Prosperous Coach Podcast

This episode connects the dots between your website, coaching packages and pricing as a reason you might not be earning as well as you’d like.

Find the show notes at prosperouscoach.com/135. I’ll be providing links to episodes that go into more detail on each of those topics so you can make clear, strategic shifts.

I didn’t start my business knowing how to be successful at coaching. Everything I’ve learned has come from studying my own many mistakes as well as what works and why.

Let’s start with websites because this is the biggest and most expensive bungle most coaches make.

Did You Just Slap Up a Coaching Website?

When you completed coach training, did you rush to put up a website? You might have thought, as I did, that:

·      A website is the first step to getting clients. It’s not.

·      A website will make you legitimate. Other thresholds come first.

·      Your website should be about you and coaching. Not true.

After redoing my website 4 times now my site is like a spring river flowing ideal clients to me who are ready to enroll and invest. I’m grateful for the flow!

I want you to have that flow!

My website is not the prettiest or trendiest website. Those things can actually be distracting to buyers. Coaches like my website because they feel at home there. They feel that I’m talking specifically to them. And that’s the secret.

Is it obvious on your website WHO you serve? Are you speaking directly to your audience in words they’ll understand? If so, you’re way ahead of the game and you’ve been strategic.

The 3 big mistakes I see on coach’s websites are:

·      It’s not clear, in seconds, who the coach’s target audience is

·      The site is selling coaching as a solution

·      Multiple coaching packages and prices are offered 

Let’s take these one at a time. 

Why Make Your Coaching Website a Home for Your Audience?

Relevance. Have you ever gone to a website and bounced off quickly? Chances are, you didn’t find what you wanted there.

Your website must grab attention and strike a resonant chord with your audience in mere seconds or they are out of there fast! That’s called a bounce. For more about this listen at prosperouscoach.com/40.

So make sure that the short pithy copy on each webpage is highly contextualized to your audience using keywords they’ll recognize and about their top problems and ultimate goals. Be connective not salesly.

Don’t Sell Coaching On Your Website

What? You’re thinking “I’m a coach, Rhonda, what else would I sell?”

I’m serious. Do not have a page or copy about the wonders of coaching on your website. 

There are inherent challenges to selling coaching that you don’t want to hassle with.

·      People rarely wake up knowing they want coaching.

·      Many people have a negative opinion of coaching.

·      Coaching is a skillset not an outcome.

For more about this critical concept, listen to Why Coaching is a Hard Sell at prosperouscoach.com/7.

To read more Show Notes and learn why you should NOT Offer Multiple Coaching Packages click here.

This episode was inspired by a conversation with one of my VIP clients. Find the show notes at prosperouscoach.com/134.

As an adult, when you’re starting something new – such as learning how to coach or building your coaching business — what’s the most natural way to feel?

Like an imposter.

Everyone experiences that feeling. Even the most impressive people with vast experience feel it sometimes. It’s human. And it feels worse if you beat yourself up for feeling that imposter syndrome.

You won’t likely feel confident when you’re new at something so don’t try for confidence right away. 

·      Begin with courage to learn and do the new and difficult things. 

·      Follow courage with allowing yourself to be new and make mistakes. 

·      Soon, confidence rises. And you don’t even notice the shift because you’ve moved on.

There are many milestones to pass and thresholds to cross as a new coach.

·      Your first time to try a coaching model

·      Your first coaching session outside class

·      You complete coach training, perhaps certify

·      Your first paying client is super exciting. 

And certainly, every successive paying client feels great too.

But what about while you’re getting the word out, building your network, learning marketing techniques and longing for those results? What will help you grow confidence before the money starts reliably flowing in?

Create Legitimizing Moments for Yourself

“Legitimizing moments” is a phrase that my colleague, Will Craig, used to say. He was founder of Coach Training Alliance and the co-author of the coach-training curriculum I helped to create. He often has a wonderful way of saying things. Thanks Will!

“Legitimize” is a legal term that means to make official, give approval or sanction. And the root of that word is the same as sanctify or sanctuary. Ahhh … sanctuary.

What will help you feel official even before you earn well as a coach? Create legitimizing moments for yourself.

