Prosperous Coach Podcast

This episode is an eye opener. Find the full transcript for this episode at prosperouscoach.com/175. 

I don’t think there’s a new coach anywhere who hasn’t wondered … should I know more than my clients? Won’t they expect that I have expertise to guide them? Otherwise, why would they pay me … right?

I’ve heard coaches from all walks of life question their fitness to be a professional coach — whether the coach is younger or older, highly credentialed or not at all, has vast work experience or none. It’s what I call a garden variety doubt. It comes with the territory of offering services in exchange for fees. 

Let’s look into this powerful question a bit more because the answer is a paradox. And paradoxes are full of possibility. 

So, should you know more than your coaching clients? It completely depends on what you’re offering – what you’ll be doing with your coaching skills. And it’s also a matter of semantics – what is knowing anyway?

What Do You Want to Do with Your Coaching Skills?

After coach training I was like a convert. I clung tightly to every aspect of the doctrine and guidelines. I read, listened and watched anything I could find about coaching. I attended all the local ICF chapter meetings and conferences.

My coach training school taught me to create a Coaching Practice, not a business, so I had this vague vision of working with dozens of clients one on one in an office somewhere, much like a therapist does. I’d charge fees by the session. I’d hold professional distance.

I was tempted to apply coaching skills to every conversation. I annoyed my friends and family because I felt that I knew THE secrets to communication. And I do think the tenets of coaching are best communication practices but I hadn’t yet matured those skills with good timing and knowing when to stay silent.

I was, in those early years, what I would now call a pure coach – a traditional coach the way that the ICF and my coach training school intended.

But I was also a poor coach in the sense that I undercharged for years. I stayed in student mode and hoped for the best. I didn’t consider the marketing required to attract clients or any other aspect of running a business and so bumbled around feeling I hadn’t made it as a coach.

You’re probably much more savvy than I was because you know from the get go that you must build and run a financially strong business. How to do that is the next challenge and that’s where my passion is now.

I eventually realized there had to be a better way for me. Prosperous Coach Podcast is all about that better way.

By the way, over time, every coach finds their style and their place — or they drop their coaching business and go get a job.

I have become a non-traditional coach. I no longer feel that the pure coach model is for me. I still honor my coach training and use coaching skills but I’ve brought my full self into what I’m offering now, which includes expertise.

About a certain set of things that I’ve studied deeply, I know more than most of my clients and it’s why they hire me. But I want to make it clear, my clients and I collaborate. I guide and suggest while drawing their skills and wisdom out. It’s a hybrid approach.

Listen to Do You Fit One of These Coach Archetypes?  Check out episode 73 at prosperouscoach.com/73 or on your favorite app. Here I’m going to focus on the 2 archetypes — the teacher and healer archetypes.

Read more about how to develop a hybrid business using coaching skills plus teaching, mentoring, or healing skills.

Recently, I asked my Facebook group of new coaches what topics they would like me to cover in my upcoming podcast episodes. By the way, I LOVE it when coaches like you ask me burning questions, so don’t hesitate to reach out and ask me something specific. I’ll answer in a solo episode or find an expert to interview.

DeShawn, this episode is for you. And, it’s dedicated to all coaches who want to build an online community of potential coaching clients called a leads list! Find the full transcript with links to related resources at prosperouscoach.com/174.

I’ll cover the goal of marketing emails, do’s and don’ts, plus the top 5 quick tips for more effective emails.

First …

Don’t Sell Coaching By Email

Being sold to by email feels skeevy. You don’t like this and neither will your audience. So, resist the temptation to sell to people who do not already know, like and trust you well. That causes unsubscribes.

By the way, unsubscribes aren’t all bad. Part of what’s happening with unsubscribes is natural selection. Your IDEAL clients are staying and those who don’t connect to your message are moving on.

Building trust is the #1 reason to email your target audience. Your goal is to relate, inspire, entertain and educate. By the way, that’s what you also do in a blog, podcast, videos and social posts. It’s called generosity marketing and it works!

