128 - 4 Things Slowing Down Your Coaching Business Growth

Listen as Business Success + Life Coach Debbie Shadid will be talking about the four critical business areas that are likely the cause of your slow business growth. 

She will be talking about making business decisions, taking action, finding clients, and how to grow your business with marketing. She will also help you distinguish and overcome what’s keeping you from reaching your business goals.

Being a business growth coach, she’s confident in what she does. She knows that she’s doing something that nobody else is doing, and she is certain that her price is right. Do you have this same confidence about your coaching business? If these are areas you are struggling with, you’ll gain inspiration, and steps in the episode to solve these issues and I’ll challenge you to “put some fuel on your business growth.”

Join us to learn the four things that are slowing down your life coaching business growth so you can start growing faster as soon as today!

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Listen wherever you get podcasts or head over to: https://debbieshadid.com/podcast

Transcript

I know for sure the business coaching that I do is a no-brainer. I know for sure I'm doing something that nobody else is doing. I know for sure that my price is right. Do you have that same certainty? Alright. So let's stop indecision. Let's stop saying that we don't know, where to take action. Let's stop saying we're stuck over finding the people, and let's stop avoiding talking to people about our coaching. If you'll change those four things, let me tell you, my friend, your business growth will take off. 

Welcome to the Life Coach Business Building Podcast. I'm so excited to have you guys here today. I have another client, Jen Laffin, here with us today. We are gonna talk about her business, about what brought her to coaching. We're also gonna talk about her work inside of the Business Building Boutique.

All right. Welcome to today's podcast. I am excited to tell you guys four things that I have determined that are slowing nearly everyone's coaching business growth. So if you find yourself not growing your business as fast as you would like to, then I want you to listen up today. I want you to take a few notes and really commit to make some super simple changes in your business.

All right. We're gonna start with number one, and that is indecision. Indecision, honestly, you guys is the killer of all business growth. Years ago, before I was a life coach and I was only doing business consulting for women, I had a training at the first of every year that was about growing your business, and the fastest way to grow your business was to become a good decision maker.

And that applies for you guys as coaches too. So where do you need to make decisions? Where is indecision showing up in your business and slowing your business growth? I'm gonna give you three places that I think it probably is. Number one is niche. I can solve this for you today. Number one, you just decide. You just pick a niche because let me just tell you until you do something, until you just decide on a niche and we start working on it, you start working on it, we'll never know if it's the right niche. 

Now, there are four things that you can ask yourself to sort of decide if it is actually the best niche, and I'll run through those really quickly for you. Number one, you wanna ask, does your niche actually know that they have a problem? If you have to teach your niche what the problem is, then it takes more time. You have to spend more time educating them, and we all have to educate people in our niche about what's happening for them. But I mean, if your niche doesn't have any idea that what is going on with them really is a problem, then you might wanna consider a different niche. 

Number two, will they pay to fix whatever the problem is? You might have paid for it, but will they pay for it? And I'm talking about will the majority of the people out there pay to fix it? 

Number three, can you find them? If you have a niche that is hard to locate those people, or maybe they don't have an awareness. An example that comes to mind is people who are in narcissistic relationships. I have lots of coaches that have come to me and said, I wanna coach people who are in narcissistic relationships. And I say, Well, yeah, but if they're in the relationship, do they know that they're in a narcissistic relationship? Most of the time they don't know it till afterwards. So you have to ask yourself, can you find the people that you wanna coach? Just because it's obvious to you and you've been coached out of whatever that is, doesn't mean it's obvious to them. 

And the fourth thing is, will that market grow? Is it something that's a temporary situation. Maybe it's something that's going on in the world. If that's the case, then it's probably not a smart move to invest in that to be able to grow that market. So look for something that is a niche that will continue to grow. 

All right. The second place that there's lots of indecision in your business might be with your offer, right? So does it solve the problem of your client? Did you just randomly pick six months coaching for this price, or do you know for sure? Can you confidently say that your offer solves their problem? The process of how you coach them to the transformation, is that actually well thought out? So I would look at those two key things. Does it solve their problem and is the process well thought out. If that's the case, then probably your offer is in good shape. 

All right. The third place that people have lots of indecision is about their price. Let me ask you. Do you believe that your price is the best price ever? Do you believe that your price is a no brainer? Because if you don't believe it, your client's not gonna believe it. Have you just picked a price because somebody told you to pressure service that way? I know you guys have heard the story about me selling online coaching. When I first went online with my business, I worked with a coach that was encouraging me to do very high-ticket offers. At the time, I didn't think it was worth it. I didn't think that what I was offering was worth it. So I actually had a really hard time selling my services. I was only closing at first one in 10 people, and then two in 10 people. Then eventually three in 10 people. But you guys today, I know that the coaching that I offer is really good.

