Ep 48 - The Smartest Question I've Ever Been Asked by a Prospective Client

Episode Show Notes

Welcome along to episode 48 of Beyond the Clinic! I’m Sarah Almond Bushell, and today I’m talking about the smartest question I’ve ever been asked by a prospective client. It’s a question that could save you time, money, and energy when choosing the right business mentor. I’ll also be sharing my own approach to CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and why it’s a non-negotiable for me as a coach and mentor. Let’s dive in.

Episode Summary

In this episode, I reflect on a brilliant question a prospective client asked me: "What do you do for CPD?" This simple, yet powerful question is one I wish more people would ask before hiring a coach or mentor. CPD is about staying ahead of the curve, continuously learning, and evolving, qualities that are essential in the fast-moving world of business.

I’ll take you behind the scenes of my own CPD practices, from mindset certifications and social media courses to staying informed on industry trends and working with my own mentors. If you’ve ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure about what to focus on to grow your business, this episode will give you clarity and direction.

Key Takeaways

• Ask the right questions: Before hiring a coach or mentor, ask how they stay up to date with industry changes.

• CPD is essential in business: Lifelong learning isn’t just for clinicians—it’s crucial for staying relevant and effective in the business world.

• Stay ahead of the curve: Business moves fast, and what worked a few years ago might not work today. Keeping up with these changes is key to growth.

• Mindset matters: Personal development and mindset work are just as important as learning new strategies for business success.

• Invest in the right learning: Focus on CPD that’s relevant to your current stage in business to avoid wasting time and money.

Resources & Links

• Learn more about CPD and working with me: Visit my website.

• My favourite podcasts for keeping up to date: The Launch Lounge, Smart Passive Income, and Inside Out Entrepreneur.

• Books I’m currently revisiting: Mindset by Carol Dweck and Scorecard Marketing by Daniel Priestley.

If you’re ready to grow your business and want a coach who prioritises lifelong learning, let’s connect. Visit my website to explore how we can work together. And don’t forget to join me for the next episode, where I’ll be sharing why I turned down a five-figure brand deal, an honest and vulnerable story you won’t want to miss. Until then, bye for now.

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Episode transcription:

[00:00:00] Sarah Almond Bushell: Welcome to episode number 48, the smartest question I've ever been asked by a prospective client. I was recently asked a question that I wish more people would ask before hiring a business mentor. It's a question that could save you from working with the wrong coach, from wasting time and money and feeling a bit stuck with outdated advice.

[00:00:24] Sarah Almond Bushell: That question was, Hey Sarah, what do you do for CPD? A question that I think was actually one of the smartest and most important questions that a potential client can ask at the time of recording this episode. It's mid-March. I've recently delivered four live training sessions to my audience, free of charge.

[00:00:45] Sarah Almond Bushell: I did a three day marketing and sales bootcamp, followed by a masterclass, all about using social media strategically for business in order to get more clients. And as part of that training, I discussed how people could work with [00:01:00] me and what that looked like. Now, anyone considering working with a mentor wants to know, are they the right person to truly help them?

[00:01:09] Sarah Almond Bushell: Are they qualified? What sort of results do they typically get for their clients? And that's when the question of my CPD came up and I. Love it. Before you hire a business mentor, ask this, what do you do for CPD? This question alone could save you from working with a coach who's relying on outdated strategies because business doesn't stand still.

[00:01:37] Sarah Almond Bushell: So why should your coach? It is so easy to get caught up in flashy marketing, being taken in by social media, hype of clients hitting 10 K months, coaches retiring their husbands, or testimonials. That sounds so impressive. You wonder why the coach hasn't just retired on all of their millions. Personally, I believe that a [00:02:00] mentor or a coach's effectiveness isn't based on what they did years ago when business was frankly a lot easier.

