So you're a coach who helps people get results, but when it now comes to you charging people,
it seems like you're just not able to get people to spend money with you.
You're helping people, they come to you, you can see the difference that your coaching
makes in their lives, but you're still not able to transition to this stage where people
are actually paying you for your services and it's beginning to get a little frustrated.
Here in this episode, I'm going to share with you exactly what you need to do to transition
from the free to actually getting people excited spending money with you.
It's going to be a really great one and I'm looking forward to sharing this with you.
My name is DJ Sabanjo and I am your coaching business mentor.
See you on the inside.
Are you a coach?
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trying to be famous in social media?
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so you can convert premium clients month after month without stress?
Now you can do just that when we help you implement the predictable profit machine for
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All you have to do is visit coachingbusinessmentor.show forward slash machine.
Watch the short explainer video and then go ahead and book an appointment.
Let us help you build a predictable profit machine around your own coaching expertise
so you can start earning predictable profits in your business month after month.
Episode one of the coaching business mentor with me, DJ Sabanjo, your host, where I will
be providing regular business building advice for heart led coaches like you that will help
you to be able to get more clients, serve more people, and make more money consistently.
Every week what I will be doing is I will be giving specific mentoring advice, which
will be based on a question submitted by a real coach who is looking to build their business.
And I'm going to dive deep.
I'm going to give you things that you can take and you can implement.
Whatever stage you are in your business, you will get insights that will help you take
your coaching business to that next level.
So you will be able to serve people in a powerful way, make a big difference in people's lives,
and get paid well for it as well.
Today's episode, the very first episode, I am actually responding to a question by a
coach called Christopher Olamor.
So Christopher Olamor is a success coach.
And this is Christopher's question.
Christopher says, I have been doing my coaching for free.
How can I begin to earn from these services, especially since most of the people that I
work with are my acquaintances?
Okay.
So Christopher has been coaching people and he's been helping them get good results, but
Christopher is now looking to transition from just doing this from the goodness of his heart
to now start to profit from it and start to make money doing it.
First of all, I need to help us understand that a good number of coaches tend to start
out this way.
They realize that they, whether they're fitness coaches, whether you're relationship coaches,
whether you're business coaches, whether they're career coaches, whatever personal development
coaches, whatever space that a lot of these coaches work, many coaches come into the space
because we realize that we're helping people get results.
And we can see that we're helping to make transition from a less desirable place to
a more desirable place.
But now that we're looking to transition to charging for it, we get stuck.
And you've got to understand that there is a reason why this happens.
I like to liken this to, just imagine there's this guy, there's this guy who really can
cook.
He could really cook and his friends know that when they come to his, he goes to town.
He really just makes sure that he can put together some really amazing dishes and his
friends love his cooking.
They absolutely love his cooking.
And then one day a friend of his says to him, he says, you know what, I have gone to a lot
of fancy restaurants who charge a truckload and their food is nothing close to yours.
You would make a killing if you started to charge for your cooking.
And this is sort of like what happens for a lot of coaches is when people say, I know
people who charge for this sort of stuff and then nowhere near as good as you are.
And this begins to happen to a few coaches.
And then we begin to think to ourselves, you know what, I think I should be charging.
I think, and this is actually how a lot of people become what I call accidental coaches.
And then some of them then go and get some qualifications to validate the gifts that
they have.
Then they're now looking to start making money doing it.
The challenge is, it's just like this guy whose friends encouraged them saying, you
know what, you can make a lot of money if you started to charge for this wonderful food
that you make.
And then this person starts to charge for the wonderful food, thinking that their friends
are going to show up and start buying the food from them.
And guess what?
Their friends don't show up.
And this is the reality for a lot of coaches, especially heart led coaches.
They help people overcome these challenges.
They help people move from a less desirable place to a more desirable place.
And they can see where people were before they started working with them compared to
where they are now having worked with them.
And they know that they help people get great results.
But the moment they decided that they want to start making money and get paid, it's like
everyone just disappears.
It's like now I'm struggling to find anyone.
And so people then decide, okay, I need to do something about it.
I know that I can make a difference in people's lives.
I can see other people out there who are not as good as I am and who are making a killing
and I should be able to make some money.
