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July 22, 2025 12 mins

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Are you stuck in the endless cycle of trying to find the perfect niche, create a stunning website, and develop a flawless business strategy before you feel ready to coach? It's time to break free from this trap.

After guiding thousands of coaches through the early stages of their journey, we've discovered a powerful truth: the very things most coaches obsess over—niches, websites, business plans—are often the exact things holding them back from making the impact they're meant to make. This obsession with strategy isn't about confusion; it's about fear. Fear of being seen, fear of failing, fear of not being good enough.

The transformational shift happens when you realize that you don't become a coach by building a website; you become a coach by coaching. When you focus on what we call the "Three S's of Starting"—Service (practicing coaching through free conversations), Showing Up (creating visibility), and Specialty (speaking to real pain points)—everything changes. Your confidence grows with each person you help, and suddenly, the path forward becomes clear.

What's particularly fascinating is how your specialty or niche emerges organically from the work itself. As you coach more people, you'll notice patterns in who gravitates toward you and what problems you're especially adept at solving. This organic discovery is far more powerful and authentic than trying to force yourself into some predetermined box based on market research.

Ready to stop overthinking and start coaching? Our mini action plan will get you moving: message three people offering coaching, go live offering free clarity sessions, and record a video sharing your core message. Because remember, clarity doesn't come before action—it comes from action. What's really holding you back? And what impact could you make if you started today?
Subscribe now and join a community of coaches who are done with perfectionism and ready to make their unique impact on the world.

Want a personalized strategy session for free? Book a free call with Marc or Teresa: https://www.modernleadership.us/apply

Whether you're going through a challenge, or working on a powerful goal, join Marc or Teresa for a 20-minute strategy session and leave the call with a plan to make it happen!


Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you're a new or a stuck coach who's spinning out
thinking that you have to pickthe perfect niche, you have to
have the most beautiful website,we want you to pause right now.
Having coached thousands andthousands of coaches, we see
this happen over and over andover again, and today I want to
tell you what most people won'ttell you, and that is that you

(00:22):
don't need a niche, you don'tneed to have a website.
You just need to do what you dobest, which is coach.
That is what we're diving intotoday.
We are Mark and Teresa fromModern Leadership.
We help heart-centered coacheswho really want to make a huge
impact in the world but cansometimes talk themselves out of
doing those things, and that'sreally what we're going to dive
into today.

(00:42):
So we're breaking down todayexactly how new coaches start.
We've seen it by actuallytaking people through this
process and seeing them get moreclients, make more impact, make
more money and have moreresults, by focusing on things
that I feel like most coachesdon't focus on.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
All right.
So today's quote is you don'tbecome a coach by building a
website.
You become a coach by coaching.
I want to go into, kind of whywe overthink this right, why we
think that we need all of thesedifferent things before we
actually do the work.
One of the reasons why weprobably overthink this is

(01:21):
because we've actually beenconditioned to think like a
business owner before we reallylearn how to embody the identity
of a coach.
So, rather than really focusingon the actual work of becoming
a coach, we think that we needall of these bells and whistles,
like Mark said.

(01:42):
We think we need a website, wethink we need a niche, we think
we need all of the laundry listof things that we feel business
owners need to have before weactually become a coach or
before we actually coach someone.
And many times there's thisobsession with strategy.
We need the steps, we need thatstrategy, that business

(02:04):
strategy, before we can actuallycoach.
But what that actually meansthrough our coaching, we've
actually realized that a lot ofpeople do this because they're
in avoidance mode.
They don't want to actually dothe work.
We think we need to have all ofthese things in place and we
think everything needs to beperfect before we actually

(02:24):
become a coach, and thisperfectionism actually really
hides the real fear, and that isbeing seen or failing.
So those are the key things.
What is actually holding youback, like, think about it.
Is it confusion or is it fear?
What do you think is actuallyholding you back?
And what if this wasn'tactually about building a

(02:47):
business, right?
What if it was about becomingan actual coach?

Speaker 1 (02:52):
If you've ever thought this, like when you
first get in, start intocoaching, we know a lot of
people are excited about it.
They're excited about making animpact, asking questions,
helping guide people, all thatkind of stuff and then, before
you know it, the whole idea of abusiness comes to mind.
We've seen it happen time andtime again by coaches who are
really want to make an impactyes, want to make some income

(03:15):
but it derails them because nowthey're all thinking about the
strategy, like Teresa was saying, and they lose touch of the
thing that actually moves theneedle.
And, by the way, we're notsaying that you should never
have a niche, that you shouldnever have a business plan and
you should never have an LLCLike we would not say that.
But when you think abouttracking expenses, doing all
those kind of things, like youneed to have clients before you
can actually figure out what doyou need to track.

