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What is a Mindset Coach? Plus What to Expect, What to Look For, What to Avoid, etc

Crush your goals - How to build confidence in yourself

What exactly IS a mindset coach? What does a mindset coach DO (or NOT do)? Whatโ€™s it like working with one? What should you look for in mindset coaching? What should you avoid?

I’m going to answer all of those very important questions in this blog.

Watch here or read on below.

What is a Mindset Coach? Plus What to Expect, What to Look For, What to Avoid, etc Share on X

What is a mindset coach? You might’ve heard the term and don’t feel clear about what they do, or maybe you’re considering getting one but you’re not sure what to look for and you want to make sure you choose the right one.

I’m going to explain what mindset coaching is and isn’t, when to consider working with one, what to expect, what to look for, and most definitely what to avoid.

DEFINITION OF A MINDSET COACH

First the definition of a mindset coach

This is a pretty fuzzy definition because literally every coach is a mindset coach, but in general, what a mindset coach is going to help you to do is spot your blind spots and change the habits and patterns that will hold you back.

Think of it like this, you can’t read a book that’s right in front of your face. We can’t see things that are right in front of us and so we work with coaches to help us maximize our potential, to help us reach our goals, overcome obstacles, change things that need to be changed.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE

An outside perspective is so valuable because there’s no codified approach to mindset coaching.

It really varies a lot from coach to coach, so some mindset coaches are gonna feel or look more like motivation, encouragement, and pep talks – things to help you take action as different things in your life are coming up.

This is really where every coach is a mindset coach – whether you’re working with a business coach, health coach, fitness coach etc. they’re all going to help you to address the mindset behind the work you’re doing.

This approach to mindset coaching helps you to build new habits, but it doesn’t necessarily teach you the mechanics behind your thinking or behind your habits and how to change those on your own.

2 women side by side celebrating silhouetted by the sun
Belief Breakthrough Coaching

Then you have some coaches, like myself, who are more Belief Breakthrough Coaches.

We take a more formulaic, step-by-step, practical approach. It’s more about giving you specific tools to help you learn those mechanics and learn how to do this type of work, so it’s really training your brain but also training you, so you know how to train your brain.

So when it comes to mindset coaching versus Belief Breakthrough Coaching there’s a time and a place for both and you really need to ask yourself which you need.

If you’re in a place where you have tools that are working and you just need some extra accountability, you understand the mechanics of what you’re doing, how to change your behaviors, how to change your thoughts, and you need the encouragement or somebody to spot those last blind spots that are holding you back – a mindset coach may be all that you need.

If you need something that’s more step-by-step, you need to really learn the tools, you need to understand how to change both mindset habits and personal habits, and you need more than just support and accountability – then you may be looking at a belief breakthrough coach.

Every mindset coach is different.

I want to go through what to look for, what to expect, and most importantly what to avoid.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Let’s start off with what to look for.

The first thing to look for is experience

This doesn’t necessarily have to be experienced in mindset coaching, it could be experience in other types of coaching or it could just be life experience. You could have a 25 year old who has learned more in the last 5 years than you’ve learned in the last 25 years, but you want to make sure that that experience aligns with your challenges and your needs.

Do they have experience in the thing specifically that you’re working on?

For example, I work with female entrepreneurs as a Belief Breakthrough Coach because I understand the challenges and the needs that they’re going to face in their mindset and the things that are going to hold them back from their goals, both in their business and in their life.

What areas of your life need the most coaching – where your mindset is impacting? Find a coach with that experience

The next thing to look for is your response to their work.

You want a strong resonance, you want to click with what you’re hearing them say.

So if:

  • you’re getting tears in your eyes
  • they’re using a language that is specific to your needs
  • you’re having aha moments
  • they’re offering up new perspectives
  • especially if they’re challenging you and making you a little bit uncomfortable

These are all good signs.