[00:02:07] Sarah Almond Bushell: It's based on what they are actively learning and applying today. Someone who's continuously growing, evolving, and staying ahead of the curve. So that question, Sarah, what do you do to keep up to date in the business world? That meant a lot. Now, if you are a healthcare professional, listening to this, as I imagine you are already well used to CPD.

[00:02:31] Sarah Almond Bushell: It's a requirement of our registration to show that we are maintaining our skills to evidence, our lifelong learning. But when it comes to business. You know what? There are no rules. There's no mandatory requirements. There's no set number of CPD hours, and that's where a lot of people get stuck. Partly it's because first and foremost we're clinicians, so any free time or spare money we have to invest in [00:03:00] CPD is likely to go into something that we're passionate about, our clinical interest.

[00:03:05] Sarah Almond Bushell: And of course, it's also a requirement of our registration, so it's much easier to spend and business courses or marketing master classes. Often they're less interesting and less appealing to most healthcare professionals, but more often than not, people who get stuck in business is because their business is moving fast, and what worked last year might not actually work today.

[00:03:33] Sarah Almond Bushell: Five years ago, if you think about it, social media meant posting photos or updating your status just consistently. Three years ago, it was all about stories and lives, and now short form video dominates and the algorithms prioritise engagement more than follow account. And the businesses that keep up with these really fast paced shifts, [00:04:00] those are the ones that grow.

[00:04:02] Sarah Almond Bushell: Those are the ones that don't stall. And if you're trying to grow a business without investing in your own learning of these changes, it can feel like you're running on a treadmill. You're putting in so much effort, but you're not actually getting anywhere. What worked on social media last year might not be working today.

[00:04:23] Sarah Almond Bushell: Algorithms shift. Audience behavior changes buyer psychology evolves. If you are still relying on what worked a few years ago, you might already be behind the key to growth. It's CPD that keeps you ahead of the curve. And so in this episode, I'm gonna share exactly what I do for CPD as a business coach and as a mentor, and why I prioritise lifelong learning and how you can start thinking differently about your own development.

[00:04:55] Sarah Almond Bushell: If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of business advice [00:05:00] out there, or a little bit unsure about what you should be learning in order to move your business forwards, then this episode really is for you. So let's start by talking about something that we don't often admit. Most health business owners know that learning about the business side of things is important, but it's the first thing that gets pushed aside.

[00:05:25] Sarah Almond Bushell: You might have told yourself things like, I need to learn more about email marketing, or social media, or whatever it is. I don't have the time. I keep meaning to do more business focused professional development, but actually clients always come first, or there's so many courses, there's so many resources out there.

[00:05:44] Sarah Almond Bushell: How do I actually know what's worth my time and my money? But first of all, let's dig into what happens when you don't actually prioritise this kind of learning. First of all, as I've alluded to, you struggle to keep up with [00:06:00] industry changes. Business moves really fast. Far more than healthcare.

[00:06:05] Sarah Almond Bushell: Does things like social media algorithms change? Marketing strategies evolve. Client expectations change. shifts and if you are still relying on what worked two or three or four years ago, you might have already noticed that your marketing isn't as effective as it was back then. Maybe you've noticed that your content isn't getting as much engagement as before.

[00:06:33] Sarah Almond Bushell: Your posts are reaching hundreds rather than thousands. Those strategies that worked in the past, like SEO, for example, and Google, they're just not bringing in as many client inquiries now. And you see others who still seem to be flourishing and you're wondering how are they staying ahead while I feel like I'm playing catch up.

[00:06:57] Sarah Almond Bushell: When you don't prioritise business CPD, [00:07:00] you likely hit a bit of a plateau in your business growth. When you start your business, it's all about working things out as you go, but at some point you do reach a bit of a ceiling. You are working hard, you are doing everything you know how to do, but growth.

[00:07:14] Sarah Almond Bushell: Stalls. Maybe it's your income that you've seen has stay stagnant, stayed the same for months and months and months on end, and that might be, despite you doing 5:00 AM starts making these huge efforts. Maybe you're doing everything you feel you should, and you're doing it with utmost total consistency, but you're still not seeing the results that you hoped for or that you used to get.

