Imposter Syndrome, Niching Down, and Clients Who Quit: Your Questions Answered | EP 105

In this Q&A episode, Dr. Kasey Jo Orvidas tackles 6 questions straight from her audience, covering everything from how to find your niche and translate it into your content, to what it actually sounds like to use values-based goal setting in a real coaching conversation.
 

She also gets personal about her best business investments ever, whether a cognitive behavioral coaching mini course is coming, and the book that may or may not be written depending on... how much you bug her about it!

 
In this episode, she covers:

• Why asking clients "what are your values?" usually backfires, and what to ask instead
• The real reason specificity in your niche attracts more clients, not fewer
• How to think about clients who leave before their time is up without spiraling
• Why credentials and experience don't protect you from imposter syndrome (and what actually helps)
• Her three best business investments, including one she didn't recognize as an investment at the time
• What's happening with the HMCC overhaul and whether a cognitive behavioral coaching mini course could be next
  
  

If you've ever quietly wondered whether two clients leaving means something is wrong with you as a coach, this episode is for you.

Episodes Referenced: 

- EP 80: New Year’s Resolution Science with Sarah Tierney

- EP 62: How to Overcome Impostor Syndrome: Mindset Shifts to Try

REGISTER FOR MY NEW MONEY MINDSET WORKSHOP - JULY 13

Transcript

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Experience and credentials do not protect you from imposter syndrome. They don't protect you from feeling like there's always more that you could do, more that you can learn, questioning your coaching abilities. Hello my friends, and welcome back to not another Mindset show. I'm your host, Dr. Casey Joe. My goal with this podcast is to take the science of mindset and behavior change and distill it down into actionable takeaways for you. Together we're gonna unpack research around motivations, self-sabotage, willpower, and so much more, and we're going to take all of that and translate it into strategies you can immediately apply to your health. Fitness, relationships, business, marketing clients, all of the things. But just to be clear, it's not all serious and sciencey around here. We're gonna have a ton of fun too, and I'm so excited to share all of this with you. All right, let's go ahead and get into the episode. Friends, welcome back to Not Another Mindset Show. I've got a Q&A episode for you today, and I love these episodes, one, selfishly, because I don't really have to do much, really any preparation for these episodes, whereas other episodes I often am, like, sifting through research and developing an outline and taking twice as long to prepare for the episode than I am actually recording it. But I also really like these episodes because they're literally questions coming from you. Like, I'm not making these up, so it's things that you guys actually want to hear, which- If I could do every podcast episode that way, like knowing this is exactly what my people wanna hear. I do my best. I think I do okay, but I'm not you. So what I have here are some questions, which by the way, if you have a question for me that you would like me to answer on an episode like this, there is a form in the show notes of this episode. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's in almost every single episode. So if you listen to any other episode and you're like, "Oh my gosh, this is a really cool topic. I wish I could ask Casey a question about this because it applies to one of my clients, and I'm not really sure what to do," then go down to the show notes of that episode, you can click the Q&A form and add your question there, and then hopefully I can answer it. So I often have, like, a mixture of personal questions in here, people asking about me and my life, which is always fun to answer. Just a good way for you guys to get to know me as a, a human being, not just Dr. Casey Jo, the mindset researcher. But the ones I have here, I'm pretty sure… uh, I guess one is a l- little bit personal. Like, little bit, but still business-related. Eh, two of them are. but most of them are questions that you guys are asking me about what's going on with you. So the first one, though, not one of those: Would you ever do a cognitive behavioral coaching mini course? This question has to be from… I don't have any names on here. I just have the questions that my team put in here. has to be from one of our newer students in the Health Mindset Coaching Certification, Spring 2026 specifically, because I… I mean, you guys know this, unless this is your first episode that you're listening to, or you have missed this very important information, that I have completely rebuilt, revamped, fully upgraded the Health Mindset Coaching Certification program. I originally made it in 2020, and have made tweaks and additions and little things here and there, but this was, like, a entirely full overhaul. Like, as I'm sitting here recording this, I still have one, one or two more, like, short videos that I need to make that are more or less, like, intro/outro videos for the course. But it'll be, like… This is not an exaggeration, 'cause I've been using