I know it's of high value, and I close 86% of everybody that I've talked to, so I know the price is right for what I offer. This is so significant for you to look at. The second part about pricing is will it create the lifestyle that you want? Because you will resent your clients if you charge too little and you are having to do what you think is too much for them, you'll resent them.

So you wanna make sure that the price that you have is in alignment with something that will create a lifestyle based on the number of hours you have to work and the number of clients you need to work with. Will that create the financial lifestyle and the time freedom lifestyle that you're looking for? All right, so that is where we find indecision-- niche, offer, and price. 

All right. The second issue that is slowing your business growth is that you are not taking action. Inaction is the thing that is slowing your business growth, but it also is false action. What is false action? Well, that's just like you're doing lots of things that feel productive. I call it buffering action. You think you're making progress, but really you're kind of lying to yourself about it. So if it's busyness, you really have to ask yourself, do you actually need to be doing something? I say to my clients , Is this actually gonna get you moving towards having a paid client?

If it's not, then it's just busy work. Stop, stop, stop the busy work. If you are just learning all the time and you are not doing, learning, and implement, then you're not taking action. That is false action. A lot of you guys aren't taking action because you're saying, Is this correct? I don't know if I'm doing the right thing.

And again, I have to say to you, we will never know if you are doing the right thing until you do the thing consistently for a period of time. And then we can look at it. I'm running Facebook ads and even my own coach has recently said to me, Debbie, we have to have X amount of people go through your funnel before we can decide.

So even I forget, sometimes, that we're not giving enough time to what we're doing in our business. So when you start marketing, you cannot change things until there's been a certain number of people that you have either talked to, offered to, marketed to, whatever it is, until you can make a decision on that.

Maybe you are asking too many people for input, and I wanna say to you, if you are asking people or being coached by people who have not done what you want to do, you need to find somebody else to ask. I do not coach people on how to make a million dollars in their business a year because I haven't done it. So you're not gonna find me selling, I can get you to the hundreds of thousands, but I can't get you to a million 'cause I haven't done that. So make sure that you have people that if they're gonna coach you on a launch, that they have successfully launched their business. They haven't just studied about it, they haven't just learned about it.

'Cause we can all do that. We can all become business coaches and teach on branding and all these things, but if you haven't done it yourself and had success with it, then you're not talking to the right person. All right? So make sure that your peers are not your coaches. Your peers can be your friends.

They can give input, they can give you encouragement, but even when they review your stuff, they're not an expert. So make sure you're getting the right people looking at whatever it is you're doing or answering the questions that you have. 

Let me also ask you when it comes to action, is there an unwillingness to do the things that you don't know how to do. I know that we all bump up against technology. The women that I work with are like, Oh my gosh, technology is so, so hard. And so I wanna ask you, do you not even give yourself the space, the grace, to be able to learn the technology that you need to learn to grow your business? I know that it's human nature, and I'm in this group too, where sometimes when it's something that's hard, I put it off and I put it off. So what is it that you keep putting off? Because that technology, that task, that social media that you need to learn, that is something that you need to be taking action on. 

Are you allowing yourself to answer a question when you don't know the answer? Because sometimes you just have to guess. I wanna say that again. Are you allowing yourself to answer a question to make a decision? Yes or no? I'm gonna take this action even when you don't know the answer. Don't understand what I'm saying? We don't know the answers to things. We just have to decide. We have to decide so we can take the action.

Finally. If you're not getting help with this, then you're definitely doing something wrong. You're definitely slowing your business growth. Get business help. You've heard me say it and preach it to you over and over. I told you guys this was gonna be a straightforward podcast. If you are not getting help, you are not born.

Nor do you learn in school, nor do you learn in coaching certification how to be in business. You learn that from somebody else who has been in the kind of business that you're in, that you want to grow. All right? So find somebody that can help you with the part of the business that you need to know.

You need to divide it up. Is it mindset work that you need for business? Then hire a mindset coach. Is it you know the business how- to? That's the part that I teach you, all of the how to set up your foundations in your business, your offers, your pricing, your marketing. How do you begin to sell all those pieces? Is that what you need help with? Find the kind of help and support that you need. 

All right. The next place that people are stuck, that they are not growing their business as a result of is they are not finding people. Many of my clients say, I don't know where to find people. And we've had lots of conversations about this, and their brain serves back up to 'em again, but I don't know where the people are.

That's just a safety net to keep you where you are. So let me ask you, where are your people? I know where your people are. Let me just tell you, in your lifetime you have met hundreds of people. The thing is, is that you've already decided they're not people to coach. That those aren't the right people.

And let me tell you what, people are people. You cannot grow your business unless you're talking to people, to lots of people. Are you willing to talk to hundreds of people? If the answer is yes, then you're going in the right direction.

Let me tell you, in your lifetime, when I talk about you knowing hundreds of people and you say, No, I don't, Debbie, really? Yes, you do. You've held all kinds of jobs, you've had all kinds of coworkers. All those people are people you could connect with. I know what you're thinking. They're not in my niche. I don't care if they're in your niche or not.