When it comes to being challenged, obviously we don’t want somebody who is challenging us by conflicting with our values, but we do want somebody who is going to make us uncomfortable.

If a coach can’t make you uncomfortable, they’re probably not hitting on the things that need to be addressed because whatever needs to be addressed gets put up behind a defensive wall, and when that wall gets poked at it gets defensive and so I always like to tell my clients if I don’t piss you off at least twice, we’re not doing good work (and sometimes it’s twice each call).

The next thing to look for is technique.

  • Does their technique resonate with you?
  • Are they using tools?
  • Do they have spiritual practices?
  • Or things that are matching your needs?

The most important thing you can do here is to test out their free content make sure that the way that they’re teaching, how they’re teaching, the tools that they’re using are actually working for you… whatever they give away for free is usually just the tip of the iceberg, especially when it comes to mindset coaching.

So this is a great way to know if a coach is a good fit for you –

  • Do you like their content?
  • Do you like what they teach?
  • And how they teach it?
  • And is it allowing you to have those aha moments?
Crush your goals - How to build confidence in yourself
What to expect

Now let’s talk about what to expect when it comes to finding, hiring, and working with a mindset coach or a Belief Breakthrough Coach.

Every coach’s process is different so here’s an example of mine.

The first thing that I have any potential client do is check out my website. I want them to know first if I’m a good fit and they’re going to see a pretty good idea of that just reading through the information on my website and on my coaching pages.

Specifically, from there they’re going to fill out an application – and this is pretty standard with most coaches – this is going to have you answer some questions and allow the coach to get an idea if you’re a good fit for them as well.

Next, you’re going to get on what I call a decision call. This is where we get together for about 20-30 minutes. We chat through your needs and we just make sure we’re a good fit. We make sure we’re clicking on the phone.

Every coach’s packages are different.

I work with women for a minimum of 6 months. We do 3 calls a month and I don’t do any less than that simply because real change takes time. So it’s really important to find a coach that has the length of time that you know you need and I recommend that you commit as much time upfront as possible so that you’re less likely to chicken out as you start getting into the deep juicy stuff in your coaching.

Many coaches including myself also offer support in between. I specifically do this through an app called Voxer which is almost like a cross between a walkie-talkie and voicemail. You can send voice messages back and forth to each other. I really recommend that you make sure your coach offers this because spending 1 hour a week is going to help you get really deep into stuff, but every once in a while you’re going to have something come up in between those calls – whether it’s a quick question, you need some fast support, you need some encouragement, you need to be able to reach out to your coach in between those calls as well.

I can’t speak to all other coaches but I know for myself, coaching calls with clients are structured based around that client’s needs, it’s very tailored and personalized to what they’re dealing with and the goals that they have but a general idea of what a coaching call might look like:

You’ll often start off sharing wins, sharing things that you’ve been working on over the past week, where you’ve gotten stuck, what’s coming up for you, and then together you’ll coach through those things figuring out your path forward. Maybe learning a new tool that’s going to apply to you or how to customize the tools that you have to work better.

Okay, so that’s the nitty-gritty but we really really need to talk about what to avoid.

"nope" painted on wood
What to Avoid

#1 – Avoid the fluff.

There are a lot of coaches out there that are all theory, but no basis. You want somebody who knows what they’re talking about and can show you how to actually apply it.

#2 – Avoid anyone who’s gonna promise you a quick fix.

Real mindset change takes time and if they’re promising you something that’s gonna happen overnight, I’m sorry they’re not being honest with you.

#3 – Next I would really encourage you to avoid aggressive sales tactics.

Now “aggressive” is in the eye of the beholder. A lot of people will think any sales tactics whatsoever are aggressive. What I really want you to understand though is that when you’re on a call with a coach, they may have to nudge you a little bit, they may have to push you outside your comfort zone to help you make a decision because if you’re struggling with your mindset you’re probably dealing with some fear and some worry and some anxiety and they’ve got to help you to take the step that’s going to help you to overcome those things. So they may ask you some questions that are uncomfortable.

