Exposing the Marketing Myths of Business Coaching Programs

Speaker 1 Hello and welcome to today's podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Jelly Jarvis, and today we're talking about why the business coaching industry is broken and how it is damaging your business.

Speaker 1 So this is a topic which is very, very close to my heart. It is an area that I've been involved in now for the last seven years.

Speaker 1 I have seen firsthand the impact this has had on so many people's businesses. I regularly do initial calls with people.

Speaker 1 They come to me wanting help and so we get on a call to determine what help is best for them and so often I hear the same sort of stories people being misled, missold, given the wrong sort of information, given the wrong direction for their business, not supported in the right way, not having the foundations there and being charged an awful lot of money for the privilege.

Speaker 1 Obviously it gives the industry a bad name. It makes people question and be less trusting of the biz ops and business coaching industry but it also absolutely ruins people's businesses.

Speaker 1 It ruins their lives and it costs them so much money, a debilitating amount of money and gets people into debt. So how does this happen and what is going on?

Speaker 1 Well Basically, you know, the industry as a whole, it's not regulated. There are obviously different organizations that people can be part of.

Speaker 1 They can do further education and training in sales and marketing, but there isn't

Speaker 1 an overall regulator of the industry, and therefore, people can make claims, people can sell whatever they want to sell with very little repercussions.

Speaker 1 This is like those scenarios where you're in a restaurant and there's a group of individuals, and they're a bit loud. So, then everybody else has to talk that little bit louder so they can be heard.

Speaker 1 And before you know it, the room is so noisy, so loud, you can't hear each other speak because of that initial catalyst. That is what is going on in the coaching coaching industry.

Speaker 1 There's a lot of people trying to get your attention. There's a lot of people who are trying to push and shove and get in front of you with their message, with their offers, with their opportunities.

Speaker 1 And, you know, in all honesty, a lot of them are genuine offers. But there is obviously, like anything, a minority.

Speaker 1 And it's that hype, that sensationalization that, you know, you get on that hype train of one person says one thing.

Speaker 1 And so therefore, you need to have a make more compelling argument for using your offer. And so it goes on.
You know, that leads to hype, it leads to sensationalization and it leads to over-promising.

Speaker 1 And then people sign up to things on this expectation that, you know what, I'll just sign up.

Speaker 1 And basically, it will all magically happen because that individual has over-promised in their marketing on how easy it is on the ease at which that you can do the implementation and turn your business around or create that business that you are after.

Speaker 1 I've had four conversations alone this week with new clients where I've said to them, look, you are still searching for that silver bullet and the thing is is that silver bullet that fast solution to your problem that thing that's going to make your business just absolutely boom and take off overnight is something that people are more and more seeking because that's what's being promised so they've got we've got into this kind of frenzy where people are promising in their marketing and so people are expecting people are searching for that quick way that quick fix and in all honesty as a population there seems to be a tendency to go that way too There is an increased expectation that things should be easier than what they are.

Speaker 1 And that means that people who would be previously knuckling down and following the steps are getting distracted very, very easily and are going out there looking for a new alternative all the time.

Speaker 1 That means that none of the processes, none of the systems that they are being taught, they're actually implementing enough to get a result.

Speaker 1 Another thing here, guys, is there are so many different ways to build your business. You will go to one individual and they will tell you about a way of generating leads in your business.

Speaker 1 You'll go to another guru and they'll share with you their way. And the thing is, is these, all these ways are very valid.
There are so many ways to build a business.

Speaker 1 The key thing is, is to find a way, to find an individual, to find an approach that works for you. I remember a good few years ago now looking at somebody on Instagram and thinking, you know what?

Speaker 1 Yeah, they absolutely have.

Speaker 1 exploded their audience what they're doing is really working but when i looked at their videos there was so much sort of infotainment there were so many sort of silly crazy things that they were doing and i am one of those people who i feel a little bit self-conscious dancing i am not going to feel comfortable dressing up in outfits and doing the weird and wonderful entertaining things that this individual was doing and so surprisingly when i came to take their course it wasn't the kind of activities that were going to work for me they were not the type of things that i could pull off and implement well in my business it wasn't me so that's the key thing here is is finding finding an individual, finding approach from all these approaches that are out there that you think, you know what, it might take me a little bit out of my comfort zone.

Speaker 1 I might need guidance on this, but I can do this. I can see myself doing this and be comfortable and grow increasingly comfortable doing it.
But that word has come up already consistently.

Speaker 1 And that's the thing is, is consistency, doing something consistently, is what will get you results.

Speaker 1 It is that having that implementation and having that trust in the implementation, the belief belief that what you are doing will yield you a result i had a client recently who started on one of my programs and she was what possibly one of the most skeptical people that i've ever met she has been around for two three years taking her business very seriously she had looked at all the different guru ways of building her business she'd taken some of the low-level courses and this is one of the things that i'm going to come loop back to in a minute is is the impact of low-priced courses.

