You Can't Scale Past Your Own Thinking—Here's How Coaching Fixes That (with Katie Pulsifer)

Most studio owners try to scale their business by doing more.

More classes.
More systems.
More discipline.
More pushing.

And for a while, that works.

Until it doesn’t.

Because eventually, the thing that stops your business from growing isn’t strategy or effort — it’s the way you’re thinking.

That’s what this episode is really about.

In this conversation, I sit down with Katie Pulsifer, Master Certified Life Coach, former executive leader at The Life Coach School, and creator of The Golden Coaching Certification, to talk about why coaching isn’t a “nice-to-have” — it’s the skill that determines whether your business stays sustainable or slowly drains you.

Why Effort Stops Working at a Certain Level

Here’s a truth most studio owners don’t want to hear:

You can’t outwork a mindset that’s working against you.

Katie says this directly in the episode — and once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Most studio owners:

• Try to push through fear
  
• Override exhaustion
  
• Make decisions from urgency
  
• Ignore their nervous system
  
  

They assume the answer is more grit.

But grit without awareness just creates burnout with better branding.

What Coaching Actually Is (And Why It Works)

Coaching is often misunderstood.

It’s not advice.
It’s not telling people what to do.
It’s not fixing problems for others.

Katie describes coaching as the architecture of your future.

Coaching works because it:

• Slows your thinking down
  
• Introduces curiosity instead of judgment
  
• Expands what you believe is possible
  
• Helps you see options you literally cannot see on your own
  
  

Just like a yoga teacher can see potential in a student long before the student feels it, a coach holds belief and possibility until it becomes accessible.

Self-Coaching vs Having a Coach

This distinction matters.

Self-coaching helps you:

• Understand your patterns
  
• Regulate your nervous system
  
• Pause before reacting
  
• Make cleaner decisions
  
  

But even Katie — with over a decade of experience — admits she forgets her tools multiple times a week.

That’s why having a coach matters.

A coach can see the water you’re swimming in.
They can ask the question you’d never think to ask yourself.

For studio owners, this is often the difference between:

• Leading reactively vs intentionally
  
• Micromanaging vs empowering
  
• Feeling trapped vs feeling spacious
  
  

Coaching Changes How You Lead Your Team

One of the most practical takeaways from this episode is how coaching transforms leadership.

Before coaching, many owners:

• Take employee behavior personally
  
• Try to control outcomes
  
• Manage through pressure
  
• Avoid hard conversations
  
  

After coaching:

• Curiosity replaces control
  
• Boundaries replace resentment
  
• Decisions come from values, not emotion
  
  

Katie talks about leadership through the lens of desired emotional outcomes.

Instead of asking:
“How do I get my team to do this?”

You start asking:

• What do I want my team to feel when they come to work?
  
• What do I want clients to feel when they leave class?
  
• What systems support those feelings?
  
  

That shift alone changes retention, culture, and performance.

The Belief That Stops Most Studio Owners

One of the most powerful moments in the episode is when Katie shares her own turning point.

After leaving a high-level executive role, she realized she was holding onto this belief:

“I didn’t get the entrepreneurial gene.”

And she knew something critical:

She would never outwork that belief.

So instead of waiting for confidence, she started creating evidence.

Writing weekly newsletters — even to 35 people.
Saying “CEO” out loud.
Claiming space before it felt comfortable.

Belief didn’t come first.
Action did.

This is especially relevant for studio owners who say:

• “I’m not good at business.”
  
• “I didn’t sign up for this part.”
  
• “I’m not a real CEO.”
  
  

Those beliefs don’t make you humble.
They make growth harder.

Coaching for Transitions, Pivots, and the Quiet Knowing

This episode also speaks to studio owners who feel something shifting.

Not because things are bad —
but because they’ve outgrown what they built.

Katie names this beautifully:
Outgrowing a life you spent years building doesn’t mean you failed.

It means you’re listening.

Coaching helps you:

• Grieve what you’re releasing
  
• Stay present with uncertainty
  
• Trust what’s emerging
  
• Move without abandoning yourself
  
  

There’s a powerful live coaching moment in this episode where Katie coaches me in real time — and you can feel how quickly clarity arrives when curiosity replaces pressure.

This Is the Skill That Makes Everything Else Work

Marketing matters.
Systems matter.
Strategy matters.

But none of it works cleanly if your thinking is chaotic, fearful, or rushed.

Coaching is what allows everything else to land.

If you want to scale without burning out, this is where the work actually begins.

🎧 Listen to the Full Episode

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why mindset is the real growth ceiling
  
• What coaching actually does to your decision-making
  
• How to lead your team without micromanaging
  
• Why you can’t fake belief — and what to do instead
  
• How to trust what’s emerging next
  
  

Ready for the Next Level?

If this episode resonated, here are your next steps:

• Studio CEO Program — build clarity, systems, and leadership without chaos
  
• Grow Mastermind — for owners ready to scale revenue, team, and capacity sustainably
  
  

You don’t need to work harder.
You need to think differently.