EP 345 - Why Some Spiritual Coaches Can't Get Clients (And What to Fix in 2026)

If you're a spiritual coach, transformational coach, intuitive healer, energy worker, or mindset coach who is struggling to get clients, this video is for you. The problem isn't your gifts and it isn't your niche. It's something more specific, and once you see it you can't unsee it.

If you're new to my channel, my name is Debbie Shadid. I'm a Business Growth and Life Coach and the founder of the Business Building Boutique. For over two decades, I've helped women learn how to become coaches, get clients, grow their businesses, and create meaningful income doing work they love.

Most spiritual and transformational coaches were trained in their modality but never trained on how to actually market what they do or talk to potential clients in plain language. That's the gap we're fixing today, so you can stop spinning on certifications and niche statements and start getting in front of the women who genuinely need your work.

In this video, we'll walk through:

• Why "I help women step into their power" is keeping you invisible
• How to stop confusing your modality with your business
• What your ideal client is actually Googling at 11pm (and what she's not saying out loud)
• The plain-English niche formula that gets people leaning in instead of glazing over
• How to test your niche in five minutes without spending another dollar
• Why your next certification will not solve this problem
• The 3 practical steps to get clear on who you help and how to say it

When you make this shift, your messaging stops sounding like everyone else in the spiritual space, your ideal client recognizes herself in your words, and your business finally starts working for you. The world needs the gifts you have. They just need to be able to find you first.

Ready to get clear on a profitable niche that actually attracts clients? Grab the Profitable Niche Blueprint - it's the same process I walk my clients through:
https://www.debbieshadid.com/schedule

Want to talk through your business one-on-one? Book a Free Business Blueprint Call: https://www.debbieshadid.com/schedule

Connect with me, Debbie Shadid:
Website: https://www.debbieshadid.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbieshadid/

Listen to the Podcast:
Life Coach Business Building School Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/life-coach-business-building-school-with-debbie-shadid/id1502118085

Subscribe for weekly episodes on building your coaching business, finding clients, and creating the life you actually want: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz6RS8kQGMLJqJrK9uKdjtg

If this video was helpful, share it with a spiritual or transformational coach who's been rewriting her niche statement for the fourth time. Subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss next week's episode on building a coaching business that actually pays you.

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Let’s connect!

