How to Package Your Coaching to Better Serve Your Clients with Tess Challis

Transcription

Welcome back to the show. Today, we have a great interview with Tess Challis. Tess is an author, vegan chef, and what she calls “One Degree Coach.” If you have no idea what that is, don’t worry. She will explain it in this interview. She’s written five books including “Radiant Health,” “Inner Wealth,” “The Two-Week Wellness Solution,” “Radiance 4 Life,” “100 Vegan Entrees,” and “Food Love.” Her greatest passion is helping others achieve both radiant health and inner wellbeing – all while enjoying delicious food.

Who wouldn’t want that, right?

We’re going to talk about several things, but one of the big themes is how to package your coaching to better serve your clients and give you more income. Most coaches say, “I charge $75 an hour. Let’s have a chat,” and that’s it. We’re going to talk about a more effective way to do that and what’s working for Tess, her business, and her coaching clients. You’ll find a lot of value in this.

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Tess, welcome to the Healthpreneur Podcast. How is it going?

Tess:                      It’s going great, Yuri. Thank you so much for having me.

Yuri:                      You are very welcome. Thank you for being here. What is new and exciting in your world right now?

Tess’s excitement to learn and connect with successful people doing great things

Tess:                      I just got back from LA. I went to a conference where I met a lot of millionaires, billionaires, and entrepreneurs. They were all doing very heart-centered things and sharing from a space of love, wanting to give, and contribution. They’re serving big and it comes back to them in their businesses, so I’m just super inspired because of that.

Yuri:                      That’s awesome.

Tess:                      It inspired me more in my own business. I’m excited about creating new things.

Yuri:                      What conference was it?

Tess:                      It’s called “Zone.” I’m going to another thing in Colorado Springs, which we were just talking about, next month. I didn’t realize that all the same speakers are going to be there, too, so I’m going to get a double dose. It’s going to be fun.

Yuri:                      Cool. It’s so good to be at those events because they’re like battery rechargers. As an entrepreneur, you go through these peaks and troughs – sometimes a lot of troughs – and going to these events, meeting people, and getting inspired charges your batteries for a good amount of time afterwards.

Tess:                      It’s so true, Yuri! When they hear that I’m going to a conference, people ask me what I’m going to teach, but I just go to sit and learn. I’m so jazzed right now because I haven’t done that for years. I haven’t gone somewhere and just learned. I need to keep doing it on a regular basis because it’s awesome!

Yuri:                      That’s great.

Tess:                      I think it was Tony Robbins. I watched his documentary and it hit me. He said, “The best leaders, the best coaches, they are always learning something new. Always, always. Every day.” I do that in my own way, but not enough with other people or in-person.

I’m a believer now. I got to keep doing stuff like this. It’s awesome.

Yuri:                      That’s great. I had a realization a long time ago. I built my business online for three years and struggled for all three years. I decided I was going to figure stuff out on my own. I thought I didn’t need to learn from anyone and that I was smart enough. That didn’t work out too well.

I decided to start going to events, meeting people, learning from others, and finding a mentor. When I did that the following year, everything took off for me.

At our Healthpreneur live event, I showed people the journey of every single event I went to, and how they created another opportunity that created another opportunity. I mapped out the whole thing. When you put yourself in a room with the right people and the right information, you can’t even forecast what’s going to happen. It’s just all good stuff.

Tess:                      It’s validating for you to even say that because that’s how I feel about it. I was learning my own way; I’m someone that’s always wanting to make myself better every day. But I wasn’t around other people in those spaces, and it’s very different. I’m grateful that I could go. A friend said, “You need to do this. I’m giving you a ticket. Get your ass out here.”

I needed a little kick. Now I know that this is something I’m going to keep doing. I liked Bill Baren, and there were different people that I liked and connected to. They have so much to teach. Like you said, you always get something, and it leads you forward. I could see myself leveling up my game and serving in such a bigger way than I thought was possible. It’s inspiring.

Yuri:                      It’s like the Roger Bannister four-minute mile thing. No one ran a four-minute mile until he did, then I think 13 people did in the following 12 months. It just shattered limiting beliefs.

I was at a smaller event, and a buddy of mine was sitting beside another friend of ours and me. He was in between us, leaning back in his chair, and happened to catch a glimpse of our friend’s screen as he was looking at his stats. He saw the revenue-per-day number that he was making. It was about $20,000.

It was an e-book. That changed everything for him.

Tess:                      Wow.