If you inspire some sort of action you’ve succeeded. The long-term goal with email marketing is to inspire successive actions that bring your prospect closer to hiring you. Potential actions your reader might take include clicking through: 

·      to download your lead magnet

·      to experience your content on your website — a blog, podcast or video

Later in an email series called a campaign you might also inspire them to sign up for an enrollment opportunity such as: 

·      a Discovery Call

·      to register for free webinar or another event

But those things aren’t something you want to offer out of the blue in a one-off email. It takes a strategy. That’s why it’s called a campaign.

Selling your services isn’t at all like selling a gadget or makeup — the kinds of ads you see on social media. Coaching is a co-creative relationship and the service has a relatively high price point. Your prospects deserve a chance to talk to you or have a more personal connection before they enroll. But even then, never hard sell.

Show That You Know Who You’re Emailing

You can imagine that to relate, inspire, entertain and educate, first you have to understand your audience well. What makes them tick? What are the BIG problems you help them solve on the way to big goals they are struggling to achieve:

Are YOU solving a big enough problem? That’s a key to success. Check out episode 65 for help with that.

If you haven’t yet chosen a viable target audience to serve and discovered why they would seek out help and hire you, let’s fix that. It’s the cornerstone of everything you’ll do for your coaching business.

Create a Strategic and Attractive Customer Journey

Never write and send an email or series of emails without the end in mind. 

Click here to read more about how to create a customer journey and 5 quick tips to emails your audience wants to read. 

Rhonda Hess:

Hey coaches, I have something really different and exciting today. I'm doing an interview today with the awesome Shannon Kaiser. I'll introduce her in just a minute, but let me tell you how this came about.

I came across her website and on her website was an assessment to test what your intuition style is. And I could not resist taking it. Great questions on it, by the way. And as soon as I received the results, it told me that I was clairsentient. I had known that before, but I didn't know an assessment would be able to evaluate that about me. This was kind of fun. I want you to know a couple of the things that the results told me. It said that: 

• I feel drained being in a large group of people.
• I have awesome instincts about people, places, and situations.
• I find it difficult to watch the news.
• I am super sensitive to my environment.
• I can't shop at thrift antique stores. 

All true. This last one made me laugh because I can't touch other people's stuff a lot, you know, unless I have a relationship with them. So these are all really interesting to me. 

Over the years in my coaching business, I have developed my intuition and I think it's really important for coaches to do this. So I invite you to go to Shannon's website for the assessment. And while you're there, look around at all the wonderful things that Shannon has on there.

Let me tell you about her because you're going be amazed at this wonderful human being.

Shannon, first, let me just say “hi”.

Shannon Kaiser:

Hi. It's so great to be here with you. And I'm so glad you got to, uh, dive into that assessment and it related. That's pretty amazing.

Rhonda Hess:

I'm pretty amazed that you could write something that was so effectively nailing my style of intuition. Congratulations!

Shannon Kaiser:

That's part using my intuition to create it. We'll talk about that.

Rhonda Hess:

Shannon is a world renowned, spiritual and self love teacher, speaker and empowerment coach. She is the bestselling author of 5 books on psychology of happiness and fulfillment — I laugh because I can't even imagine writing one — including The Self-Love Experiment, Adventure for Your Soul, and Joy Seeker. She guides people to awaken and align to their true selves so that they can live their highest potential. She's been named among the top hundred women to watch in wellness by mindbodygreen. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her rescue dog, Chance. Anything else you want to tell us about what brought you to being an empowerment coach, speaking globally and writing all these books?

Shannon Kaiser:

It’s great to be here with you. Thank you. I truly feel we have these pivotal moments in our life and I haven't always done this work. In fact, in 2009 I was in a whole different career climbing the corporate ladder, working in advertising, working with celebrities, being an Art Director and Graphic Designer.

It looked like I had it all. I was dating a man who wanted to marry me and it was just wonderful checking all those boxes off of what they society says you should want.

But I would cry myself to sleep at night.

Read the full transcript and learn more about Shannon's assessment to identify your intuition style for your coaching business.

