EP 388 - Zero Audience? Here is How to Get Your First Coaching Clients

MarketingCoaching LifestyleTechnology
Written By Debbie Shadid
 

Are you struggling to get your first coaching clients and feel like you have zero audience? Starting an online coaching business can be challenging, especially when it comes to finding and attracting clients. As a business coach, it's essential to have a solid coaching business strategy in place to grow your coaching business and get more clients.

In this video, we'll share valuable coaching business tips on how to get coaching clients fast, how to start a coaching business, and how to become a successful life coach. We'll also discuss how to get coaching clients online, how to attract coaching clients, and how to grow your coaching business. Whether you're a new coach or an experienced one, this video will provide you with actionable advice on how to get clients and take your coaching business to the next level.

If you're looking for ways to get coaching clients, start a coaching business, or grow your existing coaching business, this video is for you. By the end of this video, you'll have a clear understanding of how to get more clients, how to get coaching clients online, and how to create a successful online coaching business.

If you want help getting clear on your coaching niche and getting your first or next paying client, let's talk. Book a call with me here: debbieshadid.com/schedule

Shop Debbie's Resources for Coaches:

Chapters:

0:00 Getting Your First Coaching Clients from Scratch
1:11 Why Conversations Beat Fancy Tech Every Time
2:27 Proven Strategies Our Clients Used Last Week
4:23 Why the Fortune Is Truly in the Follow-Up
11:52 Mastering the Thursday Marketing Routine
14:01 Pricing Strategies to Get Your Business Moving

Listen to the Podcast:

Subscribe for weekly episodes on building your coaching business, finding clients, and creating the life you actually want: https://www.youtube.com/@debbieshadid

