Career Coaching Secrets

Why Referrals Reign: Robert Hislop's Strategy for Client Acquisition

• Davis Nguyen

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Rexhen Doda interviews Robert Hislop, a career development strategist and executive coach at 2Tuumbs International. Leveraging his diverse corporate and sales background, Robert helps individuals with career pivots, salary negotiations, and interview strategies.

His coaching journey is rooted in a natural desire to help others succeed. Robert primarily acquires clients through referrals, supplemented by LinkedIn and networking. He nurtures these by seeking testimonials and directing new contacts to his website for validation.

His personal goal is a digital nomad lifestyle, viewing coaching as a "lifestyle." He emphasizes that coaching is affordable but often misunderstood as exclusive to the C-suite. Robert stresses the importance of marketing, branding, and patience for coaches looking to scale.

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Robert Hislop:

We first engineered it. So instead of working with organizations in terms of solving their issues, I now work with individuals who have challenges within their career, whether it's pivoting their career, whether it's how do I go in and sit down and have that conversation about how do I negotiate a next salary, or somebody who has worked in an organization for many years and they want to move to something else and they don't know how to manage the interviewing process.

Davis Nguyen:

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Nguyen and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. Before Purple Circle, I started and scaled several seven and eight figure career coaching businesses myself and consulted with two career coaching businesses that are now doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or just building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Rexhen Doda:

Hey, everyone. Welcome again to another episode of Career Coaching Secrets. Today, I'm excited to welcome Robert Hislop to the show. Robert is a career development strategist, executive career coach, and the founder of Two Tops International. With a background spanning industries like petroleum, FMCG, telecom, and insurance, Robert brings a global perspective to career coaching and leadership development. For the past seven years, he's built his coaching business remotely, helping professionals navigate career transitions, develop personal brands, master job search strategies, and secure executive level roles. I'm excited to have you on the show. Welcome to the show, Robert. Thank you for having me on. It's a pleasure to talk to you today. Pleasure is all mine. Tell me a little bit more about what inspired you to become a career coach.

Robert Hislop:

Well, the short version is I spent many years working in corporate as per the various industries that you just spoke about. And somewhere along the line, one of my co-workers suggested to me that I should transitioned from being in the sales side to become a sales trainer. And at first I didn't think that was my space. So sat with me for a couple of days and then I realized that, oh, there's an industry out there where you can actually become a career coach. So I started doing some research and went down the rabbit hole. And then I realized that I've been actually career coaching all these years. We just didn't call it that because being from the sales side of things, you're always solving a problem. There's always a pain point. There's always an issue with the client. So I just kind of naturally took what I knew and just kind of reverse engineered it. So instead of working with organization in terms of solving their issues. I know working individuals who have challenges within their career, whether it's pivoting their career, whether it's, how do I go in and sit down and have that conversation about how do I negotiate our next salary? Or somebody who has worked in an organization for many years and they want to move to something else and they don't know how to manage the interviewing process. So that is the quick jumping off point after all this thing got started.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you for sharing that, Robert. Tell me more about your journey from the point that you started your coaching business to where you are at today.

Robert Hislop:

Well, in terms of, as I said earlier, working in corporate, and as anybody knows who works in corporate, it can be challenging at times. You're always looking for more. You want to inspire people. So I guess my natural inclination is to see people succeed. And it's more... wanted to make sure that they're on the right path. Because along the way, I've learned some lessons in terms of working for organizations, working for various different types of managers who might not have been the best at what they do. And they were not necessarily giving me the right direction. But I've always thought maybe I could do it better. And I figured, well, let me step out and do it. So there's a lot of work that goes into it that, you know, the motor in public, as they would say, doesn't see. So there's a lot of sitting down and doing your homework and self-studying, self-educating. Because I have a theory. You never know who you're going to talk to on a daily basis. So one should always be informed, right? So I would say I am a lifelong learner. I like to learn things. I like to research.

Rexhen Doda:

And is there a specific group of people that you like to work with, like your ideal client persona, like your ICP, or... What is your avatar, your perfect client?

Robert Hislop:

I don't have a specific niche necessarily because I work with people from various industries. Funny enough, one of my latest clients I actually spoke with yesterday morning is a young lawyer that has only been practicing about four years. And she is in mergers and acquisitions, but she doesn't know if that's where she wants to take her career. So we're going to plan a roadmap for her to see how we develop what she wants to achieve in the next three to four years and how we're going to get there. So in terms of I've worked with people who are recent graduates to CEO slash startup founder of their own entity. So there's a wide range of people that I cover. And it naturally comes down to everything else is, you know, is it a fit? Are we able to mesh together and work together, right? I see... Career coaching, from my perspective, is like being on a journey with someone. I'm in the car with them, and they're driving. It's like you and I are talking to each other. We're on a journey, and we're going to try and figure out how best to get to where we need to get to our destination and what is the best way to get there. What do we need to do?

Rexhen Doda:

Where do you find your clients right now? What is the best marketing channel that's working for you in generating new clients? What is the main way of you connecting with these potential clients?

