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The Discipline of Doing Less: How Great Coaches Create Space for What Matters with Rachael Reece · The Ambitious Coach Lab

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the Ambitious Coaching Lab, powered by I.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_03: Cam Law.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: Each week we explore the real tactics, tough conversations, and breakthrough moments that drive coaching success.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_03: Let's jump into today's episode.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_03: Well, hello, friends.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_03: I am so excited to welcome Rachel Reese to the show.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: Rachel is the founder of Ignite Engagement Consulting.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: She is certified in Predictive Index.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_03: She is a SIPA, and she's also a certified coach and just so happens to be in my hometown of Greenville, Sal Carolina, which is how we connected.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I am so excited to have Rachel here.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the show.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, excited to kind of dive in.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: So why don't you tell a little bit of, you know, I know a little bit of your journey, but for those that maybe don't, why don't you share a little bit about how you got into starting Ignite?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: So my entrepreneurial journey is a little unexpected, as as so many are.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, no one really plans this career, but I actually started as a teacher.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I went to university thinking that I was gonna be on a pretty traditional path.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to have a family, I wanted to get married.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so I really thought this is gonna accommodate the life that I'm building.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And after two years in the classroom, I realized I love my committee work, I loved curriculum development, I loved a lot of things around the educational profession.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: But actually, classroom management was not what I was wired for.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And because of moves and other things, I entered the workforce and ended up working in an operations role.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And for the next 25 plus years, I had varying opportunities based on moves and locations in all types of industries and roles.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then I ended up doing two startups back to back.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so I really got to see business from multiple roles, multiple lenses.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And what originally started as not a traditional career trajectory really became a gift because I got to see organization growth.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I got to see multiple leadership types.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a career ladder, so to speak.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I went through a moment where, when I was in a more traditional setting later on in my career, that I had a little bit of imposter syndrome around that until I really learned to embrace the fact that all of these opportunities had led me to a breadth of experience that really made sense.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think two kind of critical pivotal points.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: In my second startup, I joined when there were seven reps in three pilot states.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it was an Israeli biotech, and we ended up going all the way to an IPO on NASDAQ.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I literally entered with 10 employees and we went public.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And being in Times Square on a ring the bell day is a really big deal.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: I would have never seen myself there.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you have these moments in life that you think, how did I get here?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: But you're just so profoundly grateful.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we relocated that company out of state and I commuted for a year.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: And with being the sole provider and single parent to my children, it became a lot.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time, I was recruited by a hundred-year-old organization that had just acquired another company.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so as I entered that organization really with a goal to align culture, align the company with their vision and their values, and how does it mean that we work as one organization, I created an inquiry to help me really understand where the organization was.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that process led me to multiple things.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, I realized whether you're in a startup or a hundred-year-old post-acquisition situation, business is driven by human beings.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I know we're in an AI culture, so that conversation is shifting a bit, but ultimately the talent in an organization drives the culture, drives the customer experience.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So seeing through the years all of these lenses and realizing that people are what drives business became a true passion place for me.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so I realized there was this opportunity in the market to walk with business owners and to if you have a brilliant product, a brilliant service, but maybe you really didn't plan to be a talent developer, maybe you didn't really realize you were gonna have to mentor employees or cascade leadership concepts throughout your organization, or you have done it for 25 years and you're kind of wanting to be present with your family, or whatever it is that allows you to be at a stuck place, it can feel really lonely.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so after these experiences that I had gained through the years, I started to really feel this passion for walking with others.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew I had done that when I was in these roles.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I started to see this really clear through line because I'd had so many leaders mentor me when I was in my mid-30s in this growing Israeli biotech startup.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: I had my first professional coach, and it was revolutionary for me, not just in my professional space, but in my personal space.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was really transformative.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so it became a passion for me.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew one day I was gonna be a coach.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: It just became so crystal clear to me that that's what I'm here to do.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so in 2018, I founded Ignite and I wanted to be a certified coach.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that was where I was gonna go.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: But at the time, I really started just walking with business owners.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Business owners that I could come alongside and help clarify strategy, help them articulate how their personal values are showing up at work.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And is that intentional or is it accidental?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And how do we agree on a way of working that helps them get out of being the owner operator and really the leader, whatever the role is that is best for them.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I started walking with organizations about eight and a half years ago through these journeys.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I feel incredibly privileged to be able to do this work.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I love that so much.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: That's so good.