Career Coaching Secrets

Impact Over Income: Tanisha Moody's Values-Driven Coaching Philosophy

• Davis Nguyen

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Rexhen Doda interviews Tanisha Moody, founder of Full Out Coaching, a certified Career, Life, and Leadership Coach. Tanisha shares her journey from theater and corporate events to coaching, driven by a passion for developing others. She coaches diverse individuals and teams globally, helping them navigate transitions and unlock potential. Her primary client sources are word-of-mouth and networking, leveraging her broad connections. Future goals include on-site coaching at events and corporate collaborations, prioritizing value alignment over revenue. Tanisha emphasizes continuous self-coaching and peer support, highlighting that success doesn't need to conform to others' models. Her main challenge is balancing niche vs. broad service, while her advice is to understand your core values to define and measure impact. She uses automation and asks for help to manage business growth alongside high-quality coaching.

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Tanesha Moody:

I've recognized that if I can coach that whole person, then of course we can kind of go along the journey of where they want to be in terms of any area of their life. So that means that I have the chance to coach lots of different individuals, lots of women, people from diverse backgrounds, as well as individuals that are just stuck. They're not certain where they want to be just yet.

Davis Nguyen:

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Nguyen, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. Before Purple Circle, I started and scaled several seven and eight figure career coaching businesses myself and consulted with two career coaching businesses that are now doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or just building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Rexhen Doda:

Hi everyone, welcome to the Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. Today with me is a very special guest. Her name is Tanisha Moody. She is a career, a life and certified ICF leadership coach. She's going to share with us a little bit more about her journey of becoming a career coach and a little bit about how like the challenges that she's currently facing in her career coaching. Tanisha is founding coach of Full Out Coaching. Tanisha, welcome to the show.

Tanesha Moody:

Thank you so much, Rajen. It's so great to meet you. Thank you for having me here.

Rexhen Doda:

Welcome. And Tanisha, tell us a little bit about yourself and like what inspired you to become a career coach. and life coach as well as leadership coach.

Tanesha Moody:

Yeah, definitely. So my background is a bit unique. I first started in professional theater as a stage manager, got my BFA, worked professionally in theater all across the United States, and then eventually wound up transitioning into corporate events via Disney. I also worked with Marriott, Under Armour, Salesforce. And I recognized throughout my journey of creating experiences that some of my favorite parts about my roles were the chance to lead and develop individuals and I had a chance to be a people manager and leader and having the opportunity to allow them to see things from different perspectives to grow and to get to where they wanted to be in their career was something that was so incredibly fulfilling and at the level that I was at while at Salesforce that was one of my first introductions to coaching they were allowed me to have an executive coach. And I recognized that, wow, I could potentially do this full time in terms of developing and helping other people unlock that hidden potential. And I took every coaching class available at Salesforce that I could. And after that opportunity concluded through layoff and reorganization, I decided to go ahead and pursue coaching full time. And it's been super fulfilling to be able to be a full time coach to help people see things from different perspectives unlock that hidden potential and get to where they want to be

Rexhen Doda:

awesome lovely so initially basically you received great coaching and then you decided that you also want to be able to give great to be a great coach as well definitely what is like who do you work with and kind of like what transformation do you help them achieve

Tanesha Moody:

so I'm very fortunate to work with a lot of different diverse individuals all across the world the community the coaching community has that unique effect of kind of making the world feel a lot smaller and what I'm so fortunate about with my clients is that they might come to me in terms of hey I'm going through a career transition or I'm not certain where I want to be just yet or I have many different passions how can I combine these all into a career into a life that I want to live and I recognize that if I can coach that whole person then of course we can kind of go along the journey of where they want to be in terms of any area of their life so that means that I have the chance to coach lots of different individuals, lots of women, people from diverse backgrounds, as well as individuals that are just stuck. They're not certain where they want to be just yet.

Rexhen Doda:

And I've also read that you work with individuals, but you also work with teams. Is that true?

Tanesha Moody:

That is true. And I've had the chance to work individually and within teams in both corporate environments, as well as nonprofit environments, government environments, as well as in individuals that maybe entrepreneurs, business owners, creatives as well. So I've been really fortunate to connect with a whole sweep of individuals across a lot of different industries to really allow them to become who they wish to be.