[00:07:40] Sarah Almond Bushell: You might be thinking what's the next step? But you're not really quite sure where to focus.

[00:07:45] Sarah Almond Bushell: I see this all the time. Business owners working harder than ever, but their growth has completely plateaued. Why? They've hit a ceiling. You don't break through a plateau by doing more of the same. [00:08:00] You break through by learning what to do differently, and that's where your business CPD needs to come in.

[00:08:07] Sarah Almond Bushell: And this is why when many business owners either burn themselves out by trying lots of new strategies and ending up overwhelmed and exhausted. Tend to give up because they think that working harder is the answer when really they just need to be smarter and upgrade themselves and. And when you don't prioritise your business CPD, you can end up wasting time and money on the wrong CPD, because not all learning is created equal.

[00:08:37] Sarah Almond Bushell: Have you ever bought a course only to realise that actually it isn't really relevant to you in your stage in business? I have, when I first bought Amy Porterfield's Digital Course Academy almost 10 years ago now, I had no audience to sell to, and so actually there was little point in me creating a course back then.

[00:08:57] Sarah Almond Bushell: Maybe you've signed up for free [00:09:00] webinars, but never actually implemented anything. I see this often actually with my colleagues who perhaps aren't. Truly serious about growing their private practices. They consume a vast amount of information, but they don't do anything with it, and often it's actually a mindset issue for them.

[00:09:17] Sarah Almond Bushell: Or perhaps you are someone who's spent hours consuming loads of free content on Instagram. On YouTube. You've binge listened to podcasts, and you only now feel more confused than you did when you started. So without a clear CPD plan, it's really easy to end up feeling in learning overload, essentially because you're constantly absorbing information, but you're not actually spending the time to apply it effectively.

[00:09:47] Sarah Almond Bushell: And because we love learning as healthcare professionals, it's one of our core values. Often we don't often stop learning. Not all business learning is useful. I see [00:10:00] so many people buying courses that they're just not ready for. They're signing up for free trainings that they never implement, or they get stuck in content overload without direction.

[00:10:12] Sarah Almond Bushell: The right CPD isn't about learning everything. It's about learning what moves your business forward for your particular season of business.

[00:10:22] Sarah Almond Bushell: If you don't take the time to work on your business and not just in your business. Your business won't grow. I get it. Client work always comes first, and business learning often takes a backseat. But investing time in the right CPD now will save you hours of wasted effort later. The time spent learning effective business strategies pays for itself firstly in the growth of your business, but also.

[00:10:52] Sarah Almond Bushell: Ease because you'll stop procrastinating. You'll stop second guessing or feeling overwhelmed. And with that [00:11:00] comes confidence, because honestly, business CPD isn't a nice to have. It's the difference between staying where you are and stepping up to that next level. Okay, so now you might be wondering how do I keep up when I've already got so much stuff on my plate?

[00:11:19] Sarah Almond Bushell: And that's where actually working with a coach who prioritises CPD themselves can make the difference. It's an unregulated industry. Business coaching, there's no formal requirement for coaches to stay updated, and that means a lot of people are giving advice based on what worked for them in their businesses or even what worked in the past years ago.

[00:11:43] Sarah Almond Bushell: But as I've said already, business doesn't stand still and neither should their learning. If I was taking my daughter to see a clinician, I'd want someone who's up to date with the latest research and not someone using techniques from 10 years ago. And I hold my own [00:12:00] work to that same standard, and that's why I take my CPD really seriously, not just for my clients, but for myself as well.

[00:12:09] Sarah Almond Bushell: I don't just teach what I learned years ago. I continuously study, I refine, I implement, I test new strategies to make sure that I'm delivering the best possible support that I can for my clients. And it really helps actually that I still have a clinical practice myself, the children's nutritionist, because that's where I can use that business to do the testing and the refining, find out what's working nowadays and actually what's not.

