Ep 260 — Authentic Branding for Coaches: Stand Out & Attract Clients (Even in the Age of AI)
Struggling to stand out in a crowded coaching market? In this episode, we’ll show you how to create an authentic coaching brand that attracts aligned clients—even in the AI era. It's time to build a brand that looks and feels like you.
In this inspiring episode, me, together with our Business Mindset Coach Thais Glenn, share the secrets to authentic branding for coaches. Learn how your personal story, values, energy, and style can become your greatest client attraction tools. Discover why branding is more than logos and fonts—it's about trust, alignment, and standing out in a world full of AI-generated everything. If you're tired of branding that doesn’t feel like you, this conversation will help you step into your true brand identity and show up with unshakable confidence.
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Transcript
If you are a life coach or any other type of niche-based coach and you're wondering how to stand out in a crowded market, here's what you need to know about how to get noticed, and also how to become memorable. Today, we're gonna talk about authentic branding. We're gonna talk about how you can be seen as a successful coach before you are one.
In the world of AI-generated everything, the only thing that can't be copied is you. I'm talking about your energy, your story, and your style. That is what authentic branding is all about, and that's why it matters more than anything.
So in today's episode, I'm gonna show you what authentic branding really is all about, why it's the foundation for attracting the right clients, and how to start creating a brand that feels like you.
If we haven't met, I'm Debbie Shadid. I'm a business strategist for female coaches. I help women build and grow profitable boutique style coaching businesses, and I wanna introduce you to Thais Glenn. She's our business mindset coach who supports our clients by helping them eliminate the roadblocks that keep them from taking actions needed to become a profitable coach.
So, Thais, welcome. Thank you, Debbie. Let's talk about authentic branding. What is authentic branding to you? Yeah, I think authentic branding, it's more than just the brand of the business, right? Like we talk about how everyone has a personal brand. Everyone, when you're in business, you want to create your business brand.
The authentic branding is almost the umbrella that covers the business branding, the personal branding, and everything else that you do. So authentic branding, it's really who you are, right? Like it's that goes a little bit deeper than the font or the colors that you use, but really who you are and not the thing that you should be. Right?
The idea that who I should be like. So a lot of times I remember when I did a whole photo shoot and it was like, I took all this photos for the photographer to see first of what I wanted that brain session to be like, and was this very confident woman, like very strong. Now I have all of those photos and I'm like, that's not even me.
That's it, doesn't even look like me because it was so different, right? It was away from the authentic branding. It was away from who I was, and it was at that time what I thought I should be, right? Coach should be strong, should be extremely confident. Should be that go-getter kind of person. So that's where the authentic branding is so important.
It really brings the values that you hold, the energy that you have, the natural style that you like, really who you are, and that's really when you know that you're showing up aligned with your business. I think that's how I see the authentic branding.
Yeah, and another part of that is really getting to intentionally decide if you don't already know how you want to represent yourself, it's like intentional reputation management ahead of time. You know, we talk about going to your future successful self and deciding what you value and how that's gonna show up in your business as if you are already successful. Super fun.
We're gonna walk you guys through four steps for learning how to create an authentic brand. But Thais, what I wanna know is what role does mindset play in authentic branding? Oh, that is huge, and that's why just hiring someone to do your branding doesn't necessarily align with your authentic branding because I think the mindset, the way I would see it with the authentic branding, it's really how confident you are.
When you are trying to fit into a brand that someone else built for you, it's misaligned. But when you really know yourself and you know your values, you know what motivates you, you know your dreams for the business. You align that with the branding, that's when you create this authentic branding.
So it's truly who you are and you need to know who you are, and then you show up with the confidence that you have knowing how to coach. Sometimes it's the difference between, I know I am a coach, I know how to coach, but I dunno how to be in business. That's what authentic branding does for you.