(03:35):
And even if you sat down andyou figured it out now, you're
going to probably change itthree or four more times, and so
it's a really big waste of timeas opposed to just getting out
there coaching, learning someframeworks, implementing them
and helping people, becausethere's nothing more powerful
than you changing someone's lifeand they're not going to be
like wait, do you have abusiness license?

(03:55):
To be honest, like people,don't even ask me if I have a
certification, because when youcan change somebody's life,
those things don't really matterthat much.
They matter more to us thanthey do to the clients, and we
realize that that's the case,and sometimes you put too much
action, too much energy into it,which is why the first part
really diving into why weoverthink this is an important
part of this process right, alot of people think that there's

(04:16):
one right, best, only way to dosomething, and that we have
found is false.
News is, anytime somebodyteaches you one right, best,
only way to do it and you feellike you have to do it, you
totally lose yourself in theprocess and you're back into
business mode instead ofactually coaching and leaning
into your strengths.
And so when we take peoplethrough this process and they

(04:36):
realize this isn't about a niche, a website or any of these
other things that people aretelling you about, it's actually
just about coaching people andgetting people to see that you
can change their life, talkingto people about their pain
points and their problems,rather than what niche you serve
.
That's really what moves theneedle, and it's because when
you focus on the things thatreally matter, everything else
falls apart, and yet this wholeidea of like procrastinating or

(04:58):
being uncomfortable it justdisappears because you're not
focused on all of those businesstype things.
So here's the thing I want toshare with you what actually
gets clients early on.
Okay, so this is not just fromme saying that this is what I
did, but this is like fromhelping coach hundreds and
hundreds of people to find theirfirst clients.

(05:18):
All right, this is what happensright Now.
We call this the three S's ofstarting.
Number one is the first S ofservice.
This is actually practicecoaching getting on free calls,
having real conversations.
We get a lot of people to getstarted with having free clients
for do some free coaching.
Because there's a mindsetswitch that happens when you

(05:41):
become an actual coach, when yourealize what you're doing is
impacting somebody's life.
It doesn't happen in onesession, it happens from you
actually coaching a human andyou can see when that mindset
shift happens of like, I'm notjust saying I'm a coach, I am a
coach Whether people pay me amillion dollars or not, I'm
gonna show up and I'm gonna beable to help them because that

(06:02):
is what I do.
That's why having realconversations, really doing
whatever you can, getting onfree calls to be able to develop
your coaching skill, will helpyou exponentially, not only at
attracting more clients, butknowing that you're a coach.
Because, just like we teach inthe be do have part of the
process.
You don't just start doingthings and then automatically

(06:23):
have the results.
You have to first becomesomebody different in the
process.
That's why we always startpeople off with coaching and
just coaching Free.
Some people do paid, but, likewe always say, there's no one
right way to do anything.
So even if we said there wasone right way, we also wouldn't
want you to believe that either.
There's multiple different ways, but it depends on really where
you're at.
But that's the first S isservice.

(06:44):
The second S is showing up.
Now we talk about this relatedto visibility, and that is like
getting people to know what youdo.
If you're a coach and you're apowerful coach and nobody knows
who you are, it's really hard tobe able to get people to see
that next step.
But also, you don't have tohave a million followers on IG
to make that kind of visibility,like there's five or 10 people

(07:05):
that if they knew you were acoach right now they would say
yes, and you would have someclients and you'd learn so much
through that process.
But you have to be visible.
So you have to be going outthere, showing up visibly and
letting people know what you do.
Because if nobody knows whatyou do and all you do is you
share inspirational quotes whichis great you'll see them on my
channel too, but you'll alsohear me talking about me

(07:26):
coaching my clients, me goingthrough specific things, me
teaching a certification, meteaching the coach accelerator,
because that stuff dropsbreadcrumbs.
So that people know what I do,you have to show up, and show up
visibly, so they know whatyou're doing.
The third S is specialty.
Now, what I don't mean byspecialty is your niche.
Some of you guys will have aniche and you'll love it and
it'll be amazing.
But what happens first is youdon't find your niche first and

(07:49):
then start coaching.
You start coaching and then youfind your niche and the
beautiful place there is, likewhen you start talking to real
people about real problems.
You will find out which peopletend to gravitate towards you.
They'll be like you are anexpert in this area.
I need your help in this area.
They don't care about yourniche.
They don't care how beautifulyour website is they're like.

