In this powerful and no-holds-barred conversation, I sit down with Brad Bizjack, a mindset strategist and personal development expert who’s walked through monumental challenges and rebuilt his life and business from the ashes.

We dive into why mindset is more than just “be positive,” how your relationship with problems determines your trajectory, and what it actually looks like to build resilience in 2025.

If you’ve felt stuck or overwhelmed by business problems lately, this episode will leave you feeling lighter, more empowered, and ready to move forward.

Brad’s journey from being $92,000 in debt to leading thousands through transformation gives him rare credibility and perspective as a mindset coach.

He shares raw, personal stories of collapse and rebirth, along with practical tools you can use right now to shift your thinking, rewire limiting patterns, and navigate adversity with greater clarity and strength.

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How to Handle Business Problems with Resilience and Optimism

If you’ve been in the online coaching world for more than a minute, you already know… business comes with problems.

No matter how much success you’ve had or how many systems you’ve put in place, challenges are part of the package.

And the truth is, your ability to thrive isn’t determined by avoiding problems but by how you respond to them.

That’s why I wanted to have a conversation with mindset expert Brad Bizjack. Brad has worked with over 75,000 people worldwide to help them rewire the beliefs and patterns that hold them back.

And after listening to his story (and the challenges he’s faced in his own multimillion-dollar business), I’m convinced: learning how to master your mindset as an online coach is non-negotiable.

In this post, I’m sharing the most powerful insights from our conversation, along with practical ways you can strengthen your own mindset for online coaching success.

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Why Mindset Is More Than Just “Staying Positive”

Let’s get one thing clear: mindset isn’t about plastering on a fake smile and pretending everything is fine.

Brad put it this way: most of what people call “mindset coaching” is really just toxic positivity.

It’s like standing in your garden, meditating with your eyes closed and chanting, “there are no weeds here,” while weeds keep growing.

Real mindset work is about digging into the root system. That means uncovering the subconscious beliefs, emotional patterns, and identities that keep you stuck.

It’s about becoming aware of the parts of your heart and mind that still need healing, not glossing over them.

This distinction is crucial for online coaches. Because if you’ve ever been told “just fix your mindset” when you were struggling, you know how invalidating that feels.

The point isn’t to ignore your challenges—it’s to approach them differently.

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Optimism vs. Pessimism: Two Very Different Paths

Every coach experiences setbacks. A launch flops. A client cancels. Cash flow gets tight.

What makes the difference isn’t the situation itself, but whether you approach it with pessimism or optimism.

Brad shared a powerful framework for this. He believes life delivers lessons in increasing intensity:

• At first, it’s like a feather brushing your shoulder—an early nudge to pay attention.

• If you ignore it, the lesson becomes a brick through your window—something disruptive you can’t overlook.

• Keep ignoring it, and eventually it’s a truck hitting you head-on—forcing you to confront what you’ve avoided.

The pessimistic entrepreneur sees every problem as proof that they’re failing, or that the world is against them.

They stay stuck in the shattered glass, obsessing over what went wrong.

The optimistic entrepreneur still feels the pain, but they see the problem as a teacher.

They ask: What lesson is this trying to show me? What gift might be hidden here?

That’s the shift we need to cultivate as online coaches—choosing optimism not as blind positivity, but as a belief in our ability to figure things out.

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Why Your Relationship With Problems Defines Your Success

One of Brad’s boldest statements was this: “Your success is directly proportional to the quality of your relationship with problems.”

That hit me. Because in business, the very act of solving one problem creates new ones.

You launch a new program? Great—you now have customer service issues to solve.

You hire a team? Amazing—you now have leadership and payroll challenges.

You raise your prices? Fantastic—you now face objections from potential clients.

This doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. It means you’re doing business!

Brad’s own story drives this home. After scaling his company to multiple seven figures, he faced a cascade of setbacks in a matter of weeks:

• Team members threatening to quit in front of clients.

• An employee failing to collect $250K in revenue.

• A vendor contract ballooning to 5x the budget, forcing him to cancel a 300-person event and refund every ticket.

• A major launch underperforming by hundreds of thousands.

For most entrepreneurs, that would’ve been the end. But Brad refused to let the problems define him.

Instead, he saw them as invitations to lead differently, clean up his systems, and let go of unhealthy patterns.

A year later, his business is healthier than ever. Why? Because he didn’t resist the problems. He built a better relationship with them.

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Breaking Free From Perfectionism and People-Pleasing

Here’s where it gets personal. So many coaches—myself included—struggle with perfectionism and people-pleasing.

Brad explained why. These tendencies often come from childhood conditioning. For him, the love he craved growing up was tied to being submissive and perfect.

