WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.839 Hey, this is Mark Butler and you are listening to a podcast for coaches. 00:00:03.849 --> 00:00:08.039 It used to be called the beautiful business as of a week ago, but 00:00:08.039 --> 00:00:10.419 I changed the name and I hope that when I changed the name. 00:00:10.979 --> 00:00:12.479 It didn't break everything. 00:00:12.559 --> 00:00:16.479 I hope that everyone's subscriptions still work. 00:00:17.769 --> 00:00:20.589 And if you're listening to this, I guess that proves it did work out. 00:00:20.599 --> 00:00:23.899 And if no one listens to this, then I'll know it's back to the drawing board. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.079 I'm back after about a one year hiatus I talked about in the 00:00:29.079 --> 00:00:32.139 episode that was published two weeks ago in that same episode. 00:00:32.139 --> 00:00:35.779 I talked about how much money my coaching practice generated in 2023 00:00:35.849 --> 00:00:39.209 and in this episode I want to talk about how much money other people's 00:00:39.209 --> 00:00:42.689 practices are generating in the recent past and how much I think they'll be 00:00:42.689 --> 00:00:45.439 generating in the near and distant future. 00:00:46.309 --> 00:00:47.769 Now this came up for me because. 00:00:48.714 --> 00:00:52.094 A few weeks ago, I had a call with a client whose business is thriving. 00:00:52.104 --> 00:00:56.104 She's reaching all time highs in kind of every area. 00:00:56.504 --> 00:01:01.994 And as is usually the case, when a person reaches a new level, whether that level 00:01:02.014 --> 00:01:09.774 is 1, 000 per month or 150, 000 per month, when we arrive at the new level, 00:01:10.574 --> 00:01:13.154 there's excitement and there's also this. 00:01:14.289 --> 00:01:15.089 Surge of fear. 00:01:16.989 --> 00:01:21.619 Now I want to talk about it because I've observed after 10 years in this business, 00:01:21.669 --> 00:01:24.949 this month, I'm actually celebrating a birthday 10 years in my business. 00:01:25.769 --> 00:01:30.539 I've seen people struggle with two flavors of the same fear at 00:01:30.569 --> 00:01:32.029 every level of their business. 00:01:32.689 --> 00:01:34.859 And I, I described these two fears this way. 00:01:36.459 --> 00:01:38.449 The first fear is that it's never going to work. 00:01:38.649 --> 00:01:41.199 My business will never become what I want it to become. 00:01:41.884 --> 00:01:43.814 I'll never have what I think other people have. 00:01:43.874 --> 00:01:45.854 I'll never get where I think other people have gotten. 00:01:46.474 --> 00:01:49.514 And so it's this constant fear that it's not going to work. 00:01:50.994 --> 00:01:55.284 It's been interesting to me over the years to observe how quickly the fear 00:01:55.284 --> 00:01:59.774 that it will never work converts to the fear that it will stop working. 00:02:00.894 --> 00:02:05.094 That's a little bit more where my, my successful client was 00:02:05.104 --> 00:02:06.214 when we talked a few weeks ago. 00:02:07.554 --> 00:02:09.304 Now she wasn't falling apart. 00:02:10.139 --> 00:02:10.949 She's doing great. 00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:12.449 She knows this is amazing. 00:02:12.779 --> 00:02:13.679 Her clients love her. 00:02:13.679 --> 00:02:14.489 She loves her clients. 00:02:14.489 --> 00:02:15.629 She has this amazing community. 00:02:15.629 --> 00:02:17.489 It's all going really well. 00:02:18.509 --> 00:02:22.129 But there is that little voice in her head that says, is this gonna 00:02:22.129 --> 00:02:24.199 keep working or is it gonna go away? 00:02:24.559 --> 00:02:25.699 Is it sustainable? 00:02:26.329 --> 00:02:27.079 Will I lose it? 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:29.959 And it's the same fear. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:35.869 All of it is a fear that I'll lose what I never had, or that I lose what 00:02:35.869 --> 00:02:37.279 I, or that I will lose what I do have. 00:02:37.579 --> 00:02:38.389 It's all the same fear. 00:02:39.804 --> 00:02:41.574 And by the way, I'm not immune to these fears. 00:02:41.614 --> 00:02:44.504 I'm not sitting up here on the pedestal, looking down at everyone who's struggling. 00:02:44.534 --> 00:02:47.054 I, of course, I experienced these same things. 00:02:47.614 --> 00:02:52.854 Like I said, my business started 10 years ago in 2014 and from 2014 00:02:52.984 --> 00:02:55.134 all the way through 2018, 2019. 