e189 The 3 Things I'd Prioritise If I Were Starting A Coaching Business Now
===
[00:00:00] Welcome, welcome to Rewild Your Business. I'm your host, Gill Moakes, and I am so grateful to have you here with me again this week. First of all, I just need to apologise for the state of my voice last week on that intro. I mean, you can probably still hear it's a little bit raspy still, but Wow, that intro last week when I did the throwback episode.
That is hilarious. Honestly, if you didn't listen to it, it's worth going back and just having a little listen because my goodness, I sound horrendous. Anyway, feeling better, feeling back in the swing of things. As I'm recording this, we're kind of halfway through Unearth Your Edge, which is my free masterclass series, so it will be finished by the time you hear this, but I'll be running it again, so don't worry if you didn't get in on it this time.
It's okay. I'll be doing it again. I promise. It's a really, really. Packed three days of the three master classes and I just love [00:01:00] running it. But honestly, putting it together when I'd been so ill was not the easiest thing I've ever done. So, yeah, but it's all good. Anyway, listen, welcome. I wanna do something a bit different today.
I'm gonna tell you. Exactly what I would prioritize if I was starting my coaching business from scratch right now, as in today. So I'm not saying the things I would do differently if I could go back in time. I want to talk about right now in this market with everything I know about what's going on at the moment.
The reason I wanna do this is because if you are in the early stages of building your coaching business, or if you've been sort of spinning your wheels for a little bit, trying to figure out what actually works and what doesn't when it comes to building a coaching practice, then honestly this episode is going to save you a bloody.
Ton of time [00:02:00] around second guessing yourself. I promise you, because most of the advice out there for new coaches is. Honestly complete bullshit, you know? So it's either advice dished out by marketing gurus who seem to expect coaches to suddenly become like mini marketing experts. So it's either those people or it's the other end of the spectrum where people are saying no, you know, just be authentic and the clients will miraculously come.
Right. Neither of those approaches work for coaches. Ooh, approaches for coaches. What does work is being super strategic about the right things at the right time, and that is what I'm diving into with you today. So let's stop overthinking. Let's start building in the way that actually works for growing your business.
Let's dive in. [00:03:00] Welcome to rewild Your Business, the podcast for women doing the work, their soul intended. I'm Gill Moakes. I'm an international business coach, and I'm a guide for women doing the work that matters. Rewilding your business means cutting away what doesn't belong to allow, what does to thrive.
Finding simplicity in your work. And it's about bringing the whole of who you are to the table, whether you are building something new or finding your way back to what really matters to you. I'm so glad you're here. The first thing I would prioritize if I was building my coaching business from scratch today is getting crystal clear on who I actually serve, right?
This is the number one first thing I would do. And I don't mean kind of top level generic key, I serve women entrepreneurs or I serve people who want to [00:04:00] change their lives, right? I mean the really, really specific human who you are here to actually help. And I know you've heard this before, if you're trying to help everyone, it means you're helping no one particularly.
Well, I know that you've heard that, but the problem is I see too many newish or coaches who are struggling to get going. I see too many of them resisting, niching down, and honestly, I do get it. But unless you niche down, particularly in the early stages, if anything, as you get more established, you can niche out a bit if you want to, but in the early stages, you have to become known for being really good at coaching within your niche, because otherwise no one will know that you are the coach to hire.
So when I work with early stage coaches within Mastery, which is [00:05:00] my 18 week program, for coaches who are just starting out, or coaches who are really ready to get serious about building their business, you know, so a lot of the coaches that join us in Mastery have been trying to get their business off the ground and it hasn't been going the way they want it to go.
One of the first things we do is go deep into this. We don't do like the paint by numbers kind of ideal client avatar stuff. We go really deep into exploring who is it that lights you up? Who is it that you get the best results with? In other words, who is it that actually needs the very thing that you have to offer?
Because, and I really want you to hear this, your niche isn't just a marketing exercise. Right. It's the foundation of everything in your business. It should determine who you are speaking [00:06:00] to. It should determine what offers you are creating. It should determine the way you show up, what you charge, whether you are building something sustainable, or just kind of shouting into the void and hoping anyone will say yes.
Right, and I know what comes up for people when I talk about niching down. I do know it's that, well, the thing is, Gill, I'm really worried that I'm gonna lose out on opportunities if I get too specific because I can help this person and this person and this person. So I'm worried I'm gonna lose opportunities.
