The One Strategy That Changed Our Business Forever In 2020

If creating clients more consistently for your coaching business is a top priority in 2020, you must listen to this podcast! Amanda is sharing the biggest breakthrough the team at The CRUSH Method has had in 2020, and it’s not a new social platform or a better way to write emails… 

For most coaches starting out on the journey of building a coaching business, it usually starts with getting a certification (and that certification often implies that you can create a business around coaching, and that’s why you need their certification…)

From there though, many coaches get hopelessly stuck!

It turns out that the broader marketplace doesn’t understand what coaching is, or how it can help, and they certainly do not understand why your certification is going to help them.

This creates a huge problem in our industry… too many coaches, not enough clients.

The bigger issue behind the issue?

Building a business takes more than a technical skill. It requires business skills as well, that are often glossed over or routinely summarized in “everybody says” advice style, that keeps coaches stuck and frustrated with their progress.

In 2020 we’ve seen a massive shift in the coaching industry, and there has been a surge of new coaches getting more certifications, and more people online than ever trying to promote their skills and business to frustratingly low results.

What helps?

Find out in the full episode where Amanda describes the landscape that led to an explosion of business results, and it’s not what you think…

Be sure to join the conversation in the free community, The Coach’s Plaza, where Amanda and Chris are building a community of coaches who are ready to have a greater impact because they are approaching their business as the CEO that they are. Join us here. 

The One Strategy That Changed Our Business Forever In 2020

Transcript of Podcast - Oct 25, 2020

Hi there. My name is Amanda Kaufman. I'm Chris Lavelle, and you are listening to the crush method show.<inaudible> join us each week for ideas to help you move your coaching business forward into service of others faster, and with better results, we're committed to professionalism and coaching. We want to help you get it done. Hey, Hey Amanda Kaufman here. And I wanted to jump on and have a conversation about one of the biggest breakthroughs that we've had in our coaching business in the past,

I don't know, 10 months, the 20, 20 big, big shifts that we've seen that have resulted in a lot of really amazing outcomes. One has been just the success of our clients. You know, we've had clients who have generated a hundred thousand dollars in 90 days. We've had clients who have gone from struggling to, to attract clients at all to now having the delicious problem of how do I find more balance with all of the clients that I have and the 20 people on the wait list.

We have had results of clients being able to generate real revenue for their businesses after literally years of stalling out. And, you know, there's a lot of factors at play for sure in those kinds of wins. But I wanted to jump on here and share with you a little behind the scenes of what we've been, how we've been thinking a little differently in 2020.

So no question 2020 has been like a crazy year for everyone. Absolutely. The most insane year ever. And it, it just it's really rocked us as humanity to the core in a way that has, has I don't, I don't remember a time in my life where there was more going on and more different agendas as well. I mean, obviously there's a pandemic,

but on top of that, you've got the, the social justice, you've got the political things going on. There's technology, things going on. There's like all these things going on right now. And it's almost like the collective conversation has never been louder on top of all of that, you know, traditional businesses are, have been completely slammed with, you know,

how many ways can they find to generate revenue. And so the rate of innovation that we're seeing by different companies and businesses has just been, again, incredible like the growth and the change of what has happened for people on an individual level, all the way up to the macro level of governments and companies and organizations. I mean, there's not been a year where so much has happened so quickly.

So this is of course, a podcast all about building your coaching practice and your coaching business. So bringing it kind of back down to the coaching industry level, I have never seen such a surge of interest in people having an online business either. And that makes a ton of sense, right? If you're stuck at home, if you're not able to do your traditional work,

you're going to be looking for those side hustles. You're going to be looking for those opportunities on top of that, the people who are already in the industry, they, they realized that the world was about to get a whole lot more noisy. So what did everybody do get noisy themselves? More people have surged online than ever, you know, people in our networks and beyond going live for the very first time stepping into that role of being an influencer for the very first time has been happening so fast.

