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0:00:01 - Speaker 1
Welcome back to another episode of the Sophie Kessner podcast. I took a little break from podcasting for the last few weeks and I won't get into a whole lot of detail about it, but essentially there was some interesting stuff that happened at an event that I was at in Washington and it just took a little bit of time to kind of recover from that experience and get back into the day-to-day of life parenting, everything but I'm happy to report I am safe, i am good, everyone is safe and good, and we are happy and healthy and life is fantastic. And, with that being said, what I want to talk about in this episode and what I want to start to unpack for you is a conversation around how to create a signature coaching program. Now. There's a full blog that goes along with this episode that will go even more in depth, so I highly recommend checking that out, and there's also a template I include in that blog for you to see how we actually structure our coaching programs now. It brings up, because there's just a lot of stuff online in the world and I think, with creating online businesses in particular, it doesn't need to be something that feels really really hard or heavy or that we need to be over investing in and I think the over investing in the online coaching space is so much of an epidemic, and it's somewhat disheartening to see, with folks who are hopeful and passionate and excited coming in and over investing and not getting the return on their investment in a time frame that that's works for them, that's sustainable for them, and so part of why I want to talk about this and record this episode is is to give those who are in that space, who are wanting to potentially branch into coaching or wanting to create a program of sorts, the things that they actually need to do it, and there's no gimmicks here. It's all free. So and I hope that you enjoy this episode, i hope you enjoy the content that's being taught in it, and if you have questions, feel free to reach out. So let's go ahead and dive on in now. 

Before we can create any kind of program, the important thing that we have to figure out is what kind of coach do you want to be now? if you're somebody who's been in the industry for a longer period of time, then you probably already know what kind of coach you are, what kind of coach you want to be. But if you're somebody who is working a full-time corporate job or hasn't yet figured out what kind of skillset they have and wants to start some sort of online business in the coaching service-based space, then this is a really important question to sit and ask yourself now. If you don't know the entire idea of potential options, of what you have available for you in the in the coaching industry. We also have a full blog on that. You can check it out on the site and that'll walk you through some of the most profitable life coach niches in 2023 and give you a full list of potential options a lot along with past clients of ours in those niches who have had a lot of success. So you can you can explore and get a feel for that now. 

When you're thinking about what kind of coach you want to be, it's important to take into consideration the skill set that you have, the life experience that you have, the training that you have and who you want to work with, and before we go into creating businesses or creating programs. One of the mistakes I would say that I met early on in my career and that I know so many folks make is we get swept up by our passions, often to the point that we become blind to what the data is saying, and it's it's a little bit of a rose-colored glasses effect, in the sense that we're so passionate and so optimistic and so wanting to see the best in everything that we're not always willing to see some of the factual points of what's happening. And I say that because sometimes, when we're getting ready to create a coaching program or a business for the first time, we have all this hope, we have all these dreams, we have all these desires and we want to hit the ground running with what we think is the best. And unfortunately, that isn't always the best way to approach a new business or a new venture or a new program, which is a why, before you decide what kind of program you want to create or what you're gonna do, you have to know who your ideal client is, who your target market is. Now again, there is an amazing blog that we wrote and also some podcasting episodes that go in depth into the market research process, so I'm not gonna go into that a whole lot here, but it's important to understand that market research does not have to be this heavy icky thing. Really, it's a way for you to collect data, so you don't have to go and collect the data in your launch. 

What do I mean when I say that if you're creating a brand new program that you've never sold before and that you've never done before and you're just going going for it right, without doing the data or without collecting the data and doing the research, then you're going to collect the data during the launch period of the program. Meaning, as you're talking about it, sharing about it, marketing it, you're gonna find out if people are gonna buy or not, and you don't have a whole lot of certainty or guarantee around that. Some people are okay with that, some people are like I'm, i'm fine, i'm happy to learn that way. Other folks, like myself, don't like that. I don't like not knowing things and I don't like the frustration that comes with putting a lot of time and energy and effort into something without knowing how to actually make it better, how to guarantee results for myself, which is why, for me personally, at this point in my career, i prefer a data-driven approach. 

