7+ years into her business of coaching, Becky Mollenkamp is honing into the job she enjoys the most

Learn how mindset coach and time-tested creator Becky Mollenkamp is evolving her creator business to do more of the work she enjoys.

What happens If you let go of the 'shoulds' and started trusting your instincts?

For mindset trainer Becky Mollenkamp , choosing to stop following a'shoulds'-based lifestyle' changed everything -- even her professional career.

Becky helps people make the shift to go from "small business owner" to CEO and create profitable businesses that aren't burning out. Through the Gutsy Boss brand, she has assisted thousands of customers release their own 'shoulds' and determine success on their own terms.

She brings nearly 20 years of experience in the field of entrepreneurship to her job, including owning a six-figure content marketing company before launching her own coaching company in the year 2015.

We recently checked in with Becky to hear how her business has evolved over the last few years, and to reflect on her creator journey. The company is moving through a period of transition, while she focuses specific work with midsize businesses and their managers as well as employees.

Keep reading to learn the ways Becky has developed her business through following her intuition and not letting go of "shoulds," and has helped other business owners to do similar.

Her calling is as a mental coach

Though Becky is an entrepreneur for over two decades, coaching wasn't an integral part of her plans.

"What started me down the coach path was when my brother died in 2010 due to a fatal overdose of heroin. It really shook me out of my slumber," Becky explains.

"I was living a life of 'shoulds', doing the same thing over and over performing all the tasks you're supposed to do. That helped me realize life's much too brief to live one that's not exactly what you want to live."

"I didn't know what I wanted. It was just clear that it wasn't that," Becky remembers. The writer shut down his company and returned to her parents' home. After that came the inner work of finding out how she didwant her life to look like.

Becky started to rebuild her writing business. "It was something I was familiar with and could be successful at. Then I realized that what really wanted to accomplish was help other people break out of their'shoulds'."

Then she began coaching.

"I discovered that I can help others who are going through the same things which I've gone through. And that's really the reason I realized this is what I'm meant to be doing. This is my passion."

The work she did as an owner of an agency and her an increased desire to aid people made Becky's unique viewpoint a perfect match to coach people's mindset.

"I'm no longer a strategic planner nor a consultant, but actually a coach. Therefore, I assist people in coming to their own decisions and their own knowledge of what they want from their life or their business. I then assist them move forward on that," Becky explains.

In line with helping others live their values more fully, she brings her own values into her work. "I'm female-focused coach this means that I value lived experiences, that I'm trauma-informed, and that my coaching is about compassion, no blame or shame."

Inspiring by her experience and experience, Becky began building her online coaching business -- however, it came with a lot of "shoulds," too.

Distinguishing the noise of what an online business should appear to

If asked about the difficulties that she faced in building her business as a coach, Becky laughs. "There weren't any challenges that I couldn't handle. It seems like I've faced every obstacle."

The battle of the 'shoulds' played out here, as well. "I believe the most difficult problem was the voices in the internet area about how businesses will look like and how to manage it and the tasks you need to do to be successful," she says.

When she looks back, Becky finds this common myth that says business owners who don't start out with a full-time commitment don't believe in themselves--harmful and privileged. "I didn't know that in the beginning, but I had a lot of guilt and feeling like I was not doing an adequate job because I still had to write [to make ends meet."

She recollects thinking "Why couldn't I make the coaching more efficient and successful quickly? What was wrong with me?"

The truth is, most people can't afford to jump straight into the business of their dreams fully-time, and that's perfectly fine! It can be a gradual procedure, but it doesn't mean that you're less determined or worthy of being an entrepreneurial.

"I had to do my own work to release myself of all the shame and blame, and to realize that the advice of go all-in] was not practical for the vast majority of people."

"The biggest challenge in the beginning was understanding that I was able to gradually transition from writing a business into an entirely new venture." She concentrated on shifting her work by 25% per year. The first year consisted of 25% writing and 25% coaching percent coaching. "Honestly, this is the first year in which there is zero writing" Becky tells us.

"That was a long and slow process. Letting it go and then getting rid of the shame of it and letting it go, might be the smartest and best way for people to start a new business rather than feeling as if they have to go all into the venture or simply aren't sure about themselves."

Becky had a hard time treating herself as the CEO to recognize the value of her job and see the bigger of the bigger.

"You are a freelancer, you can be an entrepreneur on your own or an owner of a small-sized business with just a few consultants . Yet, you're the head, you are the CEO, you are the one who has vision," she emphasizes.

"It's about having the confidence of being there with a statement that says, 'I've got my stuff. I'm able to do this.'"

In the present, the mindset of a CEO is at the heart of her work with clients.

A more targeted client (while providing her with a broader audience)

Becky's job is currently at a point of transition: She's narrowing her focus on the coaching of mid-sized business owners and the teams they lead .