You learn how to be in business because it's you. It's not just the version of branding that you think it should be. Yeah. We are gonna talk about logos and colors and that kind of stuff 'cause I know that's what you're thinking. You're here to learn. But let me tell you why I'm talking about this topic today.
If you are like me and you listen to podcasts and you find things on YouTube, you know that one of the trending topics right now is about AI and about why you need a personal brand to stand out in the market. And I wanna tell you that I've been talking about authentic branding for over two decades.
So in my mind, this is not a new thing and of course, authentic branding is personal branding and business branding both together. What I want you to know, though, hear me on this, is that AI cannot create your brand. Yes, you could ask it to create it. In fact, we know people who've done that. We know people who've said, tell me what color, who and how should I represent myself and my brand?
And we're like, no, no, no. This is work that you have to do, right? The one thing that I want you to know is as AI continues to grow and it will, you can't be replaced and the "you" that you wanna show the world, we need to define who that is, so your personality, your presence, that cannot be automated by AI.
It's so beautiful because as the coaching industry grows, the one thing that can't change is me and you having a conversation. AI can't. Yeah, it's doing it, but it's not the same thing as this. And I think right now people need human connection more than anything. So let's talk about Thais, what is authentic branding not?
Okay. Authentic branding is not just the logo. It's not just the color palette, right? Like the Canva templates. Yeah. It's so much more than that. It's all of those things, but really who you are, and we can't replace that. When we're talking about AI, what came to my mind, it's how AI is a robot. A lot of times we think that we need to be a robot too, right?
Like I need to be perfect. I need to do everything perfectly well, my colors have to be perfect all the time, and I don't think we need to be a robot. You need to really embrace who you are, that normal part of you being a human, and that's what people are craving, especially as AI grows, people are craving the real you. And the real you might be a little quirky, might be a little awkward sometimes, right? You make mistakes, you say things that you don't really mean to. So, that's what authentic branding is not just a perfect brand all the time, right? Authentic brand is you. It's who you are.
It's the embracing the human that it's you. So it's not just the brand that you choose because you think that's what the clients will like, or things that sometimes we do thinking that would increase my price, or if I had a better branding, people would like me. Authentic branding is really establishing how you want to portray yourself deliberately. So it's not accidental. It's not something that you use the example, right? Like the Louis Vuitton bag? Yeah. When you talk about this, who decided that bag Brown with a little bit of gold, who decided that that would be a five, $10,000 bag?
They positioned themselves to be that price, and that's what we need to start doing in our business too, is to position ourself deliberately like thought out how to do it so that we can show up confidently with our pricing, with our offers, with the methodology that we take the clients through.
Like that is the, in my mind, that's what the authentic branding is, not just that brand that you see on paper. It's so much more than that. Yeah, I, I am thinking about this example that I shared with our clients, and maybe I shared it here too, about how it's interesting, one coach can charge $30,000 for something and one can charge a thousand for something, and what's the only difference is it's what the coach thinks they're worth.
It's like Louis Vuitton thinks their bag is worth this much money, which means people think it's worth that much money. I think the main point or takeaway for this part that you guys need to leave with is that you get to intentionally decide who you are, how you're gonna show up, and when you're aligned with who you are and what you are,
and like all the things we've slightly mentioned, value and integrity, and that's one of ours, integrity. When you're aligned with that, you'll attract the right people. And even like you mentioned, pricing, and we won't get all into pricing, but even that becomes aligned with you, instead of what you think your pricing should be, it's really a beautiful thing.
Your whole business sort of comes into shape. Yeah. Without having, you know, like trying to copy anyone else. Oh yeah. Because it's you. That's the difference, right? You're really embracing who you are, what you believe about yourself, what you believe about your business. You are creating this authentic branding from that knowledge.
Yes, yes. Okay, so I'm gonna give you four tips to creating your brand, but let me just talk just a little bit more. Number one, why do I want you to have an authentic brand, and why does this whole branding thing matter so much to coaches? Well, first of all, you are the brand. Somebody is hiring you, so again, it's not just colors and logos and fonts. It's really your presence that is represented through your brand, and when you have a brand that is well thought out and really is aligned with you, it builds trust with clients or builds trust with people who are interacting with your brand. How does it build trust while people remember you because you look the same.