Toggle to track my time: 4:02

150 hours is how long it took me to do this So I hope that reveals to you that this was not me just, um, re-recording modules, but, like, actually upgrading them. We have so many new client worksheets, and with every new client worksheet, I made a coach interpretation guide. So it's not you just being able to hand these things to your clients, but then when you get the responses back, you have basically step-by-step instructions for how to decipher it and what to do next with your clients. Anyway, I am obsessed with the new program, and if we weren't already the gold standard when it comes to mindset and behavior change coaching f- in the health and fitness industry, like, I just I mean, we were already that, so I don't know what this makes us. We're just, we're literally the best. That's all. She says so humbly. But okay, anyway, I digress. As you can tell, I'm very proud of this project. I'm very proud of HMCC. I always have been. But damn, I'm also proud of myself, because, like, that was, that was a lot of work. Like, we're talking sometimes I would be sitting on my laptop from 3:00 PM to midnight on a Saturday night, my friends. So cognitive behavioral coaching, and I say this with this question because the previous HMCC module about cognitive behavioral therapy talked about CBT and essentially went through how we can use some concepts from cognitive behavioral therapy and apply it to coaching without being a therapist and being very clear how to not cross that line. And there's been a good amount of research about cognitive behavioral coaching, not cognitive behavioral therapy, but, like, actually leveraging this stuff for coaching. So this h- this module specifically is the one that took me the longest, like 22 hours on one module out of 12 in HMCC. Ah. so this person has to be an HMCC student from spring of '26, because otherwise you probably wouldn't even know to ask me this question. But it is something that I thought about, especially after putting so much time in it, and the truth is, every single module of HMCC could be its own certification, could be its own course, especially this one. I mean, it's, it's hard to fit everything into one module, but the goal of HMCC is to give you, like, a good breadth and depth of knowledge without going too much into the weeds and just make you an, a more effective, well-rounded coach when it comes to mindset and behavior change coaching practices. So yeah, it's definitely something I've thought about. It would have to be something that is only for HMCC students who have gone through HMCC in its entirety. I say that because The frameworks that support cognitive behavioral coaching are the other frameworks that are taught in HMCC. So for instance, this module where I teach cognitive behavioral coaching and acceptance commitment coaching, that's module seven, so you've already gone through six modules about so many other things that then support cognitive behavioral coaching. Things like habit formation, stress versus self-control. I say versus for a reason. growth and fixed mindset. I mean, we talk about self-determination theory and different types of motivation, all of that stuff. Like HMCC is designed so things are building on each other until the end, and so this being module seven should tell you something, that like the previous six modules are helpful for module seven. so that's the truth. That's kind of like the, the the honest caveat, is that the way that I would want to teach this, you would need to have some prior foundational knowledge. But I could see it being like an add-on for HMCC coaches who are like,"I wanna go more in depth into this style of coaching specifically." It's definitely something I thought about. I'm not sure I'm fully ready to like sit down and create more new stuff at this point. Your girl needs a break. But yeah, definitely on my radar. Okay, number two, what's the best business investment you've ever made? Best ever you know what's interesting is, like, I would not call this a business investment, but it really is and was, was getting my PhD. I didn't know it at the time. I just wanted to become an expert in this material when it comes to health behavior change and mindset, and do something cool with it Was interested in continuing to do research in industry, so, you know, wanted, like, Fitbit to hire me for their actual science team where they do research on this stuff. Is Fitbit still around even? I feel like I even… Like, where did I even pull that out of my head? It must be, because, like, where did that just come from? anyway, that's what I thought I wanted to do, but really wanted to, like, build something myself also. I just didn't know what that looked like or how to do it. But obviously, everything I do, including sitting here talking to you on this podcast, came out of my PhD, studying this stuff and now sharing it with everybody. so I think that that's truly was the best investment. It's like it was more time and energy investment than it was even, like, financial. for those of you who don't know, most, like, reputable PhD programs, you get funding through being either, like, a research assistant or a teaching assistant. I actually worked in the psychology advising office. so my tuition was covered by working, if that makes sense, and a lot of PhD programs are structured that way. I think I still had to pay, like, a couple thousand dollars a year just for, like, books and taxes and stuff. anyway, just random fees, as there always are, right? so I