Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to my podcast. This is a podcast where I'll be teaching you all the systems and strategies you need in creating your visibility so you can turn your passion for coaching into a profitable business. I'm your host, michelle Kway. I am a visibility coach, content and email marketing strategist, international speaker and author, as well as the founder of Elevate Light Coaching. That just say that I know a few things about overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles in life and in business. I'm on a mission to be the champion that helps you to get to the top of your mountain, one courageous step at a time. Welcome to the show. Hi everybody, i'm really excited to have my friend and business coach, julie Richie, here with me today And we're going to talk about the four things that you can do to get client even if you aren't an introvert. So hi, julie, so good to have you here, hi.
Speaker 2: Michelle, thank you so much for having me. I'm really looking forward to this conversation.
Speaker 1: Me too. So I found you on Facebook because I remember a couple of years ago I was struggling with business and not knowing how to start and where to begin, and I remember stumble upon your Facebook group and I was just really drawn by your energy And I remember back then this is something that people weren't talking about a whole lot was that how do you authentically and organically and just showing up, being you and still having and hitting that six bigger coaching business? And I was really attracted by your message. So I'm curious how did you start it into getting into coaching business?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh, I love this question And I didn't realize that you had found me that way and it had been so long, But that's really exciting. Yeah, So I got into this around 10 years ago now because I was looking for a way to travel and work online And I was already a health coach. I was doing health coaching, I was a fitness instructor, but I wanted I had these big dreams of traveling And I wanted to serve people and I wanted to know how can I do all this and earn money at the same time. And typed into Google you know, earn money online And you can imagine the kind of spam results that came up. But they say, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear, And that was the case for me. And so into my Facebook feed this came this very charismatic American coach And she said I can teach you how you can travel and serve people and have this really great lifestyle And it's called coaching. And so I went and retrained long story short, didn't have the money, but I found the money to invest £10,000 into retraining.
Speaker 2: And then I launched my coaching business and my husband at the time and I went off traveling And we were having a great time, you know, house sitting in France and Italy. I did get some clients And what happened is I went into a massive feast and famine cycle in my business. So one month I signed a client and we'd literally be feasting at the French farmhouse table with all the bread, French stick and the cheeses and tomato. And then the next month, no clients And we wouldn't have the gas money to get to the next house sitting gig. And this went on for a few months too long. So we were running out of money And we headed back to the UK so that he could work.
Speaker 2: And, long story short, I ended up going through a divorce and it was at my lowest point. I was back in my parents' tiny spare bedroom And I was no clients. I had a mountain of debt going through this divorce. So I felt like a huge loser And I actually actually went. I can laugh now. It wasn't funny at the time, But I actually went and got a job for a little bit And I was doing marketing for an animal charity. But once you've been self employed, Michelle, you'll know this. You make a terrible employee and you don't want to work for anyone else. So I was just plotting my escape. How can I get back to my own business? But I had to figure out the client getting thing this time And I did, And then that's what you know morphed into my company, do business like a woman, And there's so much more to this story, But that's how I first got into it all.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, as I was following you on Facebook group, I don't believe I've ever heard you talking about this story to this detail, to this detail, and my goodness, I needed to come and listen to you and share more of my stories.
Speaker 1: I know, i know, and so you know what you have shared is really something that I really resonate is that I think having a coaching business is really about having a lifestyle, And I think a lot of people don't think about this, especially my audience, when they first got into coaching business. They just have this huge passion for coaching. They just want to work with clients, right. So a lot of them don't think about what kind of lifestyle that I want to have, and so they're thinking how do I get more client? not realizing that, hey, you know, i really love to travel And do I have to give that up in order to have this one-on-one coaching client? And what you have shared is just so valuable that you know it's really about doing business like a woman, like your Facebook group, and it's really about having that lifestyle that really resonate with you. And how do you figure out how to get client? And that comes the second step. So, yeah, what have you learned on that journey in terms of how to get client? I think that's a big question.
Speaker 2: Goodness, it really is. But I can simplify And so you know I just want to share that. The company do business like a woman. My company, it was really born because initially I was doing business a very masculine energy way And I burned out and I had some health conditions and things, and so it wasn't sustainable. So I really asked the question well, how can we do this differently And looking after our well-being and our health while still bringing in clients and being profitable? And that was how the company came into being.