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't there were bits and pieces of that that I had heard before and others that I hadn't.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: So that's uh I appreciate you sharing that.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean, so Ignite has gone through.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you're what, eight and a half or so years kind of into this now?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: And so I'm sure it's gone through different variations.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_03: And it sounds like when we kind of talked on a preliminary aspect, you're kind of wanting to lean a little bit more into the coaching aspect, but can you talk a little bit about just that journey of how Ignite has just expanded and adapted over the years?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I think adaptation is is part of the essential life of an entrepreneur, essentially, you know, and it's something that my own personal journey has taught me.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of times things are unexpected and you get to pivot, and that's okay.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a negative.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so, as I mentioned, I think when I started Ignite, I knew I would be a coach one day.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know if that would be exclusive or I saw this opportunity to consult or advise business owners or or partner with them in some capacity.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so my initial work really started as an evaluation, as I mentioned, that came right out of that evaluation I created in my last full-time role.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I was working with a family office that owned six companies.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I was able to consult through a series of businesses simultaneously and really cut my teeth in that experience.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but my passion is the human side of business.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: So team dynamics, individual, when you, you know, you get in your head or you're stuck or whatever it is that's holding you back from leading, or if you are have learned leadership through a model that wasn't exactly feeling authentic to you and unpacking that.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I do fractional work, I do advisory work, um, I do really that SEPA arc of value acceleration and how do we workshop it and understand where your business is today?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: How do we create a compelling vision for the future?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then how do we create a really strong action plan to get there?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the reality is that is the work, whether I'm coaching one-on-one, a team, or an organization, is really understanding where are we today?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Where do we want to be?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: What is our vision for the future?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And how do we take actionable steps to get there?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so I work that way in all three capacities, but I do love, in all of them, I love the people side and really taking the vision and the values of the organization, the purpose, being crystal clear about how that impacts how we show up at work every day.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: That is such an important thing, and I think it's becoming even more important.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: You kind of alluded to it when you said, you know, we're we're in the AI conversation, and that's being talked about a lot.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: But I can imagine a lot of business owners are starting to see, man, people, my team is actually my greatest asset where I can go in, and the more bought in they are, the more impactful we are.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: So that aspect of team is such a critical part.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the things you you've mentioned it a couple times on the vision.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I love that because that's actually one of, you know, in really the concept of developing this show of having lots of conversations, we just started to pick up on trends that there are certain competencies that the best coaches have.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: And the first one is vision, they're crystal clear on their why.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: And it sounds like you had that vision, like even before you became a coach, that has probably shaped that.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: But can you talk about how that has maybe good to lean into the word adapted, just over the years and how that's led to the decisions that you've made, even down to like a brand aspect for Ignite of how you like came up with like the name and stuff?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I think about it similar to how my parents would navigate a road trip when I was a kid versus Waze now.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember as a kid in the 80s and 90s sitting in the backseat.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: My parents had the big map, and you know, they're going to see, you know, three on on this page and flipping over.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: And they were always operating from where am I today?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And what is the next step in my journey?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Pivot by pivot.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: So if you get off track, you can get really off track far.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: And if you now think about how we operate, you know, if I'm getting in my car and I'm putting in an end destination through ways, it may, it may challenge my thinking.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: It may go turn here and you think, I've done this drive a thousand times.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted traffic, you know, updates.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is there are obstacles along the way that cause us to pivot.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: We are creatures of habit.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we tend to get in a routine and we move in the same direction that we've always done.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so when it comes to business or, you know, anything in life, if you know what the end goal is, when you use resources along the way, whether it's your time, your energy, your budget, your talent, if you're making a decision about your business, if you want to open a second location or a third, or if you want to stay local, it really needs to align with the vision of the brand and who you want to be in the brand identity.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so it doesn't mean that doesn't change.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it a vision can be three, seven, 10 years out.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: I typically think with a larger company, seven to 10 years, but it gives you an operating framework for how you make choices with your time, talent, and resources today to move you closer to where you want to be.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so I know for myself, you know, I went through a very difficult time in life about five years ago.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And for the first time, I really lacked vision.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, Cam, I felt lost.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: It made it difficult to operate as a business owner, as a mother.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for me, it became so profound why having a vision for where you're going really, it doesn't mean it doesn't change, but it does give you something that you're leaning into and working for.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I just I think it's essential in everything we do.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because you know, a lot of times it is, you know, hyper focused on, I mean, in business, you know, I mean, I work really closely in like the EOS world.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_03: And so, I mean, they're all you know, VTO, like, you know, the vision and all that.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_03: And so, and oftentimes it is focused in on from an entrepreneur standpoint in a business.