[Transcript starts at 1:23]
Maestro: Hello, hello, hello my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. Today we are talking about how to choose an online business coach. There are a zillion eleventy billion to be specific and precise, eleventy billion coaches in the online business space, and I honestly don't think that it's that difficult to choose one that will be quote unquote right for you.
So I wanna break that down in today's episode. I'm gonna flip this around though this episode, and I'm going to yes, say what I do first, because I am an online business coach, and I have realized in the past, I don't know, month or so, people will be like, I don't know what you do. How do we actually do? I feel like you could help me, but I'm not sure.
So, you know what? I'm gonna say it first in this episode. If you wanna skip through it, that's totally fine. Um, but I'm gonna talk about my business coaching and then speak about how I would go about and how I suggest you go about finding and selecting an online business coach if you think that one would be helpful for you.
Right off the bat, I, I actually should say, I do not subscribe to the phrase coaches need coaches. Coaches can benefit from coaches. But this need and like putting this on somebody else, you don't know what people need. So don't say that. Maybe you need a coach. Oh, maybe I need a coach. But you don't say that as a blanket statement, right?
So this coaches need coaches, I think it's a kind of a phrase that's used to like sell people, sell coaching, so I don't like it. If you want a coach, you think that's gonna help you out. Amazing. I wanna help kind of simplify that process for you of, of finding and choosing, more specifically choosing an online business coach.
So my expertise is in helping health and fitness professionals build online personal brands. That's it. Can I work with brick and mortar? Absolutely. Can I work with more of a business? Absolutely. But I will still put that spin of a kind of a personal brand on it, because that is where my expertise lies, and it's in the online space, and it's most specifically with health and fitness professionals.
I offer a handful of different ways, different services to help folks accomplish this task and, and get this outcome. I do one-off consulting calls. I call them Maestro Meetings. They are an hour long and that is where we can honestly talk about whatever you want. But usually that's a strategy session and we're breaking down, you know, what direction people want to go, specific things to implement to get them to the next step. Um, and again, the bigger picture is really building that personal, that personal brand in the online space.
I do monthly coaching, it's called the Maestro Mentorship. Everyone starts with a Maestro Meeting first. So a single consult. We always start there. And then if people want more handholding, they want more continued ongoing support, then we can talk about going into the Maestro Mentorship, which is monthly, and their support in between the actual calls and I use Voxer for that. Some people just sign up for monthly, or excuse me, for Maestro Meetings, just, you know, every six weeks, every eight weeks, you know, every few months. That's fine as well. Autonomy is sexy.
Y'all know I run my Instagram Inten Intensive, which is a six week online group coaching program that teaches health and fitness pros exactly how to use Instagram for online business.
We'll run the next round, which will be round 14. We will do that in starting in around September. If you wanna get on the wait list for that, we will link that in the show notes. Thank you, Courtney.
I run my Maestro Mafia, which is a membership for self-directed online business owners who are looking for community support and resources to help them grow their online business. We meet twice a month. I run calls there. It is my solution to these insanely high price points when some people just need a little bit of help. They need a community more so than they need specific guidance for their specific problem. If you want to know more about that, that's pretty much invite only, it's the Mafia.
Shoot me a DM, shoot me an email, shoot me a text, 3 1 0 7 3 7 2 3 4 5, and I will give you more information about that.
Uh, and then lastly, uh, my highest ticket item is gonna be Legacy. That is the six month mentormind that I run with my girl, JillFit, and that's for intermediate plus online business owners who want to grow their online business. That program is bomb. Um, honestly, the people who do the best in Legacy oftentimes have gone through the Intensive, they've gone through Jill's FBA program and then they go into Legacy. Um, if you want to get on the wait list for that, we will be opening up applications in October, uh, 2023, this year. Um, we'll link that in the show notes as well.
If you're like, may, sure you talk so goddamn damn fast. I'm not really sure what you said. Well, I have a transcript as well, but, um, if you're wondering if it'd be a good fit or you just wanna kind of talk through things, I also offer free 15 minute discovery calls.
I'm not gonna solve your problems during that time. Um, they're really just to see if we'd be a good fit, if I can actually help you, and then point you in the direction of what service I think you'd be the best fit for. So we will link all of that in the show notes. Thank you, Courtney. So let's get into this.