Yuri:                      He didn’t know that was possible. It lit a fire under his you-know-what. It made a huge difference in his mindset and belief system. Now, he sells one of the most popular programs on ClickBank for digital stuff. That just doesn’t happen if you’re not in those types of environments.

Tess:                      I agree. That’s exactly what happened to me. I was looking around going, “Wait, you’re making $30,000 a month, and that’s no big deal and normal?”

My main thing is coaching. What I did, I don’t do anymore. I was having people buy packages, and they were buying four sessions for X amount of money. Everybody at the conference said, “No, you need to be working with people for a year charging at least $10,000.”

Then, from there, you start to scale. Not only is that going to provide more money for me, which is great, but then I can serve my clients so much more than the people who flaked out. They’re being held accountable because they’re invested. It was eye-opening because I didn’t realize people were making such good money and serving bigger.

For people like us, it’s all about both. It’s about the win-win. We must have a great business for ourselves, but we do that by being of service to others and giving. If I can do more of both, that’s awesome!

The people at the conference are not doing anything that’s compromising any ethics. It’s all about the love.

Yuri:                      It’s just a slightly different business model and offer, right?

Tess:                      Exactly.

Yuri:                      The more money you charge, the more the person who’s investing pays attention, because now they’re fully in. And it also forces you to provide even better service, right?

 Tess:                      Yes.

Yuri:                      If you’ve been with someone for a year, you can have a lot of impact in that person’s life, assuming they did the work. Also, you can see so much more change than you could in a couple sessions. Everyone wins, but again, we’ve got mindset stuff that gets in our way sometimes.

I’m happy you came to those realizations and had that exposure. I have no doubt that you’ll create some awesome change in your business as a result.

Tess:                      Thank you so much. Yeah. Someone said that when you give someone something, they don’t make change. That’s so true, because I’ve gifted people. Those people disappear because they don’t value it.

I have a lady who’s signing on today for a year. I know that if this was two months ago and I had just signed her up for four sessions, she would flake out. But she is so committed now because of what she’s investing in herself.

Yuri:                       Awesome. For everyone listening, go to events to surround yourself with people who are playing at a higher level and have already paved the path that you want to go down. It makes a huge difference.

Tess:                      It’s a game-changer. I’m immersed in gratitude for that experience.

Tess’s evolved offering to make more money and serve bigger

Yuri:                      Talk to us about your journey. Give everyone a quick overview of your business model. How do people engage your services, and how do you get in front of them so they know you in the first place?

Tess:                      I’m going through a transition right now. I’ve rebranded myself as a one degree coach, and I get in front of people through social media and events. I’m going to an event next month to learn how to be a speaker on bigger stages because I just discovered that I want to be a motivational speaker.

I’ve always wanted that and have always limited myself with my own beliefs. I’m going to do that, but right now, I’m still speaking on small stages. A couple hundred people at the most.

I had a four-session package, then I had a program online that people could enroll in for about $50 a month, but people told me that I needed to put another zero on that.

My heart is so in something. I’m sure everybody listening can relate. When you’re charging more, you can give more and that’s exciting. When I sat down and figured out what I can give as a one-degree coach, it was so much more.

You start feeling like you’ll truly impact a person’s life. I’m focusing on that right now. I’m focusing on filling up. I’m going to keep my slots very limited because I want to be able to offer plenty to the people that are doing it.

When I fill up the rest of the slots, I’ll start to scale my business and create some programs that people can go into as a group. I’ll charge enough so I can give a lot and they can get a lot, in comparison to my $50 a month thing.

I have a good friend who’s a celebrity vegan chef. He and I have accountability calls every Sunday. This is a good thing for entrepreneurs who want to up their game. He’s brilliant, inspiring, and values my input. We do these calls and bounce ideas off each other.

We had a conversation about cookbooks. We thought, “Does the world need more recipes right now? Is that what the world needs?” We’re getting away from just creating recipes and doing food stuff because, although I love that, I’ve done it for decades.

If someone want to come on as a client, I can work with them one-on-one and show them how to transition into eating better. I can teach them how to shop and set up their kitchen for success. That’s still fun for me, and I feel like I have a lot to offer. But I don’t want to do just that anymore because I did it for so long. I feel like the market is saturated with recipes right now.

Yuri:                      You’d think cookbooks would hit their ceiling, but apparently, people can’t get enough of them. They buy a cookbook, make one recipe, it sits in their cupboard, then they think they should buy another one.