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: But I would argue you're an entrepreneur as a coach, right?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: You started a business and on top of you should practice what you preach, just for the simple fact of when things get challenging or opportunities start to come your way where it's like, wow, I can go through and I have all these different offerings.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: Cause you know, sure, vision keeps you focused on hey, what am I building and going after?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: So, I mean, can you talk a little bit about how you know that maybe has just adjusted your, you know, you almost say no to certain things that are in alignment with your vision?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, as I mentioned, I started as a more fractional consultant and I was working across multiple businesses, and I would take, you know, opportunities to work on a leadership team staff retreat or I had one-on-one coaching opportunities.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: But a tremendous part of my revenue was coming through fractional work.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And along the way, I thought I'm gonna step back and and try to lean into coaching and development because the leadership side is the piece that I love the most.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so I made that choice several years ago, but then the referrals I kept getting were for fractional work.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that just became kind of what I was already known for.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so I went back to that.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I may be losing the plot a little on the question, but I think you were talking about how I've pivoted through the years and I've added through the years different credentials.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like SIPA was something I did about three and a half years ago.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't see that coming.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know what a SIPA was.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: One of my clients that I had worked with previously went through the training and called me and said, can we sit down and talk about this?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because I feel like this is what you did with our company several years ago.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so we, it was a wealth advisory firm that I had helped map their strategy and their talent plan.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we built a five-year roadmap.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And they really felt like the work in SEPA was so that was an opportunistic thing that came my way that I wasn't seeking.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're always evaluating it back to who you want to be, it doesn't, it doesn't make it bad to be opportunistic.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: And there are things that are gonna come along that if you're really clear about why you exist and what you're here to do and the work that you're doing that's making an impact, it doesn't mean I get it right.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: I also a few years ago had a call from someone that was like, hey, I'd love for you to join my advisory team.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I added a service line and then I took it back because it it just I I evaluated it along the way.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: It seemed like a good decision, but I realized once I was in that work, it was taking me away from my core.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is okay as entrepreneurs when things come our way for us to evaluate them and and and check it against our center.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we'll get it right and it works beautifully, like SEPA for me.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then other times you'll you'll do it and you'll think, I didn't need this.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a distraction from my core work, or I have too many service lines and I need to pare them down, or you know, I'm I'm doing this and it's white glove all the time and it's exhausting my energy, and I need to productize this because I'm doing this same work in a very similar fashion.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I can customize it a bit here and there, but essentially the framework is the same.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so as we're moving through building a business, it keeping your finger on the pulse of your own business in how you're coaching and the teams that you're working with and what things are consistent and repeatable and scalable versus what is taking a lot of energy to create it that pulls you away from the core.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: Man, that's good.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's very timely for even just me personally, because you know, you you go out and you build this practice and you know, you're connected with a lot of people, and it turns into, all right, hey, here's this, you know, gig and this fractional thing and fractional thing.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: And then pretty soon, before I know it, I'm at capacity, or at least at that my current capacity.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, now what do I do?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: And so I actually literally had a call yesterday um with a a friend of mine, you know him, um, he's here in Greenville, and um, but he had seen something that I had posted and was just like, hey, uh instead of doing the digital thing, I'm gonna call you.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: And he was like, Who, who do you want to be in three years?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, I didn't have an answer to that.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_03: And he's like, Well, there's your there's your next step.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: You need to figure that out, and then you're gonna reverse engineer.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: Then you will start to see what you need to say no to.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_03: And he said, That is exactly right.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, dude, it's so that's exactly what you're going to do.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's exactly right.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: You have that focus filter where it's like, hey, that service line item that I added that I thought was a good thing actually is out of alignment for the vision that I'm going for.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's right.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: It's critical for coaches to have.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: So true.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: So true.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: Because on the flip side of that, because I think there's a tendency, and I'll just point to myself as an example of this.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_03: We love learning.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: If you are a coach, so it's like there, it's so you know, sometimes we can start to go in like, all right, hey, I'm gonna read all these books, I'm gonna go after these, you know, go to these workshops, I'm gonna start collecting knowledge.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: How do you kind of combat that just hunger that entrepreneurs have in correlation with like being crystal clear on like actually this is the direction I need to go?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: You're tapping into a place of personal sensitivity because I'm a absorber of knowledge.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, I'm looking at a shelf full of books and I podcat, I listen to podcasts and audible books, and I love having meaningful conversations and attending webinars and workshops, and I love it.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: I love absorbing information.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think there is a both and to that, as with so many things, because I do believe that coaches should be learners.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: I do believe leaders should be learners.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: And um, we need to be, we don't all have to be certified.