Intro: Welcome to the Masterful Coach podcast, with Molly Claire, where coaches learn skill mastery, business mastery, and life mastery at a whole new level. If you are serious about creating a meaningful coaching business that makes a difference, you are in the right place. And now your host, master life and business coach, Molly Claire.

Molly Claire: Hey, coach, I have the amazing Jody Moore for you today. This interview is awesome. Jody is sharing some vulnerabilities, she is sharing some of the brilliant way she thinks in her business as she’s built her seven-figure business, she has four kids, and she’s just really, really incredible.

I’m excited about this episode for so many reasons; first of all, because you’re going to love Jody and learn so much from her. Second, because this interview is coming at such a fun time right now in my business, I am just opening enrollment for my advanced certification. And this certification is for already certified coaches looking to take it to the next level, and specifically coaches who work in the mom space; work with women navigating motherhood, parenting, family, relationships. And I found such a need for advanced training in that space, in those niches, and this is what this is for.

And then what this has to do with Jody is that about five years ago, Jody actually interviewed me on her podcast, with my book, The Happy Mom Mindset, which is being brought into this certification. So, it’s really fun. Jody and I met actually when we first both started our coaching business, we certified just a few months apart, and it’s been really amazing to learn from her and watch her grow, and just really fun that she was there supporting me as I had my book out. And I’m just excited to bring her here to all of you.

And by the way, those of you in The Masterful Coach Collective, she is going to be speaking to you about sales in January, and she is awesome with sales. So, more to come on that. Those of you that are interested in the Advance Certification, if you work with women in motherhood, parenting, the family chaos space, and family relationships, I would love to have you go to my site, www.mollyclaire.com, where you can click on Advanced Certification. That is where you can apply, I am working with a small number of coaches, this is personal, this is intimate, I love helping you to really advance and master your coaching skills.

All right coaches, without further ado, the amazing Jody Moore! I’m so excited to meet with you, Jody.

Jody Moore: Thanks, Molly, I’m so excited to be here.

Molly Claire: It’s so fun, I was on your podcast so many years ago, and we were just talking about, Jody and I went through coach training at a similar time, so, we’ve known each other for a long time, and I trained with you for marketing and sales way back then, and I still remember so much of that that I learned from you, and I’m just excited to have her here and share her with you, because she is brilliant in business, in marketing and sales, and she’s just created a phenomenal business. And also has a great family, so welcome, Jody, I’m excited to share your brilliance.

Jody Moore: Thanks, Molly.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: That’s so kind of you, thanks for having me. Yes, we have known each other a long time, we both built our businesses side by side each other. So yeah, it’ll be fun.

Molly Claire: It’s so fun. And then, of course, those of you in the Masterful Coach collective, she is going to be coming and talking about sales, because I do think…

Jody Moore: Yes.

Molly Claire: … I love your approach to sales, I think it’s so smart and so effective, and so kind. And I feel like a very respectful sales process. So, I’m super excited to share you with that.

Jody Moore: Thank you. Yes, that’ll be fun.

Molly Claire: So, tell my audience, I’m sure many of them already know you, but what do you do in your business, and why do you love it?

Jody Moore: I am a life coach, and business coach, and I love it because it helped me so much in my life and with my business, and I love getting to help people change their relationships. My life coaching practice has been my main business up until a year and a half or so ago. And I work with mostly women who are members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

That’s how I narrowed my niche. I have this new way of thinking about niche narrowing, which is like, you can narrow by the population you serve, or by the problem you address. Like if I say I help people who have lupus, then I don’t have to say I help Mormon women with lupus. Lupus is more narrow than just any illness, right? Or you can narrow by even the offer or product you give. So, instead of saying I’m a speaking coach, you could say, I help people give TEDx talks.

Molly Claire: Yeah, yeah.

Jody Moore: So anyway, sorry, a little tangent there. So, I narrowed originally by saying I help women who are members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints moms. But I help them with all kinds of problems, any relationships, emotions, parenting stuff, even sometimes we get into weight loss and health and goals and all of it. But that gave me the traction to get up and running, and today I have a membership where we have thousand, almost 6,000 members and…

Molly Claire: Amazing.

Jody Moore: … it’s so much fun.

