Six months ago (literally the week Sophia gave birth), she and her husband, Bradley, a Peloton instructor with a built-in community, launched a podcast that got thousands of downloads immediately. No warming up. No convincing. People just showed up. It was such a stark contrast to launching Marketing Unfiltered years earlier without an audience, and it crystallized something Sophia sees coaches mess up constantly: they spend a year perfecting their program while completely forgetting to grow their community. Then they launch a webinar and ask, "who am I promoting this to?" and realize... there's no one there. This episode is Sophia's wake-up call that audience growth can't be an afterthought anymore, it needs seasons, strategy, and to happen alongside (or before) building your offers. Because if you want to be a big deal in 2026, you can't wait until your program is perfect to start growing your audience.

Here's What We Cover:

1. The biggest mistake coaches make with audience growth: Spending a year perfecting the program while forgetting to consistently grow the community
2. The order that actually works: Build the audience and relationship BEFORE or WHILE you build the thing (not after it's "perfect")
3. The difference between passive exposure and real growth: Why podcast guesting and lead magnets are great for consistency but not how you grow BIG
4. The three best ways to own your growth: Summits, Private Podcasts, and Bundles: When each strategy works best and which one matches your sales approach

…and other proven growth principles most coaches overlook.

Resources Mentioned:

• Submit Your Question — https://www.speakpipe.com/MarketingUnfiltered

Selling in 2026 doesn’t have to mean another 1:1 offer, course, or mastermind.

In this episode of Marketing Unfiltered, I’m giving you permission to think outside the box when it comes to how you sell — and walking you through six creative categories of offers coaches are using right now to generate revenue without burning out.

If you’ve felt boxed in by traditional coaching models, this episode will help you rethink what’s possible.

In this episode, I cover:

• Why coaches don’t need to rely solely on 1:1 coaching, courses, or memberships anymore
• How to sell visibility, proximity, speed, and insight — not just transformations
• Creative offer ideas like Q&A memberships, office hours passes, laser coaching, and private audio feeds
• How to reimagine VIP days with 48–72 hour sprints
• Ways to monetize your ecosystem through affiliates, licensing, and partnerships
• Trend memberships and industry insight offers that position you as the go-to expert
• How to choose offers that align with how you actually want to work in 2026

This episode is meant to spark ideas — and I think it will!

AI has changed the business landscape — fast.

In this episode, I’m sharing how I’m thinking about AI as we move into 2026, especially after a year that felt harder than expected for a lot of coaches, consultants, and service providers.

I walk you through three strategic ways I’m using AI in my own business — not as a gimmick, but as a core part of my offers, systems, and decision-making.

In this episode, I cover:

1. Why AI has temporarily shifted how people value coaching and services
2. How I use AI as a speed filter across my offers
3. Where AI has replaced certain team tasks — without lowering quality
4. My favorite AI prompt for quality control and decision-making
5. Why “just using ChatGPT to write emails” isn’t enough anymore

This isn’t about doing everything with AI.

It’s about using it intentionally so you don’t get left behind.

Got questions? 

Email [email protected]

OR 

Leave me a voicemail here so I can feature you on an upcoming episode and/or come up with creative ways to support you: http://speakpipe.com/marketingunfiltered

Kelly Sinclair took the entire summer off social media and had her highest-income summer in four years. How? By redefining visibility as a daily habit that has nothing to do with performative posting and everything to do with building actual relationships. In this refreshingly honest episode, Kelly shares why she declared 2025 "the year of only if it's a hell yes," how she got a client while working at a bookstore with a messy hair bun, and why visibility is about taking one strategic action every single day, not checking off boxes to feel productive. From building custom AI tools to help you take messy action to the reality of cycling back to "I don't know what I'm selling" eight years into business, this episode is permission to let it be easy.

Here's What We Cover:

1. Performative visibility vs. strategic visibility: Why posting on Instagram with 65 followers is literally doing nothing for your business (and what to do instead)
2. The 10-minute daily visibility habit that changed everything: How one local media pitch led to a multi-millionaire podcast guest, a speaking gig in Nashville, and collaboration opportunities that keep coming
3. Why bundles are Kelly's favorite list growth strategy right now: How she launched a bundle on her birthday, went biking and bar hopping, and woke up to 230 new subscribers
4. How to use AI for visibility without sounding like AI wrote it: Why you need a brand calibrator (not just prompts) to train AI to actually sound like you
5. Building custom GPTs: Valerie the Visibility Auditor and Sarah the Sprint Coach: Kelly's interactive AI tools that assess your visibility actions and coach you through taking strategic moves

…and the list doesn’t stop there!