Robert Hislop:

Well, at this point of the career, a lot of it has actually been referrals. One friend tells another one and so on and so on. So a lot of it has been referrals. And that's, I guess, that actually comes from my sales background in terms of a warm lead is always better than a cold lead. right it's easier to to work with somebody who has an idea as to who you are what you're about versus somebody who has no idea who you are what you do and how you go about doing so for me at this point um there seem to some interest coming across from linkedin um i i tend to spend some time in myself in looking at the stuff that's going on linkedin whether it's reading an article here whether it's liking an article and just educating myself so i have some coming through that. And other channels, networking itself, right? Going out and meeting people. So it's a bit of both, but the bulk of it is at this point would be referrals.

Rexhen Doda:

And is there a strategy that you go about nurturing your referral network or building your referral network?

Robert Hislop:

Well, generally when I work with somebody and they get results, I usually ask them for a recommendation that I post on my LinkedIn. page. And sometimes I replicate that on my actual company website. So, you know, when, if I meet someone, as a matter of fact, met a couple of people on Friday night last week, went out and met some people and engaged. And again, it became a social thing that became a networking thing where I met some people, started to exchange some ideas with them. And naturally I can talk as much about myself as I want to. But I said, you know, well, here's my details. Take a look at what's on my website and you will understand what is it that I do. So there's no sense in me trying to sell myself at that particular moment in time, right? So that you can hear or read a perspective from somebody else who I've done work with and the results that they have achieved. So that's kind of one of the ways to kind of get the ball rolling, right? Because again, I'm operating in a vacuum if I meet somebody for the first time. And I'm tooting my own horn. I mean, it doesn't work very well, right? You need somebody who's going to vouch for you third party wise. So that's kind of one of the ways I go about doing it.

Rexhen Doda:

Thanks so much for sharing that, Robert. Is there any goals that you're working towards for the next one to three years when it comes to your career coaching business?

Robert Hislop:

Well, the funny one, which is mostly my problem is to be a nomad, right? So work remotely from anywhere in the world that I choose to. But again, at this point, the career, I can technically do that. So I guess would be, well, they would say retire because I don't look at coaching as a job, really. I look at coaching as a lifestyle, right? Because I don't turn it on and off. If I meet someone, well, do I coach or do I have to go set up an appointment to coach? So it's just a way of living to me. So it's just trying to further that lifestyle, I guess. would be the short answer, if that resonates or makes sense.

Rexhen Doda:

And would you say that doing the digital nomad lifestyle, what is holding you back right now? Is it a revenue issue? Is it a time issue? Is it some commitment back in Toronto?

Robert Hislop:

Yeah, I grew up in Toronto, so it's technically my second home as per other parts of my career. So sometimes I confuse it whether it's my first or my second home, right? Because I had the opportunity to work in the Caribbean for numerous of years and I love that. So there is no definite timeframe. I mean, all I need to do is pick up my laptop or my cell phone and jump on the plane and be off to my other home technically, right? So whether that will be a permanent move, not necessarily, right? So over the years, I've lived technically in two different countries. So whether it's winter in one versus some all the time in the other one, right? Currently it's winter in Toronto, right? So would I rather be somewhere nice, warm and sunny? Yes, so for those who know, they know, right? So I love the sunshine.

Rexhen Doda:

Definitely, no one doesn't, right? Yeah. Well, in terms of investment, what resources or support has been most valuable in you growing your agriculture business?

Robert Hislop:

Well, when I started out of the business initially, again, it's marketing and branding. Nobody knows who you are. So I did take a coaching program, right, to get myself certified, right? I figured that was one of the first things I needed to do to kind of, you know, make myself more marketable. So I got certified. And from there, now, started building out the marketing campaign. And when I started, initially, I didn't have a website. Right. So built up the website. And one of the things to dial back on what you asked me earlier, and I guess would be a goal, is ironically enough, which I have not done to this day, is to do a podcast. Right. I actually recorded an intro and did a couple of interviews, but I kind of put it on the shelf. So that would be a question to go back. I just realized that that would be a goal of mine that I haven't done yet. And the goal of that podcast would be what I call your second act. Right. Because a lot of people have a second act in their career, right? A lot of people start out with one thing and then do it for numerous of years and then ultimately decide that they want to do something else. So marketing and branding would be, you know, things I've done, but I haven't worked in corporate. I understand how companies grow and scale. It's kind of follow the footprint of what I've seen organizations that work for do over time.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah, I really like the idea of the podcast too. I think it's going to help with marketing too when it comes to your coaching business is there i wanted to ask you what is something that you wish you had known when you first started scaling your coaching business so it's like what is an unexpected lesson learned from you

Robert Hislop:

well you figure out when you start coaching that everybody's going to become a client right i mean everybody talked to yeah i need coaching no so um a lot of people one of the things that i learned over time and it still happens to this day that a lot of people don't realize that coaching is affordable right and it's still when you get in the space of talking with people, get them to understand that it's not what you thought it was way back in the day where coaching was only for CEOs and the C-suite, right? Whereas now everybody can technically find a coach depending on what they want to do. And to solve that problem, I kind of tell people like, you probably have Netflix, right? Yes. An odd head. You have a cell phone. Yes. Okay. Probably have Spotify too, right? Yes. If you think of it as a subscription-based product, you can get yourself coaching. So that was one of the lessons I learned over time that it's affordable, but people don't know it's that affordable. And depending on what their goals and aspirations are.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah, do you find that as a challenge too? Like people maybe initially not seeing the value in coaching or no?

