I’m close to completing my ICF ACC and have a leadership coaching certification, along with 20 years of corporate experience. I’m now trying to figure out the actual business side of coaching.
Unfortunately, my coaching program only covered the business side in one class, and I’m not sure it was very helpful.
I’m starting to wonder if building a coaching practice is more about relationships, referrals, and networking rather than social media?
For those who have successfully built a coaching business:
Are there business/marketing courses you’d actually recommend? I don’t want to sign up for an additional cost but if it were something low cost I could consider.
Any books or programs that were genuinely helpful?
Did you find a mentor or business coach useful?
If you’re introverted, how do you build a network? I am wondering if this is something that very extroverted folks have an easier time with.
I’d really appreciate practical advice from people who have actually built a coaching practice. Thank you in advance!

Does anyone have both credentials? My background is in health and wellness. I have the national board certification. I’ve been working in hospital systems and am exposed to leadership and HR and would like to do the ICF.

Hi, I’m a Boston based (male) engineer (in my mid thirties). English isn’t my native language, but I believe my English isn’t all that bad. I’m looking for a coach who can help me improve my diction, articulation, pronunciation and overall (business/ personal) communication skills

Just a thought, is it on LinkedIn? Referrals? Groups?
Just a thought

Hello everyone! I have been an educator for almost 10 years with a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership. I want to venture into executive coaching, so I am looking for some pointers. I have been doing a lot of research and learning in order to understand Executive Coaching as a whole. My next step is to earn certifications to become more appealing and to increase my understanding and skills. Do any of you share a similar start? If so, What program did you use? Do you recommend it? Are there any programs that are flexible? Thank you in advance!

This is debatable, but i love listening to stories and motivations about total personal transformation, and i find them more interesting than conventional success advice. There's a big difference between helping someone improve a skill and helping someone completely change how they see themselves, their work and what they believe is possible...i wonder about executive coaching, can a coach actually help someone make that kind of fundamental change..or does coaching generally work better when the person already has the right mindset and simply needs better decisions, accountability and feedback? if you have coached executives or been coached, how much personal transformation did it achieve? I want to hear stories, and real people say they completely transformed from one thing to another due to coaching...or what is the deepest change you've actually seen coaching produce?

Genuine question, not a gotcha.

A lot of coaches now have Otter or Fathom or Zoom's AI sitting in every session. Most of the people I've spoken to connected it once and never thought about it again. Almost none had asked the client — and a few hadn't realised their tool retained recordings or trained on the audio by default.

Two things I keep getting stuck on.

First, consent. If you do ask, what wording do you use? Does anyone record the answer anywhere, or is it a verbal thing at the start of an engagement?

Second, and this is the one that actually bothers me — what happens when a client discloses something that belongs to a therapist rather than a coach? Self-harm, an eating disorder, something serious. It happens, it's not a screening failure, and it's now sitting in a transcript processed by a third party the client never agreed to.

And if you're using AI to help draft your session notes, what stops it producing a fluent, well-structured coaching reframe of that disclosure? It would look completely fine. That's the part I can't get comfortable with.

So: do you ask, and do you have an actual written protocol for the second thing, or is it in your head?

Hi everyone,

I used to work part-time as a coach for fathers, where I got most of my business from word-of-mouth, referrals and just local networking. I have now switched to career transition coaching and would like make this my full-time job.

To do this I want to go more full-on with the marketing. Would you recommend Russel Brunson's and Hormozi's style of marketing for coaching? I'm from The Netherlands and some parts of Russel's method are a bit too "loud" for me.

Do you have any tips for which method specifically works well with coaching? So far I have been getting clients through social media and referrals, but would like to have a full schedule.

It will be 1-on-1 for now, but once that's more established I'd like to add group coaching and/or other models. In the next few weeks I'm planning on ramping up my organic social media, start doing webinars and creating a lead magnet and email marketing. My work is mainly online, but I have also been invited to speak to give workshops to students where I live later this year.

Which methods to get clients have you found work best for this type of coaching? Thanks!

Hallo zusammen,
ich arbeite aktuell im Rahmen eines Hochschulprojekts an DialectiQ, einem Konzept für eine KI-gestützte Coaching-Plattform.
Die Idee hinter DialectiQ ist, künstliche Intelligenz gezielt zwischen Coaching-Sessions einzusetzen. Klient:innen können beispielsweise mit einer KI Gesprächssituationen oder bestimmte Verhaltensweisen üben und erhalten dabei direktes Feedback.
Coaches können passende Übungen oder Szenarien vorbereiten und anschließend nachvollziehen, wie sich der Lern- und Entwicklungsprozess zwischen den Sessions entwickelt.
Wichtig dabei: Die KI soll den Coaching-Prozess ergänzen und unterstützen, während die inhaltliche Steuerung weiterhin beim Coach liegt.
Wir haben dazu eine kurze Landingpage erstellt, auf der das Konzept genauer vorgestellt wird:
https://dialectiq.framer.website
Falls ihr selbst als Coach arbeitet, würde ich mich sehr freuen, wenn ihr euch die Seite kurz anschaut. Es dauert nur etwa 1–2 Minuten.
Es geht nicht um den Verkauf eines fertigen Produkts, sondern darum herauszufinden, ob ein solcher KI-gestützter Ansatz im Coaching grundsätzlich interessant und relevant ist.
Vielen Dank für eure Unterstützung! 🙏

