Every failing life coach does this.

When I started my business back in 2018, I was a life coach. In fact, I was the 22-year-old life coach, and I struggled for a long time to make any real money. Fast forward now to today, I have a 6-figure online business, and it takes me about 20 hours a week to run, and I help other people turn their knowledge into online coaching businesses. So today I wanted to reveal some of the top mistakes that I personally made and that I see life coaches make all the time when it comes to building a coaching business. And if I knew this stuff when I first started coaching, I would have made a whole lot more money a whole lot faster. So let's start with mistake number 1, which is lack of a clear niche. Have you ever thought about what a life coach actually does? Because there's a whole lot that goes into life. You know, there's business, there's finding a career, there's finding a relationship, getting married, getting in a relationship after you're being divorced, there's health and fitness, there's dealing with an autoimmune disease. Like, there's so much that comes with life. So when you hire a life coach or are thinking about becoming a life coach, like, it's very vague. And this is where probably the biggest problem is for most coaches or life coaches when they get started. And like, for me, for example, I didn't know what I was good at or what I wanted to do really, but I knew that coaching was a thing when I first started in 2018. So I was thinking, I'm going to become a life coach because that just makes sense. And apparently other people are successful with this somehow. And I was following like Tony Robbins and Jack Canfield and people like that. So I was like, oh, I could be that type of person. And that's what made me start the journey into being a coach. But in the beginning, I was a life life coach because I didn't know what I could really specialize in or do, and I figured that that would be enough. But in the end, it wasn't, because if you don't specialize in something, you're not referable. And that's what you really want to be if you want to make money in your coaching business. I'm a lot more referable. But that's the key, is to be referable. Think about if you have an issue with your toilet inside of your house. You could hire a handyman, like the local handyman or your cousin Jeff or whatever, or you could hire a plumber who is a specialist in toilets, and they come over, they're probably going to knock it out way they're gonna know what they're doing because toilets, while they seem simple, they're actually very complicated. And a handyman may have some skill with that, he may not. So when you hire a plumber, you know that they're gonna solve the plumbing issue so much faster. It might be a bit more expensive, but they're gonna do a better job. And if the handyman comes over, doesn't really fix the toilet, and then they have to come back and solve that problem again and try and fix the toilet again, you'll end up losing more money in the long run. So why does that matter to coaching? Well, when you hear the word niche or niche, whatever you want to call it, there's a lot of like confusion that comes around that word. So instead of niche, think problem. And that is what a niche is. It's you being a specialist at solving a specific problem that people would pay for. That's it. And the bigger the problem is, the more money you will make. And the more frequent that this problem is too, the more money you'll make as well. So if you can find a big problem that people don't know how to solve themselves, that they'd rather just pay someone to either solve for them or help them solve, and they have this problem a lot, or a lot of people consistently have this problem, then you have a a really good niche. I was a productivity coach after being a spiritual life coach because I realized that I should niche down. I'll probably make more money that way, which was totally true. So I became a productivity coach, and the thing that I specialized in was helping people maintain and increase their focus. That is what everybody wanted, and I knew that that was a problem because I actually talked to people and I figured out that they wanted focus. They wanted to focus more consistently. They wanted to be more efficient with their time and maintain focus. That was a word that always came up. And then as I built that business, I started to create digital products because I wanted to decrease my work hours and grow my income. And that's where I started making passive income or semi-passive income with digital products. Then my clients started asking me, James, can you help me with that? And I figured, sure, why not? So when I was helping them build digital products, they started making money. And I realized that a lot of people don't know how to build good digital products. A lot of people don't know how to build a system that can sell digital products for them, whether they're working or not. And now that's stuff that I help people do. But coaching people is a huge part of that as well. It's how you make sure you have a good product. And there's a lot that goes into it. So with this big problem of helping people build a business that can run for them whether they're working or not and take the skill sets that they have to do that, there's a lot of subproblems that come with that. But the niche that I have is the big problem, and that's just helping people turn their knowledge into an online business that can run even when they're not working. So it's okay to evolve your niche over time, and I think that you should, quite frankly, until you find something that you're really happy with. But when you're a life coach, it's just not specific enough. Now, when my clients are talking with someone who's like, oh, I'd love to build like an online course or some sort of digital product, or I have this idea for a business and I'd love to like teach people this stuff, I'm very referable because my clients or people that know me can be like, oh, I know this guy James. You can get in touch with him and just see if it's a good fit. And then that's how I get referrals because I am referable. So when you can clearly position yourself as someone who consistently and reliably solve a big problem for people, especially when a lot of people face that problem, you will make way more money. And that's what being a life coach isn't gonna get you. So I challenge you to start thinking about what can I be a specialist in? So start by looking at the big problems that you've solved for yourself and make a big list of them. Have you gotten yourself out of credit card debt that you were just like drowning in? Have you learned how to build your own 6-figure business as a hairstylist or as a barber or owning a restaurant like anything like that, basically if you have solved these big problems for yourself, one, you're more credible because people actually listen to you, and two, other people are solving or they're