The One Growth Move Most Health Coaches Are Too Afraid to Make

Most health coaches treat their competitors as threats to avoid, but in this episode Valerie Feghali makes the case that the right collaboration could be the single biggest breakthrough for your coaching business. She explains why partnering with the very people you think you are competing against often creates your strongest relationships, and how to build referral partnerships that send aligned clients in both directions. Valerie shares the abundance mindset that lets wellness coaches grow without the fear of scarcity, along with practical ways to collaborate through workshop swaps, email list exchanges, and affiliate partnerships that genuinely add value. She also covers why your reputation is worth more than any quick commission, and how to lead every outreach with real service instead of a pitch. If you have ever hesitated to reach out to another coach, this episode is both the permission and the playbook to start.

✨ WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER
- Why the competitors you avoid often make the strongest collaboration partners for health coaches
- How to build referral partnerships that send aligned clients both ways
- The abundance mindset that helps wellness coaches grow without the fear of scarcity
- How to use workshop swaps, email list collabs, and affiliate links without risking your reputation
- Why leading every partnership with genuine value beats pitching your offer

⭐ MEMORABLE QUOTE
"I don't know that I can help you, but I know someone who can. That is a huge gift." (Valerie Feghali, 0:00)

🔥 KEY THEMES & CONCEPTS
- Collaboration vs. competition for health coaches
- Referral partnerships and aligned client hand-offs
- Abundance mindset vs. scarcity thinking
- Win-win value: workshops, email swaps, affiliate links
- Reputation over quick affiliate money
- Service-first outreach that scales a coaching business

⏱ CHAPTERS
(0:00) Why You're "Not for Everybody" (And Why It Pays)
(0:42) What Collaboration Really Means for Coaches
(1:35) Should Health Coaches Partner With Competitors?
(3:15) The Referral Gift: "I Know Someone Who Can"
(4:44) Abundance Mindset vs. Scarcity in Coaching
(5:57) Wellness Vault: Your All-in-One Content Hub
(6:34) Workshop Swaps and Email Collabs That Grow Reach
(6:58) Fertility and Pelvic Floor: A Two-Way Referral Win
(8:06) Build Lessons Inside Each Other's Programs
(9:23) Lead With Value on Your First Outreach
(10:11) Why Reputation Beats Quick Affiliate Money
(11:00) The No-Pitch Workshop That Builds Trust
(12:12) Service-First: The Real Coaching Growth Driver

👇 YOUR ALL-IN-ONE CONTENT HUB 👇
Juggling meal plans, guides, and social content? Wellness Vault is your ultimate solution. Start your 7-day free trial → https://wellnessvault.com/

⭐ ABOUT VALERIE
Valerie Feghali is a physical therapist turned software CEO, helping health and wellness coaches scale their businesses without burnout. As the founder of The Wellness Vault, she provides white-label resources and strategic coaching to help you grow.

⭐ CONNECT WITH VALERIE
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/v.feghali/
The Wellness Vault: https://wellnessvault.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ValerieFeghali/videos

⭐ RATE FUEL THE FLOW
If this episode helped you, please leave a five-star rating and a quick review in your podcast app. It only takes a few seconds, and it helps more health and wellness coaches discover the show.

Disclaimer:
The Fuel The Flow Podcast is for educational purposes only.
The information provided is not intended to replace professional medical or business advice.

#HealthCoaching #CoachingBusiness #Collaboration #FuelTheFlowPodcast #ValerieFeghali #WellnessVault

