A Podcast for Coaches

There are good reasons and bad reasons to pursue certification(s) as a coach -- up to and including becoming a licensed therapist.

I realize the episode title is a corny bumper sticker. But people, including coaches, are not being nice to themselves. It's getting in the way of the growth and progress that brought us to coaching in the first place.

I like last week's episode but it didn't feel quite right. Today's episode rounds out some of my ideas/suggestions/hypotheses for how group coaching could go from being a good thing to a great thing. Enjoy. 

A few of my thoughts on the kind "group coaching" I'm accustomed to seeing in my coaching community. I'm not strongly against it; I'm not strongly for it; and I think what we call group coaching would be better delivered separately as either one on one coaching, group facilitation, or classroom teaching.

Coaching is a totally unregulated industry...which is exactly how we like it. With no governing body to create or police our interactions with our clients, it's up to us to define and adhere to a set of ethics that support our clients' safety and progress. In this episode I describe my own simple framework for feeling like I'm running my practice with integrity.

Coaches can feel trapped in the way of being they learned in training -- especially if they were trained in a dogmatic community. My friend Chantel is an example of a "rule follower" and a "striver" who started her practice doing everything by the book. As she realized the tools she learned first were good but not perfect, she kept learning, kept evolving and, in her words, "falling apart" as she...

This is the story of a teen in pain receiving support from a great coach. By itself, this is wonderful. This episode explains how a chain of relationships introduced the teen to the coach, even though some of the people in the chain didn't know the teen, and others didn't know the coach. Mutual trust and relationships built over time brought these coach and client together. This is the magic that...

If the coach is the product, personal development is the most important business strategy. This should come as a huge relief.

In 2017 I published a podcast episode railing against launch-based selling. In seven years, my opinion hasn't changed much...but a wise client has helped me open my mind (a little). In this episode I talk about the practical and psychological factors that make launch-based selling so brutal, and I also share some ideas (based on that wise client's input) on how it could actually be a pro-relations...

My friend Jesse Mecham is the founder of YNAB , a company that helps people love the way they spend their money. I asked Jesse to come on the show to talk different kinds of coaching and training he and his team use. Jesse shared a few big insights, including: 1. He's happy to pay for expensive coaching for members of his executive team. 2. Every employee at YNAB has a Training and Development bud...

Trainings (and certifications, and, I guess, "masterminds") can be powerful and transformational. They can also be the place where coaches' dreams, hopes, confidence, and personal balance sheets go to die. Rather than produce a multi-hour philosophical analysis of the coaching industry (some day, some day!), today I'll just talk about how those who are offered training and those who offer it can e...

As coaches, we are the product--our skills are the product. The question is how do we become more skillful? In this episode, I suggest that the deliberate, patient practice of listening without an agenda is the key skill in coaching and that this skill, by itself, and boring as it may seem, makes us appealing and attractive to those whom we hope to serve.

"She could coach you." That's what my wife, Kate, said about Amber Smith after meeting her. Kate has never said this before or since. (She knows many wonderful coaches, but not many who can wrangle my chaos in a coaching session.) I've known Amber for a few years. I like her and trust her. Our philosophies align. I'd happily refer a close friend or family member to her for coaching, and I'm gratef...

I'm not sure my fellow coaches realize how simple it can be to fill--and keep full--a coaching practice. I'm not saying easy--I'm saying simple. In this episode I outline a marketing hypothesis built on the power of creating and nurturing a growing list of "maybe" relationships. 

This episode almost seems pointless, because of course coaches make money. But, after a decade in this business, I'm in a position to speak to the psychology of the person who wonders if it will ever work/if it will keep working. And I also helpful, non-dramatic data, so let's get into it.

I look at my 2023 coaching practice through four lenses:  1. The workload. 2. The relationships. 3. The money. 4. The marketing.  It was a good year for my practice. Looking forward to more of the same in 2024. 

After starting her coaching practice in 2018, my friend and client Melisa Liberman (host of the Grow Your Independent Consulting Business podcast) threw herself into a cold-emailing, spam-driven approach to client acquisition. She completed hundreds of consultations with people who didn't even know they were IN a consultation. She failed a LOT. But during all those failures she learned to give ser...

I don't do sales calls where I explain my "program", make an offer, overcome objections, and close the sale. There are tactical/practical reasons and there are ego reasons. I'm not promoting this as the "right" or "best" way to do things. I think my personality, my circumstances, and my typical client (coaches) all make this easier for me. I also think this approach results in me making less money...

My friend Josh is a brilliant relationship marketer who happens to be a lawyer. In this episode, I interview him about his journey from spending a huge chunk of his monthly revenue on ads to spending nothing on ads while having his practice generate more revenue and more profit than ever. I'm especially excited for him to tell the story of spending two years nurturing one referral relationship--a...

I don't believe a person pursuing a one-on-one coaching business can fail unless they just stop trying. That's not naive optimism, either. Human nature and market realities are on our side, and in this episode I'll do my best to convince you how hard it would be for you to fail. I'm excited about this one.

My practice is "full" for the first time in the nearly 15 years since I started coaching. This is true in spite of the fact that there've been periods in the past where I had many more clients than I'm currently serving. See, "full" is only possible when you establish an inventory that can become "sold out". And now that I'm "sold out", I'm in a position to share insights such as: the new level of...

There are a few ideas I've heard in conversations about pricing one on one coaching: 1. The price your clients pay determines a) how your clients will engage with your coaching, and b) how much your clients will benefit from your coaching. 2. The price your clients pay proves how much you value the coaching you give your clients (and, sneakily, how much you value yourself). Yes, pricing can reflec...

One on one coaches are overvaluing facts and undervaluing resonant stories in the content they publish. In this episode I talk about why I think this happens, how to fix it, and and how to avoid a dread-spiral in your content creation that can negatively impact your view of your whole business.

In a one-on-one business, content's most important job is to give people a soft landing into your world. Your podcast, newsletters, and social media posts help people like you and trust you. Your published work helps them increase their desire to escalate a relationship with you. This episode explains how and why content is a powerful but misunderstood tool in a one-on-one coaching business.

Self-helpers and internet marketers refer to use gold mining as their favorite metaphor for the pursuit of success. I think it's the wrong paradigm for a person who's pursuing a relationship-driven one-on-one coaching business. I think gardening is a much more useful framework for our business, and this episode explains why.