How to Give Everything Away for Free and Still Get Paid to Coach

You're listening to the PT Profit podcast, episode number 320. Today we're discussing how to give your best stuff away for free and still get paid to coach. Are you ready? Let's get started.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance and movement, package and position their products and services and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast.

What's up, coach? Thank you so much for pushing play on another episode of the PT Profit Podcast. I'm your host, Beverly Simpson, and if this is the first time you're hanging out with me today, we're welcome. I'm super pumped that you're here today. I'm answering one of the biggest questions that I get asked both in my Create Content that Converts club as well as my PT Profit accelerators, which is this idea and concept around how do you actually add value? How do you actually share all of your information so that people can see the value in your work and still get paid to coach? Because it can be really conflicting. Now, I've done episodes before where we talk about what goes behind a paywall and what goes, you know, what gets given for free. So we are going to talk a little bit about that. That inevitably comes up. But one of the things that I really want to dive into specifically is this idea of conversion content. It's something I've been talking about and really, really going deep into, because the truth of the matter that a lot of people miss is that not all content is created equal. That's number one. And then number two, we need to understand that just add a ton of value. Just post every day, focus on building, know like and trust. Those can sometimes lead to popularity metrics instead of profitability metrics. And so we're going to unpack that and dive into that inside of today's training. So the first thing that we need to really understand and look at is just fully understanding the customer journey. And I know that I've shared this a lot in lots of different ways and in multiple places. And so if this is not the first time that you've heard this, then I want to invite you to please open up and think of this as a new way and invite a new way to hear this material. Because it's something I see a lot of smart and struggling coaches get into is they actually create content from their solution. So what that means is that they are showing people how to use their solution before people are even bought in to that solution. So they're creating how to use a solution that people don't think they need to solve problems that people don't think that they're in or think that it doesn't pertain to them. So this is why so many people get stuck. So we have to understand the customer journey and meet people where they're at, shift their perspective and understand how to actually add value and to understand what that actually means. And then we need to move them into the conversion event, which starts with the intention of what it is that you are trying to convert them to. What's the next step that you want them to take. So before we get into that, let's just dive into the customer journey. So the first thing that we need to understand, number one, and for the record, if we're speaking specifically about social media, let's just talk about social media. Just as an example, within the first one to three posts, I need to know the answer to these questions before I make an unconscious decision about the next step. And repetition is the mother of all learning and repetition is going to be your friend here. And good news. This repetition component should. Well, my intention is, hopefully it will help you release the pressure of creating perfect content. Because all you need to do is say the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. Because especially with social media, only 3% of your audience is going to see the content anyway. And if we know that, they need to hear it multiple times and in a different way, this is good news. It gives you now the permission to say and share what you need to say over and over and over and over again. This is how you can produce volume with a volume of content without sacrificing value and without sacrificing the benefits of what it is that you're posting and without living on social media. So hopefully that's good news. So that's number one. So we need to understand that within the first one to three posts, I want to know what is the problem that you solve and I want you to think about the specificity of the problem. What is the problem and what is the specific outcome that you deliver on whether it's intangible and tangible and a combination of those two. But people need to feel clear clarity is going to be your best friend here on what is the specific problem you solve, what is the specific intangible and tangible outcomes you deliver? On and what is the specific way that you do it and who is the specific person that needs that? Now people will ask, do I need to be that specific on all four? The long and short of it is no, maybe not. But if you can, why not try it? And if you can't, then fine. But the more specific the better. And the specificity that you want to lay into, like the more specific that you can be. It's not about pigeonholing yourself and it's not about becoming a one trick pony and saying that, oh, this is the only thing that I do and the only thing that I can do. But what it is about is about cutting through the noise and getting so laser specific. Because the truth is, being unknown keeps you unpaid. Because what you are wanting to do is cut through and be visible and be known for something. And specificity can help you do that and be that laser beam. Because if you want to be number one in your niche, you just need to be the most visible. And this is where people get twisted up in the conversation and differences between what is being an authority and what is being an expert. Because I probably don't have to tell you that there are people in your space, probably someone you can think of right now that has potentially more authority than you do. More buy in people believe in that person more and believe in their expertise, despite the fact that their expertise is not yours. So it's not a bad or good thing.

Okay?