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: I know there are coaches operating without certification, but there for me, coaching certification and going through that knowledge after I had already been consulting, I had to unlearn a lot of things.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was phenomenally valuable for me because it reframed for me what I thought it meant to be a certified coach or what coaching was.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I do believe in learning.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm a deep, I'm a deep, I have a deep level of learning.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: At the same time, I've had moments that I feel like I'm in information overload.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I'm it's almost like I'm hoarding knowledge.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, ooh, let me just add this little bit.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: And with the way that social media works and podcasts work, you know, I was walking or on the treadmill with a podcast in my ears, and I'm thinking, ooh, that's good.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: I need to order that book and I need to highlight this chapter and I need to make this note.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you're absorbing all of this information, but what are we doing with it?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have had to, I went through a season where I was like, I'm gonna walk with no AirPods for a month.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm I took a hiatus from podcasts, which felt brutal for me because I love them because it's short-firm content.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's short form content, but I realized I was, you know, saving things on Instagram or other places, and I wasn't going back to read them.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was thinking, oh, that's so great.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh, I read that thing the other day, but what was that again?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was impacting my attention, which was negatively impacting my coaching because coaching is about presence and we have to have space to think.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so for me, it became am I hoarding knowledge because I want to feel inspired and intellectual or whatever, or am I doing it in service of my clients?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe for me, for a short season, it became a distraction.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so it really became a discipline for me to pick up the paper copy of a book and read a chapter at a time, or a Harvard Business Review article at a time and minimize my home screen and distraction.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm bleeding a little bit from knowledge into distraction because it's so present in our culture.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: But for work as a coach, presence is a gift to our clients.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so we are not being present in our own lives, we can't do that work for our clients.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, that's so good.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_03: The there's such a attention of, I feel that every day where it's like, oh man, somebody just posted about how this book was life-changing for them.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I better read it too.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_03: Or, hey, here's this certification that you can justify, we're all good at that.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: We can justify how it fits into the overall, we can justify that in our brain.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's so easy for me to, well, this little$2,000 thing will help me do this and it'll open this door, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_03: And you're mapping out the whole thing.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: But if I look back and I I take a look at the moments where I feel like I grew as a fractional or as a coach.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Or consultant or whatever hat I'm wearing at the time, it's typically been when I've been present in a moment where I've been with a team and I've learned, okay, wow, that specific way I phrased that opened up a room, or you know, whatever it was, or I said the thing, or acknowledged thing, or just kept my mouth shut and shut up.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_03: Those are the moments where I feel like I've grown as a you know practitioner versus from reading some book or you know, forgetting to go back to some Instagram reel that I saved that you called me out on that one.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: I do that all the time.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go back to that and laugh about that, and then I never have ever have gone back.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like, and so I think you're on to something where that presence, you there it doesn't matter how much content you try to stuff in there, it doesn't replace the actual work of just, hey, go into a room and read it.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: I I think almost I would argue the judgment aspect of being able to like interpret what's happening with a team, no amount of knowledge is gonna help you with that.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: You have to get reps under your belt.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I I don't know if there's any um, I I want to like kind of stay in this because I feel like this is such an important thing.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, how is that over time for you like learning that?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like, how has that been?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: Because I'm sure that wasn't just an overnight lesson that you learned.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm sure it was kind of an ongoing thing as you just realized, wow, presence.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: How do I continue to stay present and not necessarily stuff my brain with knowledge?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Such a good question.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: So in the world of doers, some of us are hardwired to do things.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: We we do read books, we do lead podcasts, we do exercise, we do, we accomplish tasks and check them off.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: But there are people, I don't, I'm not one of them, that is really organically wired to be.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Just be present.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: And throughout my certification cohort, we talked about this.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember the first time the question came up on this scale of being and doing, I was like, wait, there are people who just are like, what?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I realized as a doer, I was the smaller group of my cohort.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so it really brought this to the forefront for me, where I realized I was raised in a family of achievers.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: I had, you know, as the provider for my family, I had been not intentionally, but unintentionally knocking things off my to-do list.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: I had become very wired to complete a task list or move through things.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that became also this certification and that certification and this next course.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, when we're certified, we have to keep our credentials.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like I need to do training between now and December, so I better get on it.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I've taken this slower approach because our brains are not hardwired for this modern world.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: I I really believe that we we are inundated with information from all sides.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so presence is a gift.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And slowing down is a gift.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Most women that I'm coaching these days, and I don't mean to be exclusive by gender, but I, you know, as I'm coaching women in particular, or in a women's networking group that I'm in, you are running a household, you are working, you are parenting, you have all of these draws on your time, and then you layer in something like short-form content on Instagram and social media, and there are 8,000 little micro decisions every day.