December 16, 2024 • 15 mins
In this episode of Deep Dive Dialogues, I’m diving into the essentials of building a thriving coaching business. This week, I had some great conversations and revisited a classic book, Selling the Invisible. It gave me a powerful insight: Be where they aren’t.
I’ll share what that means for us as coaches and how we can stand out by doing the work others avoid. We’ll talk about the two foundational elements every coaching business needs: coaching with intention and creating clients with purpose. These might sound simple, but they’re where so many of us get stuck or distracted.
I’m also breaking down ways to accelerate your progress—like hiring a coach, upgrading your peer group, and joining a mastermind.
If you’re ready to do the work that truly makes a difference, this episode is for you. Plus, I’ve created an exclusive video on my client creation process that I’d love to share with you. Send me an email at dan@danw.us with “Video” in the subject to get access.
Hit that follow button so you don’t miss future episodes, and let’s dive in!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Deep Dive Dialogues.
I'm your host, dan Warheide,and I'm excited to be here with
you For this episode.
I wanted to share a fewthoughts that I had.
This might be a short episodewho knows We'll see what happens
once we get going, but lastweek, or this past week and a
couple days, I guess, I had somereally great conversations and
(00:25):
I had been continuing my dailyreading habit, and both of these
got me thinking about theessentials of building a
coaching business.
I came across something thatreally hit home and I wanted to
unpack that here with you.
So the other night I was readinga book called Selling the
Invisible, and at this moment Idon't have the author here with
(00:48):
me as far as the name.
Obviously he's not sitting nextto me while I record this
podcast either, but Selling theInvisible, you can find it.
It's a little bit older book onselling in the service-based
industry or service-basedbusinesses, and it gives some
(01:10):
really great examples fromplaces like your typical not
your typical, but your retailers, your restauranteurs, big names
like Walmart, jcpenney, sears,and some of the stories that
have transpired in thoseorganizations and there's a few
others, of course, but these arereally many of the places that
(01:31):
I think people will often thinkabout when we talk about the
service industry and the retailindustry and where, you know, in
my opinion today customerservice is significantly lacking
as a matter of fact.
But that's a differentconversation for another time.
Anyway, at first I wasn'treally sure how much in my
(01:56):
reading that this book was goingto be able to apply to the
coaching industry, or to coaches, to the coaching industry or to
coaches.
But then, you know, I was about, I don't know, not even halfway
through the book and I was Iwouldn't say I was frustrated.
I'm certainly sticking with myhabit of reading from my
(02:18):
experience with 75 Hard, and I'mreally enjoying getting back
into that habit, for sure.
But I wasn't quite enjoying thisbook.
I wasn't seeing any realconnection to something that
lights me up, necessarily, but Ifound a nugget, y'all.
I was waiting for this thingand the nugget showed up.
(02:42):
It was something seeminglysimple, but I think it was
profound.
It was a simple statement thatsaid be where they aren't.
Now.
This stopped me in my tracksbecause, as coaches, I think
this phrase holds justtremendous power.
It's about being able to standout by doing the work that
(03:09):
others aren't willing to do,leaning into the depth and
commitment that is going to setyou apart or that does set you
apart from every other serviceprofessional, from every other
coach that's out there.
I think there's really twothings that I'm going to come
(03:33):
back to my point about thenugget here in a second and the
being where they aren't.
I'm going to try and tie thistogether, but I think there's
really two things, when we breakit down, that I believe are at
the heart of every successfulcoaching business.
They also seem simple, but it'swhere I see many people, many
(03:57):
coaches, getting stuck, gettingdistracted and avoiding in some
cases.
The first thing is coachingright.
To get better as a coach, youhave to coach.
There's no way around it.
Practice with anyone andeveryone that you can.
The difference between a goodcoach and a great coach is the
(04:22):
constant dedication to improvingour craft.
You learn and you grow fromevery single session that you
have and there's no shortcutthat can be found to mastery
like this.
The second thing that I believeis at the heart of every
successful coaching business isclient.
That I believe is at the heartof every successful coaching
(04:42):
business is client.
Building a business meanscreating clients and charging
for your work.
It's not about setting theperfect price.
You know that is an entirelydifferent conversation.
It's about starting where youare right now.
Whatever you are comfortablecharging other people and what
(05:05):
other people are willing to payyou right now.