Molly Claire: Amazing. Yeah, and I mean, such a great niche, because there’s that, the shared values, the shared core beliefs, which automatically gives that sense of safety and relief, right? That you understand them. So…

Jody Moore: Yeah, because if you’re going to get help, let’s say on your marriage, and your faith tradition comes into play in your marriage, it plays a role in terms of how you think about your marriage. And you want somebody that understands that, even though they don’t have to understand that, it’s helpful at times.

Molly Claire: Yeah, totally. Totally, I agree. And so you have a membership business, and I know I had mentioned that, I want to talk about that, because I’m always telling people, everyone thinks, you know what’s funny about a membership business, is that everyone thinks when they’re having a hard time getting clients, that a membership would be the solution to getting more clients, and making more money, and helping more people. And I’m like, oh…

Jody Moore: Oh boy, let’s just set the record straight right now. I know.

Molly Claire: So, I’m going to tell you what I say, and you can…

Jody Moore: Tell me, yes.

Molly Claire: You can tell me where you agree, disagree, or offer something different.

Jody Moore: Okay.

Molly Claire: So, when I think about a membership business, I think a membership business, during the first several years, which is vague, right? That’s during the first, I would say like 3 years probably, and beyond that, but especially, is like, think about it as 80 to 90% marketing, messaging, retention, is the focus of what you’re doing. And you can’t expect a huge return on your investment for several years.

And so, from what I know and what I’ve seen and experience, that’s like if you love marketing, and you love really going all in on that and having that be a significant part of part of your business, and you don’t need money, then I think a membership can be brilliant, especially if you’re in it for the long haul. But if you don’t love marketing, or messaging, or sales, and you really just want to spend your time coaching, and you need money now, please don’t start a membership.

Jody Moore: Yes.

Molly Claire: What would you add, change to you know that?

Jody Moore: Yeah, I would definitely agree with all of that, I will say, here’s the way I think about it, is, I love my membership, I’m so glad that I have it, but I didn’t start with the membership. I started doing private coaching for many years actually, several years, I don’t know how many years, it felt like forever, maybe it was only two years. But anyway, and I really went all in on figuring out how to get clients through private coaching, that’s important too.

Molly Claire: Yes.

Jody Moore: Like I wasn’t just coaching a few people here and there, I figured out how to have a full schedule, whatever that is, for your time.

Molly Claire: Yes.

Jody Moore: Of one-on-one clients until I had a wait list of people, not just a wait list of clients, a wait list of people to come to the call where I sold the private coaching. And all the while I was building a following through my podcast, I was putting out really consistent content, and building a platform, if you will. And even then, then I went to small groups, before I ever went to a membership. And you don’t have to do it that way, but like you said Molly, I would agree.

If you’re starting from scratch, or from not a very huge following, and you want to just open up the doors to a membership, that’s okay, just expect that you’ll have a few people in there, right? So, it’s not going to be super profitable, because typically a membership you’re charging much less than a private client, right?

Molly Claire: Right.

Jody Moore: And that’s okay, but then don’t get mad at yourself or compare yourself to someone else who’s further along. So, I think of my membership as a garden that I planted, that I have to keep replanting and watering, and giving sunlight to, and weeding, and taking care of. But in the beginning, when you plant a garden, you don’t have any crop yet, you don’t have any plants to harvest. But you’re planting, right? So that’s okay, just don’t make it mean that something’s wrong.

Molly Claire: Right.

Jody Moore: Over time, that crop comes up and then each season you just, I should get an analogy that I know something about, because I’m not a good gardener. But you’ll, it’s like, what do you do?

Molly Claire: And you’re sitting here thinking, she’s reminding me how much I hate gardening.

Jody Moore: Yeah, me, not a gardener here. But we get the basic gist of it.

Molly Claire: Yes.

Jody Moore: You got a weed, you pull up the crop, you plant fresh seed, you till the ground, and then you repeat. But now you know what you’re doing. But in the beginning, there’s nothing. So, I always use the example too when I’m teaching marketing, if there’s like even just building your funnel, even if you’re doing private coaching or something, there’s long term you want a garden, that you know what works, you know how to convert it. But sometimes you have to just go hunt, right?

Molly Claire: Yes.

Jody Moore: Sometimes if you don’t want to wait for that garden, you go get some private clients or whatever. But you’re right. I would say, even today, Molly and I’ve had my membership for like five years now, it’s still 80% marketing and retention.

Molly Claire: Yes.

Jody Moore: And 20% coaching.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: So, it can be fun, but even the marketing that works for my membership to feed it, works for about a year and then it stops working, and I have to change it all up.

