e151 Why I Don’t Believe That Everyone Has What It Takes To Grow A Thriving Coaching Practice
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Gill Moakes: [00:00:00] Welcome, welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm your host, Gill Moakes. Thank you so much for being here again this week. Very happy to have you here. I've got a great episode for you this week, even if I do say so myself. But I feel like it might ruffle a few feathers. Do I care? No, I don't. I don't because you know, by now, if you're used to listening to me on this podcast, you'll know that hopefully I'm quite fair about this.
I do have a few little rants here and there, but I think I try and give you a balanced view, but the one thing you do always get from me is my honest opinion on things. So this episode is really. My honest opinion on why I don't believe that everyone has what it takes to grow a thriving coaching practice.
I don't. I [00:01:00] don't think we all do. If you want to know why, let's dive in.
Welcome, welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm Gill Moakes, and I am obsessed with cutting through the noise when it comes to growing your business. Each week, via intimate coaching conversations and inspirational stories, I share what it really takes to get the results you want, in a way that feels right to you.
I am all about attracting higher ticket opportunities, building authentic relationships, and creating the abundant, full fat version of your dream business. I mean, how many of us have beavered away creating a light version of what we really want? The thing is, I honestly believe when you're outstanding at what you do, there is no limit to what you can achieve.
So, Are you ready to put our heads together and make it [00:02:00] happen? Let's go.
Okay, so I know we're supposed to go along with this. Anyone can do anything if they set their mind to it. You know, if you just want it enough or wish it enough, then it will happen for you. But the truth is Some people just won't make it. And that isn't because coaching isn't a viable business. It absolutely is.
And it isn't because it's too hard, but it's because that they specifically don't have what it takes. I know it sounds like I'm being quite harsh. I feel like this episode has got off to a bit of a downer start. Soz. But you'll understand why this is important. Okay. So stick with it. Stick with me because honestly, if you're serious about building your [00:03:00] coaching practice, growing your coaching business to six, seven figures and beyond, whatever your personal version of success is, then I really want you to hear this message.
And honestly, if any of what I'm about to share with you makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable, that could be somewhere to start looking at, right? That could be your clue as to where things may not be going right for you. So I think this is a really important episode, actually. So let's get into it.
The first thing is Some coaches just are not good enough. That's the biggest elephant in the room, right? Some coaches are just not good enough at coaching. It doesn't matter how big your following is. It doesn't matter how many fans you've got on social media. If you [00:04:00] can't actually help people, Get transformational results, then your business as a coach will never thrive.
You know, the whole holding space and active listening and those things that that's not enough. Clients don't pay high ticket prices for nice conversations. They pay for powerful coaching and they pay for results. So if you're someone who's struggling to sign clients, I want you to ask yourself, are you really delivering at the level you need to be?
Are your clients really raving about the impact you've had on their lives? If not, then you might need to hone your craft, hone your coaching skills. Before you try and scale your business. This is so important. We are not a regulated industry. Anyone can call themselves a [00:05:00] coach, but not anyone can grow a thriving coaching practice.
And the people who do the coaches who are successful are the ones who offer powerful coaching to their clients and those clients then go on and refer them to other people. Referrals are a huge part of client acquisition for coaches. If you are not a good enough coach, then your slick marketing is only going to get you so far.
The second thing is that Some coaches think it's going to be easy. I feel like this is a, a widely spread myth these days that building a business should be easy. You should feel in flow, right? And some coaches just aren't prepared for the fact that building any business is hard. Fact, I'm not good at sugarcoating it.
It's not fair to, it's not [00:06:00] fair to tell anyone that building a successful thriving business is easy. Now that doesn't mean that it's incredibly fulfilling and satisfying and wonderful and can bring you revenue way beyond anything that you ever thought you would see in your bank account. It's not easy.
