Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): So welcome everyone to the coaching Corner podcast and Youtube channel. I am so excited to be here. And this is a place for anyone who's thinking about coaching, who's already coaching to get into a space where we have, like real life conversations with real life. People who have been there done that, still experiencing all of these things and working through all these things just to help anyone who's in this space as well.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): So today I have got Kelly Watts here. So Kelly is a marketing strategist, and Kelly is the most amazing person to know. So I would recommend that you get in contact with Kelly afterwards, and we'll share the links afterwards. But yeah, Kelly, how would you introduce yourself like? What is it you do? Tell us more about yourself.
Kelly Watts: And so I've got the like a marketing and launch strategist. And I'm doing mindset as well, which I incorporate into what, how I help people, because the mindset is just as important as the business. But it is more I do done for you, Linkedin, profile, writing and training, and show you how to do lead generation and just to get business predominantly through Linkedin, because that's what that platform is there for.
Kelly Watts: And as an audience of coaches consultants. You should all be there because people are on there who want to do business and who want to buy so predominantly unless it's like very unique niches. Your ideal client predominantly will be on Linkedin as well.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): So tell us a bit about that in terms of like business and mindset, because it's often like a phrase that I hear everyone say, as a psychologist, I'm so glad people are talking about mindset. However, where is that shown up for you in terms of like? What was your epiphany to realize that mindset is as important as having all the business skills and everything.
Kelly Watts: So when I 1st started, like everyone, you get really excited, it's a new project you're like, Oh, I can see a different way of life. And this is how it's going to change for me. I don't have to be burnt out. I don't have to be. I can like
Kelly Watts: earn limitless money and the time freedom, money, freedom is everyone's dream. So when you're hitting that and you're getting really excited, you get those little wins along the way. And it comes to a point then, where things like dry up because you've got friends or family, you know everyone who you can help near to you, and then you're trying to reach the side world and like, when you work for someone else, no much passionate you are about the job.
Kelly Watts: You're still working for someone else. When you're working for yourself. It's now personal. And I did do lots of mindset stuff at the beginning, but not I didn't really understand how I just did it because I had to do it like I was doing journaling and gratefulness and stuff like that. But it hasn't. I was doing it as like you go to school. You do the work, but it hasn't clicked.
Kelly Watts: so I wasn't doing it properly. I was doing things, but not putting it in. And then last summer, then, when I quit my job and I was just doing my business, it started getting a bit more real, and then I was going down the path, and then I was overthinking so much on everything that I ended up just stopped writing altogether. I stopped posting because I was overthinking, I was thinking, oh.
Kelly Watts: does it do this? Does it do that? Does my post gave you an in? Is it taking for the buyer's journey. Am I talking to every single psychology? You know, sales psychology personality in my audience? It got to a point I overthought so much. I just had to stop posting because all those limiting beliefs were coming in. So I started getting more, I'd say more more spiritual, in a sense, because
Kelly Watts: when we did our book collaboration, and we talked about mental health. It opened up a lot of trauma which I didn't realize, so I'd started a journey of healing. But rather than the traditional Cbt. And stuff like that which I've done in the past. I wanted healing, not talking therapy. So I started, you know, raking, going on a healing journey inside out, and
Kelly Watts: it was then that I come across like the you know, manifesting and all that world, and how much of that is, is just mindset, and if I hadn't have started and done all that work like by December, I would happily have just thrown in the towel, and
Kelly Watts: I would have gone back to work because I was just running myself into the ground mentally, and it gets to a point. And you're just like you're overthinking everything. And it's not that. It's those limiting beliefs. It's because, you know, you want something so badly. And it gets personal. So it's just detaching from everything
Kelly Watts: and doing that in a work, and the money mindset as well. A lot of it is also money mindset as well. So doing a lot of subconscious work and stuff around. Confidence for me has helped me, and money work as well, and just detaching myself from the outcome is a massive one. You've just got to do the work work on yourself.