Rexhen Doda:

Where do you find these people? So what is the main way of you connecting with potential clients you work with?

Tanesha Moody:

I would say some of the main ways are definitely through word of mouth and networking. Since I have such a unique background, that means I'm already connected to a lot of unique people too um in terms of like linkedin like i have my theater individuals on there people from the event industry individuals that do a lot of salsa dancing as well so it's like you might meet people from that so i definitely feel I have had the chance to connect with a lot of different individuals, honestly, by being myself and living my life. I feel like that really has been something that has allowed me to connect with a lot of people across different industries that you might not even consider as well. I'm involved in my church as well. I'm a Christian. So being able to go into our church Slack channel and be like, hey, this is what I do. Anyone interested has been really beneficial throughout my business. So I would say Thank you. Being able to connect the dots within my network and within my community has been really awesome to kind of build the funnel through word of mouth. I also do consistently post on LinkedIn. I have a blog on my website and utilizing those channels definitely makes an impact too.

Rexhen Doda:

Cool. So if there were to be a division divided by percentages, would you say that a majority or like 80% is coming from referrals and the other 20% is it coming from LinkedIn? I would

Tanesha Moody:

probably say the majority is coming from like within my network. So it might be from a LinkedIn post because like that person might be in the network or might be connected to somebody that's in my network. So I would definitely say maybe 90% somewhere from somewhere that I already know an individual, whether it's I've connected with them on LinkedIn or my personal Instagram or Facebook or something along those lines. And then that other 10% might come from other random places. Like I had a chance to maybe do a podcast or they heard me on a podcast or they did see some of my writing just because it came up in like a Google search or on Pinterest because somebody reposted it or something like that. But I would definitely say having those connection points from me personally that I already knew of them is probably the majority.

Rexhen Doda:

Okay, cool. So it's mostly then organic. There's not a lot of you actively reaching out to people you want to connect with that you don't know. It's basically people that mostly know you that are part of your network that are closest to

Tanesha Moody:

you. Yeah, I would say that's true for right now. You have other goals in terms of like where I want to take my coaching and my training and the development of others. So some of those pieces are coming from cold outreach, finding email addresses or somebody else that knows somebody, I guess. So it's kind of a little bit organic because they might know someone to hand me their business card. But a lot of the cold outreach for some of my other goals for my business do stem from a different marketing channel

Rexhen Doda:

oh cool I was just gonna ask you about like your goals that you are working towards for the next one to three years and cold cold outreach is it like LinkedIn or email or you can share more about like apart from marketing as well in general like your goals for the next one to three years

Tanesha Moody:

yeah definitely so for me like very important that I share this gift of coaching because I do really see it that way it's something that I recognize can change the world because it's already changed my life. And I feel like there's ripple effects that come from that as other people get exposed to it and recognize that, hey, I'm the expert in my life and I can navigate anything that's thrown at me, whether it's personal or in my career, or I can get to where I want to be ideally in all areas. So in the future, I've already started to collaborate with other coaches because we feel like there's an opportunity to provide on-site coaching at different times of the year. type of events and conferences, as well as special engagements where people might not be introduced to coaching just yet. They might not have it within their budget or don't know what it is. So I think there's a way to ensure that that is something that kind of shows up in the future. And that's something that my business is working towards as well. We also are looking to connect and collaborate with more corporate clients because we recognize that corporation and business really has a chance to drive impact and change throughout the world as well so being able to provide this service and to serve individuals and groups and teams in this capacity is something that i'm super passionate about especially being in the corporate environment and seeing my one role was able to help other people grow and help communities change was such a beautiful thing to be a part of and having the chance to be on this side of it as a coach is really exciting

Rexhen Doda:

cool i wanted to ask you in terms of like the goals for the next two one to three years a lot of the viewers are also going to be coaches that are at a certain stage in terms of revenue and maybe you want to get to a different part of it totally an option you don't have to share this but if you feel like you want to share it or if it's not a problem for you you can share that like in the next one three years you want to achieve you want to achieve that type of revenue or if that's not a driver for you that we can leave it and move on

Tanesha Moody:

yeah I would say like the revenue I really isn't a huge driver for me and you're welcome to put this in as well as you go

