Kathleen LeGrys, Author at Health Coach Solutions

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Episode 333: Crushing Self-Doubt How to Tackle & Overcome Imposter Syndrome

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Why Marketing Yourself Makes You Feel Vulnerable & How to Build Your Confidence

by Kathleen LeGrys | Jan 22, 2024

Why Marketing Yourself Makes You Feel Vulnerable & How to Build Your Confidence

If you feel vulnerable or uncomfortable marketing your business, you are not alone. For some coaches, the feelings extend beyond mere discomfort and ventures into the realm of physical reactions such as nausea, sweating, and, in some instances, even tears. Today, we’re exploring this topic and offering a few strategies we think will help if this is something you are facing right now.

A few months ago, we touched upon a related topic in an episode titled “Crushing Self-Doubt – How to Tackle & Overcome Imposter Syndrome.” If your apprehension about marketing your coaching business and programs is rooted in imposter syndrome, we highly recommend checking out episode 333 for helpful tips and insights.

As a quick refresher, Imposter syndrome, loosely defined, is the nagging doubt that undermines one’s abilities, making one feel like a fraud. While imposter syndrome is one condition that can hold you back from marketing your coaching business full on, what we’re discussing today is something completely different. It’s more of a physical reaction brought about by the feeling of vulnerability. What we’re doing today is exploring what’s causing that vulnerability, so you can turn it around.

For many coaches, marketing their program offer isn’t just business, it’s personal. Of course, it feels personal because ultimately you are your brand. Your business is built around you and what you have to offer. Often, being a health coach is part of your identity. We totally get that and understand how all of those things can feel intertwined and connected.

Vulnerability often stems from a core fear. There are multiple fears that arise when you are inviting someone to work with you…

Fear that they won’t see the value in your coaching program
Fear that they won’t believe that you have what it takes to help them reach their goals
Fear that they’ll say it’s too much money
Fear that your program won’t get the client your promised results

In researching this episode, we Googled, “Why do people fear selling”?

The answer that came back was…

“This innate anxiety—about social rejection drives most people’s fear of selling. The fear of the customer rejecting you as an individual, instead of merely rejecting your offer, is at the core of most people’s aversion for this kind of interaction.”

So, at the core of the vulnerability lies a fear of rejection. Ouch! None of us want to feel rejected so that’s why it’s important to embrace certain strategies that will help you separate our personal connection to the outcome of any sales conversation.

Here are 5 strategies you can start using this week:

1. Take on pro-bono clients.

One way to build your confidence when it comes to marketing your program, and something that we always recommend, is to take on 3 clients for free and coach them each for a 30-day period. Be up front with them that goal is for you to practice your coaching skills and in return will be anxious to receive their feedback in the form of a testimonial. We both took on pro-bono clients when we first started out and it really does build confidence. The best part of this practice run is that you’ll get to discuss your program with them, marketing it, without the pressure of asking for the sale. This is a perfect time to ask friends and colleagues for referrals. And more often than not, at least one of those clients will turn into a paying customer after the 30-day period is up.

2. Stop making assumptions.

One of the mistakes coaches make when marketing their program is to assume that their would-be client is going to have certain beliefs about the program, particularly as it relates to the investment. It’s easy to put our limiting beliefs off on our potential clients without even realizing it. When that happens, you are basically sabotaging the relationship right from the beginning.

3. Don’t take ‘no’ personally.

We know that’s easier said than done but here’s a reframe that should help you overcome taking it personally. When someone says no to working with you it really has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them. In essence, they are saying no to their desired outcome and/or reaching their health goal. It truly has nothing to do with you or your program.

4. Shift your perspective.

How would it feel to think of yourself as “sharing information” about what you do? Or “showing benefits” or “sharing your passion?” If you feel uncomfortable or anxious about “selling”- find a way to shift your perspective to one of sharing information rather than “convincing someone to buy.” If you reframe your perspective to one that feels like you’re sharing information and giving your potential client the opportunity to make the desired changes in their life that can be the mindset shift that makes the conversation feel uplifting rather than salesy.

5. Keep practicing!

To overcome the physical symptoms you feel right now when you’re inviting someone to join your coaching program, just know it gets easier the more you do it. Make a point of making at least one offer every single week. That could be in your Facebook group, through email, on a discovery call, or on your social media accounts. Let your audience know that you have an open spot in your coaching program, or invite them to book a discovery call. You can do this at the end of some of your posts to make it easy. On average it’ll take someone 10-12 times of hearing your offer before taking action.