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TRANSCRIPT

If you are wondering how to get coaching clients and you have no list, no audience, and you're not even sure what your niche is, not even sure if it's good. I'm gonna tell you exactly what our clients did in the last week to get clients. I will tell you it was not with a fancy funnel, it was not with complicated tech, it was with simple marketing done consistently. And here's the deal, if you stay with me, you will know what to do this week to move forward to get your first paying clients or your next paying clients, even if you're over 50, and even if tech feels overwhelming. So welcome back to the channel. I'm Debbie Shadid, business coach for women over 50 who want to build beautiful boutique-style coaching businesses. If you are thinking about becoming a coach, and you have started but you are not having consistent clients, maybe you don't even have a client yet, you're in the right spot. I will help you get clear on your niche, share a simple marketing message, and do marketing that feels like you. If this is helpful, then make sure you subscribe, hit the bell so you do not miss any of our weekly master classes. We are here every week sharing with you in plain English the trainings that you need to help you build a career that you will love in the second half of your life. All right, let's talk about it. Number one, it is not about the tech, it is about talking. So let me explain. I know you're like, "Debbie, I need to do something meaningful, but I don't even know where to start." And here's the thing. Most women think getting clients is about learning tech. That is not the work. Yeah, that is not the work that you need to do. It is not about perfect branding, it is about conversations. Now, let me just say, that does matter to me. But when you're trying to get your first coaching clients, what really matters is that you can solve their problem and that you can help them, and that you really understand what's happening for them. Our clients get clients because they talk to people every single week. They have real conversations. They follow up with people. They have complimentary coaching calls. They have calls where they listen, and then they invite people to work with them. Am I talking to you? If you have been hiding behind learning, and tweaking things and watching videos, this is your nudge or maybe the kick in the pants that you need. I am here to talk to you about your business. So let me say it again. Talking is business. posting alone is not gonna build your business. Learning is not gonna build your business. Conversations with people build your business. All right, number two, let me show you what this looks like in real life, what our clients actually did this last week. And this is not theory. This is what happens inside of the Business Building Boutique. First of all, they did workshops, simple free workshops on Zoom, 30 to 45 minutes, one clear topic, one clear invitation at the end. Number two, they featured those workshops on Eventbrite. This is visibility. You can use free Eventbrite listings or you can use paid Eventbrite listings. The beautiful thing about Eventbrite is that when somebody is going to Eventbrite, they are looking for an event. They are looking for something in particular. So people in your local area and beyond will find that event, and even if you have a tiny list, it works. Number three, they had conversations with people. They reached out to people. They checked in with people. They said, "Hey, I'm hosting this workshop, and I thought of you." They acted like a real human Not a robot and not somebody, and not an AI bot. Number four, they followed up with people. I will tell you, this is where most coaches stop. They have one good conversation, and then they disappear. I'm gonna share my own story for just a moment. We just launched a brand-new program called the Rapid Launch Sequence. Two of our clients that joined that program were people that I talked to months ago, and hold onto yourself when I tell you this. I actually followed up with both of these women seven times. Yeah, seven times. I don't know which emails they read of that, but here's the thing. I followed up seven times, and then 90 days later when we had this new program launch, the Rapid Launch Sequence, I reached out to them and I said, "I think I have the perfect opportunity for you," and both women joined. your fortune, is in the follow-up. This is where most coaches fail. They stop following up because they think they're bugging people. In these two cases, both of these women are grateful to be working with me because the time and the opportunity was right. So please follow up. You send emails, you send messages. You can do Loom videos. That's what I do. I send videos to people where I'm actually kind of like having a conversation with them. They ask questions like, "Hey, would you like to talk about what's happening for you?" So many people are skipping this step. I would even encourage you to offer free coaching. Yeah, that's number five. Give free coaching to people. This is part of the follow-up with people that You offer that complimentary coaching session, or you can offer a private coaching call. When you do that, you give somebody an opportunity to experience how good you really are and how wonderful coaching really is. So many people actually are interested in coaching. They're just not sure what it is. They're just not sure how it's gonna work. They're uncomfortable, and we do a really poor job of explaining to people what a coaching session is really like. When's the last time you told somebody what they would expect in a coaching session, right? They feel uncomfortable. A lot of people know what therapy is and what counseling is, but they don't understand what coaching is, and so it's our job to explain that to them or to offer complimentary coaching sessions. I built my business on this. The first six months I built my coaching business, I used this exact strategy. I held complimentary coaching calls. I said, "Come and let me fix a business problem