00:02:55.814 --> 00:02:58.424 My business was paying all of my family's bills. 00:02:58.564 --> 00:03:00.344 It was going fine. 00:03:00.424 --> 00:03:03.444 I had happy clients, and my revenue was growing, and my 00:03:03.444 --> 00:03:04.714 personal income was growing. 00:03:05.494 --> 00:03:08.924 But it wasn't until around 2019, I remember vividly, I was 00:03:08.924 --> 00:03:10.624 on a walk with Kate one day. 00:03:10.704 --> 00:03:11.284 Kate's my wife. 00:03:11.904 --> 00:03:13.954 I was on a walk with Kate one day, and I said, You know, 00:03:15.614 --> 00:03:17.314 I think this is gonna work. 00:03:18.094 --> 00:03:21.644 And we were five years in, and it had been paying our bills 00:03:21.694 --> 00:03:23.264 pretty much the whole time. 00:03:24.894 --> 00:03:30.524 But throughout those five years, most days I would wake up with some version 00:03:30.554 --> 00:03:36.634 of a sentence in my head that sounded like Today's the day that they're all 00:03:36.634 --> 00:03:41.834 going to realize how silly it is to pay you money and All at once they're gonna 00:03:41.834 --> 00:03:44.344 send an email that says you're fired. 00:03:46.244 --> 00:03:51.519 It's completely irrational It of course never came true Although there 00:03:51.519 --> 00:03:54.519 was a moment a couple of years after that, maybe three, four years after 00:03:54.519 --> 00:04:00.589 that, where my business did evolve significantly and it did involve moving 00:04:00.589 --> 00:04:06.029 on for most of the clients that I had up until that point, but none of that 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:10.009 justified or validated the fear that I'd experienced because the fear was just 00:04:10.019 --> 00:04:17.649 this irrational, illogical idea that what I had was all going to go away. 00:04:18.229 --> 00:04:19.969 There's no real reason to believe that. 00:04:20.554 --> 00:04:27.744 But because it was new and because I really loved it and because 00:04:27.764 --> 00:04:32.764 humans seem hardwired with this fear of loss, it did for years, it 00:04:32.764 --> 00:04:34.934 kind of hunted me and haunted me. 00:04:35.614 --> 00:04:36.404 You're going to lose this. 00:04:36.414 --> 00:04:37.384 It's all going to go away. 00:04:37.384 --> 00:04:37.814 Then what? 00:04:37.824 --> 00:04:38.264 Then what? 00:04:38.264 --> 00:04:39.734 You're going to lose the house, et cetera. 00:04:40.534 --> 00:04:41.024 It was there. 00:04:41.034 --> 00:04:41.974 It was there for five years. 00:04:42.454 --> 00:04:43.994 It creeps in sometimes still. 00:04:45.059 --> 00:04:48.749 But at this point, I don't know if it's age, I don't know if it's experience, 00:04:48.889 --> 00:04:55.129 but now I just have this persistent thought that just says, you know, 00:04:55.129 --> 00:04:56.579 whatever, it's all going to work out. 00:04:57.049 --> 00:04:58.909 It's not even some aspirational thing. 00:04:58.909 --> 00:05:01.709 It's not some, like I can conquer the world thing. 00:05:01.709 --> 00:05:03.309 It's, it's almost like. 00:05:04.169 --> 00:05:06.689 The grizzled old man being like, Oh, whatever. 00:05:06.939 --> 00:05:07.799 It's all going to be fine. 00:05:08.449 --> 00:05:11.389 It was fine before it'll be fine tomorrow. 00:05:11.679 --> 00:05:15.499 It might not look exactly like it looks today, but it'll look like something 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:17.039 and it's all going to work out. 00:05:17.149 --> 00:05:18.019 It's all going to be fine. 00:05:19.074 --> 00:05:23.624 So, my point is that I, I do struggle with the same kind of fear that 00:05:23.624 --> 00:05:27.164 I see my clients struggle with, that I see my peers struggle with. 00:05:27.994 --> 00:05:33.764 And I think these fears are made worse by the way coaches constantly 00:05:33.854 --> 00:05:37.814 reference each other and look to each other for reassurance. 00:05:38.854 --> 00:05:41.394 Now, I see this happening in two ways and my client and I talked about how 00:05:41.394 --> 00:05:42.724 she was doing these same two things. 00:05:43.169 --> 00:05:48.209 Number one, coaches will look to content for reassurance. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:51.989 So they'll go to their podcasts, they'll go to their social feeds, they'll go to 00:05:51.989 --> 00:05:57.329 newsletters and they'll hunt for evidence that everything's going to be okay. 00:05:57.579 --> 00:06:00.549 They'll hunt for evidence that their enthusiasm and their 00:06:00.549 --> 00:06:02.979 confidence are still safe. 00:06:03.339 --> 00:06:03.969 And valid. 