Ep #359: How to Do Well with Extraordinary Scholars

You are listening to The Life Coach School Podcast with Brooke Castillo episode number 359.

Welcome to The Life Coach School Podcast, where it’s all about real clients, real problems and real coaching. And now your host, Master Coach Instructor, Brooke Castillo.

Brooke: Hello my friends. I’m so excited today. We are doing a special guest how to do well podcast. We have so many special guests that are going to teach you how they utilize the tools that I teach on the podcast and in Scholars to do well in their own lives.

So, I’ve asked each of them to talk about the decision to join Scholars, because that’s a big decision that a lot of people make. And how they actually used all that amazing content in there to literally change their lives.

So, we’re going to start here with Cledra Gross. And by the way, if you want to see how cute we are you can check us out at thelifecoachschool.com/359 if you want to see us on video.

Cledra, welcome. Welcome to the podcast.

Cledra: Thank you, I’m glad to be here.

Brooke: Okay, good. Tell us.

Cledra: All right, so I joined Scholars because I had been coaching for several years and I wasn’t making the consistent income that I wanted. And I heard how you were working three days a week and making all this money. And I wanted to know how to do it.

Brooke: Okay. So you weren’t certified at the Life Coach School, you were certified somewhere else. And you had been working as a coach.

Cledra: Correct.

Brooke: Okay, got it. All right.

Cledra: Correct.

Brooke: It’s a big decision to join. Did you think about it for a while or did you just hear about me and say I’m in?

Cledra: I heard about you, I listened to the podcast, and I was in.

Brooke: All right.

Cledra: The model, I was sold on the model and the thought work.

Brooke: Okay, awesome. So, once you joined, tell us, and the reason I want you to tell us this is so we can copy you.

Cledra: Okay.

Brooke: Tell us how you utilized Scholars, once you got in there, to take the tools and the information that I teach, and actually apply them. So there’s two parts to Scholars, right? You have to actually consume the material and then you have to actually apply it to your life to get a different result. So tell us a little bit about what that was like for you.

Cledra: So I came in at the end of the year in 2018 and you were about to do How to Set Your Impossible Goal. And so, the whole concept of constraining was new for me. And so I took that completely all in, you know, the way you teach it in Scholars, and I focused on one thing. Because there’s so much to do in Scholars.

Brooke: Right.

Cledra: And so I was able to do that and my income continued to increase. I also worked on my weight, I worked on relationship issues. It’s been amazing. It has impacted every single area of my life.

Brooke: I love it. So tell us more specifically about, and you can share as many or as few details as you want, about what your impossible goal was. And where you started, and where you got to, and what you utilized to do it.

Cledra: So my impossible goal was to have consecutive $20,000 months. And so I was moving towards that and then the pandemic hit. And you actually coached me on a call, because I was going to go back and be a pharmaceutical rep and do my coaching on the side. Because I started to think, “I have to do something that’s certain.”

And the key thing that you said to me is, “Why are you putting your certainty in a job instead of going all in in your business?” And then you went on to say, “The fact that you want to quit means you’re doing it right.”

Brooke: Yep.

Cledra: And so I ended up closing 2020 with a month that was over $80,000.

Brooke: Wow, 80,000 in your business in one month?

Cledra: Correct.

Brooke: Beautiful. I love it

Cledra: Correct.

Brooke: Okay, so it sounds like you utilized the coaching. So, you came onto a call where I was coaching, you submitted to be coached, and I coached you live?

Cledra: That’s correct

Brooke: Okay. Is there anything else you used in Scholars that would be helpful to someone else in your similar position? Maybe they’re not making as much money in their business as they want to. Was there anything else in there that was helpful in that area?

Cledra: Absolutely. Monday Hour One was very helpful in helping me clean up my day, and how I spend my time, how I manage my mind. Combining all of the information in there about entrepreneurship and Monday Hour One, powerful combination.

Brooke: Yeah, I love that. So, one of the tools that we have in there, Monday Hour One, which she’s referring to, is the calendaring tool that I teach. And we actually sell that product separately, but we decided to include it for everyone in Scholars for that exact same reason. Because we have people that come into Scholars that want to learn about money. We have a lot of courses on money in there, and they want to learn about entrepreneurship.

But if you can’t manage your time and you can’t figure out how to utilize the limited amount of time you have you won’t be able to, not only consume the information that we’re teaching and get the coaching classes, but also go out there and create what you need to create in order to produce the amount of revenue that you want to produce.

So what type of coaching do you do?

Cledra: Life and business coaching.

Brooke: Life and business, okay beautiful. So, if someone wants to come check you out and maybe get coached by you, how can they find you?

Cledra: Absolutely, Cledra.com.

Brooke: Okay.

Cledra: C-L-E-D-R-A .com.

Brooke: Wow, that’s a great URL you got. That’s amazing, I love it.

Okay, let’s move on to you, Cyndi. Tell us, again, about how you made the decision to join Scholars and what happened once you got in there.

Cyndi: I had started listening to you way before Scholars. 2016 I think a neighbor told me about you and I was so hooked. I think you were on like episode 116. And I did what you said. And I started from the beginning. And I was just so amazed by what I’d never heard before.

