First things first:

My Cousin Brittany is Amazing!

I had the distinct pleasure of hosting her at our house this summer. It was so much fun, and we had lots of much needed hang-out time and catch-up time. Brittany is one of those people in my life where we may not communicate very often, but when we do, it's deep and broad and it feels like we were never a part.

Brittany is a life coach, and consulting specialist. Just before she came to visit me, she decided to change her life to support her dream of launching her own life coaching company. It's called AGL (which stands for Apex Generation Leadership), helping young professionals find purpose and meaning in their jobs and bridging the generation gap within business.

I asked her a few burning questions, and had to share her responses. Check that out below.

Best of all, she gave me this worksheet to share. It's all about helping you achieve your goals. Snag it now, it's totally free.

Achieve your Goals! Download Now!

And, throughout all of our discussions on this I decided she needed some new head shots. Haha! So we bustled outside and snapped a few fun shots one night when we had some time to spare — between all of our sight-seeing adventures!

A bit about Brittany and her BEST business coaching advice:

1. What was your biggest motivation for taking the leap and starting your own life coaching business?

I have been a coach for years and have always known that I wanted to branch out on my own. A fellow business owner asked me a clarifying question that helped me enormously: did I want to be a business owner or did I want to be self-employed? Once I had thought through the implications of both, I realized I loved the idea of not just working for myself, but leading a team. Then about a year ago, an opportunity opened up to work with a group of coaches and build a business together. It’s been a fantastic ride!

2. Any advice for your all those dreamers out there (aka: want to start their own business, but haven't taken the leap yet?):

My top bit of advice is “Take the smallest next action.”

So often, we get hung up on the BIG things. “Launch a website.” “Find clients.” “Design business cards.” These can be helpful vision-casting thoughts, but don’t really make great goals.

The most effective goals are SMART goals or smallest next actions. SMART goals take a big goal and make it specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-sensitive. Smallest next actions block out everything else and allow you to do the NEXT thing.

A SMART goal for your website might be “Sit down Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours to brainstorm necessary pages, outline the flow of the website, then send an email to person X for feedback.”

A smallest next action would be “Set out paper and colorful pens at the kitchen table to start brainstorming.”

Both together can be enormously effective in taking those massive goals and making them attainable.

And, if you missed it above, here's a handy little worksheet from Brittany to you to help you make SMART goals:

SMART Goals — Download Now

3. What are your go-to resources for inspiration or business help?

As a coach, of course I have my own business/life coach and consultant!
I also have an incredible team of mentors who have made themselves available to answer questions I have about sales, marketing, leadership, design, and more.
I love to read and am currently working through Leadership Challenge, Lead Like Jesus, and Presence (in addition to my fun, light reading).
Finally, The Next Right Thing and Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History are two podcasts I’m enjoying right now.

4. Who inspires you and why?

My biggest mentors are actually two ladies from my church, Cherie and Diane. In the midst of the crazy startup life, they keep me grounded in finding balance, keeping boundaries, and just processing a lot. I see them at least once a week and know I can call them anytime if life seems to be too much.

I’m also blessed by an amazing team who inspires me daily to love the life I live. I’m convinced that other coaches are the best people to go into business with.