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You are not for everybody. Your program is not for everybody. The way that you coach is not for everybody. The way that you run business and help people is not for everyone. I don't know that I can help you, but I know someone who can. That is a huge gift. One thing that coaches often don't like to do is that's gonna eat your business alive. Welcome to the Fuel Your Flow podcast. I am your host, Valerie Figali, physical therapist, turned software CEO and business coach for health and wellness coaches. We are going to be talking about all things health and business. They might be more closely related than you think. So let's go ahead and get into it. Welcome back to another episode of Fuel the Flow. Today I want to talk about collaborations. And what I mean by collaborations is building relationships with people who can support your business. So this likely is other business owners, but it could be potential past clients that you are also building relationships with. And these relationships can be so powerful. Now, there is a difference between a business relationship and a friendship. And I want you to be careful when you are collaborating with people that you're not crossing those lines too much. Now, of course, it is okay to be friends with people who you are collaborating with from a business perspective as well. But you also need to remember that the reason that you guys started collaborating with each other is to support your business. And if that no longer becomes valuable for either you or them, that that collaboration can end. And hopefully you guys can still be friends. But just be careful about how you are building those relationships. One thing that coaches often don't like to do is get into collaborations with people who they feel they are competitors with. And I am going to challenge that. Now, I have gotten into collaborative partners with many people who could be considered competitors of mine. And oftentimes those are the best partnerships as long as you guys are open, upfront, and honest about what you are doing. I collaborate with somebody who's also creating some sort of membership that isn't exactly like mine, but similar to mine. And I love collaborating with this person. It's one of my best partners to collaborate with because we have similar methods to our business, similar ideas of what we're doing and what's going to help us move forward. Yet we're different in just the right ways that somebody is going to choose either myself or this other person for energetic reasons, right? Because they either fit with their energetics more or they fit with mine, or they fit with their aesthetics more from their platform or my aesthetics more from my platform. And that's okay. You are not for everybody. Your program is not for everybody. The way that you coach is not for everybody, the way that you run business and help people is not for everyone. And it's not even for everyone inside of the niche that you coach. So you might be specific and say, I work with couples who are trying to get pregnant. Okay, well, not every couple who's trying to get pregnant and struggling is going to be a good match for you, right? There will be ones out there that you might want to refer to somebody else because maybe their philosophy, their belief system, their energetics match a coach better who's doing something that's going to align better with their belief system. And it's great to have that referral partner and that collaborative help from one another. So that when that person comes to you and you say, you know what, I don't think that we are the best match, but I know somebody who you can work with, that you can pass that business along to somebody, your collaborative partner. And the person on the on the other end of that really feels supported when you say, I don't know that I can help you, but I know someone who can. That is a huge gift for them, an amazing service for them. And so to be able to have that partner can be a really strong relationship. So don't shy away from partnerships or collaborations with other coaches who are doing very similar things to what you are doing. In fact, I would try to link up with those people as much as possible and try to learn from each other. There's so much that you guys can communicate on that you guys can figure out together if you work as a team and you work on something and say, hey, you know what? I tried this. This is really not working in our industry. What did you notice? And they say, they might say, you know what, I tried it too, but I did this little one tweak and things were drastically different so that you're not trashing the whole thing and you're realizing that, oh, you know what, maybe I just didn't take the next step, which was needed in our industry. And that can go back and forth between the two of you to make both of your businesses so much stronger. I believe in abundance. I truly think that there is an abundant amount of opportunity around us, that we are not living in a world of scarcity. A lot of people think the economy is crashing, people can't spend as much money, and all of this is going to happen. AI is going to take over our jobs and this and that. And I don't believe any of that. I believe that if we can use the tools, the people, the opportunities that are presented to us, that there is enough to go around for everyone, that we don't need to hide our best secrets on how we're running structuring our business or the way we're doing things, that instead, if we can share that knowledge and share those insights with other people, that we too are going to get so much in return. And if you can change your mindset to view things that way, not only are you going to be happier in your business because you are going to feel that there is abundance of opportunity, but you're also going to create these relationships that could potentially last a lifetime and can potentially grow your business to places that you had never thought possible. And so when you're looking for collaborative partners, make sure you are not shying away from competitors. Hey, sorry to interrupt, but if you are a health or wellness professional and you haven't yet checked out the wellness vault, you're missing out. The Wellness Vault is a content hub for coaches who create their own plans and programs for their clients, run workshops, create digital guides, and so much more. You can now do all of this in a fraction of the time so you can focus on your clients and grow your business faster than ever with more UTime. The link to the Wellness Vault is in the show notes. So go sign up for your free trial today. Now, when you're working with somebody different, some of the best partners can be people who have the same audience as you, but who do something slightly different. And this is someone that you could do workshops together with, that you could