If getting better at discovery calls is one of the skills you want to work on this year we also have an amazing episode called: How to Lead a 1 on 1 Discovery Call that Results in the Client Saying Yes. It’s episode # 24 which we will link up in our show notes. This episode will give you a proven framework for running successful discovery calls which will lead to building your confidence when marketing your coaching program.

Let’s recap our 5 confidence boosting strategies:

Take on pro-bono clients
Stop making assumptions
Don’t take ‘no’ personally
Shift your perspective
Keep practicing

Resources and Links mentioned on the show:

Episode 24: How to Lead a 1 on 1 Discovery Call that Results in the Client Saying Yes

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Top 3 Reasons Why Your Free Offer Isn’t Converting Well and How to Fix It

by Kathleen LeGrys | Jan 15, 2024

Top 3 Reasons Why Your Free Offer Isn’t Converting Well and How to Fix it

If you’ve created a free offer to grow your email list but people aren’t signing up for it like you expected, it can leave you feeling confused and a bit deflated. Just know there can be some trial and error with any type of offer, even a free one, so we’re sharing 3 common reasons why this can happen and how to fix it.

Your free offer can be anything from a PDF guide to a free challenge, a webinar or anything you are providing for free in exchange for people giving you their email address. When we talk about conversions, we’re referring to the number of people who have taken the desired step you want them to take which in this case is entering their email address to receive your free offer. If you’re promoting your lead magnet to your warm audience – people who are already familiar with you such as your social media followers, podcast listeners, etc. a good conversion rate to shoot for is at least 50% – that means at least 50% of the people who clicked on the landing page, signed up. If you’re promoting your lead magnet to a cold audience such as running FB ads, the rate will likely be lower – more like 30% or so. Those are just ranges to keep in mind, so you have an idea what to expect and what to shoot for.

We had the opportunity to do lead magnet audits for our Wellness Business Accelerator students a couple of months ago, so the timing for this is good while it’s still fresh in our minds.

Okay, let’s jump in!

Reason #1 for a low-converting free offer is that the title and topic are not specific enough.

This is the most common issue we see. When you consider that the title is the first thing people are going to see, and often base their decision on whether to get it or not, it needs to be very obvious right away who it’s for.

This all starts with your niche. We see dramatic changes with our Wellness Business Accelerator students when they dial in on their niche, and then create a free offer that addresses a top struggle or challenge they know they have and want fixed.

If you don’t have a niche that speaks to a particular subset of the population, it’s going to be very challenging to not only grow your email list, but also enroll clients in your coaching programs.

Once you determine your niche and consider the top struggles, questions and challenges your ideal clients have, coming up with a topic and title for a compelling free offer becomes much easier.

When you have a topic you know your audience will find helpful, you can use ChatGPT to generate title ideas to make this easier.

Here are 3 title format ideas that can make this easy too:

10 Ways to _________
A beginners guide to ___________
10 _____ to Avoid if You _____________

Examples title that are filled in for those could be:

10 Ways to Improve Sleep This Week
A Beginners Guide to Intermittent Fasting
10 Common Foods to Avoid if You Have IBS

Each one of those is very obvious who it’s for and that’s exactly what you want, so you’re growing an email list full of people who are interested in your particular area of specialty or focus.

Reason #2 for a low-converting free offer is that it’s not clear how it will help them (what benefits will they receive?).

This goes even further than just the title and subtitle because you also need to consider what you are going to include on the landing page people visit that tells them about the free resource and where they sign up to get it. This will also come into place in your social media posts or ads you run that explain who the resource is for and what it will help them do.

Even though the resource is free, it’s still critical to ‘sell it’ by conveying what’s in it for them. Once you decide on your topic and title, brainstorm a list of 3-5 ways it will help your ideal clients. It could be helping them avoid mistakes, save them time, make something easier and/or getting a quick win.

Let’s take the title example we shared – 10 Common Foods to Avoid if You Have IBS. One main benefit people could receive might be:

Discover the most common trigger foods at restaurants, so you aren’t caught off guard. The benefit there is not only knowing some of the common foods to avoid, but also some that are found at restaurants that could catch the off guard and cause a problem.

Lastly, reason #3 for a low-converting free offer is that the landing page is too busy or asks for too much information.

The landing page is just a single web page that includes the information about the lead magnet and a place where people can enter their email address to get it.

It’s easy to want to include a lot of information on this page, but it’s not a sales page, so you want it to be succinct and to the point and not include anything that isn’t absolutely necessary.

3 common mistakes we see are:

Too much text on the page
Images that make the page look too busy and detracts from the action you want people to take
Asking for first name, last name AND email address.