[00:12:37] Sarah Almond Bushell: So I digress. But back to that question that I was asked Sarah, what do you do for CPD? I'm gonna take you a little bit behind the scenes now and share exactly what I do for CPD on an ongoing basis, as well as what I'm working on this year. So there's six things that I'm doing for CPD this year.

[00:12:59] Sarah Almond Bushell: Number one, I'm [00:13:00] doing a mindset course and certification. This year I've decided that I want to dive more deeply into mindset coaching with a structured CPD certification program. I've worked on mindset stuff before, but the reason why I want to do this now is because. Mindset is everything. In business, it determines things like how we handle our setbacks, whether we take action or don't, and ultimately it has a massive impact on whether we succeed.

[00:13:31] Sarah Almond Bushell: So this certification isn't just about understanding the theory of mindset. It was important to me to find a quality provider who could give me the support in applying it practically with real clients. So the program covers the science behind mindset. It covers neuroplasticity and subconscious reprogramming, helping me better support my clients in breaking through limiting beliefs and recognizing [00:14:00] self-sabotaging behaviors.

[00:14:01] Sarah Almond Bushell: It also includes a really strong focus on different coaching techniques. So there's absolutely everything in there from visualization to hypnotherapy and reframing negative thought patterns. But what I love about this course is that it isn't just theoretical. It actually requires me to do a number of hands-on coaching hours, and some of you are my current clients.

[00:14:26] Sarah Almond Bushell: There's formal assessments, this case study assignments, and it's really all to ensure that I truly master these skills. So why does this matter to you? If you've ever felt stuck in self-doubt, in imposter syndrome, or fear of failure, or lack of confidence or procrastination or overwhelm these are exactly the tools that can help.

[00:14:51] Sarah Almond Bushell: And as a business coach and mentor, I wanna make sure that I'm able to support my clients to the best of my abilities, offering proven techniques. [00:15:00] Backed by psychology and not just repeating motivational quotes. The second thing that I'm working on at the moment is a social media course and certification.

[00:15:11] Sarah Almond Bushell: So another massive focus for me this year is my ongoing social media education. Now, as you likely know, I am not a massive fan of social media personally, and I know I've referred to it a couple of times already in this episode. And that's because I do love what it can do for my business. Social media has completely changed the way businesses attract clients.

[00:15:36] Sarah Almond Bushell: It's no longer just about having a presence. It's about understanding how to use these platforms strategically to build an audience, to nurture relationships, and to convert our followers into paying clients. If you've been using social media in your business for a while, you'll know that it's constantly evolving and what worked two years ago [00:16:00] won't necessarily work today.

[00:16:02] Sarah Almond Bushell: And the strategies that are driving results right now are gonna shift again in the coming months. Platforms update their algorithms, audience behavior changes and new features are introduced all of the time. And so if you're not actively keeping up, it's actually really easy to fall behind.

[00:16:21] Sarah Almond Bushell: Because social media is so powerful for my business, I've chosen not just to use it in my business, but also to study it. So social success isn't about, look. It isn't about simply posting more often or consistently, it's about understanding the mechanics behind how the platforms operate and using that knowledge to your advantage.

[00:16:44] Sarah Almond Bushell: So my CPD courses, and I'm doing several of them, are really deepening my expertise in several really critical areas actually. So one is all about mastering the algorithm because many business owners treat social [00:17:00] media a bit like a mystery. But you know what? There is a clear science behind what gets you reach, what encourages engagement, what makes you more visible.

[00:17:10] Sarah Almond Bushell: So instead of guessing, I'm just learning exactly how these algorithms prioritise content and how to work with these systems in order to maximize our exposure. I am also learning more about building a content strategy that converts into clients. So posting randomly doesn't build a business. I'm all about a strategic content planning approach.