share lists, do list shares like email lists where you send out a freebie on their email list and then they have to opt in and subsequently get on your email list too. They opt into your email list. And this can be really helpful. So these type of partners would be someone like uh, let's say that you are, let's use the fertility coach, for example. You are working with couples who are trying to have kids, who are trying to get pregnant. And then maybe on the flip side of that, you work with somebody who is a pelvic floor specialist, right? That relationship can go both ways because once you help your client who is trying to get pregnant, you can then start sending business towards this pelvic floor health. Now, also those people who are working, you know, in the pelvic floor industry, they oftentimes are working with people who are going to have more kids. And so it's possible that those couples have trouble on the second time around or the third time around, and now they need a fertility coach. And so that pelvic floor specialist can send people back your way. And often, oftentimes they'll even get people before they have kids as well, too. So they can send people your way. And so you can see how that type of partnership can be really valuable. And you can create programs together, even build out lessons inside of each other's programs. So if you have a digital portion, let's say, of your coaching where people can get onto the platform, they can do some lessons with you digitally, you could actually have your partner or the person you're collaborating with do a lesson inside of your course. And then you could even have an affiliate link in there for if they sign up or if they end up getting services from that potential partner. So not only is that a huge win for them because they're getting visibility on your platform, but also you are getting affiliate commission if they're being sent their way, and vice versa. I would try to see if you can get into other people's programs as well. As long as it is truly value that you're adding to your courses. I would love, for example, if somebody who specializes in marketing would come do a course for my community on specifically on marketing. They could value so much from that, you know, mini lesson or workshop or boot camp or whatever it may be. And that would be something that I would be happy to put inside of my courses, inside of my membership for our people and my community to take advantage of. So it's a big value add for me. And then it's also an incredible visibility opportunity for that other person. So think of ways that it's a win-win scenario that when you are presenting to somebody who you'd love to collaborate with, a true value add for them. Now, the very first time that you reach out to somebody and see if they want to collaborate with you on something, you should be the one offering a ton of value. If you're the first person reaching out, they should you should be clearly articulating what they are going to get from having you as either a guest on their podcast, as somebody who's going to be built into their course, as somebody who they're going to do a send an email out for, right? So you want to show how is what you're going to offer them benefit them. Now, yes, money is valuable. So offering an affiliate link is valuable, but I don't think that it is the most valuable thing for most businesses. I strongly feel that you too should feel that your reputation is more valuable than any sort of money, right? Than any money you're going to be bringing in. And they're directly related. If you start promoting all of these affiliate links without validating them, without making sure that this is truly something that you believe in, then that's going to eat your business alive. You should only be providing affiliate links for other businesses and other services that you truly believe in. And that can come off as honest and truthful. And then you're again providing a service for somebody by offering that affiliate link because you're saying, hey, this changed my life, or I've seen so many other, you know, coaches grow their business because of this person. I really truly truly believe in their service. You're in turn are providing a service for your client by doing that. But if you're just pushing affiliate links for money, then that's gonna fall flat and that's not going to be good for your business at all. When you're reaching out to somebody to collaborate with them, think about it in that way that they too don't want to just be pushing affiliate links, right? So see what you can offer them. Do a free workshop for their community, even if it's no pitch in the beginning. Maybe you don't even pitch your product. Maybe in the beginning, you just do a free workshop and get some visibility and say, hey, I'm gonna offer freebie. Is that okay? I'm gonna offer something for them to then sign up for your email list, right? Then you have them on your email list, and that's when you can start to communicate your offers to them and eventually sell to them. But maybe not on that free workshop. Maybe you say, I would just love to come talk to your people about this. I'm not going to be pitching anything. I'm not offering anything at the workshop. I'm simply going to give them access to a free guide and that's it. That's incredibly valuable for another coach or somebody else in your industry. So think, how can I provide a ton of value and still increase my reach and increase my visibility? And this will help your business grow and help you create those relationships with people who can in turn help to scale your business and you help to scale those, which is theirs, which is such an incredible feeling. I had the opportunity to help another business owner sell their business to somebody that I had worked with in the past. And that was the best feeling in the world that she was trying to sell her business. I knew somebody who could benefit from buying the business and to make that connection was the best feeling in the world. And it comes over somebody helping me in my business any day of the week. I would rather be on the other end, you know, get gifting and providing value for somebody else. So that can really bring more joy to your business, make you more passionate about what you do. So always think in the mindset of service, how can I help this person? You're not just reaching out to help to get them to promote your affiliate program. You are reaching out in the act of service. So if this episode helped you, go ahead and share it with a friend. I can't wait to see you on the next one. I hope you enjoyed our conversation from today. Any links we discussed will be in the show notes below. Also, we would be incredibly grateful if you would leave us a five star review. This helps us keep the podcast going so that we can continue to provide value for all of you. I hope we see you on the next one.