think that was kind of, like, the unknown best investment. But outside of that, I think for sure, like, intentional investment was paying people who already did the things that I wanted to be doing. So thinking, like, business mentorship, for example. Going to someone, being like, "I like what you've built, and I like how you've built your team and your business and how everything works, and I like how you manage things. So rather than trying to figure it out myself, I'm gonna go straight to the source and pay you to learn from you." Think that that's kind of like a cheat code. and, like, definitely can't not… My last, the best investment, and she gives three. I can't not say something about my team or just having a team. Like, investing in people to help you, to outsource things, to help you stay organized, to keep you on track, to allow you to stay focused on your zone of genius, like me sitting down in front of the camera and recording episodes while my team is working on other things. So the business is still growing and moving, and things are getting done while I'm sitting here instead of all of that having to be paused until I can get back to my computer. So yeah. Definitely paying people to learn from, and then team being like a close tie. But I'll say if you're not getting where you want to be in your business in order to build that team and invest in people and invest in a team, yeah, those kind of go hand-in-hand. because it's like if I didn't invest in mentorship and learning from other people, I also probably wouldn't be investing in a team right now. Okay, quick commercial break. I mean, kind of, because my show is not sponsored. I'm not making any kind of money to record these episodes, but I do have something coming up really soon that I need to share with you. This was intended to just be a free bonus exclusive opportunity to the students in the spring class of the Health Mindset Coaching Certification, but honestly, once I put this whole thing together, I decided I needed to open it up to everyone to have the opportunity to be there. I am running a two-part live workshop all about money mindset on July 13th. The first part of this training is all about the internal piece, that's you, your mindset, your blocks, your story around selling, and part two is the external piece, the psychology of your prospective clients and how to use that to upgrade your marketing and sign more clients. This is not going to be, like, a woo-woo manifestation kind of money mindset training, which if you're listening to this podcast, you know I do things differently. We're going to be workshopping from a psychology and behavior change science-backed perspective, and I am so, so excited for this. It's really one of the most important things you need to understand as a coach when you're trying to sign more clients and re-sign your current clients. So head to the show notes for the link to register. We're doing this thing live on July 13th, and I will not be hosting it live again, so I really, really hope to see you there okay, number three, after episode 80 on New Year's resolution science, what does values-based goal setting actually sound like in real conversation? I think that this is one of the most common gaps between understanding a concept and actually using it. It's like knowledge is only so good if you actually know how to apply it type of thing. So yeah, I, yeah, I understand where this is coming from 'cause it's like values-based goal setting. Like, sounds great in theory. What does that what does that actually sound like? Like, what happens? just a quick, like, re-anchor here too for those of you who are listening, we have a lot of research that supports people being more likely to stick to things, follow through with things, be successful with things if they are actually setting goals that are tied to their personal values or just generally something that is personally meaningful to you. So that's the case, but then it becomes what does that look like in practice? I can tell you what, what it doesn't sound like is asking a client, "What, what are your values? What do you value?" That's a little bit, like, too abstract, and I think most people, the biggest struggle is that they d- they aren't even really clear on what their values are, so simply asking that is not probably gonna go over very, very well, or they make up something like, "Oh, I value my health." And it's like, also, but what does that mean? And also, are you just saying that 'cause you feel like that's something you're supposed to say? So what it can sound like is, When you imagine your life six months from now and things are going really well for you How does that look different? What does a random Tuesday look like for you? And when they walk through that, I think you could probably see some values get revealed in it, or it could turn into a conversation of like, What of the things that you just shared now about that, like, ideal situation showcase your values being supported? So it's getting a little bit more specific and less, less abstract. I think your coaching move here is, again, not to ask clients what they value, name your values, but to ask guiding questions that then reveal or uncover their values. I think if you just keep that in mind, that alone could be really helpful. Question number four, " I need help niching and getting that niche to translate to my content and messaging. Where do I start?" I do wanna say, like, first, I think why people struggle with this a lot is because they