00:06:06.779 --> 00:06:08.989 And the other place they tend to go is to community. 00:06:09.539 --> 00:06:13.949 They go to Facebook groups, they go to their, uh, co coaching groups that 00:06:13.949 --> 00:06:16.369 they're members of or masterminds. 00:06:16.369 --> 00:06:19.789 They're they're members of, and they're looking for other people 00:06:19.789 --> 00:06:22.209 to signal that they are safe. 00:06:23.599 --> 00:06:27.829 They want to be able to say things like she's doing great. 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:29.229 That means I can do great. 00:06:29.899 --> 00:06:31.829 Or they are all doing great. 00:06:31.909 --> 00:06:33.199 That means I can do great. 00:06:34.429 --> 00:06:39.139 Something else that happens in the coaching community is that we create 00:06:39.159 --> 00:06:43.559 settings in which we attempt to. 00:06:45.034 --> 00:06:46.394 Manipulate is not the right word. 00:06:46.414 --> 00:06:49.354 It might be the right word, but I don't, it, that sounds too cynical 00:06:49.354 --> 00:06:50.674 and I don't want it to sound cynical. 00:06:50.944 --> 00:06:55.304 What we do is we gather a bunch of coaches into a conference room with a 00:06:55.304 --> 00:06:56.804 hundred or a thousand coaches in it. 00:06:56.834 --> 00:07:00.494 And then we have five of those coaches come sit up on the stage and tell us 00:07:00.494 --> 00:07:04.494 how successful they are and how they're successful and on its worst day it sets 00:07:04.494 --> 00:07:07.584 up this greater than less than they're up on the stage I'm not on the stage. 00:07:07.584 --> 00:07:08.404 They're successful. 00:07:08.404 --> 00:07:08.984 I'm a failure. 00:07:09.164 --> 00:07:14.284 It can set up that dynamic, which I of course I do not like but It's an 00:07:14.284 --> 00:07:17.884 example and sometimes it's a positive example of coaches being able to say. 00:07:17.884 --> 00:07:19.614 Oh, it's working for her It can work for me. 00:07:20.944 --> 00:07:24.634 It's not that I think that is 100 percent bad. 00:07:25.394 --> 00:07:31.019 I do think it's part of an unhealthy overall long term Dynamic, where I'm 00:07:31.019 --> 00:07:34.999 having to look to other people to reassure me that it's all going to be okay. 00:07:36.259 --> 00:07:39.749 Especially in the coaching community, we have this tendency to say, Oh, 00:07:39.749 --> 00:07:43.749 well, what they're doing is they're showing examples of what's possible. 00:07:43.779 --> 00:07:49.359 And yes, they, they are sort of, but they're showing such an incomplete 00:07:49.419 --> 00:07:52.699 picture of what it takes to be successful. 00:07:53.499 --> 00:07:56.349 All we're really hearing are the highlights of this is how 00:07:56.349 --> 00:07:57.479 much money I made last year. 00:07:57.479 --> 00:07:59.059 This is how much money I made this year. 00:07:59.059 --> 00:08:03.639 It was 10 X more and Oh, it's inspirational, but 00:08:03.639 --> 00:08:05.519 it's not necessarily useful. 00:08:06.499 --> 00:08:08.679 And I believe it's extremely fragile. 00:08:10.099 --> 00:08:14.219 If I'm having to reference other people, if I need someone to go up on a stage 00:08:14.339 --> 00:08:18.569 and tell me that I'm going to be okay, then the day there isn't a stage for 00:08:18.569 --> 00:08:21.119 someone to go up on, I'm in trouble. 00:08:23.069 --> 00:08:27.549 By the way, I want to say something about coaching because sometimes cynicism 00:08:27.549 --> 00:08:30.799 does creep into the coaching community where people say, Oh, this is all. 00:08:32.384 --> 00:08:33.464 Nobody makes money. 00:08:33.474 --> 00:08:35.384 There's just a few people at the top who make money. 00:08:35.384 --> 00:08:36.844 It's like network marketing. 00:08:36.844 --> 00:08:38.354 This is all kind of scammy. 00:08:38.394 --> 00:08:41.474 And I just want to say that I wholeheartedly disagree. 00:08:41.894 --> 00:08:49.244 I think there are some unsavory aspects of the coaching community, but you know what, 00:08:49.804 --> 00:08:55.934 if you go out into the greater world, you go to any place where a bunch of people 00:08:55.934 --> 00:08:59.704 are trying to achieve something and where there's a high variance in results. 00:09:00.379 --> 00:09:03.629 And you will find exactly in, in that setting, you will find exactly what 00:09:03.629 --> 00:09:05.049 you find in the coaching community. 