What’s a Coach & Finding Your Marketable Offer

What’s a coach and how is it different from a consultant? How can you become a coach - do you need a certification? Once you know you want to be a coach, how do you come up with what type of coach to become and what to offer the market? Tune in to hear Em & Lex answer all these questions about the coaching industry and more. 

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• What’s a coach and how it is different than a consultant
• What types of coaches are out on the market
• How do you become a coach - do you need to be certified?
• How to become a coach from experience 
• How to identify your passion and how that can translate into coaching
• A helpful journaling activity that will help you get clear on your passion and why
• How to identify and brainstorm what to offer the market as a coach

Follow Em & Lex on Instagram at @readysetcoachprogram

Learn more about the Ready Set Coach Program at Readysetcoachprogram.com

Snag free resources from Ready Set Coach here.

Learn more about Six Degrees Society and THEPRBAR inc.

Transcript

What’s a Coach & Finding Your Marketable Offer - Podcast Transcript

Emily Merrell  
Hey, Lex. Good to see you.

Lexie Smith  
Hello. Hello. Long time. No, see,

Emily Merrell  
I went to my first first one year old birthday party this weekend. Since having a

Lexie Smith  
baby. How was it did Jack I'm assuming Jackson came to you did come? Yeah, it was a tiki themed birthday.

Emily Merrell  
It was really cute. It was I mean it's adorable. Just seeing all these kids like drooling on each other and looking at each other and not really know how. They're very shy. They don't interact well with one another. Their networking hasn't kicked in yet.

Lexie Smith  
New business idea.

Emily Merrell  
Page Baby Center Network exchanger.

Lexie Smith  
Since one year will be Are you a big like, you think you're gonna do something big for it?

Unknown Speaker  
Yes and

Emily Merrell  
no. Like I know, people who did a lot of things like balloon arch big and neon sign big, which I think is amazing. And then I know people who did some blur I'll definitely probably pay the thing that I keep thinking about. And I'm curious if you think this is makes any sense at all, but I think everyone should come as their favorite Jack. And so could be like Jack from Titanic. Oh, Captain Jack Sparrow? Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. I Don't Know Jack.

Lexie Smith  
beanstalk jack of all the jacks. Well, now I Oh,

Emily Merrell  
yeah.

Lexie Smith  
So part of me is like,

Emily Merrell  
Okay, we could do a fun theme there. It'll probably be in the backyard. We'll definitely have a cake for human like human adults, adult humans. I guess they're humans too little humans. And then I want to do the cake smash to I want him to like, just go to town on a cake. I would definitely have full food too. That was I don't know. I'm just gonna say something. This person didn't have food for the adults. I'm always I always go to parties expecting food. What are your feelings on this?

Lexie Smith  
Yeah, it's like an actual like organized party. Yes, I want to be fed.

Emily Merrell  
Please. I'm always hungry. I'm always like, Oh, good. I won't eat and I'll just save it save up for the party to pina coladas. And it's like, I'm gonna stop now. Or I'm going to not be able to drive.

Lexie Smith  
Huge jacks. I'm gonna like think of I want to think of something creative.

Emily Merrell  
What about you? Do you think you'll do a big birthday? Um,

Lexie Smith  
I'll definitely do something fun and themed. To your point of probably not like, you know, what was that show on MTV? Sweet 16 I won't do like a sweet 16 Seven year old birthday, but I will do birthday parties were big for me growing up my mom went all out. She's very Martha Stewart DIY. So that's kind of a tradition I want to carry. I'll just you know, you know me. It's very my personality, too. I want to do fun decor. But But you haven't haven't thought that far. You're a lot closer than me. Yeah,

Emily Merrell  
we have some time to ideate on it. Yes. But

Lexie Smith  
so for you did your first first first birthday. I did my first mini road trip with Ashlynn and CJ we went down to San Clemente. It was wonderful. She was really good. She slept the whole time in the car, which was an extra car. That's good. She likes the car. We took her all the places with us. She was honestly pretty dang perfect. So no complaints here. Is that fun?

Emily Merrell  
I think taking a kid with you is like the best gift especially now when they're tiny and mobile and you can take them places. I can't wait for you to start feeding Ashlyn food. Jackson is obsessed with everything we eat, basically, but we took him to a Mexican restaurant on Sunday for Father's Day. And literally, we had to bring his little his little bib and he just like, takes the guacamole and chunks and shoves it in his mouth pick that on plantains. So fun to watch so messy, but some fun.