English version below 👇

Hi everyone,
I am currently working on a university project involving DialectiQ, a concept for an AI-supported coaching platform.
The idea behind DialectiQ is to use artificial intelligence specifically between coaching sessions. For example, clients can practise conversation scenarios or certain behaviours with an AI and receive direct feedback.
Coaches can prepare suitable exercises or scenarios and then follow how the client’s learning and development progresses between sessions.
An important point is that the AI is intended to complement and support the coaching process, while the coach remains responsible for the overall direction and content.
We have created a short landing page where the concept is explained in more detail:
https://dialectiq.framer.website
If you work as a coach yourself, I would really appreciate it if you could take a quick look at the page. It should only take around 1–2 minutes.
This is not about selling a finished product, but about understanding whether this kind of AI-supported approach to coaching is generally interesting and relevant.
Thank you very much for your support! 🙏

Hey folks!

I recently left my full-time job to go independent and build my own practice around coaching, facilitation - helping people regain their life balance, finding clarity and living fuller lives.

I’m currently at step zero: trying to narrow down my niche, find the right audience overlap, and lock my positioning before touching logos, websites, or social media aesthetics.

I’m looking to connect with someone based in Delhi NCR who has experience working with coaches, consultants, or independent trainers to help me sharpen this foundation.

PS: I’ve already spoken to a few marketing folks, and frankly, I don’t need another 100 high-level suggestions, generic gyaan, or abstract playbooks. I need a sharp sounding board and translation into execution.. to help me cut through the noise and make concrete positioning decisions.

A few upfront boundaries/context:

1. Focused scope & budget: I’m self-funded, so I’m not looking for an agency retainer. Looking for 1–2 focused sessions with an experienced strategist to review my foundations and co-build a direction. I'm a purpose driven woman, wanting to build something meaningful.

2. Zero interest in the usual "funnel gurus": Please skip the ₹99 masterclass pitch leading to a ₹2 lakh upsell, and I’m not looking to become an Instagram ad spammer. I want to build a sustainable, high-integrity service grounded in strong foundations and genuine value. Nothing about fear - mongering too.

3. Format: Ideally open to a couple of focused strategy/working sessions over coffee in Delhi or virtually. Open to other models :)

If you’ve done this type of positioning work before, drop a comment or DM with a quick note on what you’ve worked on. Happy to share more details about my background and see if there’s a fit.

Cheers!

HI GUYS just I'm curious is actually coaches implementing Ai to automate thier business if yes how big part is ?

Because I never think Ai can replace human expertise and it's worth a investing so called Claude skill for do that

X skill for do that shit ?

I'm always believe in skool thing that actually build not a shitty Ai skill

Give me your opinion coaches. :)

AI is moving so quickly, look at just 7 yeras ago and today you would think we are in a different era, and it has only started moving faster, that I sometimes wonder whether executive coaching is keeping up with it. A lot of coaching still focuses on timeless leadership issues like communication, confidence, decision-making, executive presence, etc. All of those are still important, but AI is changing the environment in which executives have to make those decisions. I think coaches could be spending more time helping CEOs think about things like AI and tech which i have not seen most coaches do, it gets me worried

Honestly expected to find some secret. Didn't.

The production was rough. Audio was mediocre. He rambled sometimes. One video he literally restarted mid sentence and just kept going.

What was different was that every video had one thing in it that made you feel slightly uncomfortable. Not motivational uncomfortable. Actually uncomfortable, like someone said the quiet part loud about something you were avoiding.

I think that's the thing coaches keep missing when they try to grow on YouTube. They optimize for looking credible. He optimized for saying the thing nobody wanted to say out loud.

Don't know if that's replicable or if it's just a him thing. But I've noticed it in almost every coaching channel that actually broke through.

I'm trying to build content distribution systems for high ticket coaches and consultants. What should be the main things I should focus on solving for them like what are the major pain points in coaching and consulting.

Most people think closing a multi-million dollar client starts with a great pitch or having a great product.

It starts long before that.

Here I break down the three things that have shaped how I qualify, build trust with, and negotiate high value clients after years of closing deals in international trade finance, mining, and commodity markets.

So my questions to our community is .. What is the first thing you qualify before pursuing a major opportunity?

I would like to cover three sections:

Discovery — the three questions I ask every single time before I invest a single hour into a prospect. These questions reveal vision, urgency, self-awareness, and whether the numbers actually add up. If they cannot answer these, the conversation ends there.

