Life coach, public motivator, podcaster, and momprenuer Martine Williams has found her niche in helping other moms find clarity and confidence. In our interview, she shares her story and her secrets to building a thriving practice.
Coaching Focus: Martine’s signature Illuminate YOU™ Coaching program empowers Mompreneurs to get unstuck, boost their confidence, breakTHROUGH burnout and accelerate their results. Her unique approach to coaching reveals how our unique personalities, natural strengths, and our work/life environments are influencing real-time performance.
Location: South Carolina, USA
Connect: You can find Martine online at her website as well as on Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out her podcast The Mompreneur Life Remixed and pick up her book The Daily Difference for more brilliant insights.
Tell us about your journey as a coach.
You may have heard that before the success, was all the mess. In fact, 17 years ago, I was just a small-town girl, living in a lonely world. I married my high school crush, thought we would live happily ever after, and quickly realized my expectations of life were a little off.
Through the years, I’ve lacked confidence, and if I’m being honest…I’ve gone through many stages of self-doubt, comparing myself to others. And to top it all off, there have been times when I’ve felt stuck in the burnout and straight exhaustion from the hustle (mompreneur over here)!
However, I went on to become a high-achieving entrepreneur, leading nearly 28,000 women, growing to a multimillion-dollar sales organization, and being among the first to achieve many company-wide awards. In building that team, I fell in love with coaching, both personally investing in a coach and coaching others. I experienced breakthroughs and helped others experience their own.
After about 10 years of leading and coaching the Mompreneurs on my team, I started to notice the universal struggles they all were experiencing. Things like Mom guilt, lack of clarity, confidence, boundaries and burnout. I saw so many Mompreneurs who had lost themselves in pursuit of success, and I understood how they felt. I had been there before but also knew there was a better way. She could win at work without losing at home. She could win at work without losing herself in the process!
This fueled my passion to create my own coaching business so I could impact Mompreneurs everywhere and not just those on my team. Steve Harvey says…”Your career is what you’re paid for. Your calling is what you’re made for.” I was MADE for this work, and I am so honored to partner with my clients to achieve their definition of success. Partnering with them and seeing their breakthroughs in confidence, clarity, and courage is what one of my coaches calls “the paycheck of the heart.” That is what keeps me going on the days when building a coaching business is hard. It’s worth it!
What advice or perspective might you give to a new coach trying to get their first clients? Any advice they should ignore?
The best piece of advice is to just START. Don’t overcomplicate it with all the things you see established coaches and entrepreneurs doing. Just start. Take imperfect action without the perfect plan.
As my coach shared with me, you only need to do 3 things: meet people, tell them what you do, and make offers to help them. You don’t need a website, a landing page, a funnel, etc., to do that. All those other things will keep you busy but not in business. Choose wisely!
What books have significantly influenced your life? What are your key takeaways from these books?
I always have a “healthy” stack of books on my desk or in my audible library! Leaders are readers and earners are learners, so this is how I pour IN while also pouring out to my clients.
Every entrepreneur should read Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller. Honestly, all of his books are simple, to the point, and help you to clarify your message and business. His newest one is How to Grow Your Small Business and has so many great systems to create a healthy and successful business.
The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews is also one I always recommend to learn the seven decisions that determine personal success. He talks about giving away our power to blaming and circumstance, and that when we do that, we give our own power away to change our results. As he says, the buck stops with me. I have 100% responsibility for my actions and results. It’s empowering once you really embrace that truth.
Lastly, The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. Don’t be intimidated by the size of this book because you can start where you want based on your needs. I often go back to it to reference different topics!
What tools, software, or other resources have you found to be most helpful in running your coaching business?
I utilize Kajabi for my website, coaching hub, coursework, and emails. I love that it is a one-stop shop for me to take care of my marketing and clients. The coaching hub is super easy for my clients and me to schedule and attend our sessions, share digital notes and resources, and set agendas for each session. Their customer service is amazing for any questions I have and is just an overall great platform to run my coaching business.
You only need to do 3 things: meet people, tell them what you do, and make offers to help them.
Some other tools I’ve found to be useful:
- The Voxer App for client communications in between sessions
- Asana.com to manage my tasks and content
- Calendly.com to schedule all my client calls & podcast interviews
Editor’s Note: Looking for more software recommendations? See our favorites here.
If you received an extra $10,000 to spend on your business, how would you spend it and why?
I would invest in getting help. There are areas in my business where I am spending time and energy that are not my strengths. Can I do them, yes. Should I be doing them, no. Teamwork makes the dream work!
What are some of your favorite quotes and mantras currently? Why?
I am a quote junkie…I am constantly surrounding myself with inspiring quotes on my desk and on my t-shirts because what goes IN comes out. Trash in, trash out. I protect my mindset fiercely.
Here are a couple of my favorite mantras:
- “Action brings clarity, clarity brings confidence, and confidence creates more action.” This reminds me to stay in action and move without knowing all the details or having the full blueprint. It’s taking action in faith, believing clarity and confidence will follow. It all starts with that first step!
- “Slow progress is still progress.” I make it a daily habit to look for any and all progress and celebrate it!
When you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or have lost your focus or motivation, what do you do?
- Movement is medicine for me, and even better when I add my favorite 80’s and 90’s music with it. So sometimes it’s just a matter of getting into motion to clear my mind.
- My Motive is my motor, so I revisit WHY I am in this business and check my thoughts on the circumstances surrounding me.
- Stay connected to like-minded people. The fact is we all have those moments at different times and seasons. The hard times are when we need each other for support and encouragement, so don’t be afraid to “phone a friend.”
Do you have any examples of how a “failure” set you up for later success?
I definitely have failed my way forward, and how I choose to see failure is this: we either get the result we want or the lesson we need. We are all just learning what is working and what isn’t. Keeping that perspective helps me to keep taking one step forward, as that is all we can expect from ourselves. Failure is part of the journey to success.
We either get the result we want or the lesson we need.
If you could put a message on a huge billboard—getting a message out to millions—what would it say and why?
“Being Stuck is a mindset, not a position.”
We are all one idea (implemented) away from our next breakthrough. When we believe it, we will see it!
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