Rexhen Doda:

okay what about revenue what do you think in terms of like revenue for the next one to three years is that a driver for your business or is that not a focus for you right

Tanesha Moody:

now yeah i would say it's not the most important driver i mean i do have a cat and he's very expensive so i do have to ensure that i can cover everything that i need to cover but i recognize for me like the biggest drivers my business is my organization is my life in alignment with my values. And that's how I've been trying to kind of gauge success of a lot of different things. So am I showing, am I excited about getting out of the bed every morning? It's 6am right here in Maryland with me, which is, which is great. And I've been up already for an hour. So it's like, am I excited to do what I get to do every day is one of the biggest impacts that biggest measurements that I am measuring in terms of my overall success and where my organization is coming is going in the way that my organization in terms of individual coaching is set up is that I do provide a boutique service

Rexhen Doda:

so

Tanesha Moody:

the amount of clients that I have is limited and I like to keep it that way and I'm ideally like my whole Rolodex of those individual clients is full within the next few years but it's not to a point that it feels like oh I'm infringing on my values and I'm not showing up how I want to show up and I'm not doing the things that really excite me and stir up joy and excitement in my career and my life. So those are some of the things that are really important to me in the next one to three years as I'm navigating, growing and expanding and sharing coaching with the world.

Rexhen Doda:

Amazing. In terms of like for coaches that are currently in the starting phases, what resources or support has been valuable for you in growing your business to this stage, at least that it is today?

Tanesha Moody:

So there's been a lot of resources. I'm an avid reader, so I love doing that. But what's coming to mind actually is that if I had to pick probably one thing, it's probably receiving coaching myself. And I feel like that has unlocked a lot of things for me that I didn't even recognize and realize. For me, something that came out of a lot of coaching sessions that I had with my coaches, I can potentially combine a a lot of things from my previous experience, a lot of things that are of interest to me and create something that is in alignment with the experience that I have. So the chance to utilize my theater background, to utilize my event background, to not only serve professionals that are in those industries, maybe even think about how I show up with the coaching. Is it like bringing coaching to a theater or something like that? Or is it bringing it to a conference or event that aligns with my previous skill set? And the ability to utilize coaching and coaches to help me connect those dots between my multiple passions is something that I feel like has allowed me to grow and a step further into the successful business I'm trying to build here because I've already built in so many different ways. And I feel like there are a lot of resources out there that really talk about niching down and such. I feel like whatever approach works for you, that's wonderful. But I do feel like if we can kind of extract a lot of our pre based experience and a lot of who we are, I think that really allows us to really kind of open up the options and opportunities that are available for us and to merge those with coaching and to build the kind of business that really is something that is built, that is solid and built upon who we are as individuals.

Rexhen Doda:

Awesome. And anyone either for you, Tanisha, share with you a link because we did research on this as well. We did a white paper on what is the best investment for career coaches, leadership, and there's also been new coaches on that report. I'm going to share it with you. For anyone else watching, I'm going to link it on the description of this video so that you can find that, like what investments have worked best for coaches in 2024. And we're doing a 2025 version soon as well. So you mentioned that for you, the resource has been um also receiving great coaching how do you stay connected still with other coaches be that career coaches, leadership coaches, or life coaches just like yourself?

Tanesha Moody:

Yeah, I do. I do stay connected with coaches. I'm a member of ICF, so we have a very active community in this area, as well as I have brought on coaches into my organization to help support the vision that we're trying to build together, especially as I was navigating acquiring hours for my first year of certification. There's a lot of peer coaching that took place, and some of the individuals that I had the chance to peer coach with, I still peer coach with to this day, which is super great to have like a long term connection with coaches to try things out with them, new strategies and tools, as well as to have a partner that's not just an accountability partner, but honestly, like a partner that we're kind of growing on this journey together has been super beneficial as I've navigated this journey. And I would say that That group of coaches that I'm so honored and privileged to have a chance to receive and give coaching to are some of the people that have really helped me get to where I am today because they've definitely pushed and challenged me and said, like, all right, you need to do this. You said you were going to do this last session, and it's still not done. What's going on here? As well as celebrated all the progress that's been made. They can see it from a perspective sometimes that I don't see myself, which is such a testimony to their wonderful coaching. And I really appreciate that I have this community of coaches to really allow me to step into my purpose and fulfill it.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah, I really love that, especially the accountability factor that goes with it. And is there something that when you first started scaling your coaching business, is there something that you wish you had known as a coach that would have been valuable to you? for you at the beginning as well or some like unexpected lesson learned?