Brooke: Yay, awesome.

Cyndi: So, I actually joined Scholars in the middle of 2017. I am an entrepreneur. So I was knee deep in a business that was really struggling. I’ve been an entrepreneur for 20 years. And I didn’t realize it at the time but you definitely could have helped me if I joined right when you started, because I knew about it. But I joined in June.

And then I was in for a few months and got so many amazing tools. And I was like, “Oh, I’m good.” And then your people told me, “But if you leave you have to wait a year to come back.” So I quickly realized, “Okay, I’m going to sit out this year but I’m jumping right back in.

Brooke: Okay.

Cyndi: So now I’m a double diamond again, I mean I’m a double diamond and a half or something.

Brooke: Love that, I’m a double diamond and a half.

Cyndi: I’m a double diamond and a half. And I knew I didn’t want to be a coach because I have my own business. But you helped me in so many ways be a way better business woman.

So, I joined because I could see you had so much knowledge of business that I’d never really heard or read in all these other books. And I wanted to be the best version of me. Like whenever anyone asks me, if I mention it, I say, “I just want to be a better human and this is such an amazing way to do it.”

And you talk about don’t just listen to the calls, apply it. So I say to myself with every call I listen to, whether live or on demand, I’m going to get at least one thing out of it that I apply.

Brooke: Yes, that’s great.

Cyndi: Yes, it’s not just consuming. And it’s amazing because my kids, they don’t even know who I am. Like I am such a better human with them. I think I used to yell a lot; I think I used to criticize them a lot. And now I just think they’re amazing and I love them. And they’re just so calm around me.

And my husband is loving how I run our business with him. Because we’ve had various businesses since 2001, brick and mortar businesses. And so, I’ve just taken little pieces of your “It’s the little things that make up the big things in your life”, I made notes. The future focus is intense, combined with the Monday Hour One.

I’m in a franchise, so we build these businesses and so I’ve got my goals –

Brooke: What kind of franchise is it?

Cyndi: I’m in the beauty business.

Brooke: Okay.

Cyndi: I knew you were in the salon business, but I rent out space to beauty professionals. So, I’m in what’s called the salon suites business. And so I build like Office Depot size units and I make like 50 rooms. And then I rent them out, so I’m kind of a landlord.

Brooke: Got it. Okay, so tell me something that you learned in Scholars that helped you with that business. Because what’s interesting about that to me is I don’t know anything about that business, right? I have never built a business like that. So what is it that you learned from me?

Cyndi: I’m so glad you asked, the over delivery.

Brooke: Yes.

Cyndi: Okay, so my husband and I are such accessible owners. I mean we are sheltered by our managers, but we give so much to them. You know, I was watching sort of by your example all the social media that your people behind the scenes do. And so I do a lot for them.

I have exceptional managers in each of my locations that are just the best in the business. I do not have to negotiate prices in my business like you, like I love that. When I was like, “Oh, there’s no Scholarships in Scholars, or there’s no discounts.” And so I applied that to, “This is my price, we are amazing, please join us.”

And so we’ve done really well with that. And I’ve also learned from you to compensate my managers so well. You don’t really learn that in all the little things you read. So I’m so proud for what I pay them. So things like that.

And then just the money goals. The Future Focus has really just like kept me on track. My husband right now is upstairs talking with our attorneys and all these things in the final stages of negotiating a lease for our next location. And I’m just like giddy to keep growing.

Brooke: I love it.

Cyndi: I’m just so excited to keep growing. So, the Monday Hour One was amazing because I work like three hours a day, it’s awesome.

Brooke: But when you work, you go to work.

Cyndi: I am intense. It’s so cute, my husband is usually at his desk right next to me and he’ll try to be like, “Look at this cute tweet.” And I’m like, “Oh no, we’re not doing that.” And then I’m just like here. And then my phone is always on do not disturb when I’m working. My notifications are off. I learned all that from you, and I don’t even think you meant to teach some of it.

And we’ve overcome a lot of stuff. On the outside people think, “Oh, they’re these entrepreneurs and we make great money.” But we’ve had some stuff. Like, I have a child with classic autism, I have a very intense autoimmune condition that you can’t see.

So all the thought work through that. I mean, my son, when he turned 13, because of the tools you taught me, I was able to place him in a wonderful group home. Which I knew there would be so much judgment from all the people. And I just decided, “It doesn’t matter, I’m taking care of us.” And my son is delightfully happy. He’s 18 now, my oldest son.

And I mean I made a list, there’s like 20 things. So I don’t need to take up all the time, but I just am so forever grateful. And you know, it’s like you just keep over delivering. So I’m like, “Why would I ever leave this?”

Brooke: Yeah, don’t ever leave Scholars.

Cyndi: I’m never leaving because there’s all the amazing coaches you have that I’m like, “Oh my gosh, Corinne is going to teach this class. And Jody is going to teach this class.” And I like work my day around it. It’s just so awesome.

So, I’m just so delighted with also like how I’ve learned to manage my family. I know I hear this from a lot of people when on the calls. But I truly adore my parents and my in-laws, which it wasn’t that way five years ago. And all my nieces, and nephews, and my siblings. I’ve come very far. You have coached me live a few times, and it really helped change my mindset from, “I’m never going to get there.” to “Oh my gosh, I’m getting there.”