Speaker 1 I have low-priced courses too.

Speaker 1 And the thing is, is those low-priced courses, they only give you that tip of the iceberg firstly because they're normally short on time so that there's a low time commitment so that you are willing to do it secondly then some people still don't manage to do that low low sort of time commitment time frame and so they're not getting the full picture and thirdly it is at a low price point which means that at that low price point you are paying for a small amount of information why should that individual give you thousands upon thousands of of pounds worth of information for you know two three dollars it's just insane.

Speaker 1 Um, so you're going to get you know that amount of value back.

Speaker 1 And sometimes people are blown away, people get blown away by my three-dollar course where they're like, oh, you know, this is worth hundreds.

Speaker 1 Um, yeah, but it's not worth the thousands that I have that clients pay me to look at their business and to give them very clear direction on their specific business and their specific scenario.

Speaker 1 And that is where the true value and the true change can be created.

Speaker 1 And so, what's happening is people are going around, they're getting a superficial understanding of all these different activities they're having to make up the rest for themselves or you know add the dots together of free information and then

Speaker 1 they're not getting the result and then over time they get jaded and so they come to me like the lady that I had on my program called Karen Yes, she was actually called Karen.

Speaker 1 I'm not trying to keep her anonymous. And she was, you know, I'm not convinced this isn't going to work.
This isn't going to do it for me. And I was like, you know what? Just stick with it.

Speaker 1 Just do the actions.

Speaker 1 She had KPIs, so key performance indicators that she was hitting week on week with our interactions and our posting etc etc on our organic activity and she did see the results she did see the momentum that momentum grew within her business and she got to the stage where she absolutely smashed the target of her 12k in 12 weeks which was amazing she made an additional um 14k in new business on top of the the business she was already bringing in um for her business which was fantastic and you know it proved to her it gave her the confidence that actually this stuff works and when you get the confidence you can keep doing it but doing it alone um doing it in isolation and doing it with very little knowledge and can be really really tough going and that can lead to you feeling very much disillusioned with what's going on and the information that's going out there if people are telling you look this way works you're doing it and it's not working there's only so many times you're going to listen to that before you stop believing it and that's why it's really important to preserve yourself and preserve your own understanding and own outlook on that you know the support that is available and so you know reducing that noise so select to see fewer ads if you've opened up your news feed and you've got ad after ad with the new shiny approach the new silver bullet the the new shiny thing that's going to get you the results fast and with effortless and with ease whatever it is they're promising and then select to see fewer of them you can click in that top right hand corner those dots and you can choose to see fewer of those ads okay you can also that in the in the process of this it this will change your reference points so you'll stop seeing as much of that and you'll start to see more of other stuff and you know having the right people in your feed having the right people in your world listening to the right podcasts reading the right books books that inspire you which share with you a journey that somebody else has gone on so that you don't feel so alone okay getting involved in some of the the Facebook groups that are out there like my group but there are so many for people in business and for women in business to help you feel not alone, to give you information and give you that support when things aren't going quite so well.

Speaker 1 So look at your network, look at who you're surrounding yourself with.

Speaker 1 I've had a couple of conversations recently and actually I did a reel on it where I was talking about if your social feed makes you feel depressed, if you don't like your social feed, if it feels stuffy, if it feels insincere, if it feels full of sensationalization, if it's full of annoying people who are always pushing their own agenda and coming up with ridiculous things, then change it.

Speaker 1 okay you can choose to not follow those people you can choose to snooze those people but change your reality change your environment okay and with that it would change your reference points and your expectation of what is going on and what is real okay find those people that are really sharing their true journey and I'll come on to that in just a few moments time so the other thing is and obviously you're going to be like oh gosh they're assured of course you're saying this and because you're a business mentor but find somebody to mentor you find somebody who can support you who can give you the confidence and the skills and the knowledge and the support and and the accountability to make changes and make the changes that you need to make in your business whatever they may be okay you don't have to pay them i would encourage you where you can to to get paid support because it absolutely pays for itself you know 10 times over it's it's mad the impact every time my business has moved forwards and has had a shift it's been when i've had a really decent mentor Okay, so finding a mentor, I'm going to come on to that in a few episodes time where I'm going to share with you my tips for finding a mentor, my learnings on the do's and don'ts.

Speaker 1 But you know, in essence, you are looking for somebody who resonates with you, who you think, you know, what you're kind of doing the things that I'd like to do, you're a few steps ahead of me, but you're still in touch with the reality.

Speaker 1 And that's what somebody said to me earlier this week on one of my trainings. I've got a new cohort of individuals who I'm helping them get their business up and running.