00:09:05.539 --> 00:09:08.089 You'll find some people on the stage talking about how they succeeded. 00:09:08.089 --> 00:09:10.569 You'll find some people in the audience wishing they were on the stage. 00:09:10.839 --> 00:09:12.599 You'll find some other people in the audience feeling 00:09:12.609 --> 00:09:13.789 terrible about themselves. 00:09:14.019 --> 00:09:16.669 You'll find some other people in the audience criticizing the whole thing 00:09:16.669 --> 00:09:17.889 and saying how it's all a racket. 00:09:17.899 --> 00:09:18.549 It's all a scam. 00:09:18.899 --> 00:09:22.059 Human psychology pops up wherever humans gather. 00:09:22.589 --> 00:09:24.379 Yes, it does happen in network marketing. 00:09:24.389 --> 00:09:26.089 Yes, it happens in the coaching community. 00:09:26.249 --> 00:09:28.769 If you go to a sales conference, a national sales conference 00:09:28.779 --> 00:09:32.719 for any big company, the same exact dynamics will exist there. 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:37.659 The only place where you're really not going to find this probably will be in 00:09:37.789 --> 00:09:42.419 departments of companies or in communities where there's not a high degree of 00:09:42.429 --> 00:09:44.089 variance amongst people's results. 00:09:44.739 --> 00:09:48.159 So if you go into the accounting department of a Fortune 100 company, 00:09:48.869 --> 00:09:52.109 You will hear people complaining, but they won't be complaining about 00:09:52.109 --> 00:09:58.119 the fact that Jim made 400, 000 last year and they made only 30, 000. 00:09:58.589 --> 00:09:59.709 And what's Jim's secret? 00:09:59.709 --> 00:10:02.989 Well, no, we're all just calculating numbers on the same spreadsheet 00:10:02.989 --> 00:10:03.769 because we're accountants. 00:10:03.779 --> 00:10:07.989 So there's not that much variance in results other than the politics that 00:10:07.989 --> 00:10:12.569 come up that got Jim promoted and that, you know, got Mary left behind. 00:10:12.579 --> 00:10:15.189 These things are real, but that's different. 00:10:15.619 --> 00:10:19.934 I'm talking about Communities and environments where people have 00:10:19.934 --> 00:10:24.444 the perception that hard work will deliver a disproportionate result. 00:10:25.514 --> 00:10:29.124 And then we get a lot of drama around people feeling like they've worked 00:10:29.124 --> 00:10:30.544 hard, but not gotten the results. 00:10:30.554 --> 00:10:32.114 And does this even work anymore? 00:10:32.564 --> 00:10:34.044 And am I wasting my time? 00:10:35.254 --> 00:10:41.904 And I think many coaches, because they came into the coaching world from a 00:10:41.914 --> 00:10:43.904 life where they weren't employed at all. 00:10:44.484 --> 00:10:48.694 And then they came back into the workforce as a self employed coach. 00:10:50.124 --> 00:10:55.844 So that they think the coaching community is unique among human communities. 00:10:55.904 --> 00:11:00.694 And it's just not, it's in many ways identical to other human communities. 00:11:01.234 --> 00:11:03.054 It has different tribal language. 00:11:03.694 --> 00:11:07.424 There's a little bit more, probably a little bit more sort of law of 00:11:07.424 --> 00:11:12.304 attraction, manifestation, woo woo kind of language in a coaching community and 00:11:12.304 --> 00:11:14.454 the coaching community skews toward women. 00:11:14.454 --> 00:11:14.904 And so. 00:11:15.394 --> 00:11:18.084 There's going to be more of a feminine energy in the whole thing, 00:11:19.304 --> 00:11:23.684 but human psychology is human psychology and wherever humans gather, 00:11:24.204 --> 00:11:26.074 their psychology presents itself. 00:11:26.075 --> 00:11:32.774 So I have a love hate relationship with those communities. 00:11:33.494 --> 00:11:35.614 On the one hand, it's amazing to get together with people who are 00:11:35.614 --> 00:11:39.254 like minded and to get to know each other and to celebrate each other. 00:11:39.884 --> 00:11:44.044 And on the other hand, we can set up some really gross dynamics where 00:11:44.074 --> 00:11:45.844 we have in crowds and out crowds. 00:11:46.369 --> 00:11:48.749 And the primary measure between those two crowds is how much 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:49.989 money a person generates. 00:11:50.519 --> 00:11:53.709 But we don't have any other real context or details about their business. 00:11:54.389 --> 00:11:57.989 And so, it's kind of a coin toss whether it helps or hurts a person to 00:11:57.989 --> 00:11:59.699 be hanging around those communities. 