2 Smart Marketing Ideas for Coaches

This is where the conversation with my client comes in. We were discussing getting the word out about his services and ways to leverage his marketing efforts. I suggested two things that most coaches won’t think of:

Ask 20 friends, family members, colleagues or past clients to help your star rise by regularly commenting on and sharing your social posts, especially when you’re announcing a new blog, podcast episode of video. You can give them a free coaching session or take them for a meal or repay them in kind.

This helps you prime the pump and create social proof, much like a busker puts her own dollars in the hat. People who don’t know you will be more likely to engage and that inspires more engagement.

To learn the 2nd smart marketing idea and read more Show Notes click here.

This episode is for all the perfectionists out there and can be found at prosperouscoach.com/133

Creating and growing your coaching business can be stressful, right?

In my experience, when creative tension ceases to be a positive driver and morphs into anxiety, efforts are counter productive. They don’t produce results because they are guided by desperation rather than strategy.

And you know what I think … strategy is the key to long-term business success.

I have seen coaches under tremendous self-imposed pressure quit their coaching business before they really started or sabotage opportunities. Some drive themselves crazy. Nothing is worth that.

But the solution isn’t to quit.

Instead learn to reduce and modulate stress. I am a long time student of this wisdom and it’s not an easy thing to learn. It is a highly valuable life skill.

If you believe you have to reach perfection — and most coaches I meet are guided by impossible expectations — self-imposed stress is a way of life that could eventually make you ill.

Ten years ago, I drove myself so hard to grow my coaching business that my body systemically broke down and I had to take a year sabbatical. I had been working worked 6 days a week for 10 – 12 hours a day and trying so many tactics that were time consuming and energy depleting.

The break in momentum was a bit sad but if I’d continued to push I would have landed in the hospital.

And that’s why I teach coaches the Simple Coaching Business Model. There are ways to earn well while keeping expenses and labor low. I’m earning almost as much working 3 – 4 days a week for about 6 hours a day than when I was burning the candle at both ends.

And, I am truly content with my clients where I wasn’t before.

Here’s what I learned the hard way: if you don’t teach yourself to reach for good enough and move on you won’t have a lasting and lucrative coaching business and you may hurt yourself.

So, I’m in perfection recovery. I now know that striving for perfection is not only fruitless, but also harmful. 

Also I’ve discovered the people can’t relate to perfect. If you appear or try to hard to appear that way, you’ll lose valuable relationships.

Think about it. In your favorite TV series or novels isn’t it the flawed individual who wants to improve more appealing than the plastic person who never slips up. 

Getting back to self imposed pressure … 

I’ve been podcasting for two and a half years. No other tactic has been more reliably successful at attracting my ideal clients to my VIP program called Coaching Business Breakthrough. And I love it!

I learned from pro podcasters that consistent weekly content delivery is the best way to grow listenership. I’ve compared my progress with podcasters who drop an episode sporadically or less than weekly and my podcast has more downloads.

Since the beginning I’ve only missed one week and that was Christmas Day. That is … until this past week.

I usually get ahead in episodes, but a set of difficult circumstances in my personal life overwhelmed my time and bandwidth. After several hard weeks in a row I sat down to plan an episode for the next week and just didn’t have a useful thought in my brain.

So I blew off the episode and rested. There was a momentary concern that I quickly quelled. And I thought no one would notice.

This episode is serious. Find the show notes at prosperouscoach.com/132.

I totally get the attraction to become a coach. Many who get the training and launch a coaching business had been coaching for years without even knowing it.

That’s why I encourage my clients to not think of themselves as new coaches.

In my last job before launching my coaching business, my colleagues used to seek me out. They wanted to be heard, reassured and sometimes brainstorm. They knew I’d be a sounding board for them.

It got to be that sometimes I couldn’t get my work done and I joked about putting up a sign on my door that said The Doctor Is NOT in. But in my heart I knew those types of conversations were thrilling to me.

Well before that at University, my work-study job was Peer Counseling. I loved it!

And I know I pick my closest friends partially on their own ability to listen and challenge me if I’m screwing up or thinking small. I’m pretty coachable – at least most of the time.