Lexie Smith  
If you guys want to see pictures of our little ones because they will be referenced throughout this entire podcast, go to our Instagram ReadySet coach, program plug and follow us. Yeah, no, CJ actually last night was just saying how excited he was for Ashlynn to start eating real food. I think it's gonna be really cute.

Emily Merrell  
It's really fun and you're you're so close. It's it's Well, we're almost

Lexie Smith  
there. And so we we would be remiss to not say, you know, one of the things we're really grateful for is to have a career that allows us to do things like be flexible. And I, you know, I took off Friday, I asked myself, because I'm my boss. And that is thanks to our coaching businesses. So if you are unaware if you are Lexie, circa 2018, and you've never even heard of a coach, real quick, we did want to go into what is a coach, and what is a coach for a consultant. So I'm gonna let you take a stab at what is a coach.

Emily Merrell  
So a coach is someone who teaches you how to fish versus fishing for you. So same thing for someone who wants to clean out your, your closet, they're not going to do it for you. They're going to give you the methodologies and they're going to teach you and give you the strategies to do it. So you can do it yourself. While consultant you would hire and they would clean your closet for you.

Lexie Smith  
Perfect. Yes. So so great. There's a lot of different kinds of coaches, you're probably most familiar with hearing something like a business coach, but Emily, and I can tell you from experience, there are a wide array. Even just if I think of our past cohorts, we've had health coaches, mom, coaches, interior design coaches,

Emily Merrell  
intuitive coaches,

Lexie Smith  
coaches, breathwork coaches, what else? I feel like there's been so many inability

Emily Merrell  
coaches. What was it the career coach?

Lexie Smith  
Coach life coach? Yeah, like, if there's something to be taught, you can do it in fertility coach. Lots of coaches. So basically, it's, you know, the way I describe it to my mother in law, my parents, people, different generations who aren't necessarily on social media being bombarded with coaches, is I'm a teacher, essentially, I teach people things, it's a form of, of teaching, but with the purpose of empowering, you know, one of the lines I use, because it's true, is the purpose of a coach is to make you not necessarily need the coach after working with them, because you're equipping them and empowering them to be self sufficient to your point of the fishing metaphor,

Emily Merrell  
which is funny, because when I did therapy, and I love therapy, I'm very pro therapy. What I didn't love about therapy was there's no end date in mind. It was like, Oh, you're gonna do therapy pretty much forever. And maybe one day, you'll be ready to leave. But there was no timeframe of when we would work through the problems. And for me, I love a timeframe like this is the container of time that we're going to work together. And in this container of time, we are going to accomplish these core things. So as as we mentioned, in our previous episode, Lex and I both have our own businesses where we are coaches in our own respective industries. And then together, we have Ready Set coach, but all of us in all of the worlds we operate in container form.

Lexie Smith  
Yeah, it's in a container. And within that container, there's a transformation that is delivered, right? So if you're sitting here, thinking, here's a little activity for everyone to do, okay. What are you passionate about? What are you really good at? It could be something career related, like PR, for example, like me? Or it could be something like making ceramic mugs? I don't know what it what makes you happy? Ask yourself, Would you feel fulfilled? Would you like to teach other people how to do that? Okay, if the answer is yes, what goes into teaching someone how to do that, think of it kind of like structure, structuring a curriculum. In this podcast, we'll go over different different ways you can do that. But essentially, it's Think of it like adult school. It's not like K through 12. And then you go to college, it's much more condensed, it's the needs to know but it's how can you teach a skill set, any skill set to another individual?

Emily Merrell  
I think that's the beautiful thing about the life that we're living now in terms of having the internet and access to zoom. Like you can learn from coaches all over the world. You don't have to find someone in your backyard. You can and there's different ways to to learn and to work with a person. Some people operate on a one on one where it's just you guys. It's kind of like a private tutor. Yes, we do the work and hammering through the work together having tailored homework, then there's a group component that's live that people can be you know, have homework that's dedicated to the group but then be able to ask that that coach questions then there's more of a course that's pre recorded, and maybe you never meet the person that teaches the course. It can also be like a live thing where it's more webinar but you can only ask them questions via the chat but you never they never see your faces. So there's so many different ways to be a coach and to to enter racked as a coach, and the other ones missing.