[00:17:35] Sarah Almond Bushell: Strategy is just the thing that I do. It's the thing that I really love. So I'm mapping out a strategic journey where social media actually moves potential clients from, first of all, discovery, right through engagement and towards becoming a paying customer. I am also learning more around the psychology behind sales and the psychology behind engagement, [00:18:00] actually.

[00:18:00] Sarah Almond Bushell: So why do people stop scrolling? What makes content persuasive? This training, it's really helping break down the sort of behavioral and psychological triggers that drive action online. And this is all so I can help my. Clients create content that doesn't just get seen, but it actually builds trust, it gets engagement, and it leads ultimately to sales.

[00:18:25] Sarah Almond Bushell: I am also learning about the different content formats, and really it's about using them to their full potential. So things like the short form videos that are really popular now. Stories, carousel posts, static posts, because each format actually serves a different purpose. And what I'm learning is how to leverage each content type strategically.

[00:18:49] Sarah Almond Bushell: So that it works part of a bigger system rather than just tracing trends for the sake of it. Because everyone says you need to do finger pointy dancers on reels at the moment. [00:19:00] No, it needs to be more strategic than that. And I also want to learn more about how we can take social media and turn it into a long-term business asset.

[00:19:12] Sarah Almond Bushell: So rather than relying on going viral in a moment or being at the mercy of an algorithm, it's all about focusing. A social media presence, building that presence that stands the test of time, essentially. So that means creating content systems that generate leads consistently, predictably positioning you and your social media as a sustainable organic client attraction tool rather than just being an unpredictable marketing task that we do, and who knows whether it's gonna work for us.

[00:19:49] Sarah Almond Bushell: Why this matters. So I think one of the things I've noticed is the difference between those who thrive on social media and those who struggle with social media [00:20:00] isn't just the quality of their content, it's about how they're strategically using social media. And I find that if you understand the why behind things like algorithm changes.

[00:20:12] Sarah Almond Bushell: You can adjust, you can stay visible. It makes sense. And if you don't, then your engagement drops, your frustration builds, the opportunities are missed. You get fed up and before you know it, you haven't posted for six weeks. And I've always believed in teaching strategies that are both evidence-based of course and experience based.

[00:20:33] Sarah Almond Bushell: And what I'm doing is I'm using my children's nutritionist business in order to test out these strategies so that when I am talking and guiding my clients, I'm giving them strategies that do actually work today in this day and age.

[00:20:49] Sarah Almond Bushell: So what I've come to realize with social media and my love hate relationship with it is it isn't actually going anywhere. And to stay ahead of these [00:21:00] changes is really essential. So I'm looking forward to integrating everything I'm learning about social into my work and helping other people do the same with theirs.

[00:21:10] Sarah Almond Bushell: And it's something that I do take really quite seriously because I know so many healthcare professionals really struggle on social media. There's a lot of people who tell me that it's so refreshing to hear a business coach say that they don't like social media as well. Often they will post and feel like they're talking to a brick wall.

[00:21:28] Sarah Almond Bushell: They don't get engagement. They spend far too much time on content that doesn't actually bring in clients. And so staying ahead of these changes. And really learning how to use social media strategically allows me to help my clients create content that actually works for them and works now and not what just worked a couple of years ago.

[00:21:53] Sarah Almond Bushell: Okay, so a third way that I. Participate in CPD [00:22:00] is keeping up to date with knowledge of things happening in my industry. So this goes beyond sort of your formal training courses. I like to stay informed and up to date in my specialist area like many of us do. And for me, that's online business and digital marketing.

[00:22:20] Sarah Almond Bushell: So business and marketing. Trends shift really quickly, particularly in the online space. And so I consume a mixture of podcasts, of business news sites really to keep up to date with everything. And what I've found is when I compare my specialty in clinical practice, pediatric dietetics.