Molly Claire: Yes, yes.

Jody Moore: So, there’s that.

Molly Claire: This is what, I’ve been thinking and talking so much about this lately, how it’s like, any marketing method or strategy, or whatever’s working today, it’s just not going to work for very long.

Jody Moore: No.

Molly Claire: So, the thing that is lasting are the ways that we become an entrepreneur, right? The grit, the perseverance, the willingness to learn and adapt and figure it out, and really to understand people, and what they need. And so, it’s really true, it’s like, you know those things we kind of know, but then we really know it. I’m like, oh yeah. I’m going to do this thing, and it’s going to be really amazing right now, it’s not going to last forever, but that’s okay, because I know how to figure out the next thing that’s going to work, right?

Jody Moore: Yeah. And it’s the principles, right? Like, marketing principles have been around for ages, they haven’t changed.

Molly Claire: Yes, exactly.

Jody Moore: The principles of serve people, invite them to take a next step, and it’s sales principles and things don’t change, it’s just platforms change, delivery methods change, cost to do marketing changes. And so, you have to be ready to adapt.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: Try something new.

Molly Claire: Yes. And one other thing I want to highlight that you said, that I think is so important for my listeners is, you saying, yes, I had even a wait list for the call, where people could become a client. And I think I know that’s something that I learned from you early on, is really have plenty of people waiting in the wings before you open the doors. I remember specifically, talking with you about how before you open a group, you would always say, hey, who might be interested in this? Join the wait list.

And when you had a pretty hefty wait list, okay, you knew I can open the doors. And I think that’s important, because a lot of people would look at you and think, oh, she’s just good at marketing. And she does this amazing email, and everyone just comes blocking. But it’s a building process for everyone.

Jody Moore: That’s right. And I do that because I don’t, as much as I love to teach sales, and I’m pretty good at sales, I don’t ever want to shift into scarcity and desperation, because then I hate sales. I hate selling because I feel like I need to fill a group, but I love selling people on themselves, I love selling when I’m in an abundant place. So, I can’t remember where I heard somebody say that, selling is just the tax you pay for not doing enough marketing.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: And so, I like to do a lot of marketing, meaning, put out a lot of content, build the following, and build anticipation for the thing I’m going to open, and so that when I do open the doors, people can’t wait to get in, because then I don’t have to do much selling.

Molly Claire: Yes, yes, I love that.

Jody Moore: That’s fun.

Molly Claire: I love it, that is fun, right?

Jody Moore: Yeah.

Molly Claire: That’s so fun. I wanted to also ask you, like for where your business is now? Is this what you imagine when you started out, or even close?

Jody Moore: You know what? I mean, of course there’s so much about it that I just didn’t even know, I just had no idea.

Molly Claire: Right, right.

Jody Moore: But I will say, and again, you and I have known each other a long time, so, you probably remember, like when you and I were trying to figure out, what are we doing, and who are we going to help? And I really, I did feel called to serve the women who are members of my faith. And I even said like, I’m going to speak at Time Out for Women, it’s this conference they have, right? Within our, put on by our church’s publishing company.

And because I just had this thought that if I can get on that stage and teach the model, then all those women who need this, they don’t even know they need it, will hear it, and then I’ll be able to help them, and I’ll be able to get clients easily. So, that was in my mind what made sense. And so, this year, I’m speaking at Time Out for Women, it took me eight years, but you know? And so, in a way I’m like, I’m going to Time Out for Women, I’m having the exact experience I imagined in that.

There’s like maybe a quarter to a third of the women at any particular event, depending on where I am, but know me, and have heard of me, and are excited to meet me, and are maybe even there to meet me. And then the other two thirds to three fourths are like, “Who? Who’s that?” And they’re like, “What? You don’t know Jody Moore? Oh my gosh! You got to listen to her podcast.”

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: Which is exactly what I envisioned in my head, except the crazy part is, I thought I was going to get on that stage, and then I was going to be able to get clients. But I had to learn how to get clients in order to get on that stage. And it’s been the most surreal experience, because I’ve been envisioning this for over eight years.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: So, in some ways, yes, in many other ways, no, I couldn’t have anticipated the parts of it that are challenging, or even the parts that are great aren’t the parts that I thought would be great. It’s been totally different parts.

Molly Claire: Yeah, yeah.

Jody Moore: It’s fascinating.

