The Low-Ticket Offer That Turns Skeptical Buyers Into High-Ticket Clients In The AI Era

Hello, hello, my friends. Welcome back to the Thriving Therapreneur podcast. I am so excited to record this episode for you, and this is inspired by a recent training I did only for my alumni coaches. They've been in my world for years, and the response was overwhelming. Got so many messages thanking me for the knowledge that I had shared about the market shifts that are happening in the coaching industry. This episode was also inspired because I've been having these conversations behind closed doors for months with my mentors, 8-figure earners, at business events, with peers who are operating at the highest level of this industry. And I just wanted to pull it all together. I wanted to share it with my alumni, but now I'm inspired to share it with you because I need you to know what is coming. And if you don't know by now, I do not gatekeep. Whatever I learn is yours. And so this episode today is all about what is changing in the online coaching industry. Why does it matter? But most importantly, how do you need to move in this online space in order to stay irreplaceable as the market shifts around you? And maybe you've already noticed that the ground underneath this industry is moving. And you're not imagining it. If you have noticed all of these market shifts that are happening, and I'm going to name each one, but what I want you to do as you soak all of this in today is look around the corner. One thing I preach about constantly is the 1%, and the 1% is the 1% for a reason. And a big part of what separates the 1% from everyone else in this space is they look around the corner. They see what's coming before it arrives. They make proactive decisions instead of reactive ones. They absolutely evolve early instead of scrambling to catch up once they realize all of the market shifts and changes that have happened. And right now there is a lot that is happening. There is a lot that is coming. And if you don't understand that, you are going to find yourself marketing to an empty room. You're gonna continue wondering why what worked 2 years ago or even a year ago isn't working anymore. But coaches who do understand all of these shifts that I'm gonna highlight today, they're gonna be the first ones positioned when the wave comes back, when we move up into the next peak. And it is coming back, it always does. And regardless, there's a price that you're gonna pay. There's a price for early evolution, which is what I always do. The trial and error. I mean, I'm already implementing, making the mistakes, reinventing the wheel when most people still have the thought in their head. So I paid that price of trial and error early, but I would rather do that than pay the price for scrambling and forcing an overnight pivot because I wasn't proactive and I didn't evolve early and I wasn't paying attention. And so I do pay attention. I study the market constantly. I do pay for proximity to be in rooms with 8-figure earners and the people in the 1% so that I can be privy to these conversations and proactively move in my business. Guess what? Therapist to Coach Startup School is back. If you've been sitting on the fence, this is your sign. We're spending 5 days together making sure you know exactly what you need to do to successfully expand into coaching. If you're feeling maxed out, maybe Maybe you're fully booked. Maybe you have a cap on your income. You're sick of trading dollars for hours. This is for you. You genuinely love being a therapist, but you want more freedom, more flexibility, more security in your life. Maybe you're already in your coaching business, but you're on this revenue rollercoaster and you can't seem to get consistent clients. I can help with that too. It's all happening August 17th through August 21st. Come spend 5 days with me. I'll be your business coach. We'll meet for about 90 minutes every evening, and you're gonna get a full week of intensive business education broken down into digestible bites you can actually take action on. The legal stuff, the ethics of adding coaching, how to create and market a profitable program, how to choose the right audience, how to charge high ticket rates, how to pick a niche that passes the high ticket test, and so much more. Stop talking about it. Let's do the damn thing. Click the link in the show notes and I'll see you inside. So let me bring this all to you today and try to condense it. It is a lot that is happening in the online industry. And the first thing I wanna talk about is the AI earthquake that's happening. And right now, 51% of the internet is not human. It's bots, it's AI-generated content. It is already outweighing humans online. And by next year, that number is projected to hit 60%. So this means by 2027, the majority of social media will be AI twins, AI ads, AI content, bots. And I don't want this to scare you, and you're probably already well aware of this, but I do want it to wake you up. And I wanna have this conversation around what AI has done quietly and the part that nobody's talking about, because it is a knowledge transfer that is happening. AI is replacing the knowledge transfer, meaning that People are going to ChatGPT and Claude to get answers and set goals and build frameworks and get basic strategy, and they can access it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and it's free, if not $20 a month. So if you're selling information, you are selling psychoeducation, you are a course creator, you are competing with a tool that never sleeps, never gets tired, and charges basically nothing. And so the question that you have to ask yourself is, all right, well, what am I actually being paid for then? Because