Speaker 2: But I remember being in a coaching program back then. You know my learning from a coaching program And it was a good program. But they were bombarding me with information about all the marketing tactics and all the things I had to do And I remember it was exhausting. It was like networking, blogging, seo, facebook, instagram, you know, podcast was like drinking from a fire hose And what I found was I was doing so much activity but I really wasn't getting a lot of traction And when I did get a client I wouldn't know how the heck I actually got that client.
Speaker 2: So I threw my hands up in the air and I said, hang on, let me just stop, let me go inside And let me just look at what actually has created my clients. And it was a relief to discover that there were four activities, just four, that I was doing that were actually leading to clients, and that is how what I teach now the Warrior S framework for creating clients. That's how that came into being. I just started focusing on these four activities and repeating them, and it was so simple. It took away all the busy work And then I got clients and then I had my first six figure year in my coaching business. You know, it took me a little bit of time. I wasn't a fast starter out. I wasn't an overnight success.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I love what you share because, you know, as I was thinking back in my first year, i did exactly everything that you just said. Right, i was on social media, i was on doing a blog post, i was doing a lot of live, which I don't feel comfortable in doing live, and that was like pushing myself out of comfort zone because everybody else were doing it And I thought like I had to do it and I had to do it just for the sake of having a coaching business, and so I was following a lot of these steps that other people are following and not knowing that what will work and how do I make it better? So, as we're talking about the four steps, what are the four?
Speaker 2: steps? Yeah, a great question. I love what you said because it feeds in really well to what I'm going to share about the four steps. I'll tell you what they are and then I'll just unpack them a little bit. They've got names, so I'll just tell you the names. The first one is generate, the second one is nurture, the third one is create and the fourth one is ask. All right, generate, nurture, create, ask. What this means is. The first one is generate leads.
Speaker 2: Now, i know, i know, we all know that, right, we hear that all over the place. We know we need to generate leads. That's nothing new.
Speaker 2: What's different about what we do is the way we do it, because so many people tell me that, oh my God, julie, i'm online, i'm like spending so many hours connecting, going in Facebook groups, commenting, dming people, and I'm not getting high quality leads and I'm not booking sales calls every week. And the reason that doesn't work is because, like we said, they're trying to do too many different things, like I was, and they're like an octopus on roller skates. And it's not our fault, because we're trying to do the best that we've been told from the gurus, but it's not focused, and so what we teach is finding the lead gen strategy that works for your personality. Like you said, i don't want to do live stream Well, you don't have to, right, and you know that now.
Speaker 2: And it's like finding the strategy that works for their personality and then designing their lead gen strategy, but just based on, like one thing initially. So we're going to take it super focused, really simple, but what we do is go deep. You know, you go deep and you master that strategy, and this is very calming to people because they're like oh, i don't have to do a million different things, i can just do this one thing really well. And then, when we do that and we work with them, what starts happening is they begin generating between 10 and 50 quality leads every week, typically into their Facebook group, although I have people do this on Instagram and LinkedIn and they're generating 10 to 50 leads and then booking three to five sales calls, and it's just helps the nervous system relax because we're getting deep rather than broad.
Speaker 1: I love that because it's such a relief.
Speaker 1: Like you said, it almost feels like a drop of weight on my shoulder to hear that, oh, i don't have to be on every social media platform, i don't have to do all these that you know, being on videos or dancing my way on Instagram reels, which I had no idea of how to do And I still don't know how to do Me either. No, i don't do that. Yeah, and a lot of coaches had come to believe that in order for my Instagram to blow up, in order to have that viewership, i need to dance my way into the reels, which is not true, and it's such a relief to know that there's strategies that you can use and implement that will work for you to generate the leads. And a lot of people have, you know, looking around and spending their money and wasted I would say wasted money on lead generation, like, i'm pretty sure that you have heard of these lead generating apps that help people find new leads, but then, when you really get onto the discovery call, they're not really quality leads.
Speaker 2: No, i haven't. I mean, i tend to stay away from stuff like that. It's like even appointment setters, and I'm sure there are some good ones out there, but I've heard enough stories with my colleagues and my peers where they do that And the quality of leads, like you say, just isn't there and the sales calls are not closing and they're not clients that you'd want to work with. So I tend to steer away from all those kind of things and really just stick with the timeless strategies that work, rather than the tactics or the next hot thing. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the way that I generate is usually through email marketing, and email has worked amazingly for me, especially as Lee Jen. It's really a way to direct communicate. So I'm curious what's been your prefer way of generating?
