166 - How much work does it take to build a coaching business?
In a world obsessed with overnight success, let me be honest with you: if you want things to last, you have to put in the time and dedication. Growing wealth, getting in shape, raising a child, building a house, paying off a mortgage, and building a successful business—all of those things take a lot of time. So, give yourself a break and decide that nothing has gone wrong if your business is growing slower than you expected. When you know what to expect you can honor the various stages of growth in your business.
In this episode, we'll dive deep into the work it takes to grow your coaching business. From consistent and effective marketing strategies to building confidence to put yourself out there and preparing yourself for growth, listen in to hear valuable insights and analogies that will inspire and motivate you on your journey.
Tune in to ditch those short-term, immediate expectations and say hello to building a coaching business that stands the test of time.
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Transcript
Preview: I want you to ask yourself a question. Why are you expecting overnight success? Seriously? Do you think that that is really true? Is it really possible for you? What I want you to consider is if you had overnight success, could you actually handle it? And I'm going to guess the answer is no, because you actually haven't coached a lot of people, paid clients. That's different from free coaching, paid clients. You don't actually know what you feel like when you have the responsibility of coaching paid clients.
Intro: Hello, I'm Debbie Shadid, the host of the Life Coach Business Building podcast. If you are ready to have more clients in your life coach business, then you're in the right spot. Each week I'm gonna teach you super simple strategies to grow your business without feeling overwhelmed and without spending money on paid ads. If that sounds interesting. Stick around and let's get started.
What does it take to build a coaching business? Well, in today's podcast, I'm going to talk about the work that is necessary to grow your coaching business. If you have the guts and you're willing to experience some discomfort and you're willing to do work, even when you don't want to, you can grow a coaching business. So if you listen to the last two podcasts, you might be seeing a theme here. I feel a strong desire to explain to you what it takes to have success in your business. In episode 164, I talked about the willingness to do things even when you don't want to. In episode 165, last week's episode, I talked about the frustration that I have over the misleading marketing that I've been seeing online that leads many of you, including maybe even you, To believe that you can build a business and make buckets of money in no time flat.
So let's talk about the work that you need to do to create a business. And yes, it is work, consistent work every single week to grow your business. And for many of you, it's nearly every single day to grow your business. I want to pause for a moment and say, I am talking about the right kind of work. So many of you are working seven days a week like long, long days, you're in your office all the time, but you're not doing the work that will actually build your business. You're planning your programs and you're outlining things for your course and all of that. That is not the work to build your business.
Yes, you do need to do that, but the work to build your business is getting out there and marketing yourself. It is creating interest in your company so that you can have some clients. And then you can prepare this program that you're going to present to them. So over this podcast, if you have been listening, I have shared many different analogies over what it takes to create success in other areas of your life.
I want to touch on those again, because I think it's important to remember this. If we're talking about growing wealth, nobody thinks it happens overnight. And if it does, they think it's not going to last. Losing weight, getting in shape, raising a child, building a house, paying off a mortgage, all of those things take a lot of time. Now, I'm not saying that your business is going to take as much time as a mortgage getting paid off on your house. But what I'm saying is a business also takes time and effort. And if you approach it that way, I promise you, you will get so much better traction than you are right now. Many of the coaches that I have worked with, many that I know that I talked to, they stop before they actually get to success or they change their niche because they think that the niche that they have isn't working fast enough They haven't sold coaching. So they're sure that if they had the right niche, they would sell coaching.
So let me just tell you, most of the time it has nothing to do with your niche. What it does have to do with is that you have not been in front of enough people consistently for a long enough period of time to get traction. Now, I just read something recently that said you have to be seen 40 times, 40 times before somebody remembers you. Now, it used to be, like 12 times, but 40 times. So let me just ask you, are you putting yourself in front of people 40 times and are you putting yourself in front of them 40 times with a message that tells what you do with a call to action?
So a lot of you guys are on Instagram and you've been posting, but you're not actually asking anybody to do anything. You're just producing kind of fun content. But if you're not saying I'm a coach who sells coaching, and this is how I can help you, that doesn't really count, honestly. You're real can go viral. And if you haven't asked somebody to do something, it's not going to get you the traction that you need. So, have you given up on your business before you have even gotten started? Oftentimes you've spent all this effort building a website, figuring out what to say on it, getting your branding done, getting it all set up. And then you start out marketing and it's just a few posts. And I want to say, I understand that some of those posts, especially your first post, take a lot of energy and effort, and so it probably feels like you've been at it forever, but let's put some things in perspective. Let's look at the facts. How many times have you actually posted, how many emails have you actually written? How many people have you actually contacted?
Today in one of my group coaching calls, somebody was saying, you know, that they had reached out to somebody about a month ago, one time, and they had not heard back. And it was like, you don't even know if the lady actually read the email. I mean, think about it you guys, our inboxes are flooded. We are overworked and flooded with things. Everybody is. You've got to be consistent so that on the day your person is ready to make a change. They're like, Oh, here she is. That's the lady that was talking to me about weight loss all this whole time. And I'm actually ready to do it.