Robert Hislop:

No, well, without a doubt, people don't see the value of coaching because nobody knows they need coaching, right? It's until some people know, those who know, as we would say, and some people don't really realize that they need coaching. Right. So either it's feedback from work or some, I would say, I would say traumatic or something drastic happens at the office where you realize that you're not doing as well as you thought you were. And you might be in an organization where it's a wrong fit and you're just going down a rabbit hole and you don't know how to get out. Right. So a lot of people don't realize that they actually need coaching and how to go about getting coaching. Right. So it's an interesting mindset of having showing someone because coaching itself is not a tangible product right it's not like you go into a store and you take it off the shelf and you can see touch it and feel it it's an experience right it's an engagement it's it's a journey so you know those who know do know and then those who don't know we try and get them to know

Rexhen Doda:

what are some of the biggest challenges you face in scaling your coaching business apart from like people not sometimes not seeing the value in coaching

Robert Hislop:

That actually is the biggest in getting people. But the first thing people say when they know what you do as a coach, first thing is, I can't afford it. But we never had a discussion about cost, right? You know, you have to break it down for them. So it's just a matter of, again, you know, doing a discovery, try and find out what the issues or challenges that they might be experiencing that they're not even realizing that they are. So over time, you know, once you start to break it down into small, biteable bits, then they will realize that, hey, they're onto something here, or this is what has been holding me back. Why am I not getting promoted? What is it that I'm doing wrong, right? So it's to uncover a need and then start them on that journey. Because like I said, a lot of people don't realize they actually need to be coached.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah, totally.

Robert Hislop:

If you have a lawyer, basically, most people have a lawyer that they can call on whenever they have a problem. So my philosophy is, why would you not want to have a coach that you can reach out to Should you have that problem? Or you could be having a bad day at work, right? Maybe somebody said something to you wrong. You interpret it incorrectly. Maybe you're having a challenge with your immediate supervisor, your boss. Who do you go to to have that conversation? Why not find yourself a coach that you can reach out to at any time? Have them at

Rexhen Doda:

speed dial. I also wanted to ask, how do you currently balance, handle the balance between delivering great client results and managing business growth on the other side? Is this something that... is difficult for you to balance or how do you feel about that

Robert Hislop:

no i wouldn't say it's difficult because again having i guess how to grow up working in corporate right that you i come from a structured environment so my days and times and hours are accounted for on a day that i don't have an appointment in the morning i dedicate some time to doing my research and doing some reading. I'm forever reading some kind of a book, right? I have this long, very long book list that I don't know if I'll ever get to read all those books in this lifetime because every time I see something that piques my interest, I put it on my list. So my day is structured that in terms of I follow a routine where if there's no appointment, doing some research. If I'm not doing some research, making some client notes or just trying to learn the latest happenings within the the industry, right? Try and stay ahead of the game, that sort

Rexhen Doda:

of thing. Yeah, and is there any aspect of running your business right now that would figuratively keep you up at night?

Robert Hislop:

No, technically, how to get more clients. That might be the only thing that keeps me up at night, right? I mean, once you have achieved success with one person, then you want to replace that one because it's a constant. It's constantly moving. It's like a body of water. You're never in the same place. You keep on moving, moving, moving. So it's how do you find quality clients that you're going to be able to help them improve and achieve their goal? So that might be the only thing that would keep me up at night. And again, because like I said, I come from a structured environment. So we're not burning the midnight oil and going to bed too late, right?

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah. Is there any advice, any other advice you'd give to other career coaches that are looking to scale their impact?

Robert Hislop:

You got to put the work in. The client's not going to walk through the door. So you got to develop a network and you got to go looking for clients. They're not necessarily going to find you. So marketing and branding is definitely something that you need to be prepared to do the work for. It's literally planting a seed. You're not going to see the results right away, right? So you also have to have patience and not everybody is going to be the client or the right client so sometimes you you need to know that um if it doesn't work out in terms of the relationship it's not necessarily you it could be timing it could be them So there's things that are out of your control, but patience is a key factor. Definitely.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you so much, Robert. It's been a lovely episode for everyone who wants to find you. They can find you at Robert Hislop on LinkedIn. They can also find you at www.number2.com T U U M B S.com. So two tombs.com. And yeah. Thank you so much for coming to the show. I appreciate your time. And

Robert Hislop:

thank you. It was great talking with you today.

Davis Nguyen:

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This conversation was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. To learn more about Purple Circle, our community and how we can help you grow your business, visit joinpurplecircle.com.