I prefer to do the market research, to collect the data, to collect the information, so I can know exactly what I need to be doing in order to get the result that I want to get, and the market research is one of the biggest ways to prevent yourself from having a flop to launch. It's one of the best ways to figure out how to talk about your program and how to even create what you want to create in a way that's going to be Resonant with the people that you're trying to enroll, that you're trying to sell it to, that you're trying to help. So, if you've never done market research before, you're a brand new coach, or you're stepping into coaching, or you're considering starting an online business or you're transitioning or pivoting into something brand new that you've never done Please go check out the market research episode on the podcast and also the blog linked with it. That has the questions on there for you to actually ask when you're doing your market research. Now, once you've done the market research, you should have a fair amount of information About what it is that your people want, what it is that your people need, what it is that they're looking for, what they've invested in previously, what they're willing to invest moving forward, and You'll be able to use this information in combination with understanding where you fit into that puzzle. So, if you are brand new, the first thing that you want to do is get clarity on what is your skill set, what are you good at, what is it that you know how to do that You can help people get results with. 

Now, i have a little bit of a different opinion about this than some of the things that I've seen online, and my opinion is you don't necessarily want to go after the thing that you're most passionate about, but more so you want to go after the thing that you are the most qualified for and that you are the most Competent and I'll say that one more time, really slowly competent, not confident. Competent. And I and I say competence because I think confidence is something that we can get convoluted in, in the sense that we Try to put on a face of feeling really confident in something without really understanding the inner workings of how something works, and we can get ourselves into sticky situations. So competence and the ability to actually create a result for a client is really really, really important, and I talk about this a lot when I talk about, like the RRR method, which is essentially just a basic framework that talks about the Upward and downward spiral that comes with Relationships, results and your reputation. Now, what does that mean in any industry. 

The way that the growth of your brand will go is dependent on the Reputation that you have in the industry. When you are first starting out, there is no reputation. You don't have one, and so the process is slow and And so we have to spend a lot of time focusing on Relationships, relationship building. For those of you in the online marketing world and those of you that use a lot of social media, this is where you're spending time nurturing, creating content, adding value, sharing, connecting, networking. You're building relationships. Now. The relationships are Important in the sense that if we don't have relationships with folks, it's hard to have them want to invest in us, because they don't know us, they don't trust us, and so, once they know and they trust and they Believe in what we're doing and they want to experience it. 

The next step is going to be results, and this is one of the most important components of any business, because a program that does not get results does not grow. A program that does not get results will plateau, and it doesn't matter how great the marketing is, eventually Folks will talk, folks will share, and this is something that's really, really important, because if The results that your program gets are inconsistent, are not Not the norm, not the standard, the majority of the folks aren't seeing results then your reputation Will start to diminish and this is important because there is an inevitable In impact and interconnected relationship between these three assets, between these three components of business. The better the results are that you get your clients, the better reputation you will have in the industry. So, understanding who we want to connect with and what kind of results we feel competent in, and supporting clients and achieving, is one of the foundational things that we can do in setting ourselves up for success By building a reputation that is so profound and so well received That you don't even have to do a whole lot of selling because people are so impressed by what your reputation is, because of the results that you've gotten, because of the relationships that you've built. That, my friends, is the RRR method And that's a big part of what I personally believe in my philosophy in business. 

I don't believe that we should just go and create programs and offers because they sound cooler, they're selling or it's what's hot. I think it's important to understand who you're working with, what it is that they want, why they want that, the results that they're after, and knowing how well you can help them get those results. Now, again, if you're somebody who's newer to the space or you're transitioning into something new and maybe you haven't had a whole lot of experience getting people results, it's important to use yourself as the first example of that, because if you can prove that you can do it for you, then you can start to do it for others, and I think that is something that's a real testament to somebody's Reputation and their ability to generate real results and in the online world. Now Let's kind of circle back here because I'm skipping around. I'm doing a lot of it without going into pieces. 

So we we talked about market research, and the market research is What will help you identify who your ideal client is and what the niche is that you're focusing on, along with What, what kind of results people are looking for, and you will likely find in your market research folks who are really great fit And folks who are not. The data will vary, and so what you're looking for here are patterns. You're looking to see what are the patterns, what are the similarities of the folks that I really do enjoy and would want to work with, and what are the patterns and the similarities with the folks that maybe are not quite the right kind of person that I would want to work with or kind of Result that I would want to get, and the data can be really, really empowering. It can show you exactly What it is that maybe you didn't see or you didn't think about, and, especially for somebody who's an expert in what you do, we can be blinded by our Massive amount of training and knowledge and not understand how to communicate in a way that's relevant, resonant, with the people that we're wanting to work with. So when we do the market research, you'll have that clarity. You'll be able to sit down and know, okay, who is this person, what is it that they're currently navigating and trying to unpack and trying to solve? 