But the truth is it's you're not losing opportunities. You're gonna lose confusion. Definitely you're gonna lose the exhaustion that you will feel if you are trying to be all things to all people. You'll lose the constant second guessing about whether your content is landing because you'll know exactly who you are creating content to [00:07:00] resonate with.
They're the things you'll lose. Now, the things you are gonna gain from getting very, very specific around who you serve is clarity. And with clarity comes confidence. The confidence to actually speak directly to the people that you want to serve. Right. So if I was starting my business right now, I would spend proper time on this.
I wouldn't just be kind of jotting down some surface level demographics in a Canva template. Seriously. I would be going all in and spending a good chunk of time on who do I actually want to be spending my time with as a coach. What is the transformation that I, with my background, my values, my brand story?
What is the transformation that I am uniquely positioned to create, and who is that transformation worth the [00:08:00] most to? That's where we start in mastery, because you cannot bring that full fat version of your business to life if you don't know who you're building it for. That is such an important thing.
That would be my number one priority. Knowing and understanding my ideal clients deeper than any other coach I know that is what I would focus on first. The second thing I would prioritize is developing my signature framework. And I know this trips people up a lot because often we get confused between framework and offer, and those are very different things.
Okay, I have one signature framework. It's this six step process that I take clients through, which starts off with their personal brand. It moves on to their offers. It moves from their offers into their thought leadership, from their thought leadership into their marketing and from their marketing [00:09:00] into their sales.
That linear framework. Is the framework I use no matter what offer I'm delivering on. So whether it's mastery, which is my program for early stage coaches and coaches who are really maybe struggling to get their business to a place they want to get it to, whether it's evolution. Which is the program that I work with coaches who are ready to really scale their businesses beyond one-to-one and really into bigger kind of group containers and masterminds and retreats and that kind of thing.
Or whether it's legacy, my private clients where I'm working one-on-one at the highest level with, you know, women who are really here to create legacy. Offers, right? It doesn't matter which of those offers I'm working on. My signature framework always looks the same. And this is what we work on in mastery.
We work on looking at the transformation that you bring about with your clients and how [00:10:00] can we put that into a framework that is going to. Evergreen for you. It's going to be what you become known for. It's gonna become your signature approach to getting results with your clients. So I would absolutely be developing my one signature framework and I'd get really good at articulating it and using it before I tried to create like a ton of different offers.
I would be creating the signature framework that takes any client who comes to me from where they are now to where they want to be. And I'd get really good at being able to talk about that. When you don't have a signature framework, it's really difficult to stand out. And it's also difficult to move away from being a bit of a, a set of hands for hire, if you know what I mean.
And then. Every client engagement feels like you're starting from scratch. You're kind of pulling from all these different methodologies and nothing's really feeling cohesive. [00:11:00] As you get more established, as you build your coaching practice, you will start to know what feels right for you, what gets the best results with your ideal clients that you've just got very clear on, right?
And most importantly. Having that signature framework allows you to articulate what makes you different from every other coach out there. So it's really important when I develop my signature framework and, and like I say, this is the approach I use in Mastery, all of the offers that I have, I wasn't.
Trying to teach a bit of everything. I was really adamant that I was gonna have a clear framework, each step built on the next. So it really seamlessly takes a client from where they are now to where they want to be. And because I was so clear about my methodology, I can talk about it with confidence. I can refine it based on what I learned from actually working with [00:12:00] clients, and that's something important.
Of course, you develop this framework and then you keep refining it. Every client you work with helps you refine that methodology, that framework even more until you've got something that is so distinctly yours. That's what I help you do inside of mastery. You know, I help you develop that one signature framework.
The thing you are gonna become known for, the thing that feels super aligned with who you are and delivers consistently on the transformation that you promise. Because that is how coaches get more and more clients via referral. The best kind of clients, by the way, is. Delivering on their promise, getting their clients the transformation they promise.
That's how I've built my business. If you look on my website, you are going to see video testimonials, written testimonials from clients who are backing up that I deliver what I promise [00:13:00] on. That's how you grow a coaching practice and having a signature framework that you can articulate really well really helps you do that.