for you in one single session." And then I asked those people,"Who can you refer me to?" And I made offers to them. I made offers if I thought they were a fit for me and if I could support them, and in six months' time, I went from zero to a hundred thousand dollars in revenue because I filled up my calendar with complimentary coaching calls. And let me tell you how I did that. I actually reached out to people. I reached out to people. I told them what I did. I told them how I could help them. That's what I did. I made an offer for them to come coach with me for one session for free. The sixth thing that you should be doing is emailing people. I mentioned to you just a minute ago that I emailed these two particular people that I'd had consultation calls with seven times. Seven times. Now, you might think that feels horrible and there's no way that you would do that, but it didn't feel bad to me because I know both of these women, they really did need my help. And I know that they were both interested because they had consultation calls with me, and I knew that probably the timing wasn't right. So I was gonna continue to nurture those relationships from a really loving place because I know what I have to offer is what they needed. Can you see the mindset shift in that? Can you see how I made it comfortable and easy for somebody to want to read the emails? it wasn't high pressure. I was just touching base with them. So writing simple emails that you actually write and that Chat GPT or Claude doesn't write, those emails will do good work for you. Just teach one simple thing in the email. Let 'em know you're doing a workshop. Ask 'them how you can help with them. Share something that's of interest to 'em. number seven, our clients, what they did was they posted on social media. They don't try to do it perfect because I've really encouraged B-minus work. What that really means is you do it because you need to do it, you do it because you know you need to post, and what I know for sure, if you wait for perfect, you will never post. And you will take too much time working on perfect instead of just posting and getting your post out there. So B-minus work just means you put it out there, you decide it's good enough, and you move on with it. That is the way that you post on social media, and truthfully, that's the way that I approach my business and all of my clients' businesses, because we won't actually know what works until you try it. So be helpful, be kind, be consistent with your posting. And I'm gonna be honest with you right now. None of what I just told you is complicated. None of it. It is all very simple. Most of the things on that list you already know how to do. Chances are if you have a personal Facebook page, you know how to post on Facebook at the very least. You just don't like it. But if you like having clients, I would post on Facebook or wherever you post. Chances are you have emailed people because you have your own personal email and you can email people through there. Chances are you've connected with people, right? You've talked to people. You've had conversations with people. Go have more conversations. The workshop, maybe you have not done a formal workshop, but I can bet anything that you have sat down and you've told somebody all about the thing that you're most passionate about. You essentially had a workshop for one in person probably over a cup of coffee or over breakfast. Am I right? So most of these things you have already done, and we make it feel so hard. So I'm gonna be honest with you. It is not that hard It's just a matter of deciding that you're gonna do it. Imagine how powerful this could be if you did this week after week after week. It breaks my heart when I talk to women who have been working on their business for so long, and they can't get any traction. And when I really have a conversation with them, what I find out is they haven't actually been doing anything. And I hate to even say that because it does feel so productive to be working on your business, to be talking to Chat GPT, to be figuring out things, to be working on your offer, the name of your program, your logo, all that stuff. All of that is great for someday. For today, when we wanna get clients before the end of the year, those things don't matter. You just need to do a few things that I just talked to you about consistently. So let me pause here for just a moment. If you are listening and you're thinking, "Okay, I don't know how to do any of that, Debbie. I don't have a list. I'm not sure about my niche. I am not good with my offer. I'm not even sure if I'm talking to people in the right way," then we need to have a conversation. Go to the show notes, schedule a call. Let's have a real conversation about where you are and what you need to do next. Let me give you clarity on what it would look like for me to support you, so you could be doing all of the things, and I don't wanna say comfortably, but you could be doing all the things with clarity that you need to do, just like our clients do, They're there doing the things, and they feel comfortable and confident doing it. Yeah, they feel a little nervous when they're getting started, but soon you get over that. When you know that you're doing it right, it gets so much easier. So let's have that conversation, and let's talk about what it is that you can do to get your business built. And before we get on with this episode, if you find that this is exactly what you need, I wanna invite you to subscribe because week after week, this is exactly what I do. I essentially teach a masterclass every time I do an episode. So make sure you follow and join along. Okay, so we've just talked through number one, which was talking to people, and number two, which was all of the ways that you can connect with people week after week. So number three is you doing this in a consistent manner, not just this week, but next week and every week until the end of the year, This is actually where you really create some magic. And this is when the compound effect starts to work for you. So here's how I make