As far as text on the page, you want to include:

The title and subtitle (if you have one)
Who it’s for and what it will help them do
3-5 bullet points about the benefits of the resource
A box to enter their email address -ideally, email address only. The less information people have to fill out, the higher the conversions tend to be

You want this page to be very easy to scan and read quickly, so the reader can decide in a matter of a few seconds if it’s for them or not.

One way to make this easier is to use landing page templates that come with your email management system rather than trying to create one from scratch. We also recommend you share your landing page with a colleague or someone else who can give you feedback to let you know if it’s clear who it’s for, how it will help them and if it’s easy to read without looking too busy.

If you have a free offer that isn’t converting well, don’t feel discouraged – it’s a work in progress. Use this information to do an audit, and you can also ask a couple of people to look at it for you to see if they can tell who it’s for, what it will help them do and if the page is easy to read and visually appealing. The more you get to know your audience and their top pain points, the easier it will be to create irresistible resources for them.

Resources and Links mentioned on the show:

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Check out my Coach with Confidence program that gives you everything you need to run a successful health coaching program.

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3 Secrets to Running a Successful Health Coaching Program

by Kathleen LeGrys | Jan 8, 2024

3 Secrets to Running a Successful Health Coaching Program

There are a few key elements to creating and running successful health coaching programs, and today, we’re sharing 3 of the most important ones. When you have a system or process to share that you can also rinse and repeat, your clients will be more successful, and you’ll be able to help more people.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

Why it’s important for you and your clients to have a blueprint to follow
How to come up with topics to cover to help your clients get the best results
A common mistake that’s easy to make with coaching programs (that often causes clients to give up)

Secret #1: Your program takes clients through a process they can follow to get results.

This is your system or blueprint, and people love knowing there is a plan they can follow. When you think about helping your clients go from where there are now to where they want to be, what do they need to know and implement to see results? When you think about taking your clients by the hand and guiding them through the steps they should have in place, what does that look like?

Maybe they can benefit from topics such as:

Meal planning and prep tips, so they aren’t eating out as often, and they can eat more nutritious meals.
Adding in more whole foods to improve digestion and energy.
Managing stress, which helps with pretty much any goal they are trying to achieve, whether it’s weight loss, blood sugar control, immune function, etc.

Brainstorm and write down the 6-12 key topics that come to mind – this will depend on the length of your program. If it’s 3 months, and you cover 2 topics per month, you can start with 6 topics. If it’s a 6-month program, map out 12 topics to cover.

In my done-for-you 6-month health coaching program called “Coach with Confidence” you get 12 foundational coaching sessions that are all laid out, including action steps to make it easy for clients to implement. They are beautifully designed in Canva, so you can either use it with your 1-on-1 clients or for an online group program.

It’s important to have a system you can take each client through, so you aren’t winging it or recreating the wheel for each client or each session. This is also not optional if you have an online group coaching program where everyone is going through the same topics at a time. Having a system makes everything easier – for you and for your clients.

Secret #2: Your program is repeatable/scalable.

When you have a coaching program that you can rinse and repeat, and you have a system people can follow, you have a program you can scale. This means you can run it over and over again without creating a program or process for each client. If you’re doing 1-on-1 coaching, there will be some minor customizing of the program based on the client’s situation and goals, but the overall blueprint they follow will remain the same.

Having a program you can run and scale saves you a ton of time, provides your clients with a step-by-step formula they can follow, and it gives you unlimited earning potential.

Secret #3. It doesn’t overwhelm the client.

This is so important to keep in mind because an overwhelmed client will often give up or quit because it feels like too much. This is a common mistake that’s easy to make – giving your clients too much information at one time. Small steps that build on each other is the best way to set your clients up for success.

Each client will be unique, so when you’re doing 1-on-1 coaching, you’ll have to gauge their level of ability to take action after each session. When clients feel stuck – it could mean they need to dial things back and just focus one small change at a time, and that’s okay. Everyone goes at their own pace. You don’t want to throw too much information at people, and remember they aren’t at the same place in their journey that you are. When clients feel like they are making progress, it keeps them motivated to keep going and seeing results, and that means happy clients and more referrals.

Let’s recap the 3 secrets to a successful health coaching program:

#1: It takes clients through a process they can follow to get results.

#2: It’s repeatable/scalable.

#3. It doesn’t overwhelm the client.

As you create or run your coaching programs, keep these 3 tips in mind.

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How to Hire a Business Coach – Your 5-Point Checklist

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5 Things You Should Know Before Hiring a Business Coach

by Kathleen LeGrys | Jan 1, 2024

5 Things You Should Know Before Hiring a Business Coach

If you’re interested in hiring a business coach to help you build your wellness business, it can be a good decision when you know how to find the right one.