Brooke: Yeah, I love it. I love it. What I love about what you said that’s so interesting is so much of what you can learn in Scholars is by listening to other people be coached, by being coached yourself.

I really want to encourage anyone who joins Scholars to raise your hand, get coached by me or one of the other coaches so you can get your own specific issue. If you go to a group call and you don’t get coached you can always get coached one on one with our coaches that are there.

But one of the things that I think is so interesting is, so many people join Scholars for one specific reason. They join because they want to make more money or they want to make more money as a coach. And once they get in there and they start applying those tools they see how it affects every single part of your life.

It makes your relationships better. It makes your conversations better with your husband and your business partner. It makes your relationship with your own weight and buffering and all of that better. Which ultimately all contributes to the bottom line, which is why you joined in the first place. Which was to make more money in your case, right?

Cyndi: Right.

Brooke: But there’s so many other opportunities within Scholars that if you apply them and utilize them, if you stay in long enough to be able to do that it’ll effect that original reason why you joined.

Cyndi: Yes.

Brooke: Awesome, thank you so much for sharing.

All right, what about you Eric?

Eric: Hey, hey Brooke. So, thank you for having me on. So I learned about you through Frank Kern.

Brooke: Oh, right?

Eric: Yeah.

Brooke: My man.

Eric: Yeah, my man Frank. So, I’m a member of his inner circle and there’s a video of you teaching a model on his inner circle website.

Brooke: Nice.

Eric: So I like stumbled across this video and I was like, “Oh my God.”

Brooke: What just happened?

Eric: “Cool, like what just happened? This is so cool.” Because I follow this kind of stuff. I’m really into mindset teaching and coaching. And the model like blew my mind. It was amazing.

So, I immediately started engaging with the podcast, with your online Facebook trainings. Then, like Cledra, I joined a little over two years ago, All About the Impossible Goal. So the chance to work on the impossible goal, that’s like what put me over the top.

So today I’m going through certification, I’ll be certified in a couple months. I’m a little over two years in Scholars. So, the two huge things for me, as takeaways. It really started with a focus on money and a focus on my coaching business.

So, two years ago I have like this kind of fledgling, kind of side hustle coaching training business. But it was like my pet passion. Like I really wanted to grow it but it was really stuck. And what you taught me about feeling ahead of time. So feeling valuable, feeling worthy ahead of the result. Like when you first taught that I was like, “What are you talking about? No way, that can’t be true.” But I put it into practice, I really worked on that. First thing in the morning, pen and paper, thought work to get that feeling installed.

And so December 2018, my monthly revenue for my coaching business was a little over $600. This month it will be a little over $25,000.

Brooke: What?

Eric: That’s a 3100% increase. And so the difference that it’s made, Brooke, is that for me and financial goals it went from needing the goal to come true so I could feel 100%, right? So I could feel 100% worthy, feel like I had finally made it. And because of that it was like this grind, it was a hustle, it was like this burden. It was such a struggle to get there. And I would get some results, but it would just be a battle the whole way.

And now that I’ve flipped that around after what you’ve taught me, there’s still plenty of work, but it’s not hard any more. It’s not like this big burdensome thing that I’m bogged down with. It’s like the difference between a headwind and a tailwind is how it feels.

Brooke: Yes.

Eric: And it’s amazing. And it’s awesome. Yeah, so my coaching business is skyrocketing, it’s taking off.

And so, from certification the outcome was, and this goes to what you said before about getting other outcomes that you didn’t necessarily expect. I didn’t join Scholars to work on my drinking, but my drinking like totally transformed.

So I used to wake up super hungover. And then I would give myself a hard time all day because I just felt like crap all day long. Which would make me feel even worse physically, feel even worse mentally. It was this nasty little loop that I was in

Brooke: Right.

Eric: And so what I learned about allowing urges, game changer. Like game changer. And it’s kind of like what I was saying with money, is that it went from feeling I was in this battle with it every night, and having to resist it, and fight it. To now I can just allow it. I can just allow it and I can make a different choice. And now, I wake up in the morning feeling amazing. Like feeling energetic and super proud. And now I’m like, “If I can do that, I can do anything. I can do anything if I can do that.”

So those are my two, there’s been all kinds of other outcomes but those are my two big ones from both Scholars and certification.

Brooke: Yeah, love it. So tell me a little bit about your business. What kind of coaching do you do?

Eric: So I coach realtors and I coach people how to coach realtors.

Brooke: Oh, okay. Very cool. I love that. And if you are a realtor and you’re listening to this and you want Eric to help you become a better realtor, make more money. Is that what you’re helping them do?

Eric: Yeah, I say get there faster with less pain.

Brooke: Yeah. Well, yeah, if you’d like to get there faster with less pain. And listen, if you’re in the Austin market, our real estate market is insane right now. How can they find you?

Eric: So, go to the Googles and just look for me, and the Leading Edge is the name of my company. The URL is inspireperformprofit.com.