Kelly Watts: and I wish I'd have done more. It's only when you do something like this you realize how much limiting beliefs we actually have in our lives, because this is now so personal.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): Absolutely. And you've mentioned that a couple of times, or quite a few times about like your business becomes like personal when you're working for someone else. It's someone else's business. Maybe even sometimes, if you're working in a corporate environment, you don't even get to see the business owner. And so it does feel less personal, it does feel less like attached to you and your worth as a person.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): So I love what you said about like being able to detach yourself from the outcome in terms of like. If I I always say to people to treat it like there is no failure. It's only feedback is how I see business.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): So when someone doesn't buy when someone does buy, it's giving you feedback as to what's working, what's not working, where to actually like tweak that!
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): How have you been able to separate your worth like who you are as a person from the outcome that you get like, whether it goes well, whether it doesn't go well, it doesn't define who you are as a person. How have you managed to do that?
Kelly Watts: And so I just do what I've got to do to achieve that outcome. So I don't think, oh, I haven't made this amount of money, or I haven't got these many clients. I'm gonna I've got to work harder for it. You sort of you've just got to get your plan together, get your strategy, and just do the work towards it. But whereas before I get up I do the school run. I come back, and then literally 9 till 3 I'd be sat there trying to create programs.
Kelly Watts: All this training 1st thing I do now is I go for a walk, then I do my journaling, and I do my mindset or some meditation, and you know I don't get up at 5 in the morning, but I do this work on me, and I work less, but I've got so much more opportunities because I'm working on me. So I every day I aim for something that gives me joy. And that's my goal
Kelly Watts: for the day. If I'm feeling stressed, or I'm just like overwhelmed, or you just feel that constant like wanting, wanting, wanting like you're running in circles and nothing's getting done. Then you just you need to stop you just, and the more you work on yourself and the less you do.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): Okay.
Kelly Watts: Glued to your computer, the the more everything else comes from it. So it's about.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): Funny, isn't it?
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): Yeah.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): people talk about this. But until you've actually experienced it, you're like, Oh, my goodness! Like some of my biggest clients. Biggest contracts would come from a referral, not not lots of like running around and doing all of these things. So it's just amazing. I love your story as well. Whenever I see your Linkedin profile I see the little car there.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): Kelly is amazing. So Kelly built her business in her car. So if you're thinking I need an office. I need this space. I need this equipment. I need the next like greatest camera, whatever it is, like, Kelly, how do you do it from just like in your car.
Kelly Watts: So when I 1st started, obviously I was working, I was a ta, and I was single mom for 8 years with my son. So I've always been like on my own with him. So I think that gives you a lot of resilience as well as well as you know, multitasking and other things, so I'd literally do the school run, and then I'd have like, say, 10Â min spare before I have to drive to work, so I would just sit there, and I would like, see how many videos I could record in that time. And then that would be my content for the week
Kelly Watts: or every morning. I'm not morning person, but I would get a past 6 every day, an hour, early every morning I go on, do all my connections on Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram. All my comments. I'd spend that hour doing it because I, because I wanted out and failure wasn't an option. Obviously, you said earlier failure is feedback. And that's what I agree with. Failure is just
Kelly Watts: another chance to practice. It's just a learning curve. And it was just like, you know, you're sat on Site School. You're in the car Park for 10Â min before you've got to pick them up, so you know, I would just use my time for it, because I wanted because I wanted it quickly as well, which is a good thing, but not always good, because you can make sometimes wrong decisions, or you don't look into things properly or whatever. But again, it's led to me where I am, so I'm glad of everything I've been on, but it's just.
