When I quit running a think tank to become an internet life coach, I did not feel ready. I had spent a decade building a legal career, I had just gotten certified as a coach, and I did not even balance my own checkbook. My friend Brenda Lomeli and I later coined a term for what that transition felt like: barf club, the experience of being nauseous about taking action and doing it anyway.

If you are waiting to feel ready before you become a coach, invest in your business, or make any real pivot, this episode explains why that feeling is never arriving, and why waiting for it is the actual risk. I am walking through the two decision-making tools I use with clients instead of waiting around: values-based decision making, and connecting to your future self.

Ready is not a feeling. This episode is your invitation to barf club.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://socraticcoaching.com/13

Follow along on Instagram: instagram.com/karaloewentheil/

Mentioned in this episode:

FREE GUIDE: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

There are three absolutely crucial concepts that have contributed to my success today as a coach that I wish I had known when I started, and I'm sharing them with you in this free guide. Grab yours at https://the-future-coach.captivate.fm/three

Click here to download: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

This is the first episode of a new series I am calling Coaching Confessions, where I sit down with coaches who are seven figures and above and ask them what the beginning actually looked like. First up: my guest posted a single flyer on a street in Israel, charged $20 an hour, and when that flyer landed her exactly one client who never came back, she logged into an online forum under a fake name and recommended herself to strangers. I laughed for a full minute when she told me this. Then she told me about her first group program: nobody signed up, so she just told the one person who asked that it had sold out.

If you think every successful coach had a clear plan and an audience before they started, this episode explains why that is a comforting lie. I'm talking with Hadar Shemesh, who has built an online business now reaching over a million people on YouTube, about the 18 years it took to get there, the years of 200-view videos before anything caught on, and the one thought that wasted more of her time than any actual failure ever did: making a decision, and then unmaking it for months.

There is no version of this where she had it figured out from day one. This episode is the proof.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://socraticcoaching.com/12

Follow along on Instagram: instagram.com/karaloewentheil/

Mentioned in this episode:

FREE GUIDE: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

There are three absolutely crucial concepts that have contributed to my success today as a coach that I wish I had known when I started, and I'm sharing them with you in this free guide. Grab yours at https://the-future-coach.captivate.fm/three

Click here to download: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

During a recent call in my coach certification program, one of my students explained, with complete sincerity, that charging for coaching felt unfair because when clients pay, they're giving both their time AND their money, while she's only giving them coaching. I paused for ten seconds and then burst out laughing. She laughed too, and then said: "I hear how insane that sounds but I still believe it."

If you've ever felt fine coaching for free but completely frozen the moment it came time to charge, this episode explains exactly where that comes from. I'm walking through the three core thought patterns that make charging feel impossible for so many women coaches, why this isn't a personal failing, and the specific thoughts worth practicing instead.

The world needs your work. This episode is about making sure you actually get paid for it.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://socraticcoaching.com/11

Follow along on Instagram: instagram.com/karaloewentheil/

Mentioned in this episode:

FREE GUIDE: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

There are three absolutely crucial concepts that have contributed to my success today as a coach that I wish I had known when I started, and I'm sharing them with you in this free guide. Grab yours at https://the-future-coach.captivate.fm/three

Click here to download: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

A sixty-three year old nurse showed up to a coaching call in her pajamas, hadn't brushed her hair, and got on camera anyway because she didn't want to miss her chance to ask one question: am I too old to become a coach?

It's a question I've heard from women at every age from 30 to 70. And I have a real answer for it, not just a coach-y "you can do anything" pep talk. You'll hear why age isn't the liability your brain thinks it is in coaching, why it can actually be your biggest asset, and what the algorithm has been lying to you about when it comes to who the coaching world is really for.

If the thought "I'm too old for this" has crossed your mind even once, this episode is your reframe.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://socraticcoaching.com/10

Follow along on Instagram: instagram.com/karaloewentheil/

Mentioned in this episode:

FREE GUIDE: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

There are three absolutely crucial concepts that have contributed to my success today as a coach that I wish I had known when I started, and I'm sharing them with you in this free guide. Grab yours at https://the-future-coach.captivate.fm/three

Click here to download: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

Your brain has done something sneaky. The moment you started thinking about becoming a coach, it decided that everything you've built in your career no longer counts. That you'd be starting over from zero.

