#228: 3 Things Every New Life Coach Needs to Get Paying Clients

That beautiful coaching certificate? It’s not a client magnet on its own.

In this episode, I’m breaking down the 3 biggest blocks keeping newly certified coaches from building a profitable business—and how to overcome them without the overwhelm.

You’ll learn:

• Why “traffic” is your real problem (and how to fix it)
• How to stop offering free sessions and start coaching paying clients
• The real reason your offer isn’t selling (even if it sounds amazing)
• My 7-step visibility framework that helps turn strangers into dream clients

🎁 BONUS: Take the Client Readiness Score Assessment to find out which area of your business needs the most support. You’ll get a personalized report + video feedback from me.

📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Get your free 7-Step Coaching Biz Checklist → https://coachwithclients.com/coachingbizstarterchecklist

How to put your first coaching package together: https://youtu.be/zz_v9wSbeQU

How to price your coaching package: https://youtu.be/CFKSDiuv2NI

#LifeCoachMarketing #NewLifeCoach #GetCoachingClients #OnlineCoachingBusiness #CoachCertification #VisibilityStrategy #CoachingOffer #ClientAttraction #LifeCoachHelp #CoachingTips #BusinessForCoaches #CoachingWithoutSocialMedia

Drop me a line and share your thoughts!

Support the show

Meet Your Host:

Hey, I’m Michelle — The coaches’ coach.

I'm a visibility marketing strategist who helps female coaches simplify their message, stand out, and scale their business without the hustle.

I believe your coaching business should feel beautiful and profitable — without sacrificing your sanity, your weekends, or your personality.

Through magnetic messaging, simple marketing systems, and smart visibility strategies, I help you build a brand that clients can’t help but say, “OMG, that’s who I need!”

More clarity, more clients, more champagne moments. 🥂

Because building your dream business shouldn’t be a nightmare — it should feel like coming home.

🐦 SOCIAL STUFF:

Instagram ➔ / elevatelifecoach
Facebook ➔ / coachmichellekuei
Linkedin ➔ / michellekuei
Website ➔ http://elevatelifecoaching.org

Episode Transcript

Michelle Kuei (00:00):
As a life coach, being certified for the very
first time, it is exciting.
And there you are holding on tothat certification, and you're
wondering this has been thethings that I've always wanted
to do to change life, makingmore impact, and sharing what I
have learned on this journey tohelp someone else who might be

(00:20):
experiencing the same thing.
Most newly certified coacheshit one, if not all three profit
bloggers that we're going totalk about.
Hey coach, welcome to Make ItVisible Podcast.
I'm Michelle Quay, yourvisibility marketing coach, and
I help female life coaches toget seen in all the right

(00:41):
places, attract happy payingclients, and build a coaching
business that actually feelsgood to run.
Even if you are still trying tofigure things out.
Each week I'm giving youvisibility tips, simple
marketing strategies, andshowing you how to create the
kind of content that connectswith your audience so that you
can stand out, build yourauthority, and attract clients

(01:03):
who's already feeling like a yesbefore they jump onto your
discovery call.
So grab a notebook, pouryourself a favorite drink, and
that's make your coachingbusiness visible.
Today we are going to talkabout the three essential
fundamental things that everylife coach needs to have.

(01:24):
And this is also the area whereI believe a lot of coaches are
experiencing when it comes tonot knowing how to get paying
clients.
And it falls in one of allthese three areas.
And you'll be surprised howmany coaches have no idea that
these three areas is the magiccircle that you're going to need

(01:46):
to conquer in order to have acoaching business.
So, what are those three areas?
First, you need to have theskill in coaching others and
helping them to get the resultthat they want to accomplish,
which undoubtedly, if you'reholding a certification, then
chances are you have alreadylearned the skill that you need
in order to deliver the resultthat your clients want to

(02:07):
accomplish.
The next circle is the offer,which aka is your coaching
package.
Most of us, when we firststarted out, that offer doesn't
need to be complicated.
It could be four sessions,however much that you're going
to charge, or it could be eightweeks, 12 weeks, however that
you design and you want yourcoaching business that first

(02:28):
package to look like.
I'm going to share someresources below this video to
show you how you can put yourfirst package together down in
the description box.
And to be honest, that circleis probably the easiest thing to
do now with the help of ChatGPT.
You might be staying up at 2a.m.
in the morning and askingChatGPT, help me put a package

(02:50):
together.
And ChatGPT will do just that.
Except now you are sitting withtons of ideas and you have no
idea of which one to pick.
So my video is going to helpyou to identify exactly how to
put that first coaching packagetogether.
Now the next circle you'regoing to see is the traffic
circle.
And this, my friend, is thebiggest challenge for all life

(03:12):
coaches who are trying to getthemselves out to build a
coaching business and havepaying clients.
Traffic means that somebodyneeds to know that you exist.
No matter how big or small theaudience would be, even a small
audience is not the problem.
The problem is that the smallaudience are filled with people

(03:34):
who love you and they wouldprobably never hire you in the
first place.
I mean, let's face it, friendsand family can cheer you up, but
when it is time for you toshare your offer, share your
package, getting them to knowyour skill, they're probably not
the most ideal clients that youever dream of.
So you end up doing one or twothings.