So, coaching was always a way for me. I just didn't know it was called that or that I could make a business around it.

What about you? Has coaching always been in your blood?

And, what about getting on the other side of the table … can you also be coached?

Can you:

·      Share your truth?

·      Take in a message given in good faith?

·      Run it through your integrity?

·      Make a shift in mindset?

·      Take action on behalf of the shift?

·      Be held accountable?

That’s a large part of what coaching is about. Our goal with clients is for them to become more self-aware and develop a growth mindset so they can take leaps towards what they want.

If that kind of progress doesn’t happen over time with a client, coaching isn’t really happening.

I was once taught and still believe it … if you aren’t coachable you won’t be a good coach yourself. It’s one reason why coach training organizations pair up two coaching students to coach each other.

Being coachable requires a kind of humility. You have to be able to tell the truth and receive feedback as well as look inside yourself for your own wisdom guided by powerful questions from your coach.

You must believe that other people can help you on your own evolutionary path. And you have to allow transformation to happen.

Being coachable also requires you to stop being at the effect of your life and set intention to be at the cause of your life.

Occasionally I meet someone wanting to coach others who does not seem to be coachable themselves. What I notice is consistent:

·      Resistance

·      Know it all responses

·      Lack of vulnerability

·      Lack of self awareness, and

·      Lack of accountability

Don’t get me wrong. I resemble these things at times myself. It’s the way someone consistently shows up that can reveal an inability to be coachable.

So if you want to become a better coach, try becoming more coachable.

Read the 8 Ways to Become More Coachable here.

This episode is short and powerful. Find the show notes at prosperouscoach.com/131.

When I was in coach training all I thought about was coaching skills. And after coach training I just wanted to use those skills and help people.

I wasn’t thinking about the other skills that are equally important for me to succeed.

The reality is that coaches need coaching business training as much as coach training. I learned this the hard way and it became my mission to supply this support to coaches.

Now, all skills have to be learned. AND it’s okay to be a beginner.

So let’s start with that …

The #1 Skill You Need to Be a Coaching Business Owner

It’s the ability to learn from your mistakes. And that means you need to be willing to make them.

Learning how to run your business well never ends. It’s like learning to be your true self or learning to be a contributing and compassionate human being. All the best things in life require continuous improvement.

And, I know this for sure … if you aren’t willing to learn how to run your business DO NOT start one.

It’s okay if it’s better for you to find a different way to coach than to have your own business. Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone.

There are some organizations that hire coaches as either employees or contractors. You’ll likely earn less than you can as an entrepreneurial coach but you won’t have the hassle of marketing and the like. Expenses will be low too.

I knew that I wanted to have my own business from the get go. I didn’t want to ever have a boss again. I wanted to do things my way and enjoy all the freedoms that come with entrepreneurship. 

Did I fully understand the responsibilities of running a business at first? Not at all!

So that’s the 2nd most important skill. Take responsibility for your success. That means you do what must be done day in and day out and learn not to sweat it. 

It’s not just showing up for clients. It’s showing up for ALL OF IT. I can’t shirk creating a weekly podcast episode, social media or paying my expenses IF I want to be financially successful and feel good about what I’m doing.

Few people love marketing although I’ve learned to enjoy it because of the non-salesy way I do it. And loads of coaches hate the idea of social media. But unless you have a ready made network of people longing to hire you already, its part of being an entrepreneur and attracting clients.

If you decide to be a business owner, be responsible for yourself and your success.

Timely, Thoughtful and Respectful

The #3 skill is communication – timely, thoughtful, respectful communication. Seems obvious right but it’s interesting how good coaching doesn’t necessarily translate to good communication in other ways. 

Quality written communication is just as important as those verbal moments with a client in a coaching call. Set a goal to get increasingly better at written communication. It’s a HUGE part of running a coaching business.

#4 is respect. Respect yourself and respect others. This isn’t easy and I fail all the time. I’m working on it.

How do you show yourself respect? 

·      Give your full attention to what’s important to you. (And if that doesn’t include your coaching business don’t start one.)

·      Set strong personal boundaries. Don’t let anyone walk on you.

