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My last corporate bonus vanished into thin air, and I finally decided to swallow my pride and hire a Business Mentor. That decision changed everything for me!

Little did I know that there was a systematic process to fully book your coaching practice. Once implemented, you can say goodbye to soul-sucking side hustles and part-time jobs forever.

Now in my eighth year as a coach, I've tried it all—running in different directions, hitting a few brick walls, and eventually finding doors that flew open.

I’m a CTI-trained, PCC accredited Coach with over 1500+ coaching hours, and 600+ enrollment calls done. I’ve consistently earned my full corporate paycheck since year 3, and last year I managed to keep that income while reducing my working hours by half, so I can spend half-day on the beach with my newborn baby Leo 🦁

And you can do it too, even without the support of a well-oiled corporate machine.

With so much misinformation out there on what you need to run a successful practice (website? Insta account? Ebook?) - I’m here to guide you through the activities that ACTUALLY matter in becoming fully booked:

🎁 CREATING your offer

💖 ATTRACTING your people

🎉 ENROLLING your ideal clients

So pour yourself a cuppa tea, and let's dive into the adventure

1. CREATE your coaching offer 🎁

Creating an enticing coaching offer starts with understanding your audience.

Clarify your Niche

Coaching is transformative, but people aren't lining up for coaching on vague "Life" or "Mindset" issues.

They see coaching as a luxury, not a priority.

When I started as a Mindset Coach, I hit a wall with no clients and no income.

That's when I discovered the power of niching.

Sounds limiting, right?

I resisted it like a cat avoids water. 🙀

But guess what? I eventually gave it a go as an experiment and it made the whole world of difference!

Put yourself in your client's shoes.

They have specific challenges they want to overcome, e. g.

• being passed for a promotion,

• regaining confidence after maternity leave, or

• transitioning from a high-profile job to starting a consulting business.

Given the choice between a specialised Promotion Coach or a generic Life Coach, who do you think they'll choose?

Who would YOU choose?

Having a niche doesn't compromise your coaching integrity or limit your discussion topics in sessions. It simply illustrates the potential BENEFITS of coaching for Prospects before they join your program.

Once they're in the coaching process, the agenda is entirely driven by their needs. So, don't worry about straying from the niche if that's what they desire.

Having a niche is a win-win – it helps you attract aligned clients and allows them to experience transformative results, whether it's in their initial topic or somewhere unexpected!

Bottom line: It's ridiculously hard to attract clients earlier in your practice if you don't niche! So, find your niche, own it, and watch the clients come flocking to you.

Design your Coaching Offer

“Let’s just do rolling sessions and see how it flows” - sounds vague to your potential clients and typically gets you £$100/hour pay max.

Packaging it up into an offer that is right for your ideal client gives you a lot of wiggle room of what you can get paid for your amazing work! And professionalises the service you offer.

My clients who work with younger professionals typically charge £1500-2500 per package while other with mid-level and executive audiences aim for £3000-5000 price point.

Consider what your clients typically need from a Coach to get the results they want.

While there are cases where one conversation can overhaul someone's life forever, rewiring thought patterns and achieving coaching outcomes usually takes time.

Think about the duration of your coaching packages—

• 3, 6, or 12 months?

• Weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly sessions?

• 1:1, group, or other types of support?

• how about extra support outside the sessions? E.g. quick WhatsApp messages for urgent questions or a resource folder bursting with helpful goodies, book recommendations or assessments.

Once you add this all in, it becomes a well-rounded coaching package takes the focus away from simply dividing the cost by hours.

No more thinking, "Wow, $300 per hour to talk to someone? That's steep!"

Instead, your clients will see the value in the comprehensive experience you provide.

Once you've outlined your coaching package, use platforms like Canva to make it look sleek and polished.

2. ATTRACT Your Ideal Clients 💖

Now that you've carved out your niche (at least for now!) and designed your offer, it's time to start putting it in front of your ideal clients. Simply sticking it on your website won’t get you much traction.

There are two effective ways to attract your ideal clients to you – by sharing valuable content and waiting for them to come to you, or taking the lead and reaching out to them directly.

Personally, I prefer the dance of the two together.

The Content Game

Sharing content on social media platforms is a way to help more people, even if they can never afford your services.

And for others to get to know you better before deciding to coach with you. It's like a sneak peek into your coaching style and personality.

But some coaches feel like they have to be constantly creating content instead of actually coaching.

While this might be true for some platforms like Instagram and TikTok (seriously, you need to post at least 5 stories a day to get any traction!!😱), there's another platform that I personally love: LinkedIn!

LinkedIn is like the hidden gem of social media. Only 4% of users are content creators, so when you post something there, it actually gets noticed!

