Financial Coaches Network - The Podcast: Build your Financial Coaching Business

Josh and Amelie discuss the age-old question of renting vs buying! Top things to think about Society claims buying is better than renting; economics disagrees. When you rent, your max home maintenance is a few dollars for a new lightbulb. Renting gives a lot more flexibility; owning offers more stability. One big advantage of owning is that your mortgage stays the same. The standardized deduction...

In this episode recorded on April 1, Josh and Emily discuss a new law, AB0401, the Financial Obligation Omnibus Law, that restricts what people are allowed to talk about in regards to finances, shorted to the April Fool Law…ha…ha…ha. We are actually discussing general laws around financial coaching and lawsuits around financial coaching that may lead to increased regulation. Top things to think ab...

Josh and Amelie and Emily discuss credit cards and debit cards! What are the best use cases for each? Is one always bad and the other always good? Any common misconceptions? Top things to think about Debit cards can exacerbate cashflow challenges. You have MUCH more generous fraud protection with credit cards than with debit cards. Josh’s advice for new credit card users (less than 2 years of on-t...

Josh and Emily discuss cold messaging! Does it work? Is it terrible? Is it annoyingly aggressive? Is Emily actually as biased against cold messaging as she thinks she is?! Top things to think about Cold messages that immediately show a benefit that’s specific and personal are effective. Avoid selling in your first message or two. Generic messages are rarely effective; the more specific the message...

Josh and Amelie discuss marketing strategies, specifically *quantity* versus *quality* and which strategy is best in what situation! Top things to think about There’s no one right answer. Is your ideal client looking for really in-depth, quality research or lighter, more accessible pieces? Are you trying to build trust (exposure/quantity) or expertise (quality)? Repurposing content is not a terrib...

Josh and Emily briefly discuss “what is an HSA?” and then dive into what financial coaches should think about when talking to clients about HSAs, including potential red flag areas. Top things to think about You have to have a high deductible health plan (HDHP) to qualify for an HSA. Feel free to do the math, but anything beyond, “the simple math says it’s worth it/not worth it,” may be best left...

Short and sweet! Josh and Amelie discuss the new-as-of-2024 Beneficial Ownership Information reporting rules. If you are a sole proprietor OR a partnership, this doesn’t apply. BUT if you have an LLC, you need to make sure you are complying or you’ll face really stiff penalties. Top things to think about If your business was formed in 2024, you should be good to go (you have 30 days to do it). The...

  With the Memorial Day holiday, we’re pulling out a rerun of one of our most popular episodes!  Join Josh and Garrett as they discuss the importance of investing in yourself and your coaching business. The most important takeaway is that the #1 thing that limits the growth of businesses is the business owner’s time! 3 key takeaways: Business finances are different from personal finances...

Josh and Emily discuss the sometimes-awkward question of “So, what do you do?” How can we answer that question in a way that actually answers the question and doesn’t lead people to assume you do things that you don’t actually do (investments, life insurance etc.)? Top things to think about: Think about the context of where you’re having the conversation. Consider, “I’m a financial coach who…” or...

Josh and Amelie continue their discussion about non-profits. Whether you’re starting a new company or transforming an existing business into a non-profit, there are some steps to follow! Top things to think about: The basic steps are to form a corporation and then go through the steps of turning that corporation into a non-profit. 501c3 is one option and probably the most likely for most coaches,...

Josh and Amelie discuss the idea of setting your business up as a non-profit. When might this be the most advantageous thing to do? Top things to think about: Non-profits are corporations who have filed for exempt status (typically 501c3, but maybe not!). You have to have a board of directors in a non-profit. Think about what your goals are, and then determine if those align better with a for-prof...

Josh and Emily discuss things that waste business owners’ time. We also call ourselves out for OUR biggest time-wasters! Top things to think about: Marketing is a huge waste of time. Operations are a huge waste of time. Multi-tasking is a huge waste of time. Communications are a huge waste of time. Innovation is a huge waste of time. Want help building or growing a successful financial coaching bu...