This episode is about anxiety that some coaches feel caused by one specific action they take repeatedly. It can keep you from moving forward in your coaching business and enjoying the journey. Find the full transcript at prosperouscoach.com/172.

I once worked with a coach who kept backsliding between sessions. We’d have a dynamic conversation in session. Their passion would pour forth. Certainty would click into place and I’d set them onto a task to take their decision into action.

A day or two later all the certainty had dissolved and in its place was paralyzing overwhelm and doubt.

We’d meet again and the passion would come back full force. They would leave the session feeling sure of their direction and ready to take action. But then a few days later slide back into a deep internal struggle.

I have great compassion for all new coaches. These highly intelligent and personally powerful human beings can really going through it!

I’ve been there and specifically at that tender time of just beginning to build my coaching business. I remember the lost feeling. The belief that I didn’t have what it takes.

In both my case and I believe this coach’s case as well, we were getting in our own way. It’s not unusual to get stuck repeatedly when you’re doing many things for the first time and taking a big risk to build a business.

There was one thing this coach was doing repeatedly that stole away their fire and sense of purpose … Googling other coaches websites and social channels in their coaching niche.

You’ve done that, right? You wonder if it will give you a clue and maybe it will affirm your direction. But it does just the opposite. The comparison monster rears it’s ugly head and fills you with doubts. 

Am I good enough?

Can I do this?

Those other coaches have so much more going for themselves!

I don’t have enough credentials.

Maybe I should give up!

Shame rises up along with fears that spiral into a big story you tell yourself.

What can you do? Three things …

1. Invite the Emotional Part to Have a Rest

Sometimes drama is high and gets more accentuated over time when you’re not in action. These feelings don’t necessarily mean anything about your future. But they feel all consuming in the moment.

A while ago I did some Internal Family Systems parts work to help me through a difficult time. I highly recommend the workbook called Parts Work: An Illustrated Guide to Your Inner Life by Tom & Laurie Holmes. It’s something you can read and get value from on your own or work on it with a therapist who know the concept.

With guidance, a bit of self-awareness and spontaneous action with a crayon I was able to quickly draw the most prominent characters of my inner family. These are the parts that drive me through my days with similar triggers and results.

Now, I notice these characters at work inside me. I can see what’s going on with them when I feel fear, shame, grief or anger. And, if I give myself a bit of time I can respond with compassion and engage my higher self to both care for those other parts and soothe them.

Read the full transcript and learn about 2 other ways to snap yourself out of overwhelm.

This episode is inspired by children who are born with a sense of wonder for the world and all the beings in it. Find the full transcript at prosperouscoach.com/171.

Recently, I asked the members of my Facebook Group called Prosperous Coach Club what topics they would like a podcast episode about. One person said: 

“How to be curious. Is it something that can be learned and trained and if yes, how?”

What a wonderful question! Thanks for asking for that O.G. This is for you.

And, by the way, if there’s a topic that YOU want me to coach about, let me know through my website.

First, I want to say that curiosity is an innate skill. It’s a survival strategy as well as a way to be delighted by the world. It’s a love of learning.

And as we get older, we tend to close off curiosity because we’re encouraged to KNOW.

Have you ever watched a person you admire admit they don’t know something? How did it make you feel? For me, there’s this sense of wisdom that the person knows what they don’t know and are willing to admit it.

Curiosity is a muscle that goes slack if you don’t use it for a while but it doesn’t take long to grow strength there again. Like so much, it's a matter of raising awareness until it becomes habitual. Coaching clients is a great way to build that muscle.

Being Curious is Good for Coaches

When a client comes to a session with their agenda, what’s the best way to serve them? 

·      Should you imagine the conversation before hand and plan your approach?

·      Should you take on their emotions and problems as your own?

·      Should you step into performance mode and be the one with the answers?

When I say it like that, it’s obviously a ‘no’, right? But when you’re new to being a coach what are you feeling before a session? Performance anxiety. You feel you should know … everything. 

It’s understandable and it’s counter to what’s really needed for an effective session. Shifting from performance mode into curiosity relieves the pressure. It opens the field to sensations — your own and your clients — and intuition kicks in.