·      Do what’s right for you and learn to be yourself.

How do you show respect for others?

Read about the 5th skill and the 4 ways to improve decisiveness here.

This episode is short and eye opening. Find the Show Notes at prosperouscoach.com/130.

The other day I was helping one of my VIP clients set her fees for her Signature Program and our conversation inspired this episode. 

Anything having to do with money in your coaching business such as income and fees brings up old emotions:

1.     Fear of succeeding and failing.

2.     Insecurity about worth.

3.     Family or cultural beliefs about money.

4.     Fear of rejection.

5.     And, mistaken assumptions about why people buy.

I always encourage my clients to “do the math” rather than choose fees emotionally or based on erroneous ideas about what the market will bear.

By becoming somewhat dispassionate and stepping into the practical coaches can begin to understand how they can help themselves earn well.

Setting low fees is the most common way that coaches shoot themselves in the foot. Another way is by not setting goals. And coaches aren’t the only ones who fail to set business goals.

Why don’t people set financial and other metric goals for their business?

Well, it’s the same 5 reasons I listed above — fears, insecurities, learned beliefs and mistaken assumptions.

But here’s what I know for sure … if you do NOT set goals you’ll fail to grow your coaching business income. If you do set goals you will earn more. It’s as simple as that.

Let’s say in the first full year of your coaching business you don’t set any goals. Instead you just hope for the best and serendipitously earn $25,000 (for simplicity I’m talking dollars here).

Now let’s say you, in an alternative universe, risk setting a stretch goal to earn $100,000 in that first year and you earned $75,000. Would you beat yourself up about that? No, you’d be thrilled! And you’d be inspired to consider what worked and what didn’t work in your strategy.

The point of goals is not to beat yourself up if you don’t make the goal. The point to goals is to stretch yourself and to think through how you’ll make the goal. 

Strategy is what brings about financial success. You’ll not only set financial goals but other metric goals too, such as how many Discovery Calls you want to have with prospects (because that’s the enrollment opportunity) and how many podcast episodes about what topics would inspire your audience to have the Discovery Call with you.

Goal-less business is not really a business at all. It’s a hobby.

Don’t let fears or limiting beliefs keep you from setting goals for your coaching business. Set the goal then plan how you’ll make the goal. Then celebrate your results, even if you didn’t make the stretch goal, and assess what worked and what didn’t. That’s how you step into the CEO role of your own business and thrive! 

This is the final episode in the series about lead magnets. Coaches have told me they are getting a lot of value from this series, so listen to the whole thing. 

I’ve been promising you a downloadable assessment to test your own free offer. Well it’s finally time for you to grab How to Make Your Free Offer Irresistible. 

In this short episode I’ll reveal what inspires your audience on your coaching website to opt in for your lead magnet. Find the show notes and get that downloadable assessment at prosperouscoach.com/129.

The single most important thing about your lead magnet is the title. 

Of course, your freebie should be valuable, but the title you give it may make or break your leads list development because it’s likely to be the deciding factor whether someone will bother to opt-in and read it.

Look, unless you have trained in marketing you’re probably not that good at titling — whether it’s your free download or a blog or a podcast episode.

Titling is an art and it takes practice to wordsmith in a way that motivates people to take action. It took me years to learn this.

The biggest secret about titling is to RAISE CURIOSITY. Not what you thought, right?

Take the title of this episode — The Single Most Important Thing About Your Coaching Lead Magnet. It inspired you to action. You decided to listen to this episode.

Notice that I didn’t give away what that single most important thing is in the title. That’s the big mistake most coaches make in titling.

I could have titled this episode: How to Title Your Lead Magnet. Not a horrible title but it is super dull.

Now, you do need to give some idea what your lead magnet is about in the title but you can be somewhat cagey about it. I encourage my VIP clients to take their unique benefit statement and slightly alter it into a title for their freebie.

Why? Because their Benefit Statement describes the big problem they help their clients overcome and/or the ultimate outcome their audience wants. 

For example, my Benefit Statement is: Helping coaches earn more and market less by choosing a highly profitable niche they’ll love. 

Choosing a profitable niche is a BIG problem for all new coaches. And, all coaches want to earn more and market less.