What do people then do?
These are some of the mistakes that a lot of coaches make because they just look around
them and they try to copy what they see, not understanding that a lot of the things that
people are doing are not necessarily things that work.
The most obvious things that people would do is say, I need to look like I'm serious.
And so what they do is they go and set up their social accounts and whether it's Instagram
or whether it's Facebook or whether it's TikTok or whatever it is, it's the flavor of the
moment.
They go set up their social accounts and they get a business name, they register a domain,
they set up a website, they'll go and get some business cards and they're doing some
people even go and hire an office.
You know why?
Because now I need people to know that I am serious and I am in business.
And they put all this up thinking that just by putting this up is going to make them look
like they're in business and that people are going to start paying them for what they do.
But then they realize that it doesn't happen.
And I have so many people come up to me who are very, very frustrated.
And by the time they've come up to me, they spent, you know, tens of thousands of dollars
and all of this stuff, but they still don't have a business.
If you have already invested a truckload of money in order to get started, and I'll be
honest with you, you don't need to spend a lot of money to get started making money as
a coach.
Honestly, you don't.
And if anybody is telling you that, that is not true.
Now, if you're looking to build a business, yes, you need to invest money, but you really
don't need to be spending a truckload of money just to start making money as a coach.
You really don't need all this fancy stuff that a lot of people are telling you you need
to get.
You don't.
And I'm going to help you understand exactly what you need to have.
And another mistake that people make is they begin to think that maybe I should just offer
free.
And then when people see the value that I offer, they will buy.
And this is a mistake a lot of coaches make.
And I can understand the thinking behind it.
The thinking is, you know what, when I'm setting up and I set myself up and position myself
as a business, nobody's coming to me.
So maybe if I just offered free initially because I knew and I hear people say, well,
I knew.
So because I knew I need to first have serve people for free.
And then when they experience the value, then they would want to spend money with me.
The problem with this is you can't advertise a soup kitchen and then turn around and call
it a restaurant.
I'm going to repeat that.
You cannot advertise a soup kitchen.
And then when people have come to your soup kitchen, you then turn around and call it
a restaurant.
Now, very quickly, just for the benefit of the people who may not know what a soup kitchen
is.
A good number of charities serve soup kitchens and soup kitchens are basically where you
set up a kitchen and then you cook food.
And so usually it's soups and then maybe some breads and some vegetables and a few other
things.
And you set up a soup kitchen and homeless people or people who are really struggling
financially just come along and they usually form a long queue.
And then they just come in and get free food from a soup kitchen.
Now soup kitchens are brilliant.
They contribute significantly to society enabling the poor people within the community and just
at least putting a meal on someone's table.
And they're so amazing and they do contribute in a powerful way.
The challenge though is if you set up your business as a soup kitchen, then you're going
to be attracting freebie seekers.
Freebie seekers are not looking to spend money.
They're looking to get help for free.
Now the challenge is just imagine someone sets up a soup kitchen and then a couple of
weeks later someone shows up at the soup kitchen.
They've got this long queue and then they say, sorry, now that you've experienced our
good stuff, we think you should now pay for it.
What are those people going to do?
The thing that they're most likely to do is just up and go and go and look for the next
soup kitchen.
That's exactly what happens to coaches who try to use free to entice people in hoping
that once they've experienced the free, they're then going to buy.
The challenge is when you're offering free coaching services, you will attract people
who just want free.
You're setting up your coaching business as a soup kitchen, hoping to change it to a restaurant.
And then that's why people say they come, they take home my good stuff and then they
leave to go and want to do it by themselves.
You know why?
Because in the very first place you were attracting freebie seekers, you are positioning your
business as a soup kitchen.
As you can see here, if you're just starting out or if you've been offering your services
for free and you've been serving people in a powerful way, you've been making a big difference
in their lives, in their careers, in their businesses, in whatever way that you serve
people as a coach, you will see that number one, looking like you're a business does not
mean people spend money with you.
So just spending all this money to look the part, it's not the real secret.
And also the coaching for free model does not translate to paying clients.
It just doesn't work.
And what will happen is you wear yourself out serving people for free and you'll have
nothing to show for it.
