know,

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: sometimes you need to

call stuff out with people.

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It really brought up this whole thing

for me when we were thinking about

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what we're gonna talk about today

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: I think we have, as coaches, we tend

to have those imposter syndrome moments,

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those insecurities of am I a good coach?

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Am I a bad coach?

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We don't always know, and we may feel

differently about it on different days.

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Well, maybe it's something

we could get into.

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How would you know, what would be

the clues that you are a bad coach?

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What do you think?

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Angie: Yeah, so first of all, let

me say this though, because I know

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that for everybody that listens, they

might feel a little bit differently

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than we do, but I don't think it's

always so obvious and I do think that

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some, what I think is a great coach is

probably gonna be very different than

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even what you think is a great coach.

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So it's, I think it's a very

individual thing for me.

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Kind of talking about what you

said earlier, I really feel

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the need to be challenged.

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if I'm like sitting here going, ask

me this while we're in a coachee

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session, then I know it's a bad session.

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Like if I know where you should

be going and I know that's

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because I have Coach Brain, right?

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I am a coach naturally.

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I think I wanted to talk about what you

said earlier because, I had worked, and

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I think you have worked, we've worked for

companies where there was a structure,

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a program of process to follow, and I

experienced coaches who were very script

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oriented and not great coaches, like

just going through the motions reading

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line by line, and not using the program

or the process as more of the guide.

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Rather than this is the session too rigid.

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And I think that is probably, unless you

are a cons, if you're a consultant, we've

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talked about this on our show, there

are some key differentiators between

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being a consultant and being a coach.

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And if I want a consultant,

that's who I'm going to hire.

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I'll hire a marketing consultant.

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I'll hire a, if I'm looking to be

coached, it means that I can't get

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out of my own way, and I need the

expertise of somebody that is going

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to help me get out of my own way.

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So yeah.

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John: yeah, I think this,

not necessarily complicated.

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I don't want it to be

something that's complicated.

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I think really my take on this is more.

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There may be things that we could

generate awareness of where we have

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room for improvement, things that

are fixable, but there probably are

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things that, for some people are

not going to be fixable and might

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Angie: Me

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John: coaching actually isn't the right.

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Place for you to be.

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Angie: Sure.

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John: I don't anticipate that our listener

is gonna be in the latter category.

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I think probably most of the stuff you'll

encounter that you may be judging yourself

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as a bad coach over is probably fixable.

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And especially if you are prepared

to put in the work and do it,

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and if you are committed to being

as good a coach as you can be.

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You know, we all know we're probably

all better coaches than we were

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last year or the year before.

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Depend on how long

you've been coaching, but

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Angie: Sure.

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John: certainly for most of us from

when we first started, you're a better

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coach now than you were then, and that

will be true in the future as well.

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But as much as I say I've had bad

coaching, I've had amazing coaches as well

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: blown me away and just think,

I wish I could coach more like them.

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Because I would love to be more,

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: like them.

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Then there's certainly things that

I've taken from those coaching

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experiences that I've brought into

my own coaching as best I could.

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'cause I can't be them.

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I don't want to be them.

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But, I would like to at least

work at getting to their level.

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And I don't know that I will,

but I'm gonna work on it.

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I'm gonna stay committed to that thing.

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So think.

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When I talk about, a bad coach,

really, it is more from the

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perspective of how we judge ourselves.

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Are you judging yourself as a bad coach?

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And if you are, should

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Angie: Hmm.

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No, and listen, I think that if

you are truly a committed coach.

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You're not somebody who's just

looking to create an assembly line

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of clients that you can just, take

money from and, oh, this is great.

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I have six clients now I'm

making this much a week.

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And like, if you are dedicated to

the craft, I think that we do have

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to give ourselves that grace that

we will grow and improve the things

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we would expect of our clients.

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Right.

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We, reason they're, they're

with us is to grow and escalate

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and, and all of those things.

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But I think we put a little bit of

an unrealistic pressure on ourselves

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that we have to be at some higher

level, all the time without the grace

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of, and we've talked about this, like

making mistakes and learning from them,

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self-evaluation, things like that.

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Yeah.

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I think, what does it even look like?

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I did have one coach who was,

he was fantastic with me.

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I don't know what he

did with everybody else.

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I just knew that he was great with me,

but it was because I needed the type

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of coaching that he provided because.

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I am super self-aware.