So my own freebie title mirrors my benefit statement: 5 Secrets to Choose a Highly Profitable Coaching Niche You’ll Love

See how that works?

3 More Things Your Coaching Lead Magnet Title Needs

So you want to start by raising curiosity. There are four other things that are helpful:

1.    Numbers in titles have been proven to increase interest.

2.    Name or imply your target audience in the title. The phrase “Coaching Niche” makes it clear I’m talking to coaches.

3.    Name the basic topic without making it dull.

If you’re following my guidance in this podcast series for creating your lead magnet you’ll first design your Signature Program, then create a free offer that pre-qualifies and pre-sells your audience to buy that program by having the freebie organize around your VIP offer.

I know, this is bit complex.  But there’s method to this madness. See I’ve learned that congruence and relevance are what help you attract clients.

So take a look at your lead magnet title now. Does it raise curiosity? Does it mirror your benefit statement and Signature Program?

This episode is a Listener’s Choice episode, which means a whole lot of coaches have listened to it. Find the show notes at prosperouscoach.com/128.

Think of this as a master episode – it’s almost like a seminar and it covers nearly all of the most important principles I impart to you about having a successful coaching business.

And, because I’m finishing up a series on Lead Magnets, I wanted to remind you about something that’s critical to the success of your freebie – you must have a sticky website. That’s a website that inspires visitors to hang out, read everything and of course, sign up for your downloadable lead magnet. It’s what I call a Client Winning Coaching Website.

Without that all the effort you spent on your lead magnet will be wasted.

Also a reminder … at the end of this series on Lead Magnets for coaches I’ll have a free downloadable assessment for you to test your own lead magnet to see if it’s irresistible or not. So keep listening to this series. It’s coming to a valuable close with that free assessment soon.

Now onto the Listener’s Choice episode. 

Today we are doing something a little bit different ... I'm going to take you on a journey. And, this is really about websites and how they work on your behalf to bring you clients and future clients and get people on your list so you can connect with them and build relationships of trust with them over the long term.

I've been talking about websites for a couple of episodes recently in a new series that I'm working on called Client Winning Coaching Websites.

Okay, so today what we're going to dive into is what is it that makes a coaching website client winning.

And remember last week I talked about how so many coaches are putting up what I call an online brochure, https://prosperouscoach.com/41 which is really not geared for attracting and enrolling coaching clients.

As a result, the website just kind of sits there and does nothing. And it's frustrating because no doubt you spent money on it and time on it and invested a lot of your heart and soul into it too.

There is a totally different way to do a website and if you're about to start your website, I hope you'll listen really closely because it does begin with some really early things. One is choosing a viable target audience full of seekers and developing a really smart niche that's going to help you stand out in the crowd.

But also there's the mechanical thing which is to choose a website template that is actually geared towards enrolling clients for you and a lot of them are not. That online brochure type is not.

Imagine the Customer Journey Online

Now, take a couple of deep breaths, close your eyes and think about when you've been online and something has jumped out at you and hit the mark about what's important to you .

You have clicked and gone to a website. Then, because of the experience that you had there on the website, you made a decision to sign up on a list for get a free download. Or, perhaps even taken a stronger action and actually invested money into a program of some sort.

That journey is called the customer journey.

Create a strategized customer journey like what I describe below for your website tailored to your target audience.

Go here for the rest of the Show Notes.

This episode is the 4th in my series about Lead Magnets for Coaches.

See the show notes at prosperouscoach.com/127. By the way these show notes have loads of links to other episodes on related topics I mention in this episode. If you’re serious about getting your lead magnet and other aspects of your coaching business right you’ll benefit from experiencing those earlier episodes too.

I’ve already had a bunch of great reviews from this podcast series. Thank you for not only listening to my episodes but also for passing them forward through social media to other coaches and coaching groups. I’m so grateful!

Amy said: “This is an amazing podcast. I have two lead magnets but they are not hitting the mark. I’m so confused about attracting the right people.” Amy, you are not alone in that. It’s a bit of a puzzle with several moving parts but you can make the connections. I will help you.