There's no morality around that. It's just that when we can get clear on that and then when we can lean into the specificity so that we can cut through that noise, become known, and then carry people on whatever customer journey that we want to carry them in, which is going to be specific for them, the better off you will be. That's what we're trying to do here, meet people where they're at. You do that by being clear and concise and can communicate the problem that you solve the intangible and tangible outcomes that are specific that you deliver on the specific way and who that specific person is. And when you can do that every day in repetition, it will have a compounding effect. And the more clear and concise you can communicate, the better. So first, so I want to know what is it that we're doing? Okay, so that's number one. Then what we're going to do when we meet them where they're at with specificity. So you meet them there first by identifying the problem. Okay, this is the problem. And then maybe you need to expose the real problem that they're in, maybe level two problem awareness. Because remember, people, if they are in a problem and they want to solve it, they don't know how, otherwise they would have by now. So what's in the way? Mistakes and misconceptions. So what this means is they're in a problem and they're doing all the wrong things to fix it, maybe even making that problem worse. Because either they don't know what the real problem is or. Or they're just doing all the wrong things to fix it. Let me give you an example. Let's say your problem that you solve is dehydration. All your people are dehydrated and they cannot. And they're in. That's the real problem that you solve. But in level one awareness, you solve unrelentless pain in the head. Your people have a headache, okay? So let's say they're like, oh, my problem is that I have a headache. You know that the real problem that you solve is dehydration, but your people don't know that yet. Or they do know that and they're like, oh, I'm so dehydrated, but I'm trying to drink all this coffee. And the coffee is not making the problem better, it's making the pain worse because they don't realize that they need water. Or maybe they're like, I'm drinking a gaggle of water and it's still not working because they don't realize that they actually need the electrolytes in the water. So there's the problem that they know that they're in the real problem, that they're in the way that you solve it to get the intangible and intangible outcomes. And we need to address all of the struggles of what's in the way to solve it. Well, you're taking Advil. Advil worked for a little bit. Now it no longer works. Okay, so now your content is either going to demonstrate and show. Show, which is not the same thing as tell. It is going to show them how to get the outcome, and it's also going to lean into the problems and identify the real problem and move away. That's what your content is going to do. Okay, so when we understand that customer journey, creating conversion content and giving stuff away for free and still getting paid to coach now becomes easier. Once we understand the customer journey. Okay, so now that we know what they want, what problems that they're in, now we're going to start talking about conversion content. Okay, so first of all we need to understand your offer and the, the, the program, the process, the, the program or offering, what is the transformation that you're providing? Okay, what is it that they need to believe to be true? So for example, if you are trying to communicate that coaching, that they need support, that they need to remove roadblocks, that they need to, they need help identifying blind spots, that is the best, fastest way to get to their desired outcome, then we need to make a case for coaching. And so what we're essentially doing, if that is true, good news, you can give all of the what, you can give all of the why, you can give all of the how even. But what you're going to do is create a gap for the next step. Now this was something that came up in my social media is like, what is the gap? How do we create the gap? So we're going to dive into that. So first, once we, now that we know the, the customer journey, you're going to lean, you're going to either do a towards piece of post, like that's your hook, right? We've all heard hook value, call to action. So let's just break down what that actually means when we're looking at conversion events. So step one is identifying what is the conversion event that you want? Meaning do you want more likes, do you want more comments, do you want more shares, do you want more? Like, are we trying to grow an audience? Are we trying to grow conversations in the dm? Are we trying to do a driver for customers? Identify what the conversion event is that you're measuring. I can't tell you how many times people say it's not working. And I ask them like, well, what are we measuring? And they can't answer that. For conversion content specifically, we need to know what is the conversion content event that you're looking for. So once you know that, then we can see what it is that we're measuring. Okay, so for example, and then, so what we need to do now is call out your. So that hook is either identifying the problem that they're in, exposing the real problem. You do this with specificity in the language because what you do when you can get specific and you can get into someone's mind using language that they're already using, you connect them, you connect with them subconsciously and you position yourself as the authority when that happens. And it doesn't matter how big your following is, it doesn't matter. You've unconsciously connected and positioned yourself as the authority. Why? Because you deeply understand where it is they're coming from. This is the difference between eliciting an emotion, eliciting overwhelm. Eliciting the feels is by getting in through imagery in the mind. That's what elicits emotion versus talking about emotion. Saying are you overwhelmed? Is not the same thing as eliciting overwhelm. You do that through the specificity of imagery, whether it's audio cues or visual cues or kinesthetic cues in the mind. That is what elicits the experience. I'll give you an example. Like if I told you to hold a lemon in your hand right now and I asked you to lick it, or close your eyes and imagine licking it, what does that sound like, feel like? Like my mouth is already starting to elicit an emotional response of what it would be like to actually lick the lemon.

