28 | From Coaching Novice to Industry Leader in 5 Steps

Speaker: 00:00:00

Hello and welcome to Women in

the Coaching Arena podcast.

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I'm so glad you are here.

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I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor

and ICF accredited coach

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

and I help coaches to

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build brilliant businesses.

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I know that when you prepare to enter

the arena, there is fear, self doubt,

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comparison, anxiety, uncertainty, shame.

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You can tend to armor up and

protect yourself from vulnerability.

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In this podcast, I'll be sharing

honest, not hype, practical and

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emotional tools to support you to make

the difference that you are here for.

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Dare greatly.

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You belong in this arena.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-1:

Welcome to the 28th episode of

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women in the coaching arena.

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I am so glad you are here today.

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I am creating a medley of

information using the data from

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my most popular podcast episodes.

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So, what are the most popular episodes?

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Trends and predictions in the coaching

industry has been downloaded the most.

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Next up.

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Was four steps to tackling

imposter syndrome.

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So if you are feeding any of

these feelings, Take that as

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a sign that you are not alone.

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Reaching financial

independence as a coach.

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How long does it take.

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13 ways to get clients today.

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Why most coaching businesses

fail and how you can succeed and

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finally selling to corporates.

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So today I am pulling together.

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Various information to really help

you to move forward, taking that data.

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So thank you so much.

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For listening, and it's just wonderful

to really know what you are interested

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in so I can create that for you.

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Here are five ways to go from

coaching novice to industry leader.

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First up is the power of

authentic storytelling.

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People love hearing real case studies.

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My episodes from Natasha and Kate, my

two clients were also very highly rated

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because I think it's interesting to hear

from other coaches and the real story and

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actually hear them share their experience.

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So your clients will be

looking for the same.

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One thing I teach in my program

is the power of case studies.

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Not testimonials.

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No one really cares about a

testimonial that looks like it's

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been typed by you on a canva post.

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What people really care about is hearing

the A to B transformation that someone

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has had on their journey with you.

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So anything you can do to weave

those personal stories and case

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studies into your marketing

will be really, really powerful.

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One of my clients often

does this in her marketing.

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If you can share the real story

and I know your clients might

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not want their names shared.

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But my client, he does this

often really does the rewards.

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Here's an example.

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Before working with me, Zoe spent a

lot of time in her head debating what

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course of action was best to take.

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And hadn't really crystallized how

to go about building her business.

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This led to frustration, poor use

of time and started to impact on

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her self-esteem and motivation.

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We worked on Zoe's offer and

she successfully sold her group

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program, which has brought, her

20 emerging leaders to coach.

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We worked on what sales strategies and

marketing are a perfect fit for her.

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We covered how to use LinkedIn

effectively, how to use Canva, how

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to create lead magnets and email

nurture sequences using mailerlite.

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So she also gained the back office stuff

to ensure her systems were effective.

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By at the end of our programme zoe was

really clear that she was selling to

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businesses rather than individuals..

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She sewed into two organizations in

our six months of working together,

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along with some individual clients.

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She now knows exactly how

to market her business.

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She has had that mindset shift

from her business, being about

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her, to her business, being

all about her ideal client.

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Alongside her current 20 emerging

leaders that she is coaching she

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also now has a pipeline of interested

organizations who she is nurturing.

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More likely to gain another contract

when her current contract finishes up.

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Zoe said that despite 15 years

marketing and insights experience,

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this isn't something she could have

done on her own and she has made so

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much progress in such a short timescale

working with me through this program.

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So there is me modeling how you can

showcase your client stories rather

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than anything about the person saying,

you're a really great person and you've

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got great listening skills and you hold

great space because sadly your paying

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client doesn't really care about that.

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They care about the thing that

is their top of mind, problem.

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I hope that helped to hear how you can

make those testimonials into case studies

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and make them way more powerful so they

actually convert followers into clients.

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Okay.

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So Step two is mastering money mindset.

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This was another popular episode

alongside the, how long is it

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going to take me to reach financial

independence as a coach episode?

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I definitely struggle with money

mindset and it's something I have

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worked on and consistently work on.

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I'm not sure you ever get to the place

where you can stop doing this work.

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On really acknowledging what a gift

it is that I am giving to people.

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I have personally night tests that

when I m undercharging I am kind

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of resentful or I'm holding back.