Tanesha Moody:

Yeah, actually a story is coming up and feel free to keep this or not but there's a story coming up for me because I was actually in yoga last week And we were doing this pose that's called flying pigeon, if anyone is familiar with it. You put your leg in like a figure four and you bend over onto the ground and then your hands are on the ground and you kind of hook your foot around your arm. So like your feet are all off on the ground and your body weight is all completely on your hands. And I actually... was able to successfully complete this pose last week, which was crazy because I didn't think I could do it. I felt like the way that my body bends and shapes never looked like the instructor or other people that were doing this similar pose. So I kind of felt like since mine does not look like that, I cannot do this pose. And last week I was just like, all right, we're just going to go for it. I mean, we can do all these other ones that are basically the same thing. It's just... This one's a little bit modified. And I had a realization in that moment that it might not look how I expect it to look, but there still can be success in doing it and trying it. And of course, successfully mastering it as well. And I feel like that directly relates to my coaching business as well. see other people of course there's other beautiful coaches a lot of beautiful coaching going on businesses that are making lots of money and businesses and people that are living in their values and their purposes and all these beautiful things and i realized and it would have been great to realize even earlier that like hey mine doesn't have to look like that but it can still be successful still be beautiful impactful and still serve and help other people so As I've been able to kind of navigate my career and our business journey and as it continues to grow, I think keeping that in the back of my mind of like, hey, it doesn't have to look like anybody else's. And that's perfectly okay. That's actually more exciting to really be able to grow it into what it's meant to be.

Rexhen Doda:

probably even better, right? It's thanks for sharing. That was a very powerful story that you just shared right now. And also made me think of different parts of the analysis that I do. And yeah, thanks for sharing that. I think a lot of people coaches or career coaches are going to find themselves in that story in a way or one way or the other and it connects a little bit with my next question that I have for you is what is the biggest challenge what is the biggest challenge you're currently facing in scaling your coaching business right now I

Tanesha Moody:

feel like one of the challenges that has kind of continuously came up actually and it probably relates a little bit to the niche piece as well is because I love coaching I love being able to serve and help so many different people. And sometimes it feels like, oh, would it be better to just focus on these individuals instead of the whole sea of individuals or what that looks like or these type of organizations, but not these type of organizations. And that's been something that I've had to really kind of navigate, proceed coaching around, work with partners to kind of, all right, let's build out a strategy and see if this is feasible and if it aligns with what we're trying to build. And I would say that's been a challenge sometimes to ensure that we are being strategic in terms of what we're offering and who we're offering it to. But I've recognized again that, and it probably comes a lot from who I am in my faith and all those things, but I recognize that whoever it's for, it's going to be for. So they're going to receive it. They're going to come into the right connection with it. And of course, like it's my role to put it out into the universe so that people know that like, hey, this is an offering. This is available. I'm here to help. But I definitely feel like that can be a little bit tricky sometimes to navigate because there are a lot of people that could leverage coaching that need support in their careers and their journey. I do recognize that, honestly, it's definitely bigger and above me, but whoever is supposed to resonate and be for whoever you're supposed to serve as a coach and help get to where they want to be in their lives and their careers is going to ultimately work out as it needs to.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. between delivering great results to your clients and also at the other side, managing the business growth. How do you balance that? How do you handle that balance?