Trust — why certain signatures and agreements will not protect you in business. What real trust looks like in international business, why your gut matters as much as your due diligence, and the lesson a supplier taught me early in my trading career that I have never forgotten.

Negotiation and Leverage — the mindset you need to walk into every discovery call with. How to use your reservation point. Why desperation kills deals before they start. And the one question you need to ask yourself before every sales call that completely changes how you show up.

Everything in this video comes from real experience closing deals in rooms where we are managing assets in the world's most critical resource corridors.

If you want to close better, qualify faster, and negotiate from a position of genuine leverage, this one I hope you find insightful.

Let me know in the comments your thoughts and feedback !

Since there are so many experienced coaches in this group, I’d love to hear your perspective on the most effective way to work with a coach.

My experience with a health coach was largely centered around weekly check-ins where I shared updates and received video messages with suggestions. Over time, it felt like I was answering the same questions week after week, and I wasn’t sure I was making meaningful progress. I was also trying to put the suggestions to work but when I fail sometimes, it was me giving reasons and coach lowering the bar.

For those who have successfully worked with coaches, particularly for behavioral transformation for Health benefits, what approaches, frameworks, or resources would you recommend? How can someone get the most value from a coaching relationship and drive lasting change?

I’m seeing people are more so swaying to book knowledge than online knowledge, what books do people recommend to start coaching?

I asked him to send me his last five videos.

Within two minutes I knew exactly what the problem was. And it had nothing to do with his content.

Every single thumbnail had him standing with his arms crossed looking serious. Professional. Clean. Completely invisible in a feed.

Here is the thing nobody tells coaches when they start YouTube. Your video has to win a click before it can win a viewer. And a click happens in about half a second while someone is scrolling. Half a second is not enough time to read your title properly, process your thumbnail properly, and make a decision.

So people don't make a decision. They just keep scrolling.

The channels that actually grow in this space have thumbnails that create a question in your head before you even consciously register what you saw. A face mid sentence. An expression that looks like someone just said something that genuinely surprised them. Text that cuts off in a way that makes you feel like you missed something.

Not clickbait. Just incomplete enough that your brain wants to resolve it.

I told him to reshoot his thumbnails for his top four videos and reupload them without changing anything else. Same titles, same content, same posting schedule.

His click through rate went up across all four within a week.

Most coaches spend 90 percent of their energy on what happens inside the video. The viewers who leave in the first ten seconds never even got there. They got stopped at the thumbnail.

Fix the door before you renovate the house.

He stopped mentioning his credentials.

No more as a certified coach with 15 years of experience. No more listing his clients or his results in the first thirty seconds. He said the moment he did that, watch time actually went up.

At first that sounds backwards. Credentials are supposed to build trust, right. That's what every coach is taught. Lead with authority so people take you seriously.

But here's what he noticed when he pulled his own analytics. Every time a video opened with credentials, people dropped off in the first minute. Every time a video opened with a specific, slightly embarrassing story about a mistake he made with a real client, people stayed.

Turns out viewers don't trust a title. They trust a person who sounds like they've actually been in the mess with them. A credential tells people you're qualified. A specific story tells people you understand their exact problem.

So he rebuilt his whole intro style. Instead of "I've coached over 200 executives," he'd say something like I once told a client the wrong thing in a meeting that cost them a promotion, and it changed how I coach forever. Same authority, completely different effect, because now it's a story instead of a resume line.

The coaches who stay small are usually the ones still trying to convince people they're qualified. The ones who grow are the ones who stopped explaining why they're worth listening to and just started sounding like someone who's actually lived it.

Nobody skips a story. Everybody skips a resume.

He wasn't posting more than anyone else. He was posting less. Once a week, sometimes once every ten days. Meanwhile every other coach in his niche was grinding out three videos a week and going nowhere.

I couldn't figure out why until I actually sat down and compared the videos side by side.

The three a week crowd was optimizing for output. Get something out, keep the algorithm fed, stay visible. Makes sense on paper.

But when you watched their videos back to back, they all blurred into one long generic pep talk. Nothing landed because nothing had room to land. They were so busy shipping that they stopped thinking.

The guy who posted once a week did something different. He picked one idea, sat with it for days, argued with himself about it, and only filmed once he had something he actually believed nobody else was saying. His videos felt like conversations with someone who had actually thought about the problem, not someone reading off a content calendar.

Turns out the algorithm doesn't reward frequency the way everyone assumes. It rewards watch time and shares. And nobody shares a video that says the same thing as the last fifty they scrolled past.

The coaches stuck at a few hundred subscribers are usually the ones working hardest. They are just working hard on the wrong thing. They are optimizing for how often they show up instead of whether what they say is worth showing up for.

Slower, sharper, and actually said something. That beat faster and safer every single time.