Okay.

That's what you're doing when you're very specific in your language, is connecting you as the authority to your client.

Okay?

So now whether you're moving them towards the desired outcome that they already want, not what you want them to want, not even what they need, what they already want, and or exposing the truth, the real problem, identifying all of the outcomes that they're experiencing because of the mistakes that they're making to solve this problem.

Okay, Hook.

Then we can empathize, understand why they feel this way. And then we need two shift perspectives. So let's just go into really quick. The value component. Because everyone says value, just add value. Just add value. What does that even mean? How do you fully know that you've added enough of value? This is where people get tripped up, is they think, oh, I just need to build no like and trust. I just need to post every day. I just need to add a ton of value without any context of knowing how specifically to add a ton of value and what that even means. Okay, so the way that I like to teach value adding is first to understand, you know, what is the conversion event. So if I know that I'm making a case for implementation, then I can give all the what, all the why, all the how. Because I know that the gap, the next problem that people will face is going to be the implementation. Now let's say I'm making a case for like, do it yourselves and I'm going to give you what. I'm going to give you the why. I might even give you the how. And then I'm going to say and make a case for the step by step, time saving version of automation.

Okay?

So with the value component, what makes something valuable is clarity. And actual tangible wins. Okay, people, so this, it's very interesting and I've had to. And I've given a lot of coaching around this specifically, especially when we're talking about selling. So if I'm moving someone into a sales conversation or a sales mechanism, people start to get a little bit tense and they start to feel stressed because they don't want to be pushy, they don't want to put pressure, they don't want to be sleazy. And listen, neither do I.

Okay.

And so, and so there's, there comes resistance around this based on their own experience of being, being of having pressure of being sleazy. Okay, so, so it's not, of course you would feel that way. So it's not, it's not bad that you feel this way. However, what we need to remember is that people love to buy things. They just hate being sold to. So just because they don't love getting into a sales experience for whatever the context reason is that they have about having a sales conversation doesn't mean that they don't want, want to have sales conversations. This is why putting conversion content in place to remove that buying resistance. And it's not even really the buying resistance that they're having a problem with or an issue with. It's. It's the sales tactics that are put in place that are old, that are outdated, that make people feel like and don't want to do it even though they might need exactly what it is that you have. Okay, so those are the reasons why people don't want to DM you or do you know what's their context? But again, those are actions from misconceptions. So those are mistakes that they are taking from previous misconceptions and previous reasons. So the value that you're providing is shifting their perspective around that. How do you do that? How do you shift perspective? Well, we need to give them the context. So I think of it as like give content, give context. So give them the answer, you know the reason and then tell them why you know that it's the power of. Because you need to shift their perspective. Because if that really worked, then wouldn't it have worked by now? Can you think of a, you know, give them, can you think of someone right now that you, you know, who's done the same thing as you and has better results or doesn't have better results? It doesn't matter. We need to get into the buy in and we need to shift their perspective around whatever that misconception is that they are holding Onto whether it's a misconception around a sales conversation or a misconception around the way that you do something. So, for example, let's say that you teach keto and you think that keto is the fastest, best way to. Most efficient way to get to the best, you know, to feel your healthiest. Let's just use that as an example.

Okay?

Now your people have misconceptions around keto. So your value adding pieces of content are going to be to debunk those misconceptions around keto. You need to get them to buy into keto before you can write those posts. That are like three ways to get into ketosis at breakfast. So when that happens, when you can actually, when you can actually shift their perspective, that's value adding. That's how you create buy in. That's how you deepen the sense of know, like and trust, but not know like and trust in you as a person. I don't like to talk about no like and trust in that way because I think it is a people please, please. It's dangerous for people pleasers because coaches and remind me of parenting. And sometimes speaking to your clients requires you to speak into someone's potential rather than the nonsense that they bring into the room.

Okay.