And if you ever, ever dare to charge people, you will see that what's going to happen is
they're all just going to disappear.
And you've probably already experienced that.
If you have probably tried the free model, the thing that I'll do it for free and then
I'll charge, if you've done that, you will know that that's exactly what happens.
So I guess the question is, so what should you do if you want to transition from the
freebie seekers, the premium buyers, and how do you do it the right way?
I'm going to share this with you when we come back.
See you in a moment.
You are listening to the coaching business mentor.
The podcast focus on giving premium business advice to heart led coaches like you, helping
them get more clients, help more people and make more money consistently.
If you would like your questions answered and your business featured on this show, all
you need to do is go to coachingbusinessmentor.show forward slash question and go ahead and ask
your question there and hit the submit button.
And I will make sure that we answer your question here on the show.
Also, there's three things I would like you to do for me.
If you're enjoying this show, number one, I'd like you to subscribe so you get notified
every time we release a new episode.
Number two, I'd like you to leave a review, letting other people know how much value you've
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And finally, I would like you to share this episode with three coaches who you know would
get value out of listening to it.
That's it.
Let's go ahead and continue with the show.
Okay, welcome back.
Just before we went on the break, we did highlight the fact that most coaches struggle from transitioning
from offering free and helping people get results to where they really begin to make
money as coaches.
Now, the question is, what is it you need to do?
And that's a big question if you do want to transition from the freebie seekers to premium
buyers, very big question, very important question.
And there's lots of things that you might be thinking we should be talking about.
Maybe we should be looking at your good marketing plan and all that other important stuff.
And over the next few episodes, we're going to be looking at different strategies.
We're going to be looking at all of that.
But today, I really want to go into what is the foundation of transitioning from offering
your services for free and helping people get results and getting to this place where
you really are successful.
And having worked with thousands of coaches who, especially those who are just starting
out to transitioning to building a business, I've come to realize that the biggest problem
that they need to overcome to start making money is actually in their thinking.
It's not really in how good they are with social media marketing.
It's not how brilliant they are with email marketing.
Neither is it maybe they need to work on building out a funnel.
Maybe they need to start learning how to speak in front of an audience and all that other
stuff or even discovery calls.
It's none of that stuff.
But the one thing that gets in their way is their thinking.
And let me help you understand this.
You can't succeed in business if you are thinking like a coach.
Now, I'm going to say that again.
I'm going to say real slow.
You cannot succeed in business if you are thinking like a coach.
Now, how does a coach think?
And I think this is really where we want to really dive deep and get to understand this.
Coaches think, I want to help people get from a less desirable place to a more desirable
place.
I want to be able to do that, so I sit down with them, so maybe this person is having
some challenges in their relationship if I'm a relationship coach.
And if I can sit down with them and have these conversations, help them to overcome a few
mental blocks and help them to have these aha moments and just help them to transition
and identify where the flaws, where the kinks are and how to fix those things, then they
could begin to improve their relationships.
Yes, that's good thinking to help you be a successful coach, but the fact that you're
a successful coach does not mean that you will succeed in business.
What is it then that we do?
What is it we have to do?
We need to transition from thinking about helping people get from this less desirable
place to this more desirable place, which will help you be a good coach, but to begin
to think in a different way like a business owner.
Business owners don't think like coaches.
I'm going to say that again.
Business owners think differently from coaches.
A business owner's thought process is, I want to profit from exchanging with people what
they want with what I want.
So I'm going to go to the marketplace and I'm going to give people what they want and
I'm going to get what I want from them and I want to be able to profit from this exchange.
A business person is always thinking about profiting from exchange exchanging or from
transactions in the marketplace.
Most coaches are brilliant at what they do.
They're brilliant coaches, but they're really rubbish business owners.
When it comes to helping people get from that less desirable place, whether you're a fitness
coach, whether you're a relationship coach, whether you're a business coach or whether
you're a career coach or whatever coach you are, when it comes to getting people from
that less desirable place to that more desirable place, a lot of coaches are really good at
that.
That's why they help people get results.
The challenge is when you go into business, you need to think very differently.
