7+ years into her coaching career, Becky Mollenkamp is honing in on the work she is most passionate about

Find out how the mindset coach and time-tested creator Becky Mollenkamp is evolving her company to make more of the things she is passionate about.

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

For mindset coach Becky Mollenkamp , choosing to stop following a'shoulds'-based lifestyle" changed everything, including her career.

Becky assists people in making the shift to go from "small proprietor" to CEO, and build viable businesses that don't burn out. By leveraging her Gutsy Boss brand, she has helped thousands of clients identify their own "shoulds' and determine success on their own goals.

She has more than 20 years of experience in the field of entrepreneurship in her business, which includes owning a six-figure content marketing agency before starting her own coaching company in the year 2015.

We recently spoke to Becky to learn the evolution of her business in the past few years and look back on the journey she took to create. Her business is currently in a transition period, when she is focusing specific work with midsize business owners and their consultants and employees.

Continue reading to discover the ways Becky has developed her business through trusting her instincts and letting go of the 'shoulds' -- and is helping fellow entrepreneurs do similar.

Finding her calling as a coach for mindset

Although Becky was an entrepreneur for nearly 20 years, she didn't ever a component of her plans.

"What led me on the coaching path was my brother's passing in the year 2010 due to a fatal overdose of heroin. This really shaken me out of my slumber," Becky explains.

"I was living a life of 'shoulds', going through the motions and doing everything you're supposed to do. It made me realize that my life is much too brief to live one that's not what you actually want."

"I was unsure of what I was looking for. But I knew that I didn't want that," Becky remembers. The writer shut down his company and returned home with her mom. After that came the inner work to figure out how she wanted to do with her life.want the rest of her life be as.

Becky was able to build her writing company. "It was something I was familiar with and could be successful in. But I realized what I really wanted to accomplish was to help others break away from the "shoulds"."

She then began to coach.

"I realized I could help others who are going through the same things which I've gone through. And that's really the reason I realized it's what I'm destined to do. This is my passion."

Her own work as an agency owner and newfound drive to help people made Becky's unique viewpoint a perfect match for coaching on mindset.

"I'm an expert in strategy nor an advisor, but an instructor. Therefore, I assist people in coming to their own conclusions and their own knowledge of what they want from their life or their business, and then help them move forward on that," Becky explains.

As a way of helping people live their lives in a more full way, she applies her own values to the work. "I'm an empathetic coach for women, which means that I respect lived experiences, that I'm trauma-informed, that my coaching is all about compassion, no blaming and shaming."

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

Tuning out the noise about what an internet-based business must appear to

When asked about the challenges of building her coaching business, Becky laughs. "There weren't any challenges that I didn't have. I believe I faced every obstacle."

The war of the "shoulds was played out in this instance, as well. "I would say the biggest problem was that noise on the web space about how a business will look like as well as how you should manage it and the tasks you need to do to be successful," she says.

In retrospect, Becky finds this common myth that says business owners who don't start out with a full-time commitment do not believe in themselves, which is harmful and privilege. "I did not realize that in the beginning, but I was filled with anxiety and felt like I was not doing an adequate job, because I had to write [to make ends meetto survive]."

She remembers thinking "Why did I not succeed in making the coaching thing more successful more quickly? Was there something wrong with me?"

Most individuals aren't able to afford jumping in to a brand new venture full-time -- and that's perfectly fine! This can be a gradual process. However, this doesn't mean you're not committed or a good entrepreneur.

"I needed to complete myself the work of releasing myself from all of those guilt and shame, and recognize that advice to be all-in" was not practical for the vast majority of people."

"The greatest challenge I faced at first was recognizing that I was able to gradually transition from a writing business to an entirely new venture." She focused on shifting her job 25% per year. The initial year, it consisted of 75% writing and 25 percentage coaching. "Honestly it's the first year that's no writing at all," Becky tells us.

"That was a slow transition. Accepting it and then being able to let go of the guilt about it, to realize that it's okay, might be the smartest and best way for people to launch a new venture, instead of feeling like they must go all into the venture or simply do not believe in themselves."

Becky was also a bit hesitant to see herself as the CEO to see the value in her work and think big of the bigger.

"You are self-employed, be a solo entrepreneur or an owner of a small-sized business with just a few consultants . However, you're still the CEO, the leader, the CEO and you're the one who has vision," she emphasizes.

