E204: I’m Tearing Apart My Business from the Backend, and I Have No Clue What’s Next

It has been only recently, maybe in the last few months, that I’ve realized that my pre-pandemic goals are SO NOT my current ones, and I woke up one day asking myself “what the hell am I even doing?” From that point, I decided to overhaul my entire coaching business and the demolition has been messy!

[00:52] Welcome back to the Women’s Empowerment Podcast, I am your host and Healthy Habit Mentor Valerie LaVigne. It goes without saying that many people around the world went through a huge shift from 2020-2022. And although life is moving at a quicker pace again with fewer restrictions, I find myself at a very unusual point in my life.

I think I spent the last two years doing so much pivoting, that I ended up spinning around and around and losing the one, most important piece of myself and my purpose. I lost my “true north.”

Your “True North” is entrepreneur speak for your “life’s purpose.” It’s why we do what we do. It’s what we’re really good at, and what we love. It’s how we’re of service to others.

As someone who is multi-passionate, I struggle with labeling myself or niching my business, and I really saw that through these last two years as I was able to adapt and learn and grow in so many different ways that I never expected!

I think there are so many wonderful benefits to being mutable and multi-passionate, and although I recognize this in myself, I can also see how this could be messy, and lack focus, and perhaps be confusing to people who are not familiar with my business and what I do.

[02:18] So maybe I’ll start there. As I mentioned, I am Valerie. I started this podcast almost four years ago and it’s only been this year where I really feel it “coming together.” That being said, I do see some changes happening with the podcast in the future, but I will save that announcement for another time – all good things I can assure you!

The start of my entrepreneurial journey was about nine years ago. I officially registered by business as a Wellness Educator. I chose this very broad label knowing full well that I am a woman of many interests and talents. At the time I was teaching yoga and hosting women’s workshops, which evolved into many other styles of fitness such as barre and pilates.

Over the years I found myself obsessed with personal development and other areas of health like mindset, nutrition, sleep, and more! About five years ago I became a Certified Health Coach. Even though I achieved a certification it took me a couple more years from that to really step into that role (mindset work needed to be done!), and I coupled my fitness background and health coaching to empower women in making an impact in their communities. Hence the name of the women’s empowerment podcast – which started as a blog actually!

Since then the fitness side of my business has really blown up! I was teaching full time and although I love what I do, I know that doing it to the capacity I was, wasn’t sustainable for me physically, mentally, emotionally, or financially. So I decided to invest in my personal and business growth and focus on building up my coaching business.

This phase was a lot of trial and error – and let me tell you: we’re still working on it! After reflecting on this side of my business and working with a business mentor, we built out my new website, and healthy habit coaching!

At the very beginning I was nervous about “niching myself” as a habit coach, however like my “wellness educator” title, habits are quite broad and I love that the clients I’m working with come to me for so many different things!

This was actually a really great move with my business because it helped me elevate a little more and really got me excited about sharing information and education about healthy habits! Now people come to me as the expert, and I actually just recorded a Healthy Habits for Actors workshop!

Healthy Habits for Actors Workshop (YouTube video coming soon)

I love that people are starting to associate healthy habits with myself, it’s really given me the opportunity to support and serve people in a meaningful way – and I never thought I would find a topic that I wouldn’t tire of! I love it so much!

Which brings me to where I’m at now. I still have two sides to my business, and I’ve actually purchased a brick and mortar pilates studio with my business partner. So now I really do have two very separate businesses. I’m also in the process of cleaning up the backend of my coaching business to have a seamless flow to it.

Before I get into what’s happening in the backend, I wanted to mention that I’m sharing all this with you because I’ve been in this industry for almost 10 years and it’s been a very inconsistent and ever-changing journey throughout. You may have already seen the meme about the entrepreneur’s path and it’s chaotic. There are a few different ones out there.

Anyway, I was speaking with a close friend who is also at a turning point in her business and I was telling her about the mess I’ve made in the backend of my business and she said, “Oh really? You would never know that looking at the front end of your business.” And although I appreciate the surface looks organized, I also think it’s important to share the imperfections. Especially if you’re an entrepreneur - or a human being like me - sometimes we need to hear that it’s not as perfect as it may look!

That was actually some of the best advice I received as a new entrepreneur: Never judge the front end of someone else’s business to the backend of yours. There is SO MUCH people don’t share, we do not see all of the behind the scenes. And honestly most of it is so boring anyways LOL

[07:29] So I’ll try not to bore you with the backend of my business but here’s what I’m tearing apart:

My Email List

In business your email list is gold! You want to treat it with care and keep building it. It’s the one thing you “own” and your main connection to your community. We don’t own any of the social platforms we’re on, so if Meta or TikTok or Google decides to end it one day, POOF! Gone are your followers/subscribers.

My goal with this was to clean up my list by removing inactive subscribers, organizing the different groups, making sure all the automations were updated and things were clean and neat to support my current offerings.

On Friday last week, I accidentally deleted all the groups, which cannot be undone, and that was horrible BUT the good news is I still have my contacts and it just makes everything a little more minimalist in this part of my business. OOPS! Live and learn!!