if AI can produce a version of your framework in 60 seconds, and it can, you were never being paid for the framework in the first place. You were being paid for the room that you hold for your people, the relationship, the transformation that you catalyze, the lived experience and story that you bring, the embodied presence, the nervous system regulation, the discernment that you have as a human being to know exactly what somebody needs when they need it. And which rule you need to break when, because this is what you're selling. This is what your clients need. And don't be afraid of AI, okay? 75% of high-performing coaches are now using AI in their business. I love AI. AI has absolutely transformed my business and I teach and preach about it. I do AI buildouts for my clients and we actually just open up done-for-you services for non-clients. And so if you're not using AI, you need to be leveraging AI. It can collapse time, it can replace effort, it can buy back hours of your week, and it has completely changed what's possible for me. But the distinction is AI is here to amplify you. It is not here to replace you. And the coaches who are winning are the ones who understand the difference. They're the ones who leverage AI to multiply their output. While doubling down on the thing that AI can never touch, which is them, their conviction, their energy, their presence, how they're helping their clients move through a transformation with nervous system regulation. They're not just selling information. That's what I'm getting at. They're selling transformation and they're leading with conviction and specificity and proof. People need social proof more than ever. Because we are in a trust recession. And the trust recession is something that people have been talking about in the online space for quite some time. Okay? And this is only because there is a content flood that is happening because of the AI earthquake. So the AI earthquake is happening, which is now pumping out tons of volume, which is leading to a content flood. We have more coaches than we've ever had before. Yes, the market is saturated, but it's saturated for a reason because there is a market demand. And the content flood, all of this AI-generated content, all of this volume, it is making the market very confused. It is making the market skeptical. People have been burned. They've invested in a coach or a program. They got delivered a PDF, a Zoom link. They didn't have a real transformation, and they're doing their due diligence like never before. Because there is so much competition in this space, and I don't want that to scare you. Again, the market is saturated because there is a market need, okay? The coaching industry is a $20 billion industry. It has only continued to grow and boom, honestly, ever since the pandemic hit. There is just alone coach practitioners, therapist turned coach, there's well over 100,000 active coach practitioners right now, and that number is growing. So there is more coaches and more frameworks and more certifications and more promises, and your ideal client is sitting in the middle of this thinking, well, who can I actually trust? Who should I actually work with? And even if they've never worked with somebody and they've never been burned, then they're confused, and confused buyers don't buy. And right now the market's more confused than it's ever been. And so What does this mean for you as a coach who needs to stand out in the saturated market? Well, it means credibility is your currency. You need social proof, you need testimonials, and it's not just outcomes. It's absolutely evidence. Your buyers are not just looking for outcomes of what's possible for them. They're looking for evidence that it is possible for someone just like them. Testimonials on repeat, specific before and afters, real client stories told in real language. Timelines, full transparency, your own story if you are your own ideal client. And you can share the same testimonial 5 different ways. The same client win can become a post, a story, a podcast clip, a DM, a case study. You're not repeating yourself. You're providing the consistent repetition your audience needs to move from skeptical to sold. And that new edge is really about conviction. And that doesn't mean being louder, okay? It means going deeper. It means making sure that in your messaging you're constantly conveying what do you stand against? What do you stand for? What are you fighting for? What is your mission? What is your vision for your own life? Because new algorithms and trends and platforms, they come and they go. None of that really matters. Going viral, vanity metrics, getting all the likes, the followers, you'll never hear me talk about that. I've never gone viral in my life because none of that matters. What matters is conviction marketing and clarity. That's timeless. That's basic principles of business and marketing. Hey friends, quick pause. Because you're listening to this episode, I want to give you something special, completely on me. I'm gifting you my 23-page Cash Infusion Playbook. This is the exact playbook I use in my own business, hand directly to my clients. It is packed with money-making, needle-moving activities you should be doing every single day to generate revenue and make easy sales. Too many entrepreneurs are spending their time on the wrong things, busy work that feels productive but doesn't pay. And this playbook cuts through all of that, gives you the exact revenue-generating activities that actually move the needle forward in your business. Click on the link in the show notes, drop your email, and I'll send it straight to you. It is my gift to you for showing up. Doing the work and listening to this