I Wasn’t Good Enough to Start A Coaching Business (But I Did It Anyway)

*This was originally written as a Business Love Letter to my mailing list. Subscribed readers get my best stuff. Get my emails here.

I used to believe that it took a certain type of person to start a successful business…

A born confident achiever, a money-smart who wakes up every day at 5 AM to visualize her “ultimate vision,” practice yoga for an hour, and be in a kind of bliss that’ll put unicorns to shame.🦄

(Did I also mention that she’s on Forbes 40 under 40, has 100 K followers on Instagram, and an unlimited budget for manicures?)

That’s why I’m still surprised that I’ve had a profitable coaching business for 6 years and counting.

Because logically speaking, I was never meant to make it.

Here are the 12 reasons why:

1.

I became a coach when I was 26 years old.

“Who would pay to get coached by a 26-year-old!?” I used to fret at this thought.

Turns out, plenty would. I once worked with a client who was older than my mom!

It felt intimidating at first, but after a while, I learned that if you can establish yourself in the right “niche”. If your coaching solves a meaningful problem for a specific group of people, age isn’t a problem.

Do you ask your dentist how old she is? I bet not. Because it isn’t relevant. If she can fix your root canal, you’d open wide and happily pay the bills. Coaching works the same way, too.

2.

I wasn’t officially trained.

Before becoming a coach, I coached team members and facilitated events in my NGO work. I read obsessively about yoga, psychology, personal development, and life coaching. (Meaning: I was the ultimate lab rat for all the methods from those books.)

And I had visible results in the coaching niche I chose. (My first niche was helping women in long-distance relationships - take note of the specificity.)

But I started enrolling paid clients before any formal training.

Eventually, I did invest in the Wayfinder Coach Training with Martha Beck. But only after a solid half year of making at least four figures a month coaching real paying clients.

Moral of the story?

The difference between being a coach and building a coaching business is about the size of a humpback whale. 🐋

Coach training doesn’t auto-magically help you earn a good living as a coach. Business training does.

3.

I’m dangerously not motivated by money.

I’ve tried all the money mindset healing techniques under the heaven. (Which was useful in different ways!)

But what can I say? I’m just not interested in money for the sake of money.

Other entrepreneurs get fired up by money goals. I couldn’t care less. My business has revenue goals, but I always forget about them. (Please don’t tell my CFO.)

What gets me fired up instead?

Thinking about how money can help me live true to what’s important to me: working anywhere, taking full control of my calendar, making a difference, sharing my truth, taking care of Mother Earth, getting unlimited art supplies, and free flow of kombucha.

4.

I didn’t see myself as an “entrepreneur.”

Please don’t take me to Shark Tank. I want to be in a hot bath with Epsom salt and lavender!

I have zero clues and sub-zero interest in fundraising.

I’m allergic to networking events. I don’t know how to “work a room” and “create meaningful connections that lead to business opportunities.” (Or am I just too lazy to?)

#introvert

Which relates to the following:

5.

I have unstable and limited energy.

I’m diagnosed as an HSP (highly sensitive person.) Meaning my nervous system is delicate. I get easily overstimulated. So I need a lot of downtime. If I don’t have space to “just be,” I turn into a cornered animal, or I get sick.

6.

I’m way too emotional.

I cried watching Kungfu Panda. My partner needs your prayers when I’m in PMS.

So my entrepreneurial journey has been 90% about managing my emotional well-being.

Making my emotions my ally instead of my enemy is like cracking open the treasure chest that I had sat on my whole life. It’s powerful stuff!

Now I base my business decisions on how I feel in my body. (Which turns out to be highly profitable and helps me not hate my life. Who knew?)

7.

I can be all over the place.

Aside from coaching, I love writing, dance, watercolor, calligraphy, sketching, theater, poetry, documentary filmmaking, pottery, and dinosaur hatching. (Why? Because dinosaur eggs don’t hatch themselves. You silly!)

Building a business has been about finding ways to use my various passions while simultaneously allowing my business not to be the expression of everything I love.

Freeing my creative energy while simultaneously channeling it to create actual results: clients, income, and long-term impact.

Those are the fine lines I still sometimes trip over.

8.

I get a headache when I look at numbers.

