Apr 12, 2021 in Business Coaching

Overcome your fears in business today!

A positive mindset is the key to succeeding!

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Mandie Holgate is a Business Coach, author, blogger, public speaker, and broadcaster. She was voted as an Inspirational woman of 2015 by a national UK Magazine and an inspirational top 50 woman in the world. She has also been featured in many major publications including The Guardian, Inc, Good House Keeping, and more. She has helped many Business Owners and Entrepreneurs in turning their businesses into a success and helping them to face the challenges along the way. Despite Lupus, 2 other autoimmune diseases and Fibromyalgia, Mandie has still managed to run two successful businesses! I think we can all learn something from her, so let's get started!

WikiExpert: What inspired you to become an Online Business Coach?

Mandie Holgate: I started as a face to face Coach however as technology jumps forward my clients are all around the world and it’s great to be able to work with anyone anywhere. I know what I do is incredibly powerful and life changing so I’m honored to work in a way that suits my clients.

WikiExpert: What is your number one strategy for helping business owners and entrepreneurs to succeed?

Mandie Holgate: Just 1? I think the reason I get great results is that I don’t look at just business or just goals or just marketing strategy. I have an organic attitude that enables the Client to see how every aspect of their life impacts on their thoughts and that in turn impacts on their actions, goals and success rate. If someone tells me they want to grow their business but lack confidence we tackle that first, because if you don’t in my experience you will damage the results you get. For example, if I help someone create an epic marketing strategy and it includes follow up phone calls, if they hold a belief that they are getting in the way or looking desperate that will impact on their style of communication and likelihood of success.

WikiExpert: What is the most challenging part of business coaching? And how do you overcome it?

Mandie Holgate: Sometimes a Client is entrenched in a belief or an assumption that it feels insurmountable to overcome. Sometimes the client has an idea about what is causing this but is scared to face it. If a Client really retracts from facing the issue then I don’t push it, we just add it to the Backburner ideas (I send a report after every session so the Client can see what we discussed, what homework they have and back burner ideas they can work on at a later date.) That way when they come back and tell me things didn’t work as well as they expected we can start to look at that big scary thing and get rid of it. If you are coaching someone who works for a large company, they can feel forced into coaching, so this enables them to keep control of what we discuss, so we are always working at a speed that suits the Client. We are all different and enabling a Client to see that this is okay, really helps them find solutions that last.

WikiExpert: What is the biggest mistake you see that Business Owners and Entrepreneurs make? 

Mandie Holgate: One of the biggest mistakes I see is that people jump in the middle. As I like to say you don’t see many babies studying at University, do you? The reason is they aren’t ready, are they? And yet Clients in their first session get to brain dump and so often I get very confused (which is good, when we work our way out of the confusion, we create powerfully eureka moments and plans of action.) A Client jumps from telling me about their goals, then their profit margin, then their beliefs, then what’s making them stressed at home, then their marketing. It’s all over the place. Helping a Client to come back to the basics enables them to create really strong powerful foundations that then enables them to build any size business they want. 

WikiExpert: You were voted as an Inspirational woman of 2015 by a national UK Magazine, please tell us a little more this?

Mandie Holgate: Weirdly that’s not the first time either. I was voted as an inspirational top 50 women in the world too! I think I just care passionately about other people’s success and spend my time online supporting people in the best ways possible. Sometimes I will even share a Facebook Live from my bed first thing in the morning to showcase it’s not about the way you look it’s about the way you feel on the inside that matters (and impacts on results) I’ve also been to the House of Lords and Downing Street in this capacity. I positioned myself when I first set up my business to be a thought leader and it is something I encourage many Clients to do because it enables you to stand out from your competition and also led to me being asked to write a book for the UK’s leading nonfiction publishers – that book is now in 5 languages. I think that whatever I’m doing I bring a can-do positive mindset that people love to see. 

WikiExpert: Please enlighten us on the importance of online business coaching, especially for new Business Owners and Entrepreneurs. Tell us how they can benefit from it?