Rich Litvin he's one of thecoaches that I've mentioned
before and I'm definitely afollower of his work, so to
speak, and I have workeddiligently to apply the
principles which I've've learnedfrom the book the Prosperous
(05:26):
Coach into my practice or mybusiness.
But my point has nothing to dowith any of that.
He's one of the coaches that Ifollow his work and I remember
hearing and reading a story thatyou know he charged his first
client 10 bucks a month.
So the amount doesn't matter.
What matters is that you start.
(05:47):
You start coaching, you startworking on building the business
.
These two things coaching andcreating clients are what will
make or break your coachingbusiness.
Everything else the branding,the logos, the fancy platforms,
tools, websites, whatever all ofthat can come later.
(06:08):
It can come anytime down theroad.
The number one thing that youneed in your business to be in
business is paying clients.
The number one thing that you,as a coach, need to do to
continue to improve yourbusiness and your coaching is to
coach those clients that arepaying you and those that might
(06:30):
not be coaching.
Coach your butt off.
So I wanted to come back to myoriginal point and try and tie
these together.
But what?
What does be where they aren'treally mean for us when we
consider this, and how does ittie into these two things?
I think it's pretty simple.
(06:51):
Really being where they aren'tis about doing the work that too
many others are avoiding today.
Today, I see so many peoplecoaches chasing shortcuts.
They're buying all the coursesthat promise the fast results or
they're looking for their hacksto build their business
overnight.
You know they see all theexcitement and potential of
(07:14):
these online businesses and youknow people who are very great
at marketing selling theircourses, and you know it's
exciting times to see how peoplehave been successful in this
space and it's really easy tolook at that and think that
there is a shortcut that's goingto get you there.
(07:36):
Now.
You've got your certificationor you've just chosen to put on
a coaching hat.
Whatever it may be.
I'm not discounting how you gotto this point today, but I'm
saying that there's no shortcut,you know.
Okay, so you've seen thesestrategies or these
advertisements, right, the, yourblueprint for a hundred
(07:57):
thousand in sales in just sixmonths.
Or your, my exact clientbuilding strategy that helped me
to build my million dollarcoaching business.
You know, taking your coachingfrom you know whatever number 5
000 to 20 000 in 30 days or less.
Uh, and look, my belief herereally is the reason these
(08:18):
programs seem so popular and forall intensive purposes they may
do well.
The first reason is they seemlike a shortcut, which we just
talked about, to what it is thatyou want as a coach.
Right, you want to build yourbusiness, you want to create
more income, you want to breakout of that nine to five,
whatever it is that you'relooking for.
(08:38):
These courses appeal to thosedesires.
But if we examine them, thesepeople are really good marketers
or they have a bunch of reallygood marketers supporting them.
I can think of some specificexamples, but I'm not knocking
anyone who's actually done thework and built their businesses
(08:59):
examples, but I'm not knockinganyone who's actually done the
work and built their businesses.
So I don't want to go intonames, but I do think that
there's some really greatbusiness leaders out there who
are offering some really greatproducts.
But even if you go back and lookat what they did, they worked
to get there.
They didn't just figure it out.
There was no magic involved.
There was certainly noshortcuts.
(09:19):
So it then makes me question insome of these courses that I've
just mentioned, what does theircoaching look like?
Sure, they were able to buildthese businesses, but was it by
selling these programs?
That is what really set themapart and not their coaching.
Is what really set them apartand not their coaching.
(09:41):
Anyway, I digress from that.
The truth is and you alreadyknow it, but it's worth saying
here again and again and againthere is no shortcut to doing
the real work.
We grow through coaching, weinvest in our own development,
(10:01):
we connect deeply with others.
These are non-negotiables.
If there's a shortcut to doingthese things, then I'd love for
you to share it with me, butthat's it.
I don't think they'renegotiable.
Now that I've said that, I wantto say I don't think there's a
shortcut to doing the work, butthere is a way to accelerate
(10:23):
your progress, and here's threepowerful ways to fast track your
success when it comes toprogress as a coach, not to be
confused with shortcutting thework.
So the first thing, that thefirst powerful way, rather, that
(10:46):
you can use to fast track yoursuccess is to hire a coach.
Every great coach I know has acoach.
A good coach will help you tonavigate challenges, avoid the
same mistakes that they've madeand that they've observed others
making, and you'll be able togrow faster as a person, as a
(11:07):
business leader, as a coach,than you could do on your own.
The second powerful way to fasttrack your success is to steal
from one of my coaches, cliff.
You know, upgrade your peergroup, find and join communities
.