hear, like, niche down, you have to speak to a specific person, and then it feels… Like, you can be avoidant of doing that because it feels like you're shutting down everyone else who's not in that niche. And especially if you're like,"I really need to sign clients. Why would I say no to this person just because they're a man and I said I only work with women, but he really wants to work with me. I should just work with him." But so I s- I can see where this can be tricky for a lot of people, and that feeling is valid, but it's also kind of like a trap truly. It's a thinking trap in some ways because specificity in your messaging and speaking to a specific person in a specific problem attracts more of the right people to you. And when people feel like, "Oh my God, this person knows exactly what I'm going through," you're building trust, you're building rapport. You're less likely to have people who are just, like, lingering on your application page, but never actually submitting it, and people who feel already more confident that they actually want to work with you, and that you're the right person for them. Like, that far outweighs being able to cast a wide net. So I wouldn't start with, like, a demographic. Like, I help women over 35 lose over 20 pounds. I'm just making something up here. it doesn't have to be a demographic, but I would think more of it as, like, what problem, what specific problem are you uniquely positioned to solve? And that should be your niche. So for me, I work with health and fitness professionals. That's a pretty broad net, but the truth is, it's like my niche is for the coaches who, number one, give a shit, that they really care about their clients, and they care about being a really good, effective coach, that are not just here to make a quick buck. And the problem that HMCC solves is feeling frustrated when you feel like your hands are tied because you can't help every client. Those clients who struggle with consistency and low motivation and don't stick to the plan, and you believe in them so much, you see so much potential in them, but you just keep throwing solutions at them, and nothing ever happens, nothing ever sticks, and you start to wonder, "Is this me? Am I doing something wrong?" That's my niche. Very specific, right? So maybe think about- conversations that you have often with your current clients, is there any patterns that show up? That could reveal the problem niche that you should be focusing on. Or what's a topic that you could sit down and talk about for hours on end? That could point you in the direction of the niche you should be focusing on. Yeah. I would say sit with that. Okay, question number five. Okay, this was a long one, and it looks like it just got shortened to, like, get to the meat of it."What if clients leave before their time is up and you feel like you're not good enough?" Hmm. I'm PN2" I'm PN2 certified, two years in, had two clients leave in 2025." So two clients in last sh- last year."One left a rave review. The other never left one after many attempts. I gave them autonomy, used motivational interviewing, and had good relationships." Okay. I can feel, like, some hurt underneath this, so I want to be… I want you to know that, like, I, I feel that, and I, I understand how that goes, and you're… It's kind of, without even reading the next question what I was talking about before, you're perfect for my niche that I just described, like, starting to, like, secretly wonder if you're doing something wrong. The first thing I want to say here is that two clients leaving doesn't have direct implications for who you are as a coach, like your good enough-ness as a coach. It's just data. Like, having one One client leaving a rave review, the other one not leaving a review, again, that's just information. And also remember the reason someone doesn't leave a review even after you ask them to or, like, fill out your exit survey, doesn't automatically mean that they hated working with you. There's a lot of reasons why someone wouldn't fill that out, right? Like, tons. Like, maybe they thought they did and it just… They didn't hit the submit button or something, you know? There's, there's so many, so many things. talking about the… I'm looking at this question again, your education and experience standpoint Experience and credentials do not protect you from imposter syndrome. They don't protect you from feeling like there's always more that you could do, more that you can learn, questioning your coaching abilities. And actually, we know that people who feel this way are typically the ones who are the higher achievers and the ones who care more, and are more just conscientious in general, 'cause you're, like, you're paying attention. It's the people who don't feel like an imposter ever, don't feel… The ones who are overly confident, are the ones who, like, don't really know enough.'Cause once you start to realize how much there is to know compared to how much you do know, it's sort of impossible to never feel like, "I need to do more, I need to know more, I need to be better." And I've talked about this a lot, I actually did a whole episode on imposter syndrome, and, like, reframing it as an opportunity for you to leverage it as, "Where can I improve? What do I want to know more about? What am I excited to learn more about?" Rather than it just being indicative that there's, like, a hole in your coaching or who you are that cannot be filled, that could never be filled. It's just a never-ending black hole of not good enough-ness