There are a few reasons for this change:

It aligns her work even more closely with her own knowledge and experience as a business manager.

Offering her time as a service makes Becky the highest amount of cash.

The work she loves most.

Based on her own journey, Becky wants her clients to be able to experience "the transformation that happens internally when you treat your company like a business and treating yourself like a CEO."

"I have been working with individuals, and I continue to do so, however I'm moving towards working more with people, generally women, who own midsize businesses," she describes. "It's about ensuring that their work life is harmonious for them as well as engaging with their employees or advisors to provide them with coaching so that they can also create better work-life harmony."

The change will create an impact on Becky's bottom line too.

"You cost more for coachingand coaching], which means you need to get one person to generate similar amounts of cash out of those guidebooks for $7, or even a course worth $200. It is my responsibility to market lots of [courses and guides], so I must have lots of people to choose from my list since only a percentage of people turn into products." The clients of coaches typically refer their clients to their friends, which leads to higher potential revenue for coaching in the future.

However, Becky plans to continue providing her services to a wider audience even if they're not an ideal fit for her new one-on-one coaching.

"I'm continuing to run my venture as I've been doing it. It's Gutsy Boss. I'm also working to help people as well as companies," Becky explains. "I am not going to leave those other people behind. I've worked with some individuals for a long time, and many of them are on my podcast, or they're in my email list."

With those individuals in mind, Becky has repurposed a large portion of her previous information into Gutsy Guides that help tackle specific issues like setting boundaries, making big asks, and overcoming imposter syndrome.

"Generally the people who are in that category are mid-career professionals, rather than spending lots of one-on one coaching sessions with them, I give them an array of tools that they can use to help them self-coach on these things," she says.

Now, when someone discovers Becky's work, they fit into two distinct categories:

Potential clients for coaching

People who could profit from Becky's self-guided mini-course , self-study program , and the Gutsy Guides  that are hosted by Becky on

How does she figure out which segment each potential client is a part of?

Automation, segmentation and a little inspiration from Golden Girls. Golden Girls.

Automating, segmentation as well as a fun test to connect potential customers with the right services

Becky has a quiz on her website: "Which business owner do you identify with?" The six-question test (built by using Interact ) will reveal what Golden Girls-inspired business owners they are: Newbie (Rose), Flirt (Blanche), Pro (Dorothy) (or Sage (Sophia).

Each persona represents a different stage of business ownership, starting from the beginning to an experienced professional.

"To be precise, this is a more advanced email opt-insystem," Becky cautions fellow creators. "I wouldn't start with something similar to this if you do not yet already have opt-ins... My experience was that I began with a single download. This is the simplest option."

Once you're ready to segment your audience, a more complex opt-in such as Becky's test can aid you in this process. It is possible to use this segmentation to automate the process of contacting them with special offers that are tailored to their particular preferences or levels of experience.

She automates the email series through ConvertKit, which means she doesn't have to spend precious time sending out the correct items to the appropriate individuals.

"It occurs while I'm sleeping," she describes. "They're getting their email series, and if they want to buy these books they're extremely affordable. It's a no-brainer, and it's an easy process."

Becky knows that will grow along with her company

As Becky's business has evolved and changed, so has her approach to using .

Becky has added (and sometimes deleted) various new offerings in the course of growing her business, including online downloads, classes, as well as group coaching.

Now, she's gearing up for the 2023 Gutsy Accountability program, which will include group coaching downloadable resources, one-on-one coaching with Becky, and/or live seminars, according to the type of program clients pick.

"I enjoy being able coach groups as all of the tools I'd like to give away can be kept in the system. Clients have a place to go get them. I can make assets that I have already available to them. This is a lot much easier. And they can pay through . I don't have to worry about any of that."

Its buy buttons embedded in the page and checkout experiences make it simple for clients to purchase products such as Gutsy Accountability without leaving the site's landing page.

Through her journey as a creator she has allowed Becky the ability to investigate these different product types to determine what's best for her as well as her customers.

"Almost every week I've had someone contact me to tell me, 'I'm sure that you're using it, please tell me about it,' which I'm always happy to answer," she says.

"I consider it beneficial for people to know you can build on this platform... You've got everything here for a price you can afford."

Make your own decisions and develop an enterprise that is true to you.

Becky's closing advice to creators is similar to the advice her advice to her clients: Follow your instincts.

"Listen to your gut. Most of the people whom I consult... they have many doubts and they don't feel confident which creates a feeling of being stuck and they're feeling like they're not making any progress in their business. And that's so downright demoralizing. It was a feeling that I'll always remember," she says.

"In the beginning, believing in yourself is important to having any sort of achievement."

Becky's coaching company has grown significantly since the very first coaching course she started in the year of the year 2018. However, the core of her coaching -- helping others get rid of the'shoulds and'shoulds' -- is still unshakeable. We're eager to discover where the next four-years (and beyond!) will lead Becky and her company.