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Whereas when people join my program,

it's like they are in my world.

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They are my family.

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And then I feel that what they are paying

is enough for me to be able to show up

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as my best self and be able to provide

the service that I want to provide.

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You want to be able to do the same.

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What I also notice from my program and

I am so, so lucky that nearly all of

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my clients show up every single week.

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So the problem with the membership model,

which I don't personally like, because

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I am part of, I dunno, four memberships.

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I can't quite recall.

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Far too many that I should cancel.

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But I just don't login and

your clients will be the same.

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Yeah, you might get that one that

prioritizes a low cost membership

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or a free coaching session.

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But you will have so much greater success

when people have actually got skin in

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the game, they've actually invested a

good amount of money to work with you.

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So they will show up,

they will take action.

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They will get way better results.

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So yeah, it's been a journey for me.

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Whilst there is the odd exception cause

I do NHS leadership coaching, which I

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absolutely love, the employee doesn't

have to pay obviously, but the people

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I have coached through that have been

the most committed, amazing people.

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So it's not always the case.

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But when you are trying to do favors

for people and reduce the cost in my

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experience, it doesn't help either of you.

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Third topic today is navigating

the coaching industry landscape.

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In the trends and predictions in

the coaching industry episode three.

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I shared my own research of how

many coaches there are out there.

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In December, 2020, when I searched

LinkedIn for the word coach,

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there were 1.6 million results.

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A year later, December, 2021,

it had gone up to six and a half

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million results for the word coach.

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And when I last searched in

March,: 2023

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results for the word coach.

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So in just two short

years, It has grown 407%.

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People calling themselves, coach.

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And I realize it is an

unregulated industry.

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So not everyone may be actually coaches,

but this is what you are up against.

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If your ideal client is looking

for a coach now, this is

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why we need to up our game.

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Niche down and be something to someone

versus being just another coach

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out there who can't differentiate

yourself from the marketplace.

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Nearly everyone joins my program

without a niche, or some people

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might think they have a niche, but.

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It's not my idea of a niche.

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And I have seen the greatest

success with those who are brave

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and courageous enough to niche.

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And often it is a journey.

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Zoe, for example, who I mentioned

earlier, went from working with agencies

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to working with insight agencies.

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So you can micro-niche.

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And then before you know it, if you are

an insight agency, There is no one else

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you would want to work with because,

Zoe specializes in Insight agencies.

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So if they are comparing Zoe

to another coach who is just

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a general leadership coach.

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They're going to think, oh, Zoe

obviously gets our industry because she

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specializes in our type of organization

and it has paid off for her as I

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mentioned earlier, she has gained those

corporate clients and the best thing

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is now she has insight agencies on

her books and many other relationships

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with insight agencies building, she

will become known in that industry and

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soon start to get referred for work

without having to pitch for it as such.

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So, yeah, it's super exciting because

I think the hardest part is obviously

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gaining your fast few contracts and

then you can become a bit more known

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and you will start to attract that work.

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Our fourth point is overcoming

common coaching challenges.

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The episodes that prompted

this point was episode 23.

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Why most.

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Businesses fail and how you can succeed

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and episode six four steps to

tackling imposter syndrome.

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So on this one, I think it's about

courage, which is one of my top values.

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It does take courage to choose a niche, to

create an offer, to decide to be something

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to someone, rather than nothing to no one.

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To take a stand.

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To share your views.

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And that really is what it

takes to build a business.

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If you are being vanilla, sadly, you won't

be able to attract people's attention.

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And I know that feels really hard.

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It's not a natural thing for me either

but all we can do is really tune into.

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What you have got to say and

how you can help and what you

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would love to hear from people.

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I just saw a post online

right now on LinkedIn.

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Oh sharing, you know, the highlights of

the week and their low lights of the week.

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So that's interesting because you're like,

oh no, they lost a contract this week.

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Oh gosh.

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poor them Because usually you

only ever see the highlights.

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So anything you can do to really stand

out, do something different, have an

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opinion will really, really help you.

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But then comes the imposter

syndrome, which often stops this.

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Because then you may think,

who am I to do this work?

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Who am I to have this opinion

because there's people out

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there with PhDs in the subject.

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I looked up the start once, which is

something like 82% of the world's data

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has been created in the last two years.

