Michael: There are so many certifications that, you know are out there. But for me, I had left that other program and said, now what do I do? You know, what do I do as a coach? How do I do it? How do I get a client? You know, what do I do in terms of building a website or whatever?
And the difference is that LLCA gives you all of that and even more. It gives you a community, it gives you a of support people who you can tap into. And what I loved Nancy, was that you were present through the whole thing. You know, it was very much like you were live and there with us through our journey and our transformation. And then all the people who support LLCA and the students were there all the time, very reachable, and were always there to help.
Nancy: Welcome to Your Permission Prescription. I’m Nancy Levin, founder of Levin Life Coach Academy, bestselling author, master life coach, and your host. I train life coaches, aspiring coaches, and anyone who wants to add coaching skills to their current career to elevate their life and their business. I’ve coached thousands of people to live life on their own terms, and now I coach, train, and certify other coaches to do the same.
If you are ready to give yourself permission to finally make yourself a priority and mobilize your vision, you’re in the right place. Let’s dive in.
Nancy: Welcome back to another episode of Your Permission Prescription. In keeping with the theme of the past several episodes, we are talking about Levin Life Coach Academy since the doors are opening for enrollment very soon.
Today’s guest is Michael Mammina. And Michael is an LLCA Certified Coach, he’s also an LLCA mentor, and this year he is stepping into the role of LLCA Student Coordinator. So I thought Michael would be the perfect guest and this the perfect conversation for you to hear as you are considering enrolling in Levin Life Coach Academy.
Welcome Michael.
Michael: Thank you Nancy. I’m excited to be here.
Nancy: Me too. So since you and I know each other well and have known each other for several years now, there are certain points I wanna make sure we highlight about your journey as a coach and your journey into LLCA and how LLCA has been supporting you.
So the first piece is, I want a presence that when you came into my world, you were already a certified coach. You’d already gone through a training and certification program.
Michael: Yes.
Nancy: And tell me a little bit about what had you then reach out and connect with me?
Michael: Well, someone had, I did have previous certification and that was over two, two and a half year program. And it was a wonderful program. And someone had reached out to me and said that you had started this Life Coach Academy and was I interested in, you know, coming over and, and getting some more certification.
And I remember looking at your website and checking you out and sort of saying, Hmm, I’m not sure that this, you know, her vibe is mine or works with me or as an alignment with me. And I even went as far, if you remember, I scheduled a phone call with you and I was like, you know, lemme just talk with her. And so I did, and if you remember Nance, I was like, you know, this work just doesn’t resonate for me. You know, I’m a gay man, I don’t think it’s really working, you know.
Nancy: You were like, this work is not for men.
Michael: Not, yeah, well I don’t wanna be that strong, but you’re right, this work is not for men. It’s like your audience is for women. You know, like, if you remember, I was pretty adamant.
Nancy: Oh yeah.
Michael: Yeah. I didn’t move forward. And if you remember, I was like, Nope, I’m good. But then the second year, Nance, I decided to step in and check out the work even more. And it was life changing for me. Iit was an opportunity for me to go deep in a new way and to look at what had really held me back from when you originally, when we originally had a conversation, which was my beliefs and how I had allowed them to hold me back in my life actually.
And through the work, you know, I was able to transform my life and find a very deeper place within me that needed to be healed. And that got me hooked on LLCA.Here’s the thing, the work works if you work the work, so..
Nancy: Right.
Michael: It doesn’t matter how you identify, the work is there and if you, you do the work and you allow yourself to explore and grow, it’s there for everyone. So it was such an amazing transformation for me to step into LLCA and be part of Nancy your world, which I love now, so.
Nancy: And having gone through another certification program before coming into LLCA, I’d love for you to share from your perspective what makes LLCA stand out?
Michael: Absolutely. It’s pretty clear to me. Although, as I said, the other program that I was certified in was beautiful and very deep work and I definitely grew. One of the differences that is very clear is that as a coach, LLCA not only teaches you how to be a life coach,but it also gives you what you need to build and create a business to take it on the road, so to speak.
You know, there are so many certifications that, you know, are out there, but for me, I had left that other program and said, now what do I do? You know, what do I do as a coach?How do I do it? How do I get a client, you know, what do I do in terms of building a website or whatever?
And the difference is that LLCA gives you all of that and even more. It gives you a community, it gives you a support people who you can tap into. And what I loved Nancy, was that you were present through the whole thing. You know, it was very much like you were live and there with us through our journey and our transformation. And then all the people who support LLCA and the students were there all the time, very reachable and we’re always there to help.