it really simple. This is what we do with our clients. Every single Thursday, we have a strategic marketing session, and I want to invite you to think about this as well. You're the CEO of your boutique, your boutique style coaching business. You have hours, and part of your hours, the work that you do is marketing. And in our Thursday sessions, our clients, they complete their marketing for the week that is coming, and they do that every single week on Thursdays for the week that's coming, and they have their marketing all done. We start with one long-form piece of content. So for most of our clients, that's YouTube. One video where we teach what we know. We talk to one person about one problem. Then we create short videos from that. Those little clips that point back to the main message, those can be used as YouTube Shorts. They can also be used as Instagram or Facebook, wherever it is that you hang out. From that same video, we write one email to announce that we have the video to watch, like come watch on YouTube. Even if you have a small list, start with ten people, five people, whatever it is. When you get in the habit of sending that email, you will start to develop marketing that works, and you will start to pick up some momentum. Then you will start to grow your know, like, and trust. Week after week when you do this, you begin to build a brand. Can you imagine every week between now and the end of the year having one YouTube video, one email that you send every week, plus social media for an entire week already recorded and scheduled? The way that you show up for your business would be completely different. This is how you're going to build your reputation. This is how people start to get to know you, to like you, and to trust you. I know. Again, you're like, "Debbie, but I'm not consistent." I will tell you, consistency, it really is a decision. It's not a feeling. You decide that your boutique is open, and you decide to show up with a non-negotiable schedule, even if you don't feel motivated. If you had a shop down the street and you had store hours and you were paying rent and utilities and all the things that go with that, you would show up whether you felt good or not. You would go to work. Number four, price in a way to get your business going. Now let's talk about pricing just in general, because I know this keeps so many people stuck. If you're just starting, do not try to sell high-ticket coaching yet Just sell your services for like 100 bucks. Whatever it is to just get started making money to get the ball rolling. I can tell you for sure that the day that you become a paid coach, it is a different kind of feeling, my friend. You will feel like you really do have a business. your confidence will soar. And I can almost guarantee you that you can find somebody who will say yes to spending 100 bucks with you. And I also want to encourage you, if 100 bucks even feels like too much, just be honest with yourself. This is just you selling your coaching. You don't have to tell anyone else about how much money you made off your first deal. I worked with somebody that sold four coaching sessions for $100. That was her first sale, and she was so proud of herself, and she should have been. She doesn't sell four coaching sessions for $100 now. She sells coaching for a few thousand dollars. So you will get there if you start selling your coaching at whatever price you feel comfortable at. You have the experience, and you have the training, and I know you have the heart to help. There is this CEO math that you can do, and I want you to think about this before the end of the year because I also want you to be thinking about the fact that you really do have a business. You're not just a coach. So let me ask you this. How many clients do you want to work with between now and the end of the year? And what would a good goal be for you to be working towards? When you actually have a goal in place, you can start to create some momentum. You can start to become a person who says, "If I was gonna reach that goal," and let's just say it's$10,000, "if I was gonna reach that goal, who do I have to be, and what do I have to do to make $10,000?" Or sometimes I use the example, in this last quarter of the year, if you want to work with three to five clients, what do you need to do to get three to five clients? Can you see how much more focused the marketing that you would do would be? Because it would be a matter of like,"Wait, I need to find five people. That's it, five people to work with between now and the end of the year." I can tell you, if you did that, business-changing, and I just told you exactly how to do it. I told you where to market, how to market, the places to go to. I've listed the things that our clients do that are actually getting clients. I shared with you about the one-day strategy, where you can record your YouTube video and your shorts and your email, all of that. Don't wait to feel ready. Ready only comes after you start. You only have good questions to ask about how do you do this thing once you're actually doing it. It's like wasting time. It really is doing stuff that you don't need to be doing, and it feels productive, and it's not. You start actually hosting workshops, talking to people, having real conversations. That's work. and then you have a real question to ask. If you don't convert at the end of the workshop the way you want to and you don't sell your coaching, now you can say, "Huh, what should I do differently?" and you can watch the video back, and you can actually figure out what could work differently. This is how you learn how to build a business. I want to invite you to do that. I want to invite you to make an offer, even if it's that $100 offer, so you can get somebody to say yes, so you can have testimonials, so that you can say in your YouTube video, when I worked with a client, and you can be honest about it. You can have conversations that make it sound like you are a woman in business because you are in business. So let me say that again. Make some money. Become a paid coach. Get the ball