195 - Getting coaching clients in 2024: 5 simple shifts to make today
Episode 195 of the Life Coach Business Building Podcast
In this week’s episode, I’ll reveal the key to a thriving coaching business in 2024 with 5 simple things you can do in your day-to-day.
We’ll talk about the easiest ways to get more coaching clients by being more intentional in talking about your business, getting creative and social, and stop waiting for clients to find you and just start doing.
So if you're a coach who’s still unsure about where and how to effectively promote your coaching services, know that it doesn’t have to be hard!
Get excited, engage in conversations, and create stories that people will want to talk about. 2024 is your year!
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Transcript:
Preview: Remember, you don't just answer, “I'm a life coach”. You answer in an interesting way. Well, you know people that are stressed out all the time? I help people just like that, every day, figure out how to better manage their life so they have more time with her family. Whatever it is, ask people how they are. Talk to them. Engage in conversation. There is such a big chance again that you are talking to your ideal client or when you talk to this person, if they're not your ideal client, there's also a super high chance that they know somebody who needs you.
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.
Are you a coach who has not reached the level of success that you want to in your coaching business? Are you trying to figure out where to promote your coaching business, what to say and how to do it? Are you ready? Because I'm going to share with you the five easiest ways that you can get clients in 2024.
All right, number one, we're going to dive right in. This is it. You guys start talking about your business as if you have a business. Start telling people as if you already are fully booked. Now I know that sounds easy, but this is an energetic thing that people pick up from you. If they see you as somebody successful and you talk about your business as if “Let me check my schedule to see where I have space to meet with you”, that's a different thing than I'm wide open anytime you want to talk to me is fine. So imagine how you would present yourself to anyone. As if you were already busy, what would you be saying? You would be talking like you were in demand like, I have limited time available. And by the way, this is not a lie, you do have limited time available.
I actually want you to create a schedule that creates limited time for you so that you are busier. So that you have fewer spots available. I want you to believe that you actually are somebody who could be fully booked. I want you to think about this. How would you be showing up? What I know for sure is that when my clients start getting clients, they have more and more private clients. It's so interesting because it snowballs.
Once they have a few, you know what happens? They start showing up in a way, and they're on social media, they're talking about their coaching business, and they're talking about clients. They're not talking about concepts or saying when I work with so and so and when I did this in my business and when I had this coaching call. You see, that's the energetic way that you show up as if you have a business. You can be talking that way right now in your business and it's not hard. You can be talking about all that you've got going on because you can be busy. So think about this person who has got really, you know, 9, 10, 11, 12 private clients and their just schedule is packed. How would you show up and how can you let that be, not a lie, but how can you let that energy be the way that you show up in your business? This is going to make a big difference. So when you talk about your business, talk about it as if you are successful.
All right, number two. Do not tell people you're a life coach. Whatever it is, tell them something that they really want to hear. Get creative. This is going to involve some work on your part. But when somebody says, Hey, tell me what you do. You say, Well, you know, know how women's metabolism slows down and they find themselves putting on a few extra pounds, do you know anyone like that? And they're like, Oh yeah, yeah. Well, I help women get to the root cause of the stubborn weight gain so that they can shed it for good. Now, do you see how much more impressive that sounds instead of saying, Well, you know, I'm a functional nutrition coach who helps women, let's say over 50.
Maybe you say, you know how teens are always stressed out and they have so many demands? They're so anxious. Teens have pressures that you can't even imagine. Society, and parents, and teachers, Everyone has high expectations. And it should be easier for them. They deserve support and guidance, and that is what I do. I help teens learn how to manage the pressure so they feel less anxious and they can ultimately do better in all areas of their life. Now, imagine that. These are not my niches. These are just things that I put together to try to show you guys that's a different way of talking about your business versus saying you help women lose weight or versus saying you coach teens in anxiety. That's how I want you to talk about your business.
So I am not just a business coach for female life coaches. Like, I help women who have never been in an online business, who are scared about social media. Do you know how it feels to be on social media? I know it feels really intimidating. I help women just like you figure out how to show up confidently on social media, figure out what they're going to say as they show up on social media. That's what I do in the work that I do and that's just a small example.