So fast and what's happened is, is the social feeds have absolutely filled up. People have gotten more addicted to the platform forms than they were before because they don't have the normal daily interruptions. And it's really created this very interesting supply and demand where people are, yes, stepping into speaking more loudly on their different platforms and posting more frequently and posting with more,

I guess you could say, not aggressive content, but you know, they're, they're trying to, to be more, they're trying to be more, they're trying to be louder and it's created this huge noise in the coaching industry that, you know, it's like everybody, people used to say this before 2020, they were like, everybody's becoming a coach.

I think for the first time in 2020, that's actually kind of true because people are looking for ways to earn income. They're looking for ways to be of service and, and have value that they want to, to bring to bear for people. But mr. Mortgage and mrs. Visa aren't really going anywhere. And so there's a, there's a lot of appetite for sure,

for being of service and, and kind of getting out there now here's, here's the rub, right? Even though people are more addicted than ever to the social platforms, even though people are opening and checking email more than they have in the past, even though there's, there's more of the viewership, the content quality has gone way down because you've got a lot of newbies that don't know how to approach messaging,

don't understand kind of the nuance of how the, how the content goes there. They're producing content at an accelerated rate. And then on top of that, the, the, the old hats, they are also banging the drums a lot louder because they do understand how a lot of the conversation flows and works. And it just collectively has become really, really noisy.

So we tend to work with coaches who are very qualified in what they do. They have a certification or they're, they ha they may have some abilities as a coach, and we help them translate those abilities to a legitimate business. And the challenge is, is that a lot of the noise is talking about, Oh, I can get you a client.

I have not seen like in the light last gosh, three months or so, I have not seen more make money, quick screenshots of my stripes, you know, kind of achy marketing on personal profiles. I have not seen a volume of that kind of sort of marketing in a really like maybe, well, I w I won't say ever, but before,

before the big Al algorithm change that happened in late 2017, there was a lot of like that make money fast, you know, hypey kind of content out there of people posing on Lamborghinis and in their jet planes. And, you know, just making these ridiculous claims about, you know, set it and forget it businesses and work from home opportunities. That really just weren't based in any kind of a real business sense.

And a lot of people made a lot of money back then. And that was part of why Facebook, if you, if you don't know, the history of Facebook did a massive correction on how it was displaying content to protect the users. And the reason they did that is because they were losing users like crazy. They also had the Cambridge Britannica scandal breakout.

And so the faith that users had in the platform was really shaken. And, you know, let's not forget that it is a corporation and their interest is keeping people on that platform because they don't make money from their users. They make money from the advertisers. And so if the users stopped using the platform, then the value of the platform to the advertisers diminishes,

and then they, therefore their share price is going to go down right there. Their quality, the value of valuation of the company is going to decline. So, you know, keeping people in the platform is of course a huge, huge, huge priority for the book, but where was I headed with this? I was kind of wondering the, the problem is,

is that everybody is banging on these drums. So there's one thing that Chris and I chose to do a bit differently with a lot stronger intent in 2020 than in previous years, that has really unlocked something for us, like think about w you know, we we've been in business for over three years, providing coaching services, education, training, mentorship, that sort of thing.

And we effectively were able to triple our revenue in a ridiculously short period of time. And you could say that it's because of market conditions. You could say it's because of a lot of conditions. I would say it's actually probably harder than ever to get attention, to be able to sustain attention that is necessary for a buying decision. So I think it's actually,

it is hard times for most business owners, but the one thing that we focused on and have continued to focus on and are continuing to focus on is rather than looking for a client, which is what most people are doing. We are seeking to grow community. So I'll let that sit with you for a second, instead of just looking for your next client,

really looking at how can I create community. And it's funny because when I bring this idea up with, with our clients and with, with coaches that I'm talking to every day, then the next question out of their mouth almost always is, Oh, do you mean create a Facebook group? So, you know, we do have a Facebook group to help to drive some more of that community feeling.

But I would say that until recently, our Facebook group game was awful. Like really not that impressive. I was hesitant to teach anything about it because I knew that our Facebook groups weren't necessarily the place to hang. And we've since addressed that we've, we've been working really hard on that. And our Facebook group is awesome now. And I'll include the link to that in the show notes.

