EP 385 - From ZERO to Coaching Clients: How to Get Your First Client

MarketingCoaching LifestyleTechnology
Written By Debbie Shadid
 

Struggling to find your first coaching clients? I am breaking down exactly what you are doing wrong so you can start building your coaching business today. If you have that inner itch to start a coaching business but find yourself stuck with getting clients, you are not alone. Many new coaches and aspiring coaches struggle with the same hurdles - constantly second-guessing their niche, unsure if their offer is strong enough, or simply feeling lost on where to begin. This episode is designed to help you move past that uncertainty.

We will look at how to stop spinning your wheels and actually start building your boutique-style coaching business with confidence. If you currently have zero clients, this honest breakdown will help you identify the common mistakes holding you back so you can finally get things moving.

Chapters:

0:00 The Truth About Your Email Marketing Worries
0:28 The Long Game: Clients Who Wait Years to Buy
1:58 Why Your Emails Aren't Reaching the Inbox
4:50 The Danger of Uploading Old Contact Lists
7:19 Writing Emails That People Actually Read

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TRANSCRIPT

How many coaching clients do you have? If the answer is zero, this episode is for you. If you have this inner knowing, this itch to do something, and maybe you've already started your coaching business, maybe you've put yourself out there, maybe you've changed your mind more than once on what your niche is, or you're not really sure if your offer is good, you have so many questions, but the bottom line is you have no clients, I'm gonna tell you in this episode what you are doing wrong. I'm Debbie Shadid. I help women build beautiful boutique-style coaching businesses, and I have to say profitable coaching businesses. If you feel like you have done everything, if you feel like you have tried so many things, you've offered so many things, nobody has any money to spend, nobody wants to work with you. If you have done all of that and your thought is none of this is working or maybe the market is saturated I gotta tell you, my friend, there's probably something else going on. First, I know what happens. You get really interested in something, and chances are you are building a business from the very beginning that is not a viable business. I'm actually gonna talk about two conversations that I had this week, and I want you to stick around and see if you relate to what I'm saying. The first person that I talked to this week has created a business. She's got products already out there in the world, and she has a great idea, and she loves it, and she just feels like she has done it all. She's invested money, and nothing is working. She's created, two different products that she's marketing in two different ways, and she's trying to figure out,"How do I get these two things to sell? Because nothing I've tried has worked." The second person I talked to has actually started five businesses. She has set up LLCs and had websites and created graphics and, written out programs and all of it. some really expensive things, and guess what? Zero clients. And she's like, "None of it works," and it doesn't even make sense why it doesn't work. Here's the thing. Both of those people have the same exact problem, probably the same problem that you have, which is nobody knows you exist. There's a good chance that you are hiding from telling people that you have a business. You're still maybe getting ready, and if we're gonna be completely honest, the business that you say isn't working and the offer that nobody wants to buy, you actually haven't made the offer to anyone. I'm sorry to tell you the truth on this, but I'm gonna bet it's actually correct. You have to ask yourself and be honest for a moment, have I actually made offers? Have I talked to a lot of people? Maybe you're still hiding what you're doing from your family. Maybe you have a full-time job, and you're trying to do this, on the side so nobody finds out. Maybe you're worried if somebody does find out, you're gonna lose your job, so in reality, you're being quiet about what you're doing. Both of the women that I spoke to, all of these were the circumstances. They had told a few friends that were really cheering them on, that their family really didn't understand what they were doing, and both of them were worried about careers that they had. I'm gonna start a business, but, I can't really talk about it. And so when I brought that up and said, "Wait a minute. Have you even told people about this?" First the answer was yes, but then as I asked further it was like, "Well, I guess you're right." And both of them had been on YouTube creating videos but they were so generic I didn't even know what the videos were for, like what was the purpose of the videos. And I say this with so much love, because I also understand how much effort, how much work, how much courage it takes to do those things, and it feels like everybody should respond because you have poured your heart and soul into it. But I have to say it again, in reality, if you've only done a few things and you haven't said, "This is actually what I do. Buy my thing, and this is why you need it," and you haven't done that over and over to a large audience, you really haven't started your business. That's not really having a business. One of the women had told a past coworker, and the past coworker, who she was sure was her ideal client, said, "Well, no, you're good at that, but I'm not interested." And so that was the answer that she had for this isn't gonna work. But that's just not true It will work if you tell enough people, if you're talking about the right thing, if you have a call to action where you are actually making an offer, if you have real value to offer. If you're creating content and videos and things that really have no direction or no point to it, and there's no real outcome to the video, then there's really no reason for anybody to do anything but watch it for entertainment purposes. The same goes for anything you put on social media. it might feel like a lot to put something on social media, and it is. It is basically you exposing yourself to the world, and it feels scary, and that equates in your mind like,"I've done a lot of work. I've tried everything." So the bottom line is, to have a successful business where you make money, you have to expose yourself. And maybe I should pick a different word, because expose yourself sounds awful. But you have to put yourself out there. You have to have a really clear message of who you are talking to. This is what you have to do. Clearly talk to people. It has to be a problem that is big enough that somebody says, "Oh my goodness, yes, I need to hear what this person has to say," so they stop the scroll and they listen to you. You have to be willing to be out there in enough places that people can go and look you up. If you send a direct message or you connect with somebody via email and tell them about your business, and you have nothing else out there, that