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

Today, the CEO mindset is the main focus of her interaction with clients.

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

Becky's work is at a point of transition: She's narrowing her focus on the coaching of mid-sized entrepreneurs and their teams .

There are several motives for this change:

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

The opportunity to offer her time to others makes Becky the biggest amount of cash.

The work she loves the most.

Based on her own experience, Becky wants her clients to be able to experience "the change that occurs internally when you begin treating your company like a business and treating yourself like an executive."

"I am working on a personal basis, and continue to do so, however 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 working with their employees or consultants to give them guidance to improve their work-life balance."

This change is going to make the difference in Becky's bottom line too.

"You charge more [for coachingand coaching], which means you need to get one person to make the same amount of money from those $7 guides or even a $200-$200 course. It is my responsibility to market many more courses and guides], so I need to include a lot more people on my list because there is a small percentage who turn into products." The clients of coaches are more likely to recommend other people, which can lead to higher potential revenue for coaching down the line.

But, Becky plans to continue providing her services to a wider audience even if they aren't the right fit for her new one-on-one coaching.

"I'm keeping my company in the same way I've run it. It's Gutsy Boss. I'm also working to help both businesses and individuals," Becky explains. "I am not going to leave those other people behind. I've worked with people for some time and lots of them listen to my podcast or are included on my email lists."

To address the needs of those who are in, Becky has repurposed a large portion of her previous material into 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, rather than spending lots of one-on one with them, I offer a vault of resources which they can utilize to self-coach around those things," she says.

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

Potential coaching clients

Anyone who would profit from Becky's self-guided mini-course , self-study program  as well as Gutsy Guides  that are hosted by Becky through

How can she determine what segment a potential customer is a part of?

Automation, segmentation and a little Inspiration to draw inspiration from the Golden Girls.

Using automation, segmentation, and a fun quiz to match potential clients with the best products

Becky offers a test on her website: "Which business owner is you?" The six-question question (built with 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 with the basics to a seasoned professional.

"To be precise, this is a much more sophisticated email opt-insystem," Becky cautions fellow creators. "I would not recommend starting with anything similar to this, if you don't yet already have opt-ins... My experience was that I started with just a download. It's the easiest option."

When you're ready to segment your audience, a more complex opt-in offering like Becky's quiz could assist you in doing so. The segmentation can be used to make it easy for them to receive targeted offers that match their individual needs or level of expertise.

She automates the email series through ConvertKit, which means she doesn't have to spend precious time sending out the correct products to the right individuals.

"It occurs in the night," she describes. "They're getting their email series, and if they want to purchase the guides they're extremely affordable. It's a no-brainer, and it's a really easy system."

Becky knows that will grow as her company expands

As Becky's business has evolved as well, and so too has her approach to using .

Becky added (and sometimes she removed) different products as her business grew, including digital downloads, additional classes, as well as group coaching.

Now Becky is preparing to launch this year's 2023 Gutsy Accountability program which includes group coaching, downloadable resources, one-on-one coaching with Becky, and/or live sessions, based on the type of program clients pick.

"I am awestruck by the ability to do group coaching using because all of the assets I'd like to make available can be stored there. My clients can go to for them. I am able to create assets I already own available to them. That is really easier. They can also pay for it . I don't have to worry about any of it."

The buy buttons that can be embedded and the checkout functionality make it convenient for clients to purchase products like Gutsy Accountability without leaving the website.

Through the course of her creation she has allowed Becky the flexibility to explore the various types of products and discover what is most effective for her and her clients.

"Almost every single week I get someone to contact me to tell me, 'I'm sure the product you're using , tell me about it,' which I'm always happy to do," she says.

"I believe it's beneficial for the public to know that it's possible to build upon this foundation... There's everything you need here at a price you can afford."

Be confident in your abilities and create a business that's true to you.

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

"Listen to your gut. Most of the people that come to me... They have all of these 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. It's disappointing. It was a feeling that I'll always remember," she says.

"In first place, believing in you is crucial to have any kind of successful experience."

Becky's coaching business has seen a significant improvement from the first time she launched her course in the year of 2018. But the heart and soul of her coaching -- helping others get rid of the'shoulds' -- remains steadfast. We're eager to see where the next four years (and beyond!) will bring Becky as well as her business.