Molly Claire: Yeah. Well, and I was thinking too about your book, and I know because you thought you knew how you were getting it on that stage with your book.

Jody Moore: Yeah…

Molly Claire: And I wish I had my book right here.

Jody Moore: … and that wasn’t the way.

Molly Claire: I have my book right in the other room, in my piano room, it’s out there. But yeah, you had a way that you were going to speak at this conference, and you didn’t end up getting there in that way.

Jody Moore: No.

Molly Claire: Which was a little bit crazy, because I’m pretty sure you were certain that was the way, right? Through your book, through the publishing company.

Jody Moore: Well, I mean, I’m pretty good with this particular goal, and I just want to preface, I’m not good at this with all my goals. Please don’t misunderstand. But with this particular goal, I did a good job of holding loosely to it, like I just let myself believe, but I held loosely to the how.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: But yeah, so this event, Time Out for women, the way it works typically, is Desert book only puts people in that stage who have a book or a CD or something that they sell in the back of the room. They sell books, right? And I worked with Deseret Book for a year and a half on this book, they reached out to me and said, “Have you ever thought of writing a book?”

And I worked with someone from their team, so yeah, so I thought, well, now she did tell me, like when we published your book, that doesn’t guarantee, because I told her, I want to speak at Time Out for Women. She said, “I can’t guarantee that we’ll have to see.” So, I was loosely, like, this will probably be the way. But when it came right down to it, it turned out that my book wasn’t a good fit to publish at Deseret Book.

And so, I remember being mad, and whatever, going through some emotions at that point, and then thinking to myself, I wonder how I’m going to speak at Time Out for Women. And for so many years have not held too tightly to it, that I could keep doing it. I was just like, I thought it was going to be that, but I guess not. Maybe, and I was like, maybe I’m going to write another book one day that they published, or maybe, I don’t know. But I just went on, and also still have a really good relationship with Deseret Book.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: Right? I chose not to be mad about it, after I let myself have some emotions, I was just like, you know what? They have a slightly… they have a different mission than I do, like it’s…

Molly Claire: Yeah, yeah.

Jody Moore: And anyway, long story short, they circle back around and ask me to speak for a different reason, for some online courses that they’re promoting. And I did a course with them that’ll be coming out, so yeah.

Molly Claire: That’s awesome.

Jody Moore: That’s so crazy how it works.

Molly Claire: So crazy, yeah.

Jody Moore: Yeah.

Molly Claire: And I was thinking, I want to speak too, to your podcast, because I know, you know, a lot of coaches listen, and as I mentioned to you before we came on, I love to talk about what’s behind the trophy, because in our coaching community, and a lot of coaching communities, you hear about how much coaches are making, and it can seem like this, not only this perfect view, but also, we just—our minds make up the story automatically, that this person was, it was somehow easy for them. Or they started with all these people.

Jody Moore: Yes.

Molly Claire: Right? But you started literally by deciding to record your voice one day, and make a podcast called Nappy Clips, right?

Jody Moore: Yes, which was the worst name ever. Yes, because you’re right, I just was like, I was writing a blog. Did you ever do a blog?

Molly Claire: Yeah. Like those, like, okay, I’m going to do like 30 blog posts, I’m going to like write voice, I’m going to do the thing.

Jody Moore: When you and I started, that’s what everyone was doing, writing blogs, remember?

Molly Claire: Yes, writing blogs.

Jody Moore: And so, we wrote a whole bunch of blog posts, and blogs were just sort of starting to be on the way out, but people were still reading them and podcasts were so new.

Molly Claire: Yeah, that’s right.

Jody Moore: So, we blogged, right? I blog for a while, and then podcasts were coming on the scene, and I just knew it’s a lot easier for me to turn on a mic and talk than to try to write well. So, I switched over to podcasting, but yeah, I was like, what am I going to call my podcast? I don’t know. My sister, Natalie, we both had little kids at the time, and we had this joke, that if all of your, or if both two or three, whatever however many of your little kids are napping at the same time, it’s a nap eclipse, because it’s so rare and beautiful, and it hardly ever happens, right?

Molly Claire: Yeah, yeah.

Jody Moore: So, I name my podcast that, but everyone thought it was nappy, like N-A-P-P-Y, Nappy Clips, and nobody, like it’s the worst name, because nobody knows what it means in anyway. Then it became Bold New Mom, which was my company name for a while, and now it’s Better Than Happy, which I like a lot better.

