We’ve been talking about a lot of practical advice on the show lately, covering everything from building courses to email marketing to how to make your brand easily referable. Business isn’t all concrete strategy though; it’s just as important to pay attention to the aspects of entrepreneurship that are more mindset-related.

Luckily, the brilliant Lee Chaix McDonough is joining us for this episode to talk about how she coaches on mindset and intuition in her own business.

Lee Chaix McDonough is a licensed social worker, therapist, coach, and founder of Work Your Inner Wisdom. After spending 14 years moving around the world with her family while her husband was in the Air Force, Lee realized she wanted to do something a little different than traditional therapeutic work or private practice.

She decided to start coaching other helping and healing professionals in their businesses, first on the how-tos of entrepreneurship and later on mindset and mindfulness.

We had an excellent conversation about Lee’s career path, her transition from therapist to coach, and why she enjoys helping others make a similar shift. We really dig into how mindset affects the way you build and scale your business and how the same mental blocks can come up over and over again in your entrepreneurial journey. Lee also talks about why meaning, mindset, and mindfulness are the cornerstones of her coaching practice and why so many helping and healing professionals initially struggle with the business side of creating their own practice.

Lee and I also discuss the recent shift she’s made in her business to work more closely with intuitive entrepreneurs and why intuition should be a welcome addition to your decision-making process. She shares how she’s made this pivot while keeping her audience engaged throughout the transition.

I love strategic, marketing, and business model discussions, but diving into mindset and coaching with Lee was a real treat – and I think you’ll find there’s plenty for you to take away!

What Mastery means to Lee:
I love James Clear’s mastery definition (from his book Atomic Habits): Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery. To me, this suggests that mastery is the result of dedication, repetition, and desire. It takes time, work, and energy to master something, and as well as a loving, mindful approach and an attention to detail. We can achieve mastery by constantly refining and improving on our practices, little by little.

Turning point:
About a year or so after starting my business, I accepted a client who was clearly not the right fit for me. Every session felt like a challenge, and I started to doubt my own abilities. With some reflection, I realized that it wasn’t about my talent as a coach, but about my motivation for accepting him - it wasn’t from a place of excitement or discovery, but of scarcity and fear. I was afraid that if I said no to a paying client, my revenue would dry up and my business would fail.

This put me in the position of exchanging money for peace and contentment, and I knew that if I wasn’t careful, I would grow to resent my business. After that client, I realized I needed to go back to square one, refine my brand, and be crystal clear about who I work with. The moment I started saying no to clients who were not the right fit, I created space for clients who were.

Core message:
Your greatest asset is your intuition. It’s imperative to incorporate both your internal knowing and external data when making decisions in your business and your life.

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

• Why Lee wanted to become a business and mindset coach after spending the first decade of her career in more traditional social work and therapy roles.
• What many healing and helping professionals struggle with when they first start a business.
• How do determine if your business blocks are mindset related or more of a how-to issue.
• Why to measure your success based on how long it takes you to recover from mental setbacks.
• Why it’s important to continually read, watch, and listen to things that inspire you in your business or give you a pick-me-up in a down period of work.
• How Lee helps clients get more in touch with their intuition.