when that's not the truth. cause I do think the question that you're really asking underneath this is, like, "How do I know if I'm good enough, especially when I'm getting clients who leave before they're ready?" And the honest answer is that, hmm, the question just doesn't have a finish line What shifts your relationship to not feeling good enough or imposter syndrome to the uncertainty of that is not to just, like, eliminate it. that shouldn't be the goal. But instead to use it as information, not as a verdict. So what could you actually do differently? Where could you actually improve? If you can name something concrete, awesome. That's your next professional development activity, and, like, that's, that's it, you know? It doesn't have to mean anything about who you are. And in fact, if you're constantly seeking more knowledge and improving your coaching skills and all of this stuff, that's awesome. That's a great character trait. It's a great quality. So, yeah This is tough because I feel like there's a lot of different layers to this question, and I don't wanna spend so much time here that I- 'cause I can do that. I can just go off in tangents. But this is so much of the work that we almost, like, accidentally end up doing in the Health Mindset Coaching Certification with our students, with the coaches in the program, because they're learning so much and adding so many new skills that they are uncertain if they're going to be able to use it correctly, know when to use it correctly. So we're having a lot of these, like, your mindset as a coach type of conversations. And just know as humans, we're constantly evolving and learning, and a couple clients leaving before they're ready is simply information. It doesn't mean anything about you as a person It is information. It is data. You said you had two people in this instance in a year's time. To me, that's also only two people, but we shouldn't brush it off. We shouldn't be like, dismissive of it. We should leverage that to see, like, what we can learn from it Take it seriously, but don't take it personally. Okay, question number six. This is the last question. Do you have… Ugh, here we go again. Do you have plans to publish a book on mindset based on the HMCC core principles? I read the book thing. I think I've actually answered the book question on more than one Q&A ep- episode, and, um, perhaps that should be a sign to me. But again, after 150 hours of updating my signature program, I can tell you right now I'm not excited about the idea of sitting down and writing a book. but actually, I have 90 pages written already that have not been touched since 2022. A book is a massive undertaking, and it's something that I would really, really want to do right and not just do it for the sake of doing it and calling myself an author. You know, technically I'm already an author. I have written a book chapter that is published on lay theories, AKA mindset. because the version I would wanna write is not just like another self-help book I would really want it to be something practical that bridges the gap between research on mindset and real world, real life application, whether that is for health and fitness coaches or for anyone. So I don't know. I have no timeline to share with you, but the fact that people keep asking about it does tell me something. And if this is something that you want… No, like, don't tell me, don't tell me. If this is something that you would like to see from me, harass me about it. Okay? Otherwise, I may not actually do it. I want one DM a day for the next 365 days, and I will write a book. No, that's, that's probably gonna happen. Watch. Careful what you wish for, Casey. Okay. Great questions, really, and it's a great reminder to me, too, of who my audience is. I love you guys. You guys are awesome. You ask great questions. You clearly care about yourself, about the world, about people around you, about your clients, about your business, and want to be better, which y'all are my people if that's you. okay, I'll wrap it up there. I hope you enjoyed listening to this. Like I said, the Q&A episodes are so fun for me. If you have a question for me, make sure you toss it into the Q&A form that is in the show notes of this episode so I can answer your question next time. Okay, that's all for now. Thank you. Goodbye. And that's a wrap for today's episode of Not another Mindset show. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you get notified of the next one. Because if you're anything like me, if the episodes aren't popping up for you automatically, you'll keep forgetting to come back to the show even if you really, really enjoyed it. So go ahead and hit that subscribe button and make it super easy for you and of course. If you wanna see more episodes just like this one, I'd love for you to let me know by leaving a review. I know, I know it's super annoying to do, but the few seconds that it takes means the world to me and also ensures that I can keep providing free education and value to you. And just to sweeten the deal, I am going to be picking a random reviewer every single month to receive a free workshop or product from me. If you're looking for more free resources or just wanna connect, hang out, chat a little bit, come find me on Instagram. I'm Coach Casey, Joe over there. That is where I hang out the most in the land of social media. Alright, my friends, that is all I have for you this time. I so appreciate you being here and love to see you prioritizing your growth. I'll see you next time.