Nancy: Yeah. You know, I’ve really been reflecting on this because people often ask me, why don’t you pre recorded sessions? Like, why do you show up live every week?
And I have to say that I love what I do. I love coaching and training in real time. I love feeling on the journey with all the students. I wanna be right there in it. I can’t imagine doing it any other way.
And I do think that that is a piece that sets us apart, you know, that it’s all happening in real time with live support.
Michael: And what I love Nancy too, is that the chemistry of the community is so powerful and you fall in love with these people because you’re on their journey and you’re seeing their trials and you’re seeing their wins and you know, it’s funny because Nancy and I never really met in person until like three years later.
Nancy: Yeah.
Michael: But through Zoom, you have the magic of Zoom and the beauty of technology, you can still have this amazing journey and heart connection that is, is very strong and very successful. And because I chose to be there live because although you get the replay, I wanted to sort of be right in it, you know, swim in that beautiful energy with this community of people. And that was really nurturing for me every week and it was amazing to me how successful it was and the depth of what we experienced with you leading everybody each week in this amazing reinvention and transformation.
Nancy: I know. I mean, I could never have planned for what has happened with our community. I could never have planned for the depth of connection ever.
Michael: Yeah. I’ve made some lifelong friends. I’ve made, you know, business connections, like, you know, done amazing things that were always a dream of mine because there were other LLCA community members who were there who were saying, yeah, let’s go do this and that was something that I didn’t have previously. And I don’t know if that’s in other programs, but you’ve created that community concept that is very valuable because one of the things that I feel like once I got my certification, I wasn’t alone. And not only did we just move into like how to build a business, which was amazing, but I also have these amazing groups of people that I could tap into and just always connect.
Nancy: Yes.
Nancy: I want to let you in on the 3 key actions current and aspiring coaches must take to build lifelong success and authentically serve clients. If you’re interested in learning these 3 key actions, simply visit nancylevin.com/start and download my Build a Life Coaching Practice starter guide. Again, it’s nancy levin.com/start.
Nancy: Let’s switch gears a little bit, and I’d love for you to share about your experience as a mentor in the program.
Michael: Sure. Yeah, I mean, again, I loved the work so much and, and it transformed my life so much, even though I had done so much previous work that I noticed that there were mentors that were supporting the students through the program. And so I reached out to you and I was like, Hey, is there any, is there ever an opportunity to do something like that? I wanted to shift into being of service and as a mentor I was able to hold people through their journey and support them through whatever was happening for them.
Also, one of the things I love that we do and we teach in the Life Coach Academy is that, you know, we hold our clients accountable and we hold them capable. So as a mentor, I had that opportunity to, not only see how it works in my life, but how I can hold myself accountable and capable, but then how I can support these students in that same manner. And ultimately that’s what we do with our clients as coaches. So it just works. It’s just one layer on top of the next and the next.
And I, you know, I loved what I was able to give, but what I got back was so rich and so, so many lessons, so many things to learn and so beautiful all at the same time. I feel very grateful to be able to take what I learned as a coach and move it into a mentor program, plus using my business background to also support people, you know, when they needed it in terms of staying on top of schedules and those kinds of things.
So it’s an amazing program and it’s such a tight knit, beautiful community within the community then because we’re broken up into smaller groups that you then get to even go deeper with your particular group. And I know for instance, from past years, my group now we’ve, they’ve graduated, but they still meet every single week and they support each other and they’re very tight knit and they’re working together to support each other as they sort of branch out on their own as coaches.
Nancy: I know, I love that so much.
So inside of the larger cohort, there are these smaller groups with a mentor and you really journey the program together as a small group that you’re mentoring. And like you said, your group is still meeting, I know of a couple of other groups that are actually still meeting long after being certified. And I think it’s very exciting, these bonds, the feeling of connection, the feeling of support, especially when a lot of people in entrepreneurship feel alone, having the support of others who are in the same place you are is really nurturing.
Michael: Yeah. And because there’s so much exchange of knowledge at that point, you know, what works, what doesn’t work, and you know how, you know, even as they’re going through the program, as we’re right, we’re having small group meetings, you know, there’s an opportunity for them to share like, wow, that didn’t work. Or what’s the best way to do this? Or whatever the case may be. So it’s, it’s, you know, not only can they do that during your live sessions each week, but then they also have the opportunity to do that in small groups. They also have the opportunity in, in your office hours that you hold to ask questions and to be supported. And they always know that their mentor is there as well, but they have each other. And that’s also a really important part, I think, of what differentiates Levin Life Coach Academy as well.
