EP 326 - 10 Things I Quit Doing in 2026 (That Changed My Business)

If you want to grow your coaching business in 2026, it may not come from doing more. It may come from quitting the habits that are quietly holding you back.

If you’re new to my channel, my name is Debbie Shadid. I’m a Business Growth and Life Coach, and the founder of the Business Building Boutique. For over two decades, I’ve helped women learn how to become coaches, get clients, grow their businesses, and create meaningful income doing work they love.

In this episode, I walk you through the exact habits I quit that changed everything in my business so you can start identifying what’s keeping your coaching business stuck and finally begin building real momentum.

You’ll walk away knowing:
• the habits that are keeping your coaching business stuck without you realizing it
• how to grow a coaching business in 2026 by doing less of what isn’t working
• what to stop doing if you want to get coaching clients more consistently
• how to create a business that feels aligned, sustainable, and actually grows

This isn’t about doing more.
It’s about letting go of what no longer serves you so you can make space for what actually works.

Over the past two decades:
Helped thousands of women start and grow profitable boutique-style coaching businesses with integrity and clarity.

When you commit to the process and give your business the structure it deserves, the results begin to compound and success becomes inevitable.

If you need guidance I’m here for you. I’ll tell you what to do and then show you how to do it as you follow my proven, simple step-by-step process.

Apply to Work with Debbie Shadid: https://debbieshadid.com/apply

Debbie’s Free Business Blueprint Call:
https://www.debbieshadid.com/schedule

Let’s connect!

• Website: https://www.debbieshadid.com 
• Instagram @debbieshadid
• Subscribe on YouTube