Masterful coaches aim to stay present, open minded and curious. In fact, if you’re in a curious state you are simultaneously present, in the present moment and open-minded. How beautiful is that? 

Curiosity is an indication of genius. It awakens the observer self. The mind stays active instead of passive. It takes a flexible mind to come back again and again to curiosity. 

Yet, isn’t it interesting that children are the most curious among us? What does that tell you about the urgent need to know all?

Being Curious is Good for Coaching Clients

It’s taken me a long time to learn to be curious in coaching session. Sure, I learned that open-ended questions are the best tool for coaches next to listening. But I didn’t stop to think … what comes before the powerful questions inside of me?

I’ve since learned that the beginning of excellent coaching starts with knowing what is motivating me and making a quick adjustment in the moment if necessary.

Go here for more of the transcript about why your curiosity is good for your clients.

This episode is inspired by all my VIP clients, who are far more intelligent and gifted than they give themselves credit for. You too are gifted and intelligent. Believe it! Find the full transcript at prosperouscoach.com/170.

Being the CEO of your own coaching business is a great way to uncover and set loose your creativity. I’m not talking about poetry writing, painting and sculpting here. I’m talking about the vast reserves of your innate ability to create something from nothing. Out of thin air.

When I started as a coach I had no idea I would create so much. I figured that everyone else’s ideas were better than mine and that I would read books and apply those ideas to my coaching. Know what I mean?

Create From What’s Inside of You

Well, sure, I did some of that. But I will tell you … I feel much more engaged in my business when I create from my own ideas. I’ve created my own models for processes, my own terms and a lot more. I’ve shared those with you. Coaches tell me that they understand complex things that they didn’t before because of those unique models and words.

You can do this and more too. I’m here to tell you it’s both challenging and meaningful. All things that are meaningful have a large dose of challenge in them.

In 2001, I was 3 years into my coaching business and was the Treasurer for the Denver chapter of the International Coach Federation. The president of the board was Will Craig. 

Will has creativity coming out of his pores … all day long. I’ve never met a person who is more the director of their own life. He is unstoppable. If Will wants something he will make it happen! 

Creating a business for him was child’s play. And this is the potential for you. Your coaching business could feel like play. Can you imagine that? It’s a mindset.

Rise to the Occasion of Your Coaching Business

I was blessed in more ways than I can count when Will asked me to be a trainer for his new coach training company. That was the start of something hugely satisfying and profitable for me that has affected my whole coaching career. It became a point of credibility and a prosperous network for me. It grew my confidence.

They say if you teach a thing you become the master of that thing.

One year later, Will asked me to co-author new curriculum for his coach training school. His belief in me was stunning! I didn’t know how to write curriculum! But I rose to the occasion.

It’s time for you to do that if you haven’t already … rise to the occasion of your coaching business. Rise to each of the occasions that show up in that territory.

Will gave me some guidelines and encouraged me to think like a beginner. Over the next few months I dug deep inside myself to write something I’d only 3 years ago learned to do ­— coach!

I knew I had to create something original — to figure out my unique perspective and come up with a fresh coaching model. It was a birthing process.

I’m amazed my marriage survived this time. But you know what? My husband, Seth, helped me greatly by interviewing me about each chapter’s topics. That would get me writing.

By the way, that’s a writing tip. If you’re having trouble getting your words onto the page,  record yourself talking about the topic or have someone interview you about your topic and jot down your words. It primes the pump.

Read more about unleashing your genius here.

This episode might surprise you ... Find the full transcript at prosperouscoach.com/169.

New coaches often ask me what does it really take to be good at this ... to earn a good living at coaching by running your own business? Great question!

Welcome to Your Coaching Business Journey

You want to make a good living at this, help people, and be the director of your own career and lifestyle. Your coaching business can bring you all of those things and more.

After 20+ years growing my own coaching business I've realized that it's been the territory of my greatest personal transformation. It’s been a spiritual journey because I’ve raised the courage to stay in it and ride all the waves. I’ve evolved and have more to do there.