You need to literally take off your coaching hat and wear a business hat and you need to
take off your coaching thinking and wear business thinking.
Business is about profiting from transactions in the marketplace.
You see, the truth is this, a good coach who is not good at business will help people get
results, but they won't make money.
See, that's the thing.
That's why you're getting people who you're coaching for free because you can help people
get results, but you are not thinking like a business owner when you're going into the
marketplace.
And so you get satisfaction, you get coaching satisfaction, but you don't get business satisfaction.
So you can't succeed in business.
You can't get satisfaction in business if you're going in with a, I want to help people
make a transition because I'm a coach.
You've got to take off that hat.
You are a coach.
Don't get me wrong.
And you're going to understand where this fits in in a moment.
Business, whatever the business is, it comes down to this, identifying a problem in the
marketplace and then packaging an offer to fix that problem, whatever that problem is,
whatever the problem is.
Anybody has a particular problem, right?
And there's a group of people, there's a segment of the market, a group in the market that
has a problem that they want to solve and then you package something that you offer
them to solve that problem that you will give to them in exchange for money, basically.
Right?
So you package that offer that you're going to give to them to fix the problem that they
want to fix.
That's what a business is all about.
And you're looking to do that profitably, which means what you get out of it from a
financial perspective is more than what you put into it.
Now, that's technically keeping it really simple.
There's just three core aspects to this.
Number one, talking about a business, you need to attract this person.
So this segment of the marketplace who you are going to be solving problems for, you
need to have a methodology for attracting this particular individual, this particular
who wants to solve a problem.
You've got to have an attraction method that is very effective for you.
The second method you need to have is not that you've been able to attract them, you've
been able to get their attention.
You've been able to bring them into your sphere of influence.
The second, you want to be able to convert them to a buyer.
You want to get them to the point where they are ready and excited to give you money in
exchange for what you're promising them.
And the third thing that you want to do is you want to deliver what you promised them.
Now this is for a coach.
The delivery bit is where your coaching expertise comes to play.
The first part, which is the attraction, the second part, which is the conversion, right?
It has nothing to do with coaching.
It's actually with the delivery of your promise that if you're a coaching business, where
your coaching comes to play.
You look at the profitable market segment that you're going in to solve a problem for
and you package your offer.
You then identify what for you is the most effective attraction model that you're going
to use to attract those people.
Then also identify the most effective conversion model.
And then finally, the most effective delivery model.
What is the best way for me to deliver what I promised in a way that is going to wow my
buyer where they will believe that they got good value for money?
And how can I do all this in a way that is profitable for me?
That's what a business owner is thinking about.
That is how a business owner thinks when they go into the market to do business.
So you are a coach and you're good at what you do.
You know that you've been helping people get really good results.
There's lots of testimonials from people that you've helped.
So that validates that you can deliver.
That's one of those four segments technically that you've sorted.
But now that you're thinking like a business owner, the thinking has to be different.
So first, let's look at the first part, which is the who is in the general marketplace,
the person who would get the most value out of what I can deliver so that I package an
offer for the right person.
I know you want to help everybody.
I know as a coach, we care about helping a lot of people, but you've got to identify
in the marketplace, the people that I like to call your IPB, your ideal premium buyer,
who will get the most value out of what you offer and is both willing and able to pay
for it.
So how do you identify who your ideal premium buyer is?
The person who you know, if my coaching expertise will help this person get great results and
they would be glad to invest in my coaching and they would be able to afford it.
You've got to nail this pretty much early on.
That's the first thing you need to be thinking about if you're going into business.
The second thing now is now those people, they're out there in the marketplace, they're
living their lives, they're doing what they would normally do.
How am I going to be able to attract them into my sphere of influence where they will
be exposed to my brilliance?
They will be interested enough to want to have a look at what I offer.
How am I going to be able to find them?
How am I going to be able to attract them and bring them in and expose them to my expertise
so they can begin to see how what I offer can help them get what they want?
How am I going to do that?
Now that's how a business person is thinking.
We've nailed who our ideal premium buyer is, the person who will get the best value out
of what we offer and is both willing and able to pay for it.
So you've done that.
Now you need to be thinking, how can I begin to attract that person into my sphere of influence?
