IDENTITY BEFORE STRATEGY- As we open a new year inside the Christian Life Coach Collective, this episode begins somewhere different. Not with pressure, performance, or planning, but with listening. Through prayer and guided reflection, you are invited to ask God who He says you are as a coach, why He shaped you the way He did, and who you are meant to serve. This episode walks you through identity, purpose, belonging, and a Great Exchange where lies are released and Truth is received, setting a grounded foundation for your coaching and business in the year ahead. Key Takeaways:Identity precedes clarity, and listening comes before doing.Your coaching purpose is often simple, faithful, and rooted in how God formed you.Belonging is about resonance, not chasing markets or money. Action Guide:Set aside quiet time this week to revisit the core questions from the episode. Ask God who He says you are, why He shaped you for coaching, and who you are meant to serve. Write down what you hear without editing or rushing. If lies surface, intentionally exchange them for Truth and let that Truth guide your next small, faithful step. If you want to go deeper into identity, purpose, and belonging as a woman of faith, listen to my companion podcast: StoryMakers. To explore working together, visit SterlingAndStoneMentoring.com. BOOK A FREE CONSULTATION Read the Life Coach Blog Join the Coaching FB Community Find me @coachlauramalone on IG Learn how to become a S&S Life Coach   Your 5 ✨ review on Apple Podcasts means a ton! Make sure you subscribe & follow the show *🔔  

PRESENCE OVER PERFORMANCE - Christmas can be tender, emotional, and unexpectedly quiet. This episode is a gentle invitation to release pressure, stop striving, and notice where God has already been with you this year. Instead of fixing or forcing anything, we reflect on presence, peace that looks simple or unfinished, and the reminder every woman needs to hear on the holidays: you are not behind. Key Takeaways• Christmas is about presence, not performance.• God meets us in unfinished, tender places.• Feeling emotional during the holidays does not mean you are failing or falling behind. Action GuideTake a quiet moment today and ask yourself, Where did I notice God with me this year? Let one small moment be enough. No fixing, no planning, no pressure. Just notice and rest in that truth. Read the Life Coach Blog Email me your questions: Laura@sterlingandstonementoring.com Become a S&S Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!  

GROUNDED IN THE MIDDLE OF CRAZY– Holidays often stir more emotion than peace. They carry a huge contrast of 'expectation meets reality'. People remember who’s missing, feel pressure to make things perfect, and reach the edge of their emotional capacity. In this episode, we’ll talk about what makes these “big emotion days” so intense and how to use a simple four-step tool to bring calm and clarity back into the moment—for you and the people you coach. Key Takeaways• Big emotion days are usually caused by accumulation, not crisis—too many small stressors and not enough rest.• The Pause, Name, Ground, Choose process helps restore awareness, safety, and emotional regulation.• Grounding the body before doing mindset work creates peace and clarity for both coach and client. Action GuideWhen emotion rises this week, pause and take one deep breath. Name what’s happening, ground your body in the present moment, and choose your next step. Then teach this same process to someone who needs a practical way to move through big emotion days with peace. Read the Life Coach Blog Email me your questions: Laura@sterlingandstonementoring.com Become a S&S Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

THE CLOSE CREATES THE MEMORY. Clients remember how a session ends more than how it begins. A clear, grounded close turns insight into action and reinforces safety and structure. Key Takeaways: Review the discovery before ending. Anchor emotion with breath or body awareness. Point forward with one clear next step. Action Guide:After your next session, take one minute to reflect: Did I ground, summarize, and point forward? Read the Life Coach Blog Become a S&S Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

BREAKTHROUGH IS AWARENESS, NOT DRAMA. It’s often quiet—a sigh, a new sentence, or softened eyes. Notice it, name it, and nurture it. Let the client register it as transformation in progress and learn how to close the session feeling rooted and hopeful. Key Takeaways: Breakthroughs are internal before they’re visible. Naming them helps clients anchor new awareness. Celebrate progress, not perfection. Action Guide:After your next session, write down one phrase that marked a client’s shift. How can you help them anchor it this week? Read the Life Coach Blog Become a S&S Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

PRESENCE IS MORE POWERFUL THAN PERFORMANCE. You don’t need perfect words; you need stability. Holding space means staying with tension long enough for truth to surface instead of rescuing or redirecting. Key Takeaways: Don’t relieve tension too early—let it reveal truth. Your steadiness becomes the client’s safety. Transformation unfolds when you stop forcing it. Action Guide:In your next session, notice one moment you want to jump in too soon. Pause instead. See what emerges when you let the client sit with what’s happening. Read the Life Coach Blog Become a S&S Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

PEOPLE HEAL WHERE THEY FEEL SAFE. You can’t rush transformation; you can only make it safe to happen. Emotional safety isn’t soft—it’s strategic. Clients won’t explore what feels dangerous, but they will open up where peace is modeled. Key Takeaways: Safety begins with your tone, pace, and posture. A calm presence regulates the entire session. Validation is more powerful than advice. Action Guide:In your next session, slow your pace and soften your tone. Ask yourself, “Would I feel safe being coached by me right now?” Read the Life Coach Blog Become a S&S Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

WHEN FACTS & INTERPRETATIONS SEPARATE-Most confusion comes from mixing what happened with what we think it means. Helping clients tell those apart creates immediate freedom and responsibility. Key Takeaways Facts are neutral; interpretations give them emotional weight. This distinction restores agency and reduces blame. Naming facts grounds emotion in truth. Action GuideAsk in your next session, “What’s the fact, and what’s the meaning you added?” Notice how quickly clarity returns. Read the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!  