So here's my invitation to you … if you're going to build your own coaching business — go for it without limits. Stay the course. Keep the faith. Believe in yourself even and especially through the down times when you're not meeting your goals or feeling stuck.

Let’s explore what it really takes from two angles:

First, mindset shifts you’ll need to make.

And two, actions you’ll need to take.

As you listen think in terms of your potential rather than what you have to have achieved already. Wherever you are on this journey, you’re in the right place to move forward. Forward is always the best direction.

Let’s start with the most crucial mindset …

Mindset #1 - Embrace Being a Beginner in Your Coaching Business

Learn to be okay with not knowing everything and with being bad at some things until you get better at them.

Explorers and scientists get the value of this mindset. They know that first you summon courage and that most mistakes made along the way are happy accidents.

I've never liked the phrase "fake it ‘til you make it" because you can be totally authentic while you're learning things. Be transparent.

• You can tell your clients you're new at this.
• You can flub up and just bounce back.
• You can apologize for mistakes and learn from them.

No one will mind. In fact we're living in times where vulnerability is appreciated. Don't perform. Connect. Don't judge yourself. Allow yourself to grow.

Mindset #2 - Let Your Coaching Business Be Your Teacher

Your clients will teach you how to be a better coach. Your marketing mistakes will teach you how to be a better marketer. Your peers will teach you how to be a better leader.

What circumstances or events feel like they repeatedly take YOU down a peg? Those are your Core Lessons in life. Make it part of your purpose to master those things.

For example, I seem to need to continually learn how to stand in my power and how to hold healthy boundaries. I've come a long way with this. My business has been my greatest teacher.

And, your client’s Core Lessons may very well be the challenges that also trip you up. Interesting, right? It’s all a big mirror.

Read about the 3rd and 4th mindsets and the 3 actions here.

I bet you think I’m going to talk about apps for tracking your clients here. No! You don’t need that. I’m talking about reasonably priced apps that help you run your business rather than give you more tasks to do.

Every couple of years I announce my favorite apps. But, you know what? My favorites don’t change much because these are the best I’ve found. Find the show notes at prosperouscoach.com/168.

I keep my systems and processes for my business ultra simple and think you should too. That means using some old fashioned methods like Excel spreadsheets instead of Trello and emailboxes for clients and more spreadsheets to keep track of clients. Why? Because they work, are free and don’t add a lot of labor.

When I do spend money on my business I’m strategic about it. Check out episode 111 called Smart and Not So Smart Coaching Business Expenses.

If you are just starting out as a coach you’re probably tempted by dozens of apps and systems that target coaches. Many are expensive in the long run and may not seem like it if it’s $10 – 20 month. It adds up. That means less profit for you. You want to guard your profit! Be strategic in all choices for your business.

Some of these apps I’m about to share with you have a free version, which is all you need. Some are paid monthly, some are paid yearly. I pay yearly whenever I can because it’s easier to budget and usually a savings.

Let’s start with a free service:

Canva

What a great app! I remember trying to create graphics in Photoshop. Forget-about-it! The free version helps you create great looking: 

·      social media memes and banners 

·      lead magnets

·      brochures

·      postcards

·      letterheads

·      info graphics

Among other things, I use it to create my podcast episode art. I have templates for the different sizes needed for different social channels stored in Canva that I just copy, replace the title of my episode and the image. In a few minutes I’m done. 

Yes, you can get the paid version but it’s an unnecessary cost. Rather than use the images offered in Canva, I upload my own which cost 1/10th of the monthly price of Canva Pro. I get my images from Deposit Photos.

Deposit Photo

I recommend that all coaches have a content strategy such as a blog, YouTube videos or a podcast (my personal favorite). You put out valuable bite-sized content like clockwork each week that is highly relevant to your target audience. It’s called generosity marketing.

Not sure how to do that yet? Listen to Episode 75 about how to produce content that gets engagement.

Your weekly content should also relate to your Signature Program as much as possible so you pre-sell ideal coaching clients on that program in a subtle non-salesy way.

To read about the other 4 cost-worthy apps for coaching businesses, go here.

