EP 344 - The Real Reason You Don't Have Coaching Clients Yet in 2026
If you've hired a coach, taken a program, and learned all the things, but you still don't have coaching clients, this video is the honest conversation you need to hear. It's probably not the program. It's probably not your niche. It's the gap between what you know and what you're actually doing.
If you're new to my channel, my name is Debbie Shadid. I'm a Business Growth and Life Coach and the founder of the Business Building Boutique. For over two decades, I've helped women learn how to become coaches, get clients, grow their businesses, and create meaningful income doing work they love.
In this episode, I'm calling you out with love. Most coaches who say they're stuck aren't actually stuck on strategy, they're stuck on action. We'll talk about what real marketing looks like in your first year, why you should be spending more time marketing than coaching, and how to break the patterns that are keeping your business from getting off the ground.
In this video, we'll walk through:
Why most new coaches are doing the wrong work and calling it "building a business"
How much time you should actually spend marketing vs. coaching as a beginner
The hidden traps that keep you stuck (still figuring out your niche, redoing your website, consuming endless content)
What real action looks like, five conversations a week, posting even when no one engages, asking for referrals
How to handle the mindset blocks: fear of judgment, imposter syndrome, comparison, and the "I'm not ready yet" trap
What to do when you bought a program you're not happy with (and how to get your money's worth anyway)
The one marketing action to commit to this week to start compounding your results
Here's the truth: the world needs what you have to offer, but they can only find you if you show up. When you stop watching and start doing, your business stops being an idea and starts becoming real income, real clients, and real impact. This is your wake-up call to do the work.
Ready for the kick in the pants that gets you actually moving? Save your seat at my free live workshop. I'll answer your questions, get you unstuck, and put you in a room with other women coaches doing the same work as you: https://debbieshadid.com/workshop
Want to sit down and map out exactly what your next move should be? Book a free Business Blueprint Call: https://www.debbieshadid.com/schedule
Connect with me, Debbie Shadid:
Website: https://www.debbieshadid.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbieshadid/
Listen to the Podcast:
Life Coach Business Building School Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/life-coach-business-building-school-with-debbie-shadid/id1502118085
Tired of spinning in indecision about what to post, how to sell your coaching, or explain what you do? This is your moment!
Join me for a live edition of Fast Track + VIP coaching experiences where you'll get real-time feedback on your niche, offers, and marketing, plus the clarity and support you've been looking for.
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Transcript
If you've worked with a coach or you've taken a program, you've invested your time and your money into learning how to build your coaching business and you still don't have clients, I wanna talk to you today. This is one of those, let's have a real conversation moments Because I genuinely want you to have the business that you actually want. Now, while you might have your niche, your offer, your pricing, you might know how to use the tech You might be doing free marketing, maybe some social media. You're talking to people you know how to sell. You've got all of that conquered and yet. You still dunno why you don't have clients. I'll tell you, this episode is for you. and it might be a little uncomfortable, but I think you already know. This isn't about the program failing that you took. It's about the gap between what you have learned and what you are doing. By the way, I'm Debbie Shadid, I help women 50 plus build and grow profitable boutique style coaching businesses. Today we're gonna talk about what it actually takes and what it really looks like to build a coaching business. Many of you guys probably feel like you've already been doing the work, and I'm gonna call you out and say you've been watching trainings and taking notes, but the real work that I'm gonna talk to you about today, probably is not being done, and that is showing up consistently and genuinely talking to people about what you do, like five conversations a week. And I don't mean fluffy conversations. I mean really telling people what you do and then posting content. Are you actually posting the content even if nobody sees what you're posting, even if you're not getting comments and likes, are you still posting? Are you going to networking events even if you would rather stay home because this is what you do to actually build a coaching business. Are you sending emails to people that you've been quote meaning to follow up with? Are you sending emails to people that you knew from your past that need to know what you're doing? Are you asking for referrals? Even when it feels awkward or asking for referrals at all, having the sales conversation. Even when you have that knot in your stomach, and maybe even not like a full on consultation, but are you talking to people about the fact that you sell coaching, that you help people in a certain way? I'll tell