Kelly Watts: I use lack of time as a reason to grow my business, not an excuse, because obviously we'd finish work, finish school. I go from my school to his school. Then he'd have hobbies, and it's just that dead time, whereas you could be there scrolling. I was doing the opposite. I was connecting so because I wanted because you come the evenings, and you know you're tired. I still got 2 dogs to walk. I just my partner. You go do the tea you got to. Do
Kelly Watts: you know, weekends, shopping, family time. So you know, I was trying to use as little family time as possible to do those those needle moving activities as such. Because that's what grows your business. Those tasks not sat there studying for hours and hours, which I did as well, which was wrong, if you know what I mean. So.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): I think like what you said before about every I feel like the dots connect like when you look back, and you think like I wish I never did that. I always see it as like now that I've done that. How did it like help bring me to this place here? And what have I learned from that? And what you're saying now like brings back so many memories about being at university, working 5 jobs like having the child, picking them up all of these different things.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): and I think, like
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): I think what you said is so accurate about you. Just learn to use your time differently. So many of the people that was at university with, they'll say, how did you manage to get your assignment in on time like early when you've got a child. You've got all this, and like they didn't have children. And I was like, I just use like time differently like, really kind of structured with my time, and use every minute to like, get visible. Build the business things like that.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): I love. So you mentioned about being a marketing strategist. So I'd like to understand a bit more about like if no one knew what a marketing strategist is like. What is a day in the life of your life, and also something that I know that you've done before is like pivoting.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): So how do you know when it's time to pivot? How do you know, like what is aligned, what isn't aligned to you. So if you're happy to talk about that.
Kelly Watts: Yeah. So a bit of context, when I started my business, I had no business background at all. So I've had to learn all the knowledge, all the skills. I didn't have that background in it. So I've had to learn everything so like in a nutshell to simplify it. Marketing is communication. So it's how you communicate in what you do and getting yourself out there in different sources, basically. So your social media
Kelly Watts: and podcasts other bits like that. So marketing is just communication. So obviously, it's really important with marketing as well. And these days you need to do market research. So you know, 5 years ago, when it went
Kelly Watts: people these days who are earning 6 figure months, you know, when they 1st started the market was a lot smaller. And so now online, it's more important than ever to do your market research because you can't just have a made up ideal client avatar. You need that research because you need to know your ideal clients that the buying behavior you need to know. You need that data
Kelly Watts: to create your offers. You can't just create one out of the air now, anymore, you really need that information to help you with it. So when I 1st started, I was coaching in because I worked in education. I was a ta. I wanted to help teachers leave teaching and become coaches because their skills are just so valuable and transferable. Coaching is a natural
Kelly Watts: a natural pivot for teachers. So I built that up. And then, when I actually left the job last year, it just didn't feel. And just beforehand, it was just not feeling quite right with it, and you sort of you become your own ideal client as such, didn't you? So I'd done this journey or this learning, and
Kelly Watts: I didn't get much traction either with it. Obviously I didn't have a lot of business background. I was told wrong things. I was guessing all my research, just making things up. So obviously, I've done a lot of learning since then. And you, it just doesn't feel right. It's like when you're in a job, and you're just ready to go. It feels like that. You don't. You're not getting that excitement for it that you know that love for it. It just doesn't. You're writing, and you're
Kelly Watts: or it just doesn't feel. Sit with you anymore. So it's don't be afraid to pivot because you're better off just
Kelly Watts: turning until you find you're in the right direction. But because everything you've learned once you've learned to know how to mark or to grow your audience, and how to do all that you can do it to a new audience. So when I pivoted from helping teachers, I had 5.5,000 Linkedin connections, and they were all teachers. So I hired a Va. To delete them all for me
Kelly Watts: and start again because it was in completely new niche, and obviously all my would have been going on to the wrong people. So it was easier. I just paid a Va. Couple of hours to delete all my Linkedin connections for me, and I start to start again. But now, in a few months I'm still. I'm just short of 3,000. But that's because I
Kelly Watts: skills to. And I know how to attract and connect with, you know, my ideal client now as well. So.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): And the thing is, it does affect things. So if you're not so if you're putting out all of this content, and it's not your ideal client that they're not engaging with that content. And then, like fewer people, are seeing it because you haven't got that engagement in it. And so I love the fact that you're just proof that you can kind of just pivot, and I know, like it's quite scary like thinking about
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): 5,000 contacts that deleting them starting all over again. But you're right, like you've got these skills for life.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): And you can just like build that up really quickly. So in terms of the marketing strategist you mentioned about like these skills that you've developed over this time so that that you can like just start again and build it up quite quickly. What are these skills like? What can you help other people with as a marketing strategist?