Tess:                      I’ve written five, thought about writing a sixth, but have decided not to. People think, “Oh, you write cookbooks. You must make so much money on the cookbooks.” It’s actually the thing that makes me the least amount of money.

I love hearing people say that they love my recipes. What I love about being an entrepreneur is that, if you have an open-mind, attitude of openness, and want to serve, what you do just keeps expanding and more possibilities open.

Transitioning to a new brand, offering, and business model

Yuri:                      Totally. You’re transitioning from a previous “label” of yourself to this new path of the one-degree coach.

I think a lot of people, myself included, have struggled or are currently struggling with that. Here’s why I initially was: I was a trainer. I was a health coach. I was this…whatever. Now, I’ve evolved into something more than that. How do I be that to the fullest?

Is that something you struggled with at all in terms of being consistent with your audience, or letting them know about your transition and evolution? Has that come up at all for you?

Tess:                      That’s a good question. I’m just doing it. Yesterday I did an Instagram live video on a motivational topic, and then people popped in and said, “I saw you speak in Golden, Colorado. What kind of vegan cheese can I buy?”

The conversation totally went to transitioning to being vegan, and I still help people with that. But it was just funny because it hit me that people still associate me with that. Of course, they do because I’ve been doing it for decades.

I have a little identity crisis in a way, but I’m fine with it. I think the more you grow, the more you have your own business, and the more you evolve as a person, you know you don’t have to have everything figured out.

I think we stop ourselves because we think we must have everything figured out. I’m realizing that I don’t. I don’t have to have any of it figured out. I’ll keep figuring it out as I go. If in a year I want to relabel myself with something other than a One Degree Coach, I can do it.

I think it’s about the energy. It’s more about the energy of what we are and what we’ve become.

I had a gal I was coaching. She came to me for sports nutrition, and I almost didn’t accept her as a client because I didn’t feel competent in sports nutrition. That’s not my thing.  But she was insistent on working with me.

We talked about sports nutrition for 10 minutes, then discussed emotional eating, which was the issue. We talked about emotional eating for months. At that point, I was her life coach. We talked about ending abusive relationships, creating healthy boundaries, etc. Then I transitioned into being a life coach. From there, I knew it needed to be something more specific. So now it’s One Degree Coach.

We feel like we must have everything figured out, but we should just keep going forward and creating. What I love about being an entrepreneur is that our money flows are related to our growth as a human being. When we better ourselves, raise our vibe, learn, and elevate our offering, it creates a magnetic force.

Yuri:                      It’s just universal law, right? If you’re vibrating at a higher frequency, you’re going to attract different things to you than if you’re depressed. It’s funny to hear people call it woo-woo, because it’s not. It’s just the way things are. It’s just like gravity. It’s the law of attraction.

If you own your space and you’re connected, you’re going to attract better things into your life.

“One Degree Coaching,” the importance of energy-alignment, and authenticity

Tess:                      I decided I wanted to do One Degree Coaching. I didn’t totally know how, but I just started working on it. I did a Facebook Live. I was in the zone, and I had someone message me.

She wanted to work with me and I was just being. It was so validating. Like you said, when you’re vibrating at a higher level, better things start to become attracted to you.

It’s such a win-win because it was someone I wanted to work with. That’s what’s so cool: You can have clients that you enjoy. I laugh with my clients. I have fun with them. I challenge them. I learn from them. It’s so cool how that works.

When you go to events like this and you see these multi-millionaires, multi-billionaires, and they say they’re not perfect, it reminds you that you have permission to not be perfect.

Yuri:                      Exactly. Even if you’re selling a cookbook or a product, people need to resonate with you, your brand, and your energy. Especially if you’re doing intimate coaching. It is you as a person.

Energetically, below the surface, you get a vibe to say yes or no without seeing anything else. It makes a big difference too, and that’s why it’s so important to just be yourself. If you’re not yourself, you’re going to attract the wrong people into your business in the first place.

Tess:                      So true. We do that out of insecurity. That’s part of knowing you don’t have to be perfect. Just fully ground yourself into the authentic you.

People respond to that. So many people are trying to be something, and I always pick up on when somebody is authentic. That’s always a refreshing thing.

Yuri:                      It is. It is refreshing for sure. What’s been one of the biggest challenges that you faced in your business? How did you overcome that and learn from that experience?

Perseverance through tough times and realizing the entrepreneur’s freedom

Tess:                      The challenges is always to have total faith. Sometimes, before a breakthrough, you think, “Can I buy groceries?” Before I got one of my biggest clients recently, I was literally walking around the store with a calculator counting how many kombuchas I could I buy.