00:12:01.049 --> 00:12:04.329 We have this other dynamic in the coaching community, and this is 00:12:04.329 --> 00:12:09.169 what my client was struggling with, is that we look to certain coaches 00:12:09.829 --> 00:12:12.309 around whom the attention pools. 00:12:13.339 --> 00:12:16.189 They have the biggest podcasts, they have the biggest social followings, they 00:12:16.189 --> 00:12:22.639 have the biggest newsletters, and we look to them to signal what's possible. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:24.889 In the community, what's possible for a coach. 00:12:26.269 --> 00:12:28.329 Here's the thing about most of those coaches. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.109 I want to say, first of all, that I think as a community and I personally 00:12:32.109 --> 00:12:33.609 owe them a great debt of gratitude. 00:12:33.869 --> 00:12:41.519 And I'll explain why in a minute, but these coaches tend to make very 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:43.749 similar offers to very similar people. 00:12:43.769 --> 00:12:46.739 So their businesses overall tend to be very similar. 00:12:47.729 --> 00:12:52.429 So if you hear one of them sneeze, it's likely they all have a cold. 00:12:53.149 --> 00:12:55.689 There isn't real diversity between these businesses. 00:12:55.969 --> 00:12:58.929 So when one of them is thriving, it's likely that the others are 00:12:58.929 --> 00:13:02.069 thriving because they're making the same offers to the same people. 00:13:03.459 --> 00:13:07.259 And then if one of them is starting to struggle, the other start to struggle. 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:09.569 Well, how does this show up in their content? 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:12.519 You might think it doesn't show up in their content. 00:13:12.529 --> 00:13:13.649 Well, I think it does. 00:13:14.369 --> 00:13:21.259 I podcast episodes and newsletters and sales copy that start to say things like. 00:13:22.439 --> 00:13:29.829 How to make money in a down economy what to do when your offers aren't working 00:13:29.829 --> 00:13:39.019 anymore So it's couched in this language of how to succeed But in that language, 00:13:39.029 --> 00:13:43.759 they are revealing their current state of mind They wouldn't be talking about 00:13:44.439 --> 00:13:50.229 how to succeed in any economy if they weren't perceiving a change in the economy 00:13:52.474 --> 00:13:56.534 In my own coaching with my clients, one on one, which is not based around 00:13:56.534 --> 00:13:59.684 a content relationship, it's a, it's based around a one on one relationship. 00:14:00.094 --> 00:14:02.014 There's really no discussion of the economy. 00:14:02.024 --> 00:14:05.444 For example, there's no discussion of this used to work 00:14:05.444 --> 00:14:06.594 and that doesn't work anymore. 00:14:07.514 --> 00:14:09.634 We're just talking about what's going on with you. 00:14:10.204 --> 00:14:11.834 What's the evidence in your business? 00:14:12.444 --> 00:14:14.014 What relationships are you fostering? 00:14:15.414 --> 00:14:19.274 So I think some of these coaches who have so much attention, 00:14:19.284 --> 00:14:20.344 so much of our attention. 00:14:21.099 --> 00:14:25.559 As their businesses struggle and the rumor mill has made its way to me and said, Oh, 00:14:25.669 --> 00:14:27.279 their numbers are way down or whatever. 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:32.309 I have no idea if it's true, then it would make sense to me that that would make its 00:14:32.309 --> 00:14:34.239 way into their content and their copy. 00:14:35.179 --> 00:14:40.209 And if I'm a person who is particularly susceptible to the signals that they 00:14:40.209 --> 00:14:45.439 give positive or negative,, then my mindset is going to be shaped. 00:14:46.429 --> 00:14:48.199 According to the messages that they're sending me. 00:14:50.119 --> 00:14:51.199 And I'm not a fan of that. 00:14:53.009 --> 00:14:56.329 So I'll say to you what I said to my client when she was talking about, Oh, 00:14:56.609 --> 00:14:58.299 she named a few big coaching brands. 00:14:58.339 --> 00:14:59.419 Oh, I've heard they're struggling. 00:14:59.419 --> 00:15:01.809 I've heard she's not making the money that she used to be making. 00:15:02.459 --> 00:15:06.969 I said, look, all the data and all the evidence that you 00:15:06.969 --> 00:15:08.679 need is right in front of you. 00:15:08.689 --> 00:15:09.979 It's in your business. 