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Transcript

0:00

If you call yourself a spiritual coach, a transformational coach, an intuitive healer and energy worker, a mindset coach, or honestly, you're still trying to figure out what to call yourself. This episode is for you. I want you to know I love working with women like you. You are the most gifted, deeply feeling people I've ever met. And I know you wanna make a difference, and that is exactly why it breaks my heart to see you spinning. I know you have gifts to give to the world, and I want to help you figure out how to get clear on that taking another certification is not the answer. Rewriting your niche statement for the fourth time and still not getting clients that is not the answer. Today, I wanna talk about what is happening because it's not what most people think. It's not that your work isn't valuable, and it's not that your niche is wrong. It is something more specific and once you see it, you will not be able to unsee it. By the way, I'm Debbie Shadid. I help women over 50 build and grow profitable boutique style coaching businesses. And today what we're gonna talk about is what is really going on. You might have lots of certifications. In fact, sometimes many of the women I talk to that are spiritual and fit in this category, they have lots of certifications and when somebody asks you, what do you do? That's when you have trouble, right? You're like, well, I'm a reiki master. And they're like, what is that? I do somatic work. I'm a human design reader. I work in the law of attraction. And if you are not talking to somebody who's already in that work, I know what happens. They're like, wait, what do you do? And then it gets very vague. This is what I typically find when I talk to women on calls. They're like, well, I help women to step in their power. And it's like, okay, what does that mean? I help people who are ready to transform. Anyone of you guys that hears a statement like that, aren't you? Like, wait, what does that mean? Help women step into their own power or help them transform. When you are asked, what is the problem that you solve? Sometimes you might even get more vague and you're like, well, I help people align to their higher self or align to their past life and look, all this is fantastic. I'm not judging any of it. I'm trying to point out what is really happening here. So you can see it from an outside perspective. I say this with so much love. The language that you speak is not one that everybody understands. And if they already know this work, they're not your client. If they already know this work, they've already done the work. You are looking for the people who don't know this work, which means that you need to be really clear about it. Now, if you are super advanced, then you would be teaching people who already know this work, and so you already know who those people are. But most of you guys are here because you're starting a coaching business, and right now you're thinking, okay, she's right. This is exactly me, and I don't really know what I'm saying. let me ask you this, your ideal client, how would they actually describe in their own words what is going on? Have you ever asked somebody without leading them, what is really going on? And then once they answer what's going on with them, what their problem is, have you ever asked anyone to define some of the things that you say, like divine feminine alignment. If you ask somebody you know that might be your ideal client, tell me what that means. What would they say? So, how many of your non coaching friends, how many of those guys know what somatic work really is? How about reiki? Do they know what reiki is? Now I know what all of this is because I'm in the coaching business, I understand this, but so many people on the street. If you said I'm an intuitive healer. They would be like, okay, you know, we say it's a lot of woo. Like WOO, woo. Well, it's because of this. it's because people don't really know what to say about any of this. This is not failure on your part. I have to tell you this because it's just a training gap. You went to these certifications. They talked about these modalities. They talked about the technique, the framework, the methods, but they did not teach you how to help the people. Yes. They gave you like, let's say the hands-on strategy, but they didn't teach you how to talk to people. This is the real problem, like what is the problem that you are going to position your messaging around. What is the real problem in plain language, there's a high chance that you ended up in the certification that you're in because you've been on a long journey. Remember, your client is at the beginning of their journey. You came out of the program trained to actually do what it is you do, but you were never taught how to build a business around it. This is incredibly common in a spiritual and wellness space, and it sets coaches up to struggle before they ever even begin. So maybe I'm validating how you feel right now, and I see it with the coaches that I talk to that come in. and have conversations with me or consultations with me, right? They're even a little confused about what they do. So I wanna tell you, it's not your fault. Again, they didn't teach you what it was, and really, honestly, it was their responsibility to help you be able to market what it is you do. The modality that you were taught, that's not a business. The modality is a tool. It's like the service or the skill that you provide. The business that is built is to solve a problem and you're the person to solve it. The modality that you use is the tool. Are you guys with me? So if you are a contractor, and let's say you lay tile or drywall, you build cabinets. This is an opportunity for you to get really clear about this. Think about talking to a kid about this, like your niece or nephew, and you're trying to explain what you do or give them something to read and have them tell you what it is. Have them tell you in their own words what is it that Aunt Sue does, and see what they say. So it is a language problem. What is vague or what is clear like that depends on who you're talking to. I help women align with their divine feminine energy. What does that mean? Does it mean that you've helped women who have spent years taking care of somebody else? That have completely lost themselves. Figure out who they are again. Is that what it is? Can you see how those two things are completely different? how about if you support people on their healing journey? Maybe what you say instead is, I help women who grew up in really difficult homes. And they sometimes still feel triggered by their family. Learn how to set boundaries without guilt. I mean, you guys, that is so clear. I help clients with their energetics. Yeah. I help women who've tried everything, therapy, self-help, books, journaling, but they still feel stuck in this same patterns that are holding them back. Now, maybe you can notice. That we've actually talked about what a problem is in a way that you can understand. So I would love for you to think about this. Who's the person and what is the problem? Your ideal client doesn't wake up in the morning thinking, I need a Reiki session. Now, after they work with you, they will. Right? We know that because they're gonna be loving the service that you provide, the coaching that you've given'em, and they're gonna be hooked. Just like you were hooked, That brought you into this coaching space. but what are they waking up saying? Are they saying like, oh, I'm so exhausted, like I don't even recognize myself anymore. Something has to change. They have a particular pain point. I was on a coaching call this morning on my own coaching call with a group and somebody was talking about having a reiki session. She had a very specific problem that she had identified and she'd gone to get Reiki on it and she'd never had a Reiki session, so she didn't really know what to expect. But between the two of them, they were able to communicate in a way that's like, oh, this is your problem and this is how I can help you. So your job is to talk to people in a way that they can explain it. If your ideal client found your website today, and I know the answer to this'cause I've seen some of your websites, would she immediately think like this lady really gets me because what so many of the coaches that I see in this space do is they talk a lot about what they actually do, not what the problem is. And I know that you're excited and you should be excited about all the beautiful work that you do. I understand how magical it is. I really do, because I've worked with so many coaches in this space. the person coming to your website doesn't wanna hear about your