Yuri:                      That’s so fun.

Tess:                      Right? Oh, so fun! But I’ve been in that position and I don’t quit. You hear the cliché like, “Don’t quit. Keep going. Blah, blah, blah,” but it’s real, unless you’re a trust-funder, but I don’t have relatives with money. I don’t have people that I can ask for money.

It’s been a journey of totally believing in what I’m doing, to the point where I keep going when other people tell me it’s stupid. I keep at it because my heart is so fully in it, and I know that I can give bigger and get bigger if I stick with it.

Anybody that’s an entrepreneur, whatever field you’re in, it’s all a battle with ourselves. It’s a battle with your mind to overcome self-limiting beliefs. We all struggle with self-doubt. Look at anybody.

I don’t care who they are, and if they’re on a stage in front of thousands of people. They have doubt. They do not always believe in themselves. They struggle.

The journey of an entrepreneur is about self-growth. It forces you to grow. It’s a challenge, but it’s part of what I love about it. It forces you to be your best, overcome all the limiting stuff, and it’s not always easy. It’s spiritual, right?

Yuri:                      Yes. Being an entrepreneur is the ultimate spiritual journey. As you said, you’re forced to grow a hundred times more than if you’re an employee, because 100% of the responsibility is on your shoulders for whatever happens.

Tess:                      It is. Absolutely.

Yuri:                      Going back to the grocery store, if someone came up to you and said, “I’m going to offer you a steady paycheck, 9:00 to 5:00. Just come work here.” Would you do that, or would you rather still be in that entrepreneurial environment where there’s less certainty, but at least you have more control over your outcome?

Tess:                      Well, I’ve had that. I know I can go get any job.

Not to sound cocky, but I’ve done enough stuff. I’ve managed enough stuff. I could get a job if it got that bad, and that’s been the fallback in the back of my mind. If the worst is out there, life is out to get you, and none of the positive things you believe are true, you can always go get a job.

But just take this: Ride this out until the very last moment and just keep going. Just keep going. When you feel like giving up, just keep going. For me, that wasn’t the last moment. It’s not like I was starving. It’s not like I was sleeping on the street. I still had a bed to sleep in. I still had groceries in the fridge. I walked around with a calculator, but I would have said no. I would have said, “No, thank you.”

Just that day, I did see a great job offer. Somebody that I know who runs an amazing magazine wanted somebody to work with her. I was tempted, but knew I couldn’t. I had to believe in what I was doing and keep at it. It’s such a challenge, but so much more spiritually rewarding and growth-creating.

Part of that is believing in ourselves and not buying into the doubt.

Yuri:                      I totally agree. I don’t fully understand people who are not entrepreneurial. I’d rather have uncertainty.

I’ve been through periods of not knowing how to pay rent back in the day, but I would much rather have that knowing that there’s a limitless upside. Back in the day, I had friends who had a job where they were making $3,000 a month, and that was their ceiling. I thought, “That sucks.”

I don’t want to be in the position to have to plan for a trip two years from now because we have to save up all this money.

Tess:                      When I talked about going around the grocery store, I did a little game with myself. I told myself that I had to change my mindset. I couldn’t feel bad.

I looked around and thought in a nonjudgmental way, “Yeah, maybe I’m having to walk around with a calculator but look at this, look at the employees. This is their ceiling. Maybe I’m walking around with a calculator, but I have so much opportunity just through my mindset alone and what I know is possible.”

I have resources, connections, a website, and a great business. I have so much that I can’t feel sorry for myself. Maybe that is the difference, not to sound harsh. When you’re an entrepreneur, you cannot see yourself as a victim. I think most of society falls into thinking, “I’m a victim. Life happens to me. It doesn’t happen for me. Life sucks.”

Yuri:                      Totally.

Tess:                      We must be willing to take total responsibility for our lives, and that’s hard to do. Most people aren’t able or willing to do that.

Yuri:                      That’s why we’re cut from a different cloth. We are a special breed. I fully believe that.

Not to say that everyone else is not good, but I just enjoy spending time with entrepreneurs. Most entrepreneurs have a couple similar core values. They’re usually growth, contribution, freedom, and then family is usually in there as well. That’s just cool.

It’s great to connect with people who get that, right?

Tess:                      I agree with that completely. I love how you put that. Absolutely.

Perseverance as a necessary trait of entrepreneurs

Yuri:                      Awesome. What do you think is a skill or trait that entrepreneurs must have for lasting success?