00:15:10.469 --> 00:15:11.759 It's in your numbers. 00:15:13.244 --> 00:15:16.874 There is nothing at this point that that coach, that coach, and the other 00:15:16.874 --> 00:15:21.004 coach know about growing a successful community and coaching practice. 00:15:22.164 --> 00:15:24.094 There is nothing that they know that you don't. 00:15:25.584 --> 00:15:27.504 Their data is not worth more than yours. 00:15:27.564 --> 00:15:31.494 Their opinion is not worth more than yours to continue to get 00:15:31.494 --> 00:15:32.974 the result that you already have. 00:15:33.884 --> 00:15:38.194 Continue to treat your audience the way you have engage with them. 00:15:38.244 --> 00:15:38.624 You know what? 00:15:38.674 --> 00:15:41.694 In fact, engage with them more than ever engage with them better than ever. 00:15:43.164 --> 00:15:45.474 As you continue to love them, they will love you back. 00:15:45.854 --> 00:15:49.954 As you continue to love them, they will bring more people to you for you to love. 00:15:51.504 --> 00:15:52.464 This is universal. 00:15:54.554 --> 00:15:56.554 , this endures across generations. 00:15:56.564 --> 00:15:58.034 This is how humans operate. 00:15:58.434 --> 00:16:01.024 When we're treated well, we tend to treat someone well back. 00:16:01.824 --> 00:16:04.624 When we love something, we tend to introduce other people to it. 00:16:05.624 --> 00:16:09.144 This happens independent of the current economic status. 00:16:09.704 --> 00:16:13.724 It happens independent of any particular trend in, , an industry 00:16:13.744 --> 00:16:15.504 like coaching or any other industry. 00:16:16.369 --> 00:16:17.429 These things are true. 00:16:17.889 --> 00:16:21.629 And in her case, she has so much evidence and so much data and such 00:16:21.629 --> 00:16:27.289 a large community that it should be fairly easy for her to turn her focus 00:16:27.309 --> 00:16:32.659 entirely back to her community and to remove her focus from some of these 00:16:33.289 --> 00:16:35.069 big name, high attention coaches. 00:16:36.359 --> 00:16:39.699 I want to tell you it is safe to ignore these people. 00:16:41.189 --> 00:16:45.029 If you're finding that their message doesn't serve you. 00:16:46.794 --> 00:16:47.944 You won't miss anything. 00:16:50.304 --> 00:16:51.314 You won't miss anything. 00:16:54.074 --> 00:16:59.584 Many of us don't have the revenue, the data, the numbers that the 00:16:59.584 --> 00:17:00.904 client I'm talking about has. 00:17:01.434 --> 00:17:03.314 So we need to seek evidence elsewhere. 00:17:04.214 --> 00:17:09.134 The same principles apply instead of listening to what someone 00:17:09.144 --> 00:17:11.654 else says about the environment. 00:17:12.554 --> 00:17:14.594 I can consider the environment on my own. 00:17:16.654 --> 00:17:19.364 If I have clients already, I can look at the relationships I have 00:17:19.364 --> 00:17:22.404 with those clients and I can say, ah, these are amazing relationships. 00:17:23.264 --> 00:17:26.524 And I can trust that relationships create relationships. 00:17:27.584 --> 00:17:30.824 This is a universal truth across the generations of humanity. 00:17:31.494 --> 00:17:36.784 Relationships create relationships, but I can also, if I don't have that 00:17:36.784 --> 00:17:40.854 many clients, I can also look at just the world around me for evidence. 00:17:41.014 --> 00:17:44.154 For example, I would have you ask yourself a couple of questions. 00:17:44.714 --> 00:17:45.374 Number one. 00:17:47.934 --> 00:17:52.504 As I look around my world, including my immediate family, my extended 00:17:52.504 --> 00:17:57.864 family, my close friends and neighbors, the people I go to church with, the 00:17:57.864 --> 00:18:02.104 people in other communities where I spend time, do I observe pain? 00:18:03.644 --> 00:18:05.724 And if you do this for about 10 or 20 seconds, you will 00:18:05.724 --> 00:18:07.904 see, oh yeah, I observe pain. 00:18:09.044 --> 00:18:10.764 I observe pain in relationships. 00:18:10.894 --> 00:18:12.584 I observe pain in finances. 00:18:13.094 --> 00:18:16.844 I observe pain in the physical, mental health realm. 00:18:18.014 --> 00:18:18.634 Of course I do. 00:18:18.634 --> 00:18:23.584 And, and sadly, I probably observe as much or more pain than ever. 00:18:26.784 --> 00:18:34.374 Number two, do I see any compelling evidence that the abundance of free 00:18:34.414 --> 00:18:43.004 and cheap information in the form of podcasts and YouTube and Audible and 00:18:43.014 --> 00:18:49.384 Kindle, do I see any evidence that all of that free and cheap information. 