[00:22:43] Sarah Almond Bushell: That does not move anywhere near as quickly as the business side of things, and particularly the digital online business side of things. So it's really important for me that I keep up to date, podcasts. I love podcasts because I can multitask, I can put my [00:23:00] earbuds in, take the dog for a walk, I can listen to them in the car when I'm driving back from the train station.

[00:23:05] Sarah Almond Bushell: I love consuming information via podcasts and some of my favorite shows at the moment include my original business coach and she used to be my boss and current mentor, Salome Schillack. She has a podcast called the Launch Lounge podcast, and it's all about digital marketing and Facebook and Instagram ads.

[00:23:27] Sarah Almond Bushell: I also like Susie Wits Inside Out Entrepreneur podcast for mindset stuff, very science-based. But it's all about the mind, and I really like that. I like to listen to Alex Homosi, who of course is. The bit of a guru in the online entrepreneurship world. And then there is a place in my heart for Pat Flynn Smart Passive Income, and Amy Porterfield, because these are the guys who I first discovered first and foremost back in 20 16, 20 17.

I also follow [00:24:00] updates on platforms like HubSpot blog social Media Examiners, sprout Social, and the Harvard Business Review. Really just to keep up to date with what's going on in the world of business. And then since many of my clients are UK registered healthcare professionals, I also like to try and stay aware of any.

[00:24:20] Sarah Almond Bushell: Legal changes, any ethical changes, any regulatory changes that might affect their work. So often these are published by the HCPC or for the wider scope of healthcare professionals. I might look at the professional Standards authority site, but staying informed means that I can really help my clients make.

[00:24:39] Sarah Almond Bushell: Better business decisions. So whether it's understanding things like how economic trends affect our pricing or how new regulations impact our marketing when we are a regulated healthcare professional, all of that is really important for me to keep up to date with.

[00:24:57] Sarah Almond Bushell: So number four is personal [00:25:00] development because I also believe that a great coach should be working on themselves, not just a client. And that's why I dedicate time every single day to my own personal development. Now, this is a whole podcast episode in itself, but in a nutshell, it includes working on my mindset on a daily basis since I've been doing my mindset. 

[00:25:21] Sarah Almond Bushell: Certification. I've learned a lot about myself, about my subconscious beliefs, things that get in my own way and hold me back from being the very best version of myself. And I know that in order to change and step into that best version of me, I need to take action every single day. And so I bookend my days with mindset, morning and evening routines, and this includes various things from journaling, affirmations and visualization techniques to reinforce my own goals and my direction of travel, and also reflection.

[00:25:58] Sarah Almond Bushell: So acknowledging what I've [00:26:00] learned. What I need to work on tomorrow, as well as celebrating the little wins of the day. And of course, I'm huge on practicing gratitude. Another part of my personal development for me is reading and learning. As I'm always learning mindset and social media are my focuses this year.

[00:26:20] Sarah Almond Bushell: But as well as that, I'm always reading books or listening to audio books that compliment my learning. Or actually something I might need to dive into a bit more deeply to support a client. So at the moment, I've got Carol Dweck's mindset audiobook on my phone. I've listened to this in the past and I'm listening to this now a second time around, and it's amazing what you didn't hear the first time round.

[00:26:46] Sarah Almond Bushell: I also love a business strategy book, and a client asked me recently about Daniel Priestly's scorecard. Now, I read this last year after meeting him at an event, but I'm digging into that again at the moment. To refresh my memory, [00:27:00] I also love a little bit of woo, and so anything by Gabrielle Bernstein or Jen Sincero provides a really nice bit of light, self-improvement type of reading.

[00:27:13] Sarah Almond Bushell: And I also do a lot of reflection on my personal coaching style because I want to evaluate where I can improve. So whether that's in my communication, my leadership, my listening skills, what I do is I take notes as I coach, and I also use AI note-taking tools that allow me to reflect back upon client sessions.