Tess:                      Perseverance.

Perseverance and openness. Be willing to keep going. Any successful, great person who has accomplished things will tell you that there were plenty of times where they felt like giving up.

Oprah was told, “You’re no good on TV.” The Beatles were told, “No one will give you a record contract.” Be willing to push past those things that happen to all of us.

Yuri:                      It’s true. One of my favorite quotes is from Winston Churchill. He says, “Success is going from failure to failure with unbending enthusiasm.”

Tess:                      That’s one of my favorites too. I love that one.

Yuri:                      The reality is, as an entrepreneur, we fail. Personally, I think we fail way more than we succeed, and we must be okay with that.

Tess:                      Hell yeah. When people call you lucky, you think, “Do you know how many times I failed and thought about how much I suck?”

We fail all the time. I’ll create an event and nothing. I’ll create another event, and get plenty of signups. You should know it’s just how it is and to keep trying.

The Rapid Five

Yuri:                      Totally, Tess. This has been a lot of fun. Are you ready for the Rapid Five?

Tess:                      I don’t know, but we’ll find out.

Yuri:                      All right. Well, you’ve got no choice because here they come. Whatever comes top of mind is probably the right answer. Number one, what is your biggest weakness?

Tess:                      Time management.

Yuri:                      Number two, what is your biggest strength?

Tess:                      The ability to inspire maybe?

Yuri:                      Is that a question or a statement?

Tess:                      I don’t know. It wasn’t very inspiring, was it? Positive attitude.

Yuri:                      Cool.

Tess:                      I’ll stand by that.

Yuri:                      I asked, “Is that a question or a …” because the last time l asked my oldest son, Oscar, “How was your day at school?” He said, “Good?” It sounded like a question. It was funny.

Number three, what’s one skill you’ve become dangerously good at to grow your business?

Tess:                      Perseverance. It’s a skill.

Yuri:                      It is. You’ve got to build that callus, that thick skin.

Number four, what do you do first thing in the morning?

Tess:                      Meditate.

Yuri:                      Guided or on your own?

Tess:                      On my own. I’ve been doing it for a couple of decades. Our mind is like a tape that repeats, and most people’s tape is not super-positive and inspiring, so we need to replace that tape.

Yuri:                      Nice. Love it. Finally, complete this sentence, I know I’m being successful when…

Tess:                      When I feel that amazing energy that lifts me up, and I know that I’m serving others as well.

Yuri:                      Beautiful. Tess, thank you so much for taking the time and sharing this great conversation with us. Where is the best place for people to find you online?

Tess:                      It was so fun. Thank you, Yuri. You can find me at tesschallis.com.

My social media links will be there, so you can connect with me and Facebook friend request me. All the things. I’d love to connect with you!

Yuri:                      Tess, once again, thank you for being so candid and open, and sharing this awesome space with us today. It’s been a lot of fun.

Tess:                      Thank you.

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Yuri’s take

Inspiring stuff, right? Hopefully you got the wheels turning. If you’re doing any kind of coaching, in-person, online, whatever, hopefully the message from this episode has resonated with you.

One of the things I want to bring back to the center is when talked about how when people enroll with you for free, there is no commitment on their part. It’s important that you qualify people properly. If you’re going to get on the phone with them, make them jump through hoops. If you’re going to work with people at a high level, they must pay a premium.

Do not offer one-off sessions. It doesn’t help you and it doesn’t help them. Think about packaging your coaching in a much more effective way.

If you’d like help doing this and you want to move from one-on-one to group-based programs where you can leverage time, serve more people, and give an amazing experience that still feels personalized, I invite you to join our Seven-Figure Health Business Blueprint Training. It’s a free online training that will walk you through the new way to build a successful online coaching business in the health space.

I say “the new way” because the old way of doing things is dying, and if it’s not dying, it’s dead. It’s very tough to continue doing one-on-one coaching. It’s tough to sell info products, do affiliate marketing, and all that stuff. It’s tougher than it used to be, but it’s not impossible. If you want to do that stuff, you should understand the pros and cons. In this training, I’ll show you that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to continue doing that stuff, especially if you love teaching, coaching, and serving clients.

Join us for that training at healthpreneurgroup.com/training. Again, it’s totally free, 75 minutes, and will inspire you to think bigger with what you’re doing. Thank you for taking the time to join me and remember to subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already. There’s lots of great stuff coming your way. In the meantime, continue to go out there and be great, do great, and we’ll see you in the next episode.

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