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

Find out how the mindset coach and time-tested creator Becky Mollenkamp is evolving her creative business in order to accomplish more of the things she enjoys.

What happens when you let go the "shoulds' and started believing in your intuition?

For the mindset Coach Becky Mollenkamp  who decided to quit living a life of 'shoulds was a game changer -- and that includes her profession.

Becky helps people make the change to go from "small business owner" to CEO and create viable businesses that don't burn out. With the Gutsy Boss brand, she has helped thousands of clients identify their own "shoulds' and set success in their goals.

She brings nearly 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur to her work, including owning a six-figure content marketing agency before starting her own coaching company in the year 2015.

Recently, we spoke with Becky to find out the evolution of her business in the past few years as well as look back on the journey she took to create. The company is moving through a period of transition, as she hones in the area of working with small entrepreneurs and their advisors as well as employees.

Continue reading to discover how Becky has grown her business by believing in her own intuition and letting go of the "shoulds," and is helping fellow entrepreneurs do similar.

Her calling is as a mental coach

Although Becky was an entrepreneur for over twenty years, coaching wasn't an integral part of her strategy.

"What led me on the coaching path was my brother died in 2010 due to a fatal overdose of heroin. The loss really brought me out of my slumber," Becky explains.

"I was living a life filled with'shoulds' and going through the motions performing all the tasks you're supposed to be doing. That helped me realize life's much too brief to live one that's not what you actually want."

"I didn't know what I was looking for. But I knew that I didn't want that," Becky remembers. She shut down her writing company and returned to her home with her mother. Then came the internal work of figuring out how she wouldwant her life to look like.

Becky started building her writing business. "It was what I knew and could be successful at. But I realized what I really wanted to accomplish was assist others in breaking out of their'shoulds'."

Then she began coaching.

"I found out that I could assist others who are going through the same things that I've experienced. And that's really the reason I realized it's what I'm destined to do. It's what I'm called to do."

Her experience as an agency's 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 a consultant, but actually I'm a coach. So I help people come to their own answers and their own understanding about the things they would like to achieve in their personal life or in their business, and then help to move towards that goal," Becky explains.

As a way of helping people live their lives better, she also brings her own principles into her work. "I'm female-focused coach, which means that I honor lived experience, that I'm trauma-informed, and that my coaching is about compassion, no blaming and shaming."

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

Eliminating the noise around what an internet-based business must be like

When asked about the challenges in establishing her coaching company, Becky laughs. "There weren't any challenges that I did not face. I believe I faced every challenge."

The battle of the 'shoulds' played out here, too. "I think the greatest issue was all the voices in the internet area about how businesses should look and how to run it, the things that you have to accomplish in order to succeed," she says.

When she looks back, Becky finds this common assumption that business owners who do not commit to their business from the beginning don't believe in themselves--harmful and privileged. "I did not realize that in the beginning, but I had a lot of regret and a feeling that I wasn't doing a good job, because I had to write in order to get by]."

She recollects thinking "Why couldn't I make the coaching more efficient and successful quickly? What could be wrong?"

The truth is, most people aren't in a position to leap right into a new business full-time -- and that's acceptable! It can be a gradual process. However, that doesn't mean you're less determined or worthy of being an entrepreneur.

"I had to do my own work to release me from the shame and blame, and realize that advice [to take on the whole world] wasn't feasible for the majority of people."

"The most difficult part in the beginning was understanding that I could gradually shift from a writing business to an entirely new venture." She concentrated on shifting her job 25% per year. The initial year, it was 75percent writing and 25% coaching. "Honestly this is the first year in which there is no writing at all," Becky tells us.

"That was a slow transition. Letting it go and then getting rid of the shame of it and letting it go, might be the smartest and most effective way for individuals to start a new business without feeling that they have to go all into it or that they do not believe in themselves."

Becky had a hard time treating herself as the CEO to see the value in her work and think big of the bigger.

"You can be an independent contractor, become a sole entrepreneur or an owner of a small-sized business by utilizing a couple of consultants . But you are still the CEO, the leader, the CEO and you're the one who has vision," she emphasizes.

"It's about having the confidence of showing up and saying, "I'm confident in what I'm doing. I'm capable of doing this.'"

In the present, the mindset of a CEO is at the heart of her work with clients.

Focusing on a specific customer (while offering her services to a wider audience)

Becky's job is currently in a transition period Her focus is shifting on coach midsize businesses as well as the teams they lead .

There are many reasons for this change:

Her work is aligned more closely to her own knowledge and experience as a business owner.