(03:56):
One is to fill your calendarwith networking events, hoping
that maybe the referral willtrigger in or trying to show up
online only to find yourselffeeling overwhelmed and
swallowed by all the noisethat's online.
And unless you got somethingtruly unique to say, it is very
easy to feel the burned outbefore you actually break

(04:18):
through.
So at the end, if you areunable to fill the traffic
circle, meaning new people needto come and know your business,
then you don't have any clientto fill the bucket for your
coaching skill.
Then even you are able to get acouple of pro bono clients, you

(04:40):
won't be able to sell youroffer or your package.
And that becomes a viciouscycle of I don't have the
traffic and therefore mycoaching skill gets really
rusty.
So in order to keep up thecoaching skill, you end up
offering more pro bono.
Maybe it's among your peersbecause I need these practice

(05:02):
sessions.
I mean, practice is great, butreal confidence comes from
coaching, paying clients, anddeliver those results to those
real clients who trust you tohelp them to transform in the
first place.
But it is not your fault.
It stems from that firstproblem that I talked about
before, which is your trafficproblem.
If no one knows about you,chances are you're not going to

(05:25):
fill the bucket with yourcoaching skill.
And therefore, no matter howbeautiful and how amazing your
package, you created, no one isgoing to buy.
So you might be sitting thereand wondering, okay, Michelle,
but how do I solve it?
So, in order to solve thisproblem where your traffic is
not bringing enough people toexperience your coaching skill

(05:48):
and to therefore to buy yourpackage, then there are actually
seven steps that we need tofocus on.
And these are the seven stepsthat helps you to bridge the gap
and moving your audience from,well, I have a problem here and
I'm looking to hire a coach tohelp me to solve this problem,

(06:09):
to I am ready to invest.
And it takes a total of sevensteps in order to accomplish
this from turning your strangerinto your dream client.
What are those seven steps?
These seven steps includedefine and identify.
This includes defining yourmessage, defining who you're

(06:29):
helping with what, and howyou're going to help them.
It also includes how you'regoing to position yourself in
this busy and crowded market sothat your ideal client can see
you and they will be able toidentify you as the coach that
they want to work with.
The next step is to express it.
Now that you know who you'rehelping with what and how you're

(06:51):
going to help them with, youneed to have a way of
articulating your message sothat those who need to hear can
actually hear it and feel likethey're being seen.
And this one you might haveheard it a lot of time, where
marketers encourage you todeliver the value.
But what does that even mean?
So illustrating your value, itmeans that not only do you

(07:14):
illustrate the skills that youhave as a life coach, you also
illustrate why your dream clientwants to hire you in the first
place.
And that can often accomplishby doing all the things that
you've been doing on socialmedia, including creating
content, posting on social,creating real.
There's reason and purposebehind all the things that you

(07:36):
do in your coaching business, inyour marketing strategy.
Next, we have visibility.
Visibility is not just aboutshowing up online when you feel
like it.
Visibility is about having arhythm of how you're showing up,
where you're showing up.
So platform is important.
If you're picking the wrongplatform, of course, you hear
cricket.
So you have to decide whichone-to-two platform that you

(08:00):
would like to take ownership andyou would like to be on
regularly, that includes on yourroutine basis.
Once you have the visibilityand your next step is to start
enrolling your clients.
And there's a strategy of howyou can invite someone to your
calendar and not just, there'smy calendar and go book a call.
Because we all know that's nota perfect strategy.

(08:22):
And most likely your clientwill be sitting in front of a
blank screen and they'rethinking, Well, why should I be
booking a call?
That's a commitment.
Help me understand why I amcommitted to booking a call with
you.
And therefore, I can trustyou're going to do something
with me on that call.
Otherwise, nowadays our time isvaluable.
And last but not least, theseventh step is to be able to

(08:45):
repeat the process and knowingand identifying which and where
do I need to fix the gap.
So these are the seven stepsthat would help you to stop that
profit blocker, whether it'sthe traffic, the skill, or the
offer, you need to have theperfect three triangle in order
to have a profitable business.
Now, if you're curious aboutwhich of the seven areas that

(09:10):
you have the weakest link,there's an assessment down below
this video.
You can take an assessmentusing the link below, and I'm
going to send you a personalizedreport to show you exactly
which of the seven areas thatyou need to improve on.
And I will personally deliver acustomized video to you to go
over the report, or you cansimply book a call and we can

(09:32):
discuss your report in much moredetail.
So the bottom line is once youhave the certification, that is
only the beginning.
The journey continues.
And if you want a profitablecoaching business, not only
being able to make impact, butsomething that you're excited to
wake up to.
Because there's a lot of thingsthat's changing in 2026 with

(09:57):
the incorporation of AI and allthese different coaches using
AI, what makes you stand out isthat personalization and how
much you understand your client,how much you're willing to
deliver what they truly want,that is going to help you to
make you stand out in thiscurrent market.
Thank you for listening to MakeIt Visible Podcast.

(10:23):
If you love this episode andwant deeper support for your
coaching business, head over toelevate lifecoaching.org and see
how we can partner together toturn your passion into a
profitable business.
I help female coaches launchand scale their coaching
business faster than everwithout wasting time and money,
filling the gaps in yourmarketing strategies, creating a

(10:45):
simple and easy to followsystem so you can accelerate on
the path of coaching businessthat you love to wake up to.
Head over toelevateelifecoaching.org and
grab a free strategy out oftoday.