Critical.
That's what a business owner is thinking about.
They know they're in this to make money and they're in this to make good money.
And so they will be looking to identify who is the person who they can deliver a good
service for and who would be able to pay good money.
And they will then look at how can I begin to attract this person in a very effective
way into my sphere, into where I can expose them to my brilliance so that we can transition
them to the next phase, which is how do I convert them from interested to becoming a
buyer and having a method in place that actually delivers that business people understand that
that is critical.
That is business is not about your website.
Your business is not about your office or your business card.
Your business is not a business if you're not converting buyers, no buyers, no business.
And so converting buyers is critical to business owners for coaches, helping people get results
is what's critical.
And so what happens is coaches are very glad and eager to just let it pass and don't worry
about the money because what really gives you satisfaction as a coach.
And I know because I'm a heart led coach and this is one of the conflicts, internal conflicts
we have as coaches is what gives you satisfaction as a coach is when the people that you have
helped transition from that less desirable place to where they want to be.
And they're sharing their stories with you when you can see the transformation your clients
have experienced as a coach, as a real heart led coach, it gives you joy and that's great.
But what gives a business owner satisfaction is at the end of the month and looking to
their bank accounts, they can see how much they spent and they can see how much they
made and they're really, really excited.
And then the final element is where you then actually deliver the service.
Let me kind of paint this picture for you so you will get it because until you get this,
everything else we share on this podcast wouldn't really matter.
So let's just imagine hypothetically, right?
You have a service, let's just say your coaching service for one to a thousand dollars.
So you have a coaching offer that you charge a thousand dollars for.
Let's say in order to attract that individual where they're exposed to your brand and they
see the value of what you have, it costs, so it costs you $200 to be able to attract
one person who will buy from you.
And let's say it also costs you $200 to convert them from a prospect to a buyer where they
actually buy your coaching program.
And let's say it costs you $200 to actually deliver the coaching service that you promised
them.
That means that you spent $600 and you made a thousand dollars, which means you have $400
profit.
What that means therefore is next month, you can spend double that because it all begins
to add up.
The numbers begin to work for you.
So this is how a business owner would think is, you know what, if I'm spending $600 to
make a thousand dollars, then next month I could spend double that.
I could spend $1,200 and I would make $2,000.
And they do the math that way, which means if I spend $6,000, I would make $10,000, $4,000
profit.
Can you see how that all works?
That is pretty much how a business person thinks.
We're thinking numbers.
Business people are thinking numbers because they understand business is all about numbers.
Coaches are thinking transformation because coaching is all about helping people get from
where they are to where they want to be.
How does your thinking need to change from today?
You need to start thinking like a coaching business owner.
And that probably helps you understand why this podcast is called Coaching Business Mentor.
And it makes sense that the very first episode of this podcast actually addresses this key
issue because you need to transition from running a coaching practice to running a coaching
business.
So a coaching business owner is focused on profiting from delivering a coaching service
to the marketplace.
And they understand that it's all about identifying who their ideal premium buyer is and packaging
the right offer, then attracting that person, converting them, and then delivering what
they promised profitably.
That is how a coaching business owner thinks.
You can't go into business thinking like a coach.
You only think like a coach at the delivery stage where you're sitting down with that
client after going through that whole process, and then you're having the conversation with
them and helping them to transition from where they are to where they want to be.
I'll share this with you, right?
And this may shock someone.
You can be rubbish at coaching and still build a highly successful coaching business.
You're probably thinking, DJ, how is that possible?
I'll explain.
Let's say there is Frank.
Frank is a really astute, smart, and brilliant business person.
But Frank is a really lousy coach.
He's rubbish at coaching, but he's really, really good at business.
He's good at identifying who the ideal person he should be targeting is.
He's good at really packaging the right offer.
He's good at attracting, and he's good at converting.
But he's not really good at coaching.
All Frank needs to do is build out his business and for the delivery side, just hire a really
good coach.
And as long as he's able to deliver it at profit, so let's say hypothetically with the
example I gave, it's costing Frank $200 to attract a client.
It's costing him $200 to convert a client.
And maybe because delivery now would cost him $350 because he's paying someone, he's
not doing it himself.
