Guest Expert Ruth Kudzi and I Talk Online Business!

I got to interview the one and only Ruth Kudz! Ruth Kudzi is an online business coach with a unique background in education and psychology. Ruth Kudzi carries that approach in all that she does with her clients. We talk all things online business strategy, how she came to what she does today, the industry and of course a few ninja tips.

Website: https://ruthkudzi.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecoachescommunityRK/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruthkudzi/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-4ShCtWdEQLyqvjF9-7t8Q

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Jamie: Hey everybody. It’s Jamie here and I am with Ruth today. Ruth, welcome to the show. 

Ruth: Thank you so much for having me, Jamie. I’m so excited that you’re here. 

Jamie: So tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and what you do. 

Ruth: So I, my name is Ruth. I’m a coach, a mentor, a coach trainer, an author. And so I have two businesses. I help coaches and consultants scale and build their businesses so that I can have consistent months. And I do that three, one to one coaching and various programs. And I also train people to become coaches and teach them coaching skills. So you can see that kind of complementary, but they are different businesses. 

Jamie: Yeah. Super cool. So how did you tell me about how you got into doing that?

Ruth: Oh my gosh. So I, um, so the coaching side is, is the one that came first. So I used to be, uh, well, I, I started out life working in recruitment. I actually worked in New York. Um, and then I wait into education and when I was working in education, I was the vice principal for those in the U S um, I, I really started coach like getting coaching experience with my team and started doing coach training. So I realized that the way that I managed was very directive and didn’t work for loads of people. So I’d be telling them what today. They wouldn’t be doing it. I get pissed off. And I was like, okay, that they wouldn’t like me. And they wouldn’t do it even more. So it was like, okay, what’s a different way. So I started and did some coach training and absolutely loved it. And then after that, I was like, okay, I really love my job. What can I do? 

And I started a business as a coach and I started out doing confidence, coaching and career coaching. And very soon the universe tower, she doesn’t that people kept coming to me for business coaching. And I was like, I don’t see myself as a business cage. And then I was reminded that business was the subject that I taught business was my subject at university alongside psychology and business was something that I’d always been really interested in. So eventually I took all of the signs that the universe was hitting me over the head with and I transitioned and became a business coach. And then the second business came last year. Um, obviously being a teacher, but also with this, you know, I’ve always been obsessed with learning. I love learning. And I just so many people were saying, I want to be a qualified coach that I was working with. And I was like, Hmm, I think there’s a business in hair. So I did a lot of training. Um, I had to do a lot of paperwork. I’m still doing a lot of paperwork with the ICF and I got my very first cohort starting on that this year. And then that’s, that’s been rolled out. So that was, that was me like looking at the market, but also saying I can do this. Like it’s, it’s a really obvious fit. 

Jamie: Yeah. So I love, I, I love the learning aspect cause I’m the same way I love to learn. And your content that you put on social media is always so spot on. I love how you sprinkle. You kind of have this great balance of sprinkling in like here’s some data with how you can apply it. Like now that you say that you studied psychology and business, I can totally see where that plays that. So I’d love for you to kind of just speak to your approach a little bit, because I think that that blended approach, at least for me, really resonates. And I think it’s something that a lot of people who are in the coaching industry don’t necessarily do. 

Ruth: Yeah. I mean, I think for me, so I studied psychology when I was 18. Well, I actually went when I was 20, but when I was at, I decided when I was 18, cause I thought what’s wrong with me. And I was like on this journey of kind of like, like, why am I say different? And I think we all feel like that don’t be at times. And actually the more that I studied, the more I realized that everyone feels different. Um, everyone has that inner voice and it really has helped me in my business because I don’t think like there’s some people who are great at the strategy and the teaching and all of that. But for lots of people, if they don’t have the mindset, they’re not going to apply it. And then there are people that are amazing on the psychology and the mindset and how the brain works. But if they don’t know where they’re going, yeah, they’re going to be really abundant and for failed, but I don’t get to achieve that goal. So I think marrying up that kind of goal focus with that practical mindset stuff is where you get success. 