You know that you canparticipate in with other
(11:29):
like-minded individuals.
But, you know, find thesespaces where you can connect
with others who are learning,growing and building businesses
in a community environment right, sharing ideas, challenging
each other.
The people around you, Ibelieve, can either push you
forward or they're going to holdyou back.
(11:49):
So be sure to choose yourpeople wisely.
And the third powerful way tofast track your success is to
join a mastermind.
Masterminds can be a gamechanger.
In smaller, focused groups youcan get personalized feedback,
(12:11):
usually, depending on howthey're structured, 8, 10, maybe
12 people.
So every couple of weeks youget your own space to share
something you're working on oryour ideas and get personalized
feedback that's catered to youand what you've brought to the
table from the community aroundyou those 10, 12, 10 or 11, I
(12:37):
guess other people you get youknow a different level of
accountability.
You gain perspectives from eachand every other person in the
room, whether you're joining oneor starting your own.
Joining a mastermind is apowerful way to grow, or not
joining but being part ofwhether it's yours or someone
(12:59):
else's being part of amastermind is a powerful way to
grow, both personally andprofessionally.
In the end, there really is noshortcut, in my opinion, to
doing the work, but you canimprove your success rate by
surrounding yourself with othersuccessful people, by
(13:21):
surrounding yourself with theright people, by investing in a
coach and investing in yourselfand leaning into the journey of
perfecting your craft, buildingyour business and doing the work
.
So are you committed to doingwhat it takes?
(13:41):
If this resonates with you,first of all, I'd love to hear
your thoughts.
You can send me a message.
Let's continue thisconversation.
If you're ready to explorecoaching or join a community,
I'd love to help you find theright resources for you.
I want to say thank you forstopping by and I'll see you in
(14:02):
the next episode, but before yougo, I want to say a couple
other things.
I've gotten a lot of questionsrecently about my approach to
client creation and my strategyor the way I'm working to build
my business.
So I have actually created anexclusive video where I break
(14:23):
down my process, what I've doneto build my coaching business.
It's based on the fourprinciples of the Prosperous
Coach and how I've taken themand adopted them and applied
them to my process and mybusiness.
So these are my ideas, takenfrom the four principles that
(14:44):
you can find in the ProsperousCoach written by Rich Litvin and
Steve Chandler, and I createdthis training video to share
with you what that looks likefor me.
If you're interested in thisvideo, it's available by request
.
Simply send an email to dan atdanwus and request your copy.
(15:05):
Just put video in the subjectline and I'll be sure to send
you the link.
If you're not alreadysubscribed to this podcast, hit
the follow button so you don'tmiss any future episodes and we
will talk again next week.
Thank you.
Welcome back to Deep Dive Dialogues.
I'm your host, dan Warheide,and I'm excited to be here with
you For this episode.
I wanted to share a fewthoughts that I had.
This might be a short episodewho knows We'll see what happens
once we get going, but lastweek, or this past week and a
couple days, I guess, I had somereally great conversations and
(00:25):
I had been continuing my dailyreading habit, and both of these
got me thinking about theessentials of building a
coaching business.
I came across something thatreally hit home and I wanted to
unpack that here with you.
So the other night I was readinga book called Selling the
Invisible, and at this moment Idon't have the author here with
(00:48):
me as far as the name.
Obviously he's not sitting nextto me while I record this
podcast either, but Selling theInvisible, you can find it.
It's a little bit older book onselling in the service-based
industry or service-basedbusinesses, and it gives some
(01:10):
really great examples fromplaces like your typical not
your typical, but your retailers, your restauranteurs, big names
like Walmart, jcpenney, sears,and some of the stories that
have transpired in thoseorganizations and there's a few
others, of course, but these arereally many of the places that
(01:31):
I think people will often thinkabout when we talk about the
service industry and the retailindustry and where, you know, in
my opinion today customerservice is significantly lacking
as a matter of fact.
But that's a differentconversation for another time.
Anyway, at first I wasn'treally sure how much in my
(01:56):
reading that this book was goingto be able to apply to the
coaching industry, or to coaches, to the coaching industry or to
coaches.
But then, you know, I was about, I don't know, not even halfway
through the book and I was Iwouldn't say I was frustrated.
I'm certainly sticking with myhabit of reading from my
(02:18):
experience with 75 Hard, and I'mreally enjoying getting back
into that habit, for sure.
But I wasn't quite enjoying thisbook.