Kelly Watts: So mainly a lot of it is like market research. But the main thing that we do when we're online is we quiet our voice. We try to be someone else. We try to shout loudest. We try to use all these fancy words to fit in, but that will go against you like, I said earlier, market research is key. You need that data. You need your niche, and he is about. You've got to narrow down your niche. But it is really important, too, because that helps
Kelly Watts: you with clear messaging clear. And when you've got that small group of people, it's easier then to say
Kelly Watts: to get that market research for them, and then from your market research, then you do your ideal clients
Kelly Watts: and then use that research, then to create an ideal client avatar, and then you can create your office from it, because you know how people are going to buy. You know that they have the same values as you. But the most important thing is, I help people just to be themselves. And because lots of people like to give themselves these fancy titles and say, I help people in a glow, or I'm archetype for this. But we don't use that language. And
Kelly Watts: as a marketing point of view it doesn't come up in SEO. So SEO is really important. So especially like on Linkedin. So if you're calling yourself in a glow up
Kelly Watts: architect or something, you're not going to get seen because we, you know I don't walk down the street ringing my mum and say, Oh, Hi! I need to. Do you know anyone that can give me an inner glow up. We don't use those words, and.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): So.
Kelly Watts: People are saying. You've got to shout loud. You haven't. You've just got to be you, and it's just.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): With.
Kelly Watts: With marketing. It doesn't have to be just social media if it doesn't make you feel comfortable. I came off and started doing in-person networking, because I just felt like I was stood behind a screen, and that laptop was controlling my business. Because, you know, unless I there's likes. And again, you can't confuse vanity metrics with
Kelly Watts: analytics. It's hard to know what's going on. There's no one telling you. Oh, I think you're really good, or I really need you, because obviously, we have people who are lurkers as well. But then you go network in it. And you know when people ask what you do, and you tell them you're like, Oh, I know this or so, and so does this, or you get that immediate feedback. And you know business can be lonely.
Kelly Watts: And it's just nice connect with people, because not everyone. Again, on social media, you need to know how to market. You need to know, to write that, content with that hook, you need to be able to
Kelly Watts: draw them in. Write those stories, and since I've been networking as well, and I know a lot of people like the the lady I've healing with Jill like she she does Reiki and all that, but she doesn't know to do social media, and she's a nurse. She doesn't want to be stuck on Instagram, but to grow. She needs, you know, she needs to do that. So she's focusing on networking. So it's all about your personality. Where is best for you to market. You don't just have to go online.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): Yeah, definitely. And I love that like watching your journey and seeing that shift of like being online and like what you're doing in terms of the like teaching, moving them to coaching, and then seeing you transition to the in-person networking, and how your business has just taken off since that. Can you tell us a bit more about like the opportunities that
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): you are allowed to talk about? Because I know you'll have some that are confidential, but in terms of like what opportunities have come to you when you have like stepped into who you really are, rather than trying to imitate someone else rather than trying to shout really loud, if you don't want to shout really loud. So what opportunities have come to you since everything has felt really aligned.
Kelly Watts: So I started. I like because we had our call as well, and I said I wanted to do more in person, so I was doing in person, but not regularly, because when I was thinking, Oh!