Mandie Holgate: We’ve been talking about this on Facebook only today! So many Entrepreneurs and Business Owners are exceptional at what they do but that doesn’t make you an Accountant, CEO, leader, Marketing and PR agency and Web Designer overnight. Many think they should know everything (even established businesses fall into this trap!) and as such, they don’t seek the right support. I still have coaching and mentoring after 25 years in business and can’t see a time that I won’t. It enables you to create vision and focus, which then enables you to be accountable and on target to achieve your short- and long-term goals. Have you noticed how you can feel like everything is going great and then it all seems to go wrong? That was going wrong ages ago it is just didn’t have the right support to spot the early warning signs. Working with a Coach can help you deal with adversity, become more resilient, improve your emotional intelligence (essential for everyone) and deal with the fears that are hiding in your success all while ensuring you are moving forward to what you really desire in business and life by creating the right goals, strategy, and plan of action. Coaching is not like any other conversation you will ever have. 

WikiExpert: We see that you are also a public speaker and a successful author, which is great! Congratulations on your successes with that! Can you tell us a little more about these ventures? 

Mandie Holgate: I’m in the office a few years ago and Pearson’s (the UK leading nonfiction publishers) phone me “Hi Mandie, have you ever thought about writing a book?” As I aimed to sound professional and politely say “Yes, I would love to” on the inside I was doing the biggest ever happy dance. I’ve wanted to be a published author since I was 8 years old. The book launch was next door to the Savoy in central London with a TV celebrity introducing me, with views over the Thames and London. It is now in 5 languages – Arabic, Czech, Russian, Turkish and English and I’m always getting messages from people who’ve bought it somewhere in the world who say the most amazing things about what it has helped them to go on to achieve.

The most random was the lady who said she had been agoraphobic for years and suffered from anxiety too, thanks to reading Fight the fear, she was well enough to work and was hosting the worlds biggest Chihuahua party with guests flying into Cornwall from 80 different countries. I have a European under 18’s football club who keep in touch and even a coach in Australia who creates inspirational quotes from sentences in my book and then tags me in them. It’s wonderful to help people I may never meet.

Years ago, I was petrified of public speaking, so scared I’d leave the room and do anything to get out of it. Then 11 years ago a very successful author and Coach said: “Mandie you are the first Coach I’ve ever met that walks the walk and I’d like you to speak at my next conference.” I can still remember thinking “who said yes?” Only to realize it had been me! I was so scared and had 8 A4 pieces of paper for a 30 minute speaking engagement! Now I can stand on a stage and speak for 1 hour or a whole day with sometimes no notes at all and get the most amazing feedback. I often have people come up to me and say things like “I heard you speak at that conference in 2015 and I’m still living by what you taught us.” That is something I have a great track record of helping Clients with – their fear of public speaking. Having been there too, I know how to get the mind right, what to say and even how to say it. I love public speaking. I’m a bit naughty. And get my audiences laughing and involved so that they are able to breakdown difficult subjects and conversations so they can get the results in their personal and professional lives. It’s a real honor.

WikiExpert: I see you have a book titled: Fight the Fear: How to Beat Your Negative Mindset and Win in Life? Tell us a little more about this book and how you encourage your readers and Clients to beat a negative mindset? 

Mandie Holgate: It’s incredibly powerful to remember that everything you see around you started as a thought. The thought to build a house, a chair even the device you read this on and yet few people keep their mindset healthy. Emotional intelligence is the foundation to so many things -success, resilience, mental health, great relationships, reduced stress, health, and even profitability, creativity and productivity. As a Coach, I’m constantly assessing what the client is not telling me or saying with their words that they don’t realize they are saying. By helping them to see the patterns they create and how their way of thinking is impacting on their success I’m able to help them change it. Which then creates much better outcomes more consistently. The book Fight the fear is made up of the 12 biggest fears that I see the impact on success. Interestingly apart from the fear of picking up the phone, the fear of public speaking and possibly the fear of failure – most of the big fears that stop you getting what you want are hidden, this book and my coaching enable you to find the hidden fears that are damaging your results. 