But the bigger idea, it's not about the group, it's not about the tactic. It, the bigger idea is what are you doing to create a sense of community belonging and momentum that is aligned to the transformation that you offer? So there's a lot to unpack in there, but I think what most coaches do when they're starting out is, and I did it too,

is they say, I'm an XYZ coach, right? I was a core energy coach. So I said, I'm a, I'm a core energy coach. Or maybe they're saying I'm a, I'm a high-performance coach. Or I'm a, I'm a productivity coach, or I'm a, I'm a coach of moms, or I'm a coach of this or a coach of that.

And it's, it's understandable because we are very insecure when we're starting out. We want people to think we're credible. We want things. We want people to think that we can help, but we don't frame it in a way that is about them. We frame it in a way that's about us. I am a core energy coach. And the idea with community,

you know, aligned around a transformation that you facilitate is instead of like, cause nobody cares. If you're a core energy coach, I know that sounds super brutal, but it's true. They really legit don't care. And the, the problem is, is that we think they care. So we keep filling up the void with content noise. That's all about who we are.

And the truth is, is that what's going to set you free is when you start to really ask your question, who are they? Who are they, which I serve. And it's not about finding a niche, right? I hear this one all the time, too. It makes me crazy. Your niche doesn't matter. Like this whole ideal avatar concept is total hogwash.

It doesn't help you. It really doesn't because you're coming up with like an imaginary segment of an imaginary market. You're coming with an imaginary ideal avatar of an imaginary person who may or may not exist. Right. And it's funny because, you know, I was, I was recently, I had attended a mastermind and I was asked by Dean Graziosi, you know,

can you describe your avatar? And I just went like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Down the list of all the, all the things I know about my avatar and people were like, Whoa, you know, like, how does she know her avatar? So well, she's so dialed in with it. I'm going to let you in on the secret.

I learned who my avatar was after I helped a bunch of people. And so after I helped a bunch of people with a particular transformation, then I looked at those people and I said, Oh, they have this in common. They have that in common. They have this in common. And I actually extracted the avatar details to be able to answer the question,

not from me sitting with my journal and trying to figure it out, but rather from observing my community and seeing who I was attracting into my community. And so that community mindset is incredibly powerful because the thing is, is that people are not going to join community because they're so impressed by your certification. Right? Think about the communities. You're a part of,

if you're listening to this, there's a very good chance you're in our community. And if you want to participate even more in our community, the, the link is in the show notes to the coaches Plaza, which is our Facebook group, where we do a lot of the free training and a lot of the interaction day to day with the community. But the thing is,

is that if I set that up around like Amanda's awesome Facebook group, because Amanda is so awesome. I mean, my mom would join, right? My sister is my join. Well, some of them, but, but the point is, is that that's about Amanda being amazing, right? What if instead you created a group or community or a list or the way you were talking with people around a transformation that was common to everyone in that community.

So in my case, it's in breaking through to creating clients consistently as a coach, like that's, that's the transformation that I help people with and I help them do it at, you know, six figure and multi-six figure kind of target levels because I love working with a new coach. I love seeing the, the transformation of I'm, you know, certified or whatever.

I've got kind of all my, all my tools and everything like that. And I'm really nervous cause I don't think anybody wants to work with me. I love seeing that transformation too, when they close that first client, when they start creating a system around finding people that they can help because that's when the true ripple effect happens. And I get so excited about that.

So our community is all anchored around being of service as a coach and creating a ripple effect with our coaching. And the thing is, is that when we stopped looking for one next client or the next line or the next client, and instead put most of our energy into creating a community of people with strategic opportunities to be able to work with us privately,

like I said, two, three X on our business. Results so that's the big idea. How can you build community instead of looking for that next client? I hope this was helpful. And I hope I'll see you in the coaches Plaza. We've got some, we've got some training coming up real soon, and I want to make sure that you're,

you're hearing what you need to be successful. And I hope you have a really amazing day. Make it awesome On that note. We want to thank you so much for tuning in. Can you please do us a favor, please go ahead and subscribe to our show. And if you would, please take a moment and rate and leave a review of our podcast.

Really hope folks find us. And if you're a coach who is building your practice, let's go check out www.thecrushmethod.com to find our latest free trainings and worksheets for coaches committed to making this crazy world of ours, a better place.