Okay. And there's this myth that you've just got to post a few times on social media and suddenly all these clients are flocking towards you, right? That's not how this works. Yes, visibility absolutely matters. I know that. And I teach that, but visibility alone will not fill your coaching practice. You've got to have strategy.
Business building strategy. You have to have a powerful personal brand. You need to understand marketing and you need to understand how to enroll clients. So if you're someone who is [00:07:00] kind of sitting thinking, well, I know I'm a good coach and I've mastered doing reels. So I don't understand where all the clients are.
I've been open for business for ages and, and the clients aren't coming to me. You're going to be waiting a long time because it isn't easy and there is way more to it than that and you need to master everything that goes into building a successful business. The third thing is that some coaches just don't have the grit to keep going.
Grit is a massively underestimated part of being an entrepreneur. I think, I think it's one of the most underestimated parts. Because owning a business will test you, does test you, it tests all of us. And there's going to be times when you feel like it's not working. There's going to be times when you're doubting yourself.
You're going to have [00:08:00] a dip in revenue some months and you're going to be like, Oh my God, I just can't do this. Can't cope with this. I can't keep going. I wonder if I should just go back and get a proper job. Have any of you listening to this episode ever thought that to yourself? Would it be easier to just go and get a bloody job, so I know I've got some salary coming in at the end of each month?
And the hard truth is that for those people who quit and go and get a proper job, it was probably the right decision for them. Because they didn't have the grit. So if you hit a rough patch, say if you're not signing up clients for a couple of months, and instead of really doubling down on the needle moving activity inside your business, you start looking for a way out.
[00:09:00] Start looking for something different. an alternative. If you can't push through those hard days, you're not going to get to the good days. I think a lot of coaches out there get to a point where a bit more grit would see them to the summit, but they run out of steam. They can't dig down. To that grit and they give up and that makes me sad when it's a coach who's really a great coach who really can coach powerfully and get people powerful results.
They just haven't mastered the marketing aspect, for example, of their business. It's not just the marketing that gets you that's hard. Or that people struggle with, but it's an easy example, right? So it's the part of growing your business. I think most people would say they struggle with is creating a successful and working marketing process.
There are a lot of coaches who just [00:10:00] don't have the grit or don't harness the grit to get through those hard times. So knowing that. Hearing me tell you that one of the prerequisites for a really successful coaching practice is to have the grit to keep going. When you feel like things are really tough, keep pushing through because that's what gets you through to the good bits.
I think, and this is probably a little bit aligned with the number three, but number four is that some coaches just can't handle uncertainty, you know, building any business comes with risk. There will be times when you don't know where the next client is coming from. They will, particularly in the early days.
And particularly when you're scaling, actually, and you invest in something and don't see an immediate return, there's [00:11:00] risk involved. So if you are someone that needs absolute certainty and stability at all times, then entrepreneurship might just not be the right path for you. Coaching isn't necessarily a safe career.
It's a bold one. People who thrive in this space are the people who can handle a little bit of uncertainty without panicking and pulling the plug and quitting. So, working on your own ability to handle risk, to handle some uncertainty, is going to be incredibly important. And I want you to know as well that I would say that I was someone who really struggled with risk in the early days.
So it is definitely something that you can get better at. Definitely. I am much more comfortable with risk now [00:12:00] than I ever have been. And I'm so glad I didn't let that fear of uncertainty stop me from pushing forward. Because then I wouldn't have the business I have now, which I bloody love. The fifth one is that some coaches just think they already know everything when it comes to Greger business.
These are the people who just refuse to take anyone else's advice or opinions because they've already tried everything. They might sign up for a program and they'll perhaps listen to five minutes of coaching and then they're going to be, yeah, but that won't work for me. And you know what? These are the people who stay stuck.
These are the people who stay where they are, spinning year after year, because they won't listen to people who have actually done the thing they're trying to do, or they listen, but they don't take action. The truth is if [00:13:00] you are struggling to grow your coaching practice, you need. To find someone who has already done the thing that you want to do, someone who's already cracked the code, right?