Jamie: Yeah. I agree completely. Cause I know, um, I know for me, I’ve been behind the scenes a lot in terms of doing marketing for lots of launches, as we were talking prior to this for hitting the record button. And, um, I’ve really started to bring my strategy more to the forefront. But it’s funny when I look back, cause I’ve been, I got a master’s degree in leadership, but you don’t really like dive into too much of the psychology and the mindset piece, which is something that I’ve been doing on my own more in recent years. And I look back and I think about all the launches that I’ve been a part of where there was a total mindset block or, you know, a self limiting belief or self sabotage happening. And so I think that that’s something that happens a lot in the coaching world. Right? 

Ruth: God, I definitely self-sabotaged on launches as well, like hundred percent. Uh, I used to, you know, when people say like you get all of your launches in the last 24 hours until about a year ago, I was like, I’ve never had any, all of your sales. I’ve never had any sales in the last 24 hours. And then I was talking to a friend and I realized it’s because I stopped. I stopped. I was like, Oh, this is okay. I’ve done. Okay. Like I might be there or thereabouts and I didn’t do anything. So I was like telling myself a story that you didn’t get sales in the last 24 hours. And I was just acting in concert. Like I was thinking, Oh, I don’t want to bother people anymore. And uh, everybody knows. And it was this discussion with a friend and then my very next launch, right at the end of it, a dream client signed up and she said, Oh, I haven’t seen anything else about this. This was the first thing I saw. And I was like, okay, again, if you needed to sign. So I think I can imagine that now when you’re looking back, you’re like, Oh, okay. That’s why it didn’t work. 

Jamie: Yeah. Yeah. And I think so, so often I’d love for you to speak to too, like, cause I, I mean, I cannot tell you how many clients that I’ve personally done coaching and strategy for that have stopped. Right. And I can’t force people to finish a launch. Right. I can just say based on my experience, Hey, these last 48 hours are probably the most important, right. I can count. I don’t even think I have enough extremities and digits on my hands and fingers to count how many clients have stopped at that 48 or 24 hour Mark. So I would love for you to kind of speak to like, even just your own experience on like, how do you even identify that? Cause it’s, it’s always, it’s really obvious to me now that sort of stuff, but like for somebody who’s in the weeds of it or doing it for the first time, like how do you identify that? 

Ruth: I think it’s about taking yourself out of it. And I actually think that when we’re in launch, we can be all in, in our business and we can’t see it. So ideally you do this with a coach. If you don’t have a coach, you do this yourself, but you take it and say like, okay, what have I done today? What more could I do? And be really honest, actually. You know, when I said that, I always say to people and I’m sure you do pass, no reach out, convert personal, reach out closes. Yeah. And I know this, but I, like, I remember like taking a step back and I was like, I’ve sent five messages. Okay. So that is not, that is not personal reach out. So actually like kind of using the data as a way to say, wait a second, you’re not doing what you know is going to work, but you need to be really strict on that and take a step back and say, okay, what are those metrics? 

What are those things that I need to be doing? And let’s be honest with myself, am I doing them or am I making excuses? It’s always stuff like, Oh, I don’t want to bug them or it’s not right for me. And I’ve just had a mini launch actually in my mastermind and a couple of people like, so I left messages and it wasn’t, there’s only 10 people in the program. So I didn’t leave loads. And there are a couple of people I really am an RA. And actually two of them signed up. So five people in this category and the other three sent me lovely messages and just said, look for whatever reason, it’s not right now, but actually it’s on our agenda. And I was like, Oh, I might ruin the relation. You know? And I went to all of those worst case scenarios in my head and I was like, wait a second, take a step back. This is all stories you’re telling yourself. It’s not true. No, I think it’s about actually recognizing in yourself that we are like, our brains are trying to keep us safe. Yeah. And if we’re coming out of our comfort zone, it’s not safe. If we’re, if we’re putting ourselves out there, we could be rejected. So actually it’s okay to be rejected. 

Jamie: Yeah. Yeah, it is. And that’s so true. And I also think everybody falls back on this. Well, you know, I have social media going and I have ads going and emails going out, so I don’t need to do the personal reach out. And it’s like, Oh my God, because it’s so much nicer. Isn’t it too. Um, it’s so much nicer to actually think that you wouldn’t have to do that. It’s so true. Yeah. I think people get caught up too in like making these hyper sophisticated launches. And I don’t know what your thought is on, on that. Cause I have a pretty strong opinion on launching. Um, okay. So if I tell you this,

Ruth: So I, um, I did a hyper, like I did probably the most difficult launch and I found it difficult and therefore I didn’t launch as well because actually it’s all about, I was feeling comfortable as well. And when we create it’s like sales funnels, when we create complex sales funnels that we can’t understand, it’s a distraction. 

