Seven years into her coaching business, Becky Mollenkamp is honing into the job she enjoys the most

Learn how mindset coach and long-time creator Becky Mollenkamp is evolving her company to make more of what she is passionate about.

What would happen If you let go of the "shoulds' and started believing in your intuition?

For the mindset coach Becky Mollenkamp  who decided to quit living a life of 'shoulds" changed everything, even her professional career.

Becky aids people to make the transition from "small business owner" to CEO and develop viable businesses that don't burn out. Through the Gutsy Boss brand, she has helped thousands of clients identify their own "shoulds' and define success on their terms.

She brings nearly 20 years working as an entrepreneur to her job, including having a 6-figure agency for content marketing before beginning her coaching business in 2015.

We recently checked in with Becky to learn how her business has evolved in the past few years and look back on the journey she took to create. Her business is currently moving through a period of transition, as she hones in specific work with midsize entrepreneurs and their advisors and employees.

Keep reading to learn how Becky has grown her business by trusting her instincts and getting rid of the "shoulds" -- and has helped other business owners to do the same.

Her calling is as a mental coach

Although Becky was an entrepreneur for nearly two decades, coaching wasn't always a part of her strategy.

"What started me down the coach path was when my brother's passing in the year the year 2010 from a heroin overdose. It really shook me awake from my sleep," Becky explains.

"I had been living a lifestyle that was a series of "shoulds," going through the motions, doing all the things that a good girl's supposed to be doing. It made me realize that my life is far too short to lead one that's not what you actually want."

"I did not know what I was looking for. But I knew that it wasn't that," Becky remembers. The writer shut down his company and returned home with her mom. It was then time to do the internal process of finding out what she wanted to do with her life.want her life to look like.

Becky started building her writing business. "It was something I was familiar with and was proficient in. Then I realized that what truly wanted to do was help other people break free of the 'shoulds'."

Then she began coaching.

"I found out that I could assist people with the same stuff which I've gone through. This is where I found it's what I'm destined to be doing. It's my calling."

The work she did as an agency owner and an increased desire to aid other people make Becky's unique outlook the perfect fit for coaching on mindset.

"I'm not a strategist, nor am I consultant, but rather I'm a coach. Thus, I guide people to their own conclusions and their own knowledge of what they want from their personal life or in their business. I then assist to move towards that goal," Becky explains.

As a way of helping other people to live their values more fully, she brings her own values to the work. "I'm an empathetic coach for women, which means that I respect lived experiences and am trauma-informed. that my coaching is all about compassionand not about condemning or blaming."

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

Tuning out the noise about what an internet-based business must look like

In response to questions about the difficulties in establishing her coaching company, Becky laughs. "There were no challenges I didn't have. I believe I faced every obstacle."

The war of the "shoulds' played out here, too. "I would say the biggest issue was all the voices in the internet area about how businesses will look like as well as how you should conduct it, and what that you have to accomplish in order to succeed," she says.

In retrospect, Becky finds this common myth that says business owners who don't go all-in from day one do not believe in themselves, which is harmful and privileged. "I did not know this when I was younger, and I had a lot of guilt and feeling like I wasn't doing a good job because I still had to write [to make ends meetto survive]."

She remembers thinking "Why did I not succeed in making the coaching process more effective and more quickly? What could be wrong?"

Most individuals aren't able to afford jumping straight into the business of their dreams all-time. That's okay! It can be a gradual procedure, but this doesn't mean you're not committed or a good business owner.

"I needed to complete my own work to release myself of all those guilt and shame, and realize that advice [to go all-in] was not realistic for most people."

"The greatest challenge I faced at first was recognizing the possibility of gradually shifting from writing to a new business." She focused on shifting her job 25% per year. The first year was 75% writing and 25 percentage 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 to know that it's okay, might be the smartest and most effective way for individuals to launch a new venture without feeling that they need to put all their effort into the venture or simply don't believe in their abilities."

Becky had a hard time treating herself as the CEO; to appreciate the importance of her job and see the bigger of the bigger.

"You are a freelancer, you can become a sole entrepreneur, you can be the owner of a small company by utilizing a couple of consultants . But you are still in charge, you're the CEO, you are the visionary," she emphasizes.

"It's about the confidence of being there and saying, "I'm confident in my stuff. I'm able to do this.'"

Today, the CEO mindset is at the heart of her work with clients.