trying to solve those problems for themselves. They're experiencing those issues, so therefore you can help them because you know how to get out of it. The key is to find the intersection of what you're really good at and what a lot of people find valuable and need help with. So when you're really good at solving a problem that a lot of people face, that's when you have a great niche. The second mistake that life coaches make all the time is inconsistent marketing. I remember when I was building my coaching business, I would have a really good month, which for me was like $5K at the time, and I would celebrate. I'd be super excited. I'd go take my girlfriend out or something like that or buy myself something nice and I would stop doing my marketing and then I would run out of money and I would have to figure out how to fill up my pipeline again or get another conversation. And it was just all over the place. Now I always focus on keeping my pipeline full. I always have new calls coming in or people joining my email list and finding out about my programs, joining my affiliate programs, like all this kind of stuff. My business is always working for me, and that's really what we want to ultimately create. Everybody has made a ton of money on social media, blogging, with email marketing, with podcasting. You know, someone has been successful in any one of those, which means that you can be as well. And it comes down to just thinking about what's the thing that I really love to consume myself. If it's TikTok, TikTok has its own little world. It has its own kind of personality on it. There's certain types of content that just work on TikTok that don't really work as well on like YouTube Shorts, we'll say. So it's a bit different, but same thing with like YouTube. YouTube has a certain kind of vibe to it that just works and it's different than TikTok. So if you love watching TikTok videos, then start a TikTok because you probably know what works well on TikTok. And it's just thinking about how can I bring myself to this? And in the end, you just have to be consistent with it. I remember a coach of mine told me that the best marketing channel that you can put your time into is the one that you enjoy the most, because when you enjoy it, you're going to keep showing up and you're going to keep doing it. But if it's like a grind just to make a TikTok video or to make a YouTube video and you lose the fun in it, one, it's going to show in your content and people are going to pick up that you're not having fun. But when you are having fun, people are going to see that and they're going to be more magnetized to you and want to learn more from you in the end. So pick a marketing channel that you genuinely have fun with and that you want to keep learning about and getting better at, because that's the one that you're going to stick with long enough to actually succeed and be consistent with. And consistency over time builds trust, it builds credibility, and it builds that so important rapport— the know, like, trust, and respect piece to building your business. It's so similar to going to the gym. I mean, if you're inconsistent with the gym, you go like once a month or once every other month, and you're thinking that you're going to get this amazing body, like, it's not going to happen. You have to be consistent, whether that's 2 days a week, 3 3 days a week, 4 days a week, whatever it is, pick a schedule that you can stick with and stick with it. I know that's easier said than done, but truly, if you can pick a platform that you enjoy, decide on a schedule, make sure it's not too overwhelming. Don't be like, I'm going to post every day on YouTube because you're probably not. It could be posting every day on TikTok. It could be 3 days a week or 1 time per week on YouTube, which is something that I like to do, and that's worked very well for me. Pick a platform you enjoy, decide on a schedule, and just execute. Try and stick with it. I would recommend if you're very new, just start small. And build off of that. Start with a day a week, and then if you're like, okay, this is pretty easy, you can go to 2 days a week and then 3 days a week, something like that. Okay, but pick something that you can actually stick with consistently and think, can I do this for the next 10 years reliably? If you can't because you're going to burn yourself out, don't do it. Mistake number 3 is poor client retention. Retaining clients or getting them to re-enroll with you is more cost effective than you always chasing the next new client. It takes a lot of work to find new people, to get them to trust you first of all, and then invest. But people have been working with you for a year or something like that and they made that initial investment, you build relationships with these people over time and then they want to re-enroll with you, assuming you're doing a good job. Now, not being a specialist is going to make this more challenging. For me, for example, when I first start working with people, we're typically building out their online business. We build a product and a funnel and a content strategy and all that, the little things that go into that. And it basically gives them a really solid foundation that they can build off at the end of the coaching program. And then after that, and that's my continued coaching program, program that we talk about at the end of the initial engagement. I think the biggest tip I can give you with getting people to re-enroll to keep working with you is just to care about your people. You can do this by having regular checkups and following up with people. I like to use Voxer in my coaching program, which is just like a free walkie-talkie app. I think it's great when it comes to coaching. You can also text each other and stuff, but you know, throughout the week they can message me anytime inside of Voxer. But sometimes I'll message my clients and be like, hey, how's it going? How did that thing go? How's your progress coming along? And they didn't message me first. I messaged them, which shows that I'm thinking about them. I make it a goal with my clients to make them feel like they are the only client that I have. I do my best to make them feel like that, even though they're not. You know, I have a bunch of different clients, but that is the goal. So I'm checking in with them. I'm showing them that I care. I'm personalizing the coaching program to fit them and their needs. And their business. You know, everybody's a little bit different, so it's not so cookie cutter. I have a process, but I adjust that process to each individual person, and that's what makes it feel special for them. I think the biggest thing that you can do as well is just to surprise them. If they sign up for your coaching program, give them an extra course or training material or resource, or send them a gift that they invested, you know, let's say $3,000 to work with you for 6 months or 3 months or something, and you take a small portion of