you this part of building a coaching business is not the easy part, and also it's not the most fun part either, right? The fun part is doing what you're most passionate about, which is coaching. Building a business though it takes more hours of marketing than it actually does of coaching, especially in the beginning. Now I know that's the reality check that you probably didn't wanna hear and that you might not have heard. So let me say it again. At this point in your business, if you're just getting started, you need to spend more time marketing than you do coaching. This actually surprises so many people. When we have our planning session, I talk about planning your time and how many hours it takes to do this, and still at the stage that I am at in my business I probably spend 75% of my time, at least 50% of my time marketing and I have a team. So that just goes to show you that marketing is the key for you having the coaching business that you love. So most people picture that their week is full of coaching sessions. The reality is a brand new coach should be spending like 80% of their time marketing, maybe 20% coaching, you know, a doctor in their first year of school. is not seeing patients all day long. Well, some of 'em are, but in reality, they're building their practice. They're building their reputation. They're working on their referral network. They're getting connected with people. This is the same for you. You are building. You're building what it takes. You know a realtor when he first gets started that first few years, they are out there selling houses like this much of the time. The rest of the time they're networking. They're trying to find people who will list their house with them. They're basically hitting the streets and marketing themselves. The same is true for you. You are building a business. A business takes work, and that happens before anyone pays you. How long are you willing to do that? Let's talk about what not doing the work is, because I want you to take a look in the mirror and see what it looks like. Am I talking to you? Someone who isn't doing this work is someone who's still trying to figure out their niche after months, and please hear me on this. I talk to women who sometimes two years have been working on their niche. There is no working on the niche. We just pick a niche and that's the niche. Maybe you've been redoing your website, and while I teach all of those things to our clients, every bit of it. All of that is important. At some point I'm like, okay, done. Let's call it done. Let's get on with it. This is where that B minus work comes into play. You just do it and you get on with marketing your business. Maybe you're consuming a lot of content and you're not actually implementing. One of the key strategies that I tell our clients when they come to work with me, and they don't have to do this, but I recommend this. Unsubscribe from everybody else that you're following. Don't attend any other trainings. Don't listen to anyone else. Only pay attention to me because I can get you there faster if you don't have outside inputs. And I'm not saying I'm the only way to get there, but this is a problem if you are consuming lots of content. I have a way. She has a way. They have a way. And guess what? There you are looking and talking to chat GPT about what is the way and chat GPT is gonna give you another way. So there are many ways to get to the end result. Stop watching all the trainings and start taking action. I will tell you. You never really have questions and the right questions or the understanding until you actually do it. Once a client does the work and they come to a coaching call, they're like, okay, now how do you do such and such? And it's such a good question that they ask because they actually applied what I was teaching 'em. Maybe you're on social media and if you are like what I was years ago, I had screenshotted so many things. My camera roll is probably still full of them. All the things, all the ideas, instead of just picking up the phone and doing what was even harder, which was talking to my phone and recording a video. If you have joined a lot of programs and you have logged in and watched the videos and life gets busy, then that's a problem you guys. If you join a program. You should do it every single module. You should come to as many coaching sessions as possible. You should not skip your coaching calls. You should come to the coaching calls. I always tell people, look, if I paid for this thing, I'm gonna be there. Every time I'm gonna be asking questions, I'm gonna get coached. I'm gonna make sure I get my money's worth. Even if you're in a coaching situation you don't love last year, I'll share a personal story here. Last year I hired two coaches, the biggest investments that I had ever made ever that I never imagined that I would make two of them in one year. Both of them were bad decisions, but you know what I did? I said, oh no, I'm gonna get the best of what I can get out of both of these programs. I'm gonna do everything I can to maximize my experience. And I did. I even went to California twice for one of the programs, twice for retreats that I really didn't need to go to, but I'd already paid a significant amount of money for the program and I was gonna do it. Are you doing that with the programs you buy or do you just sign up for things out of FOMO and then they sit there? I am astounded when somebody buys one of my