However, aggressive means if you have told them that you need to think about it, you need to sleep on it, you’re not sure it’s a good fit, and they keep pushing you – especially if they are saying things like: “You know you said this was important to you why aren’t you choosing to do this?” (or some sort of variation of that) and it’s just not clicking with you. You need to make sure to step away from that person.

That’s a really good sign that their mindset’s not in the right place, they’re more focused on their goals than focused on yours.

You want a coach that’s going to help you make the best decision for you and it’s going to help make sure that you guys are a good fit. You don’t want a coach that wants to make a sale at any cost.

Working with the wrong coach is one of the worst things you could do.

#4 – Next I want you to avoid inexperienced mindset coaches.

I’ve kind of touched on this before, but I really want to clarify this – it’s very important that the coach you’re working with has experience with a lot of different personalities and not just experience with themselves. They need experience as a coach, as a manager, as somebody who has worked with lots of people, and has the experience to help people take action.

It’s very common to find a mindset coach who found something that’s working great for them, but they haven’t tested it enough with enough other personalities to be able to help you make sure you can make it work for yourself.

So I don’t care how much experience they have in mindset coaching, but I do care about the experience they have coming into mindset coaching.

If they haven’t been a mindset coach specifically for very long that’s okay as long as they have the experience behind that to be able to help you get the most from it.

One thing I will add to this though is that the less experience they have, generally the less expensive they are, so if cost is a concern for you – especially if you’re willing to take that risk and test somebody out that doesn’t have that experience – that may actually be a good fit for you.

But if you’re really specific on your goals, you know you need to reach them, and you can’t waste time and energy, definitely find somebody with more experience.

#5 – The last thing to avoid is using them like a therapist.

A coach is very different from a therapist and I realize that there is going to be some overlap. You will be talking about your past, it’s going to come up, you’re going to talk about your problems, you’re going to talk about how those things have shaped where you are today, and what you’re struggling with, but a really easy way to tell if you’re using your coach like a therapist is if you’re spending more time talking about the problem than the solution.

This is also where an experienced coach comes in handy because they know how to draw that line keep that boundary and keep you moving forward versus constantly looking back. There is a time and a place for a mindset coach and there’s a time and a place to get your butt to the therapist and get the support that you need.

Make sure that you go into this understanding the difference.

Hopefully I’ve covered everything here but if you have questions about mindset coaching in general, or about working with me drop a comment below. I will be sure to answer them, or you can check out my website for more information.

If you are new here you should know that my name is Tara Wagner, I’ve been doing Belief Breakthrough coaching since 2010, but for the past 2 years, I’ve worked specifically with female entrepreneurs – helping them to crush their goals, not their soul. Again if you would love one-on-one coaching to help you do the same, let’s chat.

Some freebies to support you

If you’re a female entrepreneur and you’re curious about Belief Breakthrough Coaching with me there are 2 free trainings that I would encourage you to try.

The first one is called Self-Care in Seconds and the other one is called Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs and what these are going to do is give you 2 different perspectives of how I do my work.

Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs is going to teach you my breakthrough formula so you can get an idea of how I actually help people change their mindsets and change their beliefs.

You can learn more here or grab it by clicking the link below.

Self-Care in Seconds is going to help you to understand what it looks like to get some specific training. You can get a better idea of how I do things step by step and see if either is a good fit for you.

And again, you can learn more here or grab it by clicking the link below.

What about you, boss lady?

Have you worked with a โ€œmindset coachโ€? What was your favorite part?

Scroll down to leave your comments below.

xoTara

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Tara Wagner
Iโ€™m Tara Wagner, creator of the Breakthrough Bossยฎ. I help small biz owners overcome burnout and create part-time schedules with full-time profits. Not with some new marketing strategy, but with a holistic approach to how you operate. Click here to learn more.
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