My business mentor fired me 🫤

Hi Reader,

My business mentor fired me.

She courted me for months. She convinced me that "we" were in this together. She proposed working together three times before I finally said yes.

Then – we went all in. One month of working together before she told me, "This isn't the right fit." And kicked me out of her program.

I'll admit, it stung.

I felt angry and hurt – not just because I felt rejected, but because she never told me what wasn't working from her side, or what, exactly, didn't fit. But after the initial shock wore off, I could see the perfectly sewn threads of her offer unravel as I realized I was doing my best to make it work when so much of it really wasn't.

Though I hated to admit it, I knew she was right.

Let me back up.

I've been running my business for 8 years. I launched in 2018 as a leadership development and coaching company, pivoted in 2023 toward personal growth and transformation, and just last year started taking clients for my healing and oracle work.

One of the biggest struggles of running a business solo is the absence of co-conspirators – people who are all in with you, who can tell you honestly what's working and what isn't. It's mostly just me, my cats, and the occasional AI rabbit hole. Even with my best business hat on, we couldn't quite figure out why my marketing wasn't generating the awareness I wanted.

I'd built real momentum on LinkedIn – over 8,000 followers by sharing my angle on coaching, healing, and transformation. But still, something was missing. I wasn't quite reaching the people who needed my support most. The ones I also truly love working with.

Then I started following this woman. Her storytelling resonated with me on a deeper level. She seemed to have figured something out that I hadn't – her messaging was precise, her ability to build desire was real, and she clearly knew how to convert interest into clients.

So I booked a call.

She made a proposal on that first call. Something felt off – I knew I needed support, but wasn't looking for a group program – so I politely declined. A few weeks later she came back, requesting an Oracle reading. It moved something within her, and she could see that I had magic at my fingertips I wasn't yet communicating well with the outside world.

After the new year, we reconnected. She proposed again – and this time, something shifted. Her pitch was a little clunky, she'd forgotten some of what she'd offered before, but after her oracle experience she made me feel genuinely seen in a way I hadn't in a long time. She walked me through, step by step, what it could look like to bring more clarity and ease to my marketing and sales.

In hindsight, I think she saw someone who was ready for support – and even though she knew my experience was above what she'd supported before, she wanted to test her grit and her ability to close. This time, it worked. I said yes.

I signed up for the promise of someone in the sandbox with me – a partner who could help me see what I couldn't, help me find the exact framing for my work and the positioning to back it up. It was only after the money had been transferred that the red flags started showing up.

The support she'd promised looked different in practice. The group was a mix of entrepreneurs at wildly different stages. She began passing group coaching sessions off to a new hire without a word of explanation. And when participants overtook the conversation, there was no one at the helm to redirect it.

I spoke up – sharing why I'd said yes in the first place, and genuinely offering to help as she shaped the program into something more effective. But she couldn't handle the resistance. Rather than rising to meet it, she decided it was easier to cut ties.

She had every skill she'd sold me. Marketing. Sales. Messaging. But she lacked the one thing that could hold it all together: the ability to lead a room. To actually support people through something real – something messy.

And when I asked if we could talk about how the sessions were running – she issued a refund and removed me from the program. Same day. No conversation.

This story still has a sting – I can feel it as I write this. But I also know it was a catalyst for me to genuinely own my power more fiercely than before.

Because what I was really doing – I can see it now – was trying to outsource my confidence to someone else. I was looking for permission to own my process, rather than simply owning it.

I remembered that I am not an amateur. I have decades of professional experience behind me – I started my career in marketing, of all places. I remembered that I am an exceptional leader and coach. I don't say those words lightly. I believe them with my whole heart.

I am genuinely grateful I got out when I did. That I sidestepped any further indoctrination into a system of sales and marketing and perpetual hustle culture that is so out of alignment with who I am and how I work.

As I've shared this story, more and more people have come forward with their own version of it. Trust in the coaching and mentoring industry is at an all-time low – and I finally understand why. I'd always known my own integrity as a coach. I hadn't realized how many people are out there selling the sun, the moon, and the stars, only to fall short of delivering what brought you through the door.

It's lit a fire in me.

Because what the world needs – what I know I offer – is something different. Coaches, guides, mentors, and healers who are willing to actually be with you in the mess. Who can hold all of you, without trying to fit you into a model you were never meant for.

That's what I learned from this. What I was really missing had far less to do with marketing and sales – and far more to do with confidently owning my own path, even when it looks nothing like everyone else's.

So if you've been burned by a coach or mentor who couldn't hold all of you – know that you weren't the problem. You were just in the wrong room. But the right support for where you are – it does exist.

It is something that I, too, have been searching for – and despite genuinely trying to find it, I haven't met with the kind of support that truly meets me where I am. And it's shown me just how much I need to create that space myself.

If you're finishing this email nodding along, still waiting for someone to walk with you through the mess as you find your own best path forward – hit reply. I'd be honored to have that conversation with you.

With love,

Amanda