episode. Let's get back to it. Another point I want to highlight is that people are going offline and digital disconnect is becoming a new luxury. People with money, people with discernment, they're logging off. We know that tech-free schools are returning to high-income zip codes. Like, people are even bringing back flip phones. Digital minimalism is trending. Like, people are getting off of Instagram. I've had multiple friends get off. Okay, so private retreats, curated in-person experiences— these are selling out for a reason. This means that your best buyer is probably not going to discover you through an Instagram Reel. They're going to hear your name from somebody they trust, then they're going to go look for you. But they're not going to look for your social media Reel where you were pointing and dancing and following the new hottest trend with the trending audio. They're going to look for deeper places such as your podcast, your book, your Substack, your reviews, the analog, like the slower, more thought-provoking content that signals to a discerning buyer, okay, this person is the real deal. They're a real coach and they get people real results. And those case studies matter more than ever. Relationships matter more than ever. Relationship capital. Okay? Your warm audience is the single most undervalued asset that you own. AI cannot replicate it. If you have an hour a day to invest in something in your business, you should be nurturing relationships. That is where your next client is coming from. And know also that your personal brand is important, but that doesn't mean that's your logo and your color palette. It's your conviction. It's your voice. It's your point of view. It is your IP. It is what do you stand for? What do you not stand for? This energy is gonna create the magnetism that people are looking for these days because there is such a flood of content and people can't even tell what's real and what's not real anymore with all of this AI slop that's going on. They're looking for energy and conviction and magnetism, not just generic content. So you have to have a really strong personal brand with clear conviction that cuts through the noise of everything. And again, when I say brand, it's not your logo, it's not your color palette. It is your energy. It is your story. And the third part is community. The fastest growing coaches right now are not winning because of the algorithm. They are building curated rooms where they are co-collaborating with people. They are creating containers that have community that replaces the algorithm. They're not trying to fly solo. They're leveraging affiliates. They're doing joint lives, they're doing lead magnet and podcast swaps, they're making friends in mentorship containers with people at the highest levels. They're paying for proximity so that they're not alone. And that community is going to build the relationship capital that's going to help you build your personal brand, that's going to earn your trust, especially for the people that are going offline and doing more intimate events and in-person retreats and workshops and even dinner parties. This is where your premium buyers are. This is where the trust is built faster than anywhere else online. And so if you haven't thought about doing something in person, even if it's something super small, I'm going to put this on your radar for the rest of the year and moving into 2027. You absolutely have time. When I'm talking about the trust recession that we're in, I want you to also think about your offer suite for a second, cuz this is a super practical shift that every single one of you can make today in your business. I'm a high-ticket queen. I talk all about high-ticket offers, flagship offers. That is very much still the bread and butter of your business. I believe that hasn't changed, but I wanna put emphasis on something that has become more important in today's economic climate, and that is your low-ticket offers. That is your taster, teaser, appetizer, trust builders, whatever you wanna call them. You have to have those and you need to have a killer ascension plan that works with those trust building offers to move them into your high ticket offers. Because of inflation, consumer price sensitivity, the skepticism we've been talking about, people want a taste, they want an appetizer before they invest at a high level. They want a low ticket offer. Something from like $7 to $97, even $47 or $197. That's fine. Okay. It's going to do 3 jobs for you. One, it's a super low friction entry point, a no-brainer yes. That's going to get the buyer in the door. It's going to validate your offer. It's going to prove people will pay for what you're offering. And most importantly, it qualifies your leads. The people who buy your low ticket offer, they're the ones that are most likely to ascend into your higher ticket offer because they've already said yes to you once and you've earned their trust. And you've actually helped them solve a problem, which is why you've earned their trust. But the keyword here is ascension. So your low ticket offer is only going to be as valuable to you as we want it to be if you have a killer ascension plan behind it. So you need to know exactly what happens after somebody buys your low ticket product. Where do they go next? What's the invitation? What's the cadence? What's the bridge to your flagship program or possibly your offline events? So downstream is your digital products, your courses, even your Substack subscription. You guys are gonna hear me talk about Substack a lot in the near future. I have been constantly researching Substack, I wanna say for the past 3 to 4 months, doing a lot of research before I deploy full mission Substack in