Working with someone who has a proven track record and can show you a blueprint to follow can shorten your learning curve and help you reach your goals more quickly than doing it on your own. But not all business coaches are created equal, and there are some things you want to be aware of before hiring one.

We recently wrapped up our fall session of the Wellness Business Accelerator program and found out that some of our students have worked with private business coaches that gave them really bad advice which essentially set their business back by months and in some cases even years. That’s why we knew we had to share this information on the podcast, so you don’t hire a coach that doesn’t understand the health and wellness space.

There are many reasons to hire a business coach and depending on your top priorities, some coaches will fit your needs better than others in that moment. Before you start your search for that perfect person it’s important for you to be crystal clear about what you want to accomplish.

Before you look for a coach

Before looking for a business coach to support your goals, make a detailed list of the top 3-5 things you want to accomplish with their help. The clarity you receive from doing this exercise will be invaluable to you as you narrow down your options for choosing the right person with the right skill set.

Each coach will have their area of specialty. Look for the one that most closely meets your needs based on the top 3-5 goals you’re trying to accomplish, and has experience in what you’re looking to achieve.

Once your list is made and you’re clear about your top goals for working with this coach, it’s time to get to work making your selection.

5 Things You Should Know Before Hiring a Business Coach
Here is a 5-point checklist to take you through this process.

1. Do your research & look for social proof

Explore multiple coaching options and consider interviewing potential coaches to determine if they are the right fit for you. Check their references and testimonials to confirm they’ve gotten results in the past with other clients. Specifically look for statistics and measurable results that demonstrate how they help their clients succeed. Do they have social proof of what they are promising to help you achieve should you decide to hire them?

2. Must be a collaborative relationship

Remember, a coach is someone to guide you and offer recommendations. They are not your boss!!! It is not their place to make final decisions or have the authority to tell you what you can, and cannot, do in your own business. This person should be someone you trust and feel open to talk to about every aspect of your business. Remember, coaching isn’t all about mechanics, sometimes there is mindset coaching involved so being able to speak openly is important. Confirm that they are willing to be in a collaborative relationship with you vs. a dictatorship.

3. They must have industry experience

In your specific situation, this means that they must have experience in the health and wellness space. The health and wellness industry is a very unique business niche and often, if the coach has not worked in this industry, can give bad advice that will actually slow your progress.

An example of this would be choosing a niche, (we call this your marketable ideal client). Someone outside the health and wellness space may tell you to generalize your niche and not become a specialist but that’s bad advice. That may work outside of the health and wellness space but is not a formula for success in our industry. Verifying that the coach you’re considering has experience in the health and wellness industry is a critical component for reaching your goals and having the best possible coaching experience.

4. They must be a great communicator

The best coaches are those that listen to their clients and do their best to help them reach their goals, (like you do with your clients). The best business coaches listen to your ideas, determine the fastest way to reach them and are a partner with you through to the finish line. They are action-oriented and do their best to provide you with step-by-step feedback of what you should do next to accomplish your goals. They give recommendations, not orders, on topics and outcomes that you’re trying to reach. Ultimately, they need to be a great communicator and someone you feel comfortable working with. Someone that can clearly convey their recommendations in a way that makes sense to you.

5. What would success look like to you

It’s important for the business coach to acknowledge your goals ahead of time and communicate a plan of action so you know they are a good fit. You’re looking for a plan from them that will meet or exceed your goals. It’s good to set specific milestones and metrics before officially hiring them and entering the coaching relationship. That doesn’t mean that they are detailing their entire coaching plan with you ahead of time, (because there has to be room for customization and flexibility as things evolve during your time together). Instead, you and the coach should be clear about what you want to achieve with their help during your time together, and you should use these goals and metrics as a baseline for what would be a successful experience for you. Once you’re clear on what success looks like for you, the coach should acknowledge it and confirm they have the skillset to make that happen.

BONUS TIP

Consider a shorter trial run before investing in a 3, 6 or 12-month coaching program. Make sure they feel like the right coach for you by engaging in a trial run of their services. Focus on a shorter time frame, such as a 1-2 hour coaching call, a VIP day, or a 30-day coaching program.

Remember, a coach is a guiding and supportive resource to help you reach your goals, not the determining factor in day-to-day operations. They should not control you or your business, (we can’t stress this enough). They should share options and resources with you to accomplish your vision and are always respectful of you as the business owner and ultimate visionary for your coaching practice.

Download Karen’s brand-new checklist called that shares more helpful tips: How to Hire a Business Coach: Your 5-point Checklist

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