00:18:50.824 --> 00:18:53.644 is meaningfully addressing all the pain that I see. 00:18:55.684 --> 00:18:59.274 Now, for me, the answer is yes and no. 00:19:00.174 --> 00:19:05.084 And when I say yes, what I mean is I'm a beneficiary and I am grateful 00:19:05.144 --> 00:19:08.374 to all of the people, including by the way, the people I'm talking about 00:19:08.384 --> 00:19:13.594 that are safe to ignore, but I'm also very grateful to them because so many 00:19:13.594 --> 00:19:19.484 of these people are so consistent in delivering so much good intent and good 00:19:19.484 --> 00:19:24.904 value through their content over the years, podcasts, newsletters, all of it. 00:19:26.034 --> 00:19:30.564 I'm grateful for how they raise the whole community when they raise the community. 00:19:32.134 --> 00:19:37.274 I actually believe that coaching itself is something that has been a little 00:19:37.274 --> 00:19:40.214 bit on the fringes in the modern world. 00:19:40.215 --> 00:19:43.664 But many of these coaches. 00:19:44.644 --> 00:19:50.634 Who are safe to ignore Can also be thanked for the fact that over time 00:19:51.144 --> 00:19:57.594 They are making it more and more normal to get the support of a coach They 00:19:57.594 --> 00:20:04.424 are making the market for us, and I'm grateful for that So am I happy that 00:20:04.424 --> 00:20:09.874 there's never been more good free and cheap content to help people? 00:20:10.134 --> 00:20:13.284 Consider their lives consider their feelings consider their circumstances. 00:20:13.624 --> 00:20:18.729 I am so grateful for it And all the pain that I mentioned a second ago 00:20:19.129 --> 00:20:21.159 is still there and may be growing. 00:20:22.959 --> 00:20:25.999 So if I'm a person who wants to support people one on one or 00:20:25.999 --> 00:20:31.589 in small groups, there is still plenty of pain for me to address. 00:20:31.889 --> 00:20:35.919 Plenty of support for me to give that's not, that's not shrinking 00:20:36.209 --> 00:20:37.579 and it's certainly not going away. 00:20:39.629 --> 00:20:42.069 One of the last big signals I'll have you look at is what 00:20:42.069 --> 00:20:43.579 is your own desire for support? 00:20:45.229 --> 00:20:48.639 Do you have the desire to get the support of a coach? 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:54.569 Now, don't misunderstand, I think sometimes in the coaching community, 00:20:54.569 --> 00:20:56.629 we're a little bit manipulative where we say, how can you coach 00:20:56.629 --> 00:20:57.719 people if you don't have a coach? 00:20:57.719 --> 00:21:01.009 Well, I'm fine with you coaching people and not having a coach. 00:21:01.479 --> 00:21:02.759 I don't think it makes you unethical. 00:21:03.659 --> 00:21:05.659 I think sometimes it may hurt your enthusiasm. 00:21:05.679 --> 00:21:08.959 I think you might have more enthusiasm selling coaching if you're 00:21:09.199 --> 00:21:11.369 currently benefiting from coaching. 00:21:12.409 --> 00:21:15.569 But all of us go through seasons in our life where we need more 00:21:15.569 --> 00:21:16.959 support versus less support. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:18.789 And if we're in a low support season. 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:20.839 Congratulations to us. 00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:27.179 Maybe we don't want the support of a coach as much right now, but overall, 00:21:28.089 --> 00:21:33.989 I would hope that a coach would say, yeah, my desire for support averaged 00:21:33.989 --> 00:21:36.769 out over the long run is high. 00:21:37.899 --> 00:21:39.599 I believe in one on one support. 00:21:40.729 --> 00:21:45.799 And if you can look to that as a signal and combine it with your 00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:49.479 knowledge, with your awareness, that people are in real pain. 00:21:51.299 --> 00:21:55.579 Then you don't really need anyone else to tell you what's true or not true about the 00:21:55.579 --> 00:22:00.349 greater economy, community environment. 00:22:01.499 --> 00:22:02.419 You don't need that. 00:22:04.019 --> 00:22:05.619 What they say doesn't actually matter. 00:22:07.569 --> 00:22:12.579 So let's get to the promise that the title of this episode makes coaches 00:22:12.579 --> 00:22:13.679 make money and I can prove it. 00:22:14.444 --> 00:22:17.094 I'm in a unique position because I have this bookkeeping service 00:22:17.094 --> 00:22:19.584 called let's do the books, which does bookkeeping for coaches. 