Speaker 2: Yeah, for me personally and it's different. I will say it's different for each person I work with, because I have a client who loves Instagram and she loves doing the Reels and she loves doing the stories. Right, you and me are like, no, we wouldn't do that. I have some other clients who their thing is in person, so they go collaborate, like one client is collaborating with a gym and the other one's doing workshops in the community. But for me personally, my lead, jen.
Speaker 2: What I like to do back in the day, how I first grew my group to the first thousand, was I was actually reaching out on Instagram, and that was back when sending a message and inviting someone straight to your group used to work. It doesn't work anymore, so that was how I initially built and what I love to do now. My favorite is the JV interview swaps, a bit like we're doing here, right, because you get to collaborate and feature each other in front of your audience. So I love doing that. One of my favorite And that tends to bring I find it be interesting to hear what you think but really high quality leads, so I love doing that. I also, at this point, pay $91 a month to post in a group And I just do that once a week and I invite people over to my group and share the value that they will get.
Speaker 2: So I do that and that brings kind of a mixed bag. So that's more numbers. But I sit through those leads pretty carefully to pre-qualify whether they should come into my group. And then occasionally I'll do something like a summit or I'm experimenting. Actually I haven't done this yet, but I'm going to be hosting some in person lunches and brunches, so that could be fun.
Speaker 1: And that would be fun. I wish I were. I'm in UK now.
Speaker 2: I wish you were too, but this is what has worked for me And this is what, between those strategies, it brings in a nice mixture and a nice number of leads each week. Now I will say I didn't do all those in one go. I got really really good at one really and got it working before I added the next one, and that is so key.
Speaker 1: Does your live coaching business attract the right clients to you? You're finding yourself stuck and not sure where to begin, how to start in order to attract and connect with your dream clients. This idea of posting on social media about your coaching business is just so overwhelming that you find yourself getting all caught up in questioning what type of content should I post? What do I need to say in order to get them to stop the score and get more clients? Imagine you can write, speak, create any messages that resonate with your potential dream client without sacrificing your uniqueness. Having the flow of with your words, the language that you use that makes yourself memorable to your audience, who will naturally be drawn to you, and, at the end of the day, creating a marketing style that attract your dream client, who feels aligned, so that you can build stronger bonds, happier clients and closing more leads. I completely understand, and that is why I created this simple guide to start a conversation that would inspire people to take action and transform the way that you market your coaching business, all in five simple, easy to follow steps. So head over to coremessageattractclientthroughstorytellingcom today to grab your copy.
Speaker 1: It is time to claim your uniqueness, my friend. Yeah, because that's what important, which will take us to the second step, which is nurturing, right? Well, we're doing this, yeah, yeah, because if you're doing a lot of different things and chances are there's something is going to go miss, and once you have those leads, you have to find a way to nurture them. How are you going to love your people so that they want to work with you? Right, it goes into the nurturing aspects of it. So walk us through the second step, yeah nurturing.
Speaker 2: So what I find, michelle, is so many coaches and entrepreneurs they don't do this that well. It's kind of where the gap is. And look me too, i was the same right, i had to learn this because it doesn't come natural. It's like you know, we do all the work to generate the leads and then we they just sit there in our Facebook group or on our email list and we don't do a good job of communicating and warming them up and having a conversation. So you know again, it varies as to what channel you use, but the nurturing piece is around having an effective, repeatable process that you consciously take a lead through, all the way from hello to client.
Speaker 2: And there are some stages in that And it's about getting to know that person, uncovering their needs. We take a really high touch approach to this because if you are a high ticket person, you don't need millions of clients, you just need a few really good ones. And so, uncovering their needs, sharing some relevant value with them, and this just does magic in terms of warming up your leads so that when you are ready to invite them to work with you, they're more likely to say yes. They're like yes, how do I do it. How do I sign up You?