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I do get bored.

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I, be sitting there twirling my

hair going, is this other person

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gonna ask me the question or what?

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Whereas this other person,

his name was John by the way.

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John made me insanely uncomfortable

and although I have to be

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honest, resisted it initially.

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He also then had the awareness

of like, well, you lead this.

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This is why we're doing what we're doing.

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You realize that, right?

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And he changed everything.

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So again, but that's for me, not everybody

responds well to that type of coaching.

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So it really is kind of developing

your own, I don't know what

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the word is, your own way.

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Who are you, who's your

persona as a coach?

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John: That's really the danger of

judging ourselves against other,

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more experienced coaches that we

come with who we think are good.

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Even then, they're not gonna

be everybody's cup of tea.

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Nobody can be

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Angie: Yeah.

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Hmm.

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John: is going to love and value and think

they're amazing and that they're, see this

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in the personal development world as well.

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Like people, public figures

in personal development.

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There are some we love and

some we hate and we don't

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: On who those people are.

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Angie: Sure.

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John: fine.

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But when you're comparing yourself to

them, comparison being the thief of

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joy and all of that, and it really is.

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What you are also not considering is

that you might actually be the perfect

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coach for the clients that you're

working with, more than they might be.

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And so we

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: against saying, well,

I'm not as good as them.

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So I'm a, a bad coach?

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Ever gonna be that good?

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You are you, and you wanna be

the best you that you can be.

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And I think, would say this,

similarly to you, I knew a coach.

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I trained under him to some degree.

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He was a bit of a mentor figure for

me, was amazing at provocative therapy.

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had trained with Tad James on

timeline therapy and stuff like that.

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Was great at doing, there was

a stage hypnotist would teach,

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help teach me hypnosis and stage

techniques and things like that.

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A great person to learn from

completely unreliable with his clients

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Angie: Oh.

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John: and.

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And so when he showed up, he could be

an amazing coach, although, like you

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said, made people very uncomfortable.

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That's not for everybody.

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I responded to it so did lot.

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A lot of people who worked with him

and they loved him for that, but

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you didn't know for sure that he

was gonna show up for the sessions.

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Angie: Really listen and wait.

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It's so funny you brought that up because,

I, speaking, coaching, I had an event that

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I had to cancel last minute very recently,

and I'm still sick to my stomach over it.

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I mean, it was unavoidable.

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There was, we had a little

bit of an emergency, a medical

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emergency in the family.

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I didn't have a choice and it made me

sick to my stomach because I tell my

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clients before they start working with

me, if I ever no show I'm probably dead.

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I don't do it.

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I don't cancel, I don't, no show.

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And then I set a pretty

high standard for them.

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Like, don't not show, but for a coach

to set the standard and be the, I

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couldn't put up with that for three

seconds, like that bad coaching because,

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I've seen it, I've heard people say,

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there are people, we're all human first.

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Right?

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I always say that we are coaches, we

are, human life still happens to us.

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Although I think we try to put up,

that's why I'm still sick to my stomach.

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It's unrealistic.

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Idea that we are supposed to, to

some degree, set the standard.

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This is the way it is.

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You show up, but that in and of

itself could make you a bad coach.

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Like, I don't wanna deal with you.

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I don't wanna pay for you.

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You're unreliable.

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Therefore, it diminishes any.

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Professional, what's the

word I'm looking for here?

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I'm losing all my words.

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I'm not bad from vacation, everybody.

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I'm just saying anyhow.

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But it diminishes.

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Yes, thank you for all those

easy words, but it's the truth.

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Like, all of a sudden it's

like, you're really not you.

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You're not all that anymore.

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Just because of that, it's completely

disrespectful and all the things when

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that happens and, but at the same time,

right, life does happen too, but it can't

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be habitual that you're not showing up.

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John: Exactly.

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And I think if that's the

situation, I don't think it can

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always be that life's happening.

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It can't, that

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Angie: Sure.

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John: your ex your excuse for

being kind of flaky as a coach.

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You need, you need to

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: the work at least most of the time

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: need to be able to trust that

you actually care about them and

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you care about working with them

and helping them get the results.

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And if you are not

reliable to the most part.

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People will let you off once

or twice, but they won't keep

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: without, without a very good

Now if they need, some people have

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health conditions and stuff like

that, they end up having to take

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breaks from coaching all the time.