You know, I always use the same example like people expect me to have a scarf on, they expect me to have red lips on. If I show up that way or show up without one of those things, then somebody asked me like, what's the deal? You don't have a scarf on. You know, they expect it. It's feels like something that's predictable that they can count on,
like there's trust, you know, in this online space where we don't see anybody in person anymore, there's ways that you build trust. So one of the things that I want you guys to know is if you're not buying into what we're saying, let me just say this, people are sizing you up instantly. Everybody that you come in contact with, if you're here with me, the second that you saw me, it was unconscious, you size me up and you decided, I think it's kinda like primitive.
Is she dangerous or can I trust her? It doesn't have to be like fancy. It can be, it's just that I am this way, right. That's the thing. There's no disconnection between my personality and how I look and how you see me. So, tell me Thais about the brain, what you think happens in the brain when they see a brand, like when you're scrolling on Instagram, what is happening in your mind unconsciously?
Yeah, with that authentic branding, I think it's the expectation that you create when you see that because, and again, when you are just trying to fit in into a brand, let's say that you created a black and white, cursive color brand and you think that you need to fit in that style, but that's not who you are.
You're actually a very happy, colorful person. Every time you try to do the business, you think that, okay, I need to record a reel for Instagram. Then you need to almost like put the hat on that it's not truly you. But I think people can feel it. They can feel when you're being authentic or not.
Yeah. So in the brain, I do think it creates that expectations, right? Like the way you show up, Debbie, you have recorded a weekly podcast for a very long time, so people are already expecting to see you, right? When they are scrolling on social media, they see you again because you have posted again, like you do every single day.
They create that expectation of, "I can trust this person, she shows up," right? "If she's there on social media talking about the business all the time, I know that I can trust that she would be there for me too when I am her client." Things like this, I think it shows that the comfort of expectations, right?
They know what to expect from you by what they see about your authentic brand. And again, remember not talking about the font or the colors, right? It's the authenticity that you bring into your brand. I really do believe that it creates that expectation of what they can expect from you. You know, I always talk to our clients and people who are interested in working with us about how we can help make your business simple. And they're like, yeah, right? Like it can be simple. And it's like, okay, yes, we have to teach you the tech. Yes, we have to help you understand how to write an email kind of for marketing and that kind of stuff. But what makes your business so much easier is when you're aligned with your niche, when you're aligned with your brand, when you can just be you.
When you talk about, I guess this is even part of authentic branding. When you're teaching and training on something that you know so deeply, you don't have to read another book about it. Yeah. Right. That's what creates confidence. It's that whole package of all of those things together.
Yes. A hundred percent, that's you being the business, right. You already know your business so well and what your material that it's just easy for you to speak. Yeah. Okay. Let me run through you guys the four steps to help you reveal your authentic brand to you, and again, as if you were already a successful coach.
So a lot of people need to have some self-discovery time because they haven't thought of this, and I can be honest and say, 20 years ago when I did this too, there was some questions that I could not answer either. So it's like, what do you value? I was like, I'm not sure. Which sounds silly now because I understand values now, but I just say like, what is it?
And in our business and in me, and it's in me, and so it's in our business, integrity is key. Like, I'm the lady at the grocery store who's saying, oh no, you didn't gimme my change right, and I'm trying to give them money back. And people in line are like, good Lord lady. But that's integrity to me.
Like it is not something that I have to come here and say like, I'm gonna show up with integrity. It's just the way I live. We wanna provide honest feedback to people. We talked about, I value honesty, but also you should know I'm emotionally engaged with our clients. Their business brings me to tears too.