Jamie: Yeah. Yeah. I’m a huge fan of keeping it simple. Like I’m all about the simplicity minimalistic launching. And most of the time I, you know, I’ve been behind the scenes of launches, product launch, formula webinar, launch this launch, that one, whatever kind of launch you want to do. Right. And that model works, but you also have to be all in to do that model. And that doesn’t work for most people from my experience. Right. Especially like first timers and getting into the launch stuff. So I always say just like do a minimalistic launch so that you trap yourself into making that content. Right. And then turn it evergreen. Like that’s always my philosophy. Um, but that doesn’t always like that doesn’t always resonate for everybody. Um, but I’d love to know like your thoughts are you like team launch team not launch, what’s your cause. You’re pretty, you’re, you’re very strategic in your marketing. So I’d love to know your thoughts. 

Ruth: So I it’s interesting cause I’ve gone through like a, kind of a kind of roller coaster ride with launches because in the UK, most of the big players launch. And then I joined like a program with a very lovely guy and he teaches the anti launch method and I could never get my head round it because I have a belief that to be successful in the UK, you had to launch. And now I do a combination of launch and evergreen. So I often do like many launches. Um, yeah. Like I do like a 48 hour open membership or I do things like that, which are like low stress. Yeah. And you have your wait list and it’s easy to do, but I, I I’m a hybrids, but I’m not, I like you don’t have to log, you don’t have to launch. I think that’s, that’s the key thing. 

Jamie: Yeah. You don’t need like 700 emails and you know, 500 social media posts. 

Ruth: Yeah. You don’t. Yeah. You don’t need to write 500 social media posts please. 

Jamie: Oh, I totally, I totally agree with that. Cause I, I think it’s one of those things where, you know, especially in the industries that it, especially the people that you and I serve, I feel like they know that you’re doing as well. Right. Like 

Ruth: I’m just going to give you some free videos. They’re like, yeah, it’s not free. She’s doing a launch actually. I much prefer now to say I’m launching something because cause everyone bloody nose. 

Jamie: Right. I totally agree. I totally agree. And I think it’s one of those things where people get themselves so hyped up over it, that it just, you know, creates more chaos in the world. So let’s talk about, um, I’d love for you to talk about just kind of you are, I love your two models for the business. Cause I, I have a very similar sort of model in my business, different, different, different Dell, different content. Right. But very similar idea. And so where, where are you? Like tell me about the process, the model kind of how you operate. 

Ruth: So I am very much like, um, the, I want to create things that are easy and I, this is, this is because I’ve always been doing more and more and more so, um, so I want, I want to create ease and flow. So for me that’s about looking at things that are less about my time. Say most of my lines, I love getting people together that synergy, I love memberships. I love online pro like online courses and programs. I’m not sick. And then I’ll do a bit of one to one. So I’ve done that in the coaching business. Now after years of doing giving people like everything and all of my time, I’ve gradually got there. And it’s the same in the training business. It’s either training or it’s a membership. So it’s actually about, yeah. Really doing that one too many offer. Yeah. Because we have limited time and Oh my gosh. Has that been really highlighted at the moment? We really have limited time. And so yeah. I’ve got friends, well, I’ve got a really good friend and she’s only got memberships. And when I speak to her and she’s like, Oh, I’m working four hours a week. I’m like, mm. I maybe could reduce my working hours. And four hours is not realistic, but I think I’d got to stage in about three years ago when I was doing so much. Yeah. I was doing like 10 hour days and that kind of thing. So for me, it’s simplicity. 

Jamie: Yeah. Agreed completely. I love that. You say that and you have such clarity around your, your business model. Right? I think that that’s so, that’s so cool. 

Ruth: Yeah. I want to say to anyone listening, like that has taken me four years. So, and even today I was like, I could just do one more launch of this program because that would, if I did one more launch of this program, this is what went through my head then that could pay for our extension. I thought it was like a house. Cause I, I think it’s very unlikely. We’re going to meet, we going to meet this summer thing. That’s very unlikely. And then I was like, but you don’t want to do it. Yeah. It’s like having those conversations of yourself. 