This episode is about why you (and every new coach) get stuck and 4 ways to breakthrough to forward momentum again. Find the full transcript at prosperouscoach.com/167.

You've been learning a lot, cramming coaching techniques into your head and transforming yourself from the inside out. Coach training sets the pace and you keep on going until you graduate and stuff gets REAL!

It's time to shift from student coach mode to professional coach mode. They are very different states of mind and practice. Learning curves accelerate because the business side of coaching is more complex than the coaching skills side.

And suddenly you're stuck. The best thing to do is get back into strategic action as soon as you can. However, if you don't exactly know what to do you’re still stuck. I’ll address that in a minute.

All Coaches Feel the Imposter Syndrome

Also you may have a mental block and feel you’re not worthy. Imposter Syndrome is one of the main reasons new coaches get stuck.

So the first way to get unstuck is to acknowledge that this is a familiar place. You’ve felt this before and you're not alone here. There’s nothing wrong with you.

Consider your many skills and accomplishments that brought you here. You're an intelligent, talented and thoughtful human being. Now get into the habit of giving yourself a pat on the back for whatever you learn or take action on.

You'll feel instantly better.

Creating Your Coaching Business Alone is Discouraging

The second reason you get stuck is trying to do everything on your own. And this gets back to that issue of not knowing what to do.

Overwhelm is a courage and momentum killer. Chances are, you're literally drowning in information overload right now. You’re plucking bits of advice from here and there and none of it really fits together.

There's this mountain to climb and it looks like it's going to take years, so you are tempted to give up … just slide back into your old life.

But then shame creeps in because you feel like you've wasted a lot of time and money on coach training. You can’t let yourself and your family down!

So here's a rule ... take a bit of information in, and then take some sort of action to integrate what you've learned. Incremental learning is going to give you an ever-expanding comfort zone and that feels good. And, consider sourcing your advice all from ONE place.

To get unstuck fast ...

Read about more ways to get unstuck and surge forward successfully in your coaching business.

In a Discovery Call with a coach today, (who did hire me by the way) I asked what inspired her to reach out to me. She honored me with a list of things that made me feel good. They were also confirmations that my customer journey is working.

Helping YOU create that customer journey for your audience is what this podcast is about.

She told me that a quote on the Coach Training Accelerator, curriculum I co-wrote for Coach Training Alliance made an impression on her. It was something along the lines of “Fear lives in your head. Courage lives in your heart.”

I didn’t remember I said that, but when you write as much as I do over decades it’s a strange echo from another time to hear my own thought forms come back to me.

So yes, courage is where it’s at when it comes to launching, running and growing your coaching business. But fear will hover around. 

You see our big brains are designed to be wary of things and they get caught up in a loop of worry and fear. But your heart has the wisdom to realize that fear is usually just a flimsy emotion … like cardboard. Fear is not usually a true obstacle. It’s most often a mental block that has little substance.

Today’s episode is all about the F word. Find the full transcript at prosperouscoach.com/166

Fear is a powerful force. It can move you toward safety and it can keep you from your destiny.

The feeling is no fun. But, like all feelings, it holds the possibility of transformation.

On any given day, I feel some amount of fear. What about you? 

Fear could show up while I’m listening to the news. Or, if I’m in a car and I or someone else makes a mistake in judgment. It could be a deep concern that rises up about someone I love or about my body.

During my work, it could be a moment of uncertainty, like when I’m trying to learn something new or take a big step that I’ve rarely or never taken.

Fear is a fairly present emotion for human beings.

But most of the time fear doesn’t stop you. It might give you pause, but it doesn’t ultimately keep you from moving forward in your life.

Fear is not something we want to turn off or stop feeling. It’s not even about becoming numb to it. It’s more about having a healthy process with it.

All emotions deserve to be felt, acknowledged and then released, which is a key to good life, right? Fear is an ancient and primal emotion. It can be a vital response for survival.

A Habitual Response to Opportunity

But fear can also become a habitual response to opportunity and this is the big point I want to make to you today.

If you let it, fear will block your growth.

Go here to read the best cure for fear.