Lauren Tickner is not what most people think when they hear the term “millionaire.” A former model, Tickner is now CEO and owner of Impact School, a coaching business that has made her millions of dollars. Her story is unique because she is one of those entrepreneurs who found her niche simply by being herself.
Finding People With Similar Interests
Tickner says it’s a miracle she even started down this business path. She made the decision to start, and it changed her entire life. But it wasn’t about finding and marketing a product to the right people. No, her product was people and how she could help them.
Tickner launched her business almost a decade ago, and in that time, it has grown to become one of the most impressive coaching businesses around. She leveraged social media to her benefit; before long, she had people coming to her.
Appreciating Her Freedom
Tickner comes from a background where her brother has epilepsy and autism. Seeing him growing up unable to enjoy the freedom that life offers, she promised herself that she would seek that freedom.
She started her journey in asset management at an FTSE 250 firm in London. She quickly realized this wasn’t what she wanted. Everyone above her in the company was making money, but they were miserable in their lives. There had to be a way to balance both.
The Fitness Space Offered Respite
While learning to be an investment advisor, she explored her interests in the fitness space. Her job was draining and boring, and social media offered her an escape from her existence.
Without even knowing it, she had started her business. By offering free content to anyone who wanted to learn something, she set up an ecosystem she could rely on for business conversions. It was through this that people found out about her and started messaging her about coaching.
Manage Responsibilities, Not People
Tickner admits she’s not a people-management person. With all the responsibilities she has dealing with the business, she just doesn’t have the time to manage people. Instead, she suggests entrepreneurs keep their teams small and make sure they know they’re accountable to themselves.
Similarly, business owners shouldn’t give people tasks but responsibilities. In the old days of business, tasks were how people outlined what a job description should do. Today, giving people responsibilities makes them more likely to get something done in a way they can handle.
Documentation Is Critical
If you’re new to running a business, documentation could save your life. Outline standard operating procedures (SOPs) for everything. That way, if you have a new person on the crew, the documentation can inform them about how the business runs on the back end so they acclimatize faster.
Similarly, having good contracts is a critical part of a successful business. Contracts protect the company and the employees and give them a solid understanding of what’s expected from them. It also helps save time when you have contracts prepared beforehand so they can be used as templates.
Let People Discover and Develop
One of the most common pitfalls entrepreneurs have is their tendency to micromanage a lot. Tickner says that it’s better to let people do things the way they want to do them. Aside from giving them freedom and agency in their role, it also allows them to approach the job on their own terms. The result is a happier employee.
The staff’s personal development is also a crucial consideration in a business. Tickner says that while the leader needs time to recover from a job like this, the same is true for the team members. Giving them the opportunity for their own personal development on days off or through other methods.
Relationships and Friendships Can Be A Drag
Tickner is a bit controversial in her opinion of relationships but with good reason. She says that if you have a friendship or relationship going in the opposite direction to where you want to be, you should consider cutting those ties.
Her rationale is that people with a negative mindset can pass their feelings onto others. Tickner is a firm proponent of keeping your circle small. Even though she’s a huge social media influencer, her close friends make up a small subset of people, including people she has coached before.
Take Feedback to Build a Business Successfully
Knowing what your customers want is the most crucial thing in delivering a service or a product they will love. Because of this, Tickner’s team surveys all her clients every few months to ensure they’re getting the most out of her coaching and where she could improve.
This iterative method of finding the most useful information and coaching methods for her clients sets her apart from many other coaches. Instead of having a single-minded view of what works, she’s willing to adapt her delivery to make it easier for her clients.
Testing and Improvement Bring Benefits
Nothing in business ever stays stagnant, and that’s an important fact to remember for any business coach. Tickner’s team formulates new plans to improve on what she teaches and then tests those ideas in other businesses. If they work, she adapts her coaching to encompass these discoveries.
This approach is partially due to how Tickner acquired her first following. She offered benefits and value to her followers. It’s an iterative process to see what her followers responded to and what they wanted. They were quite vocal in letting her know what they were interested in, which fueled her outreach.
Authority Matters
Tickner realized a lot earlier than most that delivering coaching and getting people interested in what she had to say comes from authority. She realized that talking to people was a lot more effective than talking “at” people and expecting them just to follow what she said.
Social proof adds that extra layer of legitimacy to her coaching and lets everyone know she’s someone they can trust. People tend to stop scrolling when they notice that she’s someone that others have good things to say about. It increases the amount of people who want her services.
Coaching is a Social Business
Coaching is a business that requires interacting with people. As a social business, it means that Tickner needs to always have her audience in mind, but that comes as second nature to her. Through her constant improvement, she’s staying ahead of the game while providing value to those she coaches. She’s an excellent example of what’s possible for a social media coach.