How do you find, how do you choose an online business coach? I will say, to start off with, I want you to understand that it all works, right? Quote unquote works. All the different approaches that are out there, they work to some extent, to some degree. The question that I really want you to be asking yourself is, what does it mean when something works? AKA what's the outcome that you truly are looking for, you specifically are looking for?
Next, ask yourself, will this approach work for me? Because an approach that works for someone may not work for somebody else. Yes, it all works, but again, it may not work for everyone. And then lastly, do you want to do the type and amount of work that is required for each of these approaches?
Things to think about because again, every coach is gonna come in with their own approach and they all work to an extent, to a degree. Who they work for is gonna be, is gonna be different and dependent. And whether or not it will work for you, it's gonna be specific to you. And whether or not you want to do what that person is suggesting is going to be specific to you.
So yes, I clearly have an approach that I feel is best. I'm saying in one breath, you know, on one hand everything can work. But yes, I also still feel that there is a best or more ideal approach. I have that organic approach. Um, it's human-centered and it's based in relating. I'm all about content creation and content marketing.
I show up this way. I lead this way. I teach about this. I talk about this. I look to attract people who want to implement and utilize that same approach. I don't force things. I'm very big on attraction marketing, which can be thinking about kind of pulling people in, not pushing them into making decisions.
I don't look to convince people. I don't like hard sales. I prefer to wait to create. I wanna see like, Hey, what do people actually need? What are they asking for? Okay, cool. I'm not gonna try and create a market or create interest that isn't there. Right. I, I really have a, um, an approach of ease, which will make things slower than if you're like, you know, pedal- can make things slower than, than if you're like, pedal to the metal, do the most. But that's not the approach that I take.
I also know on the flip side that there are business models that are purely based in paid traffic. I am organic traffic. There are some models that are purely paid traffic where it's just we are never, ever even gonna be on social media. It's just create this thing, run ads to it, create funnels, and go from there.
That's not the approach that I like, so I don't teach that. To me, it's not objectively bad, it's not wrong or anything like that. Again, everything can quote unquote work. I do what feels good for me. I teach that and I lead with that, and that's what I look to help people do to find their success.
I also know that there are some business models that I do think that are just inherently bad, that really look to prey on people's pain points and their insecurities, and they give them false promises, and it's a bit of a bait and switch. That does exist out there. And I think that is objectively not good. Uh, but I wanna give you the overview of, of, of what what I see is out there, what I, I know what, what I do.
Honestly, the majority of things, again, I, I can't say this enough. The majority of approaches out there, they do quote unquote work, which means that they can bring you some level of success. The point of this episode, perhaps even more so than helping you with like the steps to choose a coach, is to simply highlight the fact that all the approaches work so that you go and take action.
I am privy to so many people, I have a firsthand, you know, first row seat to so many people that are just really struggling with analysis paralysis and information constipation, and they're just, what about this one? What about this one? What about this one? And honestly, it drives me crazy. And I don't want it for you. Right? If I'm gonna soften that message and, and think about Allegra Stein and, um, Strength Finders, the Clifton Clifton Clifton Strength Finders assessment.
Is it Clifton? Either way, the StrengthFinders assessment. Someone who likes to have a lot of information and compare things, that's not a bad thing, right? It's not a negative trait, and it's likely inherent to you. You, you high in this skill, right? You're high in this strength, which is learner, and you like to acquire a lot of information, right?
Nothing inherently wrong with that, but to me it can be problematic if your goal is to actually get shit done. If you're like, I want this outcome, but all that I'm doing is sitting here and comparing all these things, you're not gonna get to that outcome. So I wanna kind of help give you some information or give you some, I want to give you some information to help push you through that or help you get past that, right? And I need you to understand, I want you to understand that action and and experience will always be your best teachers. And if you're doing things that actually move you forward, not just pushing food around your plate, you're actually eating it, no time is wasted. Because learning your no, learning what you don't like, that's just as valuable as learning what you do like, right? Learning what you don't want to be doing, what you don't want, just as valuable as learning what you do want to be doing. And oftentimes it's an easier route for people.
You know, we definitely do have people go through the in, um, not the inten. Yes, I'll say the Intensive as well.