programs and they barely log in. Please do the work. I shouldn't have to beg you. It's you that wants to build a business. It's you that wants to do that because you're here watching this video. So I know what this looks like because I see it all the time, and I say this with so much love, all the things I'm saying to you. I'm not calling you out. I'm trying to help you get to where you want to go. Watching other people build their business. And talking to your peers about it is not building a business that I'm still trying to figure out my niche trap. That is a trap, right? Clarity comes from doing it. Clarity comes from deciding. I always tell our clients like we decide and then we decide to love it, right? You pick your niche, you pick your brand colors or your business name or whatever it is. Then we do the work. Our mindset work to decide to love it. So if you are in that stage, it's time to make some decisions. Maybe you're doing some comparison too. You're comparing where you are and you're comparing yourself to where somebody else is that is far ahead of you. If you are watching trainings of people that have giant email lists and they're telling you about email marketing, you are wasting your time. You really are. Now I take pride in trying to teach beginning stuff. I recognize that I'm much further along, so maybe sometimes I don't get it perfect. But here's the deal. I talk to people about getting your first email subscriber, not a hundred or a thousand or 10,20 email subscriber is what you need, right? Your first email is what you need to do like send that first email. So yes, I'm much further along, but I specialize in teaching those beginning stages. So don't get caught in that trap of saying like, I should be, I could be where they are. Or I'm supposed to do it this way. You're not there yet, okay? You're not there. I wanna tell you that if you stay stuck trying to make a decision about something, not only are you missing out on income, income that could be yours, which is why you're in business, but you're also missing out on changing somebody's life. I have to get real here for a moment. What if there is somebody that is desperately in need of you and the work you do? And I really mean that because there can be many people doing the exact same thing that I do, but there's only gonna be so many people that wanna work with me. There's only so many people that wanna work with you. This is why there can be lots of coaches because you are for somebody and I'm for somebody, even if we were doing the same thing. So just imagine that there is somebody suffering and you're not putting yourself out there 'cause you're still worried about your colors and like, who cares? Just put yourself out there. Okay? So please, please take action. Okay, here's the part that I wanna say that you might not like. Some of you guys have bought coaching that you're not happy with and you are also going to sell coaching and some people are not gonna be happy with it. And the first thing that I would say is, first of all, that's a decision. Do you want to be happy? With the coaching that you purchased, I don't know why you wouldn't, because why would you wanna be mad about it? Like that doesn't get you any benefit. But some people are gonna be unhappy and the truth is they're unhappy because they haven't done the work yet. you know, in my example in business, they haven't built the business yet and gotten the results yet. So make sure that if you are like, I don't know, I hired this coaching certification company and I don't know if I'm getting what I want out of it. I'm gonna ask you, are you doing the work? Have you given up on them or are you showing up and asking for help and asking for guidance? This is the most important thing for you. Get your money's worth out of everything and do it by doing your part. Frustration I know is real and disappointment is real, and like I said. Last year, woo. Boy, it was a disappointing year for me. I made some bad decisions, but here's the thing. I said, what am I gonna learn about this? Because I'll never repeat those again. What am I gonna learn? And I learned so much that I can teach you guys now. So make sure that you redirect your disappointment into something that's positive to get you where you're going. I have to tell you, it's probably not the program. It's probably not the coach. It is probably in business for sure. The gap between what you want and between the result that you're gonna get. This will be the same for your coaching clients too. You're working with them on something and they're like, my life hasn't changed yet, and you're like, okay. It doesn't do that in two sessions, right? It took you 40 years to get here. It's gonna take a little bit of time to get that cleaned up. That's their problem too. They're frustrated because they're not quite where they want to be as fast as they want to be. Think about this, joining the gym. How many of you guys do that, right? You go twice in January, you're quitting by February, and then you're frustrated because it's like, I haven't been able to lose any weight. If you'd have gone to the gym like you should have, maybe, maybe you would've changed your result. So I tell you all of that, I cannot want your business. More than you wanted. If you work with me, oh my goodness, I am telling you what, I'm fully invested and I am sure anybody else that you have been around is fully invested in you too. Just like you