Offering her time as a service makes Becky the biggest amount of money.

The work she loves the most.

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

"I am working with people, and continue to do so, however I'm moving towards working more with people, generally women, who own midsize businesses," she describes. "It's about creating a harmonious work/life balance for them, and also helping their employees, or consultants to give them guidance to achieve better harmony at work."

This shift will make a difference for Becky's bottom line as well.

"You are charging more], so you only have to find one individual to generate similar amounts of cash out of those guidebooks for $7, or even a $200-$200 course. I have to sell a lot more [courses and guides], so I must have many more customers to choose from my list since only a percentage of people change into something." Coaching clients tend to refer others, which means even more potential coaching revenue later on.

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

"I'm keeping my venture as I've been doing it. That's Gutsy Boss, and helping both businesses and individuals," Becky explains. "I am not going to leave those other people to be left behind. I've worked with some individuals for some time and lots of them listen to my podcast, or they're on my email list."

With those individuals in mind, Becky has repurposed a majority of her material to create Gutsy Guides that help tackle particular issues like boundary-setting and making huge demands, and overcoming imposter syndrome.

"Generally the people who are in that category are professionals in mid-career, instead of doing lots of one-on one for them, I offer an array of tools for them to help them self-coach on these things," she says.

Now, when someone discovers Becky's work they can fit into two distinct categories:

Potential clients for coaching

Anyone who would profit by Becky's self-guided mini-course , self-study program  as well as Gutsy Guides  which are all available by Becky on

How does she figure out what segment a potential customer fits into?

With automation, segmentation, and some ideas taken from Golden Girls. Golden Girls.

Using automation, segmentation, as well as a fun test to match potential clients with the appropriate product

Becky offers a test on her site: "Which business owner is you?" The six-question quiz (built with Interact ) tells visitors the Golden Girls-inspired business owner personas they match: Newbie (Rose), Flirt (Blanche), Pro (Dorothy) (or Sage (Sophia).

Each persona represents a different stage of business ownership, starting with the basics to a seasoned professional.

"To be clear, this is a more advanced email opt-insystem," Becky cautions fellow creators. "I would not recommend starting with anything similar to this, if you don't yet have an opt-in... I began with just a download. That's the easy option."

If you're looking to segment your audience, a more complex opt-in offering like Becky's quiz could aid you in this process. You can use that segmentation to make it easy for them to receive offers tailored to their specific interests or experience levels.

The email sequence is automated via ConvertKit this means she doesn't have to spend valuable time sending the right products to the correct customers.

"It all happens when I'm asleep," she describes. "They're receiving the email newsletters in the event that they wish to buy these books the price is very affordable. This makes it an easy decision, and an extremely simple system."

Becky is aware that her business will expand with her business

As Becky's business has evolved and changed, so has her approach to using .

Becky has added (and sometimes deleted) new products when her business expanded, including online downloads, training courses and group coaching.

Right now Becky is getting ready to launch this year's 2023 Gutsy Accountability program which includes group coaching, downloadable resources, 1:1 coaching with Becky as well as live or online sessions, based on the program that clients select.

"I am awestruck by the ability to do group coaching using since all the resources I'd like to share can be housed in the system. [My clients] can go to for them. I can make assets that I already own accessible to them. This is a lot easier. And they can pay through . It's not necessary to think about anything."

's embeddable buy buttons and checkout functionality make it convenient for customers to purchase programs like Gutsy Accountability without leaving the landing page.

Through the course of her creation, has given Becky the freedom to study the different types of products available and find what works best for her as well as her customers.

"Almost every day I've had someone contact me to ask, 'I'm aware of the product the product you're using , let me know about it, that's something I'm always glad to answer," she says.

"I think it's good for the public to know that you're able to create on this foundation... You've got everything you need here at an affordable price."

Trust your instincts and build your business in a way that's loyal to you

Becky's last advice for creators is the same as she advises her clients: Follow your gut.

"Listen to your intuition. A majority of those whom I consult... they're plagued by all of these doubts, and aren't confident This creates a feeling of being stuck and they're feeling like they're making no progress on their venture. It's demoralizing. That's the feeling I'm able to remember," she says.

"In first place, really making an effort to be confident in yourself is important to having any kind of successful experience."

Becky's coaching practice has seen a significant improvement since her first course launched in the year of 2018. But the heart and soul of her coaching -- helping others let go of those 'shoulds that's'shoulds' -- has remained constant. We're eager to discover where the next four-years (and even beyond!) will bring Becky and her company.