is not enough, my friend. The person that you connect with needs to know that you exist, And that means you need to have a website. You need to have been on social media, not just a few posts, but a lot of posts Not just one video, but more than one video. You want to look credible. You wanna give the presence of success before you are successful. This is the key, You wanna look successful before you are successful. So what does that actually look like? It means that you're gonna do YouTube. It means that you're gonna put yourself out there. I actually have a complete beginner's guide to YouTube. I'm gonna link it here. It is everything down to how to record, how to edit, how to upload, everything you need to know about doing your first videos so you can get started on YouTube. Once you put yourself on YouTube, that's like step one, and one video isn't enough. It's gonna be a lot of videos. And the good news is to all of this, while you might be getting overwhelmed right now and thinking like, "Oh my goodness, I can't do all that," the good news is it does add up to a business that works. It took me about six months of posting videos, and I was posting two videos a week, and all of a sudden, I had calls that were coming from YouTube, and almost every person that connects with me has watched several things on YouTube and they really know me. They're like, "Debbie, you're a straight shooter. You tell it like it is. You actually share the details we want." People have watched a lot of videos When they have a call with me, they actually know who I am and they're almost sold before they get to me. this is what I want you to be able to create, is have enough out there that somebody could binge on your stuff and they could watch eight videos of you and really understand clearly what you do. Then you have to be on social media. You don't have to be on all of them, but you need to be somewhere. This is the way that somebody validates are they legitimate, especially in this AI world. Last week was our Design Live Thrive Summit, and I hosted a single day for coaches. I spoke live for three and a half hours. I was teaching. At the end, I offered a brand-new product that we have called the Rapid Launch Sequence, and I invited people to come to an open coaching discussion with me at the end of the day. When people got on that call, two of the eight people that came said, "Is this AI?" And I was like, "Are you kidding me? Like you had already been with me for three and a half hours." I'm sharing that with you though to let you know that's what people think, You have to be on social media with people seeing you talk about what it is you do. You have to be talking to the right person about the right thing. You need to be meeting people and telling them what you do. And not one person, not one old coworker. I'm talking about a lot of people. while this feels heavy, the reason why it feels heavy is you don't know how to do it. You're not sure if what you're saying is right. You're not sure if your offer is good. You're worried that you're gonna mess up. You're not sure about a lot of things. Once you have that clarity and that certainty and you have answers for all of the questions you have, you know what happens? It's easier to talk to the right person. There's a lot of reasons for you to do this, but number one, you're in business, have a coaching business. But also number two, you're gonna learn how to talk about your business. Once you learn how to talk about your business, once you learn how to make an offer that is good and you feel good about it, Once you know that you can deliver the offer, in other words, imposter syndrome is not gonna be a problem, once you do all that confidently and you know you have the right niche, then you actually want to tell people about your business. Once you know that you have YouTube videos that are out there that are actually good, you'll want to tell people to go visit your YouTube. Once you are on social media, you're gonna wanna connect with people on social media. The reason why you are not doing any of that right now is because there's too much uncertainty. There's too many unanswered questions, too much doubt, and all of that equals you saying, "My business isn't working." All of that doubt is you feeling like you're working on your business, 'cause you're thinking about your business a lot, but you're not actually doing anything. You're not actually creating any momentum. You're not building your reputation. You're not putting yourself out there in a way where people can really learn and understand what you do. And let's be honest, people deserve that. If you want to have them work with you, you should provide a way for them to get to know you. You should provide a way for them to come to you ready to buy. Now, I know that you are at the beginning of your business, so I'm gonna tell you, one YouTube video a week, 15 to 20 minutes, is where you should start. One email a week about that YouTube video that you do is where you should start. You should start growing an email list, telling people to opt into something on your YouTube video, and to get on your email list so you can also tell people that are not currently on YouTube to go watch you on YouTube. Then you can take that one YouTube video and you have something to talk about on social media. You could talk about that one YouTube video all week long. So once you know you're talking to the right person, you have the right offer, all of those things, meeting people, all of this is what starts to create a business. And what if I told you that with- in six to 12 months of doing that, you would have a business that was viable? That is possible, but it's not possible if you keep changing your mind because you think what you're doing isn't working. I'm gonna ask you to be honest with yourself, have you actually told anyone what you do? If you have created your branding, and picked your business name, and registered your business, and opened your checking account, and done your course, and set up your website, if you've done all that stuff, that is not building a business. That's getting the foundation set that you must have, but that's not actually what creates a business for you. Talking to people, telling them what you do, marketing your business is how you build a business. I hope this was helpful to you. I really want you to know, if you are the person who has zero coaching clients, I've just told you what to do to build a business that can be prepared and ready for you to welcome in clients. They first have to know you exist. You have to keep reminding them, so when they know that they need help in the area that you coach on, you will be the person that they see as the expert, and they'll reach out to you. That's it, my friend. Make sure you check out the YouTube guide linked right here. It is the complete beginner's guide to getting started on YouTube. All right. You guys have an amazing week. Thanks for being here. Bye-bye.

Debbie Shadid https://www.DebbieShadid.com
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EP 384 - Design Live Thrive Summit Fall 2026: Day Two Recap