That belief followed him into business, where he overpaid employees, avoided conflict, and held back his voice for fear of upsetting others.

Sound familiar?

As online coaches, we see this show up in two common ways:

• The beginner problem: Holding back from posting content, raising prices, or sharing your voice because you don’t want to upset anyone.

• The advanced problem: Pumping the brakes on growth because you’re afraid more clients will stretch you too thin or create negative feedback.

Both patterns stem from craving certainty (“I need to feel safe before I act”) and significance (“I need validation that I matter”).

But as Brad pointed out, perfection is actually the lowest standard you can set—it guarantees pain, because it’s unattainable.

If you recognize these patterns in yourself, start by asking:

• What am I avoiding by holding back?

• How is this behavior making me feel safe?

• What might I gain if I acted despite the discomfort?

Uncovering these subconscious drivers is the first step to freedom.

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Upgrading Your Emotional Home

One of my favorite metaphors Brad shared was the idea of an emotional thermostat.

Think of it like this: every person has a “set point” of emotions they consistently return to. Maybe yours is anxiety. Maybe it’s overwhelm. Maybe it’s doubt.

You might spike up into gratitude for a few minutes after journaling, or sink down into frustration when things go wrong.

But eventually, your system brings you back to your familiar state.

That’s your emotional home.

Here’s why this matters: if your dreams vibrate at a “95 out of 100” energy level, but your emotional home is stuck at “65,” you’re out of alignment.

You’ll unconsciously self-sabotage to bring your reality back to what feels familiar, even if it’s painful.

This explains why some coaches bounce back quickly from setbacks while others stay down for weeks.

Brad admitted that when his own business unraveled, he felt the fear and stress, but only for about 15 minutes. Then he shifted back to solution mode.

The good news? Your emotional home is changeable.

With intentional practices—like gratitude, reframing problems as lessons, and surrounding yourself with mentors, you can raise your baseline.

And the higher your baseline, the faster you’ll recover when things go sideways.

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Understanding the Seasons of Business

If you’ve been feeling like your business is harder this year than before, you’re not imagining it. But that doesn’t mean you’re failing.

Brad introduced the idea of business seasons:

• Spring: Planting seeds, starting new offers, building momentum.

• Summer: Nurturing and protecting what you planted—long days, hard work, and constant threats to your growth.

• Fall: Harvesting the results—celebrating the wins, reaping what you sowed.

• Winter: Slower seasons of challenge, reflection, and preparation for the next growth cycle.

The problem is, many of us expect every season to be fall. We think once we’ve “made it,” success should be easy forever.

But after every fall comes winter. And winter isn’t punishment—it’s preparation.

So if you’re in a winter right now, what if instead of making it mean you’re failing, you saw it as a normal cycle?

A chance to rest, recalibrate, and get ready for the next spring?

That perspective alone can take so much weight off your shoulders.

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Action Steps to Strengthen Your Mindset as a Coach

So what do we actually do with all of this? Here are some practical ways to apply Brad’s wisdom in your coaching business:

1. Notice your relationship with problems. When something hard happens, ask: Am I avoiding this, or am I willing to learn from it?

2. Identify your emotional home. What emotions do you return to most often? Is that state aligned with the level of success you want?

3. Catch the “feather” before it becomes a truck. Pay attention to early nudges instead of waiting for crises to force your hand.

4. Challenge perfectionism. When you catch yourself waiting until it’s “right” or seeking approval, ask what you’re actually trying to avoid.

5. Name your season. Is this spring, summer, fall, or winter for your business? Adjust your expectations accordingly.

6. Practice true optimism. Let yourself feel the discomfort, then intentionally shift into solution mode with questions like: What is this teaching me? How can I grow through this?

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Conclusion: Mindset for Online Coaches Is Non-Negotiable

Here’s the bottom line: online business is not about avoiding problems.

It’s about building the resilience to face them, learn from them, and keep moving forward.

Mindset for online coaches isn’t about ignoring challenges or faking positivity.

It’s about optimism, emotional resilience, and being willing to look at the subconscious patterns that hold you back.

When you stop making every dip in revenue or client setback mean that you’re failing, you free yourself to actually lead.

You stop being controlled by fear and start embracing the cycles of growth.

So the next time something goes wrong in your business, don’t ask, “Why me?” Ask, “What is this here to teach me?”

That simple shift might just be the most powerful business strategy you’ll ever adopt.

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Ready to build the mindset that finally frees you in your business?

I invite you to my signature program, the Nourished Business Accelerator™ so you can start building a business that truly supports the life you want.

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