Brooke: Love it. Awesome. It’s so fun to meet you and hear your story. I love anyone who found me through Frank Kern, right?

Eric: Right.

Brooke: Frank said to me, what does he say to me? He’s like, “I get all the money after the decimal.” I’m like, “Okay buddy.”

All right, let’s go over to Courtney.

Courtney: Well, hello.

Brooke: Hi.

Courtney: Thanks for having me.

Brooke: Yes, of course.

Courtney: Okay, I was getting so much just by listening to the podcast for about maybe six months that I thought, “If I’m getting so much transformation in my own life, it just makes sense that I give Scholars a try.”

And I really joined Scholars to help me with my business. I’m a jewelry artist and kind of was feeling like I had done everything I could in my business. I was just like, “I need someone to help me build this.” And I also was really feeling stuck because I was scared to hire an assistant.

And so I joined Scholars, and the 20-minute Scholars calls, really, that was amazing for me. Actually, it's interesting too because I’ve hired now three assistants.

Brooke: That’s awesome. So when you say the 20-minute calls you mean the 20 minute one on one calls that you get weekly?

Courtney: 20 minute one on one calls, yeah. At first, I thought, “Ugh, what can we really do in 20 minutes? It’s not enough time.” It’s amazing how much you can do in 20 minutes.

Brooke: Yeah, when you’re focused. Yep.

Courtney: When you’re focused. And I would go saying this is what I’m struggling with. So I started hiring employees, and it turns out you can hire employees that you love. Who knew? That’s what I didn’t believe.

Brooke: Right? I found that out too.

Courtney: Yeah. But I will tell you, last year was my highest revenue year. And I went into the year thinking, “This is my time. I’m ready to go.” And then when COVID hit I was really deflated. And I went to one of those 20 minute calls and I literally was like, “I just launched my spring collection, now we’ve got this COVID thing going on. People aren’t going to be buying.” And she was amazing, she did not buy any of it. She totally questioned me and after 20 minutes I literally had turned it around and I literally thought, “I have a beautiful online business, now is my time.”

Brooke: Yes.

Courtney: And within two weeks I was up 100% online. And last year was my highest revenue year ever.

Brooke: Oh my gosh, congrats.

Courtney: Thank you.

Brooke: That’s such a good testimonial for the 20-minute calls. Because there’s a couple of things that you said there. So, a lot of people listen to the podcast and they’re having such a big transformation because of the podcast they don’t think they need Scholars. They think, “Oh, this is fine, I’m already getting it.” And then you join Scholars and you’re like, “Oh, okay. It’s a whole different world.”

Courtney: Yeah, because when I was listening to the podcast I was so intrigued by the model. I had followed Tony Robbins and Jack Canfield, and I loved all of it. But it wasn’t until you started talking about the model and I started kind of seeing it through listening to the podcast, trying to do it. And then once you join Scholars, and I was doing it every day it was like a mind explosion.

Brooke: Yes. So good. I love it. Congratulations, that’s an amazing story.

Courtney: Thank you.

Brooke: Okay, let’s move onto you Jessica.

Jessica: Hi Brooke.

Brooke: Hi.

Jessica: I am so excited to be here, this is a surreal moment, for sure. I think we were all talking behind the scenes right before you popped on about how much we were so grateful for Scholars to coach us on our thoughts about being on the podcast. It was like very meta.

Brooke: That’s awesome. Yeah, it’s kind of nerve-wracking, there’s a lot of 18 million people that listen to this. So don’t be nervous.

Jessica: Yeah, no, I’m more pumped than anything. But, yeah, for me when I joined Scholars it was for a very different reason. So, I didn’t actually want to join Scholars, I wanted to join Certification. But I had a lot of stories about how I couldn’t afford it. And I had a very specific story that only rich housewives could afford.

Brooke: Oh, okay.

Jessica: This is my thought in my brain. I was like really convinced like, “I’m never going to be that person so I just can’t be in certification.” And then what I realized was, I had heard Natalie, I don’t know if it was Natalie Brown or Natalie Bacon. I heard her story, “Oh, I found a way to work for the school and pay for certification.”

So I was like, “I know, I’ll join Scholars and trick someone into letting me work for the school so that I can pay for certification.”

Brooke: Yes, that’s the answer.

Jessica: This is my thought. It’s terrible. I got in, I immediately started getting coaching regularly, the 20-minute sessions. Immediately found all of these thoughts that I thought were just circumstances, were just facts, and true. And immediately dove into the concepts, definitely the Future Focus.

And I know Scholars has themes per month, and the theme on thoughts about you was such a game changer for me. Just, I realized how possible it was for me to believe something about myself with zero evidence that it was true.

Brooke: Isn’t that the best? You can just think whatever you want about yourself.

Jessica: It’s so fun.

Brooke: It’s such a privilege, yeah.

Jessica: I know and I’ve applied that to everything. So, the month that I joined Scholars was actually the month after I separated from my husband and I had an 18-month-old child.

And I basically went from being a full-time parent and having this side hustle coaching gig with one client, to “Okay, if I really want to do this, it needs to happen and now. "And I applied every single thing in Scholars that you gave me. I was just, “I’m going to come and I’m going to get what I came for.”