training because all they want to know is, can this lady help me with my problem? And they need to see what their problem is. So there's this who you help and why does it feel so hard for spiritual coaches? Well, I have to tell you, it's because most of the time what they're talking about is genuinely pretty universal. And what I'm asking you to do is to pick something. I'm asking you to find The one thing, and I know this is hard, I know I met somebody just recently, two years, she's been trying to figure out who it is that she helps because she could help a lot of people. So pick that one person that you feel connected to, that one person who you know really needs your support, that's the person that you pick. So you say, who is that person and what is their problem? And how am I going to help'em solve that one problem? I hear this all the time though. People are like, but Debbie, I can help anyone. I don't wanna narrow down too much and miss anyone. I'm gonna be honest with you right now because you haven't narrowed down or put yourself out there, you're helping no one or maybe you're helping someone, but not very many someones. So if you don't narrow down, people are not gonna know that you're talking to them. Once you get to where you are, Oprah style, then you can talk about anything you want. But in the beginning of your business, you need to be specific before you have a reputation. You gotta make sure that you're clear with people. Once you get a reputation, you can shift your business and elevate to anything you want to do. There is this piece. Again, your modality is not your niche. Being a reiki master is your credential, who you help and what you help them with. That is your niche. Can you see how these are different things? So I don't want you to stay stuck, I don't want you to sit in this place. I wanna talk to you about something that might be a little bit uncomfortable that you really need to hear, and it's not criticism, I want you to stop working on your niche. I want you to decide who it is. The process to decide this should take about this much time. It really should, especially because you've already been thinking about it. So who do you help? Like man. Woman, child, We're gonna pick one. Okay? Age group, and what is their problem? That's what you're gonna do, and that's gonna be your niche. And again, you have your own proprietary process for fixing that. You have the solution through the modalities that you have learned. That's what you're gonna do. Then I want you to start talking about it. I want you to start working on your business, not the niche working on your business. I want you to put yourself out there. What you're gonna discover is there's a whole new level of discomfort, right? The first level was deciding on the niche and you know, deciding on the business name. Now the new level is gonna be putting yourself out there, and this is the only way that you're gonna get good at talking about what you talk about. You have to know how to talk about it. And you have to do it in a way that people understand. Imagine that you're sitting at coffee with a friend, you're explaining it, and they're going, oh yeah, yeah, but you're not doing it in 10 minutes. You're doing it in two sentences. That's where we need to get you to. I want you to know that what you're doing is so meaningful, but it's only gonna be meaningful if you can get somebody to hear you. So, how long have you been working on your niche? You don't have to tell me in the comments, but what I do want you to tell me in the comments, I want you to tell me what decision you're gonna make. I hope that I've given you clarity right here. Okay? I'm gonna give you three practical steps, Number one, start describing your client's worst day. This is three steps to get clear on what you're doing. Describe their worst day so you can journal about this. Like what is it look like in their life before they found me. Like their worst day, how were they feeling? What were they Googling or what were they asking chat GPT at 11:00 PM And what were they saying to their best friend? Or actually I would say, what are they not even saying? Write it in their words. We're not gonna use any woo words, no modalities, none of that. We're just gonna figure out step one your person a day in the life when they are struggling, what is it that is happening and what are they thinking? Step two, in very plain English, you're gonna write down, I help whoever it is, and that's gonna be again, the man, the woman, the child. What age group, like describe their situation, like be as specific as possible. I help women over 40 in corporate careers. See how specific that is, corporate careers. Even that narrows down like the workforce to only corporate people who feel what one specific problem and they're experiencing it in their day to day and this is what they want to feel instead. You guys might have to go back and watch this more than once. This is how specific I want you to get. I wanna pause for a moment though. I have a niche blueprint guide that you can get right in the comments. It is our entire process for finding the profitable niche, and I go even deeper than I'm going into it right now. So that might be a really useful tool for you. It'll be linked in the comments. Okay, step three. I want you to say this out loud to somebody and not to another coach, and not to your spouse, not to your friend. Find somebody that is not in coaching that doesn't even understand what you're talking about. Say it out loud to them. Hey, I wanna run past you, my new business idea and just say it. And then watch and see what happens. That's why I love networking because when you go network, you know what happens. You tell people and you can read their body language. You can see are they leaning in and they're trying to get away from you. That's what you wanna know. Did they understand what you said? If they're confused, then my friend, you're still too vague. If they're confused, this is like a market test and it's free. It'll take you like five minutes, go to the nail shop, the person sitting beside you, get in a pedicure, ask 'em what they do and tell 'em what you do and see what happens. This is really critical. Then I want you to make a decision, okay? At some point you have to decide what you're gonna do because you're never gonna have a business. Once you decide and you have a niche. Then you can start doing some things and everything else that you do, you will get clearer on. Again, when you talk to somebody, every time you talk to somebody, you get clearer, every time you coach someone, every time you put yourself out there, I always say in our coaching sessions, you're never really clear about what you do until you do it. And then once people do it, our clients do it. They come back and they're, they have really good questions to ask because they've gotten feedback from people because they've done the thing and they understand it. So you're never gonna feel a hundred percent ready. I promise you, the coaches who have clients, they started before they felt ready, and every single time it gave them the clarity that they needed. So here's your challenge for this week. I want you to talk to people, and I want you to say, I help whoever it is. Finally, get whatever it is so that they can do what it is they want. One sentence. Just start with one person. You don't have to tell a bunch of people. Just start there and then wait and see what happens. Did they have any question for you? Because if they had no question for you. it might've went right over their head. If they leaned in and went, huh, maybe you are saying the right thing. Okay, so here's the deal, you guys, I want you to do the work not only that you're trained to do, but that you know you're meant to do. I genuinely believe that what you have to offer as a spiritual coach, as a healer, as a reiki master, all of those things. I have many friends that are doing this. I've worked with many clients. I genuinely believe that the world needs what you have, but they're never gonna understand what it is until you make a decision, until you talk in plain English and until you put yourself out there. You don't need another certification. You don't need the perfect niche. You just need to make a decision and take one step. I am rooting for you. Seriously. I'm cheering you on. I cannot wait to hear what it is that you do and about that first client, because that is when your life changes. Okay? Don't forget to grab the niche blueprint. It's the profitable Niche blueprint. The link is right there in the comments, and then tell me what it is. That was your key takeaway. I cannot wait to hear what's happening for you. Have a beautiful day and we'll see you very soon. Bye-bye.