Plus, it's a more professional platform where people go to do business. No pretending to be someone's friend to get into their inbox. Phew!

And if you only share 1 post a week or even every other week - it will still get you noticed, so far as you’re showing up to that schedule consistently.

Mix it up—educational posts, personal stories, success stories, inspirational quotes, and thought-provoking questions.

Let your personality shine through, showing your audience that you're relatable and real.

By sharing valuable content, you'll become a go-to person for coaching on the topics you’re sharing about.

Connect with your Ideal Clients

There are 2 great ways to bring aligned clients to your practice: waiting for them to come to you or taking the lead and inviting them to a dance.

If you choose to wait, you'll need to create lots of amazing content and events to attract people. It's a long-term strategy that can bring high-quality prospects, but it takes time.

And your ideal clients might be a bit shy or just procrastinating on reaching out, even if they need your coaching right now.

So, why not give them a little nudge?

If you've recently started building awareness of your work, engaging with your audience proactively will help you sign up clients sooner.

I've been running my coaching practice since 2016, and I've found that reaching out to potential clients directly is the surest and fastest way to book out your practice with aligned clients.

And you don't need any complicated tech for it.

Simply reach out to people who look like your ideal clients directly on LinkedIn by sending personalized messages.

Wanna make REAL connections on LinkedIn? Stay real yourself.

I know it can feel a little intimidating and awkward connecting with a “Profile”... There's something lifeless about it.

But in reality - it's the Human on the receiving end, and your message may just land perfectly with their heart and mind.

Take some time to visit each person's profile and find something interesting or special about them. Then, mention in your message what caught your eye and introduce yourself.

If they respond - keep up the banter and, eventually, invite them to a call with you.

If your niche is clear and message is resonating with the right person, and you’re putting aside the hours every week to focus on the outreach - you should be able to book 10-20 enrolment calls with high quality Prospects a month consistently.

3. ENROL Your Ideal Clients 🎉

Now that you have these meetings scheduled in your calendar - how do you turn Prospects in Clients?

Most coaches feel a bit anxious when it comes to enrolments as you may not have a tonne (or any) experience in sales.

But remember how you felt about coaching before you got the training?

And how about your first job?

And how about your first step?

And you managed to master ALL of that!

So far as you have the right tools and support - you can fall in love with selling coaching too, even if it doesn’t feel very natural to you at first.

Find your balance

Having tried many different approaches to running these sessions, I found that Taster Coaching Sessions don’t get you the best results, neither do pure Sales Calls.

Find a healthy balance of the two.

Allow space for coaching exploration to happen at the start of the call.

E.g. clarifying their vision and challenges in an area where they’d like support. Focus on the person, actively listen, ask powerful questions.

And if you feel the alignment and see that they could truly benefit from your offer, leave ample space to describe your coaching offer too, highlighting the transformation they can experience and the support you'll provide.

Avoid describing what coaching IS or ISN’T, you will see their eyes glaze over. Instead - use case studies and example of results other people achieved through coaching.

And finally, invite them to hop on that path with you.

It’s THAT simple!

Coach through Objections

Coaches who avoid objections in enrolment calls lose 50% of potential clients. I missed out too, until I learned to embrace these uncomfortable discussions.

If you leave the Zoom meeting with a response like "Let me think about it", expect to hear something like, "I enjoyed meeting you, but it's not for me right now.”

This is a common occurrence because starting a coaching journey is scary. It involves cost, time commitment, and working towards daring dreams.

We're often more afraid of success than failure.

If you don't address doubts on the call, the client will spend the evening sabotaging themselves with reasons why it won't work.

Instead, have the courage to engage in these uncomfortable conversations during enrolment calls.

Determine if their objections stem from fear, doubt, or limiting beliefs (which I found to be the case in 90% of my calls).

Rather than pushing clients for a decision, coach them through their objections.

Help them explore emotions, challenge assumptions, and gain new perspectives. Handling objections with care and coaching builds trust, empowering clients to make confident decisions.

AT THE END OF THE DAY…

Becoming an Abundant Coach requires a strategic game plan.

By following these three steps—creating your coaching offer, attracting your ideal clients, and enrolling them into your offer—you can build a thriving coaching practice and ignore LinkedIn new job alerts FOR GOOD!

But it does take time, dedication, and perseverance.

Stay true to your passion, keep refining your skills, and embrace the adventure of building your coaching practice.

If I could do it - you can do it!

And if you read the article THIS FAR, I can tell you’re a Coach committed to growing your practice, and I’d love to offer you a

FREE 1:1 Business Consultation 🎁

We’ll delve deeper into the strategies outlined here, and tailor it to your specific style, goals and journey with coaching.