Brooke: Good for you.

Jessica: And that thought just helped me. I just remembered thinking, diving into all of the vaults, the study vaults, and being like, “Entrepreneurship, okay, I’m going to schedule this in. I’m going to read everything.” And all I kept thinking was, “If only Brooke had a course on how to have an amazing divorce.”

Brooke: It’s coming soon, my friend.

Jessica: I thought this and I was like, “Note to self, create a course called How to Have an Amazing Divorce.”

Brooke: Oh my gosh, stop it. That’s so cool.

Jessica: I kid you not. You beat me to the punch but I can’t wait to take it and learn from it. And so then I set a goal. So, I was like the certification passed the first year. And then twice in the first year. And I’m in Scholars now, I’m a double diamond and a half also.

Brooke: Nice.

Jessica: And so I was like, “All right, I’m just going to commit to October certification of 2020.” I decided that in January.

Brooke: Okay.

Jessica: Then COVID hit.

Brooke: Right.

Jessica: My mind had a lot of drama and I was like, “Oh my gosh, can’t afford it, can’t afford it.” Just got coaching on it. Kept deciding I'm committed; the result is as good as done. Just kept asking my future self like, “What would you do?” Just kept taking her advice, exactly as you taught in Scholars.

And then I paid for all of certification in cash with my coaching practice.

Brooke: What? I think it’s so funny that you were a rich housewife and you didn’t join Scholars. And then you made all this money as a business owner and Scholar. And nobody on this call has been that person. That is so hilarious to me, how our minds like mess with us.

So what were you making when you joined and what did you end up making because of Scholars?

Jessica: Yeah, I was full-time with my baby so $6,000 was how much my one client paid me for the year. And then the first year in Scholars I ended up making exactly what I needed to survive and pay my New York apartment.

Brooke: Wow.

Jessica: Which was like $40,000. And then this year I just hit six figures.

Brooke: What? Congratulations, that’s amazing.

Jessica: Thanks so much.

Brooke: So, what I love about what you’re saying is a lot of times we tell ourselves a story about why we shouldn’t do something or can't do something. And the way that you did it is the exact way I do it. It’s like, “Okay, if I sign up for this, my hard-earned cash is going into this, I’m going to do every single thing.”

First you have to believe that it works. But if you do believe that it works, like if you’re going to sign up for Scholars, if you’re going to sign up for any training program, do the program so you can get the benefit and the result that you want.

The result isn’t being in the program my friends. That’s not the result. The result is doing the work in the program and getting that in your life. So, thank you for being such a great model of that, that’s beautiful.

Jessica: Thank you so much.

Brooke: So, tell me a little bit about your business, what you do.

Jessica: Yeah, so I’m a life coach for female entrepreneurs.

Brooke: Okay.

Jessica: And I help them kind of make sense of where feelings fit into their business.

Brooke: I love it.

Jessica: And certainly, help them conquer any feeling and kind of create feelings to create more money and more clients.

Brooke: I love it. So if someone wants to come find you and coach with you how can they find you?

Jessica: Yeah, they can find me at whatshappyning.com, so that’s W-H-AT-S-H-A-P-P-Y-N-I-N-G.com.

Brooke: Oh, happyning, I was like, “How did you get happening, happyning. So good.

Jessica: Happyning, yeah.

Brooke: Very good. Okay, I love it.

All right, let’s move onto you Deborah. Tell us all the things.

Deborah: Hi, thank you so much for having me by the way.

Brooke: Yeah, I’m so happy you’re here.

Deborah: All the things, well I’ve been with Scholars since September of 2019. So I’m a diamond, but it’s been almost a year and a half.

Brooke: Wow.

Deborah: I originally joined, I actually had listened a few times to Corinne Crabtree’s podcast.

Brooke: Yes.

Deborah: Because I was, at the time, trying to lose weight. And she spoke your accolade, she mentioned you. And I just had this little bug in my ear and I felt like this is where I need to go. And so I started listening to your podcasts.

And I probably listened to your podcast like three times before I joined Scholars. Because I just knew that this was going to be the answer for me even though it wasn’t just about weight loss. I guess I wanted some more and I felt like you really spoke with me. So since then, although I had started losing weight a few months prior to that. Honestly, it’s surprising, I’ve lost 240 pounds.

Brooke: What?

Deborah: Yeah, I never had surgery. I never did Keto. I never did anything extreme. And I never even, I’m not making this up, I haven’t focused that strongly on your weight loss things, I just use Scholars and the concepts.

Brooke: Wow.

Deborah: I started with your idea of planning ahead. And the idea, it helped me a lot in the beginning. The concept of making a decision about what I wanted to do ahead of time. Before I was tired, before I was tempted, before I was aggravated, and taking the time to do that, that helped. That helped so much.

And it helped me a lot with a lot of the thought work to not resist the feelings of like, “Oh, do I really want to work out today?” To really allow those feelings, and the concept that that’s like a toddler running around in my brain. And accept it and say okay.

And I teach ballet, I don’t teach to little kids, but I see enough little kids around and I get the concept. And I can visual a little kid trying to help me so much, and I’m patting her on the head and saying, “That’s okay, but we’re going to do it this way.” So just really, I started and I didn’t stop.