rolling. You can raise your prices later as your skill and your confidence grows. Number five, I know what you're thinking. You have no list and nobody knows you. So let me just answer the same question that I hear week after week, what if I don't have a list? Well, my friend, you can start where you are. You have email contacts, I guarantee you. You have people you know, you have people that you used to work with. You can get those people's email addresses because they're in your inbox, because they're already in your contacts. Go to your personal email and look and see who's in there. And don't be picky about it because You don't actually know who needs coaching, you don't know who knows somebody that needs coaching. The only way you're ever gonna know this is if you start emailing people. This is human outreach. This is not spam. This is you talking to your personal contacts about the business that you built. If it was your boutique down the street, do you know what you would do? You would call people and say,"Hey, I just opened a dress shop and I want you to come in." That is exactly how you do it. Now, you might be saying, "Well, I don't have any friends that are the right clients." I'm gonna give you the example that I've shared many times to many people. When you think you wanna hire a plumber or a roofer or a painter, you know what you do? You're like, Our neighbor had somebody come and work at their house, electrician or a plumber or a painter." you get referrals. So now maybe you're saying to me,"Debbie, I don't have any friends that are interested in my niche," and here's what I'm gonna tell you. You can approach all the people that you know, and all the people that you kinda know, and even people you don't know, and say, "I have a coaching business. This is what I do. Do you know anyone that would fit this particular description that could use this kind of help?" Do you see how I just did that? I'm telling you to actually tell your friends about your business, but you're saying, "Do you know anyone that you could refer me to?" So now they're finding out about your business, and they're also finding out that they could be referring you. You only need a few people to have a successful coaching business. A few, and there are billions of people in the world. You only need a few. And there are people who want to buy coaching. In the coaching world in 2026, it's, like, over $5 billion worth of coaching that's done. Trust me, my friend, you only need a small part of that, and I can tell you that if you narrow down the amount of people that you're talking to, narrow down to a more specific niche, you will actually attract more people. Now, maybe at this point you're like,"Okay, I don't even know about my offer. I'm not even sure if my niche is good." And here's what I'm gonna say. You make a decision. Let's just pick a niche. Don't wait to be completely clear about it, just pick it. Who do you help? What do they struggle with? What do they desire? And how are you going to serve them? And then test it. Start talking to people and start making offers. It is not about getting it perfect, it is about getting started and putting yourself out there. And I wanna caution you, we don't decide if our niche, our offer, our price, and how we help people is good after one week. We do it for weeks, because you will get better at talking about what it is you do. So if you really need to make money in your business, and you really wanna help people, And I know you do because you're listening to this, then give yourself permission to do B-minus work today. Just get started. Give yourself permission to host a B-minus workshop where you don't do it great. You do not need to do a workshop with presentation slides and workbooks or anything else. You just get on Zoom and you start talking. Sure, you wanna organize how you think through the presentation, of course, but just get on Zoom and start doing a workshop. B-minus work can make you millions when you do it consistently. I want you to imagine for just a moment as we wrap up, what if there is somebody out there that desperately needs what it is you offer right now, and they cannot find any help because you have not posted, you've not emailed, you've not invited anyone to talk? Can you imagine that poor person that you are letting suffer, that your life experience could be helping them? So please catch the thinking that is keeping you from building your business. There are thoughts that you're thinking that are just lies, thoughts that are keeping you from going forward'cause you're telling yourself you're not ready, you're not sure if you're good enough, you're not sure if people will work with you. I'm just telling you, until you do it, you're never gonna know. Until you do it, you will never know, and there are people who want to work with you. There's people for all of us. All of us who wanna be coaches, there are people who need our help. So let me give you a recap. Talk to people every single week. Do what our clients do. Host workshops. Share them on Eventbrite. Have conversations. follow up. Have complimentary coaching calls. Do emails, posts. Do that Thursday marketing with one video, with shorts and one email. Price your coaching in a way that you can just sell it, and then decide. Decide on a niche, decide on an offer, and then test it with real conversations. You do not need more tech. You need to have more conversations and more consistency. I wanna invite you to join me inside the Business Building Boutique. We teach you the tech every step of the way. We help you make decisions on your niche, on your offers, on your pricing, how to edit the videos. Every piece of that we cover. We teach you and show you and help you create a profitable coaching business. That is it, my friend. I hope you have a beautiful day. I cannot wait to connect with you. Make sure you check the links in the show notes, and I will see you very soon. Bye-bye.

Debbie Shadid https://www.DebbieShadid.com
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EP 387 - Email Marketing Changes in 2026 Every Coach Needs to Know