But I've Had Bad Experiences Before

Jay Topp, founder of Real Growth, answers on video. Transcript:

So a lot of the coaches that we work with have had bad experiences in the marketing space, in the sales space, in the online coaching space. As I say, join the club. We've all been there. We've all been maybe let down or disappointed or maybe invested into things that we didn't show up in the way that we originally would have liked to, or we had great dreams and ambitions, and for whatever reason, I always have to take full responsibility for my own actions in whatever I invest in.

But there's people out there who genuinely have bad products, and so we speak to a lot of people. I would say every single person in our community, once they arrive, are just like, there's a huge sigh of relief because they know they've finally found the space that they can thrive in, that they can build an incredible business in, where they're surrounded by not just great team of mine, but also amazing other people.

A great frame that was given to me by a coach previously was in dating and in the pursuit of love and romance and intimacy, the tragedy that we all endure on that road, how many times we are heartbroken, how many times we're let down or disappointed by what we find in that beautiful pursuit of love. And for me, business is really the same. I have a message, I have a mission, I have something with absolute clarity that I know I have a gift I'm here to give to the world, and I'm more than willing to take it on the chin when I know that I'm going to get equal challenge and support.

When I speak to coaches who've had those experiences, which is, for the better part, everybody, I think the most useful things first is taking responsibility, because anything we don't accept and take responsibility for, we can't change. And I'm always looking to take the maximum amount of responsibility in my life because it's the only way I can stay sane. It's the only way I keep my independence by being responsible for my own life.

The second one is kind of breaking the illusion of loss. So a lot of people feel, and it's a common thing, that they lost something in one of those processes. In my experience, loss is an illusion. That there is no loss. There's only transformation. And if I look at those moments in my life and help other people look into those, and if you look deeply enough and ask the questions, there was no loss in those moments, but there was great transformation.

Maybe just not the one that we expected. It saved us from going down an unfortunate route, or it taught us really important lessons about ourselves, and it's a feather in the cap of us as coaches, how we're going to show up, how we're going to deliver quality products for the people that we serve. Generally, those forging moments create a lot of asymmetrical value for the coach that goes unrecognized and becomes a really important part of their journey going forward.

And so if you have been burned, I'd say, join the club. It's great to have you here with us. And what I would say is take heart, be courageous, because the greats of any space, you look at the great artists, the great musicians, the amount of disappointment that they endured, the amount of hardship that they endured, it's a part of the price of entry. If we look at the cost of greatness and whatever greatness means to you, but to do something worthy, it's an unavoidable part of that process.

So it means that you're on the right path. I've never seen anybody have sustainable long-term success without enduring many disappointments, many heartaches. And that is why the entrepreneurial journey, especially the one of a coach's, is such a beautiful, beautiful thing.