Molly Claire: So, fun.

Jody Moore: But yeah, you just have to start. I just did a reel on this; I was talking about there’s effort and there’s skill. And the good news is, if you just take a lot of effort, you don’t have to have the skill, the effort alone will compensate for your lack of skill. So, let’s say I’m not very good at writing emails that sell my offer. I don’t have to be good at selling my offer if I just send a lot of emails.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: Like, I’ll get through to people and I can get the result by just doing it a lot. Now, as I get better, my emails get better, then I can send fewer emails and get the same result. But the only way to get better is just by doing it a lot.

Molly Claire: Yes, the effort builds the skill, right?

Jody Moore: The effort builds the skill.

Molly Claire: You can’t expect the skill to be there without the effort driving it. Yeah.

Jody Moore: Right.

Molly Claire: Totally.

Jody Moore: So when you’re thinking I should do a podcast, okay, that’s why we’re, in the beginning, Molly and I did 30 blogs in 30 days, because our teacher, broke a steel was like, just write a whole bunch of blogs. And I think in her mind, she’s like, they’re going to be terrible, but that’s okay, because by the end of 30, you’ll be a better blog writer. And you’ll have 30 pieces of content that you know… So yeah, it’s frustrating, but also kind of cool at the same time. Like you don’t even have to be good at it, just go do it a lot, and you’ll get better, and then you don’t have to do it a lot forever.

Molly Claire: Yes, yeah, exactly. So, I think that’s, and I mean, I think you’re such a good example of that, just like, just do it. It can be B minus work, I remember one time you saying something like letting people know when they would say, hey, there’s a grammatical error in this email. You’re like, typos are part of my brand, or something like that.

Jody Moore: Yeah, I still say that. Like typos are our brand.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: I don’t know if you follow Glen and Doyle, but I heard her recently say this, where she’s like, she’s an author. She said, you know, we’re always like, ‘Do your best. Like, I don’t care kids what grades you get, as long as you tried your best, as long as you did your best.” And she’s like, “I want to call BS on that, I don’t think even doing your best is necessary very often. I don’t even think you need to do your best.”

And that’s how I feel about my business, is like, I can’t do my best and still be the mom I want to be and keep my sanity, and serve my clients the way I want to. If I have to do my best, then it limits the people that I can serve, and the opportunities I can provide, and the life I can have. So, I’m going to do it not, I know I’m capable of better, I am capable of more, but this is good enough. And that’s, I don’t struggle with perfectionism in most areas, so I just feel lucky that that comes easily to me. But it is something you can teach yourself if you struggle with it.

Molly Claire: Yeah, definitely.

Jody Moore: Yeah.

Molly Claire: I think you just do it, right? You have to just start. So, whatever it is, so, yeah, I think you’re just a good example of that. Okay, I wanted to ask you to share potentially, like one of your, what you would consider maybe one of your biggest fails or vulnerable moments, something like that, that would kind of give us a look inside…

Jody Moore: Gosh, where do we begin Molly?

Molly Claire: I know, right? How long do we have? Well, the truth is, you must have a lot of them, because you’ve had a lot of success. Right?

Jody Moore: Yeah, I mean, I will say this, like even failure itself is a thought, right? And like I failed, I mean…

Molly Claire: Like what does it even mean?

Jody Moore: What does that even mean?

Molly Claire: Right?

Jody Moore: If you’re measuring yourself to what you thought was going to happen, and then most people then feel bad about that. And that’s what we call failure. And I have goals I set all the time that I don’t achieve, but I very rarely go, we failed.

Molly Claire: Right.

Jody Moore: I just go, oh, well that didn’t work the way I thought it was going to.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: And again, this is easier for me in my business than it is in other areas of my life. But to be able to look back and go, okay, well that didn’t work how I thought it was going to, so, now what?

Molly Claire: Yeah,

Jody Moore: Like we just had a, I’m just coming off a month where we opened the doors to the membership, because I do an open and close kind of a launch model. And we hadn’t had them open for a while, and we were trying a new strategy. And we put $60,000 into Facebook ads, and we got 400 new members, and I don’t know what the math is on that, but we lost money. Which is…So I mean, I think some people look at that, and they’re like, “Oh, that was such a big fail,’ because I’ve grown the membership by way more than that for a lot less money.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: But I’m pretty good at, I’m just like, “Okay, wow! That didn’t…something’s happening with our Facebook ads, maybe it’s us, maybe it’s the platform, maybe whatever. So, let’s rethink that strategy going forward.” But I have those moments all the time, I’ve had workshops that I try to sell, that I think: this is going to sell out really easily, and then it doesn’t.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: And then I have to go, “Okay, what are we going to try?” And I am still constantly surprised, and sometimes I’m surprised in a good way, sometimes I think this is going to be hard to sell, and it sells out really quickly.