[00:27:36] Sarah Almond Bushell: One of my key learnings has been that I overdeliver, and so I'm trying to. Coach more than do things for my clients so that they come up with the ideas themselves, which ultimately helps them problem solve and helps them grow so that eventually they can go alone without my guidance. So this isn't just about professional [00:28:00] development, it's about being the best version of myself, which in turn makes me a better mentor and coach.

[00:28:07] Sarah Almond Bushell: Number five. So number five is all about networking and collaborations because I really don't believe in working in isolation all of the time. Connecting with other experts is actually a huge part of my CPD. Every single week I'll meet with others where we can bounce ideas around. So yes, they're usually on Zoom, but I'm okay with that.

[00:28:30] Sarah Almond Bushell: My family commitments at the moment mean that I need to be close to home, but addition I do love a live event. So last year I attended two major business and marketing conferences. I listened to some really inspirational speakers, including the aforementioned Daniel Priestley, Nick James Danny Wallace, and my mentor Laurie Burrows, and I'm sure there were others.

[00:28:55] Sarah Almond Bushell: I just can't recall them just now and the year before I flew to LA for a [00:29:00] five day business retreat. So why do I do this? So for me it's about surrounding yourself with high level thinkers, with successful entrepreneurs, with like-minded professionals, but people who are a few steps ahead of you. That is what accelerates my growth.

[00:29:19] Sarah Almond Bushell: It's in these rooms where you get insights that aren't available. In courses or in books. And it's also where you can have conversations, you can build relationships, and they often lead to opportunities. So whether that's a future collaboration, a partnership meeting, your future mentor, or simply just expanding your perspective, I just find that so valuable.

[00:29:42] Sarah Almond Bushell: And then finally, number six. I practice what I preach. I have my own business coach because I too am a lifelong learner. I work with her every single day. We chat via WhatsApp. We meet in person every month or so. And in addition, I have [00:30:00] mentors for different areas of business who are checking with online probably once a month or so.

[00:30:06] Sarah Almond Bushell: But I think having mentorship and business focused supervision. iS actually really crucial for me. It might not be regulatory like it is in my profession, dietetics, but I'm sure you'll know that even the best expert or coach has got blind spots. And when you work with experienced mentors, I find it keeps me accountable.

[00:30:31] Sarah Almond Bushell: It helps me really refine my approach, and it ensures that I'm always learning from those ahead of me. So why does all of this matter? Because in an unregulated industry. Like business coaching. CPD is what I believe separates trustworthy professionals from people who just decide to set themselves up.

[00:30:56] Sarah Almond Bushell: As business coaches, it's actually deeply ingrained [00:31:00] as one of my core values. Ongoing learning isn't a luxury. It's an absolute necessity to me so that I can ensure that I'm delivering real. Up to date effective results for my clients. Lifelong learning. It's just part of who I am, not just as a business owner, but as a person as well.

[00:31:19] Sarah Almond Bushell: The world is evolving, business is evolving, and I believe that we owe it to ourselves and to those who we support. To evolve with it. So going back to that question, Sarah, what do you do for CPD? Hopefully now you'll be able to see why. I thought it was a brilliant one and probably. The most important question any potential client could ask, and whether you go on to work with me or someone else, this is the kind of question that you should be asking your future coach.

[00:31:52] Sarah Almond Bushell: How do they invest in their own learning? Are they actively improving their skills and themselves? How are they keeping up to date with [00:32:00] changes in business and marketing? Do they have a business coach? Because ultimately. The quality of your business coach determines the quality of the results that you're gonna get.

[00:32:11] Sarah Almond Bushell: So my action step for you is if you are not keeping up to date with business and marketing, find someone who is and who can support you. But before you go all in and work with them, ask them what they do for their own CPD. So join me next time where I'm gonna be sharing a story that I've sat on for quite a while actually because it felt a little bit too raw and a little bit too vulnerable.

[00:32:36] Sarah Almond Bushell: Anyhow, I've decided now's the time to share it. It's called Why I Said No To a five Figure Brand Deal. Join me then. Bye for now.