It also helps you to sell what you do without being pushy, salesy, because you have this way of talking about what you deliver. That makes sense to people. People can see how it would work for them to be able to move through these phases or stages. To get to where they want to be. Doesn't matter what your niche is, this, having a signature framework is gonna be very, very important for you.
Right? Selling, coaching. And you know that I always talk about, you know, as coaches, we don't need to sell, we just need to give people the information they need to know they need us. And having a signature framework is a big part of that. If you have a framework that makes so much sense to your ideal clients, that is doing the [00:14:00] work of selling for you, right?
So when you've developed this framework that's uniquely yours and. You've got something that's so clear that you genuinely believe in. That selling piece just becomes this natural extension of the conversation that you're already having. So if I was starting over again, I would absolutely resist the urge to be everything to everyone.
I developed this one framework that I could just so securely stand behind something that was uniquely mine, that reflected my values, my way of working. And something that I'm gonna refine and deepen over time, absolutely. But it means I'm not constantly starting from zero with every single client. I have this easy way of demonstrating and explaining to a client how I'm gonna get them the results I'm promising them.
And that's how you build momentum. That's how you become known for something specific. So that is the second thing. I would prioritize. [00:15:00] The third thing, and if you've been following me for a while, this is not going to be any surprise to you. I would build relationships. As opposed to just building an audience.
Okay, so if I was starting my coaching business now, I would not be worrying about going viral. I would not be obsessing over follow accounts. I wouldn't be trying to crack the algorithm, right? I would be building real relationships with real humans who could potentially become clients or introducers of business or collaborators.
That's where I would be putting my time and attention, right. Relationships are what convert. You do not need to have a thousand followers to have a thriving coaching business. I did not have a thousand followers when my practice began to thrive, right? In fact, to be honest with you, you need 10 people who [00:16:00] trust you, value what you do, and are ready to invest in working with you.
That's it. 10. 10 people. That is a great start for a coach. Isn't that like such a reframe? Because we all get obsessed with numbers on social media. We've all gone a little bit mad with expectations around social media. You need 10 people who really trust and value what you do and are ready to invest.
That's it. And the way you are going to get those 10 people is not by posting three times a day and hoping for the best. It's by showing up consistently in a way that builds genuine connection. It's having actual conversations. It's by being present, it's by following up. It's by being useful. It's by being someone that people want to keep coming back to.
And this is something I am so passionate about. This is a cornerstone of everything we do in mastery when it comes to marketing. I teach you how to build a marketing [00:17:00] ecosystem that actually works. I don't teach you how to game social media. I teach you how to build a business that's really rooted in relationships, because that's what I know is sustainable.
That's what I know won't burn you out. And that is what creates clients who stay with you, the clients who are gonna refer you to other people, the clients who are going to genuinely value the work you do together. Honestly, when I look at my business now, even my business now where I have more than one offer, so for a long time I just did one-to-one coaching.
But even now that my business has scaled slightly from that. My best clients don't ever come from like a viral post on social media. They come from me showing up week after week on this podcast in conversations by me hosting master classes, talking to people, keeping my alumni clients in community with me.
Genuine connection. A new [00:18:00] client often comes to me because they feel like they know me before they even hire me as their coach. And some of you listening will feel like that. You're used to hearing my voice every week, right? And you know what? You can do that from day one. You don't need a massive platform.
You just need to be really willing to show up as yourself and be patient enough to build that trust over time. So if I was starting my business today, I would pick one or two places where my ideal clients actually are. So I would definitely, if I was going back, and I know I said I wasn't gonna say about going back, but if I was going back, I would probably have started my podcast a lot sooner because this podcast has really given me the opportunity to build trust with my audience.
Because you are hearing me, you are hearing my voice. You hear my style, you feel like you know me. We already have a relationship when I'm kind of in your ear every week, so I would definitely do that a bit sooner, but I would probably just [00:19:00] focus in, for me, I'd probably do LinkedIn and the podcast, and I would absolutely go all in for you.
It might be. Maybe it be, it's LinkedIn. Maybe it's a specific online community that you're part of. Maybe it's in-person networking, if that's your thing. But I would pick these one or two places and I would focus all my energy in those places. I wouldn't spread myself thin across tons of different platforms, trying to be everywhere all at once.