I have had people go through the intensive and be like, fuck Instagram, I don't wanna do it. And I'm like, that's amazing. I'm glad you learned that. And now you don't have to spend any more time doing it. You can outsource it. Get rid of it. Love it.
Uh, we have people go through Legacy and they're just like, I don't want to, I don't wanna do it like this.
I don't want this. It's too much. And I'm like, that's an incredibly valuable lesson to learn. So, as it relates to choosing this coach and, and kind of finding this coach, obviously for me, finding it's gonna be largely in the online space and word of mouth, but the three things I want you to consider when you are choosing an online business coach are as follows:
number one, trust your gut and use common sense. If it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true. If the things they're promising, you're like, ah, I don't know about that. Like, make $10,000 in a day? Seems too good to be true. It's too good to be true. It's a lie. Don't, they're, they're doing shitty tactics.
Shady tactics. Don't fall for that. Take some personal responsibility. I do see some wild claims out there, and while I don't want, you know, the business coaches to be saying that and doing that, I also just want savvy customers. You know, if it's too good to be true, people, it's too good to be true.
Second thing to consider if you're, if and when you're looking to hire a business coach and you want to choose a business coach, is ask yourself, does this person have the same values as me?
Simple. Do they have the same values? Do we have shared values? A very simple way to kind of reframe that question is, would I wanna trade places with this person? What does their life look like? And again, this is why it's can be nicer with social media and people that kinda share their lives. So you can see, you know, what they, what they let you in, in on, but, would you wanna trade places with them? Do they have kids? If you don't want kids, then maybe you're like, that's not the coach for me. I don't know. Like, they have a different lifestyle. Or, or, or vice versa, right? Maybe they don't have kids and you're like, I don't know. Like they, maybe they, they're not gonna understand and like, you know, I don't want that.
Cool. So when we're looking to see about these values, and if they line up, look at their content, look at how they're showing up on social media, ask previous clients, reach out to the people that they list, ask them, ask if you can reach out. I will gladly, I would ask my people if I could. I've done it in the past where I've put in my emails that, Hey, you know, these three people said if you have any questions, reach out to them and they're happy to answer. Reach other people that are in the testimonials.
I've had actually people do that as well. Um, I provided a testimonial for KneesOverToesGuy, and I'm like on his website, and I've had people, I just had one the other day, someone reach out and ask about the program and they'd ask about, actually they wanted a provider. They were like, do you still treat? And I was like, absolutely not, sir.
Absolutely not. Um, but, reach out. Ask people.
Uh, and then lastly, within this looking to identify shared values is look at their marketing. How they reach you is what they'll teach you. If they're doing shady shit in their marketing, that's what they're gonna teach you. If you found them through an ad, there's a good chance that at some point they're gonna teach you to run ads, which is not a bad thing.
Again, paid traffic's not a bad thing. But let's think about what is being sold. I, this ad keeps getting served to me, and it's about this, it's this, people that do Instagram coaching, basically. But it gets served to me as an ad and I'm like, you're teaching people how to grow on Instagram, but you're growing and reaching people through ads.
So I'm guessing part of their, what they're gonna teach is going to be about ads. So just keep that in mind. How they reach you is what they will teach you, or at least what they should teach you.
The third thing to consider when looking to choose an online business coach is, has this person helped other people, other people, achieve the outcome that I want?
Two parts to this. One, I strategically didn't make outcome the first and this of these three points, right. Because all approaches work. So I don't want you to be like, well, can this person get me the thing I want? That shouldn't actually be first in my opinion. First is use your, use your brain. Use your common sense and trust your gut.
Second is shared values. Ask yourself, does this person have the same values or at least do we have shared values, we have values in common? And then it's, can this person get me the outcome I want based on the fact that they've gotten it for other people. Right. And the, that's kind of two part there because it is super important to me that they have helped other people do it.
I see a lot of, on a lot of bullshit marketing that's basically, I did it, so can you. I did it, you can do it too. That's objectively not true. There can be grossly different scenarios and circumstances and just differences between people that that is not the case. So I want to see that they have gotten results for as many different types of people as possible.