Lexie Smith  
There's a lot of different different ways. Now I think those are a great overview. One thing we should talk about too is how do you become a coach? This is a question we get asked a lot. Do you need to have, you know, formal training or certification? What if you want to get in this field?

Emily Merrell  
Yeah, I mean, like we I give it to me. Um, so I think that's one of the biggest questions we get asked like, are the biggest impostor syndrome and fear that comes up, we meet these super successful people that want to be a coach in an area that they're super confident in yet, they still feel like they need to have like a certification to become a coach. And there are all these amazing institutions out there that teach you how to be a coach. But if it's something that feels intuitive to you, and it's something that you're teaching them that you feel really competent about, we're also pro you being a coach without having to get a certification. That being said, if you were a doctor, and you've felt like you know, enough, because of WebMD, we're not saying go out and become a doctor based on web, Web MD, like, go get that training, go get that that hour spent, you know, hours and time and dedicated effort spent training to be a doctor. But if you have been, like Lex who has been a PR VP for several years, and is like a star in her industry, I think it would be have been a disservice for you to get a coaching certification to teach people to something you already know how to do.

Lexie Smith  
Yeah, I think it's really what Emily's pointing out here is depends kind of on your niche and what you're doing. To the point like I want a heart surgeon who's been formally trained. However, I think there's a workpro Well, first off full transparency, Emily, and I do not have a certification, we have worked with coaches who are certified and who are not. And there is we are pro transparency, meaning we will tell you upfront, we are not certified. Therefore, you as a consumer have the option to feel comfortable hiring us or not. What we are is we're coaches based off experience. So you know, do you want to hire a coach that is trained in business coaching, or someone who has built a business, that's your choice as a consumer. So this is an unregulated field as of circa June 2022. So there is an opportunity for you to be a coach, based on your experience, we would just say, you know, in the buying process, make people know that and if they hire you knowing you aren't certified, then there's nothing wrong with that. And you're way better at visuals than me. So why don't you kick this off? Okay,

Emily Merrell  
so guys, close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Now imagine that you're living on an island sipping spicy margaritas in between coaching calls effortlessly signing 10k months.

Lexie Smith  
Well, doesn't that sound like every other Facebook and Instagram ad you've seen from coaches? The reality for most new coaches, you find yourself spending countless hours searching for your ideal clients doing all the free trainings and working tirelessly as you attempt to differentiate yourself in a saturated market way to be a

Emily Merrell  
buzzkill. Relax, but yes, that's way more accurate. However, what if? What if what what is the magic formula to building a profitable and sustainable coaching business? Didn't have to be so complicated? What if attaining your version of a dream life didn't have to remain on your faraway someday list? What if someone took the time to sift through all the crap that's out there and finally created a program built specifically and only for well intentioned and qualified coaches and coaches to be just like you? Hey, we did that. That's what I'm getting at

Lexie Smith  
lacks. It's time for you guys to meet me tonight. Guys, business baby ready site coach.

Emily Merrell  
It's a turnkey program built by coaches for coaches that focuses on teaching coaches how to build a profitable business that supports their lifestyle.

Lexie Smith  
Learn more at ReadySet. Coach program.com Now enrolling?

Emily Merrell  
Yeah, and I think both of us, as you've probably seen from our two episodes, so far, too, like, there's an element about being a coach where you have to be comfortable holding space, and being empathetic and listening and being able to see a problem that person has, you're not necessarily solving that problem for your client. There's a lot of asking of questions to help them come to that answer, and to find the solution that's best for them. I think that's one of the things that's really unique about coaching and for someone who maybe who has never hired a coach before, a certification could be helpful. and understanding, like more of the techniques for working with clients and making clients feel comfortable, if especially if that's not something that comes innately to you.

Lexie Smith  
Yeah, you know, it's a lot like people going to college to get a degree versus not one of the most successful entrepreneurs I know did not go to college. However, I also know people with MBAs and PhDs who are brilliant, basically, there's more than one way to do this. So if you want to be a coach, and you're feeling like you need to get a certification, you don't need to, but if you want to, you absolutely can. Either or there is opportunity in this field, and there's actually quite a lot of opportunity, I believe the figure, as of 2022, they're expecting the coaching industry to be more than $20 billion as a market. So if you're feeling like you're too late to the game, you're not welcome friends. It's there's a lot of opportunity here. And I think a lot of that is due to the internet, because we're allowed to connect with people from all over the world, which is beautiful.