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So whilst we may think of

an expert or someone who has

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studied this field for 20 years.

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Things are changing and everything

is so much faster paced.

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You can become an expert in 12 months.

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If you go all in, share your

research, share your learnings,

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share the things you're reading.

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Keep talking about your particular

topic and you really will position

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yourself in your industry.

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If you are brave enough

to choose an industry.

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So know that your skills and experience

have positioned you to do this work.

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I don't have a marketing degree,

but what I do have is real life

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experience of learning this on the job

and marketing my coaching business.

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I have worked with marketing experts

who are unable to help because

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they don't understand what coaching

is and how you need to sell it.

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And that is my unique strength

from doing this myself.

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In executive coaching, career coaching,

business coaching, and now helping 65

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plus coaches in a paid capacity to do

this plus many people on my podcast

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and trainings and discovery calls.

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So I have gained that experience and

I have positioned myself as the expert

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because I'm sharing my learnings whether

they are from a study of thousands of

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people over thousands of years or whether

they are my real life experience from

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last week and the client I helped and how

I saw what we did impact her business.

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So, I don't know about you, but I

would much rather that real life

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experience than textbook experience.

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So know you have everything within

you right now to offer to people

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and everyone feels just like

you with the imposter syndrome.

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That is my greatest learning of

becoming a coach is that we all feel it.

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So we might as well just get over it

and start being ourselves and showing

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up as our authentic version of us.

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My fifth point was the future of coaching.

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What's next?

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From my experience.

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I am noticing is micro-niche.

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I know niching is hard enough,

let alone micro-niching.

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But as I've alluded to in this episode,

that is where I have seen my clients

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gain the greatest level of success.

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I also think there's a way more

blended approach to coaching that

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people really want, because what

I've been hearing from my clients is.

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People are coming to me because

I have their experience.

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And then I'm doing this pure

coaching thing where I'm not

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sharing anything with them.

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And I'm starting to feel like they are

getting a bit frustrated and saying, I

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chose you because you're from my industry,

you know, the challenges I'm facing.

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And I'm just like feeling a bit

frustrated that I'm not getting more.

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So I do think sadly, because that is

not what we learned in coach training.

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I appreciate, I am an ICF accredited coach

and I do know the rules, but sadly, if

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this is what the market wants, and this

is what your ideal client want, you might

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want to play around and find a way to

deliver what they want to move forward.

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I know I have a business coach who takes

a really coachy approach and I must admit

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it does drive me nuts because I think.

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I've kind of come to you

because you've grown your team.

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You've done all the things I want to do.

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I just want you to sort of send me your

spreadsheet of like, what do you delegate

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to your team and how do you do this?

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And often she takes a more coach approach.

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So, yes, well, sometimes that's great.

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And I do have another coach who

is more of a kind of pure coach.

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But I think depending on what you're

going to that person for, you may need to

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really think why are they coming to me?

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Is it because I have industry experience?

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And insights that I could share with them.

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And if so, Oh, am I going to

work this out with that client?

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So let's summarize today's episode.

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First, we talked about the power of

authentic storytelling, how you can weave

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those case studies into everything you do.

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Next up, we talked about money mindset

and how people paying for coaching

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is actually a good thing for them.

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As well as for you.

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Next, we talked about navigating

the coaching industry landscape.

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We talked about trends and

predictions in the coaching industry.

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How the amount of coaches

has increased dramatically.

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And so how you have this huge

opportunity to stands out, make a

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difference, be something to someone.

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Next we talked about overcoming

common coaching challenges.

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Like being courageous enough to niche and

courageous enough to share your message.

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Overcoming that imposter syndrome.

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Knowing that everyone feels like that.

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And you just need to be yourself

and really, really go for it.

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Finally, we talked about the

future of coaching what's next.

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And I shared that what I'm

seeing is that trend of people

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wanting more than pure coaching.

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And so to be innovative in your

approach, figure out ways that

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you can navigate this challenge.

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So, thank you so much for joining today.

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This episode, combined the elements from

your most favorite podcast episodes.

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If this episode was helpful, Drop me

a line on LinkedIn as Joanna Lott.

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I would love to hear from you.

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Or leave me a review and I will

pesonally thank you for that.

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Like I say at the end of every

episode, trust yourself, believe

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in yourself and be the wise Gardner

who keeps on watering the seed.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

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Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.