Coaching Business Mindset: One Word Swap That Changes Everything with Ellen Whiteside

Most coaches know what they want. They just haven't done it yet.

That gap between knowing and doing is where Ellen Whiteside does her best work. In this episode of She Coaches Coaches, I sit down with Ellen Whiteside, a dream builder coach, speaker, retreat leader, and the owner of Sacred Grove Retreat Center in Gold Hill, North Carolina for the past 20 years. She Coaches Coaches reaches listeners in more than 127 countries, and this conversation is one that will stay with you long after it ends.

Ellen is a lifelong student of personal growth and metaphysical principles. She helps people reconnect with their dreams and build lives they truly love. And she does it with practical, grounded tools that coaches can use the same day they hear them.

The Coaching Business Mindset Shift That Costs Nothing

Here it is.

Stop saying "I have to." Start saying "I get to."

That's it. Ellen has been applying this to her life and practice for years. She used to clean Sacred Grove - a lot - and she used to dread it. It sat on her list like a stone. A have-to.

Then she shifted to "I get to clean today." And something changed.

Get-tos are things we look forward to. Have-tos drag us down. Your nervous system responds to those two words differently. Your energy going into the task is different. The way you show up is different.

I get to pay my bills. I get to do the hard things. I get to keep building this.

It sounds small. It isn't. This one word swap is a coaching business mindset practice you can start today.

What Would You Love? The Question Every Coach Needs to Ask

Ellen has a question she returns to again and again. It comes from the coaching training she went through, and she says it's the most important thing she knows.

What would you love?

Not what should you do. Not what makes sense. Not what other coaches are doing. What would you love?

Ellen is 73. She ran Sacred Grove for 20 years. She loved it. She still loves it. And she's also ready for something new. She wants to walk the Camino de Santiago. She wants to travel. She wants to meet people from around the world the way she did when she hitchhiked through Europe at 26.

The question "what would you love?" led her there. It's the same question that helps the coaches and entrepreneurs she works with build a coaching business your way - one built around passion and joy, not around someone else's template.

This is what I teach on She Coaches Coaches too. Strategy and mindset together. One without the other doesn't hold.

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The Tesla Story - What Vision Actually Looks Like in Practice

Ellen doesn't just talk about manifesting a vision. She has a story that shows exactly what it looks like.

Her Tesla was totaled. Instead of spiraling, she got clear.

She knew the exact amount she needed from the insurance company. She held that number. She knew what she wanted in the next car - long range battery, paint protection, the right specs. She stayed in gratitude for the car she'd had. She focused on what she wanted to create, not what she'd lost.

The first car she went to look at was the car. It had everything she wanted. It had ten thousand fewer miles. Her monthly payment went down a hundred dollars. The insurance company gave her exactly what she needed to pay off the original loan and put down a deposit.

That's what living into a vision looks like. It's not wishful thinking. It's clarity plus decision plus action.

Ellen is clear: our mind is the biggest tool we have. And most of us are barely using it.

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Build a Coaching Business Your Way - Starting With the Vision

Ellen's advice for coaches is practical. She calls it a five-area life vision.

Look at your health. Your relationships. Your spirituality. Your finances. Your work. Write out what you would love in each area. Be specific. Be honest. Then live into it from there.

This isn't a one-time exercise. It's a daily practice. You look at the vision. You make decisions from it. You take the next step, even when it's hard, even when you're a professional procrastinator like Ellen says she used to be.

Procrastination is a decision problem. That's what Ellen has learned. When you're not making decisions, you're not moving. And the way out is to make a decision - any decision - and follow through. Everything is feedback. Nothing is final. You can always pivot.

There is no failure. There is only feedback and the next step.

Build a coaching business your way means giving yourself permission to want what you actually want - and then building toward it one decision at a time.

Ready to take the next step in your coaching business? Book a free 30-minute call with me: https://stepintosuccessnow.com/

Key Takeaways

• Change "have to" to "get to" and the energy of even the hardest tasks shifts.

• Ask yourself "what would I love?" in every area of your life - and write the answers down.

• Vision without action stays a dream. Clarity plus decision plus follow-through is what makes it real.

• Procrastination is a decision problem, not a personality flaw. The fix is to make one decision and move.

• There is no failure. Everything is feedback. You can always pivot.

Conclusion

Ellen Whiteside has spent 20 years creating a healing space for other people. Now she's building the next chapter for herself. That takes the same courage, the same clarity, and the same willingness to ask "what would I love?" that she teaches everyone else.

You don't have to have it all figured out. You just have to make the next decision and keep going.

About Ellen Whiteside:

Ellen Whiteside is a dream builder coach, speaker, retreat leader, and owner of Sacred Grove Retreat Center in Gold Hill, North Carolina, where she has created a healing space for yoga retreats, women's retreats, and personal growth events for over 20 years. A lifelong student of personal growth and metaphysical principles, she helps others reconnect with their dreams and create lives they truly love.

Web: https://sacredgroveretreat.com