that, you find out what they really care about and then send them a little package if you get their home address or a gift card or something like that. You know, it doesn't have to be anything crazy, but that can go such a long way just to surprise them. And again, it just shows that you care about them getting the result that they hired you to help them get. Mistake number 4 that life coaches make all the time is a lack of confidence. This is massive. Again, it goes back to not being a specialist. I remember when I was doing life coaching I would have people come to me that had relationship problems, that had business problems, that had health problems and all this stuff. And because I was a life coach, I was this general person who apparently knew everything, which I didn't. And I would have to be constantly studying about relationships. I have to constantly be studying about health and performance and then also be studying about business and all this stuff. It was challenging. It was overwhelming for me. But now I can just be like, this is the thing. This is the one thing you need to do because I specialize in a small set of skills and because of that, I know quickly I can answer certain things. I don't have to go Google something to try and get back to you because I cover so many topics. So just another perk to being a specialist is you're going to be so much more confident because you can solve the problem for people with confidence. And when you have a lack of confidence, 9 times out of 10, it's really imposter syndrome, especially when you're a a new coach getting into this field and you're just being a life coach in the beginning, you're probably like, I don't really know what I specialize in. You have a lot of doubts. Maybe you haven't built this type of business before. That's how I felt when I started. I went from blue-collar construction work to being a spiritual life coach, like way different sort of deal. But I was feeling like a fraud. I wasn't putting myself out there. And more importantly, I was downplaying my achievements, which is huge because if you can't be your greatest advocate, nobody else is going to believe you. If you don't believe in what you can do and the value you can bring, other people won't see that value as well. So instead of imposter syndrome, which is ultimately just insecurity, the flip side of that is confidence. And some really simple ways that you can start to build your confidence is focusing on what you have achieved. If you have built a business as a plumber and now you're teaching other people how to build plumbing businesses, you can be like, I've built a six-figure or multi-six-figure plumbing business before, so I know what I'm talking about, you know. And when you speak from stuff that you know, you naturally are going to exude a certain level of confidence, which is going to show with people when you're talking them. It's when you're trying to be this all-knowing guru on something that you actually don't know. That's when you start to fall short and shoot yourself in the foot. So focus on your successes. Seek out testimonials. Collect testimonials religiously. Work with your clients. Make sure that they get good results so they leave you good testimonials. Keep learning about your craft. Even though I am focused on a niche, I'm always learning about new ways to approach that niche to solve the problem, just to get better, more efficient at it. And that gives me a ton of confidence. And I also invest in myself. So I'd say pick a mentor or invest in some sort of community you can be a part of, because every time I learn more about online business, I can share more with my clients. And because of that, I become more valuable. Mistake number 5, and this is a big one, is inadequate sales skills. Great coaching doesn't sell itself. You still have to sell the coaching. This is why a lot of people think that they can jump onto a strategy session or discovery call and just coach the person and then they're going to sign up. But that's not how a sales call works. Yes, your sales calls should showcase the value that you can bring to this person, but more importantly, it should excite them to work with you longer term. Common sales mistakes that people make all the time are things like not addressing your client needs, talk too much, and you just kind of go right over it. And then the client's like, I barely even talked. That's not what you want to do. And I think the biggest one is people just don't ask for the sale. They think, oh, I coached them well enough, they're going to want to ask me about my coaching program. Which is not how it works. Instead, you want to focus on actively listening to this person, understanding what is their need, what do they really want to achieve, what are the pain points they're experiencing, offering solutions. That's where you're showcasing your value, sharing stories more importantly of how you've achieved the thing that they're trying to do. And kudos and bonus points if you can share client success stories of people you've helped who have gotten the same result that they're trying to get. So basically a sales call, there's a lot of different like scripts and formulas and whatever that you can follow, in the end it comes down to understanding and getting really clear on to where is this person at right now, where do they want to be, what's getting in the way, why haven't they achieved it yet, what have they tried that's worked, that hasn't worked, etc. And then ultimately, can you help them? So if I am on a call with someone who's interested in trying to build an online business around what they know, and I can figure out where they're at, where they want to be, I know what's getting in the way, it's usually a lot of the same stuff, like they're afraid of getting on camera or they're intimidated by tech or they just don't know what to do. They're overwhelmed by the whole process and the energy's right and I know that I can help them. Then I'm going to make an offer. I'm going to say, hey, here's what it looks like to work with me longer term. It's totally up to you if you want to do it. And I don't do the weird, tricky sales stuff or anything like that. It's just like, I know where you're at. I know where you want to be. I know what's getting in the way. I know how to get over all of that stuff and I can help you. So I'm going to say, here's what my coaching program looks like, assuming that you're interested and you do like me and you want my help. If you want to learn my 3-step process for finding and enrolling coaching clients consistently without any weird marketing or sales tactics, check out this video and I will walk you through the entire process. Hope you got value from this. If you did, please share it with someone that you think it would help. And if you have any questions or comments, let me know in a comment below. As always, take what you learned here, get out there, make something happen. We'll see in the next one.