are with your clients. I can teach you, I can tell you, I can show you, but I can't do it for you. The same way with your clients. You can give somebody all the accountability in the world, but if they don't show up. What can you do? So this is the wake up call that I want you to have. If you are building your business and you haven't quote, gotten there yet, the first place to check is with yourself and have a real honest conversation. How much time am I wasting watching videos? How much time am I wasting looking for the perfect Instagram post instead of just putting myself out there? I just recently started on TikTok. You guys go follow me on TikTok, and I was like, I'm just gonna commit to be on there and I'm just gonna do it until I figure out how to do it. I didn't watch one single training, I didn't watch anything. I didn't look at other people to see should I get some ideas from there. I did it not so great in the beginning. And you know what I've, done pretty good. So that's how you learn how to do it. It's been about 60 days and I'm making good progress. So that's the thing is most people won't stay after it for 60 days. When you have no growth, will you do that until you get the growth? I also wonder, is there a little bit of fear going on here? Is there something about putting yourself out there that feels scary? I bet it, I bet there is, because maybe you're feeling like, I don't know if I can do it. That imposter syndrome thing, this is really worth exploring again. A lot of times people will say, well, I don't wanna put myself out there because like people are gonna judge me. And I always say, people who like say the people's name by name. And usually it's one person. It's like, you know, my sister-in-law or my whatever, and it's not my sister-in-law. I love my sister-in-laws. But find the person, whoever it is that you are actually uncomfortable putting yourself in front of. And then ask yourself, is this one person worth me not building a business to change people's lives and to make money for myself? No, it's not worth it. So let's go through some of the other mindset barriers that you might be facing. So again, it's that fear of judgment, that fear of putting yourself out there. What will people think? Will people think I'm pushy? Will they think I'm weird? Will everybody think coaching is a scam? I mean, I literally have heard everything about this, And honestly, if you step back practically every business in the world, oh my goodness, they get all kinds of criticism. There's always somebody who thinks they're not good enough and look who cares? I mean, really, who cares? One person. It's not gonna hurt you. In reality the people who judge you for building a business, they're not your clients anyway. The people who think coaching is weird and like a cult, they're not your clients anyway. If they give you a hard time for being a coach, they are not your person. Just remember that. It's like, check, don't worry. I won't make an offer to you. Okay? That's one more person I don't have to worry about. I'll go find my people. What if you think I don't wanna be that person who's always promoting myself? Well, I can tell you many coaches feel the same way too, like about email marketing or about social media. Look, the only person who knows that you are. Email marketing every day if you get there, or posting on social media two or three times a day, if you get there, is you. Because the algorithm is in control of what we're doing. And if you're not posting at least once a day, bare minimum, you're not gonna get seen. If you're not sending more than one email a week, you're not gonna be clicked on. The email is not gonna be opened. So it's not a matter of you being pushy, it's a matter of you putting yourself in a place often enough that you can actually like be seen. What if you feel like you're not ready? Well, guess what? Your niche, it might not be perfect. Your website might not be done. Maybe you need a few more clients before you wanna market. None of that's true. I always get a giggle when somebody tells me, Debbie, I wanna work with you. As soon as I get a client, I'm gonna hire you. And I'm always like, wait a minute. If you could get clients, you wouldn't be hiring me. So the same is true for you, my friend. If you had all of that stuff done and you had a few more clients before you marketed. Why would you do it that way? Maybe you're in this trap of I've been so busy. I've been so busy, my family's taking my time, and I get it. Look you guys, I get it. I am so blessed and so fortunate to have my grandkids here every day. Four years old, just almost four and two, and I'll tell you, it's a lot. And I work full time. And I have a really thriving business, and I love every minute of it. Do you know why? Because I decide to love it. You know what? Sometimes I am doing things like right now it's Saturday night at 40 and I'm doing this episode for you because it's quiet in my house. This is the time I can do it. So this is the reality that you get to love if you want to love it. So yeah, life happens, but I'm not gonna let it get in the way of my business. This is my career. This is how I make my living, and this is what I love more than anything. And I know that you have that same passion. Maybe you're wondering like, how many hours do I have to work? And I'm gonna ask you, how many hours do you have to work? How many hours do you actually have to work? That's the first answer