So what kind of excuses have you been making, silent excuses that you have been making that you don't even really hear that are keeping you from getting your business built. This is a sneaky thing that happens too. here we are in summer and maybe you find yourself traveling. And so this week you're not going to work on your business. And next week you get back and you've got to take care of your kids, your grandkids, and you don't work on your business, right? You can work on your business all during those times. You can do a few social media posts, you can write an email, you can show up and do a reel, you can do a live, all of that really doesn't take time.
So just make sure that you are paying attention to what's really happening. This is why tracking is so important and why planning is so important. When you have a plan, and you have it planned in advance, then you don't wake up on Monday morning, the Monday that you're on vacation and say, what am I doing this week? You already know. Oh, I'm writing an email and I'm doing 3 social media posts and it doesn't matter that I am on vacation. I'm doing it anyway.
Every person that I work with uses a different plan for marketing why? Because we customize the plan according to what they want. If somebody says, I am not going to be on Instagram. No way. No. How am I going to do Instagram? Then I'm like, all right, we don't have to do Instagram, but we have to do something. So let's figure out what it's going to be. And it has to be more than 1 something.
Now, when you get started, in fact I had a client today. He said, all I can manage right now is Instagram. And I said, great. Like that's progress. But we talked about her posts. And all of our posts that I had reviewed did not have calls to action. They didn't actually invite anyone to connect with her. As I had just mentioned, you've got to make sure that you are extending an invitation. Maybe you're emailing or maybe you're doing workshops, but you're not telling people why they could meet with you. Just because you have a button that says schedule a time or let's talk. Don't assume that people know what you're going to talk about. They're intimidated. You have to tell them what they're going to talk about. So figure out where you're going to market consistently.
I'll share a couple of examples here that I could recommend to you. And I recommend it to many of my clients, and I believe that while you have the time, and I know you have time because you're not fully booked. There are many things that you can do to market your business that you will not do long term because at some point you won't have the time. So if I go back to my business, just a few years ago, there were many things that I did that I recommend now to you that I don't do because I just don't have time. My schedule is full. And so I'm doing other types of marketing, but when I talk about organic marketing and the work that you have to do, let me give you an example of what that could look like.
You guys know, my favorite thing is workshops. If you are not following me, and if you are not signed up, and if you are not attending my workshops, what in the world? They are the best. Honestly, I can say that because people stay every minute of the whole workshop. And sometimes they're an hour and a half. They ask questions. So I know people are interested in it, make sure you sign up with anything I have. So you get my emails and register for my workshops. I host them two times a month.
So back to my clients, I recommend that they do a weekly workshop. This is the best thing you can do for your business. First of all, it puts you in front of people and you learn how to talk about your business. You learn what people are most interested in as you're presenting to them. You learn how to sell. You learn how to ask people to connect with you. You learn how to put together a presentation, how to communicate and market your business. It is so effective because I think our big job is to educate people on what it is we can do for them. And you educate them through these workshops. Again, this is something I teach in my coaching. I have a whole format on how to do a workshop, the whole email series before inviting people to social media and the follow up, but you can do that every single week. You don't even have to have slides. Now I use slides. But look, you could get on and do a 30 minute coffee chat and talk about one concept in your coaching. And then you could say to people, Hey, if this interests you let's have a conversation. Would you like to schedule a time to talk? It is that simple.
Next, I talk to people about writing emails. I think it's important, even if your email list is 10 people, to just get in the habit of writing weekly emails. Again, educating people on what their pain is, what it could look like if it's solved, and how you are the expert at helping them. You want to invite him to have a conversation with you through those emails, but consistently emailing, you will start your emails. They won't be fantastic, but in just a matter of time, you'll become a really good writer and that helps your business all the way around. So that's a couple of examples along with social media that I would tell you to do today to market your business.
Now, what does it take then? I'm going to recap it. Effort. Consistent effort to complete the tasks that you know you need to get done even when you don't want to. Trust. You have to trust that what you are creating will eventually come together even if you don't get your first paid client for 12 months. What I want to ask you is if you knew that in 12 months you would be on your way to having a business that would be producing income for you for years, would you go ahead and work every day of the week On your business for a full year, asking people getting rejected, doing workshops with nobody showing up, posting on social media with nobody coming. Would you do that to have a business that then would produce income for the next however many years? Of course, you would and it might take that, you guys. Most of my clients, about the 5, 6 month mark, If they've never had paid clients, they're getting paid clients. But maybe for you, it would take longer. Would that be okay? So you have to trust that the work that you're doing will eventually compound, just like interest, just like weight loss, just like getting in shape. You have to be consistently marketing. Again, I've already told you what that is: a weekly workshop, a weekly email, posting on social media, three to seven times, minimum, a week.
Sometimes people say to me, well, how often should I be promoting on social media? And I'm like, how many clients do you want? That's how often you should be promoting consistently. Plus, I do not want you to miss this point. You have to be talking about your business everywhere you go, all the time. I was at a doctor's appointment yesterday and I was, had seen three or four people in the office at the end of the appointment. This new lady comes in to schedule an appointment and she says, Hey, what's your schedule like? I said, well, I have to work around my coaching schedule and she's like, “Coaching schedule?”. Yeah, that's what her question was. Coaching schedule. So guess what? We had a conversation right there in the office. We talked about my coaching. I gave her a business card. She actually is somebody who is building a business. How crazy is that?