It’s available to trained coaches only.

Feel free to book it here: https://tidycal.com/aca/katrin

I love supporting purpose-led Coaches and can’t wait to meet you!

Katrin 🧚 Your Personal Business Fairy

(video version here)

On LinkedIn, hitting the LIKE button (or adding a comment) acts the same as a public REPOST on other platforms - a big commitment, right?!

So your biggest fans might not engage publicly with posts about their struggles or dreams.

SO... when a friend or fellow coach does like your post -

CELEBRATE IT! 🎉

They are appreciating your work and boosting your visibility.

(Better than a slap on the face with a wet fish, no? 🐟)

And those lurkers?

You can easily spot them in your new followers, profile views, or connection requests.

💡 When they show up - reach out. Say

"𝘏𝘪 👋, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸! 𝘐'𝘮 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵?"

They might just tell you.

AND... if you’ve been lurking around my cozy corner of LinkedIn…

𝗜 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄𝘀, send me a 👋 in a direct message.

I'd love to get to know you. 🤗

✅ Helped me prioritize Q1

✅ Led to decisions that are already paying off

✅ Was available for a session at... 2am

But did I fire my Human Coach? 𝗡𝗢 𝗪𝗔𝗬!

Here’s where AI still falls 𝘸𝘢𝘺 short:

🚫 It didn’t pick up on (or address) emotions, even in voice mode

🚫 It got me off the hook when I dodged questions around tender points

🚫 I won't dream to share my deepest fears and most personal topics with it

Overall, it seemed like a reasonably structured GROW model session. Scratching the surface well, missing the depth.

Great coaching isn’t just structured questioning - it’s also about:

✨ 𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁

✨ 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

✨ 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆

✨ 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆

✨ 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

✨ 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲

& a sprinkle of that 𝘫𝘦-𝘯𝘦-𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘴-𝘲𝘶𝘰𝘪 feeling that turns it from functional to MAGICAL, truly transforming lives.

That said, AI is shaking up coaching. The ones most affected?

→ Untrained Coaches who rely on life experience & advice giving

→ Coaches using surface level frameworks (GROW and the like)

It raises the bar. 🔥

Until AI mirrors most human abilities, coaching isn’t going anywhere.

And if/when it does? We’ll probably have much bigger shifts to navigate - for better or worse, who knows, right?

👉 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘃𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 - 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲?

Over coffee with these beautiful souls - Ann-Mari Freebairn & Nicholas Kettles we quickly discovered that we share many similar values -

for supporting others through difficult times,

thirst for freedom & exploration,

care for ecology and more!

Meeting fellow Coaches to me often feels like rediscovering your Soul Family.

🧡

What's 1 top value you share with your Coach-friends?

Yes, I sometimes get tempted to add a few more nanny hours to catch up on work. But then I remind myself 𝗪𝗛𝗬 I chose to work for myself in the 1st place.

I had a burning desire to be present for my future child, not rushing home from work to find out someone else already tucked him in for the night.

It's easy to get swept up in thoughts of efficiency: “𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥?”

𝗡𝗢.

This age, this time - when he still leally leally wants Mummy - is 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦.

And I’m acutely aware it won’t last too much longer.

So I 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 to keep working part-time.

Plus, if you're charging well for your work

→ then you can afford hiring help,

→ then you can spend more time with your children, welllll beyond official maternity leave expires,

→ THEN you can also show up to work feeling fulfilled, not torn.

If you needed a reminder or motivation for why to work for yourself (or charge your worth!)… perhaps this is it 👶

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖 𝙥𝙖𝙮?

📌 REFLECT the challenges your ideal clients face in your posts

🤝 RESPOND to those who engage or react to your content

📞 REACH OUT for a chat to explore how you can support them

🔁 REPEAT the process to sign up new clients

Simple, right?

What's missing from this list? (saving it to see who calls it out in the comments 😉).

When I left my comfy corporate life to become a Coach, I thought I was ready to rock it just by using "life experience" 🤦‍♀️

Spoiler alert: I wasn’t.

My first coaching session? Total disaster.

My client wanted to launch a business but had “no time.”

There was an awkward silence… Where do I take it from here??

I almost quit, but my husband urged me to give it another shot and get properly trained. So I studied with the amazing Co-Active Training Institute that taught me to dig deep and help clients tap their own resourcefulness. No more feeling stuck in sessions (almost!).

Running a coaching practice comes with a few TOUGH days. More of them at the start!

To all my fellow Coaches: embrace the wobbles 🍾

'cause each step is one closer to greatness.

This is what you’re meant to do—just put the next foot forward! 👣