Speaker 1: mean I don't just invite one person into my group and then hello, would you like to marry me? kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Right, and so often you know and not judging anyone, because we've all been through this journey but we think that we can just immediately, you know, sell to a lead that's just come in. They don't know us yet. They're like, well, who are you And you know how can you help me. So there's a journey that happens And it's demonstrating. Nurturing is like. I love the way one of my clients put it the other day. She said it's like when you put a seed in the ground and then you nurture it with water and care and love and then it sprouts into a plant. So think of your nurturing, of your leads, like that.
Speaker 1: I really resonate with that because I cannot tell you. Well, i have tried back in the old days sending people DM, messaging on Instagram, invite them to my group, inviting them to my lead magnet and most people. You don't see any response And it's not working anymore. Because people are looking for that genuine connection And that nurturing. Really foster that, nurturing that connection, building that relationship so that they trust you. I think trust is such an important thing when it comes to nurturing, because you want to build that trust.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. It's one thing to build the know and like, but the trust is when they start to see you as an expert rather than just an online friend and someone who can actually help them solve the problem. And that leads nicely into the next step, which is create client magnetic content. So a lot of people are posting, posting, posting, but there's no strategy. that content isn't actually positioning them so that people are compelled to reach out and say how can I work with you? I know you do content so well because you teach people story and it is beautiful. I've seen your content. Your content is fantastic. So this is the third activity, but it works. It's a holistic system, So there's nothing complicated about it, but it just works beautifully together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and also through the creation and content, you're also providing a lot of value so people can get an insight into, okay, what is this program about? And is that going to help me? And so you're helping people to decide in that moment whether or not. do I want to stay on, do I want to bounce off? Which either way? that's okay, right, because the people who stay on are ultimately going to walk us and partner with us to the finish line. So what's step number four?
Speaker 2: You're going to love this one. It's so simple and we miss it. Ask them to work with you. Right, you've done all this work to bring in the lead and warm them up and give them value. with the content, we forget to ask or we do it like this Like do you want to work together? Instead of like, hey, are you considering my program? Do you want to hop on a call and talk about working together? So a clear, direct ask or invitation and the way that we teach this. it doesn't feel spammy, it doesn't feel salesy, particularly when you've done the other steps. But we got to remember to ask. if we're not asking, we're not going to get as many clients as we could.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I find that the biggest challenge for my audience, particularly because a lot of them are introverted And when it comes to ask, right, how do I ask them? And oh, am I going to feel embarrassed or do I come across too salesy Or I don't know how to ask? And I have one of these clients who created this beautiful journal It's a moob or type of journal and that track a woman's menstrual cycle And she put it out there, but she forgot to include her name. So a lot of it has to do with oh, i'm just going to create it, i'm going to put it out into the world And hopefully that will happen. We forget to ask. So what are some of your tips in terms of?
Speaker 2: asking? Yeah, great question. And I really relate to that. I'm an introvert too, so I get the whole thing of like not wanting to be salesy, not wanting to be pushy, and you know, maybe it's more natural for us to kind of not hold back but be quiet and not really promote ourselves to the world. But the great thing about this is when you have done the other three steps before, the asking is just a natural progression because you already have a relationship with this person, you're already having conversations, you've powerfully served them, they're commenting on your content, they are a hot lead. So it's actually a disservice not to ask them.
Speaker 2: But by that time, even for us introverts and we have a saying over here we say do it with knees knocking. So it's fine to be afraid, but you know, just finding the way to make that invitation. And an invitation doesn't have to be pushy, it can be just an inviting, feminine, warm invitation. You know I'm running a free training on Bladi Blar And if you've done a really good post, dm me to get the details. People are going to do that because you've done the work already, you've done that post. But it's just about remembering to ask. But I find when the relationship is there is not so scary.
Speaker 1: It's true, i do a lot of posting on social media and I write stories And I noticed that when I do the ask, sometimes it's just a soft ask hey, i have this free masterclass coming up, would you be interested to come? And people are like sure, you know I'm interested, this is something I've been looking for And people would just jump on without me even go out there and say hey, you know, would you like to come?
Speaker 2: It's a different vibe, you know it doesn't have to be a sort of pushy ask, like you just said. It can be a very soft ask. I know you don't really use DMs. That's fine, everyone has their own way. But even in the DMs you can ask someone's permission. Are you interested in, would you like? Shall I send you the details. It's asking permission is very different from those spammy messages we get where someone's just like hey, you don't know me, but here's my thing And can I sell you this? And we're like you know. But when you have a connection with someone and you are, here's the key. It's like coming with a heart of service. Right, we're serving first. The part of that is selling. But you just can ask permission Would you like this thing, are you interested, would this be valuable? And then when they say yes, then you send the link or you make the invitation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love everything. So the four steps, let me just sum up real quick. So the four steps are generate, nurture, create and ask.