They might know somebody in your niche. And when you are in the beginning of your business and when I want you to do organic marketing, which is connecting with people, don't spend money on ads yet. We gotta make sure everything else works. You have to connect with people. Anybody that you've worked with, any company that you've worked for, like you've been to school, you've either been to high school or college or doctorate degree or whatever it is. You know people that were your classmates, you know people that you were your teachers. Maybe you go to church. There are people in every one of those places that you can reconnect with. Gosh, if you have kids, let me tell you what, there's layers and layers and layers of people that you could be connecting with.

You could be connecting with people that they went to daycare with, your kids' went to school with. You see what I'm saying? I mean, it's lots of people. Y'all get services, you get your hair done, your nails done, your makeup done, you buy clothes, you shop in places. You know, you have your guy who sold you your car. All of those people that you've connected with are people that know people, and they're actually people that might be the right people who would buy your coaching. You have neighbors. Even if you live in an apartment building, there's somebody that lives next door.

Just see what I'm saying. You're saying to yourself, I'm stuck. I don't know where to find people. And I am telling you there is people everywhere. Your job is not to predecide that they're not your people. All right. Your job is to talk to all of those people, to open your mind up and say, If I was gonna find people, where would I find them?

And I've just given you a really long list of places to find people. That doesn't even include just meeting people, networking. Those are just people that you've encountered in your lifetime. 

All right. The fourth reason why you're not growing your business very fast is because you're not telling enough people. Well how many people is enough? I don't know. When you get to the business goal that you want to achieve, then I guess you've told enough people for right now, but then there's the next set of people that will become your next clients. Soon as those people are done, then there's the next set of people, right? The meeting people, talking to people, finding people.

This never ends. You will never be fully booked for a lifetime. All right? So you gotta keep meeting people. Why are you not telling people? That is a problem that you need to get solved. One of the reasons that people work with me is they wanna figure out what to say. We write their marketing copy, we get clear on what their niche problems are, we get clear on what the solution is, we get clear on how you say it. If you are fumbling over your words, then you're not telling enough people. I know this. If you are afraid of a no, then you're not telling enough people. Maybe you are embarrassed to say you're a life coach, and if you are, my friend, we better solve that one too.

Telling a couple of people is not enough people. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking like, I've tried social media, I've tried this. I've told those people. That's not actually talking to people either. Yes, we can talk about marketing on another day. You have to do all the marketing in all of those places, and that is connecting with people.

But I'm just talking about people that you could be talking to. Again, if we go back to finding your people, and I just mentioned people that you've been to school with, people that you've worked with, people in your neighborhood, whoever it might be.

Even telling those people is significant. So you better figure out how to talk to people. And do you wanna know how you learn how to talk to people? By talking to people? The reason why you're not going to networking events and talking to people is because you haven't practiced. When I was growing my coaching business online, 'cause I had a consulting business for 17 years before I actually started selling online.

When I had my business online, I walked around my house, talking out loud, practicing saying I help, and I would fill in the blank. I would practice my price. I would practice, imagining having conversations. I would do sales consultation calls that I recorded on Zoom to myself. I know this all sounds crazy, but you've got to be comfortable with what you're saying. You've got to practice saying it. I would do lives to a Facebook group that I was the only person in it so that I could practice. I would answer questions, I would roleplay to myself. I would record it and I would watch back to see where was I hesitating, lots of fumbling around, like, uh uh, where was I doing that?

Because if you are doing that, the people that you are telling, it's falling flat. So do not waste an opportunity. If you have a chance to tell somebody about coaching, you better figure out how to get strong in what you're saying and how to be convinced that what you have to offer is what somebody else needs.

I know for sure the business coaching that I do is a no-brainer. I know for sure I'm doing something that nobody else is doing. I know for sure that my price is right. Do you have that same certainty? Alright. So let's stop indecision. Let's stop saying that we don't know, where to take action. Let's stop saying we're stuck over finding the people, and let's stop avoiding talking to people about our coaching.

If you'll change those four things, let me tell you, my friend, your business growth will take off. It will. You will not get it right right from the beginning, and you will have times when you're growing your business. I'm in a big growth stage in my own business right now, and there are sometimes that I'm not getting it right. That is part of being in business. You do. You learn. You course correct, and you do again. 

All right. I hope that this is the kick in the pants that you guys needed. I hope this inspires you to get going and put some fuel on your business growth. All right, you guys have an amazing day, amazing week, and gosh, go talk to people. Go find people. Go tell people about your business. Go make some decisions and get it going. The world needs what you have to offer. All right. Have an amazing day.

Okay ladies, that is it for today. Before we go, I want to invite you to head over to debbieshadid.com. I have this incredible Canva training, specifically designed for life coaches where I'm gonna teach you how to use Canva to create beautiful graphics to market your life coaching. All right. Have an amazing week.

I'll talk to you very soon. Bye bye.