my business. So stay tuned for that. So downstream, your digital products, your courses, any type of subscription, whether that be a school or a Substack, subscription, and then you're gonna upstream your high-ticket coaching, your retreats, your intimate curated in-person rooms. This is gonna get you the return on time, not just the return on investment. Okay? Not just an ROI, it's a return on time because when your low-ticket funnels is working for you, when you're sleeping, when you're with your family, when you're working out at the gym, when you're on vacation and you have the right upsells and order bumps, and automations in the backend, you have paid advertising that essentially pays for itself because of what people buy through the funnel that covers the ad spend. When you have that set up and you have the proper ascension plan, that's gonna give you basically a free high-ticket client on the backend. That's leverage. That's real business. That is return on time. That's what I use in my very own business, and that's what I teach my clients. So now is the best time because we are in a business trough. Okay. When you look at the GDP growth cycle of business that has existed for generations, it has a peak, it has a recession, it has a trough, it has a recovery, and it has an expansion. And then there's a new peak that surpasses everything that came before it. We are in the trough right now. Okay. We're actually moving into recovery. We're coming up from the trough. Which means that we are moving directly into expansion. This is a beautiful place to be because the expansion is gonna lead to the peak and it's gonna be the biggest one that we've ever seen in this industry. And you have to be prepared for this. And there's two types of coaches in this season. And the first one is the one that's just gonna hustle and grind. They're gonna double their output, they're gonna post more, they're gonna launch more, they're gonna drop their prices. They're gonna settle, they're gonna say yes to clients who aren't really their dream clients. They're gonna be panicking, okay? Because the market's changing, it's not what it used to be, and they're like, holy shit, is this really sustainable? And they're gonna be completely burned out before the market even hits expansion. And by the time that next wave comes, because it always does come, okay? This is just the GDP cycle. I didn't make it up. And they're gonna have nothing left to ride with. But the second kind, the second camp that's gonna happen This is the kind of coach that I want you to be, and then I'm teaching and preaching to my clients and, and alumni clients, and now you, is the coach who's gonna make wise, focused decisions. You're gonna use this season for exactly what it's designed for, to sharpen your offer, to design your offer suite properly, to proactively beat this market saturation and make sure your clients have a taster, teaser, appetizer with a killer ascension plan. And you're gonna build relationship capital and partnerships and systems, and you're gonna position yourself so that when expansion hits, and it will, you're gonna be the first coach your buyer finds, the first one that they remember, the first one that they trust enough to pay. And we know that clients are gonna work with the last 3 coaches that reach out to them. It takes 7 to 11 times for them to even be talked to, to consider buying. Okay? It takes at least a dozen touchpoints, if not more. And it's not because you hustled harder than everyone else that they're gonna buy with you. It's because you were prepared. It's because you were proactive. It is because you had the knowledge about the AI earthquake and the conviction that you're gonna bring back into your marketing, the relationship capital that you're gonna focus on, the offline events that you're gonna start implementing. It's because you looked around the corner when everyone else was running in circles and you refined your offer suite. Knowledge is power. Okay, so you have all of this knowledge. I'm sharing it with you, and I need you to do something with it because we can't just sell information anymore. We have to lead with thought leadership. We need to lead with transformation, authority, conviction, social proof, offline events, real relationships, a real personal brand, sharing our story, curating a community, writing books. I'm focusing on writing books. I'm on my second book, okay? That's gonna be coming out soon and getting published in more magazines. I just got published in Goss and Forbes. Analog has never been more valuable. So these are things that I need you to focus on because I'm focusing on these in my business. And the biggest expansion era in this industry is coming. It is absolutely coming, and I want you to be prepared for it. Use this season for what it is designed for. Know that you are not behind, you are not too late, you are exactly where you need to be. And I hope you have the plan to move forward. If you need clarity on any of this, the market shifts that are happening, what does this mean exactly for you in your business, and What do you need to implement specifically? I'd be honored to help you. You can check out the link in the show notes. I'm even offering power hours right now. You can always book a one-to-one session with me. I could do a full audit with you. I'm here. Okay. This industry has so much to offer. It is so incredibly rewarding, and I'm here in your corner cheering you on. You have what it takes. Maybe it's just a few minor tweaks that you need to make. Or I'm here to even set up your path if you're just getting started from scratch. Again, check the link in the show notes and I will see you in the next episode. My love is with you.