Business Decisions

A business decision is not only about whether something could make money.

It is also about what you want, whom you serve, what your team needs, and the vision you are building.

Those considerations do not always point in the same direction.

I want to share three decisions I was working through when I recorded this episode: pricing Certification, canceling a mastermind, and changing how I approached growth.

They helped me get clearer about what I was willing to sacrifice and what I was not.

Separate desire from fear

Whenever you make a decision, distinguish your unconscious thoughts from your conscious thoughts.

Then separate what you truly want from what you fear.

I teach that distinction, and I use it in my own life.

A decision can look reasonable on the surface while being driven by a fear I have not yet noticed. I want to understand the thinking underneath it.

This process applies to personal decisions, too. You do not have to own a business to ask what matters, what you want, and what is influencing your choice.

Get advice without giving away the decision

As The Life Coach School grew, I invested in mentors, coaches, and consultants.

I wanted to learn from people who had experience with the kind of business I was trying to build.

A consistent message from several mentors was that the price of Certification was too low.

They looked at what we offered and the results students could create. From that perspective, they thought I was undercharging.

I decided to raise the price.

Then a conversation with my DEI coach, Trudi LeBron, gave me another perspective.

She helped me consider how the decision would affect inclusivity. A higher price would change who could afford to participate.

I needed to reconsider the decision with that information included.

Pricing involves more than one value

I wanted students who were serious about doing the work.

In my experience, a significant investment often helped people become more committed. I had seen that with students and in myself.

That was a generalization from my experience, not a complete measure of someone's commitment.

I also wanted to include people who were dedicated but might not have the financial resources for a much higher price.

There were other considerations. A higher price could mean fewer students and more attention per person. It could change the workload for customer service.

I was proud of the value of the training. But I also needed to ask who we wanted to be as a company and how to keep the work effective and accessible.

At the time of the episode, I had not raised the price. I was continuing to consider the options with my team.

The useful lesson was not that one pricing answer is always right. It was that a decision can change when you recognize an important perspective you had not included.

Ask what you would create if you started today

One question I return to is what I would do differently if I were starting a brand-new company today.

How would I set it up to be the best version it could be?

That question helps me step outside the assumption that we must keep doing things because we already do them.

Another question came from Dean Jackson: what would you do differently if you only got paid after the client got the result they wanted?

It asks you to think carefully about what you offer and the people you choose to work with.

Do they want the result? Are they willing to do the work? Are they willing to work on believing in themselves?

I wanted our choices to reflect both commitment and the values of generosity, inclusivity, diversity, caring, and excellence.

A decision can cost money and still be right for you

The second decision involved a mastermind I had sold.

It included a year of working with me, quarterly meetings, weekly calls, and travel. Twenty people enrolled at fifty thousand dollars each.

I was excited about the group and the work.

As we planned the schedule, I realized it conflicted with my son Christian's golf tournaments.

I had not understood the full schedule when I made the offer. Carrying it out would make it harder to watch him play and be with him.

I spent time thinking about the choice. My number-one priority was being in my child's life and supporting him.

I decided not to do the mastermind.

We refunded everyone and reimbursed travel costs people had already incurred.

I would call it a business failure in the sense that I disappointed people and created work for the team without the intended benefit for the business.

I still felt good about the decision because it honored my priority.

Know what is most important before everything competes

Sometimes you need to step back and ask what matters most.

You can love a business opportunity and choose something else.

You can recognize the cost of a decision without making that cost proof that you chose incorrectly.

For me, being clear that my children came first made the other questions easier.

What is your true value? Are you willing to make the choice that follows from it?

If the priorities stay fuzzy, every option can keep competing for first place.

Consider the business beyond your involvement

The third decision was about scaling.

I could stay at the forefront of operations, marketing, creative ideas, and revenue responsibility to keep pushing toward the next financial goal.

Or I could step back, allow a reset, and give the team space to develop what was needed without my direct involvement in everything.

Part of me wanted to keep the momentum going through events and programs built around me.

Another part knew the business and the work needed to live beyond me.

I wanted it to be about the Model, the tools, the coaches, and the team—not only about people being fans of me personally.

That choice was challenging emotionally and financially. It asked me not to be in a hurry.

Keep recommitting to the decision

Some decisions are not settled emotionally just because you have chosen them once.

I needed to keep returning to the vision and recommitting to it.

I wanted to continue coaching and teaching while developing a company that could deliver consistent work as a team.

Systematizing the work and highlighting other people's ability to use it were part of that vision.

I was proud of what we had created and wanted it to carry on.

Remembering that helped me choose differently from the part of me that wanted to jump into every opportunity.

Make the priorities clear

Consider yourself. Consider your customers. Consider your team. Consider your vision.

Then ask how you prioritize them in this decision.

What are you willing to sacrifice? What are you unwilling to sacrifice?

You may decide to keep a commitment. You may decide to change it after considering new information. In either case, understand your reason.

Clarity about my children, the future of the work, and the company's values helped me evaluate these choices.

Your answers may be different. The point is to make them conscious and use them to guide what you do.