Kelly Watts: Costs a lot of money. But at the end of the day you're growing a business you have got to invest. And it's just looking what's the right investments for you. So since I started networking, it's just you get that you build that relationship with people quicker in real life than you do on the screen as well. And so I started networking. So I want to do that more, and then I was asked to run a new networking group that's opening
Kelly Watts: in Caerphilly. And it was literally the same week. I said I'd only been to this one a few times, and they're expanding, and they've asked me to run that. And then I went to, and I've done like 4 or 5 Linkedin trainings in these groups as well. And then I just ask, I'm invited now to more network groups as well. And then I did a training yesterday for one, and then
Kelly Watts: they've asked me to be a speaker at a business expo in November. So it is literally like I went to these because I felt more aligned, and since I've gone to them without
Kelly Watts: just turning up and being me and doing what I do, I've had opportunities given to me, so you know, I'm really grateful. And that's what I'm you know, trying to put on this persona or anything that we do online. It's just by turning up and being me, you know I'm just a mum. Do you know what I mean? So to just go to these events once, and and then be given all these opportunities to.
Kelly Watts: you know, run my own network and and talk in front of hundreds of people and stuff. It's you know, it's just from. And that's what suits my personality. And you know, as humans, we need human connection. So it's it. That's what's worked for me.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): Amazing. And I love that. You said that because when you said about like building a relationship, it's easier like on, like in person rather than online, like other people might feel the opposite of that. So it's really important to like, just do what it feels aligned to you, because, like you said that it feels it feels effortless sometimes, like these opportunities are just coming to you rather than feeling like you're almost kind of struggle up struggling uphill.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): And so one of the things that we spoke about before we started recording, I'll just end on on this point mentioned. About like coaching is one skill set and then building a business and doing the marketing is another skill set, and often we kind of like train as coaches, and we think right. I'm going to start my business, and then it's quite a shock how much you do have
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): learn about business, or obviously pay someone else to do it. So, Kelly, just tell us a bit more about how you can help people who have maybe, like trained as a coach consultant, or whatever it is to then grow their business and do the marketing. And also, where can people find you.
Kelly Watts: So like. So when you start your business, a lot of people go straight for like business coaches, or whatever, because they just think automatically business. But it doesn't necessarily give you the skills. So you do need to learn business skills like strategy stuff like that. But no matter where you are in business, you're always going to have to market. So whether you're new starting out scaling, pivoting market research is always going to be key at every single level that you do, because it's not just
Kelly Watts: that data is also analyzing your competitors, your swat, your pestle analysis. They're all really important. You also need to learn how to sell. Just putting up a post about this is my offer isn't going to sell. That's just one part of a sales strategy. So learning how to market and learning how to sell. Because again, as your business develops, you can learn more of these skills
Kelly Watts: as you go to the next levels as well. So it's really important to make sure that you research who you work with, because, you know, working with a copywriter, you're going to be able to write well, but if you haven't done that research.
Kelly Watts: it's not necessary. You might be brilliant at writing like I was told, loads of times. All your posts are really good. But I was just writing posts with no accurate audience behind it. So learn how to market and learn how to sell. That's basically the main tip sort of what you need to do on the business side. So you know, you're a great coach. But
Kelly Watts: when you start out in coaching. Just remember it's a business. So unless you're going to work for someone else as a coach, you need to learn some skills as well. So I'm predominantly on Linkedin. So on, Linkedin, I'm it's Kelly Watts, and I'm also on Facebook and Instagram as well. So feel free to, you know. Come over chat. I just love helping people. I've been there.
Kelly Watts: you know. I know what it's like to start from scratch with no business and going into coaching and thinking, oh, yeah, it's going to change my life. But knowing what you've got to learn to get started. So if anyone wants, like any information, feel free to get in contact. But just to leave on one note, aim for joy, aim for happiness. That's your main goal every day. What can I do today? That's going to make me happy, and work on yourself as much as your business.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): I love that I love that, and we will put the links underneath, so you can get in touch with Kelly. So thank you so much, Kelly. Great to see you.
Kelly Watts: Yes, thank you for having me.
Sarah Makinde (CPsychol): Yeah.