STUCKNESS ISN’T FAILURE— When clients loop, defend, or go quiet, they’re not resisting you—they’re protecting themselves. Your job isn’t to push; it’s to stay calm and create safety until their system can settle and see again. Key Takeaways Stuckness often signals pain, not rebellion. Silence and curiosity regulate the moment better than pressure. Presence builds trust that allows insight to emerge naturally. Action GuideWhen a client gets stuck, wait five full breaths before speaking. Let the stillness do its work. Read the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

FIND THE BELIEF, NOT JUST THE STORY-Clients come in describing details, emotions, and people—but the real coaching moment happens when you hear the belief underneath it all. Transformation begins when you can separate circumstance from interpretation and help the client uncover what they’re making it mean. Key Takeaways The root issue is rarely the situation—it’s the paradigm behind it. Ask questions that get to meaning instead of adding more detail. Awareness of interpretation brings breakthrough faster than advice. Action GuideListen for repeated words or emotional spikes in your next session. Ask, “What are you making this mean about you?” Read the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

‘BUSINESS’ CAN FEEL INTIMIDATING- You feel called to offer your services, but the business aspect freaks you out. You wish you didn’t have to create everything from scratch. In this episode, I’m talking about why that feeling is normal, how to move from fear to focus, and what simple actions can help you build a business that supports your calling instead of stifling it. You can do this! Key Takeaways Business isn’t separate from calling- it’s the structure that sustains it. You don’t really need to start from scratch. You need a system you can make your own. Easy is allowed and it’s possible. Structure multiplies impact and creates the freedom you want. Listener Challenge Choose one of the ten steps I mention and do it this week. Don’t overthink it, just pick the one that gives you the most peace or creates the most curiosity. Maybe it’s naming your calling, writing your first offer, or reaching out to serve one person. The goal isn’t to build it all: it’s to just take action. Then, journal what you learn as you take that step. What did you feel? What did you discover about your gifts, your courage, or your resistance? Ask God to meet you in that space and show you how He’s already preparing the way. Small obedience will open doors that striving never could. Read the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

SAYING YES WITH GOD- Saying yes isn’t just about self-permission—it’s about alignment. In this episode, we’ll talk about how saying yes to yourself becomes a way of partnering with God’s will, reducing decision fatigue, and taking the next right step in faith. You’ll learn how to hear what He’s saying, how to recognize when you’re in alignment with Him, and why this matters for you personally and for the clients you coach. And if you’ve been wondering whether it’s time to step into your calling as a coach, this may be your invitation to finally say yes. Key Takeaways: Saying yes to yourself creates clarity, reduces mental fatigue, and honors God’s design for your life. You can discern God’s leading by checking it against His Word, listening for peace, and looking for the fruit of the Spirit. As a coach, your lived yes models courage and alignment, and it invites clients into their own partnership with God’s will. Listener Challenge:This week, pause before a decision—big or small—and ask: “Lord, what’s Your heart in this?” Pay attention to the peace or clarity that rises, and take the next right step by saying yes in faith. Read the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

VALUE ISN’T A CURRICULUM- When it comes to coaching, a lot of us feel pressure to prove our worth by stacking on more — more hours, more worksheets, more bonuses. But the truth is, people don’t come to you asking for a 20-step plan or an entire curriculum. Coaching is nuanced and client-led. In this episode, I’ll show you how to think about value in a way that’s both simple and powerful, how to communicate it through real-life examples, and why clients are willing to invest when they see transformation in action. Key Takeaways Value isn’t about extras — it’s about the shift from confusion to clarity, fear to peace, stuck to action. Clients don’t need your whole toolbox upfront — they need cultivated value, offered in real-time. Sharing short, real examples of transformation communicates value better than laying out a whole curriculum. Listener ChallengeWrite down one example from your own coaching (or your personal story if you’re just starting) where someone moved from stuck to clear. Share it out loud this week — with a friend, a peer, or even on social media — and notice how confidently you can communicate value without explaining your whole process. Read the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

YOUR CORE BELIEFS MATTER- If I asked you right now, “What are your core beliefs?”—could you answer? Most of us can’t, not because we don’t have them, but because we’ve never slowed down to write them out and name them out loud. In this episode, I’ll walk you through ten questions to help uncover your own core beliefs about your audience, transformation, faith, values, and legacy. I’ll share mine as examples, and then you’ll have space to discover yours. Once you clarify your core beliefs, you’ll have a filter for every decision you make and a foundation for the business God is calling you to build. Key Takeaways Core beliefs are already shaping how you serve, decide, and lead—even if you haven’t named them yet. Clarifying your core beliefs gives you a filter for every opportunity, choice, and commitment in your business. Your beliefs about God, people, and transformation determine the kind of coaching or leadership legacy you’ll leave behind. Listener ChallengeWork through the ten questions shared in this episode. Write your answers without overthinking. Then pray over them and ask God which beliefs He wants you to stand firm in as you lead, serve, and build your business.   Read this in the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