Josh is joined by special guest Professor Trelawney–or rather, Amelie–to discuss a seemingly-boring topic that has led to surprisingly wonderful client responses…financial ratios! Debt-to-income, Top things to think about: Without ratios…numbers are relatively meaningless. Early on, we should focus on helping clients set up for long-term success–retirement savings to get company match, pay down de...

Josh and Emily discuss the difference between “them” and “us”—household name financial advice givers versus individual financial coaches. Top things to think about: Gurus give general advice (even to individuals) with a purpose of entertaining/reaching an audience. Individual coaches give specific advice with a purpose of helping that individual client. Gurus are fundamentally entertainment, so th...

Josh and Amelie talk about free sales calls. Should you coach during your sales call? What is the point of a sales call anyway? Top things to think about: If you see the primary goal of the sales call as “a way to show my value,” you run the risk of coming across as pushy. You cannot gather enough data in the first 5 minutes of a sales call to provide valuable coaching. Have a script for your sale...

Josh and Emily discuss business goals today! How do you set goals, how do you decide if they’re good goals, and how do you stick to them? Top things to think about: SMART goals started in the business world. A and R often have different words associated with them depending on whether you’re talking about business goals or personal finance goals. Focusing on one big goal can help clarify smaller SM...

Join Josh and Amelie to discuss debt payoff methods! Is the snowball method the best way? Top things to think about: The two most commonly talked about methods are the debt snowball and the debt avalanche methods. Focus on the debt with the highest negative impact. From a motivational standpoint, studies have shown that paying off a larger portion of a balance has a larger positive impact (so a $5...

Join Josh and Emily to discuss why having a meeting agenda is important…and why having the agenda consist exclusively of “whatever the client wants to talk about…” is NOT a good idea. Top things to think about: It’s very important to leave space for the client to ask questions and bring up what’s on their mind. At the end of the day, the client hired you for your expertise. Explaining what you see...

Join Josh and Amelie to discuss how to get yourself out of a funk and how to build a support system to help pull you out. Top things to think about: If there is one thing that is holding you back from moving forward in your business…consider if it’s possible to just not do that one thing. Set realistic expectations for yourself. Don’t change your strategy because you’re impatient–give it time to p...

Join Josh and Emily to discuss ways to make money as a financial coach outside of…coaching! Top things to think about: Do you have a valuable certification (hard to get, of value to society, recognized, etc.) or not? Most personal finance-related things that aren’t service-related will require a TON of time and you’ll make very little money. Is there a job (either W2 or 1099) you could take that w...

 Join Josh and Amelie to discuss Imposter Syndrome. Top takeaways: Imposter syndrome can show up in three ways: “there’s so much I don’t know!”, “this is easy, why would someone pay me?”, and actual “I have no idea what I’m talking about.” See if you can narrow down specific areas where imposter syndrome crops up. Don’t ignore your imposter syndrome–it’s telling you something, whether knowled...

Join Josh and Emily as they discuss pros and cons of paid and free promotion opportunities. Which is better? What should you think about? Top takeaways: You have much less control over free marketing options. Make sure you have an infrastructure to handle business opportunities. Attending free events in an unofficial capacity rarely leads to genuinely organic conversations. Attending events as a s...

Join Josh and Amelie to talk about Whole/Universal Life Insurance! As Amelie was studying for her AFC exam, she found herself wondering when–if ever–whole life insurance makes sense. Top takeaways: First question to ask: do you have a temporary or permanent need for insurance? Second question: have you run out of all other tax-sheltered accounts (IRA, 401k, 529, etc.)? There are some long-term car...

Join Josh and Amelie to help Launch member Jackie choose her niche! Jackie reached out to Amelie about choosing a niche, and Amelie invited her onto the podcast to talk with her and Josh! Top takeaways: Consider that opening a non-profit business is an option if you’re looking to serve primarily lower income folks. Feel free to start with a REALLY broad opening category, as broad as “people who wo...

Join Josh and Emily to discuss whether $1000 is a big enough emergency fund…and more specifically, how to determine how much of an emergency fund you actually need. Top takeaways: $1000 is a truly arbitrary number. It hasn’t changed in decades and isn’t based on income or expenses. In order to determine a good emergency fund benchmark, you have to figure out what your emergency fund should cover (...