So I want you to ask yourself a question. Why are you expecting overnight success? Seriously? Do you think that that is really true? Is it really possible for you? What I want you to consider is if you had overnight success, could you actually handle it? And I'm going to guess the answer is no, because you actually haven't coached a lot of people, paid clients. That's different from free coaching, paid clients. You don't actually know what you feel like when you have the responsibility of coaching paid clients.
Now what happens to my clients is they'll tell me they want to have, let's say 20 clients. And I'll say, no, wait, let's wait till you start getting clients before we decide if 20 clients is possible. They'll get to the point where they've got seven or nine private clients. And then they have this aha moment and they're like, wow, that takes much more energy than I ever expected. At that point. I'm like, all right, it's time to start doing some group coaching. And we shift into group coaching because it's easier to grow and scale their business. Now I can tell you, I feel like I'm kind of like a super woman worker. And at one point I had 23 private clients. And I am telling you. It is a lot of work because you are preparing, right? You're prepping, you're following up, there's emails, there's notes, all kinds of things to fit in 23 clients in one week. So you might not be prepared for the overnight success that you are hoping for.
Today I want to challenge you. Decide that it will take a year to build your business. Decide and it's okay. I know that you have had this expectation that you were going to make so much money right off the bat. And you've already told your friends. You've maybe told your spouse like, this is it. I'm going to make so much money. Everybody makes this kind of money. Well, give yourself a break. My dear. You've just been slightly misled and it's possible that you could make that much money too. It is, but do not misunderstand that even if you could make that much money and you might, you still have to do the work. Nobody makes an overnight success without marketing.
They are still marketing consistently. They've still put themselves out there. They've still probably gotten connected with people who could get them in front of their audience, or they've made presentations at places, or they've, you know, really like knocking on doors, as they would say in sales. So you might have overnight success, but it still requires that. That's what you have to decide to do. And I think that it's worth it. If it takes you a year to do that, or 6 months or whatever it is, you guys. You will be able to have a business for a lifetime. It can be your passion played out for a lifetime. Now, I know it's what you believe you're meant to do, or if you were not listening.
One last analogy, I just want to put in your mind so that you can begin to redirect your thinking. When you notice that you're saying, it's not working, or I don't have this, or I don't have that. When you're focusing on what you don't have yet, I want you to think about if you're a mama, you never gave up on your babies. Never. They didn't walk as soon as she wanted them to. And you kept trying. I'm doing that right now with my granddaughter, Lucy. We are trying to get her to walk, trying to get her to walk. We're not going to quit. We know she'll walk eventually. It's not according to our time schedule. It's according to hers. When she decides to walk, it's just like a business. So do not give up on your business. You are literally birthing a business into the world. Now, do not misunderstand me. I did not say you have a baby business. That's a different thing. I'm saying you are bringing a business into the world and you have to raise it to a toddler, raise it to a teenager and raise it to an adult. All of those stages in between are what is required to get your business going.
If this analogy or any of the other ones fits you, please hold on to this. Train your baby to walk, talk, and eventually grow up. Take the time to get your business lined up, grow your email list, Start talking to people, start having clients. And it will get there you guys. It will, you'll meet your goal. Eventually you will. Do this with your business dreams. When you get in the flow of clients coming in, I'm telling you what, you guys, you're going to be so grateful that you did not quit on yourself. You'd be so grateful that you did the work when you did not want to, even when you were uncomfortable, even when you were embarrassed doing your first workshops, even when you felt like you messed up. Even when you have to struggle with shame over doing something that wasn't good enough. I believe in you. I believe in your business. I know what can happen when you ditch your short term immediate expectations and you build a business for your life.
Now, I want to invite you to work with me. Seriously, you guys, you've heard it all before. You've been here listening to the podcast. Let's just have a conversation. Let's talk about how I can help you. What I want to say is that if you are listening to this podcast, And it is the end of July 2023, you need to take the next few months and get your business built for the first of the year.
Now, I know that sounds like a long ways away, but if you need to get all your marketing set, if you need to get your programs worked out, and if you need to get your offer settled, and if you need to, you know, get on social media and build your email list and all of those things. Let's do it now so that when we get to December 26, the day that everybody is ready for change, you are ready for business, that you have worked with some clients in some beta work, that you are all prepared and you can confidently show up and present what it is that you do. And you can have an amazing 2024.
Also, you guys don't forget, I have some really fantastic money saving bonuses. You also get a free month right now when you purchase coaching with me so that you can stay with me through the 1st of February, because I want to make sure that when you get to the 1st of the year, I want to get you all the way through January where you're selling coaching.
Also, you guys have heard about the Design Live Thrive Summit. This is your chance to grab one of those spots so that you can get in front of your ideal client where I build your reputation. Yeah. I do that by providing this summit platform for you. We collectively bring in your audience and you get in front of your potential client base and you grow your email list. So what are you waiting for? Let's talk. All right. Have an amazing day until next time. Bye bye.
Outro: 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.