THE PAYOFF AND PITFALLS OF BEING SOMEONE’S SOLUTION-There’s a real emotional payoff when you realize you’ve been part of someone’s solution. It feels good because God designed us for connection and contribution. But what happens when we start chasing that feeling instead of staying rooted in truth? In this episode, we’ll talk about the joy of being a solution, the hidden pitfalls like over-responsibility and the dopamine trap, and how to find the healthy middle ground as a coach and as a woman of faith. Key Takeaways Being someone’s solution affirms your value, strengthens connection, and builds legacy. Pitfalls include tying your worth to helping, overextending, resentment, missed boundaries, and chasing the dopamine “high.” The healthy middle ground is remembering you’re a vessel, not the source—you’re responsible to people, not for them. Listener ChallengeReflect on a recent time you were someone’s solution. Did it bring joy, or did it leave you drained? Pay attention this week to whether you’re offering from overflow or chasing the emotional high.   Read this in the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

IMPACT THAT MULTIPLIES BEYOND YOU- Coaching doesn’t just change one life—it creates ripple effects that influence families, communities, and future generations. In this episode, I share a story of a client whose transformation impacted everyone around her, and I explain how the PEARL Practice helps you guide people toward a legacy that lasts. Key Takeaways: Coaching creates change that extends far beyond one person. The Legacy step of PEARL focuses on the bigger picture of a client’s life. When clients live differently, they influence everyone they touch. Listener Challenge: Think about someone who has impacted your life for the better. Write down how their influence has spread into different areas of your life, and imagine the ripple effect you could create for someone else through coaching. Read this in the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE CACHE- Confidence doesn’t arrive overnight—it builds. In this episode, I teach the Confidence Cache framework and how stacking action, clarity, and hindsight creates certainty, competency, and readiness for your coaching path. Key Takeaways: Confidence begins with willingness, not perfection. Every action fills your cache with clarity, hindsight, and how. The emotions you’re after—certainty, competency, readiness—grow as you go.Listener Challenge: Take one action to add to your cache today—reach out to a practice client, introduce yourself as a coach, or reflect on what you’ve already learned and how it’s shaped you. Listener Challenge: Pick one coaching-related action this week that will add to your Confidence Cache. Maybe it’s reaching out to a potential practice client, sharing publicly that you’re a coach, or even journaling what you learned from your last conversation. Then write down the clarity, hindsight, and emotion that came from it. Notice how even one step deposits certainty, competency, and readiness into your cache. Read this in the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

SHARPEN THE GIFT YOU ALREADY HAVE- Being the “helper” in your world is a beautiful gift—but it’s not the same as being a trained coach. In this episode, I’m sharing how I moved from well-meaning conversations that didn’t always create change to skilled guidance that consistently helped people move forward. We’ll look at Proverbs 4:7 and why wisdom plus understanding is the combination every coach needs. Key Takeaways: Compassion is powerful, but coaching skills make it sustainable and effective. Training protects you from burnout and equips you to help in a deeper way. The PEARL Practice turns natural empathy into a structured path to change. Listener Challenge: Reflect on the last time you felt drained after helping someone. Write down how that situation might have been different if you had a clear coaching process to follow. Read this in the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!

A FRAMEWORK THAT ALWAYS FITS- What if you had a tool you could trust in any coaching conversation, no matter the client or the situation? That’s what the PEARL Practice offers. In this episode, I’m sharing the story of a client who went from stuck to clear in one conversation—and how the PEARL steps made it possible. You’ll see why this framework is the foundation of the Christian Life Coach Certification pathway. Key Takeaways: A reliable coaching framework creates confidence for both you and your clients. PEARL works in any niche because it starts with the client’s reality and moves toward their desired legacy. Coaching is about drawing out clarity, not giving answers. Listener Challenge: Choose a friend or family member to practice on. Walk them through the PEARL steps informally and notice where clarity emerges for them. Read this in the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!  

TURN YOUR STORY INTO IMPACT- Every part of your story—the highs, the lows, the lessons—is a bridge to someone else’s breakthrough. In this episode, I’ll show you how God uses your lived experiences to connect you with the people you’re meant to help. We’ll explore 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 and see how your journey becomes a source of comfort, wisdom, and transformation when paired with the PEARL Practice. Key Takeaways: God never wastes your story—your experiences are meant to help others. Shared understanding builds trust and opens the door to transformation. The PEARL Practice turns personal connection into actionable change. Listener Challenge: Write down three life experiences that have shaped you most. Next to each, jot a way it could help someone else who’s facing a similar challenge. Read this in the Life Coach Blog Become a Life Coach Figure Out Who to Coach Start Your Online Coaching Business Join the Coaching FB Community —> HERE Find me @coachlauramalone on IG —> HERE Your 5 star review on Apple Podcasts means a ton✨ 🔔 Make sure you subscribe & follow the show!