This is the absolute reason that I created the Coaching Business Academy. This and no other reason, because I could see that there were so many coaches out there struggling to grow their business. And the number one out of the things I've listed here, be a really great coach. That's my only non negotiable in terms of who is right for the business academy.
For the coaching business academy, you have to be a great coach. I can teach you the other stuff. I can teach you the marketing that works. I can teach you how to create a really strong personal brand. I can teach you how to sell your coaching service. I can teach you how to create an incredible coaching offer, how to package it, how to price [00:14:00] it, all of that.
I can teach you, I can't teach you how to be a great coach. That is not my area of expertise. If you are a great coach, please be open to learning from someone that's already walked the path so that you can really understand what matters, what works, what doesn't work. And I'm not saying that we want to churn out cookie cutter clones of a coaching business, right?
Everyone's business should be based on their own personal brand. As a coach, you are a personal brand. So everyone is going to be unique and everyone has a personality that will drive some of the way that they grow their business. But there are certain skills you need in growing a business that you need to learn from someone.
Okay? So don't be one of those coaches that thinks they can't be taught anything, thinks they've already [00:15:00] tried everything. Be open. And then the last thing, number six, is that some coaches are just too scared to go all in. And this is a really tough one, but if you are paralyzed by the fear of failure, you're never going to fully commit.
And so what happens is that And I see this all the time, so many coaches that keep one foot in and one foot out because they don't want to risk looking stupid. They don't want to put themselves out there in case they get rejected. And so they stay playing small, they're holding back, they're dabbling in a hobby business.
I talked about this a couple of episodes ago, a few episodes ago now. But you cannot build a successful business if you're only half in. Go back to number two, building a business is hard. If you are only half in, you're not going to [00:16:00] hit the mark, right? So at some point you have to decide, are you doing it?
Or were you playing at it? Because the coaches who go all in are the coaches who build the really wildly successful coaching businesses. That was a little bit of a ranty episode, but I hope that you take this in the spirit that I'm intending it. I don't believe that everyone has what it takes to grow a thriving coaching practice, but that doesn't mean that you don't.
The question is, are you willing to do what it takes? So are you willing to get really good at coaching to learn how to market and sell your coaching? Are you willing to stick with it? Even when it gets hard, are you willing to take some risks? Are you willing to listen to good advice? And are you willing to go all [00:17:00] in?
Those are the questions I want you to ask yourself this week. And if you can say yes to all of those coaches, then you absolutely do have what it takes. I can't state that enough. And then if you're serious about making it happen, come and join us inside the Coaching Business Academy. Go to GillMoakes. com forward slash academy.
Check it out. See if it's the right. Place for you to come to seriously grow your business, but ask yourself those questions first. And those are going to save you a lot of pain. All right. Now I could sit here and say, yeah, I can teach anyone how to grow a coaching business. Of course I can just give me your money.
I'll teach you. Right. But that would not be ethical because it's not what I believe. So if you can say yes to those questions, I can definitely help you. We can help you inside the Academy. Come, check us out. [00:18:00] Take a look at what some of our amazing Academy students and alumni have said about us. Okay, well, I hope this has been a helpful episode.
I feel like this has been a powerful one, actually. Honestly, I think this is a bit of truth telling that we need to hear sometimes. And I don't want to discourage you. If you are a really good coach, you can learn all of the other things. You can do all of those other things. You can get better at taking risks.
You can learn how to market and sell your coaching, right? Okay. I hope you've enjoyed this episode and I will see you back here, same time, same place next week. I'll pop the links in the show notes for the Academy. Come and check us out. Bye for now.
I hope you enjoyed this episode and that getting our heads together this week has filled your mind with what's [00:19:00] possible. If you love the show, would you do me a massive favour please? Would you leave a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts? It would really help you put more heads together, reach more ears and expand more minds.
Until next week, bye for now.