I would just show up consistently in the right places. And build actual relationships. Marketing is a long game. We need to stop, even though we want it to be true, we wanna believe the marketing gurus that tell us that we can go viral overnight and everything, our lives are gonna change. Right. Just doesn't work that way for us, particularly for us as coaches.
We can't shortcut relationships. Okay. That is just a fundamental truth. So those are the three things that I would prioritize if I was starting [00:20:00] my business today. I would be really crystal clear about the who, who I serve. I would develop a signature framework that I could use. For different offers, but I would become known for that framework and I would prioritize relationships over anything else.
When it comes to marketing my business, when it comes to getting clients, it's all about building real relationships with people. And I'd forget about big numbers. Think about that. 10 people who are your 10 people, right? So if you are listening to this and thinking, yep, Gill, that is exactly where I am and I need help with.
All of these things, then that is what I created Mastery for. And Mastery is my 18 week program that I am incredibly proud of. It is proven, it used to be called the Coaching Business Academy. It is now called Mastery. We have lots of wonderful testimonials from our alumni, from coaches who have been through the program whose coaching businesses [00:21:00] have.
Thrived and are flourishing since they've been through the program. So if you go to gillmoakes.com/mastery, you can find out more information and, um, read some of those testimonials, watch some of the testimonial videos in this 18 week program, we cover everything you need. To actually grow a profitable and sustainable coaching business.
This isn't a generic business training. It is for coaches designed by me who is a coach. That didn't make any sense. Grammatically did it designed by me, and I am a coach. So this isn't a business trading designed by a marketing guru who has never built a coaching business in their life. I. Was predominantly a coach.
I am still predominantly a coach, but I just now teach people how to build thriving coaching practices because I found out I was pretty good at that. We cover everything you need to know. We go very deep into your personal brand. We go [00:22:00] into your niche clarity. We go deep into creating that signature framework.
We look at your thought leadership, we create your marketing ecosystem. You learn how to actually convert people into paying clients. The thing that most people who come to me say, I don't have enough clients, Gill. I want more of the right clients. That's what Mastery is for, and we learn how to build a coaching practice that feels aligned with who you are.
Not like a cookie cutter version of what you have been told a coaching business should look like. Right. So our next cohort starts in January, our first live coaching call. We get together weekly for group coaching, but there is also a digital program that you work through with 18 lessons, one for each week that you are in the program.
We have a live coaching call. It's 90 minutes every week, and we will be kicking off on the 14th of January. [00:23:00] So. Maybe you've been thinking about joining Mastery right now is the time we're starting in January. It's gonna be the perfect way to kick off the new year. This isn't about a vague kind of resolution to Yeah, next year's the year I'm gonna grow my business.
No. Next year is the year I know my business is gonna grow because I'm gonna work through this 18 week program and I'm going to get every single thing I need. The clear plan, the proper support, the group of women around you who are also building alongside you, right? This works, and I would love to have you join me if it resonates with you, if you are at the right stage.
If you feel like this is the right next step for you, you can find all of the details at gillmoakes.com/mastery - I'll pop the link in the show notes. Of course. And listen, I know that investing in yourself when you are at an early stage in your business can feel really bloody scary. I get [00:24:00] it, but here is what I also know.
Trying to figure it all out on your own takes so much longer, costs so much more in terms of cash, energy, confidence, right? It makes it so much harder than it needs to be. And mastery gives you the clarity, the strategy, the support to actually build the business, right? It's not someday. It's not when you feel ready, it's now.
It's to make sure you are growing your coaching practice in 2026. So if this sounds like what you need, come and join us. I would love to have you with us in the January cohort. Like I said, we kick off on the 14th of January and as soon as you join, you get access to the first module. So between now and the 14th of January, you'll be able to start working through that first module, that very foundational personal brand stuff.
Also get access to our community. So it's a really [00:25:00] comprehensive program. Everything is taught by me, the classes are with me each week. I cap each cohort a maximum of 12 people because I feel like that's the most people I can have in any one cohort to make sure. Everyone gets the kind of spotlight, hot seat coaching that they need each time.
'cause everyone's business is different. We coach coaches that are in different niches, so everyone has slightly different needs, and I wanna be able to give you the bespoke coaching that you need to get you moving forward in your business. All right. If that sounds good, do come and join us. Okay. Thank you so much for listening again this week, and I will see you.
Next week, same time, same place. I'll see you then. Bye for now.