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And to me, as a coach, particularly, you mentioned like a team facilitation moment where things come together.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: If my brain is distracted, I don't see those micro moments.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: So when I am thinking about what I'm gonna say next, instead of listening to the conversation happening between the team, I lose presence.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: My focus is on me and being the expert in the room.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, if I'm holding space for a team that is filled with dysfunction and sometimes they're not naming it, or a team that has this big audacious vision, or the owner does, and the team doesn't get it yet, and all they're seeing is the struggle.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: When you have a breakthrough in a space like that, as you mentioned, it's transformative as a facilitator.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing like it.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: I I will tell you, there are so many times I've been in, I do these two-day staff retreat workshops, and I will be in my hotel room after day one thinking, how am I gonna get them to this place?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: This owner said these were their goals, or you know, this team is so misaligned.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: How am I gonna finish tomorrow and walk away with a happy client or a client that sees where they're headed or some kind of clarity just feels too big?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: And you go back in day two, there's no book or podcast I can listen to in my hotel room that night that's gonna solve that for me.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: I have to show up and be in the room.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: I have to look at the people, the real human beings in that space, the one that's fidgeting and not saying what they really want to say, the one that is, you know, talking on top of everyone to show how much they know.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: I have to really be present to read all of those human behaviors and try to encourage somebody to speak up, or politely say, Hey, Fred, can we give Lucy an opportunity?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Or that's great, Fred, but let's hear from everybody in the room.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are thinking about a piece of knowledge or a quote you want to come up with later to instill this nugget, there's nothing people remember what they experience more than what you tell them.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so if we as coaches and facilitators are trying to look like the smartest person in the room, we are failing.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're failing our clients.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have really been challenged by those self-learning moments when I'm in a room with a team and I think there's no way we're gonna get there.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the only way for me to show up is to be fully present, to be with them, to hold space for them, and to really draw out what they're missing.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that is a magical moment.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: You you know it because you just told me you've seen it.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And when you feel that, it is the most satisfying work because it is very humbling because you realize there's no amount of head knowledge that can lead to that moment.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_03: Talk about what just popped into my brain.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_03: So I just want to go down this path.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: The how do you prepare for sessions to where you can go in?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like, let's take it in between those, the two-day, you know, you're at the hotel, the in-between.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: What are you doing to get your mind in a place where you can be present?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_03: Sounds like not listening to podcasts and like I won't say I've never done that.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there there are many days that I'm, you know, on a road trip to somewhere within the Southeast that's drivable from home, and I'm queuing up a podcast on values, even though I've listened to them a thousand times, just to mentally refresh.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but first of all, I take a lot of notes on my intake.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: So the intake that I used years ago in-house, I still use the same format today.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I take meticulous text-typed notes.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so remembering what someone said to me is something that, you know, certain nuggets stick with you.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: But being able to go back to how was this person showing up three months ago when I did their intake?
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: And and why, you know, I also use behavioral assessments.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mentioned PI, you mentioned that I use PI.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so thinking about how someone's hardwired, um, I I typically really like to see their work style before we do a team dynamics communication like that, just because I love to know their natural most comfortable space.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: And if there's someone that, for example, in the PI world would be a lower B.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: So they're a little more introverted, they're gonna think before they speak.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're entering day two, and I noticed in day one, they they look like they have something to say, but they're they're not saying it, looking back at their profile and really thinking about how can I, you know, make an opportunity for this person to feel safe, or what was something that was said in the room, or coming up with a couple of questions.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a big curiosity person.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: So always leading with curiosity.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: So when I come up the day, the second day, what I do to prep in the room is sometimes not, you know, go over my own agenda for the next day, or not go over my PowerPoint for the next day, but really go over what have they said before?
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: What am I missing or what needs to be raised?
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, what's the elephant in the room?
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and how can I ask compelling questions to to help them, you know, move in this direction?
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, sometimes it's giving freedom not to try to move them anywhere, but to let them sit in the discomfort, which can be hard.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so it really is nuanced.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think facilitation, really good facilitation, is so nuanced.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: And and like you said, it's it's a framework, a skill set that's built over time.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I feel more effective in that space when I'm really putting myself on the back burner, cannot be about me.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: It has to be about the people in the room.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have a moment?
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_03: And it's it's fine if there's not like a specific, we can keep it theoretical, which is fine, but um, where you've kind of leaned into or understood that hey, maybe this framework or methodology isn't what's necessarily needed in the moment where it's just, hey, there's an interpersonal conflict that just needs to be dealt with that no framework can possibly understand the intricacies of it.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_03: So is there a moment or or even just a concept that you have learned over time to just surface that?