Shift From Chasing Coaching Clients to Attraction Through Credibility

I don’t know exactly when it dawned on me that I was going about my coaching business the wrong way.

But I do have a sense memory of the relief I felt when I made a dramatic shift in my marketing mindset and approach.

It’s time for you to make this BIG shift …

Go from:         chasing clients and convincing them to buy your coaching sessions

To:                   building credibility and trust through messages that hit the mark

Hitting the mark is easier than you think. But you do have to learn to think like your target audience instead of thinking like a coach.

The sooner you make the shift, the sooner you’ll feel more authentic about what you’re doing and your results will reliably improve. 

How Can You Pre-Qualify and Pre-Sell Coaching Prospects on Your Programs

You know that I believe coaches should not sell coaching session packages but rather offer a strategic long term Signature Program that directly addresses the big problems of your audience while it helps them reach ultimate tangible outcomes –the BIG things they know they want.

Have you ever heard of the concept of pre-qualifying and pre-selling?

Pre-selling and pre qualifying happens in the subconscious, not the conscious mind. We can’t logic people into hiring us. It’s an emotional response to the trust your audience has assigned to you through your understanding of them and through your credibility.

You must plan far ahead of the enrollment moment and strategically craft a journey for your coaching prospects. Episode 69 is about just that. Find it at prosperouscoach.com/69

Pre-qualifying and pre-selling begins with your core messages to your audience 5 ways:

1.     your brand

2.     your benefit statement

Click here to read the other 3 ways.

This episode is the 3rd in my new series about Lead Magnets. Find the show notes at prosperouscoach.com/126.

In all the time I’ve been an entrepreneur, I’ve downloaded hundreds of freebies.

I’ve gone seeking solutions to specific problems, found websites and lead magnets that seem to address my problem.

I give my name and email, somewhat begrudgingly I must say, and faithfully go through the process to download my prize.

I’ll be honest, I can still count on one hand the free offers that have provided real insight, delight or a sense of desire to pay for the services of the person who wrote the freebie. And in each of those cases I did hire them.

But really, 5 out hundreds. That’s not good odds.

Is that your experience too?

So what do you do then? If you’re like me the lead magnet goes quickly into the trash and with the next email I receive from that person, I’m unsubscribing and feeling like I’ve just swept up the messy crumbs of an unsatisfying snack that wasn’t worth the calories.

Obviously, you don’t want THAT to be what happens with the people who opt in for your freebie.

5 Goals Your Coaching Freebie Must Achieve

Look, your goal isn’t just to get the name and email of a person in your target audience. It’s to keep those people on your list long enough to build a sense of trust. You want them to perceive you as a credible solution to their specific problems and desires.

So you have to think this through before you throw any old freebie up on your website.

1.     How will you entice them to opt-in? (More about this in future episode. Clue: It’s partially about titling)

2.     How will you inspire them to at least skim but hopefully read most of your lead magnet?

3.     How will you deliver UNIQUE insights, tips, tools or simple exercises that will impress them?

4.     How will you make them want to read your About copy and make yourself credible?

5.     How will influence them to take a next step with you without being salesy?

In my 5 month VIP Coaching Business Breakthrough program, I collaborate with coaches to help them create a memorable lead magnet that does all 5 of these things. It’s not easy, but it’s absolutely doable and I have a process.

Most Coaches Freebies Miss the Mark

The initial free offers most coaches create early on tend to be too coachey. By this I mean they are on typical coaching topics like:

·      work/life balance

·      values

·      imposter syndrome

·      confidence

·      fulfillment

·      life purpose

·      authenticity

·      boundaries

·      gratitude

·      stress

·      goal setting

These are topics all coaches enjoy coaching about. And while there is no doubt that you could provide value on one of these topics, this information is out there on the internet in millions of hits.

So it might be a good idea before you create your lead magnet content that you Google the topic and see how much there is out there about it.

3 Ways to Increase Uniqueness in Your Coaching Lead Magnet

Now, there really isn’t anything wholly new under the sun. But that doesn’t mean you can put your own spin on a well-worn topic and make it highly relevant to your audience. Here are 3 ways to dial in uniqueness:

 Click here to read the rest of the show notes.