It was only a year ago that I found myself staring into the fridge 90 times a day, eating unbelievable amounts of food, spending hours in the kitchen making bliss balls and homemade almond milk and vegan cauliflower pizzas and doing the washing to

avoid working on my business.

– I regularly found myself crying on the floor of my room wondering what the hell I’d done chucking in an architecture degree and superyachting adventures to start my own health coaching business that could barely be called a business.

– My procrastination was out of hand, I couldn’t focus on one thing, and I kicked myself for not being able to get more done everyday. I couldn’t tell you how, but I seemed to be “busy” every day, yet nothing that needed to get done actually got done!

– Despite having a part time job, I had to get another part time job as a bartender – not because I needed the extra money, but because the overwhelm and panic a day off caused me was too intense, I had to keep myself super busy just to avoid it. I felt isolated and procrastinatory.

– Every day was a snooze-til-later-than-late day, I could never hold a routine, and would go to bed later and later and beat myself up about it next morning.

Are you a coach? Is this you? Check this out

A year on?

I literally have my dream business! And I have been completely authentic and real (and not salesy) in creating it.

I have a thriving mindfulness coaching business, I’m booked out with 1-1 clients 2-3 months in advance, I just launched my first group program today which sold out a month ago, I have a business that runs on my time and by my values, and life is just unbelievably bloody good.

Plus I met an awesome dude on Tinder who is now my Bloody Good Chap.

Which is an entirely irrelevant fact.

Though he does cook me dinner when I’m too obsessed with my work to walk away from the computer.

Last June I took me and my laptop to work from Bali for two months, just because I could. I just spend 6 weeks in NZ with my family, and I was able to work from there too. This year I’m going back to Bali for a couple of months, possibly to Thailand, to California for an Eckhart Tolle seminar, to Mexico for a sex retreat with Kim Anami, and then I’ll be co-working from some of my favourite places in Nicaragua and Costa Rica for a couple of months.

It’s actually unbelievable to me how different my life is now compared with a year ago.

I can honestly say (and I hope you know how honest I am by now) that I would never have been able to do this if I hadn’t been part of the Upswing Mastermind program run by Amanda Daley.

There are approximately 1,000,000 newbie health-turned-business coaches out there selling crazy packages for biz coaching with no biz experience or knowledge to back it up. Amanda is the only real one I’ve come across who specifically coaches wellness coaches to expand their health/ wellness or life coaching businesses in an authentic way.

The next edition of Amanda’s mastermind starts in February, which, by the way, is shockingly soon! Good lord, how did that happen?

If you’re a coach and struggling to get your business on track, struggling to get consistent income and clients,

I can’t recommend Amanda’s Upswing Mastermind program enough.

In it I got the structure and steps to follow to stop me getting overwhelmed and freaking out/ staying stuck in perfectionism and inaction, I got coaching support and business tools, and I was able to ask all the questions I’d always wanted to know about the big name coaches – Amanda is super honest and transparent with her knowledge. It’s invaluable.

You are the sum of the people you hang around with most – so best make sure you surround yourself with driven coaches who are hell bent on making it work. It’s the only way to thrive and push beyond your comfort zone.

I remember thinking, good lord, that’s a fairly hefty investment, but looking back it’s ridiculous actually, if I hadn’t invested that money I’d be likely still working two part time jobs and still not earning money from my business. Instead, I invested in myself and in coaching, and only a few months later was getting loads of discovery sessions and 1-1 clients, and my business skyrocketed.

I’m still investing in coaching (life, business AND sex coaching),

because I’ve realised – why struggle and take ages to work something out yourself while you waste time, money and stress, when you could invest in a coach who’s already done it, and accelerate you there. It will increase your income and your confidence tenfold.

“Everybody needs a coach… every famous athlete, every famous performer, has a coach.” – Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

If you want to really succeed in life or business, you’re going to need a coach.

I know what it’s like to be a struggling entrepreneur, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced, and it flung me into all sorts of self doubt and guilt and procrastination and excess of raw vegan cacao bliss balls. If in you’re in that place – here are my favourite quotes on the matter in case they help you like they helped me –

“When you dig a well, there’s no sign of water until you reach it, only rocks and dirt to move out of the way. When you have removed enough; soon the pure water will flow” – Buddha.

“I’ve learned that at precisely those times when life seems to get worse, you may be getting ready to make a leap. When you feel like you are getting nowhere, stagnating, even slipping backward, what you’re actually doing is backing up to get a running start.” – Dan Millman

Moral of the story: keep taking steps forward, don’t sit in indecision and stuckness, take consistent action. And get support.

The entrepreneurial journey is the most rewarding thing you’ll ever do, and also probably the hardest. Don’t do it alone.

Anyone who signs up for Amanda’s coaching using my affiliate links in this post – email me at andrea@projectself.com.au once you’ve signed up and I’ll send you a private login for my video series – Mind Taming Tricks for becoming a Entrepreneur Baller (Alternative title: How not to freak out with overwhelm, how to find your direction and be confident in your decisions, how to get in the creative-genius-ideas zone daily, and how to be zen as a monk while facing your fears and unsticking yourself from the rut).