I wasn't seeing any realconnection to something that
lights me up, necessarily, but Ifound a nugget, y'all.
I was waiting for this thingand the nugget showed up.
(02:42):
It was something seeminglysimple, but I think it was
profound.
It was a simple statement thatsaid be where they aren't.
Now.
This stopped me in my tracksbecause, as coaches, I think
this phrase holds justtremendous power.
It's about being able to standout by doing the work that
(03:09):
others aren't willing to do,leaning into the depth and
commitment that is going to setyou apart or that does set you
apart from every other serviceprofessional, from every other
coach that's out there.
I think there's really twothings that I'm going to come
(03:33):
back to my point about thenugget here in a second and the
being where they aren't.
I'm going to try and tie thistogether, but I think there's
really two things, when we breakit down, that I believe are at
the heart of every successfulcoaching business.
They also seem simple, but it'swhere I see many people, many
(03:57):
coaches, getting stuck, gettingdistracted and avoiding in some
cases.
The first thing is coachingright.
To get better as a coach, youhave to coach.
There's no way around it.
Practice with anyone andeveryone that you can.
The difference between a goodcoach and a great coach is the
(04:22):
constant dedication to improvingour craft.
You learn and you grow fromevery single session that you
have and there's no shortcutthat can be found to mastery
like this.
The second thing that I believeis at the heart of every
successful coaching business isclient.
That I believe is at the heartof every successful coaching
(04:42):
business is client.
Building a business meanscreating clients and charging
for your work.
It's not about setting theperfect price.
You know that is an entirelydifferent conversation.
It's about starting where youare right now.
Whatever you are comfortablecharging other people and what
(05:05):
other people are willing to payyou right now.
Rich Litvin he's one of thecoaches that I've mentioned
before and I'm definitely afollower of his work, so to
speak, and I have workeddiligently to apply the
principles which I've've learnedfrom the book the Prosperous
(05:26):
Coach into my practice or mybusiness.
But my point has nothing to dowith any of that.
He's one of the coaches that Ifollow his work and I remember
hearing and reading a story thatyou know he charged his first
client 10 bucks a month.
So the amount doesn't matter.
What matters is that you start.
(05:47):
You start coaching, you startworking on building the business
.
These two things coaching andcreating clients are what will
make or break your coachingbusiness.
Everything else the branding,the logos, the fancy platforms,
tools, websites, whatever all ofthat can come later.
(06:08):
It can come anytime down theroad.
The number one thing that youneed in your business to be in
business is paying clients.
The number one thing that you,as a coach, need to do to
continue to improve yourbusiness and your coaching is to
coach those clients that arepaying you and those that might
(06:30):
not be coaching.
Coach your butt off.
So I wanted to come back to myoriginal point and try and tie
these together.
But what?
What does be where they aren'treally mean for us when we
consider this, and how does ittie into these two things?
I think it's pretty simple.
(06:51):
Really being where they aren'tis about doing the work that too
many others are avoiding today.
Today, I see so many peoplecoaches chasing shortcuts.
They're buying all the coursesthat promise the fast results or
they're looking for their hacksto build their business
overnight.
You know they see all theexcitement and potential of
(07:14):
these online businesses and youknow people who are very great
at marketing selling theircourses, and you know it's
exciting times to see how peoplehave been successful in this
space and it's really easy tolook at that and think that
there is a shortcut that's goingto get you there.
(07:36):
Now.
You've got your certificationor you've just chosen to put on
a coaching hat.
Whatever it may be.
I'm not discounting how you gotto this point today, but I'm
saying that there's no shortcut,you know.
Okay, so you've seen thesestrategies or these
advertisements, right, the, yourblueprint for a hundred
(07:57):
thousand in sales in just sixmonths.
Or your, my exact clientbuilding strategy that helped me
to build my million dollarcoaching business.
You know, taking your coachingfrom you know whatever number 5
000 to 20 000 in 30 days or less.
Uh, and look, my belief herereally is the reason these
(08:18):
programs seem so popular and forall intensive purposes they may
do well.
The first reason is they seemlike a shortcut, which we just
talked about, to what it is thatyou want as a coach.
Right, you want to build yourbusiness, you want to create
more income, you want to breakout of that nine to five,
whatever it is that you'relooking for.
(08:38):
These courses appeal to thosedesires.
But if we examine them, thesepeople are really good marketers
or they have a bunch of reallygood marketers supporting them.