Resources Mentioned:

• 90-Day Visibility Sprint Starter Kit (FREE): https://kellysinclair.thrivecart.com/the-90-day-visibility-sprint-podcast/
• Entrepreneur School Podcast: https://kellysinclair.thrivecart.com/the-90-day-visibility-sprint-podcast/?coupon=SOPHIAPOD
• Connect with Kelly: www.instagram.com/ksco_kelly/

There are 20,000 events happening TODAY that need speakers (7,500 in the US alone), and Laurie-Ann Murabito is here to show you exactly how to get booked for them. A former healthcare professional turned professional speaker who helps coaches, consultants, and service providers leverage speaking as their best form of marketing, Laurie-Ann breaks down why speaking is the ultimate trust-building strategy in this trust recession we're all navigating. From why your voice conveys confidence (or pushes people away) to the exact script for reaching out to your warm market, this conversation is a masterclass in getting on stages, virtual or live, and converting those audiences into clients. If you've been telling yourself you're not ready to speak or that speaking isn't for you, this episode will flip that script completely.

Here's What We Cover:

1. Why your voice is your secret weapon in the trust recession: How frequency, pauses, and tone convey confidence and build trust (and why AI-written content pushes people away)
2. The "get ready to be ready" principle: Why you need your speech written BEFORE you start pitching (and what happened when Laurie-Ann had answers ready during a casual coffee chat)
3. The warm market strategy that booked 4 gigs from 1 phone call: How to leverage people who already know, love, and trust you (and the exact dialogue to use)
4. How to open the door to conversation without being salesy: The questions to ask meeting planners that get you information (not rejection)
5. The daily vitamin approach to building relationships: Why reaching out to 1-2 people every day (not 14 on Sunday) actually works

... and everything else that happens when people hear you speak!

Resources Mentioned:

• Free Guide: 10 Most Downloaded Episodes: https://speakandstandout.com/Guide

Meet Mindi Huebner, a subconscious identity coach who helps high-achieving women shed conditioning and breaks down the identity gap, the space between who you're being and who you say you want to be. From why you can't check your emails without anxiety to why women are twice as likely to justify using AI, this conversation will make you realize that 95% of what you do is subconsciously automated. If you've ever felt overwhelmed looking at your calendar or wondered why success feels so hard, Mindi explains the beliefs running the show behind the scenes and how to actually close that gap.

Here's What We Cover:

1. Why your subconscious keeps you surviving, not successful — How your brain burns the least amount of calories possible to keep you in familiar patterns (even when they don't serve you)
2. Mindi's 15-minute call strategy that actually works — How she sells high-ticket offers by identifying limiting beliefs in 15 minutes (and why people have opinions about it)
3. Women and AI: the justification problem — Why men are twice as likely to use AI and zero times as likely to justify it (and what that means for the gender pay gap)
4. Your 24-carat identity framework — How to map out the version of you who has everything she wants (down to what she smells like)
5. The 5-4-3-2-1 nervous system regulation technique — Five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, one deep breath

... and so much more!

Resources Mentioned:

• 10-Episode Private Podcast from Mindi — DM "podcast" on LinkedIn or Instagram to receive it
• Connect with Mindi:
  • LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mindihuebner/

If you've ever wondered what buying signals you're missing or how to turn data into an actual story that helps you make better business decisions, this episode will blow your mind. Meet Kelsey Silver, a former marriage and family therapist turned data analytics expert who built an AI tool called Foresight HQ after realizing coaches were literally ghosting people with their credit cards out, ready to buy. With a master's in marriage and family therapy and over a decade in corporate-level predictive analytics, Kelsey breaks down the psychology behind customer journeys in a way that will completely change how you look at your Instagram DMs, email sequences, and sales data.

Here's What We Cover:

1. Psychological triggers vs. buying signals: what's the difference? The things you do as a business owner to trigger action vs. the signals your customers give when they're ready to buy
2. Implementation intent: the buying signal everyone misses. Why questions about VAs attending calls or PDF formats are massive red flags that someone has already decided yes
3. How to sell without actually selling. Kelsey's three-tier affiliate partnership program and why she pays affiliates MORE when they do more work
4. The 48-hour rule for opening wallets. Why you want people to make their first purchase within 48 hours of joining your list and how to make that happen
5. Low ticket vs. high ticket: which needs more touchpoints? The counterintuitive truth about why low-ticket offers sometimes need MORE nurturing than high-ticket

... and so a lot more!