#2 My Socials

Gone are the days where I’m trying to keep up with constantly creating and posting on social media! On my list of demolitions is my Instagram page which I will soon be converting into what our last week’s guest Amanda Kohal calls an “INSTASITE” this is essentially a social landing page to my business, and if you want the details. check out last week’s episode:

Episode 203: The New Socials Model: Social Media Boundaries, Instagram for Businesses, and Everything in Between with Amanda Kohal

I do have TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest and they are totally under utilized, the main reason being AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT! However this is changing also! I plan on sharing strategic content on these platforms in the near future, and that excites me also!

I’m kind of thinking of this phase in my business as a “renovation” of sorts. I was explaining to a friend that I’m in the demolition phase, and although it’s messy, what we need before any renovations is a blueprint/plan!

Now, I’ll be honest, my blueprint is fuzzy, which is why the second half of this podcast title says “and I Have No Clue What’s Next” That to me is both scary and exciting. While my blueprint/plan is to streamline and solidify my systems, I’m not exactly sure where that will really take me next in my business and I think that’s okay!

Especially because one of the systems I’m creating is that I’m doing more reflecting and analyzing in my business to keep things focused and smooth. I feel like - just like with trying to keep up with the instagram algorithm - it’s all output but there needs to be rest/reflection/and making sure we’re putting our energy where it’s best utilized.

#3 My Offerings

This part of my business is ALMOST finished! I am excited to share that there are currently three ways to work with me as a Healthy Habit Mentor aka Health Coach, they are:

Make a Habit Mentorship program is my one-on-one coaching within a three month container. Together we create habits rooted in desired feelings, overcome limiting beliefs, unhelpful patterns and inconsistency, and stay excited with the habits that help you feel energized, confident, and healthier.

2. If consistency is what you’re striving for, and you are looking to build and stack habits with ongoing support, then the Healthy Habit Membership would be what you need. This is our group coaching offering to help you create new habits, routines, and rituals without adding to your already busy schedule.

3. Lastly, we host a seasonal Elevate Your Life 21 Day Healthy Habit Challenge. This challenge runs live globally. It’s a lot of fun as all of us are building different habits together! Our next challenge runs in early 2023, but they are ongoing, so check out THIS LINK to join the waitlist for our upcoming challenges.

Since we’re talking about the backend… I am building out a more fluid and simple onboarding process for each of these as I’ve changed the software of these offerings recently so I’m moving everything from one software to another and that is a bit tedious and time consuming, but I am 80% complete so that is really awesome!

#4 My Lead Magnet

A popular strategy to growing your email list is with what’s called a lead magnet or opt-in, freebie, etc. And I do have a brand new guide that I am very excited to share with you! Also it’s completely free! You can now access my Build Better Habits Guide! This is a step-by-step guide to creating consistent habits that matter.

I am very proud of this guide as I have put a lot of effort into making it supportive and streamlined for you! The framework I’ve laid out in the guide is the same pathway I use with my 1:1 coaching clients and it’s a great foundation to beginning this journey of healthy habits on your own.

This new Build Better Habits Guide is part of my more simple systems in my business. I used to have three different lead magnets, then I had two, and now I just have one! YAY!

I’m working with my business coach to help me with all of this and I have to say it’s been extremely helpful for me.

Before taking on this business backend “renovation” I asked myself, “if I were to start my entrepreneur journey from scratch, what would I do differently? What would I do first?” and the immediate response was: hire a business coach.

But not just any coach! Someone you trust, and enjoy working with, and who has been where you’ve been and knows the answers to your questions. This was a big move and an investment, and maybe we can think of her as the contractor or project manager of the renovation (LOL) she has the expertise, I have the vision and together we make a great team!

[18:00] There are a few more parts of the backend of my business that I’m working through, and honestly sharing all of this feels a bit overwhelming so maybe we’ll talk about the other area details another time. I don’t even really know what those are going to be yet YIKES!

Probably/possible next steps and changes:

Small website tweaks/updates
Podcast thumbnail update – definitely need a new one of these
Deleting my leadpages account – a little too expensive for what I’m using it for
Better schedule systems – booking times, time blocking, vacation planning, editorial calendar, etc.
Podcast episodes – new show formats, perhaps a different release system TBD

I feel like this was a really different episode from what I’ve done in the past, and I’d love to hear what you thought of it! Send me a note on instagram @vallavignelife I really enjoy reading your messages.

Let me know if you liked this behind the scenes episode, if you’re excited for the changes, if you’ve checked out the guide yet, what’s happening in your businesses, anything and everything, I’m all ears!

Next week we’ve got a GREAT guest that I am excited to introduce! Until then, I want you to know that if you’ve got your own business and you’re finding it overwhelming, or frustrating, or challenging (1) you are not alone and (2) I can hold space for you if you want someone to chat with you need to share what you’re feeling and going through.

Remember your “North Star” your purpose and build your blueprint and plan around this. You are here to do great things!

Podcast Host

Valerie LaVigne

Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!