Focusing on a specific customer (while providing her with a broader audience)

Becky's work is going through a change Her focus is shifting to coaching midsize business owners as well as their teams .

There are a few factors that led to this change.

Her work is aligned more closely with her own learnings and experiences as a business owner.

Her time and talents to others makes Becky the highest amount of income.

The work she loves the most.

Based on her own journey, Becky wants her clients to experience "the change that occurs internally when you treat your business like a business and treating yourself like a CEO."

"I have been working with individuals, and I still do, but I'm now working with females, typically, who own midsize businesses," she describes. "It's about ensuring that their work life is harmonious for them, and also helping their employees, or advisors to provide them with coaching so that they can achieve better harmony at work."

This change is going to make a difference for Becky's bottom line too.

"You charge more [for coachingbecause you charge more], and you have to find one individual to make the same amount of money from those $7 guides 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 change into something." The clients of coaches tend to refer other people, which can lead to more potential coaching revenue down the line.

However, Becky plans to continue serving her broader audience, even if they aren't an ideal fit to her new coaching one-on-one.

"I'm keeping my company in the same way I've run it. It's Gutsy Boss and also helping both businesses and individuals," Becky explains. "I don't want to let them go behind. I've worked with some individuals for quite a while, and lots of them are on my podcast or are included on my email lists."

To address the needs of those who are in, Becky has repurposed a majority of her information to create Gutsy Guides that help tackle individual issues, like boundary-setting, making big asks, and overcoming imposter syndrome.

"Generally the people who are in that category are mid-career professionals, instead of doing many one-on-one sessions for them, I give them an array of tools which they can utilize for self-help with these issues," she says.

When someone is able to discover Becky's work, they fit into two distinct categories:

Potential clients for coaching

Anyone who would benefit from Becky's self-guided mini-course , self-study program , and Gutsy Guides  that are hosted by Becky by Becky on

How can she determine the segment that each prospective client fits into?

Automated segmentation, automation and a little inspiration from The Golden Girls.

Utilizing automation, segmentation as well as a fun test to match potential clients with the appropriate services

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

Every person represents a distinct phase of business ownership starting from the beginning to an experienced professional.

"To make it clear that this is an advanced opt-in to email," Becky cautions fellow creators. "I wouldn't start with something similar to this, if you don't yet already have opt-ins... My experience was that I began with a single download. That's the easy option."

When you're ready to categorize your customers opt-in with a more complicated offer like Becky's quiz can assist you in doing so. The segmentation can be used to make it easy for them to receive targeted offers that match their individual preferences or levels of experience.

She automates the email series by using ConvertKit This means that she won't need to waste valuable time sending the right products to the correct customers.

"It all happens while I'm sleeping," she describes. "They're receiving the email newsletters, and if they want to purchase the guides the price is very affordable. It's simple, and an easy process."

Becky believes that it will continue to grow with her business

The way Becky's business is evolving as well, and so has her approach to using .

Becky has added (and often removed) various new offerings as her business grew and expanded, which included the digital downloads, further training courses and group coaching.

Right now Becky is preparing for this year's 2023 Gutsy Accountability program which includes group coaching, downloadable resources, one-on-one coaching with Becky or live seminars, according to the programs clients choose.

"I love being able to conduct group coaching as all of the tools I would like to share can be housed in the system. My clients are able to for them. I have the ability to make resources that I have already readily available. This is a lot much easier. It also allows them to pay in full . I don't have to worry about any of it."

The buy buttons that can be embedded and the checkout experience make it easy for customers to purchase programs 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 and find what works best for her and her clients.

"Almost every week, I have someone call me to say, 'I know you use , inform me about it and I'm always delighted to hear," she says.

"I think it's good for people to know it's possible to build upon the platform... It has it all here for a price you can afford."

Trust your instincts and build a business that's true to your values

Becky's closing advice to creators is the same as she advises her clients: Follow your instincts.

"Listen to your intuition. A majority of those whom I consult... They have many doubts and don't have confidence, and then that causes them to feel stuck, which makes them feel that they're not progressing on their own business. And that's so demoralizing. That's the feeling I'm able to remember," she says.

"In Beginning, making an effort to be confident in you is crucial to have any kind of success."

Becky's coaching practice has grown significantly from the first time she launched her course on in 2018. But the heart and soul of her coaching -- helping others release those "shoulds' -- remains steadfast. We're eager to see where the next four years (and even beyond!) will take Becky and her company.