Number three, I want you to become social. Yes, I want you to put yourself out there. You could do this through social media. You could update your platforms and your profiles and you should, you guys. I'm always talking about that. Social media is not the single answer, but it is an answer. So why are you not sharing on social media what you do? A lot of you are not sharing what you do because you're uncomfortable and maybe even embarrassed. I had a consultation this week with a client and I was telling her about how I have this template of an email that clients send out to their personal contacts to introduce them to their coaching business. And she was like, Oh my gosh, you're kidding me. And I said, now that's interesting because you are telling me that you want to be a coach that has lots of clients and you want everybody to know about your business. But when I mention you telling your personal contacts what you do and sending them an email about it, you're uncomfortable.
And most of you could probably relate to that. It's like, uh oh, I don't want to tell those people. So you have to put yourself out there. You have to put on social media that you do this for a living. You have to start having people identify you as somebody who helps women with that stubborn weight loss in midlife. Whatever that is, they have to know it. So you are not building a business if you do not share about your business in your day to day. Again, this is the theme of these five things. You're just pretending to be in business if you are not putting yourself out there.
All right, number four, I want you to introduce yourself to people. When I go and meet new people, I literally say, Hey, I'm Debbie and I shake their hand. I know it's old school, shaking hands and saying hello, but I want you to do that. Why do I want you to do that? Because then you can strike up a conversation. It's like, well, how are you? What have you been up to today? When they tell you what they have been up to, you can engage further in the conversation and I bet that they might ask you, well, what about you? And guess what? You know what you're going to say then? You're going to say, well, I've been working with clients today. I had a full day of clients or I've been working on a new workshop where I educate people on how to lose the stubborn weight that they've put on in midlife. Something along those lines.
Let's get excited about what we do. Let's engage in conversations. Introduce yourself to people and open the door for you to be able to talk about your own business. This is why I want your social media to be updated because at that moment you're introducing yourself to people. Just imagine that your social media is your business card and I want you to think for a moment and say, Hey, you know what? I would love to stay connected with you. Can I follow you on Instagram or can I follow you on Facebook? It's much easier to do this in person, right? Because we'll get connected with each other and that way we can, you know, know where to locate each other.
Alright, so it's like exchanging phone numbers, but you're connecting with each other on social media when you do that. And if you have your social media updated saying what you do, they will naturally be able to go and look and see more about what you do. And if you have introduced yourself in a curious way and left them wondering about your coaching business, when they get home and they're laying in bed on their social media scrolling, chances are they will stop and look at your social media thinking, now what was it that lady said she did? Then they will find out.
Number five, stop thinking that clients are going to find you. This is the biggest mistake that coaches make. Your job is to find clients. So stop waiting and start doing. Stop being an introvert. Now, I think all of us are kind of natural introverts. We really don't want to go out and just put ourselves out there and start talking to people we don't know. But here's the deal. If you want to do what you know you are most passionate about, if you want to help people and change the world with your coaching, you have to talk to people about it. You picked a career that will not work for introverts. You have to put on like your extrovert cape, and be a superwoman and go out and talk to people. Now what do I mean? Most of us, particularly since COVID are at home all day long. We're not out and about. We're exercising at home, right? We're meeting people on Zoom.
We are so disconnected from people. Let's get out of the house. Especially when you work at home like we do. It's almost a chore to be like, Okay, I gotta leave my office and go do something. But I want you to do that. So how do you get out of the house? And where do you start talking to people? Some of you guys are interacting with people all day long because you might be working and you're not talking to your coworkers about your work. And maybe you've got a story in your mind about like, Ah, I don't want to get in trouble because I'm doing something else. Let me tell you what, your time off work is your time. Talking in the break room while you're getting a cup of coffee about what you do in your life. Everybody else is doing it.
They're talking about the football game. They're talking about whatever they watched on Netflix. They're talking about some movie. You're just going to be talking about your coaching business. For those of you that are doing after school pickups, you're in the pickup line, or you have after school activities, or you're in the PTA, or your kids are going to gymnastics. How often are you engaging with people around you? I think so many of us literally cling to our phones. We go out, we're sitting there waiting for our kids, and we're scrolling, we're answering emails, and we're not talking to people. This is an opportunity to talk to people and I'm gonna bet that wherever you are is actually where your ideal client is.