Jamie: Yeah. It’s so funny that you say that too. Cause I had this, I had this woman who I was chatting with this morning and she sent like to work with me one-on-one and I don’t really work a lot. One-on-one at all. It’s either like join my group or join my membership and you know, it’s gotta be the, the right, like actual, like so perfect fit. Cause I’m just like, so tapped out on time with the kids and um, just, you know, homeschooling and all that sort of fun stuff. And I saw, I got, I got this email from her and it, like, I got several like of those, here’s a red flag, here’s a red flag. Here’s a red flag. So I’d love for you. And I think that this is something my business I’ll be in business 17 years in September. And this is something I took probably a solid decade to learn. Apparently I’m pretty thick headed. Um, and learning this lesson. Um, I’d love for you to speak, to identifying red flags with clients. Cause I think that’s something that a lot of people who are new to either group coaching or coaching one on one or just service providers really, really struggle with and identify, 

Ruth: Oh my gosh. So I’m going to say something about red flags. So I would say, you know, me, I would say in your science reading last night and it was about intuition. Yeah. So bloody. And, and it was saying that our intuition is actually as looking at patterns of what’s happened in the past. So it’s like a trigger that goes up in our brain that reminds us, but our patterns can, we can often have biases obviously. But so when we’re feeling yeah. When somebody reminds us of something that wasn’t very desirable, that’s a song. So if somebody tells you, um, if somebody, first of all, speak to you in a way that doesn’t make you feel good, sign, if somebody has expectations of you that you can’t meet. So for example, probably for both of us, if someone said to me, I need you to get back to me in an hour. 

Like during the working week, like at the moment, we’re like, that’s not going to happen. We’ve got two kids like that is not going to happen. I can’t do that. And it’s, it’s very much actually about us setting out our boundaries and knowing what all limits limitations are like and saying to people, yeah, I can do this with you, but this is what it’s gonna look like. And the more that we’re really clear about that, that when we see the red flags, we can say, that’s not going to fit into my way of working and said, actually we’re make it about us, but we’re holding those boundaries in that space. And that means that we can start to see yeah. If people expect us to give them immediate feedback for us, we can’t do it. I mean, it could, there could be people who can do it, but I can’t do that. I don’t have the capacity to give myself immediate feedback. So it’s an also ask yourself like, yeah, what are those behaviors that really trigger me? Because if some of these starting to display things that trigger you in your first conversation, that again is a sign. 

Jamie: Yeah. I love that. You say that too. Cause it was, that was a S I, that was such a hard lesson for me to learn in business. Um, when I first got started, but it’s so funny now cause see those things and I’m like, Oh, here’s a boundary up. Like, so how I love, how I’d love for you to kind of speak to how you landed on the business model that you have, because I that’s an important conversation that a lot of people think, Oh, when they’re first getting started, they can’t but start to do and work in that certain way. 

Ruth: So basically, um, I, I was working with people one to one, like many of us do. And I sat my business where my youngest daughter, just before she was born, she’s going to be four very C. And so she was a baby and I have really limited time and very quickly I was booked for one-to-one and I was doing it at crazy times. Like I was doing it at like six in the morning and at the weekend, all of those things that we do and I was like, I called, this is not sustainable. So that’s when I started doing online courses was bringing them out group programs. And then I launched my membership and it was all, and this is pretty much my attitude in life. Like test it and say test it and say, or as I like to say now, test it and learn. So I wasn’t actually like the whole time I was like, right, this could work. Let me speak to some people. Let me see if they want it. Let’s test it. And see, and then from there I was able to work out what works for me and what’s worked for my clients. So it was all very much like, but let’s let, let’s see what happens. 

Jamie: Yeah. I love that. And I love that you also say test it and learn or launch it and learn, or I forget the exact language that you learned. But the learning piece, I think so many people bypass that step and they put something out there and it doesn’t always go as planned and then they trash it and they start over again. And it’s like, you have to learn from that, adapt and keep moving forward with that one thing, because most of us aren’t going to get it right. That first time around like, I truly believe like focus on that one program for six months and tweak it and hone it and that sort of thing. 

Ruth: Oh my gosh. And the thing is like, my membership is going to be getting, it’s going to be three in September and I’m kind of breathing new life into it the whole time. And I really think that we get this idea that something’s going to be perfect first time. And I always laugh. Cause my, my youngest daughter is basically me and she, or she’s always saying it doesn’t need to be perfect. She says it about everything. And my oldest daughter and my husbands are like, uh, it does need to be perfect. I like that. I’m like, it doesn’t need to be perfect because actually yeah. Things like doing a course live, it’s amazing because then you get feedback and you can make it better. Whereas if you spend all that and energy and effort, you’re courting a course and then it doesn’t quite land with people or they need something different. You’ve got a much bigger thing to solve. So if you can have that learning mindset the whole time and you can actually evolve with your clients and get them better results. 