It's like when my children tell me, I hate you, mommy. They don't do it very often, but when they do, it's okay, I can take it. I love myself enough for the both of us is usually what I say. And they hate it when I, I say that. But I'm like, fine. I don't, it doesn't, it doesn't affect me in that way because I know that the decision that they don't love right now is, is, is they will love me more later. Okay, so what happens when people are so focused on building no like and trust? Is that it? To me, I feel like it's damaging for people pleasers because they just want everyone to like them. And so they create content to be liked. And I don't know about you, but when was the last time I time you went to the bank and been like, oh man, can I deposit my likes or have you tried to buy your grocery with likes?

No.

And I can't tell you how many people that I've worked with that have thousands of followers, upwards of 30 to 50,000 followers that are highly engaged and struggle to monetize. So it's really not about know, like and trust. What people really mean is the ladder of believability where they believe in you, your authority and your expertise, which you can do with your messaging where they believe in your offer, the trust component is do they trust that your offer can do what it is that it's that you say you can do? Because think about it. How many of you who are listening right now, on whatever device you're listening to, whether it's Apple, Android, whatever the case may be, do you know who the CEO is right now? Do you know if they eat tacos on Tuesday? Do you know if they are married, if they are a mom, if they are kids, whatever it is, do you know those answers? And if you do know those answers, did it have and did you make a buying decision as a reflection of whether or not that CEO made eats tacos on Tuesday? Chances are probably not. So the trust factor, they need to believe and trust that you're offer can do what it says that it can do. They need to believe in themselves that they can do it, and then they need to believe that they need it now. So the $2 million questions to really ask yourself is how fast can you carry someone through that customer journey, through that ladder of believability, and how can you position your offer as a need and not a want? Because when you do that, then you can generate revenue and you can make the impact and the impact that you want to make. Then the question then becomes in that value section, okay, that what makes something valuable is shifting perspective in that way to get them on board with the new way. Once you've done that, so how you know, you've empathized, you've discredited the thought, now we can introduce the new way. And so in addition to providing clarity around what the real problem is, shifting their perspective, now we've introduced a new way of doing it, your way of doing it. Now, this doesn't mean let's reinvent biomechanics, let's reinvent the science of movement. That's not what I'm saying. But now that we know the new way, what is a tangible piece of value of a win that you can give them? Give them a workout, give them all the how Give every piece of information that you have in your brain out. You know, you'll hear people say, and I have a podcast episode that's in the pipeline right now about, like, how over teaching could potentially be costing you sales. And the reason why is because if you overwhelm people, meaning they start to feel like there's too much to do and not enough time, there's too much to do and they're never going to get it. There's too much to do and they don't know where to start. Those, for me, are what elicit overwhelm. If that happens, then your client starts to lose faith in themselves that they can do it, and then they won't become a buyer or they'll ghost you or they won't show up because either they don't have enough on the line or they. They're too. There's too much to do is to the. The feeling of overwhelm has. Has taken over. Now, if that's you, hey, you're not alone. That's me. I do that a lot, okay? Because the way that my brain works is I can see. I can see exactly all the things that need to happen and how you're so much closer than you might even realize. And so I have put. I have overwhelmed people before, so. And I do that with best of intentions, okay? But that's how you start to create buy in is you actually give them wins. Like give them a win and give them their first win. So if their goal is like Mount Everest, okay, Because you in theory could tell someone exactly how to get shredded bought, shift their body composition, how to increase performance, how to hit their first ultra. Like, you can do all of that probably and tell someone how to do it in an hour, but that doesn't mean that they're going to do it in an hour.

Okay?

So what is the win that you can provide someone in that moment so that they can deepen the sense of buy in into your process? That's what we need. And you can do that through story. You could do that through case studies. You could do that through how tos.

Okay.

And the other thing too, to remember especially, and I want to just go back to this because I opened this loop and I want to make sure that I close this is that people think that having a sales conversation isn't valuable, that somehow they're taking. Taking away from somebody, when the truth is people love to have sales conversations because they want their problems solved. Especially your champagne client. Your client who's in a problem and wants to solve it now.

Okay?