So if you're a mom picking up kids in the carpool line, I am gonna bet that you are coaching around something that that same woman that you would be connecting with is dealing with. So it might be weight loss. It might be anxiety. It might be overwhelm. It might be, I don't know, fill in the blank, but chances are they are your ideal client and you're not talking to them. Maybe you should be talking to people at the pool, at the gym. Do you know how easy it is to start saying, Hey, hey, how are you doing? After you go to the gym for a couple of weeks at the same time, you will begin to see people that will be your gym buddies. Go to the gym, get yourself in shape, and meet people to talk to about your coaching business. Tell your financial planner, tell your accountant, tell your nail person, tell your hairdresser. Tell the waiter that you're talking to. If you're sitting out, you know, having a beer at a bar with friends, tell the bartender.
This is what I'm talking about. There are people everywhere that you could be talking to about your business, and you're not. Again, remember, you don't just answer, “I'm a life coach”. you answer in an interesting way. Well, you know people that are stressed out all the time? I help people just like that, every day, figure out how to better manage their life so they have more time with her family. Whatever it is, ask people how they are. Talk to them. Engage in conversation. There is such a big chance again that you are talking to your ideal client or when you talk to this person, if they're not your ideal client, there's also a super high chance that they know somebody who needs you.
I talk about the circle of four, four layers out. Imagine four circles. You're right here in the middle. And now you've told your next door neighbor about what you do. And your next door neighbor is listening to her girlfriend who's got a problem. And she says, Oh my gosh, I know somebody who knows somebody. And then they are talking to somebody else, they're like, I know somebody who knows somebody. Again, if you are connected on social media, this is going to help you so much because how often have you been thinking, now who was that person that told me about such and such? Let me look and see it. And you start looking it up on social media. So make sure that you are talking to people.
Oftentimes there really are women who are overwhelmed. And if you're coaching around that, just say, Hey, look, I get it. I understand why women are overwhelmed. It bleeds into every area of their life. This is you talking to your person. You know, we're not taught how to manage this. We have so many pressures and we're just expected to face this in our day to day. And oftentimes we're just too ashamed to admit that we need help. So many of the women that I work with, they've tried therapy and antidepressants, but all of that is not really solving the actual overwhelm and why they're getting it. What I want to help you do is move forward. Can you see how that really helps explain what you do? You want to help women basically rewire their brain so that they don't live in overwhelm.
All of these ideas do not involve networking. Now, you might be thinking, okay, that would mean I have to really intentionally go somewhere and meet somebody, and I'm not suggesting that. I am talking about those five ways that you just do this in your day-to-day life, that you live as if you're talking to people about your business, that you live as if you're interested in helping people. If you are talking to your hairdresser and you can hear her complaining about something that you can support her with, say, you know what? This is the same work that I do in my coaching business. If you're open to this, I'd love to be able to, you know, help you through this.
Can I make a couple of suggestions? Coach your hairdresser on the spot. You can do this. This is how you will begin to be known as a coach. This is how you'll begin to create stories that people will talk about. So I'm not talking about going to a networking event, and I do want you to do that too. I'm just talking about living your business in your day to day.
So this is my challenge for you today. Start to become aware of how many times you could actually mention what you do. Just start noticing at church, in passing, when somebody's like, Hey, how are you? What have you been up to? That is such a common thing that we say. And I bet that you say, Oh yeah, I've been busy. You know, I got a lot going on. You smalltalk when you could be talking about your business. Start practicing how to talk. Evaluate what you say. How did that land with that person? How awkward was I when I answered that way? How weird did I show up when I was trying to tell her about my business? Assess that, make some shifts, start thinking about it, start believing that it's easy, and start believing in your business, you guys.
I believe in the work that I do so much that I can convince you that what I have to offer is exactly what you need. And I don't have to do it by convincing you. I do it by the way that I deliver in my tone in my body language. I'm leaning in talking to you. That is what I want you to do. So talk to people, connect with them on social media. You could even go so far to say like, look, I hear what you're saying. I know you're overwhelmed. I actually have something that I use with my clients that I could email you. If I can add you to my email list, I'll send that over to you. Yeah, you can say something like that. So do not let your business be hard.
It doesn't have to be hard. If you do this all year long in 2024, I promise you your business results will change. This has nothing to do with having a strategy for social media or doing your email marketing or doing live workshops or going to networking events. All of those things, by the way, are things that I really want you to do and I teach you how to do inside the business building boutique. But this is just simple. This is just living as if you are a successful coach, talking about it as if you do this in your day to day and connecting with more people. So don't let it be hard. You could literally have a thriving business in just a matter of months by doing just these few things. All right. I will talk to y'all very soon. 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.