I’ve learned to be more mindful of my business numbers. But still need panadol during quarterly reviews.

9.

I’m not good at discipline.

I can’t maintain a meditation streak for more than 4 days. I have concluded that I’m just not wired for routines and won’t ever join Robin Sharma's 5 AM Club.

I thrive on changes and variety. Which strangely makes me a lot more resilient to the uncertainty and risks inherent in the life of an entrepreneur.

10.

I’m super woo woo.

I do stuff that makes legit entrepreneurs’ eyebrows raise so high I fear they may fly away.

New Moon rituals. Crystals arrangement. Sage burning. Consulting my 4 different oracle decks every Monday. Asking the Universe for guidance. And connecting with the spirit of my business.

Good thing: There’s no side effect to this except extreme courage in the face of uncertainty (and making lots of money.)

11.

I doubt myself and feel afraid all. the. time.

Don’t let my reels fool you. I probably sweated buckets in those shots. I’ve given 3 TEDx Talks (gasp!). And I still think it's a miracle that I didn’t vomit on stage. I had to learn to do everything afraid. Because fear and I are in a perpetual state of coexistence.

12.

I don’t have everything figured out.

My life isn’t perfect. It’s full, messy, crazy human.

I got a divorce when I was 29. Became a nomad. Found new love and got pregnant a year later. Had a baby during the Covid lockdown.

My baby turned two a few weeks ago. This morning our nanny blew up my whole schedule because her nanny got sick and couldn’t babysit her son; thus, she couldn’t babysit mine. (Can’t follow? Me neither.)

Plus, I think my earbuds are in the laundry machine.

I had (and still have) all the reasons to fail.

But I started a coaching business anyway.

Despite (and because of) all those “weaknesses,” I’ve built a profitable business for 6 years and counting - one that earns six-figure per year, gives me all the freedom and gets me paid to change the world.

And here I am: still an emotional, highly sensitive, tree-hugging hermit whose brain goes “poof” in front of a profit-and-loss statement.

If you dream of making a living with coaching but don’t know if you have what it takes to start a business, bet on yourself, get support, and take action anyway.

Soon you’ll discover what I learned after all these years…

Your flaws, once embraced, become your magic.

P.S: Get paid to change the world (and have all the freedom you want, too!)

It’s possible to start a thriving coaching business. All you need is a little help.

Check out these results:

After making happy money from coaching for 3 years, K. quit her 9-to-5 to become a coach fulltime, having all the freedom she always wanted.

T. went from zero to being fully-booked at a price point she didn’t believe she could charge. She has quit her ful time job to have more time to travel, live her life and grow her coaching business.

After just 1 month of working with me, A. enrolled a client on $ 2,500 coaching package helping moms become VA.

After just 2 months of working with me, L. had 2 premium clients signed up on $1,000 + package. He then hosted an online workshop with 40 attendees - with no website, and little social media presence.

A. quit her consulting job and moved to a paradise island. She had coaching calls in front of the ocean. She wrote to me “I feel like I’m ‘retired.’ I have all the freedom and external achievements I ever dreamed of.”

If they can do it, so can you!

This is why I’ve built this informative FREE guidebook called “The 7-Part Enrollment Session Success Blueprint”, so that you can feel confident to enroll clients who adore you and are willing to pay you without question.

Click the image below to download the guidebook.

I’ll see you inside!

Hey, fellow purpose-driven human!

I’m Milena. When I was 24, I said no to corporate job offers to “do my own thing.”

9 years, some major fumbles, 3 TEDx Talks, 1 published book, 50,000 followers, and hundreds of clients (from 15+ countries) later…

I make a multi-six-figure living as a coach while spending most of my time walking barefoot in my apartment. #introvertgoal

I know you want to make a difference.

I’m here to help you turn that calling into a financially sustainable coaching business — while staying away from the hustle, and skipping the pitfalls that trip up most new coaches.

Quit your 9-to-5. Move to a paradise island. Slow yoga every morning. Work from sunlit cafes. Make time for loved ones (including yourself). Grow your influence. Wake up excited about your day. And serve only the clients who light you up…

All of that (and more!) is possible, once you have the right support.

Let me help you shine.

that’s not enough, tell me more!