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Imagine if you had a backstage pass to go behind the scenes and learn the secrets that worked for veteran coaches who’ve been right where you are today. That’s exactly why we created Coach Factory, a podcast for coaches at every level who are seeking to elevate their practice.
Guests pull back the curtain on their coaching journeys to reveal how they approach coaching, how they run their business and work with clients, why they do things the way they do, and what’s worked. We also flip the script to talk candidly about obstacles, challenges, and what they’ve tried that didn’t work, so you can avoid making the same mistakes.
Whether you're refining your niche, mastering client acquisition, or looking to develop your coaching skills, join us for expert interviews and the tools you need to thrive in today’s competitive coaching landscape.
Nicole Osborne: So show some of your vulnerabilities. Don't pretend that you find everything easy. Let people into your journey. That in turn will make you feel more comfortable because then it's also okay to sometimes fail if something goes wrong. If you don't turn up, "Yeah, I know it all. I'm just the best at this." But if you have to say, "Well, I'm still working on this," it's okay.
So showing some vulnerability in turn will make you braver. It will make it easier in the future to be braver.
Shawn Hesketh: Welcome to the Coach Factory Podcast. In today's episode, we're exploring a powerful, but often overlooked tool in a coach's arsenal: vulnerability. Our guest is marketing coach Nicole Osborne. And like many coaches, Nicole's path to coaching wasn't a straight line. She transitioned from a corporate marketing career where she first discovered her talent for coaching and mentoring teams.
And as you'll hear, it was through this experience that Nicole began to learn how to harness her own humanity to build deeper connections with her audience and her clients.
Nicole Osborne: When I got started, it was actually unintentional because I was a senior marketeer having worked in corporate life, wanted to get to that next step in my career.
And I became a mom. And I suddenly decided that actually I didn't want to do that corporate rat race of commuting three hours, rushing from one board meeting to the next, but I still wanted to have a good salary and a manageable work life balance. And at the time in the UK, it was really tough to find jobs at that level.
And I thought, well, do you know what? I'm not going to go back as a more junior marketer because I have spent years training and I've got fantastic expertise, with great solid brands. I'm going to create my own business. Now as it happened, my placement coach at the time helped me to get my first gig as a fractional CMO for a paid media tech specialist.
And looking back, it was a fantastic opportunity. I stayed with them for four years. But it was also a potentially challenging setting because it was actually a husband and wife team. Really lovely couple. Really lovely couple. But anyone who works with their business partner and their partner know sometimes there are certain struggles related to that.
But I found actually really quickly ways of supporting both of them and supporting the teams as well. And to make me reflect on actually how working with people, working as a line manager over years, managing volunteers, managing people who weren't directly reporting into me had equipped me with a lot of people skills, a lot of empathy.
And a lot of mentoring skills. So as I worked through the role, I thought, actually, I would love to help more people with that. And the audience I chose at the time, because I'm such a passionate marketeer, I chose marketing agencies and online entrepreneurs, because this was my area I knew. And this is how I got started.
Um, because I knew I wanted to equip people to market themselves better, to land better clients, because that's one of the key areas you need to achieve to really build your practice and to build your business. Because once you land better clients, you earn better, you work on more fun projects and you can really invest back in growing your own business.
So yes, it was a roundabout way of getting there, but, um, I've never looked back. I absolutely love marketing coaching because it's really understanding what are their blocks, what holds them back, why are they not doing the thing they really ought to be doing, the tricky things, the things which push them out of their comfort zone.
And I love helping them with that. I kind of use the image of, I was born in Eastern Germany. We brought down the Berlin wall. It took a lot of gaps. I know I like to do the same with my clients, help them to build ladders and facing their own walls, facing their own fears, because business growth is all about tackling your fears and then never going for the status quo.
It's always about learning. So yeah, you can see, I absolutely love it.
Shawn Hesketh: As a new coach and marketer, Nicole struggled with the pressure to be perfect. Like most of us, she feared that any mistake would undermine her credibility. But then she had a powerful realization. It was actually her most human and most vulnerable moments that truly resonated with her audience.
Listen as she shares the mindset shift that changed everything.
Nicole Osborne: Making mistakes is part of learning. I remember when I first started in marketing, I was in charge of advertising billboards for the Financial Times on really big buildings. And a lot of money went into the design or printing it. And I knew if I got something wrong, this would be really bad.
There was like a print run. It was really expensive to print these posters. Or if I made a spelling mistakes in one of our emails, the emails went to hundreds of thousands of people. So I always had this innate fear of it's got to be perfect. And I'm really, really worried about making a mistake. But even back then, as I matured, I realized, well, what's the worst thing that can happen?
And if it's something in the digital space, you can usually correct things really, really easily. Then I also learned with my own content consumption, when other people made a mistake, I actually found that really endearing. So if there maybe was a mistake in a blog, or I think the power ran out on a, on a, on a live video, this is what really made me pay attention.