The only exception to this is if, let's say the person that you're thinking about working with is super new and you are a bold, daring, and I love you for this early adopter, then you gotta kind of just go on the first one, which is, what are those shared values? And ideally if it's the shared values of, you know, they're benevolent and they got a lot of integrity, then, yeah, you can trust them. You're like, cool. I'm the first person, and then I trust that they're gonna help me to get better. I trust that they're gonna put in all the effort and the time that they can to get me, to get me the result that I want because they care. And I know they care because we have these shared values, right? We have these values in common.
Those are the three things. Oh, that's it. The three things I want you to consider when you're choosing a coach. I told you I wanted to simplify it. I don't think it has to be this big, long thing. Once you find this person, pay- and you pay them, take their advice. Nothing changes if nothing changes.
People like buy programs, sign up for things and they don't fucking do it because they think that the transaction is the transformation and that's not true. The transaction, or excuse me, the transformation starts with the transaction, but it's not the transformation, you know, entirely. You have to actually do the things. Nothing changes if nothing changes. And I want you to be a good scientist. So if you're that person that tends to like, like a lot of different things, you are gonna end up with too many cooks in the kitchen. You got 17 coaches you're working with, you'll never know what is actually working. We want one variable at a time.
Squeeze all the juice outta that, learn all the things, and then we can go on to the next coach. And even if you didn't get the result necessarily that you wanted a hundred percent, you still very much likely learned something from this part, this particular experience that you can bring into the next of like, I like being coached like this, I don't like being coached like that. We tried this approach. Here's what we found. Here's, you know, the debrief from that. What can we change? Right? There's a lot of valuable information that can be taken away from that experience.
Of note, I personally don't need someone to have the exact same lived experience as me in order to hire them.
And I think that this can be a shortcut and a hack at times. Point number three, right, from before of the things to consider is, has this person helped other people achieve the outcome that I want? It's not necessarily how they themselves achieved it. Yes, that's gonna be part of it, but, if it's just, I did it, you can do it too.
That's bullshit. And I think that there's a little bit of a shortcut or a little bit of a hack here in learning from the experiences and the mistakes of other people, especially when these people are privy to things that I, that I wouldn't be privy to and that are all helpful to me. So I'm thinking about someone like Danny Matta, where like I learned a ton from him and he's definitely, you know, been privy to rooms that I just didn't have access to. So I don't need him to have the same exact shared life experiences as me in order to learn from him. I think that it can be incredibly helpful to really get out of some of your silos and things like that and learn from, from other people. Right. So that's just my opinion on that.
Um, and I kind of bring it up because I do see people, I think, not I think, I see people that they wanna learn from someone who looks like them. And I get it. I understand it. The familiarity that that is there, but I think that that can sometimes hold you back. So it's just some food for thought there.
Last thing here before we wrap it up is, this is a personal approach that I take. I cannot covet the outcome if I am not willing to commit to the process. One more time. I cannot covet the outcome if I am not willing to commit to the process. So, When we're thinking about hiring someone, we're thinking about taking a business approach, we have to go in and do all the things that begets that success, right? Jill's success, JillFit, my business partner, her success is not a fluke. She's, she is the hardest working person that I know. Like, I literally do not know someone who in the online space, who works harder than this woman. So, to me, using her as an example, I don't ever want someone to say that they want Jill's success, but they're not willing to sign up for her process and do all the things that she does, right? This is a complete comparison. I did an entire episode about this, right?
So as it relates to choosing an online business coach, understand that all the approaches they quote unquote work. The question is, what does it mean to you if something works? What does success look like for you?
Will this approach work for you? And do you want to do the type and amount of work that is required for that specific approach? I gave you three things to consider. All right? Number one, trust your gut. Use common sense. Number two, ask yourself, does this person have the same values as me? That's, and to my opinion, that's, you know, the most important thing.
Number three, has this person helped other people achieve the outcome that I want. And then you pick one and you do it. Stop jumping around and looking for a million years. Information constipation. Analysis paralysis. Pick one based on those things. Go all in, do the things, take the lessons away, and then you can go from there.
If you wanna see if we'd be a good fit, all the things are linked in the show notes. You can hop on a discovery call, would love to chat with you. But either way, my goal is to help you build, create, and live your best life. And if that involves having a business coach, hiring a business coach, those are my suggestions for finding one that will be a good fit.
All right. Officially wrapping it up. As always, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you. Until next time, friends, Maestro out.
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