Emily Merrell  
And for, we'd love a little tactical advice. But if you're thinking about, you know, dipping your toes into the, into the coaching world, think about how you could start doing it while you have a corporate job testing things that you want to coach on. Maybe you're passionate about, you just had a baby and you're passionate about lactation, or you're passionate about sleep training, or you are an X, you love running, and you want to help you finish. For your first time in your life. You've never run a marathon, but you've just ran two in a row and you are a pro at running. That is something that you can help other people do. And that's something you can start doing while you have a corporate job. You can start dipping your toe into it, you can start getting things structured and organized before you decide to go all in on this industry.

Lexie Smith  
Yeah. So Emily, and I have this workshop we like to give and I'm going to run you guys through a little activity because this is where to start. So the first thing we we suggest starting with is getting clear on your passion. Now listening to this, you might know that right now, you might need a little more soul searching, that soul searching could look like going back through some old photo albums of you as a kid and remembering what was it that you like to do? Were you someone who was killer at you know, the wrapping paper sales? That's all our elementary schools had us do? Were you a soccer player and a basketball player and you were always a team captain growing up, what were the things that really, really lit you up? Now that might not look the same in adulthood. But do a little journaling? Take some me time and start to identify some things that you really do love. That would be kind of the step one and identifying your passion. The Step Two from that would be what problem can you solve within that passion. So let's give them some examples. And I'll let you you kick it off.

Emily Merrell  
So good health, a good example could be like you're a health coach, or you want to, you want to be a health coach, specifically in gut health. Because when you were diagnosed with a gut problem at 22, they put you on 15 different medications, and you learned to heal your gut problem by yourself. And you're passionate about helping other people get off of these medications and heal your own gut problems that you have. This is actually a true client that I have. So I'm like That's a true story right there. That things like that. So we've seen that or like you are an amazing resume writer, and you've helped many of your friends get kick ass jobs, and you know that you can do this proven method that you've helped other people and monetize it and turn it into a coaching thing.

Lexie Smith  
Maybe you are someone who even in high school were like the matchmaker for all your friends. And now as an adult you love you can meet you know, a person and another person and just know they'd be great together. You could be a dating coach, that is a thing

Emily Merrell  
will be my next career.

Lexie Smith  
There you go. Right. That'd be super fun. Maybe you are someone who loves to cook maybe as a kid you were doing bake sales every Saturday. And maybe you aren't a professional baker but you know how to make a mean batch of cupcakes. You could in theory put together a course teaching people how to make bomb cupcakes. That's a thing.

Emily Merrell  
Yeah, there's we've seen cooking coaches before we've seen meal prep coaches. Which I love. I think that idea of like having someone help you be better at at a task like meal prepping and batching your food is so instrumental and saves you time and energy and money Daniel, down the road of your life. I think that's incredible.

Lexie Smith  
And then maybe you're like the social butterfly of your friend growing up and you've just always been great at talking to people meaning friends you have a great network. You You could be a networking coach, right? Emily, I know you do that through, you're not like title, the networking coach, but you're someone who's phenomenal at that, like there are these things you can pull out from the little version of you that I think would be really fun. So that's some of your guys's homework today is to, to take some time. And if you don't already, immediately know what you're passionate about, or if you do, and think about a problem that you could solve within that.

Emily Merrell  
I love homework. Well, we can't wait to hear what you thought drop it in the comments, or send us a DM on at ReadySet coach program on Instagram so we can hear what the problem is that you are solving and why you're solving it.

Lexie Smith  
Yeah, we want to know what you're passionate about and what that problem is. And by the way, you can you know, here's an invitation to ask us, you know, we can do a little live coaching in the DMS to that that'd be that'd be fun. Yeah.

Emily Merrell  
Oh, we can add that on our Instagram. Yeah.

Lexie Smith  
Hey. Oh. So thank you guys for tuning in. We hope you'll tune in to the next episode.

Emily Merrell  
And we'll see you next time. Ready stack coach podcast.

Lexie Smith  
Yeah.

Emily Merrell  
If you're enjoying the ReadySet coach podcast, please leave a review wherever you are listening. For more information about ReadySet coach, visit ReadySet coach program.com

Transcribed by https://otter.ai