Brooke: Good for you.

Deborah: I don’t know what else to say, I just didn’t stop. And I still listen to the podcast and I do the work. And when I started in September of 2019, that month was How to Get It Done. And I started writing a book in September of 2019 that I had had in my mind for like six years.

Brooke: Wow.

Deborah: And I never actually done. And at this point I’ve already written the full manuscript and I’ve already had like a full substantial and copy line edit that I just got back from my editor a week ago. So now I’m jumping into that. So, this year I will have this book published by 2022. By the beginning of that year.

Brooke: Yeah.

Deborah: So that's helped me a lot, the planning ahead. But also, a lot of your self-worth work and thoughts, I never hated myself but I also didn’t believe I was worth the trouble. And it was a lot of you discussing, like if I heard a friend of mine saying that about herself, I'd be like, “You’re crazy, of course you deserve.” And so the change of me believing that I deserve to be here, and I deserve to take up space. That I’m not a burden just because I want certain things.

Brooke: Yes.

Deborah: So a lot of hearing you say, “You don’t have to justify what you want.” That was huge. I mean, it took me a while to believe that, it wasn’t like I heard it once and went. But, you know, just doing the work and working through things and doing the models, everything.

And the one-on-one coaching has helped a lot. Actually, I have a new job since that. I was at a job where I was unhappy. There’s a podcast and it's about don’t leave a job until you’re happy there. And I made myself a promise that I would do that. Which is crazy. And people were like, “You’re nuts.” And it’s like, “No, I’m going to do this.”

And I found a way to realize that this was not a place I wanted to be. But I loved a lot of things about it and I loved my students. And I was truly happy to go there every single day. And then I found a place I prefer to be.
Brooke: Isn’t that how it works. I love it.

Deborah: Yeah, I was like, “Wow, in the middle of COVID I’m at just a conservatory, a dance conservatory where I prefer to be right now.” I mean, you made it harder to say goodbye to these students I had been teaching for all these years. But I allowed for those feelings of really loving them and being very difficult to say goodbye, but knowing that I wanted to be someplace else. Where I have been since July of 2020.

Brooke: That is amazing. Congratulations.

Deborah: Thank you.

Brooke: Here’s what I love about what you’re saying. I love that you didn’t even have to do the specific weight loss work that I teach, just the self-worth work made such a difference. And that’s true for the money work, that's true for accomplishment. That’s true for all of it.

It’s like we think there’s some significant place that's going to happen when our body weight goes down, right? That then we’re going to have self-worth. And then what we realize is, “Oh wait, when we have self-worth, ironically, when we believe we deserve to be here and take up space we don’t have to take up so much space, right? It’s so insane the way that we have it backwards.

So I love that you came in. And another thing that you said that’s so important for everyone to hear is you just kept doing the work and didn’t stop. That’s it.

Deborah: Yeah, I had to. And I had to accept that, not accept, but I stopped telling myself it’s so hard. And guess what? It’s not that hard. I mean, I’m not saying I don’t work hard, but I have not been suffering. When I tell people I did this, and I didn’t have surgery, and I didn’t even do any of the extreme things that weren't right for me. I think everybody has to do what works for them.

And even I’ve written and entire book and I’ve had multiple photo shoots that I’ve had to reschedule a million times because of COVID. And it’s a book about dance so photo shoots are important. And everybody is like, “Oh my gosh, it must have been so terrible.” And I’m like, “Well, I mean, I have my moments where I have all this anxiety. And then I just keep on doing the work and I pass through it all.”

Brooke: Yes, I mean, that’s it, right? That’s like mic drop right there. If you keep on doing the work you will keep moving forward. And it doesn’t mean it’s always easy. And what I teach is it’s not meant to always be easy, right? But it doesn’t have to be hard in the way that we are beating up on ourselves or resisting ourselves, or treating ourselves terrible. That is completely unnecessary.

Deborah: Being hard doesn’t mean suffering, or doesn’t have to mean suffering.

Brooke: That’s exactly right. Awesome.

Deborah: And that’s what I’ve learned, that I’m okay. I’m okay with something being a challenge.

Brooke: Well obviously.

Deborah: I’m not suffering and I’m getting what I want.

Brooke: Congratulations.

Deborah: Thank you.

Brooke: All right, let’s move onto you Sara.

Sara: Hi, it’s lovely to be here Brooke. Thank you for having me. I came to Self-Coaching Scholars because I saw an advert on Facebook for How to Stop Over Drinking. And I was really intrigued because nobody had really talked about not over drinking. It was more, you know, stop completely or nothing at all.

Brooke: Right.

Sara: And actually, it’s a funny story because I pressed the button to buy the over drinking program and it took me to Scholars instead of buying the program. And I thought, “Oh my God, this is a scam. I’m in for $300 per month for life and I’m never going to be able to get out.”

Brooke: Yes, that is our plan.

Sara: So anyway, I immediately sent a message to Scholars and I told them what had happened and they reimbursed me and that was all fine. And I did the over drinking program. And then I signed up for Scholars because it was just obviously what I needed to do.