I can think of some specificexamples, but I'm not knocking
anyone who's actually done thework and built their businesses
(08:59):
examples, but I'm not knockinganyone who's actually done the
work and built their businesses.
So I don't want to go intonames, but I do think that
there's some really greatbusiness leaders out there who
are offering some really greatproducts.
But even if you go back and lookat what they did, they worked
to get there.
They didn't just figure it out.
There was no magic involved.
There was certainly noshortcuts.
(09:19):
So it then makes me question insome of these courses that I've
just mentioned, what does theircoaching look like?
Sure, they were able to buildthese businesses, but was it by
selling these programs?
That is what really set themapart and not their coaching.
Is what really set them apartand not their coaching.
(09:41):
Anyway, I digress from that.
The truth is and you alreadyknow it, but it's worth saying
here again and again and againthere is no shortcut to doing
the real work.
We grow through coaching, weinvest in our own development,
(10:01):
we connect deeply with others.
These are non-negotiables.
If there's a shortcut to doingthese things, then I'd love for
you to share it with me, butthat's it.
I don't think they'renegotiable.
Now that I've said that, I wantto say I don't think there's a
shortcut to doing the work, butthere is a way to accelerate
(10:23):
your progress, and here's threepowerful ways to fast track your
success when it comes toprogress as a coach, not to be
confused with shortcutting thework.
So the first thing, that thefirst powerful way, rather, that
(10:46):
you can use to fast track yoursuccess is to hire a coach.
Every great coach I know has acoach.
A good coach will help you tonavigate challenges, avoid the
same mistakes that they've madeand that they've observed others
making, and you'll be able togrow faster as a person, as a
(11:07):
business leader, as a coach,than you could do on your own.
The second powerful way to fasttrack your success is to steal
from one of my coaches, cliff.
You know, upgrade your peergroup, find and join communities
.
You know that you canparticipate in with other
(11:29):
like-minded individuals.
But, you know, find thesespaces where you can connect
with others who are learning,growing and building businesses
in a community environment right, sharing ideas, challenging
each other.
The people around you, Ibelieve, can either push you
forward or they're going to holdyou back.
(11:49):
So be sure to choose yourpeople wisely.
And the third powerful way tofast track your success is to
join a mastermind.
Masterminds can be a gamechanger.
In smaller, focused groups youcan get personalized feedback,
(12:11):
usually, depending on howthey're structured, 8, 10, maybe
12 people.
So every couple of weeks youget your own space to share
something you're working on oryour ideas and get personalized
feedback that's catered to youand what you've brought to the
table from the community aroundyou those 10, 12, 10 or 11, I
(12:37):
guess other people you get youknow a different level of
accountability.
You gain perspectives from eachand every other person in the
room, whether you're joining oneor starting your own.
Joining a mastermind is apowerful way to grow, or not
joining but being part ofwhether it's yours or someone
(12:59):
else's being part of amastermind is a powerful way to
grow, both personally andprofessionally.
In the end, there really is noshortcut, in my opinion, to
doing the work, but you canimprove your success rate by
surrounding yourself with othersuccessful people, by
(13:21):
surrounding yourself with theright people, by investing in a
coach and investing in yourselfand leaning into the journey of
perfecting your craft, buildingyour business and doing the work
.
So are you committed to doingwhat it takes?
(13:41):
If this resonates with you,first of all, I'd love to hear
your thoughts.
You can send me a message.
Let's continue thisconversation.
If you're ready to explorecoaching or join a community,
I'd love to help you find theright resources for you.
I want to say thank you forstopping by and I'll see you in
(14:02):
the next episode, but before yougo, I want to say a couple
other things.
I've gotten a lot of questionsrecently about my approach to
client creation and my strategyor the way I'm working to build
my business.
So I have actually created anexclusive video where I break
(14:23):
down my process, what I've doneto build my coaching business.
It's based on the fourprinciples of the Prosperous
Coach and how I've taken themand adopted them and applied
them to my process and mybusiness.
So these are my ideas, takenfrom the four principles that
(14:44):
you can find in the ProsperousCoach written by Rich Litvin and
Steve Chandler, and I createdthis training video to share
with you what that looks likefor me.
If you're interested in thisvideo, it's available by request
.
Simply send an email to dan atdanwus and request your copy.
(15:05):
Just put video in the subjectline and I'll be sure to send
you the link.
If you're not alreadysubscribed to this podcast, hit
the follow button so you don'tmiss any future episodes and we
will talk again next week.
Thank you.
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