So I value, intimate connection with people because I want to be like on their team. Right. So anyway, the first thing is to know what you value. The second thing is to know what really inspires you, what lights you up, whether it's in nature, in fashion, through travel, what colors, not just your office space, because that's a super important part, 'cause you're sitting in an, a lot of hours every week, but in your home and it's time to like, again, not just intentionally design your reputation, but also really intentionally make decisions about what is it do I want to have in my life and in my business? You also have to ask yourself. The third point is to know what makes you feel the most inspired.
Again, that would be your environment that could be closed. We all have that thing that we put on and we're like, oh yeah, I showed up good. I was talking with Thais actually this last week about what should this standard be? We can't do this in our business, but what should the standard be for our clients to show up to coaching calls?
Because that same standard that they practice showing up to us could be the standard that they show up in their business, right? We have to train people to be, and so often we're like, oh, no messy hair and yoga pants sitting on the bed. It's like, no, that's not the way we do business. Are you a professional or not?
So what makes you feel most empowered? Even like positioning yourself in what light? I talk about you being an expert or an authority. What situation makes you feel best? Then the last thing I just wanna mention is we do talk about personality profiling because that is part of creating a brand. This is, again, something people have no idea about, and it's often very eye-opening.
So Thais, do you wanna share a little bit about what we love about these three tools that we recommend to clients? Yes. Okay. So, it goes back everything that Debbie was saying, all those points goes back to you knowing yourself, you knowing your values, you knowing what brings you inspirations, right?
What we use to help you understand this side is the first one is vision board, but not the boring, the boring one that is so hard to make, right? It's really you paying attention, the things that you love the most, podcasts that you like, books that you like reading that, like those books that transformed your life.
What did they say about in those books, we talk about finding things that you love, just pictures, go to Pinterest, go to Canva, and look through all the pictures and start seeing what really brings joy to you. Because then you start seeing how it matches with the actual business brand, the colors and the font, right?
We help you create this through vision boards. Yeah. And then another tool that we use a lot, it's Enneagram. And that blew my mind when I learned this. I don't wanna talk too much about the Enneagram because I don't understand, but I know you, Debbie, you got coach to come in and type every team member and we start to really work with each other, knowing them personality type.
It was really helpful to see when I see you freaking out, it's like, it's not just Debbie losing her coup, it's her personality. It's how she responds to stress, right? So I'm able to connect with you differently. Now, this is important because when you're creating your brand, you wanted to really add who you are.
Like I could not have a brand, an authentic branding with the really bright red lipstick like Debbie does. It fits her because she's that go-getter, an Enneagram three. I am an Enneagram six. I am like soft and calmer and like I just like the soft things around me. So knowing those things, knowing your motivations, your fears, really helps you to create the brand you want.
Another thing that we use a lot is the strength finders. Yeah. Because we need to know what are your strengths and understand which part of the strengths really drag you down? Like we have a lot of learners in our program. It's so easy to just sit back and want to learn everything.
And instead, let's use that for benefit. How can we add the learner into the business? So maybe you are doing courses or maybe you're doing programs that you can use all of the learning and actually have an action to do with the learning that you have. So all of those things we really think that it helps a lot to create your authentic brand.
Yeah. Then by the way, we talked briefly before the podcast about me being the action coach. And that again, really is a personality thing. She mentioned Enneagram three. Enneagram threes, they don't wanna fail, they always wanna look good, right? They wanna make sure it all comes together just right, and image is very important.
You could be ashamed of that. I could be like, oh my gosh, that's true. But it's true. I mean, I can't change it. I want to be pulled together. I wanna be polished. But that's what the people who come to work with us, they want to have somebody lead them because of the action, because of the energy, so they can look professional, so they can get this stuff finally done.
They like this step by step process. So again, that's how Enneagram basically revealed that to me, and it helped me be able to build that into my brand a little bit more, but it was already me. Yeah, it's just that those things helped me say, oh yeah, okay, I should be presenting myself this way and I should really lean into that.