Tanesha Moody:

Yeah, so that definitely can be something to, can be a little bit tricky because sometimes I'd see it as like the business operations versus like the actual coaching, the actual service providing. And I recognize that if I can lean on my skill set and my strengths and any kind of previous experience that I have to kind of set things up, that is super important so that I can fully be present when it's time to coach. Some of the tools that I really rely heavily on are a lot of automation, being able to kind of put into place that I can follow up with somebody via email, utilizing, you know, chat GPT or AI to ensure that like my emails are grammar free and that they land and that they're sent at the right time really allows me me to be fully present when it's time to do the coaching and to serve in that capacity. In addition, I found one of the biggest hacks, though, is really asking for help. I feel like sometimes we go on this journey of being a coach and we kind of silo ourselves. We think, you know, it's all on me, all on my back here. But being willing to like, hey, could you like read this over? Or do you mind like you sharing this so I can focus on being here at this time I think that is so incredibly important to lean on the network on the people that can help support you and this journey to ensure that you can actually focus on the actual coaching and I know that especially for myself like being by myself and within the organization it's super easy to just like all right I got this I can do it all just my computer and I and we're good to go but if you can find other people that can help maybe it's like a spouse or boyfriend or mom. I probably should be paying her at this point. She helps and supports in a lot of different ways so that I can focus on the things that really light me up, which is the coaching and connecting with individuals.

Rexhen Doda:

Is there any aspect of running your coaching business that would keep you up at night in a way or like some worry that you have right now?

Tanesha Moody:

I would say sometimes something that keeps me up at night is worrying in terms of like, am I making the impact that I'm supposed to be making? Am I utilizing every single skill set that I have to serve each person? individual, each team, everyone that I have a chance to work with. Honestly, it's kind of that mentality, am I doing enough? And I recognize that I'm putting that on myself. I'm I feel like that's probably me as an individual because I do want to continue growing. I do want to continue serving. And I want to see a lot of things come to fruition. So I feel like those are the type of thoughts that really keep me up at night. And how I've been able to navigate them is actually kind of related to that last point about really leaning on my community, leaning on my coaches, and recognizing that the small things to celebrate and to be grateful for, even if it's not the whole picture just yet. There's so much positivity that's been brought to life through what I've already done. I

Rexhen Doda:

think you're definitely not alone in that worry about making an impact. I think it's going to be resonating with a lot of coaches that are going to watch this as well, because as coaches, you tend to impact not just the person that you're coaching, but also other people in their as well and yeah so that's I think you are already making a great impact and you're definitely not alone in that worry in terms of like what advice would you give other career coaches who are looking to scale their impact now we go back to that impact question that we just talked about which was a worry for you now you'd be giving advice for that

Tanesha Moody:

definitely I think that's a wonderful question and And how I've been navigating it because I feel like I'm going to be continuously navigating this alongside all the other coaches listening to this is that first, it's so important to fully understand and comprehend as much as we can to this point because we're still learning and growing, but who we are at our core. Who are we? What are our values, those core values? How are we really determining what impact really is? And I think if we can unpack that a bit at the start of that foundation, then it's super easy to recognize that like, yeah, I am bringing about a small piece of change and making the world a little bit better and serving others along the way. But it definitely stems from who are you? who are we and how can we ensure that that definition and that picture of impact that aligns intrinsically with us as we have that measuring stick, then it's easier to be like, all right, yeah, I made an impact today that was positive. I accomplished something here that's worth celebrating. There's some gratitude built around that. And that's what I lean on when I'm up at night and I'm thinking in the bed like, oh, did I make an impact? All right, let's go back to that foundation. And now we can be like, oh, there was a little bit that contributed to the impact that we're trying to make.

Rexhen Doda:

Well, this has been great for everyone who wants to connect with you because they enjoyed this conversation that we had today. I did enjoy the conversation. They can find you at TanishaLMoody.com. I'm going to put that on the screen. They can also find you on LinkedIn. Is there any other method you'd like people to connect with you? maybe after watching this.

Tanesha Moody:

Yeah, sure. I'm also on Instagram. I'm Tanisha El Moody on Instagram. And don't post too much coaching stuff, but... If anyone likes a great cocktail and some cat photos, feel free to find me on there. I'm happy to connect and be a resource. I recognize that we're not doing this alone. We all have a role to play to make this impact and to help and serve individuals. And I'm happy to connect and have a virtual coffee and in-person tea and see where it goes.

Rexhen Doda:

Well, thank you, Tanisha. Thank you for joining us today.

Tanesha Moody:

Thank you so much, Raiden.

Davis Nguyen:

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This conversation was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. To learn more about Purple Circle, our community and how we can help you grow your business, visit joinpurplecircle.com.