that you need to know is how many hours is there to work? Because once you know that, then you can figure out how many hours are you actually gonna work. And I have to tell you. Stop scrolling on your phone while you're watching tv. Stop reading all of these books. All these books right here while you are, sitting down with the family. Give it up and only work during the hours that you're going to work. Alright, the last big mindset issue that people have is imposter syndrome, right? What if I don't know how to coach anyone? What if I don't have enough experience? I'm just gonna tell you, you don't. How's that? I don't have enough experience. There's not one of us that can answer every question. There's not, and so if you give yourself that freedom of like, you know, she's right. I can't actually answer every question. You'll get over this sooner. Here's the thing, if you're in the middle of coaching someone, and by the way, you're not coaching everyone, you're coaching the people that are in your niche, and even within that, there's gonna be a day where somebody says something and you're like, oh boy, I don't know how to handle this. And you know what you say, this is interesting. I'm gonna really spend some time thinking about this and I'm gonna get back with you. That's all you have to do. You're not saying, I don't know, you're just saying, this is interesting. I'm gonna get back with you. That's all you have to do. Please remember that. Okay. I wanna give a couple of quick examples as if I haven't said enough already about doing the work, but we have had people even inside of our program that at some point they called themselves out. They were the best doers. In fact, I'm thinking about somebody right now that I'm so delighted for. She has done all the work she has put herself out there, but she honestly came back and confessed. That she was doing it. Almost hoping that she didn't get a client yet. I know it sounds crazy, but I bet you can identify or you might be able to, like she was actually scared to go do the work and she knew what she needed to do and so she did all this stuff, but she did it with like one toe in the water instead of both feet in the water. So if that's you, I just want you to decide, look, I'm just doing it. I'm going all in. because anything that you're creating for your business with that kind of attitude, like, I don't know. I'm gonna go ahead and do what they say so I can say I've done it, but not really be committed is not gonna work. So you guys know how to do this. You probably know what to do. In fact, I can almost bet that you could tell your friend how to grow their coaching business. So if that is true, then I want you to look in the mirror and tell yourself how to grow your coaching business. So right now you might be on fire, you're like, okay, I'm gonna go do it. But here's the deal. We're not gonna do everything all at once. The way that you win at building your business is you pick one thing and you do that one thing. Maybe you say, you know what? I'm gonna post on social media because I never had one time this week, three times next week, and like three times for the next four weeks. That's all. What happens is we're all like, I'm gonna post every single day. When you're not even sure what to say in one single post or you would already be posting, so please give yourself a break. Do it easy, right? We're not gonna contact, you know, 10 people. If you haven't contacted 10 people. Contacting one person today is gonna be like a big deal. Okay? So please set yourself up for success. I really would encourage you too, to show up at a networking event. Remember, networking is just talking to people. It's about having a human conversation. Just do one thing, pick that one thing and do it, and then please come back in the comments and tell me that you did it. I can't wait to cheer you on. Here's what I want you to know. Your marketing compounds. Yeah. It's like the compounded effect with interest. It's like it starts out really slow and you're like, I'm making no money. You know the people that have a million dollars later, it's 'cause they left the money there and it compounded, this is the same way with your marketing. You start talking to people and talking to people and talking to people, and then what happens? One day clients come back to me and they're like, oh my God, you're never gonna believe what happened. I'm like, oh yeah, go ahead and tell me. You have four new clients, right? It compounds and then all of a sudden it feels like it takes off out of nowhere. It's like an overnight success, So please do that. This is the challenge for you this week. Do that one marketing thing. Get out of your comfort zone. You guys, I believe in you, but I have got to make sure that you believe in yourself. I cannot do this for you. The world needs what you have to offer, but they can only find you if you show up. Now, I wanna invite you to subscribe, make sure you comment and tell me what you've done this week. And also I have a couple of things that might inspire you, and one of them is a workshop that's coming up, debbieshadid.com/workshop. Save your seat. I will give you the kick in the pants that you need. I'll get you back going and I will answer any questions and you'll be in the room with other women who are also doing the same work as you and it's free. So join me, debbieshadid.com/workshop We will talk to you guys soon. Have a great week. Bye-bye.