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Angie: Right.

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John: you're probably gonna let your

clients know something about that so

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that they know what to expect rather than

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Angie: Yes, correct.

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John: So, I think that

when, I'm a bad coach.

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I think if you don't really

care about your clients and

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Angie: Oh

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John: Their best interest at heart.

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I think that's probably what

would make you a bad coach.

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If you just

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Angie: yeah.

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John: don't, I don't

care about your results.

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I just want your money.

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would be in my books.

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Yeah.

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You're pretty much a bad coach.

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You're disrespecting your clients.

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You are, letting people

down and yourself as well.

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Even if you have all the best

coaching skills, that doesn't mean

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you're gonna be an amazing coach.

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Angie: So interesting because I

think that because our industry is

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growing and we've talked statistics.

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I think the last time I actually

looked, it's been so since.

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Two, 2019.

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The industry has grown by over 500% COVID.

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There are things that, made that happen.

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The industry was growing as it was,

but that just gave it a nice shove.

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And I have to say this, and if anybody out

there feels offended when I say it, maybe

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we're talking to that person to be honest.

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But, I think that a lot

of people diminish the.

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Relationship that we have sometimes

with people as coaches, meaning

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don't come in and just think

like, oh, I can just be a coach.

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Because I feel like that just diminishes

the art of the act, the people who

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are actually professional coaches, the

reason I'm saying this is I have heard

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people say that and it infuriates me.

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I'm like.

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What do you mean?

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Just be a coach?

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I mean, certainly we've

made the joke, right?

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We're not rocket scientists.

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Maybe some people are, I don't know.

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But generally we're not, and intensive

brain surgery that we do, but we're

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affecting people's lives and it is

such a, an important job to have.

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And when I hear people diminish that,

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or minimize it.

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It really makes me look at them

and think, you are not a coach.

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You're just here for the money grab.

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You're here because some, to, some people

charge hundreds if not thousands of

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dollars per session and want the money

grab because it's air quotes, easy to do.

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That is a really bad coach, that doesn't

really take consideration to the craft.

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I.

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John: there is a sort of opposite

of that, which isn't, I wouldn't say

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it's something that makes someone a

bad coach, but it does make somebody

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less than they can be as a coach,

which is undervaluing themselves

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Angie: mm.

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John: not, not getting themselves out

there enough to get the kind of client

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work that they, they want and that they

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Angie: Sure.

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John: If you don't yourself out there,

it's not, it's not gonna magically.

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Come to you like you have

to build the business.

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So there are, I think

there are people who don't.

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Really enjoy the business

work of coaching.

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: a bad coach, but it does make you

a, an ineffective coach if you don't

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actually have the clients or if you're

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Angie: Yeah,

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John: free stuff, or if you're still

charging, 75 bucks an hour for,

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for coaching clients and you've

been doing it for 10 years, it is

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Angie: sure.

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John: not, something's not right there.

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: change it.

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This is the what I mean about

the stuff that's fixable.

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This is the stuff that's fixable,

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: the decision that you

want to fix it and that you

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want to be better because of it.

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And it's better for you.

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It's better for clients.

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It's better for your future clients

who will get results from working with

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Angie: Right.

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John: You will feel amazing about it,

and it's okay to have the imposter

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syndrome stuff and question yourself.

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That's still gonna come up, but.

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You'll ride it out because your

clients will help you to do that.

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Your work will help you to do that.

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Angie: Well, I think you

have to just pay attention.

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We talk about this so much.

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I notice it's coming up

a lot, just naturally and

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organically in our talks here.

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It's interesting that I.

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We really do have to give ourselves

that grace to grow, right?

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That imposter syndrome can pop up at

any time during the duration of your

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career, because if you're growing,

you're going to feel uncomfortable.

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You know, if you need to grow,

you're in the next stage,

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whatever you wanna call it.

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I think that that's what happens.

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I think that sometimes

we go, oh, wait a minute.

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We did something.

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We did it well.

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We learned it well.

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And now it's uncomfortable to go and

be better and do better and do more.

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So I think imposter syndrome

can pop up pretty often.

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It's not a one and done,

you know what I mean?

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I think a lot of people feel like, if I

can just get past this, I'll feel better.

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And then, you know, three years

into their career, they're kind

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of feeling like, I don't know, am

I really doing the right thing?

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Because there's more to

jail and they know that.