Nancy: So as we’ve stated in the program, you are in a small group with your peers with a mentor, and that program mentor and that small group stays throughout the entire program. In addition, students have the opportunity to connect with other mentors.
So for example, in two of the modules, it’s required to submit a recorded practice coaching session and then be evaluated and receive feedback from a mentor other than your regular program mentor. And I’m curious if there’s something that you wanna share about that piece of the process as well?
Michael:Absolutely. You know, as a, as a coach, you know, we all sort of have our style of coaching, you know, and certain clients will gravitate to us because of who we are. And so same kind of thing with mentors. It’s like we, you know, we’re a mighty group and we’re strong and they’re all amazing and really, really skilled coaches and we have different styles.
So every student that I actually have a evaluated, we give them the opportunity to then meet with that evaluating mentor so that they can, you know, they can actually hear from us some of the things that would be supportive of them within the program in terms of them sharpening their skills or being aware of, you know, ways to listen, whatever the case may be. And each of us sort of have a different, each of the mentors have a different way of approaching and seeing what is important for the client. Although the principals are basically the same, we’re all different people. So every single person that I’ve ever evaluated who came back to me, Nancy, said like, wow, I loved hearing your perspective on active listening, or I loved hearing about, you know, how you ask questions or you know, just seeing a different perspective.
So it gave them a whole other way of considering how they can be as a coach and to sort of hone in on their skills. So that, that’s very valuable, I believe, for the students.
Nancy: Me too. And I’ll just give a little public service announcement here for our magnificent and brilliant mentors. All of the mentors in this program have been hand chosen by me. But more importantly, each mentor as an individual stands in their own integrity and their own embodiment of this work. And it’s such an added benefit to Levin Life Coach Academy.
So I mentioned at the top that you are now stepping into the role of Student Coordinator. So I wanna hear what is exciting to you about that. I want to hear what it means to you to support the students in this particular way. And I do believe that having you in this role provides next level service. So I love that you shared, and this was something I know about you, I love that you shared earlier about really wanting to be able to give back and be of service.
Michael: Yes. Yeah. I mean, that’s really, it’s taking it to the next level for me. That’s what it means to me. You know, working with you has been amazing and, you know, working with the other people on the LLCA team is amazing.
And for me to, to dive even deeper into how to having lived in their, you know, been in their shoes, you know, what, what it’s like to go through the program and to be able to support them on a deeper level as they journey through this transformation and step into what could be a life changing thing for them.
And, you know, everyone comes into the program, I think, with different aspirations or different even levels of what this is even gonna be for them. And if I could sort of support them and be sort of a common, common thread and know that they have someone that they can actually ask a question to. (not so much the technology side, ’cause I’m not great with that, but I’m learning)
Nancy: That that is a shadow belief, Michael.
Michael: Exactly. There you go.
Nancy: You’ve actually gotten much better with your technology.
Michael. Absolutely. All right. I will own that.
Nancy: Thank you.
Michael: But It’s definitely to, to be there for them on, on this journey, through that journey. Every single ste. You know, you are alive, every call, you know, we’re there, I’m there. I look forward to being there even further to really support them, you know, through questions, you know, what, whatever is necessary to make sure that they are as successful as they want to be. And to again, hold them accountable, hold them capable, illustrate and live what it is to be a coach.
And also what is the best way to live, have healthy boundaries, you know, all the things that we teach within the work, you know, to have a vision for, for what my life is gonna be. Same thing for them. And to help them get to it step by step. You know, that’s essentially what we do as coaches. You know, we say, you know, we take you from where you are right now to where you wanna be, and I am looking forward to sort of helping to be a stepping stone if necessary on that journey.
Nancy: Thank you for sharing yourself with us today, Michael.
And for everyone listening, enrollment in LLCA is opening very soon. Michael, and I look forward to welcoming you into the program. And you wanna make sure you are on the priority list because I’ve got some exclusive opportunities coming your way. Simply go to nancylevin.com/yes, nancy levin.com/yes pops you right onto the priority list. And I hope to see you on the inside and I’ll be back here again with you next week. Thanks again, Michael!
Michael: Thank You.
Nancy: Thanks so much for joining me today on Your Permission Prescription. For even more, I invite you to head on over to nancylevin.com and sign up for my newsletter, The Practice, and follow me on social media.
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See you next time.