Jamie: Yeah. Agreed. I also think too, like if you go through all that effort to record all that course, right. And then you just scrap it. I feel like people always stay in that creation mode instead of really moving into that scaling hailing mode. Right. Where you’re just, you know, your job solely becomes like marketing yourself versus just staying in this creation mode. And I really feel like that keeps people small. And I feel like, go ahead, go ahead. I think it can. I think it also, I think people do it because it’s actually safer. Agreed. Yeah. Yeah. So they feel safe. Agreed. Yeah. Twofold. Right. I also think like, and I don’t want to go too much of a rabbit hole on this, but I also feel like the coaching industry in general also wants you to stay in that creation mode so that they can keep you coming back. Hmm. You know, I know I always want to move my folks into marketing cause I’m like, there’s so much fun you can have in the marketing mode. Right? Yeah. But yeah, I think a lot of time the industry, they, you always see the people launching to the newbies. Right. And they want to keep them in that creation mode. And I think it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a strange time that we’re living in right now where I feel like there’s going to be a lot more people creating courses and content in the online space, but who knows how that’s going to work. 

Ruth: Yeah. You know, I’m really what we’re probably both saying is you have to be resilient with it. So yeah. And actually I see this quite a lot with people who are new, they think, Oh my gosh, I’ve got a great idea for a business or I’ve got a great idea for a course and they create it and then nothing. Yep. Yep. I see it all the time too. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s like you, yeah. It’s overnight success is a myth. Anyone who says they’ve had an overnight success. Yeah. If you look at that backstory, you’re like, okay, this isn’t really an overnight success. And I think that, but people love don’t need that rags to riches story. Yeah. We’d love it. How much would it be better? It’d be a much better story if you, if we could sit here and say, well, yeah. I mean, all I did is I created one course and I sat back now I’m a multimillionaire and I don’t have to do any work. I know. Right. That would be, that would be amazing. I mean, if anyone’s listing a nice how you do that, just not as nothing please, but it’s just, I think that that kind of that disassociation from reality and reality is no, you don’t have to work 70, 80 hours a week, but you do have to work hard. You do have to task and you do have to be adaptable to have success. 

Jamie: Agreed. Yeah. And I also hear a lot too, and I’m sure you probably hear this with your, with your coaching folks. Oh, well I was on like I worked, I was, I worked today. I was on social media, like four hours. And I’m like doing what, like specifically, what were you doing? You know, I was watching cat videos, scrolling on my feet, hitting refresh. And you know, to me, that’s, that’s like where there’s so much education that needs to happen. 

Ruth: Yeah. It’s like, what is actually going to move you forward? 

Jamie: Yes. Yep. I agreed. Yeah. So Ruth, I asked every single person that comes on the show, any Ninja tips for our listeners. 

Ruth: Okay. Well actually from that, I would say get your three priorities, the three things, and this is slightly stolen from lovely. Totterman say, uh, it is from night to day. Yeah. But get the three things that you want to focus on that are going to help you achieve your goal and then schedule time every day to do that. So you’re not endlessly scrolling on social media. You’re actually actively doing something. That’s going to move you towards that goal, whether that is creating or marketing or speaking to people, that’s how you get stuff done. You are intentional with how you spend your time. And the other thing I would say is don’t gave up, remember, like I say this to people, if one person buys what you’re doing, you’ve got proof of concept. So your problem is not that your product is wrong. Your problem is that you’re marketing as well. So remember all you need is one person let’s get proof of concept and that person can help you in sorting out your marketing. Cause often people think they’ve got a sales problem, but they’ve got a messaging problem or an audience problem. 

Jamie: Yeah. Agreed completely. So Ruth, how do we get in touch with you? 

Ruth: Well, I’m the only person called Ruth could see in the world. So it’s really easy. K U D I that’s my website. That’s me on Facebook. Insta link said, um, everywhere. So you can just talk that into your search engine and you can find me. 

Jamie: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. This was so fun. 

Ruth: Thank you so much for having me.