WikiExpert: What advice would you give to someone who is running at a loss in business and to someone who has completely given up?

Mandie Holgate: I often here new Clients say “We are in profit” only to hear that they’ve not had a decent salary in years. If you aren’t paying yourself a decent wage, then it’s an expensive hobby. I know from working with my clients that the first session can be very tough. To hold your hands up and say this is not working and I want to give up, is not easy. Coaching is so powerful because it enables people to look at very difficult situations and find solutions without experiencing any guilt or attachment to negative emotions, that then fuel further failure. There are many building blocks to a successful business, and I will ensure my clients look at every single one of them. (Especially the ones that they glaze over at or question if now is the right time to discuss.)  If you are running at a loss or feel like giving up, I would say you need to ask some tough questions. Questions like;

  • What do I feel is standing in our way?
  • What do I feel we are good at?
  • What do I feel is impacting on our profit margin?
  • Are our prices correct – if we were fully booked would it equate to an ideal profit margin?
  • What customers do we need to renegotiate contracts with an (always scary) sack (even scarier!)?
  • Are we attracting the right customers to the right products and services?
  • Are we working in the most effective way? What stops that from happening?

And so forth. I tend to ask over 100 questions in a session. The deeper we go with the questions the more the client understands what is really impacting on their success. Then I have to help them take responsibility for the situation, accept it can change (that is where the mindset work is so imperative) be accountable for the current situation and decide what they will do in the future and then make them create homework and tell me the exact date it will be achieved by. 

They aren’t expected to succeed at everything, but they are expected to report back and say what has and what has not worked so that we can move them forward again.

WikiExpert: How do you keep your Clients motivated to succeed at business?

Mandie Holgate: I’ve many ways I can keep someone motivated. I usually start with a couple of exercises from Fight the fear – The “why I’m awesome” document and the values exercise. 2 great ways of appreciating who you are really are and finding out if you are honoring what matters to you in life. So often in business, we are not happy to look at the soft skills and the emotional connection to our businesses. By ensuring that life and business come together I can help them feel confident in all areas of life. They say I’m their magic wand or cheerleader. Interestingly I will decide to message a Client out of the blue only to get a message back saying, “How did you know I was having a tough day?” I didn’t, but I do genuinely care about every client and my tagline is “As passionate about your success as you” and my clients will tell you I genuinely am. My Clients learn so much about the coaching process with me that they can sometimes phone me just to say that they heard me in their head and it kicked their butt into doing the most effective action possible. I love sharing the coaching process!

WikiExpert: Can you tell us a little more about what you cover in your online business coaching sessions? Tell us what types of topics you cover, etc. 

Mandie Holgate: My online coaching is tailored to the individual, so it depends on what they bring to the table. My Clients are likely to say;

  • “I feel like I’m spinning too many plates and I’m about to drop them all”
  • “We just aren’t bringing in the customers and those that we are, aren’t spending enough.”
  • “My team is really stressed, we are going through massive levels of change and it’s making everyone feel like they can’t cope.”
  • “I don’t know how to communicate with my boss/team and get them to do what I want them to.”
  • “I lack confidence and I feel it’s damaging my success.”
  • “There are so many things I could be doing and I just don’t know where to start!”

The list is very long and diverse. I work with large corporations, through to start-up businesses, established small businesses and people looking to climb their career ladder.

Now, let's get to know Mandie a little better:

WikiExpert: We really admire you for the fact that you are suffering from Lupus and 2 other autoimmune diseases and Fibromyalgia. Please tell us how do you cope with all this and with running two successful business at the same time?

