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

Episode 35: Responding to Emotion - Navigating Emotional Client Conversations Today, Josh and Garrett talk about the “softer” side of coaching—beyond the budgets and debt payoff and savings goals, we coaches need to be able to handle the emotions that come up when talking about money! Key takeaways: Most humans get very uncomfortable with strong emotions (internally or externally!), so we react to...

Episode 34: How to follow up with prospects Today, join Josh and Garrett as they discuss how to follow up with those people who didn’t book during a prospect call. Key takeaways: Read every communication you send in the angriest possible voice so you can make sure it’s positive (and not passive-aggressive!). Be careful about using the cliches - “Just sending you an email…” “Wanted to circle back a...

Episode 33: What to do when a client asks to take out a loan for home renovations? Today, Josh and Garrett discuss financial coaches’ often dogmatic approach to clients’ ideas about taking debt on for things like home renovations. Key takeaways: We have to be careful about this conversation because it’s not really about the numbers, it’s about people’s lives. You WILL have an emotional reaction, w...

Episode 32: When to hire help Today, Josh and Garrett discuss their thoughts around hiring help for your business! Key takeaways: We cannot look at business and personal finances the same way. Hire help as quickly as you can (as soon as you have recurring income) and reinvest as much money as possible into your business. The more money you can afford to spend to get your time back, the better. Wan...

Episode 31: Should I list my prices on my website? Today, join Josh and Garrett as they discuss the hot topic of whether or not to list prices on your website!   Key takeaways: A lot of our decisions are based on driving away hypothetical, mythical clients…who don’t exist in the first place! If you approach the decision from the lens of consumerism (aka what’s best for the client), it’s...

Episode 30: Should I get the AFC (Accredited Financial Counselor) designation? Today, join Josh and Garrett as they talk to special guests Jarod Taylor (Certification Manager at the AFCPE) and Ambus Hunter (AFC Candidate) from the AFCPE to talk about financial coaching certifications.   3(+2)  key takeaways: There is no legal requirement to be a financial coach, but the AFC certific...

Episode 29: Paid Search Advertising Today, join Josh and Garrett as they discuss what Paid Search Advertising is and when it’s relevant to financial coaches! 3 (+2!) key takeaways: The benefit of paid search is that IF (big if) you do it right, it gets you in front of people who are actively looking for a solution to a problem that you solve through your coaching. Paid search gives you keyword tar...

Episode 28: What is a good account for an emergency fund besides a savings account? Today, join Josh and Garrett as they discuss emergency funds and where to put emergency fund money other than savings accounts! 3 key takeaways: Savings accounts are FINE but it’s easy to transfer money back out, so sometimes it’s easier to set up some barriers to easy transfers. The purpose of an emergency fund is...

Episode 27: How do I fire a client? Today, Josh and Garrett have a conversation about how to deal with clients who aren’t working out. 3 key takeaways: Reasons to fire clients: philosophical differences, clients who are a PITA (pain in the ass..ets), and unethical or illegal actions/activities. If the client is doing illegal things or trying to involve you in illegal things, no kid gloves. Be as b...

Episode 26: How do I do quarterly tax filings? Join Josh and Garrett as they discuss the boring-yet-super-important topic of quarterly taxes!! 3 key takeaways: Each quarter's tax payment is due 2 weeks after the end of that quarter. Thus Q1 (Jan/Feb/March) payment is due April 15, Q2 is due July 15 etc. Do you have to pay quarterly estimates? Yes - if your tax liability is over $1000. No - if you...

Episode 25: What software is there designed for financial coaches? Join Josh and Garrett as they talk about what software is out there to make your life easier as a coach. It’s not really feasible to trust clients on their rough estimates of how much they spent; we as coaches really need hard numbers. 3 key takeaways: Software for financial advisers just doesn’t really cut it; it often doesn’t hav...

Episode 24: How fellow financial coach (and FCN team member!) Amelie found her niche and early success Garrett and Amelie discuss Amelie’s coaching journey so far, from being one of FCN Launch’s first members to receiving a scholarship for the AFCPE (Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education) program. 3 key takeaways Niches are important, even though it can be scary to narrow t...

Episode 23: Investments to make in your business as a new financial coach Join Josh and Garrett as they discuss what you need to spend money on as you start focusing on 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 than personal finances! Starting: Focus on...

Episode 22: How to navigate when couples fight or argue during sessions   Couples may not openly start yelling at each other during sessions very often, but passive aggressive snips are certainly a possibility. How do you handle those situations?   3 key takeaways Don’t take sides, as hard as it can be sometimes! Help each person understand their partner’s perspective. When one person do...