Resources:

• 5 DM Signals They're Ready to Buy (Before They Ask for the Link): https://kelseysilver.com/5-dm-signals-7564?am_id=sophia7784
• Foresight HQ: https://foresighthq.app/signup?am_id=sophia1615
• ForesightHQ 7-day $7 trial: https://foresighthq.app/7-day-trial-checkout?am_id=sophia5067
• Connect with Kelsey: https://www.instagram.com/kelseyesilver 

Just in time for Halloween, in this episode, we're diving into the truly scary stuff, the legal blind spots that could haunt your coaching business. Attorney Sarah Waldbuesser (who's been in the online legal space for 10 years) breaks down everything from contracts and trademarks to AI legal risks that most coaches aren't even thinking about. If you've ever wondered when templates are enough versus when you need a lawyer, what actually happens when clients ghost on payment plans, or how AI is changing the legal landscape of your business, we will give you the clarity (and peace of mind) you desperately need. Because legal isn't just about protection, it's about power.

Here's What We Cover:

1. The most common legal blind spots in the coaching industry: Why coaches start businesses without thinking about legal at all (and what that costs them)
2. The "gut punch test" for trademarking: Sarah's simple way to know if it's time to trademark your business name, course, or podcast
3. How to protect yourself from clients who ghost on payment plans: What actually works (and what doesn't) when clients stop paying
4. The truth about third-party platforms like Kajabi: Hidden legal risks you might be missing and why copying Kajabi's terms won't protect you
5. The power mindset shift around legal: Why thinking "I have to be protected" versus "I AM protected" changes everything about how you show up as a CEO

... and so much more!

Resources Mentioned:

• Coach's Legal Checklist: https://thelegitcoach.com/checklist
• AI Legal Starter Guide: https://thelegitcoach.com/ailegalpack
• Destination Legal:  https://destinationlegal.com/collections/templates
• Connect with Sarah: @destinationlegal on IG and FB

Stop chasing visibility and start building authority. Beth Nydick, a former TV producer with almost 20 years in digital media (who's been everyone from Dr. Oz's blogger to a cocktail cookbook author), breaks down why most entrepreneurs are completely missing the point when it comes to podcast guesting. This isn't about landing the interview, it's about what you do with it. Beth shares her signature MICS Method for turning one podcast appearance into $10,000 in client revenue and calls out the fake PR "experts" who are selling you snake oil. If you've ever wondered why your podcast appearances aren't converting into sales, this episode will blow your mind.

Here's What We Cover:

1. Beth's MICS Method — Her signature system for Messaging, Interview prep, CTAs, and Systems that turns one podcast into $10K
2. The first 12 seconds rule — What podcast hosts notice immediately that tells them if you're prepared (or winging it)
3. How to do CTAs throughout the entire episode — Why waiting until the end is costing you sales and how to drop breadcrumbs from minute one
4. The post-interview promotional system — Beth's exact backend strategy for leveraging one interview multiple times throughout the year
5. Exclusive lead magnets for podcast listeners — How to create different offerings based on specific audiences (not just one generic freebie)

... and so much more!

Resources Mentioned:

• Rich Relationships by Selena Soo: https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Relationships-Million-Dollar-Network-Business/dp/B0F35GH7RQ
• Connect with Beth: Find her at @BethNydick on all platforms
• DM Beth the word "Sophia" on Instagram for her exclusive podcast listener gift: https://www.instagram.com/bethnydick/

In this episode, Ash, a therapist who pulled her kids out of school to travel the world for three years while running her business as the sole breadwinner, shares the raw truth about high-functioning burnout - the kind that looks like success from the outside but slowly kills you on the inside. From making half a million dollars while working 10-15 hours a week to burning out the following year trying to "professionalize" her business, Ash reveals why our attempts to fix burnout with to-do lists and perfect systems are actually making it worse. This episode will challenge everything you thought you knew about productivity, self-care, and what it really takes to break free from cortisol addiction.

Here's What We Cover:

1. What is high-functioning burnout? — Why the most successful-looking women are often the most burnt out (and why no one checks on them)
2. The cortisol addiction trap — How our bodies become addicted to stress and why "peace" can actually feel unsafe
3. Why perfectionism leads to burnout — Ash's story of making $500K in a relaxed, unstructured way, then burning out the next year trying to make her business "professional"
4. The dangerous myth of multitasking — Why trying to do everything at once drains your energy faster and creates only "elusive peace"
5. Why self-care often doesn't work — The truth about performing self-care as another box to check instead of actual healing

... and so much more!

Resources Mentioned:

• Burnout Breakthrough: https://ashmcdonaldmentoring.com/burnout-breakthrough