Molly Claire: Yeah, yeah.

Jody Moore: But I very rarely call them “failures.” I think that for me, where it’s more vulnerable for me, is just like the personal experience of owning a business, where you’re, and I’m sure you can relate to this. Like we get to help people so much, right? And then they come to us and say, ‘You changed my life.” And that’s so sweet to hear, but also, I get really in my head about like, ‘No, you didn’t.” Because I didn’t actually.

Like if it were me, then everyone who I work with would have a life changing experience, or I mean, they tell me, I listen to your podcast that got me through my divorce, I’m like, that’s so beautiful. But a lot of people listen to my podcasts who struggled through their divorce, you know what I mean? So, I have this chatter in my head, and I get like, the best way I can describe it is, I get so sick of myself, sometimes after, especially after a live event or something, where there’s a lot of who rock?

And I just get like, all of a sudden, I just want to go in a corner and, I’m very like, “You’re stupid Jody Moore, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I think this is just a bunch of made-up BS maybe, and we’ve just fooled everyone and you need to be quiet and go away.” Like, I have this weird, dark part of me. And then I have to just turn it all off, and I realize, I have to have a break from my work and myself.

Molly Claire: Yeah, yeah. No, I think that’s so important, I like that you said like taking a break from it. Because it’s normal for us to all have some experience similar to that, right? Whether it’s that, or some other dark part that comes in, and that spiral and spin. And it’s like, I think it’s a good lesson, that sometimes it’s just not a good idea, a good time to think, right? About it.

Jody Moore: Right.

Molly Claire: Like it’s not a good time for you to try to talk yourself out of that, it’s just like let’s just let this be, and give myself some space. Yes.

Jody Moore: Yes, like being a life coach doesn’t make you not a human, unfortunately.

Molly Claire: Unfortunately.

Jody Moore: And it doesn’t even mean that your challenges and struggles are neater and cleaner, and that you handle them the right way always, like it just doesn’t mean any of that.

Molly Claire: It just means you know you’re handling it poorly.

Jody Moore: Yeah, you just, you’re still a human, and being a human is hard. So, there’s that.

Molly Claire: Yeah. Well, thank you. No, I think that’s really important, because it’s really easy for people to assume, right? That your life must be perfect, you must have it all figured out, and so, I appreciate you sharing that.

Jody Moore: Yeah, and let me…Sorry, let me add one other thing that I just thought about. Is like, so, I’m really happy with where our company’s at, we have a bit of a team, we’re making good revenue. But I feel like a little bit stagnant, like we haven’t grown, not just financially or anything, but even like in terms of our challenge, and like my own personal growth in the last year or two.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: And I feel like how do we do that without me overdoing myself? Like as my kids get older, I have two teenagers now. And I’ve been traveling a lot this year, with Time Out for Women, and my own stuff and everything, and I feel like when they were little and I would leave, they would be sad that I was leaving, but then I’m gone, and they forget about me. Then I come home, and they’re just happy to see me, and we just move on.

Now that they’re teenagers, it’s totally different, like they’re mad that I’m leaving, they’re not just sad, they’re mad. And then I get home, and they hold a grudge, they want to like punish me for leaving. And I’m realizing, okay, my kids need me here, and I want to be here. They’re not even going to be here that much longer, I don’t want to miss that. So, then it becomes, how am I going to grow my business, if we are, or do we decide we’re not going to grow? How are we going to even keep doing what we’re doing? And me not sacrifice the things that matter to me in my life. And those are tough questions to answer, and I’m just spinning in all of that right now. It’s like, I don’t know, there’s no way!

Molly Claire: Yeah. I mean, I think it’s a big deal, it’s a struggle for, I think all women to some degree, especially in building a business. And I was speaking with my group this morning, even about the guilt they feel when they’re working period, right? And then there’s that same challenge, I mean, I’ve experienced a similar thing of like, I don’t want to miss out on my kids’ life, you know?