That means that, and let's say the offer is $1,000 using that same example we used earlier
on.
What that would mean is he's spending $1,000 and he's making $250 profit because he's paying
$750 out.
He could literally begin to hire coaches, and all he's doing is his business is consistently
bringing in new people, converting them to buyers, and then allocating those clients
to good coaches, and he's just profiting.
You know why?
Because he's a coaching business owner, he's not a coach.
So for you who is a coach, yes, you would be doing the delivery because that's what
we love to do as coaches.
What I'm saying is you need to take off the coaching hat when it's time to do business
and wear the business thinking hat and only wear the coaching hat when you're looking
to deliver the service to your clients.
Now there's a lot of things around traction and converting, and as you guys in subsequent
episodes of this particular podcast, I will be sharing this stuff with you.
I will be breaking it all down, sending your questions.
The more specific you are with your questions, we will dive deep into these things.
But the one thing I want you to take away from this particular episode, the one thing
I really want you to hold onto is the fact that if you're going to succeed at transitioning
from offering free to offering paid and having people paying you, it's not really about what
you do first.
It's about how you think.
You need to start thinking differently.
You need to start thinking like a business owner.
You need to stop thinking like a coach until you're sitting there with a paying client
and working with them to help them experience a transformation that you and I know that
you're able to deliver.
I promise you just by doing this, just by shifting your thinking, you're laying the
foundation for a very successful coaching business.
The truth is you deserve to generate a steady stream of clients.
And yes, you deserve to get that satisfaction from helping people get great results and
helping them experience a transformation that gives us joy as coaches.
But you also deserve to be making money consistently as a business owner.
So tomorrow when someone walks up to you and say, what do you do?
Don't say I'm a coach.
Don't say I am a fitness coach or I am a relationship coach or I'm a career coach or whatever coach
you are.
Say I am a relationship coaching business owner.
It's really amazing how by just saying that, they would relate with you differently because
I am a fitness coaching business owner.
Business owner.
So they would even just by positioning yourself that way, you're actually sending a different
message to their brains.
It's a subtle thing.
And over time, I'm going to talk about the subtlety of communication and messaging and
how these little things make a big difference.
Don't call yourself a coach.
Call yourself a coaching business owner from the very get go.
Let people identify you as a business person, not as a coach.
You're a business person who does coaching.
You're not a coach, right?
Just begin to position it that way and people would respect you more and find it easier
to give you money.
But you need to position it first for yourself before you begin to position it for others.
You do this and I promise you, you are laying the foundation for that transformation in
your business and you would begin to attract paying clients as you begin to restructure
your business for success.
I hope this has been good for you.
I hope you can see how by switching your thinking, you will change how things begin to happen
for you.
You would no longer be this coach who people are always coming to for free stuff, but when
it comes to time for them to pay, they all disappear.
Why?
It's not their fault.
Honestly, it's been your fault thus far.
The good thing is now that you know you can change and you will transition from being
a coach to being a coaching business owner and start to attract the money that you deserve.
I hope this has been very useful for you.
I hope you can see how this will bring transformation for you over the, this is our very first episode
and I'm really, really excited to have you listen to this all the way to the end.
I'm going to encourage you to do a few things very quickly.
Number one, subscribe to the podcast so every time we release a new episode, you will receive
it.
It's every Wednesday, new episodes drop.
Make sure you look out and make sure you share this with everyone who you know, who is a
coach who could benefit from this.
We really are looking to transform the coaching industry.
And also if you want to be featured on this show, all you need to do is, is in the show
notes, there is the link there.
Go ahead and submit your question and I will answer your question live on the show.
My name is DJ Sabanjo.
I am your coaching business mentor and I look forward to celebrating your success story.
Keep on being the amazing, phenomenal leader that you are and see you at the next episode.
You have been listening to the coaching business mentor podcast.
The podcast focused on giving premium business advice to heart led coaches, helping them
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Thank you so very much for listening.
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It's DJ Sabanjo and I look forward to continue to be a part of your success story.
Let's keep on changing lives and let's keep on making our world a better place and getting
paid as we do so.
This is DJ Sabanjo.
See you on the next episode.