(08:11):
If you can help me, I need thathelp.
Yes, as we grow, we're going toprobably talk about a niche.
We're probably going to puttogether a website.
We're going to do all thosethings.
But don't put the cart in frontof the horse.
So many times it happens inreverse, where you coaching
actually presents the niche toyou, one that you could have
never thought through in thefirst place, but because you're
actually helping people solvereal pain and real problems,

(08:33):
that's what puts you on the mapand the game changes forever.
So those are the three S'sService, meaning, get out there,
practice, coaching, showing up.
That means being visible,letting people know that you're
a coach and what you can do andthe impact that you can create.
And then specificity, talkingabout the pain points, the
problems that you help peoplesolve.
Now you can start figuring outall that other stuff right, but

(08:55):
that's after you're coachingpeople and you're having
conversations and you really,truly have that mindset shift
that you're a coach.
So remember you don't need aniche, you need to speak to
people like you understand whatsomebody is actually going
through.
That, my friend, is the gamechanger.
It'll be any niche, any day ofthe week, because when people
are like it's like you've beenreading my diary, it's like you

(09:17):
know what it is that I'm goingthrough.
Now you know you're speaking tosomebody in a way that makes
them feel like you get them.
It doesn't matter what yourniche is at that point, it's
just that you connected withthem on a really deeper level.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
I want to point out actual coaching, like going out
there and coaching peoplebenefits for free.
The biggest thing for me, whichis what I kind of learned
through, is the confidencethat's built up.
So I want to give you guys alittle mini action plan, so this
is something that you can dothis week.
So, number one message threepeople and offer to coach them.

(09:51):
So everybody knows at leastthree people I hope so.
If it could be anybody it couldbe a friend, it could be a
colleague, it could be a familymember, anybody that you would
be okay, reaching out to themand just offering you coaching.
And then I want you to go liveon Instagram or just post a
story offering a free claritysession or a free clarity chat,

(10:14):
whatever you want to call it,but offering a free service to
people.
And then I want you to recordone video or a voice note with
your core message.
Record one video or a voicenote with your core message.
So what is it that you trulybelieve you can help people with
?
What are your values, your corevalues that you want to spread

(10:34):
the message on?
I want you to record that andjust post it.
Post it raw, you don't have toedit it or anything like that.
It's what comes out of you,what's truly in your heart, and
I want you to do that.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
So one of the things that we do here, especially when
we're going to talk about ourModern Leadership Coaching
Academy, is it's not just aboutthe mindset shift, it's also
about getting you to perform andtake actions for you to achieve
something different.
Because, like Jim Rohn said, ifyou want something different,
you have to do somethingdifferent.
He didn't say you have to thinksomething different.
That's the first step, but thesecond step is you have to do

(11:14):
something different with it.
And so, when we fueled you inthe beginning with the mindset
piece, now we're getting intowhat is the tactical plan that's
going to help teach me thelessons that I need to learn?
Notice, I don't say this is thetactical plan for you to get
all of the clients that you'regoing to get this week and it's
going to help you sign 50clients.
We don't know that, but what Ican tell you is, if you don't do
any of these and you don't takeany action, you will have zero
clients, because then we'll befailing by default.

(11:36):
But when we lean into this andyou learn the lessons that these
three things are going to teachyou, you're going to come back
in two weeks and go three thingsare going to teach you.
They're going to come back intwo weeks and go this changed
the game.
I'm now coaching, I'm nowhaving these conversations and
now your next thing is going tobe like Mark, how do I actually
get them to want to actuallycontinue to sign up with me and
continue to be a part of myprograms?
All right, so the final truthdrop that we want to share with

(11:58):
you guys here is coaches don'tget clarity first and then take
action.
They take action and that's howthey get their clarity.
So clarity comes from action.
It doesn't come from waiting.
It doesn't come from thinkingit out.
It doesn't come from yourbusiness plan.
It doesn't come from youcreating your LLC, your tracking
spreadsheets none of that.
All of that stuff comes afteryou start implementing, you

(12:21):
start taking action and youstart helping some people.
All right, I appreciate you allfor your leadership.
Leaders are not defined wheneverything's going well.
They're not defined wheneverything gets handed to us,
and they're definitely notdefined when everything's smooth
sailing.
Leaders are defined becausethey're willing to do things
differently.
They're willing to show upanyway, they're willing to

(12:42):
experience the fear and then doit anyway, because you cannot
have bravery without fear first.
So thank you for being willingto lean in, thank you for doing
what you do out there everysingle day, and we'll see you
guys in the next video.
Bye, everybody.
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