And I think for me, I’ll just kind of, I’m going to go on a little bit of a tangent here, related to what you’re bringing up is, I was building my business when I started to become a single mom. And growing up, my mom was a single mom, she was never home, she was always at work, she was working at night. I always tell my husband, I basically changed my own diapers, and I hated it. And when I started building my business, I was like, ‘Over my dead body are my kids going to experience what I did. And over my dead body, am I going to live my mom’s life.”

And so, in a way, I’m really grateful for that, because it’s helped me to—even though it’s always, there can be that challenge, right? It’s not like, “Oh, I made the decision, and then it was easy.” But it definitely helped to set a very clear parameters for me, where this is what I value, these are my priorities, and if my business is taking away from what I actually want to create with it, then it’s a problem, and we have to take a step.

Jody Moore: Yes, I love that. And I like to think of it as the three-legged stool, like success is all three legs of this stool are balanced. So, my business is getting what it needs, it needs revenue and clients and whatever. My clients are getting what they need, right? Like, I need to make sure I deliver on the promises I make, and I’m getting what I need in my life. And if any one of those is out of balance, you’re not succeeding, I don’t consider it success for myself.

Molly Claire: Yeah, I love that, it’s a great analogy. Well, I wanted to actually go back to your failure comment, and then I’ll ask you just one more thing before I let you go.

Jody Moore: Okay.

Molly Claire: But really when you’re talking about like not seeing things as failures, I think that’s really going back to what we were talking about in the beginning of a certain marketing strategy or whatever, that’s why you’re successful, right? Is because how you experience, respond to and adapt when things don’t go the way you think they should.

Jody Moore: Yes.

Molly Claire: There’s a show here, have you ever seen that show, Undercover Billionaire?

Jody Moore: No.

Molly Claire: Oh my gosh.

Jody Moore: It sounds good.

Molly Claire: You have to watch it, Undercover Billionaire.

Jody Moore: Okay.

Molly Claire: And he sets these crazy goals every time, and there’s a few episodes now, right? But he sets this crazy goal, and you’re like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, is he going to meet it? And he doesn’t. He sets another crazy goal, like the whole season, every week, he fails to meet his goal, if we use that word, right? He doesn’t meet it, doesn’t meet it, doesn’t meet it. There is one time in the entire season that he meets his goal. But it doesn’t keep him from continuing to set a huge goal and going after it.

And I think that’s a huge key to success, being willing to claim a goal, claim a number, not be afraid of it, and being able to not meet it, and move forward, not without slowing down, but without moving your eyes from where you’re really wanting to go.

Jody Moore: That’s so true, because he expects that he’s not going to meet it. Most of the time, right? That’s the whole premise of the show, it’s like, you’re going to fail over and over, and then one time you’re going to make it. But I guarantee, that’s how he got to be a billionaire.

Molly Claire: Exactly, exactly.

Jody Moore: And yeah, I just think of it more like a science experiment, like a scientist doesn’t go in and put a few things in a pet tradition and go, “Oh man, we failed.” He’s just like, “That didn’t work, okay, let’s try again. That didn’t work, that didn’t work, that didn’t work.” Until you get it, that’s how building a business is, it’s a science experiment.

Molly Claire: Yes, yeah, totally. Okay, and I of course will have your information in the show notes, and in a minute I’ll share anything you want to about your business as well. But I would love to hear just like, what is either like a big lesson learned, or maybe one thing you would want to share with the coaches listening, building their businesses.

Jody Moore: Here’s what I would say, is the way I think about it, is that when you’re building your business, and this is true for me still, I don’t know, I think this is always the case. But you have to invest in your business and you can invest time, or you can invest money, or you can invest some of both. But those are the only two ways I know of to invest in what your business needs.

So, for me, when I first started, I didn’t have tons of time, I had still some little kids who weren’t even in school yet. And so, I hired childcare, I think a couple of days a week, but I wanted to be with them the other days. And then I also didn’t have a lot of money. So, I took a small part-time job, so that I could generate some money. And if I were starting today, I would go get a job waiting tables on the weekends. And I would take that 2 to $300 that I know I could make in tips every weekend and put it into my business.