And this happened about, I signed up about 18 months ago and I decided that I didn’t want to want alcohol. And I haven’t drunk alcohol for 18 months. And it’s like what Eric was saying, exactly the same thing. I wake up in the morning and I love the fact that I’ve got a clear head. I love the fact that I don't have palpitations. I love the fact that I don’t need Ibuprofen. I love the fact that I’m happy for other people to drink and I just have a cup of tea.

And followed Scholars. And Scholars for me, the model for me was the tool that explained everything that all the other guys have been talking about. I’ve read Eckhart Tolle, I’ve read Wayne Dyer, you know, all of them. Understood the ideas, but didn’t know how to apply it to my own life.

Brooke: Yes.

Sara: And I think I had a terrible relationship with myself and I realized that I just, for the last 60 years was just believing my thoughts about myself. And they were not good. And the model is just, it’s that simple. That complex, but that simple. Do you know what I mean?

Brooke: Yes.

Sara: And that tool has completely changed my life and gone from somebody who was… Because I was sort of depressed, ashamed of being depressed because I had a loving husband, gorgeous kids, a successful job. Didn't really have any reason to be sort of joyless. And I’ve gone from that to waking up in the morning with a smile.

And I get up at six and I do my yoga, and then I meditate, and then I do my journal, then I do my models. And Self-Coaching Scholars has been huge, I signed up for certification in September. And Certification is the best money I have ever spent, ever.

Brooke: That’s amazing.

Sara: Yeah.

Brooke: So let me ask you something about Scholars actually. So do you think the most effective thing for you at Scholars was just doing models? Doing the practice of models? Or what would you say was the most impactful thing?

Sara: Well, everything. I mean there’s so much in there. There’s so much in there, and I sort of echo everything that everybody else has said, but I find that it all comes back to the model.

Brooke: Yes.

Sara: And so whatever the problem, it all comes back to that. And the 20-minute coaching. Now, I’m a diamond now, so you get two 20-minute coaching sessions a week. And it’s just so useful to be able, I can sort of see the awareness that I have of my own brain, but it’s so useful to have somebody else to point out what you’re not seeing.

Brooke: Yes. Yeah, just having someone, especially those of you that are in Scholars and maybe you’re like, “I don’t know if I need this 20-minute session.” Just do a couple of them because once you just, and this just happened to me and a girlfriend. One of my girlfriends is in coach training right now and I said, “I need you to coach me.” And I just did a thought download out loud to her and solved the problem, right?

Just having that coach there to talk to, and have the space to really do the model and have her reflect back to me, even what I’m saying out loud is so, so powerful. So that’s amazing.

Brooke: So how long had you been drinking?

Sara: Well, I don’t know. I suppose it sort of started off about 40 years ago where we were just drinking on the weekend and then little by little by little by little I was sort of... And then I could see that I was looking for opportunities to drink. And I identified it a lot with what you were saying about when you go to a restaurant and you see that the bottle is almost empty and you’re sort of getting a bit nervous because are you going to get another bottle? That kind of thing.

Brooke: Yes.

Sara: And I sort of echo what Eric said, I never thought it was possible that I could stop drinking. It was, “And if I can do this, I can do anything.”

Brooke: Yes. Yes, congratulations. Thank you so much for that story, that’s amazing. I can obviously totally relate to the drinking. I feel like the work that we do in Scholars to stop over drinking is the work of our lives. Because we can apply it to any other goal that we have.

And for those of us who are drinking against our will, it does feel impossible. And once you achieve that impossible goal, then you just move onto 100 million a year. That’s how it works.

So, if you’re over drinking and you’re not in Scholars listen, it’s not just that you stop over drinking, it's all of the goals beyond that you’ll have because you’re not drinking.

All right. Final one, Sarah lets go.

Sarah: I was going to say I’m a great segue for this.

Brooke: Oh, good.

Sarah: Because the reason why I came to Scholars, I had you in my ear pods December of 2019. And I remember one of your podcasts where you… Oh, also, thank you for having me on.

Brooke: Oh yeah, of course.

Sarah: But I had you in my head and you were on your public podcast and you were like, “If you could change one thing, just one thing.” and I remember being like, “It’s going to be drinking.” And I joined probably in the next week.

And I knew I was going to change my relationship, I wasn’t sure how to do it. And I figured Scholars was going to have the answer. And then you were coaching somebody live, it was the first time I’d ever heard you coach live. And you were coaching someone on relationships. And I remember I was in the grocery store, and I heard you say you could never get enough of something that you truly don’t want.”

And that was when my relationship with alcohol on top of all the other work, knowing that thought, like I never wanted it. It was never what I really wanted. And so I probably drank 800 drinks in 2019 and in 2020 I drank 2 and a half.

Brooke: What? Wow.

Sarah: And I lost 30 pounds, because I did the weight loss program. I lost 30 pounds, which I’m short, I’m 5’ 2’’ so I like to give myself extra credit for losing a lot of my weight. I did that with the weight loss program, but really it came down to that January 2020 theme of your thoughts about you. Because what I needed to do was clear up my past. And all the stories that I had about my past that were just stories.