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_03: Because you know, those interpersonal, I mean, if they don't get dealt with, it doesn't matter what kind of progress you try to make, those things tend to boil up and resurface even if they get brushed under the rug.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's such a good question.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I had a client that I was working for.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: We we had about an 18-month project, and it included, you know, off-site executive team retreats, and I was meeting with them every like once a month on a Tuesday, and I was doing individual coaching along the way.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it was tiered, you know, multiple team dynamics components, but also some one-on-one coaching.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: So once we're doing one-on-one coaching, we are hearing things that are not being said in the room.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: But as a coach, ethically, I can't bring them to that team space if they are not bringing them.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I knew there's this team that is so focused in the present on being getting along.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: We all like each other.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm hearing these undercurrents along the way that people are holding things.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I can't make someone do something uncomfortable.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's not my goal as a coach.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: My goal is to get them to lean in.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so they have to take action and responsibility for their own feelings.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if they want to bury those and stay resentful, you know, we can unpack one-on-one what that looks like.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I had created a roadmap for a 12-month learning cycle.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I'm trying to do my list and check off, but there were times that I had to kind of step back from that and say the bigger issue, rather than, you know, teaching them this skill set that's on my agenda, if we do not really unpack the fact that there's this undercurrent happening, we will not, they can have all the head, you and I have talked a lot about head knowledge today, but yeah, you can have the head knowledge.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's to me the beauty of coaching is it's different than training because it's not something I know.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's how do I apply this and work this through?
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so, in that, in that organization, it was a balance.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just chucking my agenda one day, but it was about how I could move through these one-on-one coaching sessions at the same time that I'm moving the team forward.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm encouraging along the way or challenging people to own their own feelings and do the work, whatever that looked like.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it looked different for each of them.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I knew on the surface, they were telling me one thing, and I knew the reality was different.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: And once you see that, I can't fix it if they're not willing to lean in.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so the goal was to help them build courage.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I hate to use the term psychological safety because I think it gets overused, but essentially a brave space, they had to be brave.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: They had to be brave, they had to bring curiosity.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I did pivot along the way and shift some sessions.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe I was teaching, you know, sessions on giving hard feedback before I was teaching another session.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that, you know, you're front-loading some content, not going in the traditional pathway, but you're equipping them with tools and the training that then you're kind of unpacking in the coaching.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because the richness of coaching is how do I apply this in the real world?
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's not the head knowledge.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about, I can learn it on a podcast.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: I can listen to a podcast today about giving good feedback.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: But what I really need to understand is how do I do it with those two direct reports that just are so hard for me?
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, when that personality rubs me the wrong way, you know, and so-and-so gets defensive.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know how to do this.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: And coaching is different than training in that capacity.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so in that particular instance and engagement, I had the opportunity to do both, which was beautiful because it allowed me to both build their skill set in essentially our leadership meetings while doing the unpacking and the work, the real work and coaching.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's so good.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, there's so many different directions we could go and we could talk for hours about this.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um I would love to give you a little bit of like a pedestal to kind of go in.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_03: What is what's next for Ignite?
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, what is the the future look like for you?
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you're coming up on a decade of doing this.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what does the next decade look like?
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I, you know, what's the vision, the overall, like, where are you heading?
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, what's next?
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's an I think it's an evolution more than a change.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in a good way.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I started, as I mentioned, with a lot of fractional work and and working across a portfolio.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you actually said cur earlier, um, when you're fractionally working, you hit capacity really quickly.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we've explored today some of the ideas of things I love the most, you know, facilitating really tough team dynamics and seeing the beauty in those breakthrough moments and seeing those moments in coaching.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so coaching and facilitating the human side of business is just a deep place of passion for me.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Not because it's just personal fulfilling, like obviously, we all love to do work that we feel, but I believe in the impact.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: I believe in an ever-changing world when you we spend so much time at work, but if you learn really great communication and adaptation skills at work, it is transferable to your relationships.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: It is transferable to having hard conversations with a parent on the soccer sideline or whatever it is.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so these are life skills, not just work skills.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so that work is so deeply fulfilling for me.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: I also think leadership is very lonely.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, a lot of business owners got into business, it grew faster, or they're feeling unfulfilled, or they've worked a million hours.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so showing up for people in their life and walking with them and meeting them wherever they are, giving them space to talk freely without any fear of, you know, it getting spread through their organization.