So it's not that those conversations aren't valuable. People also get tripped up and start thinking that they just need to give all their workouts out, their best nutrition tips and their best mindset hacks to demonstrate improvement, improve the value. But if you do that without doing the next step, which we're going to talk about now, the gap and the call to action, then you're running the risk of just sounding like Google, and if your content sounds like Google, then it's not that it's bad or wrong, but it's likely. One might be a reason why you're not generating any revenue or you're not generating the conversion event that you want to be generating. And why? Well, think about it. Think about how you look for answers on Google. How many times have you gone to YouTube and you search something or you've gone to Google and you search something and then you get the answer? What is the likelihood that you have gone back to that blog or back to that recipe or back to that person's page if there wasn't a reason to take that next step? Usually you get your answer. You're like, high five. Thank you so much. And then bye. Okay, this is why we have to do the next vital component, which is the gap and the call to action. So what is the gap? The gap is the reason for taking the next step in the conversion experience. So what I mean by that is, let's say your conversion event is that you want them to follow you, so give them a reason to follow you. If you like this, then you're going to love my page where we do things just like this. So if you want more of this, then follow for more and get more specific. Right? The specificity is your laser beam. Okay, so give them a reason for taking that next step. If you want a conversion event that's going to drive conversations in the dm, then you're going to say, hey, if you like this workout and you're really looking towards this goal, then this one workout isn't going to be enough. That's why send me a dm, because right now we have this promotion going on. And if you want to learn more about how this process would work for you. DM me word. Okay, so now we've got the gap, the reason, what they're going to get in that next step, and then the call to action, the actual, like, do take this step. Because what seems like common sense isn't so common. Okay, so then if we wanted a conversion event where we're actually doing a drive for a buy, where we're actually, actually doing a promotion, this is where you're going to have things like they can either DM you or they can link in bio. Now, I know there are really popular marketers out there that say, don't use, you know, blink in Bio or Blink in Lio, okay? Because it's going to reduce engagement. So this is why this goes back to why the conversion event is really important. Because yes, it's true, you absolutely does have a 37% engagement dip. Because when was the last time that you engaged in an ad, right? Like chances are probably not really okay. Doesn't mean that those pieces of content aren't important because you want to be and stay top of mind. And for me, when I see an ad, I might not go and engage in that ad because that's not, not the intention of the ad. The conversion intention is to take that next step. So I'm going to go take that next step. So my least converting posts are the ones that are not engaged, that don't have engagement. The least converting posts are the ones where people slide into my DM and say, hey, I saw this, you're speaking directly to me. And so I want to talk about whatever that next steps are, okay? And they're always my least engaged posts. But that's also because I know that the intention of that piece, whether it's long form or short form, wasn't for engagement, it was for the conversion of the sales conversation or coming into my ecosystem of content. So really, ultimately, how you give your best stuff away for free and how you still get paid to coach really comes down to are you clear on the customer journey and what the conversion event is that you want? For whatever piece of whatever post are you mapping it out in terms of hook, empathy, discredit the new way plus the gap and the call to action? That's really what it is that we are looking for at. And now if you really want to see how this framework works, then in the show notes I have put together a brand new freebie called Conversion Content Framework and it's going to show you in real time how to actually do this. Now, this freebie that I've. That I'm putting together, this will not be available forever.

Okay.

I actually created this as a very special thank you because in my migration process that I was in, you know, I'm moving over to this brand new Optima Funnels site which I'm really excited and happy about. And it's like I'm so not only has it double my profit, it's also saved me a lot of money and expenses and me and my whole team are just absolutely like really happy with it. However, there's been some technical components that, that we made some mistakes on. So because of that, what we have done is we have put together a free brand new experience or conversion content framework that you can grab now. And I use this as a very special. Thank you for my people who who are have been in the process of this freebie so or been in the process of this migration. So you can grab it now. It won't be available forever so it's probably within, I don't know, I haven't really given a deadline yet so. So if you're on the fence for any reason, just grab it now because I don't know how long it will be available. So make sure that you go to the show notes, click the link in there called Conversion Content Framework. It's got everything you need inside of there to just really put these components in place so that you can give all of the value, teach as much as you want and still get paid to coach. So if this episode is helpful for you, please be sure to screenshot it. Tag us on Instagram simpsonfitness I love to hear from you. I want to hear your big takeaways. I want to hear your wins. I would love to know how this episode has impacted you and how the show has impacted you. And of course, if you haven't already, please leave us a five star review. It helps us help more people. Thanks so much for hanging out with me. I'll catch you on the next episode.

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Go from wanting clients to a weightless list of clients ready for your services.

Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you on the next episode.