Best Practices For Asking For Referrals From Referral Partners 02:23 - Why Not Make Referral Partners Your Priority When First Starting Off 02:55 - Building Up Referral Partners, Building Up That Trust 04:18 - Having a Certain Level of Vulnerability and Honesty With Your Referral Partners 05:29 - No Successful Business Owner Looks Badly Upon You For Having No Clients 06:14 - Every Business Owner E...

Episode 20: What Bookkeeping Software Should I Use And Do I Need It? 01:20 - Bookkeeping Defined 02:50 - The Tax Rules Related to Bookkeeping 05:13 - Start Doing Bookkeeping Sooner Rather Than Later 08:45 - The Categorization of the Income and Expenses 10:26 - The More Serious You are in Business, the Earlier You Should Start Getting Help in Bookkeeping 11:56 - The Help of CPAs and Bookkeeper...

Episode 19 : What is a Marketing Funnel and How Do I Create One? 00:46 - Everyone Wants to Know What Funnels are 01:39 - Marketing Funnels That Work…Don’t Work 02:24 - Marketing Funnel = Advertising Campaign 05:26 - Aligning Your Marketing Campaigns with Your Client’s Journey 07:09 - Having Success with a Marketing Ecosystem 08:12 - The Ecosystem and the Funnel Defined 09:33 - The Overview of...

00:43 - Being Unique Makes Marketing Easier 01:37 - Dispelling the Myth That “X” Is a Commodity 04:22 - Viewing Coaching As a Commodity 05:10 - Being Unique Gives Prospects a Compelling Reason to Choose You Over Anyone Else 09:10 - Why One Size Fits All Does Not Work 12:38 - Challenges and Disadvantages to a Generic Program 14:35 - Followthrough and Referability 15:05 - How Do You Make Your Progra...

Episode 17: What to Do When a Client is Resistant to Your Ideas/Suggestions? 02:34 -   3 Reasons A Client Might Be Resistant 03:53 - Garrett’s Experience With a Resistant Client 05:20 - Reason #1 - Coaches Need To Take Ownership of Their Tendency to Judge 09:02 - Really Looking at It From the Perspective of Your Clients 12:10 - Recognize Your Clients’ “Sacred Cows” 15:45 - Reason #2 - Cl...

Episode 16: Is Buying a New Car Really a Bad Idea? 02:33 - A New Car Depreciates Slightly Rapidly 04:12 - Buying a Used Car is Not Always the Better Option 06:13 - New Versus Used Insurance and Taxes 07:51 - Gas Mileage - One of the Hidden Costs of Owning A Car 10:33 - Money Exists So That We Can Use It, Not to Hoard It 12:34 - Different Factors to Consider When Buying a Car 15:18 - Buying a...

Episode 15: How Do I Spend Less Time Preparing For Client Meetings But Still Provide The Same Value? 01:05 - Garrett’s Experience from the First Couple of Years of Coaching 02:54 - The Balance Between Process Standardization and Customization 05:07 - Falling Into the Fundamental Trap of Catering to Individual Clients 07:13 - Process Standardization Takes Over Everything 12:55 - Making the Mee...

Episode 14: What are Workflows and Why are They Important? 02:49 - Understanding Workflows and Processes 04:43 - Setting Up Workflows for a Project 06:26 - Standardizing a Process with a Series of Steps 08:39 - Turning Processes Into a Visual Workflow 09:49 - Planning Out the Work with the Client 11:35 - Doing Your Work with Less Effort 16:15 - Making Adjustments to the Workflows 20:22 - Usin...

Episode 13: What are Best Practices When Asking for Client Referrals from Friends and Family? 04:10 - Asking Friends and Family to Find You Clients 05:53 - Identifying the Needs of Your Niche 06:45 - Understanding Who It Is You're Serving 09:41 - Why it’s Important to Think of Actual People 13:01 - Having a Reason to Send Client Referrals 16:02 - Being Sensitive to Talk About Money-Related Is...

Episode 12: Freebies: When to Use Them, When to Not 01:40 - Examples of Freebies 02:52 - Freebies Defined 03:44 - Developing and Designing Your Freebies 05:08 - Freebies Relevant to Your Audience 07:21 - Having a Powerful Connection to the Budget 08:35 - Understanding the Rest of the System 08:57 - The Strategy Behind the Freebie 10:36 - Creating a Freebie Until a Very Specific Niche Has Been Iden...

Episode 11 What is Marketing vs. Advertising vs. Sales? 01:59 - Marketing Defined 02:45 - The Three Primary Stakeholders of a Business 05:26 - The Four Marketing Tools of Marketing 11:35 - Marketing is a Lot Bigger Than Just Promotion 14:40 - Developing a Strategic Mission and Vision 15:03 - Advertising and Sales 17:31 - Publicity - A Particular Communication to Your Audience 18:23 - Advertising E...