How To Filter Out ‘The Noise’ Online & Focus On Your Biz
One of the things I feel like is my duty in this crazy online world, is to make business feel easier for all the suuuuuuper well-intentioned (but highly distractible!) coaches in my community.
There’s SO much noise in the online space and a bajillion shiny new things to take you off-course from actually serving clients and making money.
Because, news flash: Your job as a life coach isn’t actually as a content creator for Instagram.
Feel like a ton weight has come off your shoulders? Great, now let’s focus on what really does and doesn’t matter when it comes to getting clients and making money as a coach — because if you’re not selling to anyone, you’re not serving anyone, capiche?
The Biggest Time-Sucks To Avoid As A New Coach
#1: The shiny new website
People make biz building way too complicated and it drives me crazy! They spend too much time on the wrong things — like investing hundreds of hours and dollars on a shiny new website — before they even know WHO they serve and what results they get!!
At Uncaged Life, we have coaches coming to us who have sometimes spent 5-10 thousand dollars on a fancy website that’s not getting them any clients.
The truth is it’s 1) a huge time suck 2) a brilliant way to procrastinate and 3) NOT the thing that’s going to make you seem “professional” so potential clients will hire you…
If you’re finding writing copy for your shiny new website challenging, it’s probably because you don’t have a clear message yet. That’s what we help people do inside Uncage Your Business, because until you can clearly articulate who you help so that they actually understand you, you’re just going to be writing fluffy “coach-speak” about alignment and blah, blah, blah (we love you life coaches, we just really want you to have a clear message that helps people know how you help them for REAL).
#2: Posting on social media every day and spending hours on complicated marketing
There’s an overwhelming amount of advice out there about social media being THE thing that will help you create a thriving coaching biz.
So you spend hours creating graphics and Reels, posting on Stories and TikTok, hoping your content will be seen by your perfect-fit clients.
If you’re feeling even slightly overwhelmed by social media, what I really need you to hear is this: It’s not possible to be on Facebook, and Twitter, and Instagram, and Pinterest, and Periscope, and TikTok, and LinkedIn, while running your own webinars, and JV webinars, and running Facebook ads, and blogging, and creating your elevator pitch and working on your website, and starting a Facebook group, and getting your opt-in up, and guest posting, and starting a podcast, and and and….
Please — just stop. I’m exhausted even just reading that list!
All these things are great, I love a good Reel just as much as the next person. But unless they’re actually getting you clients, your focus needs to move away from all.the.marketing, and onto the foundations that really matter (more on that in a sec).
#3: The complicated tech
Oh the tech!! As a new life coach you do not need a funnel. Repeat: YOU DO NOT NEED A FUNNEL.
I know the big marketing guru told you that you should have a freebie and a pop-up opt-in and a nurture sequence and you should really be running Facebook ads to it… and maybe you should — just later.
When you’re just starting out, you can sign clients with a Google Doc and a PayPal account. Promise!
#4: Buying all the courses
One of the main problems I see is that there is so much advice (TOO much advice) about how to have a successful coaching business. And so many courses. So many many courses. Courses that cost $2k, courses that claim to be the be-all end-all solution, and courses that sit on your shelves for years without ever actually helping you. And it’s not that any of the advice or courses is bad. All of them may very well help you build your business. However, with no clear plan or discernment for when or how to use it – no focus – that’s when it doesn’t work.
How to make business feel easier? Focus on the foundations.
Here’s what I believe: the courses, the tech, the marketing, the website — all great when used in the right way, at the right time. If you need to build your list, there are strategic actions you can take. If you want to do speaking gigs, there are strategic actions you can take. And if you want to get more clients, there are strategic focused actions you can take. And they all hinge on building a solid foundation.
If you’re in the new-er stages of business, you don’t need to do half of this crap! And, dare I say, most of it will be useless if you aren’t yet clear on what you do, who you do it for, and how you do it, with the kind of clarity that makes people’s skin tingle when you talk about it.
This is what I teach my clients in Uncage Your Business, my year-long online marketing course – and I can tell you after running it for 3 years with hundreds of clients – it works. My clients actually have businesses that feel like businesses when I’m done with them.
Want to get clients quickly?
- You need to be clear on your message and have an opinion that gets the right people’s attention
- You need to be able to clearly articulate what you do and how you can help people
- You need to understand who you can help, who you want to help, and who needs your help – and make sure these all line up
- You need to create offers for your people that they actually want to buy
And when do those 4 things, you will get clients. And you will get referrals. And you will have a platform for building an audience, and you will have material for creating FB ads, and you will have a reason to create a FB group, and you will be able to strategically implement ALL THE THINGS.
So before you jump on the Reels train or start drafting an elaborate webinar series, do yourself a favor and get focused on the 4 actions above, and I promise, your business will grow faster by doing those 4 things than by trying to do ALL THE THINGS.
xx becca