Again, that's why I would say like, look it, I am the action coach. If you are not taking action in your business, we can change that because that's my natural strength. So, super fun part and people that whole branding the vision part, sort of finding the elements that, that they like doing the Strength StrengthFinder test, doing the Enneagram test.
Oh my gosh. That just changes people. It's like they have a revelation of who they finally are. Yeah, I mean, they feel connected with the brand. When you create this authentic brand that it's you and it's just how you really show up in business, when you create the authentic brand, that's what it is.
It's how you show up in business, and I think that it really brings that embracing to who you truly are so you don't have that disconnection, right? I show up as a coach or show up as a business owner? You show up as you. Whoever you are with the confidence. I think that's what the knowing yourself through authentic branding can be really helpful.
So let me just say again, I'll touch on the colors, the fonts, the logos. What happens is once you create this vision. It's almost as you're looking at, let's imagine a vision board. We do it in a couple of different ways, but when you create this vision for yourself, you can look at the board and you can see who you are.
Yeah. I could look at the board and see that what you see me dressed in today, the red pants, the blue shirt, all of this is literally exactly what was on that board. That might not be exactly the way my house is decorated, but that was what was on the board. Same thing I know for you, Thais, it was like your brand of softness and pastels and pinks,
it was on the board, and that really is, it's like you didn't have to decide it was there. You said yours was like a scarf that had the color palette on it. Yeah, and you just look at this branding and your heart sings, right? Like it's just this beautiful thing that you're proud of because it's who you are instead of, we see sometimes, especially when people come into the program and they already have their brand made, they're like, oh, it's not really me.
It's like, oh yes, we are gonna get this figure out. We want it to be you, so you are so like, I am so proud of my website. I think it's beautiful, and some people might think there's too many flowers or whatever. It's like, no, it's me. Yeah. I, as you can see, I have plants everywhere. I have flowers everywhere.
Right? I have a whole garden of peonies everywhere, and that's who I am. And that's what we want the authentic brand to be like. Yeah. Well, I hope I've inspired you guys to really think deeply about what you value about really what causes you to feel empowered, you know, about how you wanna show up in your business, about what you want your future successful self to be seen as, about how you want to look even on Zoom, what environment in your office really makes you feel successful, and again, it doesn't have to be fancy. It's you. It can be the target you, it doesn't matter. There's no brand judgment here. So you don't actually need to match who you think your ideal client is. You match you. When you show up authentically, the right client matches you.
It's not the other way around. People think they should create a brand like, what would my client like? No. You create a brand that is an extension of you and the right clients come to you. It's like a magnet. It pulls in the right people. So your authentic brand is something that you're gonna grow into.
Okay. It's gonna be something that you'll discover. Yes. We create it. We create you know, the elements that we use for it, but it's really who you are already, and then the business just reflects that. You can stop second guessing yourself. You'll show up so much stronger in your marketing, and again, you'll start attracting the best clients.
Yeah, that's right. Okay, you guys, we gotta wrap it up today. So I wanna know what is your takeaway? Here's what I'd love for you to do. Head over to Instagram at @DebbieShadid. DM me and tell me what your takeaway was from today's episode, and then I'm gonna check out your Instagram. I'm gonna see what I see in your brand, and I'd even give you a comment back or some tips back.
If you guys are intrigued by what we're talking about then I would love for you to explore what we have to offer inside the Life Coach Business Building School where we help women just like you build boutique style coaching businesses. I'm not gonna go into that, but even boutique style business, do you see? This is a small, really intimate business. It can be large volume, right?
Lot of dollars made in it, but that really fits your authentic brand. That's the takeaway for today. So in this AI world, get really connected with you, become empowered by becoming your best self. Alright, Thais. Well thank you so much, Debbie. Yeah, we really appreciate our time together here. So much fun. You guys have an amazing week.
Make sure you connect with us on Instagram and we'll see you very soon. Bye-bye.