And that’s what Scholars, like your teaching, I was just thinking to myself, I was like, “Brooke is like my theme song. When I need my Eye of the Tiger moment, I just put you coaching in my head and like that’s a huge part of Scholars for me.” But you also have all these like amazing coaches.

Brooke: Hang on, I just want to touch on that point. Because this is how I did so much of my own work when I was trying to stop over drinking and stop over eating and all of that, is putting in to my mind all of the positive influence. So what happens in Scholars once you join Scholars then you get a private podcast feed.

So what you’re saying is you listen to the coaching calls where I’m coaching just as a way to take your brain off of all the negative thinking that is available to you. From your own brain and also from social media. And you just put it on something that’s moving. When I’m doing a coaching call, we’re moving everyone in a different positive direction. So even though the problems are presented they’re solved on the call. So that’s what you’re saying, right? That you’re listening to those coaching calls.

Sarah: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it was interesting because you were coaching on a relationship in that want issue. But the other thing that I did –

Brooke: But it affected your drinking, that’s actually another really good point.

Sarah: Totally.

Brooke: I was coaching someone on something totally unrelated, well not totally unrelated, but unrelated to your exact issue, but it changed it. That’s a really good point. Because sometimes we’re like, “She’s coaching someone on their kids, this doesn't apply to me.” I’m like, “Are you a human with thoughts?” This applies to you.

Sarah: Yeah. So then there was the weight loss component, which I guess it’s like we change our thoughts, right? It all became about learning how to feel the emotions.

And so my 2021 goal, as obscure as it seems, is to get in touch with my indulgent emotions. And so I’m like journaling on frustration, and irritation, and self-doubt. And that’s been an amazing goal too. Because realizing the deeper emotions that we’re avoiding like the fear and the shame, or whatever story we have, it’s just blowing my mind. I think this is mostly just coming up for me now.

I have a plumbing company. I studied art, I always considered myself a creative. My husband is a plumber. And I hated my company until I started doing thought work. Thought work has changed everything about my relationship with my employees, my company, my husband. I love my company so much and all I’ve been able to do is just like generate cash from it. I am like three times where –

Brooke: How much, three times?

Sarah: Three times, yeah.

Brooke: Nice.

Sarah: Yeah, 30% of my revenue I’ve done in the last five weeks. Like 30% for last year I’ve done in the last five weeks.

Brooke: Wow.

Sarah: And it’s just on. And I’m in CCP and want to become a coach.

Brooke: I love it.

Sarah: But I do want to say the double your business, it blew my mind because I, you know, am doing a million dollars in revenue already. So when you were talking about doubling your business, I had kind of COVID excuses, not doing the work.

And you started to double your business. And I remember listening to it and being like, “All right, I’m going to treat my no’s in my offer just like my yes’s. I’m going to go for it.” And in one week I sold $550,000 in contracts. And I think I told you this because you coached me once, and I was like signing my contracts. One contract was $275,000 and it was just like “Whatever.” Because I had already done it in my head.

Brooke: Right.

Sarah: And that is the power of the thought work, and the model, and Scholars. It’s like, I’m in for life. I’m never leaving. Like I was picturing there was going to be like some old rest home Scholars.

Brooke: For Scholars.

Sarah: I’m in, I’m here.

Brooke: Hundred times diamonds, everyone this way.

Sarah: Totally, sign me up.

Brooke: That is so amazing. Oh my gosh, thank you so much, all of you, for coming on and sharing your stories about your success in Scholars.

One of the things that prompted this podcast is, how are people doing so well? One of the things that has happened in my company, one of the reasons why I make such a ridiculous amount of money, and I do understand it’s a ridiculous, very fine amount of money that I make, is because my stuff is so good.

And my stuff is so good because I was my first client. So it had to work, it had to be real or I wasn’t going to teach it to anyone. So what happens is people like you all change your life so drastically that everyone around you is like, “What in the actual is happening?” Like, “How did you lose 200 pounds? I need to know. And how did you triple your business? And how are you now a nice person and you used to be such a terrible person? And how do you work so much less?” Like all of those things that then the trickle effect of that, right?

It’s not just how that affects you in your life, but how it affects you and all the people in your life. The people that are working for you, the people that you will coach, the people that you will help just by being an example of what is possible.

So I just want you all to know it means so much that you’re willing to share your story. There’s someone that will listen to this podcast today that thought they didn’t need Scholars, who will join, who will someday be on this podcast talking about how this podcast made them join. That is how it’s worked, right? That’s how we have been influencing and being examples of what’s possible.

So it’s changed from just me being the example of what is possible, to now all of you, my students, being an example of what is possible. So, my hat is off to each of you. Thank you so much for coming on the call and being willing to go on the podcast.

If you want to see all these beautiful people please come and watch us on video. Otherwise, I will talk to you all next week. Take care everyone. Bye.

Hey, if you enjoy listening to this podcast, you have to come check out Self-Coaching Scholars. It's my monthly coaching program where we take all this material and we apply it. We take it to the next level and we study it. Join me over at the TheLifeCoachSchool.com/join. Make sure you type in the TheLifeCoachSchool.com/join. I'd love to have you join me in Self-Coaching Scholars. See you there.