Mandie Holgate: When I looked back on my career as a Coach and Author I will admit even I think “How the heck did you do that lot!” It’s a lot of things. I’ve learned to respect my needs and value myself. This is a big reason why people speak up about what they want and build professional lives that honor them. I have boundaries in place and while I possibly have lost a couple of opportunities in the last 8 years of illness – do I really want to work with someone that doesn’t respect I have a family, weekends or life? The answer is no, my Clients respect me as much as I respect them. My medical specialists say that one of the reasons I seem to be in hospital rarely is because of my attitude. My book launch was in the center of London and took a taxi, train, underground and a 30-minute walk. I did it. I absolutely believe in my ability to achieve anything I put my mind to and that’s what I bring to my Clients. They know they are working with a genuine person. If you care passionately about something you will find a way and as such I have. I have the right mindset (and when I’m struggling even I read my own book – sometimes I read it and think “that Mandie Holgate knows her stuff” forgetting I wrote it! I also take time out (without guilt because that makes time out pointless) and I live by the sea so I adore spending time on the beach.

Interestingly I started taking a good quality CBD oil on the 3rd of May and I’ve not had a single medication since. Even I can’t believe that to be true. It makes me realize how hard it must have been to work with so much pain, exhaustion, and brain fog. It really is mind over matter!

WikiExpert: When you're not working, writing, speaking, what do you enjoy doing?

Mandie Holgate: I actually enjoy writing for fun and I’m currently writing a fiction novel just because I can. (I used to be so restricted to what I did in my spare time due to the illness, so I’m making up for it!). I love gardening. And feel it is an activity that mirrors my career – taking tiny seeds and nurturing them into successful beautiful plants. You still must have a clear vision of the goals you want to achieve!

I also love holidays and many business friends laugh when I say “If I’ve not got more than one holiday booked, I will hyperventilate!) I adore being a mum to my 18 and 15-year-old and we spend quality time together every day. Holidays allow us to escape emails and phones and busyness and concentrate on fun and making memories. I have a bit of a passion for Disneyland! I also love painting, reading, cycling and is it wrong to include evenings under the stars in my hot tub? Basically, I love nature, family and laughing!

WikiExpert: What is the biggest lesson you've learned from life?

Mandie Holgate: Mandie Holgate you really were good enough. I wish I had known that years ago, wow what would I have achieved! It was only as I explored emotional intelligence and helping others achieve, that I really appreciated who I was, and she was/is good enough. If I could do one thing for every reader it would be to genuinely increase their confidence. A lack of confidence has even been proven to be connected to lower salaries and poor profit margins. It can attack every area of our lives. So always build yours.

WikiExpert: Do you have any plans for the future both professionally and personally?

Mandie Holgate: I have business plans that I create every August. This year’s end goal is nearly here, and I can’t get my head around how much I’ve achieved. (Your year really doesn’t have to run Jan to Dec! Choose the time frame that works for you). The summer holidays with my children are precious so they are a perfect step back time to process where I’m at, what’s next and how I’m going to get there. Personally, now I feel well I wish to build my stamina so I’m adding swimming, cycling and walking every week which feels amazing – some days brushing my teeth was like a marathon! Interestingly I’ve never given up faith – that whole mindset thing again! I also have plans to have a social life again (that’s already well underway with my first charity event arranged for later this month). I also have plans to travel around Europe with my dog and hubby for an indefinite amount of time. I’d also like to create more opportunities to train teams around the world via webinar. It’s a great way to motivate and empower people even in their lunch break! 

WikiExpert: What is the best thing that has happened to you in life so far?

Mandie Holgate: Oh, that’s tough! Is it celebrating my businesses 10th birthday with BBC local radio, a Mary Poppins impersonator, a magician, a spaceman and 75 business women with a cake that had the top 10 inspirational women in the world? They’d included me the Queen and some very awesome women that I’d never thought I’d be connected to. Or was it the book that has led to awards, messages from around the world and a trip to Downing Street and the House of Lords? Or is it my relationship with my husband?

I’m very lucky to have been through everything with my husband, the pain and hell of illness and the overwhelming joy of business success, and no matter what My hubby was there for me. We renewed our vows 2 years ago and intend to do that every 10 years (any excuse for a party!) We are best friends and me after 27 years I still get giddy butterflies when I know he is on his way home. That is down to hard work, dedication, passion and good communication – which I suppose are what most things in life need!

Book a session with Mandie today! 

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