And then I reflected, okay, so maybe this is what happens when mistakes are made. People actually show their support and their goodwill. I recently attended a, one of my clients was doing a masterclass to attract more leads and she suddenly lost the sound and suddenly in the chat, there were lots of people saying, "Can't hear anything, can't hear anything," but then lots of other people said, "Oh, she will come back. She's doing amazing."
So it really stirred her audience on to, to really, really support her. So it's that trust, that even when bad things happen, you can usually turn things around, and it might even surprise you, the reaction you get. So the fear of making a mistake cannot stop you from doing things because then that's just procrastination where you do nothing.
And we all know when it comes to marketing ourselves, when it comes to growing our business, it's better to try things out and to move forward and to really gain that momentum and do more of it, the things that work and then do the scarier bits because you get more comfortable as opposed to standing still and doing nothing.
No one has ever gained anything by standing still and doing nothing when it comes to growing your business. So do something like that. And then just gradually expose yourself to scarier things because you want to grow your audience. You want to get noticed by the people you would love to work with.
Shawn Hesketh: If you're like most coaches, marketing yourself feels inauthentic or self promotional.
But Nicole discovered that by showing up vulnerably and authentically, she could reframe her marketing as an act of service. And by sharing her journey openly, she gave her audience the inspiration and tools to tackle their own challenges.
Nicole Osborne: Yeah, it's a really, really valid fear. If I write a blog, if I post something on LinkedIn, if I say something on YouTube, people could come back and be quite critical about it and actually challenge me and say the exact opposite.
And it can happen. I can't say to you, this is never going to happen. However, when you don't show up for your audience and the places they hang out in, and you don't share your opinion, your expertise, how are you going to get clients? And I say getting clients because I know in my own case scenario, this is really what made me tackle the fears.
I wanted to earn well. I wanted to earn well for the time I invested in my work. I was, I was a mum. I had a young child. My husband was working night shifts, so it was a lot on me. So the fact that I wanted to bring in money really made me braver. So find your why and your brave. What would it take you to tackle fears?
What has helped you in the past? Could you apply something similar? It's that acceptance that when we do things differently, when we toot our own horn, when we promote ourselves, when we show up with our expertise, it's not going to be comfortable at the beginning. It's not going to be comfortable five years in, 10 years in, because we will continue growing and we will continue doing something new, something out of our comfort zone.
The other mindset which really helped me was to think that if I don't push through my fears, if I don't learn how to market myself better, there are a lot of people who will lose out on, on being able to be supported by me. Now, I know this sounds weird, but if you believe in what you're doing, and I'm sure you do, and you have seen how you can help people, you want more people to, to benefit from that support, whether that's for getting their new job or for getting fit or for managing difficult conversations, for getting the next promotion in a business setting, depending on what area you coach in.
You want more people to benefit from that. So you have to market yourself because otherwise they will never hear about you and they will never enjoy your free content, your paid for services. So you owe it to the world, to the people you can help to show up for your audience. And I know this is like a big grand statement, but reflect on it.
If you believe in what you do, you want to help more people and not just for your financial gain. Obviously that comes with it. If you're doing a good job, you can chart well and you can help more people, but also to help people with your free content, because that might help them on the next step they needed to, to, to then do better in their careers.
If you believe in what you do, and I'm sure you do, you owe it to the world to let more people know about it.
Shawn Hesketh: One of the most powerful effects of vulnerability is how it builds trust and connection. When you allow yourself to be human and even imperfect, you give your clients and your audience permission to do the same. This creates a safe space for honest sharing and real growth. Notice how Nicole's willingness to be vulnerable enabled her to form even deeper coaching relationships.
Nicole Osborne: I was recently interviewed on a YouTube channel with 2.3 million viewers. I was so nervous about it, but I showed up, and the fact that I had done so many interviews leading up to that point and practiced and felt the being uncomfortable, felt the nerves really helped me to perform well in this big interview.
So realize that you're not going to start off perfect and you're not going to feel at ease, but the more you do it, the more you see successes. And this is really what spurred me on. I wrote a blog. One of my first blogs was about facing my own video fear, and I said in there, "This is really unrational, but I'm worried about would my bum look big on camera?"
Now frankly, no one sees my bum on video, but just by being so honest about it, I invited a lot of positive feedback because suddenly people were like, yeah, Nicole, I hate the sound of my own voice. What can I do about it? So show some of your vulnerabilities. Don't pretend that you find everything easy.
Let people into your journey that in turn will make you feel more comfortable because then it's also okay to sometimes fail. If something goes wrong. If you don't turn up, "Yeah, I know it all. I'm just the best at this." But if you have to say, "Well, I'm still working on this," it's okay. So showing some vulnerability in turn will make you braver.
It will make it easier, easier in the future to be braver.
Shawn Hesketh: As coaches, we want to deliver transformative experiences for our clients. So we pour our heart into every session and carefully crafting strategies to guide them toward their goals. So when a coaching engagement ends, we want to feel confident about the impact that we've had. But how can you be sure? The answer lies in a simple but powerful tool... asking for feedback.