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that is just something that I believe I'm hardwired to do.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: I I love that work so much.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so while I will not fully say I'm never gonna do any fractional work, I'm doing one right now.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a client I've been working with for over a year, and and I'm really invested in this leadership team and I love working with them, but I will be very cautious as I move forward over the next 10 years or however many years I'm gifted to do this work to not overfill my schedule with fractional or heavy consulting.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I will be selective with the clients that I take in that space because it can fill my bucket very quickly and it doesn't leave me capacity to show up the way I want to show up in coaching and team facilitation.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I am intentionally leaving space in my schedule.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it can be uncomfortable at the beginning if the work that's being referred to me, saying no, we've talked about that, saying no to good paying work is a difficult thing to do.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: But if I will refer it out, or you know, I may encourage them if they really are operationally focused, if that's their goal.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'll, you know, recommend an EOS implementer to do that work and I'll, you know, keep the piece that allows me to coach the owner.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so one of the ways that I'm doing this is really building a robust network in Greenville and other places of similarly wired but differently gifted providers.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many talented coaches and consultants that have different sweet spots.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so it gives you, as a coach or an entrepreneur or business owner, a network that allows you to feel like you're working on a team.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's really a strength of the SEPA community in particular, is to not feel like I have to carry all of it.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: So my biggest sort of pivot or evolution in the next chapter of my business is to give more work to those that I respect and appreciate in the community or refer it to those who are specialists in those spaces and really lean into the work where I feel like I have the greatest impact, which is the coaching piece, the vision and values, and how does it work in the real world and how do I get beyond my head knowledge into how I'm showing up or what is holding me back and how I get unstuck.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm really excited to spend more time coaching and doing team dynamics work.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean I'll never do the other work, but I'm really intentionally building a network of referral partners so that I can share that work with others and stay in my lane.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_03: That um it's such a good picture, and you are such a good example of having such a clear vision.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_03: Again, that's the reason we we put that as a competency is the best coaches, and I'm gonna put you in that that category.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_03: You you have such a clear vision, and you do all the other competencies super well too, but you're so crystal clear that it's allowing you to use that as a focus filter to hey, here's how I'm gonna achieve the vision, and here's what I love to do, and now I have the ability to say no to the wrong things because I'm clear on what I love doing.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: So I have I have loved this conversation.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_03: This is flown by.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um so as it always does every time we talk.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_03: But I always love to ask guests two questions on kind of tail end.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_03: So if you could go back to rookie Rachel, who's just starting out a coaching practice, let's say, what advice would you give yourself with all of the knowledge and experiences that you have now?
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: So good.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: Don't we always say hindsight uh is 2020?
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I I would say two, two core things for me.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, keep it simple.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: And number two, trust my intuition.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if you do have a clear vision, it is a lot easier to trust your intuition.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, as you're building, a lot of times everyone around you is going, you need to scale.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: You need to build a system to scale.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I do it with other businesses.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: So there are some moments in Ignite I probably got way overcomplicated.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: Too many back systems, too much infrastructure.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I it it happened when you start achieving success.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I started Ignite small, I didn't even have a brand name.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: I was using a Gmail.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, I didn't have infrastructure.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was me, me and a proposal.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, over time, you do start to systematize to make your work repeatable and scalable, which is wise, but not overdoing it.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it it is okay to keep things kind of simple as long as they are scalable.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: So there are better tools available now than there were eight and a half years ago for coaches, you know, at the time you're kind of cobbling together uh, you know, an Excel for, you know, to not pay for a CRM or your You know, using this tool for finances and you're, you know, doing this, and all of a sudden you realize you're spending more time doing finance and invoicing and things that you don't love that are not compelling than actually doing the coaching work.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you keep it simpler and scale appropriately, it is it is challenging.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little bit of a gray space, but giving myself the freedom to really keep things simple.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: And as people are going, oh, you've hit this num, you know, this volume or you have that many clients, how are you managing all that?
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you need this tool?
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm using this tool, and I'm thinking, oh, all these coaches are using that tool.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: I need that tool.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so it can get overcomplicated.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm in a, I've been in a season for the last six months or so of where I've really scaled some things back and simplified some systems.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm still refining some of that.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited about, you know, hopefully it'll be coming pretty soon, some changes.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: So making business and life easier and the administration of my business.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I I think it got heavy for a minute.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt like I was running the business more than being in the business.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a that's a really good word.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_03: I think we're, as coaches, we're really good at helping business owners get out of that, but oftentimes we neglect that ourselves.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's a that's a really good word.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_03: Second question I always like to ask is what's a lesson you're in the middle of learning right now in this current moment?