00:22:20.334 --> 00:22:22.184 I have a sample. 00:22:23.074 --> 00:22:27.684 Not a huge sample, but it's a non trivial sample of coaching practices. 00:22:29.584 --> 00:22:34.474 And because of the way my bookkeeping is, because of the way I charge for it 00:22:34.494 --> 00:22:42.264 on a sliding scale, my sliding scale revenue Is a reasonable indicator of 00:22:42.264 --> 00:22:48.824 how coaches are doing right because the more money they make the more 00:22:48.824 --> 00:22:53.394 money I make and it's even more useful than that because my sliding scale fee 00:22:53.394 --> 00:23:02.844 structure is capped so my revenue can't be disproportionately propped up by the 00:23:02.844 --> 00:23:06.254 clients that I have who are making tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands per 00:23:06.254 --> 00:23:11.874 month Because they pay me the same fee as a person who's making seven or eight 00:23:11.874 --> 00:23:20.604 thousand a month So the average is made a little bit truer by the fact that those 00:23:20.604 --> 00:23:27.774 outliers can't skew that average And all I can tell you is this, my revenue 00:23:27.804 --> 00:23:31.214 per client is steadily trickling upward. 00:23:32.574 --> 00:23:35.604 I'm not trying to hyperbolize that. 00:23:35.634 --> 00:23:37.404 I'm not saying that it's easy. 00:23:37.404 --> 00:23:39.324 I'm not saying everyone's making a jillion dollars. 00:23:39.354 --> 00:23:40.434 I'm not saying any of that. 00:23:41.094 --> 00:23:42.134 What I'm saying is. 00:23:42.639 --> 00:23:48.599 With a non trivial sample, people's income is trending upward. 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:50.669 The end. 00:23:52.159 --> 00:23:54.069 Now, would I love to dig into each and every one of those 00:23:54.069 --> 00:23:55.509 businesses and do case studies? 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:56.169 Sure, I would. 00:23:56.179 --> 00:23:56.979 That would be a lot of work. 00:23:56.979 --> 00:23:58.059 I don't know that I'll ever do it. 00:23:58.069 --> 00:24:01.209 And I don't know that the information is available to me in that way. 00:24:03.609 --> 00:24:09.659 But at the very least, what I can give you is a counterpoint to any rumor, any piece 00:24:09.659 --> 00:24:14.189 of content that you hear that says, it used to work, but it doesn't work anymore. 00:24:15.424 --> 00:24:20.154 If you're a person who wants and has the ability to support people one on 00:24:20.154 --> 00:24:26.374 one in self actualizing, in solving the pain in their life, figuring out 00:24:26.374 --> 00:24:30.494 their relationships, figuring out their health, figuring out their finances. 00:24:32.284 --> 00:24:36.034 If you're a person who wants to do that, has the ability to do it and 00:24:36.034 --> 00:24:40.774 is working to increase your ability, your prospects are as good as ever. 00:24:41.884 --> 00:24:43.704 And so are mine, by the way, I'm in the same boat. 00:24:44.579 --> 00:24:49.259 I pay my family's bills with one on one support. 00:24:50.479 --> 00:24:54.819 And if I didn't believe that was going to be there, I would switch. 00:24:54.819 --> 00:24:55.409 I would pivot. 00:24:55.629 --> 00:24:56.779 I've had other businesses. 00:24:56.809 --> 00:24:58.349 I can have other businesses. 00:24:58.359 --> 00:25:03.809 I'm not saying it would be easy, but I could, but observing the relationships 00:25:03.809 --> 00:25:09.379 that I have, observing the business that I have, all the signs point to me that I 00:25:09.379 --> 00:25:13.279 can have a nice, steady, stable income. 00:25:14.254 --> 00:25:19.584 That increases gradually over time from offering people one on one support. 00:25:21.794 --> 00:25:25.284 Coaches are making money and I can prove it. 00:25:25.714 --> 00:25:26.664 And I am proving it. 00:25:27.714 --> 00:25:35.384 So if you're getting messages that go contrary to your confidence, your hope, 00:25:35.934 --> 00:25:41.974 your optimism, I would encourage you to cut those messages out of your life 00:25:43.254 --> 00:25:45.554 and to redirect that energy and that attention. 00:25:46.869 --> 00:25:50.549 To building relationships, increasing in confidence and 00:25:50.549 --> 00:25:52.779 skill and supporting your clients. 00:25:54.539 --> 00:25:59.239 Have a great couple of weeks and we'll see you back here on a podcast for coaches.