Speaker 1 and she said to me you know I speak I see so many gurus who are telling me to do stuff and they ask it it's not for the people it's not for me where I am now it's for people who've got a bit of an audience or people who have got a product sorted out and it's like I want the information on how to get started the step-by-step process and so make sure that that individual is probably not doing that

Speaker 1 probably not ideal if they're doing that actually but they are helping people they are still on the ground with those individuals knowing what's working knowing the challenges that people face they're still in touch with that reality your reality also you know understand that stories are stories okay social media the press everyone loves to sell you a sensationalized story of you know somebody who became an overnight success i was talking to people and taylor swift is currently doing the rounds in the uk with her tour and people and i remember talking to somebody going oh you know she was such an over an overnight success story she was like touring from something like the age of 14.

Speaker 1 um by the time she became on my radar she had been touring for 10 years as a supporting act okay for me she was an overnight success story but when actually you looked into it she had been around for some time and that's the thing guys is if you do get sucked in by story do your due diligence on it find out actually how long has that person been going i know so many businesses that have been cited as overnight successes when actually

Speaker 1 That business has been going for some time.

Speaker 1 When I limited my company, you could look at that as an overnight success story um it made over 45k in its first two days of trading but it did that because i set it up on the back of my sole trader business because i knew that that money was coming in now you know that isn't normal that isn't that is a little um fraction of the bigger picture and you know it is absolutely doable to find out that bigger story on things and so i would encourage you to do that before you start looking at that and making your your comparisons and comparing yourself your journey to that other person's journey so i wanted to share with you guys my reality okay it has taken me five years to get my business in a good place okay i was having kids on and off um

Speaker 1 Up until two years ago, my focus was, you know, I'd be going off, having a baby, coming back, going off, having a baby.

Speaker 1 And so it was very much, I was stop, start, stop, start with my business.

Speaker 1 Since I've been able to focus on it in the last couple of years, it has, well, the last sort of three three four years it has really um it has really begun to to take off um but it's taken me five years um of of inconsistency and trial and error to get my business in a place where actually i was able to to do some replication of activities to get a consistent result um i've worked as few as two days a week i could have done this quicker i could have done it um

Speaker 1 less painfully um and probably was spending less money on

Speaker 1 training, etc. etc.
I would honestly say the best investments I've ever made have been in mentors rather than courses, but there have been some very, very good digital courses that I've done as well.

Speaker 1 The biggest impact that I have seen is when I have had a mentor, as I said before, my priority is my family. I work though, really, really hard when I am working.

Speaker 1 I do work part-time, I don't work Fridays, but when I'm working, I'm working smart, I'm working hard.

Speaker 1 okay I'm not disappearing off to do this or that or the other and if I have got a commitment from from a family point of view then I make up that time and I am disciplined with it because I know that I can't just disappear and not look after my business because it's not going to be there it's like a garden okay leave it for a week or so and it can kind of get by but keep leaving it and you're going to be in trouble and

Speaker 1 You do need to rebalance.

Speaker 1 I choose not to sacrifice my family time. I'm very precious over my family time and have those barriers there.
But often I do need to rebalance my own mental priorities.

Speaker 1 I get very carried away and excited over the projects that I'm working on.

Speaker 1 And so, you know, rather than be enjoying that time, I'm thinking, oh, actually, I could just sneak off while I said playing this.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, no, actually, Sarah, this is not what you were signing up for. This is not your values.
So,

Speaker 1 you know, bear that one in mind that it's always going to take that bit of recalibration. Your support network is key.
Okay. I could not be where I am without support.

Speaker 1 I am not some crazy superwoman who can go without sleep, who can do all the things. I have good days, I have bad days, I have times when I need support.
I have a family which is neurodiverse.

Speaker 1 You know, there's a real good mix within my family.

Speaker 1 I've got two people in my family who have got my immediate family, who have got ASD, and there is a lot to balance and support. And so I need that support there to help me to turn up as my best.

Speaker 1 And I don't always turn up as my best, but I do try my hardest to do my best.

Speaker 1 But that wouldn't be possible without that support network, and so you know, that's something I'm going to be touching on next week with Mandy Reese.

Speaker 1 Um, because yes, we're talking around why women can be so mean and why we can be put off by, you know, wanting those close relationships with women, but then feeling like actually they aren't meeting our needs and we can't necessarily get them from the women around us.

Speaker 1 And why there is that kind of mismatch, and what we can do about it, because support networks are so, so very key. So, that's it for me, guys, this week.
I hope you have enjoyed this episode.

Speaker 1 And please do subscribe, follow, and all the things.

Speaker 1 And please do review so that it can help this podcast reach more people and we can really create a community that supports each other on our business journeys.

Speaker 1 So, join me next week, guys, when I'll be speaking to Mandy Reese about why women can be so mean and what to do to

Speaker 1 navigate that and create that support network that we need. So that's it for me, guys.
Bye for now.