And I would also be intentional about what time am I putting in. But there’s so many strategies. There are people out there who are like, “You can grow your following and whatever without putting money into ads” That’s true, you can. It’s going to take more time. So, don’t tell yourself this isn’t working, I’m not doing it right. It’s going to take time, because you’re going to have a learning curve, first of all. But you’re also going to have to do things like pay attention to algorithms, and research Google keywords that people are searching, and maybe get into people’s DM’s or pitch yourself to be on other people’s platforms.

All of those things take time, right? And or you can do some of that, and also invest money into ads, which takes very little time, little bit of time, but not as much. And then you put the money in instead. So, I think that so many people, I see them sitting back going, “Well, I have an Instagram account, and I post every day and I’m just not getting any mini sessions or consultations,” or whatever they call them.

And I’m like, yeah, because my teenage daughter has an Instagram account that she posts on every day, and she also doesn’t have any mini sessions, because posting every day on Instagram isn’t going to do it. It’s not, it’s a good first step, but you got to invest in your business, and that that was when I was thinking about like, what’s the best gift I could give to your listeners. Is, I believe that you have to generate leads, nurture leads, and convert leads.

When you learn how to generate, nurture and convert, then you’re going to build that garden that will reap harvest for you if you keep doing that every year. And to do those three things requires that you invest time and/or money. And so, I actually created a list of like, these are my favorite ways to save money, if you want to invest time. And these are my favorite ways to save time, if you want to invest money.

Molly Claire: Yeah, totally.

Jody Moore: And you can combine the two of course, but that’s the gift I like to give people, and that it’s not an exhaustive list of course, it’s just the things that I know of, or have tried.

Molly Claire: Yeah.

Jody Moore: So, that’s what I have for your listeners, if they want to go to www.jodymoore.com/leads.

Molly Claire: Awesome. And we’ll put it in the show noted as well.

Jody Moore: Yeah.

Molly Claire: I think that’s great, because I do hear a lot, whenever people are looking into programs that I’m offering, and I hear so much, “Well, I can’t spend any more money, I don’t want to spend any more money.” And obviously, we want to be conscientious about how we’re spending our money and intentional about it, right? But sometimes we have to spend the money or invest the time to learn the skills we need in order to make the money, right? We can’t, like, well, let me make the money, and then I’ll learn the skills, or then I’ll pay the money. So…

Jody Moore: Yeah, and it’s just, like, okay, you don’t have to put money in, but people say, “Well, I have like a hundred followers.” I’m like, “Okay, when did you DM them last?” If I’m not going to put money in, and have a hundred followers, or 5,000 followers, I’m going to go DM every one of them. And say, what are you struggling with today? I would send an audio message. And say, “Hey, it’s Jody Moore, I was just wondering if you’re struggling with anything that I can help you with today.” Like, that’s going to take a lot of time. Invest something though, your business, you’ve got to invest in your business.

Molly Claire: Yeah, you got to invest. See, and now you guys can tell why she’s so successful at her business, she’s not messing around.

Jody Moore: Not messing around, let’s go.

Molly Claire: So, now I’m hoping I’ll get a message once in a while that says, Hi Molly, this is Jody Moore…

Jody Moore: I’m going to start audio messaging you.

Molly Claire: … what are you struggling with? You send it to me, and you’ll get an earful every time.

Jody Moore: Good, let’s do that.

Molly Claire: Thank you so much Jody, for being here.

Jody Moore: Oh yeah, thanks for having me.

Molly Claire: Yeah, and I just mentioned it quickly, but let everyone know about your book as well, and where they can find that, and that’ll be in the show notes of course too.

Jody Moore: Oh yeah, my book is called Better Than Happy, just like my podcast. Better Than Happy. And the book has much more of a religious land, if you’re of a Christian faith, you’ll really enjoy it. If you don’t like that, don’t bother with the book. But I wanted to put something out that had a little bit heavier religion in it. That’s what the book is, the podcast is more general life coaching. So…

Molly Claire: Yeah, awesome.

Jody Moore: Yeah.

Molly Claire: Thank you so much Jody, great to have you.

Jody Moore: Thanks for having me Mols.

Molly Claire: Yeah, looking forward to having you in our community too.

Jody Moore: You too.

Molly Claire: Awesome, okay, see you then, thanks.

Outro: Thanks for listening to the Masterful Coach podcast. If you’re ready for complete support as you build your coaching business, check out Molly’s collaborative community, The Masterful Coach Collective. It’s a place where you’ll have access to the best experts in the biz, community support, and guidance, as you build your perfect business 90 days at a time. Visit www.mollyclaire.com for details.