#DebbieShadid #LifeCoachBusinessBuildingSchool 

Transcript

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I wanna talk today about quitting, not quitting my business, not quitting my dream, but quitting the things that were quietly holding me back from the growth that I actually wanted. I've been coaching for over 25 years, and some of the best decisions I made were not the things that I wanted to start doing, but the things that I was gonna stop doing. Here are 11 things that I quit doing that have changed everything. If we haven't met, I'm Debbie Shadid, I've coached thousands of women, not only build, but grow profitable boutique style coaching businesses. Alright, let's get into it. Number one, I'm gonna quit silencing my intuition. I'll tell you what, this is something I should have done sooner. I knew I wanted to go all in on YouTube two and a half years ago before I actually did it. I also knew that I wanted a niche down to coach women over 50 long before I committed to do it. Every single time I listened to my gut and acted on it, it worked every time I didn't it's cost me. I cannot begin to put a dollar amount on what it is cost me to wait on YouTube and to wait on declaring that narrow down niche of helping women over 50. So once I made the decision. I went all in and let me tell you what my intuition is no longer going to be something I'm going to ignore. It's something I'm going to lead with. Number two, I have to tell you, I was relying on my own grit and I was forgetting to ask God for help. This is very personal. What I'm gonna share, and I'm gonna share it anyway because I think somebody needs to hear this. I believe that God has given me a mission. I'm very committed to it. I show up to that mission every single day, and it is to help women over 50 build and grow profitable boutique style coaching businesses. I teach the technology and I help women learn how to market and talk about their coaching business so they can do what they know they are meant to do. That is my God-given mission. I show up in that mission, but I realized recently that I was carrying every single bit of it, like God gave me the commission to go do it. But I forgot to ask him to step in. The day I finally said, oh, wait a minute. Like I'm trying to like white knuckle it through this thing and do what he said I needed to do, but I'm not asking him for help. And when I did that, you are never gonna believe this. Three paying full clients in three days while I was off work. Number three, I quit overworking. I used to believe that the more hours that I worked would mean more results. I learned this is absolutely not true. When I work less, when I'm more intentional, I earn more. That has become a core belief in how I run my business. Now, I can tell you when I'm well rested, when I exercise, when I eat well, when I have time to read and reflect, I make more money. Number four, I quit skipping time off and not trusting that my business could grow without me. This goes hand in hand with number three where I did take time off, real time off, and my business grew while I was away. That used to feel impossible to believe. Now I have seen it enough times to completely trust it. Number five, I quit worrying about doing things perfectly. I just started on TikTok. If you're not following me there, go take a look. I'm not doing it perfectly. I know that I'm experimenting. I'm showing up anyway. That's the way that I approach growth. I say, look, I'm just gonna get over and start doing something. I will learn by doing it. When I do it imperfectly, it will be the path to getting better later. Done is better than perfect every single time. Number six, I quit criticizing what I was seeing on the camera. I mean, I know you guys probably feel the same way. But this is one that might make you laugh, but it's real. I used to look at myself on video and my inner critic, you know, would be talking the lines, the aging, all of it. And I've heard from my clients, I know that we all struggle with this. But I had to make the decision to just silence that like I give up, I am 61. This is what I look like. I can't change. This filters look stupid, right? I mean, they just do. What I want to do now is see that my age is wisdom. It is the years of experience that I have that people want from me. I have. Credentials. I have what it is that you need to build a business, and when I look at myself, I just need to focus on that. So I'm not gonna let that little bit of me looking in the mirror and that voice telling me, you got wrinkles here and there and everywhere. I'm not gonna let that stop me from doing what I'm doing, and I'm also gonna not let it take over my brain because it's not necessary. All right, number seven, I'm gonna quit adding more to my program that is already working. This is one that every coach. Sometimes deals with, we think that when we pile on more bonuses and we add more modules and we throw in more calls, all that equals more value. It doesn't, you guys. I've done that too. What I finally realized is, is that what I already had, the basic version of what I already had was working incredibly well. Our clients grow their businesses, they get results. I didn't need to add anything else on. When you add more on, you're adding on overwhelm. Your clients don't need more. They need what you already know. Worked. Trust what you've built. Stop bearing it under more stuff. More stuff is not the answer. More time is not the answer. Your expertise really fine. Tune and trim down. That is actually what the answer is. Number eight, I quit Facebook ads. At least for now. I have, I tell you, I made a decision once again to go all in on organic content. I can tell you for sure that my ads were performing well and the ad cost was low, but in reality, it wasn't accomplishing what I wanted it to do, and the organic content, it is working. It's giving people the opportunity to see me, to get to know me, to trust me. It's all what I've been talking to you about is this is the year when trust is so important, and seeing me on an ad is one thing, but seeing me like this, that's a whole nother deal. So I am going all in on organic content. Again, that's why I went to TikTok. That's why I've doubled done on YouTube. This is a bold bet that I'm making on myself, but I believe that it is really gonna pay off, and truthfully, it already has. Number nine. I'm gonna quit assuming that my emails are being delivered. I tell you what I found out last year that my emails were having problems getting delivered because we switched platforms. That's a whole nother story in itself, but even this year, as we've gotten our email deliverability back in a better space, what I know is. Gmail and and Outlook and whoever it is that you're using. They're doing an excellent job of sorting out my emails into promo folders. Not just my emails, but everybody's emails, and that's nice for the consumer. But if you sign up for something like My Canva workshop that came from the paid ad, and you don't get the link to attend. Now I just paid for an ad and you didn't get the link and you're thinking. I scammed you. I literally had somebody say that to me. So you've got to quit assuming that your email will be delivered. I am not saying I'm not gonna use email as a core strategy because it is, and I believe it will be forever, honestly. But here's the deal. I've got to see how else can I get in front of customers. We really relied on email as being. Honestly, the go-to driver for a hundred percent of my business almost. They would come to workshops, they'd find me on social media, but ultimately they'd end up in a funnel. On my email list, they'd be getting, the information about my offers and all that. So I'm looking for other ways. I'm not gonna rely on my email list anymore, not gonna believe that my emails are being delivered. I'm in the process of figuring it all out. Once I know the path of exactly how that's gonna work, I will let you know. Number 10, I'm gonna quit relying on one income stream. This is the year that I say diversify, and I'm gonna teach you guys how to diversify too. My group coaching is phenomenal. My summit is amazing. I'm doing great on YouTube. I've gone to TikTok. I am coming up with some eBooks, digital products. I am not putting everything in one basket anymore, and I'm gonna teach you guys how to do that. If you came to our recent summit, you heard me talk about. Creating your own economy, and you do that by not just having one income stream, but multiple income streams. I am building a business that lasts for a lifetime and that can have opportunity to earn money in multiple ways, I'm gonna take you on the journey so you'll get to find out about it. Okay? And number 11, I can tell you that for years I have noticed the number 11. 11, and maybe you guys have something like this. And I really thought the first time I was just praying for God to show me. That I was on the right track, and I started noticing 1111 not just on my computer or on my watch, or on the microwave downstairs or wherever it was. I was seeing that number everywhere. I just decided that that must be God's way of telling me I know numbers mean something and there's angel numbers and there's all that, but for me, this is just symbolic that I'm on the right track. So when I realized that I actually had 11 things to share, not 10, I was like, well, I have to share all 11 things. number 11 is. This sign that things are working for you, what signs are you seeing? There's gotta be signs all around you, and I always tell people to create an evidence bank of what is working for you. So for me, yeah, the 1111 is part of evidence, but it's also evidence. Every time somebody watches a YouTube video and leaves a comment every time. Somebody interacts with me on social media or comes to a workshop, or every new follower that I have on TikTok is evidence that it is working. So gather that evidence, that proof that you can use as fuel to keep going. here's what I want this takeaway to be. Growth in your coaching business is not always about adding more. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is to quit doing something. Quit doing the things that are draining you. Quit the habits that are keeping you small. Quit ignoring what you know is not truly working. I've been doing this for 25 years and I'm still learning what to let go of. I'm gonna let go of the things. That don't serve me. This will never stop. But every time I quit something that's not serving me, something else better shows up. If this resonated with you, leave a comment below. Tell me one thing that you're gonna quit in 2026. I will read every single one of these, and I will respond. I'm so excited to see these. If you're a coach who is ready to stop doing this alone and finally build the business that you have been dreaming about, one that really works, there's a link below about how to work with me in the description. I'd love to have a conversation with you. Let's see if what I do in my day-to-day business is the right fit for you. Subscribe if you have not already done that. I show up every week, in fact, some weeks more than one time, two times or three times, and I provide real talk for women who are building real coaching businesses. I believe in integrity. I believe in being a straight shooter, and I believe in you. So we'll see you next time. All right, have an amazing one. Bye-bye.