"Since two to three years I was playing with the thought to either write an E book or become a coach, simply to have more financial wiggle room The E book was more appealing as I wouldn’t need to get involved with anyone and I wasn’t really sure what coaching was as opposed to being a psychotherapist (my profession). I was swaying back and forth, especially when I learnt that writing an E book wouldn’t earn me much at all. On the other hand, I didn’t know if I wanted to become a coach, having to promote myself and not only doing the coaching. The third issue which held me back in going forward was, that I couldn’t make up my mind, what exactly to offer as I had several subjects which really interested me personally (in the field of health and wellness).
Whilst playing with those thoughts I came across Dean Graziosi and Tony Robbins. I finally wanted to get real and decided to enrol in their course and learn how to create an E book or course. I was all pumped up after the course but there was so much to take in, to learn and put in practice that I felt completely overwhelmed and soon started to procrastinate by switching niches again and again and finding all kinds of excuses why it was impossible to actually start creating something.
Then I heard of Christian Mickelsen, He seemed to be someone who could teach me how to be a good coach. I enjoyed his teachings and techniques a lot but again I didn’t follow through as I was afraid to put myself out there.
Finally in October 2022 I heard of Marisa and her EMP course. Haphazardly I decided to listen into her intro webinar as I was getting tired to listen to yet another promotion of a course promising that it would be THE solution for me. But very soon I picked up on the distinct feeling that Marisa’s course could be indeed the solution I was waiting for. I grasped rather quickly that this is a course which is so well structured that it could ‘squeeze’ me through the funnel and create enough momentum for me to finally reach my goal to create a course.
I bought Marisa’s course despite of the big lump sum of money I had to spend (the biggest I ever spent on myself) and despite the fact that I didn’t quite knew how to find the time to do the course. To be sure to make the right decision, I took Marisa on her offer to call one of her coaches whom I also asked how much time I had to give per day. Later on, I found out that the estimate given to me was way below the hours I actually had to invest in order to fulfil all the homework, take part in the coaching calls etc. I will come back to this part later in my story.
I started a week too late with the course as I was still busy with another course I had enrolled in previously. This was unfortunate as it set me off to lag behind from the word go and did put me under quite some pressure as I was adamant to not let this opportunity slip but follow through with all the coaching calls, the modules and tasks we were asked to do.
After listening to the first sessions, it was clear: I had made the right decision. This was an excellent course, Marisa was an extraordinary coach and it was the perfect coarse for me as it was so well structured, leading me from one step to the next. This was what I needed!
As the intensity of the course increased over the weeks and more and more had to be done and learned in less time, I started to get cold feet. Would I ever be able to understand all this technical stuff, do all these many things which were required to not only create the course but also promote it, especially as I was not connected with any of the social medias and had absolutely no interest in them? Would I have the perseverance, time, creativity and above all acquire all those different skills to create my course, not even knowing if my course would be successful, accepted and bought by people? During December deep doubts were cropping up and I had thoughts of giving up. What kept me going was Marisa’s encouragement, her repeated slogans like ‘start small’, ‘keep it simple’, ‘go step by step without thinking of the next step ahead’, ‘trust the process’ but also her incredible enthusiasm, her engagement, her never ending giving and overdelivering and keeping her promises and being there for each and every single one of her students. Impressive! I also felt that I owed it to myself to pull this through and I sensed that this could be such a big learning and growing opportunity for me.
What was so helpful for me was the breaking down of the whole process of creating a course in many small steps. I learned to get really specific, concrete in describing what I want to deliver, to scale it down to a minimum to not get overwhelmed but most importantly to look through the lens of my ideal client what they are looking for, what I can offer them to help them in their plight. I learned that the right approach to any clients is to be generous, to overdeliver. The process of chatter boxing made it clear to me that it is important to make sure to sell my product only to people who will definitely gain from it.
I am proud that I finished all the Milestones in good time (which sometimes meant that I had to stay up until late at night) and that I attended almost all of the coaching calls (I just didn’t wanted to miss anything) and that I took part in almost all of the Bonus sessions. My life was definitely taken over by the EPM course! I have to admit that I sometimes felt a bit overwhelmed with all the offerings in such short succession and would have liked to have one week off over Christmas, but at the same time I could see that all the extra things we were given were so very valuable.
What I was mainly scared was promoting my course. When I heard the word ‘Chatter Boxing’ I thought it would be something one could use like a magic wand, bringing clients out of now where, but soon I realized that I would have to put the work in myself and that there is not such thing as a magic solution. But I have started for the first time in my life to talk about my project and plans to friends and family and I got some positive responses (they want to be kept informed about my course).
I know – even if I have made great strides - I am still at the beginning of a long process but this process has a concrete shape now, I know the direction of the road ahead. I am grateful that I have been put on some solid tracks which will bring me to my goal.
Thank you, Marisa (you are outstanding and a shining example of what you teach, you definitely overdeliver!), thank you Sharell (you have been absolutely fabulous! I will miss you), thank you Mathew and Emily for all your help (I will have to study your brilliant sessions again and again to grasp all the many things you taught us), thank you all the other coaches which shared their wisdom and thank you all my POD pals and course pals who have given me input and gave me the chance of side door learning!
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