When I first started my coaching business, I was perplexed why I wasn’t earning well or working with many paying clients. I was seriously contemplating quitting even though I’d put so much time and money into this.
I reached out to my previous mentor and complained that I wasn’t getting the results I hoped for from my efforts. If I’m honest, somewhere in my brain I was secretly blaming her for my lack of results.
She asked, “Well, what exactly have you been doing for the last 6 months to enroll clients?”
She did NOT ask “How many posts have you done on socials?” or “How many emails have you sent out about your business?”
Her question was smart and very specific – what had I done to ENROLL clients.
My answer … NOT A SINGLE THING! Busted!
I hadn’t invited my audience to a Discovery Call and then asked them to hire me. Are you judging your lack of results on safe actions? Let’s talk about this. Got some tough love for you here.
Hey Coaches!
Let’s break this issue down with a few powerful questions because most new coaches that are struggling are making the same mistakes.
Have You Take Responsibility for Your Results in Your Coaching Business?
Listen, if there’s some part of you holding someone besides yourself accountable for your results, it’s time for a mindset shift right now because you’ll be held back without it.
You are not alone if this is you.
You might have heard me talk about stepping into the CEO role of your business. If you haven’t done that yet energetically, emotionally, mentally, physically do want it takes to fully strap on that mantel ASAP. You might need a ritual or something to cement that baby on.
A CEO is fiscally responsible for the business – it’s up to them to be sure the company is making profits!
You may not want to be the CEO of your business or you may want to call it something else … but here’s the thing … if you’ve launched a business and intend to make money at it, that’s the role you need to be in.
And something magical happens when you take responsibility for your success — suddenly you start having some! And, things grow from there because the locus of control is you.
And YOU can do this! It may take some figuring out. But don’t give up on yourself. You are a smart cookie!
The next powerful question is …
Are You Someone Who Habitually Gives Up on Yourself?
I’ve seen this happen with some coaches. They long for a certain type of niche, business model and result. They long to do the coaching work. But they keep changing up their audience, niche, benefit statement and website. They try all sorts of different things but give up on each fast.
I say this with love … if you give up on yourself often, what’s up with that? Have you looked at the root cause of that habit? I bet you know what it is but it’s scary to look at.
And no shame.
Most human beings have trauma that affects their beliefs and actions. But not all people with trauma give up on themselves. That’s a special kind of self sabotage that I believe you can grow out of.
Sometimes giving up is about wanting so many things at once that you can’t settle and stick.
Sometimes giving up is about not being willing to do the hard things to get what you really want. You do the easy things, maybe even throw money at getting professional support, but then you give up if results aren’t quick and obvious.
A business takes time to grow, y’all, and you can’t always see what’s happening beneath the surface. So, patience is critical.
Sometimes giving up on yourself is about having too strong of an inner judge. Know what I mean? That judge inside is usually a parent’s critical nature that you’ve integrated into your being. You judge everything you do as inadequate so giving up is the way to get away from that inner critic. Run away! I get it.
If you are a person who gives up fast, spend some time with a good therapist to face that down.
If you really want to be a coach and an entrepreneur you deserve to give yourself a long-term fighting chance! In my experience anyone who does makes it happen.
Are You Playing It Safe with Low Payoff Actions?
Low payoff actions are the relatively easy online efforts, which include:
- posting on socials
- writing and posting blogs, podcast episodes, videos or articles
I’m not saying it doesn’t take some courage to do those things, but they are low payoff.
Now, don’t get me wrong … these are worthwhile actions but none of these things alone — for a new business owner — will bring you a steady stream of clients.
Why? Because you have few followers in your target audience. You’ve not yet built up your visibility and credibility. That takes time.
I know you’ve heard me say that I get all the clients I need from my podcast but that’s because when I started my podcast I’d already been nurturing and serving my audience for 12 years.
I had deep credibility with loyal followers and a platform from writing coach training curriculum for a coach training school that’s still in business and still using that curriculum.
Also, I had leveraged skills, expertise and confidence. That takes time to develop too.
So again, I’m not saying don’t do a podcast. I’m saying do a podcast if your up for it. Just know it takes time. It takes time to get people to listen. It takes time for listeners to become clients.
The problem with doing only low payoff actions all the time is that those efforts are a slow sales arc. It takes a long time to get to the point where enrollments are flowing in.
Now, if you’re doing all those things and doing them well, gaining traction AND ASKING people to hire you sometimes, it increases your chances of getting clients from those actions.
For example, I only just started using LinkedIn in earnest last year and I’ve attracted a few paying clients directly from there. But again, I have a lot of experience in messaging to lean on and I know how to follow examples from others who are killing it on LinkedIn.
What is missing if you are only doing all these low touch, online actions as a new coach?
It’s simple. You haven’t yet built enough trust or attracted enough followers and asked them directly to hire you. You have to ask.
Going back to the question my mentor asked me … she said “Well, what exactly have you been doing for the last 6 months to enroll clients?” Notice the 6 months?
When my VIP clients finish working with me, I tell them that the best metric to measure their efforts is how many Discovery Calls they are having each month.
Discovery Calls don’t happen if you don’t make them happen.
See, you can do all sorts of things to build visibility but if you are not having enough Discovery Calls it means you don’t have enough enrollment opportunities. If you don’t have those, no one is going to hire you or at least it will be a very rare thing.
This is another thing that, bless me, I had to learn the hard way.
You do NOT have to take that long! Learn this now!
I thought or hoped that I wouldn’t have ask specific people in my target audience to hire me.
Can you relate to that?
The best way to do that is invite people to Discovery Calls. The best people to invite to Discovery Calls are your avid followers — people who are regularly listening to your podcast, watching your videos, responding —not just with a heart but with a comment — to your social posts. Those are fans. They like you and trust you. They are primed for THE ASK.
If you need help with asking listen to Episode #294 called Are You Uncomfortable Inviting Potential Coaching Clients to Hire You?
Now, what I want for you is for you to:
- Step fully into the CEO role and take on the finanical responsibility for your business.
- Stay the course. Put your stake it the ground and stay there. It is only through persistent, CONSISTENT action in your niche with your audience that you’ll get where you want to be.
- Stop judging your results and do more in a smarter way. Allow ample time to learn.
- Be patient. Listen to Episode 233 called The Big Question All Coaches Ask in Their First Year, which is about how long it takes.
- Play big and bold. Take high payoff actions. Do one every day that gets the results you want. Don’t hold yourself back from THE ASK. Without it, you won’t reach your goal to be a kickass coach in high demand.
Stay inspired and make things happen!