Speaker 2: You got it. You are a student. Yes, See.
Speaker 1: I learned all from the very best following you and following people I resonate with, And I think it's really important for people to follow the people that they love. right, And you know a lot of us. we go around, we are confused, we overwhelmed by the marketing things and we're overwhelmed by the fact that, having that self doubt as a health coach or wellness coach, can I hit that six figures? Is it possible for me? So there's a lot of self doubt and questions around the fact that I'm not in the business coaching Can I still hit the six figure? What's your word of advice for them?
Speaker 2: Yeah, such a good question And I'll tell you that, as a business coach, even we have doubts, right. It's like people think, oh, just because we're a business coach, it's so easy. But the market is saturated with business coaches actually, so no one has a sort of get out of jail free card. We all part of this journey. I think the entrepreneurial journey is working through our fears and our doubts and growing as a person. I work with a lot of women who are health coaches. I have a sober coach that I work with, money coaches, mindset coaches.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter what kind of coach you are. When you work the four client creation activities and you get your messaging so strong, you know step three, the client magnetic content you will compel your sole clients to come to you, absolutely out of doubt. So the answer is yes, you absolutely can have a six figure business if that is what is on your heart. For me, because I pushed for so many years and didn't do it, and then I did do it And I remember there was an element of surrender. There is a really following the heart, the intuition. So it's like you said, rather than getting distracted or what's out here, all these different gurus and marketers go to the one that you feel that heart connection You know, go to the one that it feels like your sole tribe and follow them and connect with them. Come mental with me or come mental with Michelle, someone that you connect with, and you absolutely can create the business you want to create. No doubt about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, i just really glad that I started to follow you and I was able to connect with you this year. When you send that DM into my DM, i was really shocked, but it felt good right, because it's someone that I have followed, that I share my belief, and there's so many things that we do are just in a line with each other and like attracts like, and I'm a big believer in that. I believe that we attract the people that we want to attract because we are clear about who we are And you have just run a very successful coaching business and you're helping so many of your clients during the same, so you inspire me.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, And you know, the feelings mutual, let's have a love fest here. But the truth is, the reason I messaged you is because you popped up in my feed and your content was on fire and your smile and your energy just popped out And I'm like I need to connect with Michelle, right? So yeah, it's like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's beautiful how the universe works And, julie, i just want to really thank you for taking your time coming to the show and showing such valuable steps for my audience. So generate, nurture, create and ask And don't forget to ask. I think that's something that's really important and finding that feminine energy It's okay not to doing all these things that we were told to do and finding our way to connect with our audience. Yeah, keep it simple.
Speaker 2: You know, keep it simple.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much for your time. Can you tell us where to?
Speaker 2: find you. Yeah, so the best place is on Facebook and come across to my group. It's called Do Business Like a Woman. I'm sure we can put a link underneath, but it's Facebook. Forward slash groups, forward slash do business like a woman. Come get in that community. You'll be offered some free training on how to create clients. You can also promote your business over there. I don't know if you knew that, but you can, and the only rule we had is as long as you have value. So I say, please have value to the group that you can share your services and your offers over there. So do come join us. I believe that a rising tide lifts all boats, so come over and we'll see you in that group.
Speaker 1: I will have all the links to your business in the episode notes and so that people can find you and connect with you.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you for having me. Thank you so much, julie.
Speaker 1: Hey, beautiful, thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast and found value from this episode, i would love for you to hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcast platform and leave me a rating and review. One thing I was struggling in my early years in business was finding the right people to connect with. It feels like I was on this entrepreneur journey on my own And sometimes we all just need friends who can share our dreams and hopes, someone who can relate to what we're going to as we grow our business together. If you are a woman coach who is ready to grow your coaching business and looking for strategies to get seen, get heard and get hired, i want to invite you to come and find me in our community on Facebook at Get Clients with Storytelling. This is a community of women coaches who want to grow a coaching business by creating engaging and visible and authentic content with storytelling for their business to get more leads and attract more clients. I will see you at our next tea party.