That's not a fact. It's a thought. And it's one worth questioning, because it might be the only thing standing between you and making the leap. I'm walking through exactly why this thought isn't true, what to think instead, and four real examples of people at completely different career stages who had the same fear and what happened when they worked through it.

If you've ever caught yourself thinking your previous career would be a waste, this one is going to reframe everything.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://socraticcoaching.com/9

Follow along on Instagram: instagram.com/karaloewentheil/

Mentioned in this episode:

FREE GUIDE: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

There are three absolutely crucial concepts that have contributed to my success today as a coach that I wish I had known when I started, and I'm sharing them with you in this free guide. Grab yours at https://the-future-coach.captivate.fm/three

Click here to download: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

One of the biggest things that stops new coaches from charging, or charging more, is the fear that they won't be able to deliver what their clients want. It feels responsible, even. But it's based on a misunderstanding of what clients are actually paying for.

In this episode, I break down why you don't have to guarantee a specific outcome in order to be an extraordinary coach worth every penny you charge. I walk through the common advice new coaches get about results, why it tends to create more anxiety than clarity, and what it actually means to understand your role correctly. The shift is simpler than you'd expect, and once you see it, the way you think about coaching and charging changes completely.

When you're clear on what your job actually is and what it isn't, charging stops feeling like a gamble and starts feeling like the obvious thing to do.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://socraticcoaching.com/8

Follow along on Instagram: instagram.com/karaloewentheil/

Mentioned in this episode:

FREE GUIDE: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

There are three absolutely crucial concepts that have contributed to my success today as a coach that I wish I had known when I started, and I'm sharing them with you in this free guide. Grab yours at https://the-future-coach.captivate.fm/three

Click here to download: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

Getting started as a coach isn't really a skills problem. It's a mindset problem — and nobody talks about what to actually do about that.

This episode is pulled from the daily mindset broadcasts I shared inside Coach Curious Prep School, and it covers the three things I think every aspiring coach needs to hear before they take the leap. First, why nerves are not a signal that something is wrong — they're just the cost of admission to a life that looks different than the one you have now. Then, why the identity shift into becoming a coach starts in your brain before any certification makes it official, and how confirmation bias is either working for you or against you depending on where you're pointing your attention. And finally, why confidence isn't something you wait for — it's something you build on purpose, and it's the single biggest predictor of whether you'll actually succeed once you're out there.

If you've been telling yourself you'll move forward when you feel ready, this episode is going to challenge that — and give you something more useful to work with instead.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://socraticcoaching.com/7

Follow along on Instagram: instagram.com/karaloewentheil/

Mentioned in this episode:

FREE GUIDE: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

There are three absolutely crucial concepts that have contributed to my success today as a coach that I wish I had known when I started, and I'm sharing them with you in this free guide. Grab yours at https://the-future-coach.captivate.fm/three

Click here to download: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

Most people who are drawn to coaching spend too long asking the wrong question. It's not whether you're good enough yet. It's whether you have the traits that make coaching a natural fit — and most people who are seriously asking already do.

This episode is pulled from highlights of my live Coach Curious Prep School, where I walk a room full of aspiring coaches through the core traits that actually predict whether someone will thrive in this work: interpersonal curiosity, a genuine passion for thought work, and a drive toward purpose and meaning. For each one, I break down what it really looks like in practice, why it matters in the room with a client, and how to honestly evaluate where you stand. Spoiler: none of them are about being perfect, having all the answers, or having your whole life figured out.

If you've been circling the idea of coaching and wondering whether it's really for you, this episode will help you see yourself more clearly — and take your own potential more seriously than your brain has been letting you.

Sign up for the free masterclass, Are You Meant to Be a Coach? here: http://socraticcoaching.com/masterclass

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://socraticcoaching.com/6

Follow along on Instagram: instagram.com/karaloewentheil/

Mentioned in this episode:

FREE GUIDE: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach

There are three absolutely crucial concepts that have contributed to my success today as a coach that I wish I had known when I started, and I'm sharing them with you in this free guide. Grab yours at https://the-future-coach.captivate.fm/three

Click here to download: The Top Three Things I Wish I Had Known Before Becoming A Coach