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John: Yeah, there, also a weird

idea about, and a lot of us carry

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with it, I've dealt with it as well.

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Maybe it's come up for you

about this thing of feeling like

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whether we deserve things or not.

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That question that comes up of, I

deserve this or I don't deserve this.

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That comes up

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: And in all honesty.

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None of us deserve anything.

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It's not about,

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: or not deserves.

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We might make judgments of,

well, they're a bad person.

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They don't deserve good things,

or they're a good person.

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They don't deserve bad things.

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But that's not how life

and the world works.

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It's

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: deserving.

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Those are judgments we make on ourselves.

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And sometimes it's a judgment, and with

judgment we make on others as well.

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But sometimes it's a

judgment that stop sales.

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Moving forward as well and

creates those imposter syndrome

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: of, I'm not good enough.

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I don't deserve

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Angie: Sharon,

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John: plus a month, whatever.

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That's,

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Angie: who am I?

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John: people are.

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Yeah.

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A li it is definitely a

limiting belief that needs

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Angie: Very limiting.

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John: fixable.

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It is fixable.

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That's the good news.

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All of it is fixable, but it

requires doing some work maybe with

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Angie: Mm-hmm.

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John: to help bust through those 'cause

that ultimately is what this is all about.

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Reframe them,

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Angie: Yeah.

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John: and work with the

coach who work for you.

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Angie: Absolutely.

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Well, I think we touched on some things

and we always find new things to talk

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about for sure, but we would love to

hear your input and hear what you know.

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For the newer coaches or maybe coaches

that have been around for a while, like.

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What are your biggest

challenges right now as a coach?

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Is it the business?

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Is it the coaching?

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Is it your style?

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Is it a combination?

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We'd love to hear that.

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John: Let us know certainly come and

check out our new YouTube channel as well.

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Just look up the coaching

clinic on YouTube.

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You'll find us

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Woo.

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You can check out our videos,

our podcast episodes there.

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We'll put clips up there as well

and come and share and comment

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and connect with us there.

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We'd love to see you.

Listen for free

Show artwork for Coaching Clinic: Grow Your Coaching Business & Master Coaching Skills

About the Podcast

Coaching Clinic: Grow Your Coaching Business & Master Coaching Skills
Where coaching skills meet business development.
The Coaching Clinic is the go-to podcast for new and experienced professional coaches who want to grow a thriving, sustainable business and get better results with clients. Hosted by veteran coaches John Ball and Angela Besignano, this weekly show delivers actionable coaching strategies, business-building insights, and real-world tools to help you attract clients, master your craft, and scale with confidence. From powerful client conversations to group coaching design, sales, mindset, and marketing—this is your backstage pass to what really works in coaching today.

About your hosts

John Ball

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From former flight attendant to international coach and trainer, on to podcaster and persuasion expert, it's been quite the journey for John.
John has been a lead coach and trainer with the Harv Eker organisation for over 10 years and is currently focused on helping his clients develop their personal presentation skills for media and speaking stages through his coaching business brand Present Influence.
He's the author of the upcoming book Podfluence: How To Build Professional Authority With Podcasts, and host of the Podfluence podcast with over 150 episodes and over 15,000 downloads John is now focused on helping business coaches and speakers to build a following and grow your lead flow and charisma.
You can now also listen to John on The Coaching Clinic podcast with his good friend and colleague Angie Besignano where they are helping coaches create sustainable and successful businesses, and the Try To Stand Up podcast where John is on a personal and professional mission to become funnier on the stage and in his communication.

Angie Besignano

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With early beginnings as an entry-level manager in the sales industry, Angie has spent more than 3 decades building her knowledge and expertise to create her master coaching and speaking brand, AngieSpeaks. After climbing the professional ladder, she started her own company and decided to focus her practice on High Performance Coaching. In doing so, she challenges individuals to elevate and grow, no matter what level they are at currently in their personal or professional lives.
Angie has created a strong following through her “tough” but “pragmatic” approach and challenges her clients to find the space that is holding them back the most. In doing so, their outcomes not only compound, but take root, so that results can be permanent. The tools she provides work in the “real” world and show up in their first interaction.
Angie has an unwavering passion toward the journey that fosters a true transformation for those that work with her. She delivers her content and speaking engagements with an authentic enthusiasm and curiosity that creates trust and rapport, allowing for a heightened experience.