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: This has been a moment of reflection for me as a person.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: I just hit a really big milestone birthday last week.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've been doing all this deep reflecting.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, you know, I started as I think about that, there are a lot of deep places I could go, but I'm gonna keep it really a surface.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: Fair.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: Which is I I am learning how to grow in scale coaching when I have a love-hate relationship with social media and LinkedIn.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it's that's that's the most honest answer I could possibly give you.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because it feels like we are being compelled to be content creators.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't love that space.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I love an honest conversation like this with you and I, or you know, if we meet for coffee at the Commons or whatever, I love it.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: I I love I I used to believe I hated networking.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now I realize I love it in the right format.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: I I love learning people's stories, I love connecting with other business owners and learning what they do.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I am learning how can I balance the right level of business development that I need.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: We all as entrepreneurs have to be business developers in a way that feels really organic and authentic to me without falling in the social media trap.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: And is it okay for me to challenge myself to be on social media even when it's uncomfortable for me?
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's a both hand there.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I write a lot, I rarely put it on LinkedIn.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm challenging myself to put put ideas out there a little more boldly.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a personal challenge, it's a both hand, it's not an either-or.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's not I reject social media and LinkedIn and I'm gonna go all in on personal networking.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's what is a healthy balance for Rachel Reese, for Ignite?
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: What what puts me in front of the right prospects and clients and people that I can have the greatest impact with?
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so that is a lesson I am deeply entrenched in at the moment.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as I find what is the right balance that's healthy for me to allow me to do the work that I love.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because it is, it is, it is such meaningful work to me.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: And being in front of the right people helps me do that.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is definitely a both end moment for me.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, it's definitely uh two sides of the same coin for sure.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_03: Cause it's a I joke with people because you know, I I have I I joke that I I've sold my soul to the devil where I have just played the LinkedIn game.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_03: And there are days where I'm like, the last thing I want to think about is that.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_03: I would much rather connect with people like this.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_03: And so I feel that on a deep level.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_03: But it is how do we use it in a healthy way that leads to good, you know.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_00: And and those, the other thing I think along that way, those platforms can be misleading.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of people can can put content out.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that they are are really deeply embedded in the work.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is uh like I said, I have a lot of feelings about it that we don't need to fully unpack.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: But it is it is one of those things that I think can be easily misleading, but also valuable.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I love that you're putting yourself out on LinkedIn.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_00: Proud of you.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not doing quite as well with that myself.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but but I do, like I said, I do write.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_00: I do write content and I I think through a lot of thoughts that I think I can share with others.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I have these moments that I'm like, oh, I had that thought.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_00: I wrote that last week in my journal.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: I could have put it on LinkedIn.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, I don't, it also comes back to being true to myself and not trying to follow someone else.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, I'm a big supporter of seeing other people succeed.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: You and I have some similarity in our network, and so many people around us are really thriving in those spaces, and I am delighted for them.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, publishing a book or doing podcasts and all of those things.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so exciting to see people around you thriving.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of them are thriving because they've been really bold in what they're putting out in the social space.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't feel organic to me all the time.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so finding a way, what is the right balance of challenging myself?
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's my personal journey right now.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_03: I I I appreciate you uh opening up about that.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's very relevant for a lot of people.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_03: So um, well, Rachel, this has been awesome.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for for taking the time.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_03: What if I mean, what's the best place to get in touch with you if somebody wants to either connect with you, kind of pick your brain on some of this stuff, or is interested in maybe some of your services?
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what's the best place to get in touch with you?
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, thanks so much for having me, Cam.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's been just such a fun hour that did fly by.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I am available on my website, which is ignite-engagement.com.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm available on LinkedIn.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I also have Instagram that is not very active, but it is there, and you can DM me through Instagram.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that is an ignite engagement as well.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: So just my name or ignite engagement, if you find those two places, those are the ways you can find me.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_03: And I'll I'll find those and link to those in the show notes to make it crystal uh clear for people uh to make it easy for them.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_03: But Rachel, thank you for for taking the time to chat.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_03: I am very glad our paths crossed.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and like you said, there's just been some cool, even just previous connections from past lives and whatnot.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_03: And so I'm just really thankful that that um the the universe, God kind of aligned our paths.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I appreciate you and the the good work that you do.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_03: And so I hope we can uh continue the relationship long into the future.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm excited to see the success you're seeing.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: So absolutely.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Cam.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_03: Well, awesome.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you for tuning in.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_03: We've got plenty more episodes where that came from.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see you on the next one.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's it for today's episode of the Ambitious Coach Lab.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_03: My hope is that something here helps you sharpen your craft and keep building a coaching practice you're proud of.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_03: Before we wrap, a quick thank you to our sponsor, 90.
• 51:40
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• 51:46
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• 51:50
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• 51:57
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• 52:04
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• 52:08
  SPEAKER_03: Again, that's AC20 for 20% off.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for hanging out with me today.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Cam.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_03: Cheering on as you grow your ambitious coaching projects.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see you next time.