It's another step that requires vulnerability because you're opening yourself up to the possibility that you may have fallen short in some way, despite your best efforts. But as Nicole shares, this vulnerability is precisely what allows you to grow and improve as a coach.
Nicole Osborne: So getting feedback is so, so important because it helps us to become better at what we do.
Yet sometimes asking for it takes a lot of being really brave and actually being happy to sometimes feel uncomfortable. So I had this wonderful client where I worked with a client team for six months and I felt pretty good about the project. I felt I'd hit the brief, team seemed happy, everyone came up with better results, more confidence.
So I thought that everything was going so swimmingly well. It was for a company owner I really, really respected and I sought feedback. And when I got it, I was like, "Oh my God, how could I totally miss that?" And I had generally missed it. So the feedback was that I wasn't focused enough on the company's North Star, on their big goal, their big mission and vision.
And when I reflected on it, I thought, gosh, yes! That is true, because I'm so thinking about making the coaching and the training an achievable transformation and achievable journey because the last thing I ever want to do is make things unachievable for people and overwhelming because then you might as well just go and get a lot of free content and a lot of training courses out for free, which are amazing as well.
But the whole idea of working with someone one-on-one or with a dedicated coach is to then make it achievable. However, having said that, the feedback was so valuable that I thought I'd have to use this because my next coaching client might feel exactly the same. So since then, I always make sure that, of course, I always find out the goals beforehand, but now I really record them in a very, very visible place.
And I have milestones in between to refer back to them because I always want to make sure that whilst, you know, we might be making small changes, because I think that small changes done regularly lead to big change, but we don't lose sight of a big goal. And just because I might have a big goal always in the back of my mind, because I have a vision and a roadmap of where I believe I want to lead them to, it doesn't mean that the client always has that so visible.
So I know I really made an effort. So yes, it was uncomfortable receiving that feedback because I thought I had done a good job. And I had done a good job, but it was just that focus on the North Star. So when we coach, we have to respect that everyone has got a different style and we need to cater for different styles.
And that's really what it's taught me is to make that visible and to always reiterate that and just check in with people.
Shawn Hesketh: As coaches, it can be challenging to wear two hats, that of a coach and a marketer. We may feel confident in our ability to help our clients, but promoting ourselves and our services can often feel intimidating, especially when we're just starting out.
So Nicole offers some reassuring advice. First, trust yourself and focus on being the best version of you. And that starts with thorough preparation, researching your client's business, their industry, and their unique challenges. This not only equips you to serve them better, but also boost your own confidence.
Nicole Osborne: As coaches, We deliver a service while being human beings. So of course we are going to get nervous in front of that new client, in front of that ideal client, in front of the client you always thought you could help. Trust yourself to fall back on just being you. Show up well prepared. If you are a marketing coach like myself, you would look at their digital marketing channels beforehand.
Maybe do some research on their sector. If you are an executive coach, you would look at their company page. You would look at what kind of news they've had recently, what kind of restructuring they've had, who's in their senior team. So show up as the best version of yourself. Well-researched because just by doing that research, the steps you probably already always take, you are going to feel more at ease.
And then don't forget your job as a coach is to ask really good questions, to listen proactively. So you can really be guided by what help they need, how they perceive the problem to be, what transformation they want, and guide them with good questions to, to figure out these problems and then together find a solution.
So as long as you trust your communication skills, but when you're really nervous, maybe you have some post it notes, read, ask questions. Maybe ask three or four good questions, your trusted questions, your go-to questions, in case you forget them. And then use some tools as well. Um, I particularly am bad with note taking.
I can't read my own handwriting, honestly. So now I use tools to, to take notes. So I have that to fall back on. Sometimes when you get stuck, it's okay to circle back to topics and questions. It's okay to make yourself a note to tackle it in the following coaching sessions. Don't feel you have to tackle absolutely everything in that session.
You are the guide and you are in charge of the coaching sessions. Really trust yourself. There's a reason why you landed that amazing client. There's a reason why you got that recommendation because you are good at what you do, and you don't just become good overnight as a coach. It takes practice. So you know what you're doing.
Uh, so be prepared, listen well, have some aids in place, then consider your notes straight away, follow up on the things you said you would follow up and just really keep on the ball, do your usual. follow up email, or maybe you update a Trello board, an Asana board with the actions. Just really do all the things you promised to do.
And this will be a good start to the coaching relationship.
Shawn Hesketh: Thank you so much to Nicole Osborne for reminding us that vulnerability is not a weakness in the coaching world. It's actually a superpower. And by showing up authentically, embracing your imperfections, and sharing your journey with transparency, you create the conditions for even deeper connection and transformation.
So, if there's one key takeaway from this episode, remember, your humanity is actually your edge. Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Coach Factory Podcast. If Nicole's story resonated with you, we'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Go to CoachFactory.chat and let's start a conversation.
And to listen to more episodes, get the show notes, and learn how to start, run, and grow your coaching practice, visit CoachFactory.co