and some questions that might help you with this, also on the blog, are what are both your core values and beliefs about life and our business, and what are the important things that you want to share with your potential client values that matter to you? now again, i come from more of an equity-centered background and certified as an equity centered leader and leader and coach through the Institute for equity centered coaching lots of words so I have a big emphasis on values and on Practices in business and how we integrate that all together. So I think that understanding your personal values and beliefs are important when you're thinking about the type of people that you want to attract, and this can go for any kind of niche, and a great example of this for me in business is Our core values are around sustainability and making sure that people are not coming into a world who are very urgent Or who are trying to do things that are unethical. It just doesn't work for me, i don't care how much money they want to pay me, i'm not going to do it. And for other folks It's important to see. Maybe you're somebody who's in the health and wellness space and you want somebody who really believes in mental health and really understands that it's important to have a whole person approach. Maybe you're somebody who does believe in Western medicine or is an advocate for things of the sort, and you want to make sure that you're attracting clients who also are open to those kind of things, or maybe you're on the other end of that right. So it's important to understand what your values and beliefs are so that you can bring that into the context of who you're talking to and how they approach life in business. 

The next thing is getting clear on what kind of people you actually really enjoy working with. What are their personalities like? How do they show up? What do they think? What are the similarities in their lifestyle experiences? For me in the more recent years, after having my son and stepping in a motherhood oh my God, i have such a hard time connecting with folks who are not parents anymore. Actually, let me return I have a hard time connecting with folks who are not caretakers of some sort right, whether that's of an animal, of family members or kiddos just because there's a different level that comes with it. And for me, i really enjoy working with other parents. I really enjoy working with other women or other caretakers in that world, but I also really enjoy people who enjoy the things I enjoy. I really love working with people who are super geeky and love data and love science, because that is how my brain operates and how it works And it's fun for me. I also really love working with people who are into trauma work, because then they get my language, they get my approach and it just works so much better. 

Now the next question is what are the main priorities in their life right now, and how does that relate to your work? So this is an important question, especially as you're looking at the data from your market research, because what somebody is prioritizing tells you a lot about their decision-making process. So an example of this would be somebody who highly prioritizes their relationships, their partnership. Right, they really care about their family and their kids. It's like their number one priority And maybe their secondary priority is their career, their finances, and so we want to make sure that we understand that so that we can understand how we want to speak to the thing that we're going to be helping them with. So if it's somebody who wants to make sure that their relationship isn't a good place, they want to mend their relationship. That's their number one priority, and then their secondary priority is their career. Well, part of the conversation there is going to be helping them find that balance. How do you find the balance between having a healthy, loving relationship and also having a fulfilling and enjoyable career And, depending on the work that you do, how do you address both of those pieces? So my other questions are on there. I won't go into all of them right now because there's quite a few If you want to check it out again. Go check out the blog and you can go through each of those questions in a lot more depth. 

And then the next thing that we're going to do here is you've gotten clarity on who the people are. It's understanding what it is that they're navigating and what it is that they want right Now. You can use different language here. You can say it's the pain and the problem. You can say it's the challenge, it's the obstacle, and that's kind of the starting point. And then there's the result, the outcome, the dream, the desire, where they want to go, the thing they want to achieve. So you've got point A and you've got point B. Point A where they're starting, point B where they want to get to. Now, what you want to call those things, totally up to you. 

And in the middle here we have the process, and the process is you You and your services and what you offer. Now the process for any result can be different depending on what it is that people are trying to achieve and also where they're starting from. Additionally, you can have the same problem and the same desired result and have a million different ways to achieve it, meaning, if you're wanting to feel better in your life. You can achieve that through fitness. You can achieve that through movement, through yoga. There's a million different ways that we can achieve something. So it's important to understand what your process is, what your unique process is, what your tools are for helping folks move from where they are to where they want to be to get what they want. And that is what becomes your program, your service. 

Now, when you sit with this and you get clear on okay, well, i'm working with folks who are I'm going to take one of my clients right now, that's the top of mine. I'm going to work with folks who are struggling with energy and fatigue And they want to be able to feel like they have energy again, like they can actually get through the day like a normal person. Well, there's a lot that we can look at there, but the biggest thing is what are the skill sets and training that you have as the business owner, as the practitioner, as the coach to support them? And in this example, the client that I'm thinking of is actually trained in functional medicine and nutritional therapy, and so in this case, in this example, they would be using the tools that they've learned and creating a process that moves somebody from feeling very tired, overly exerted, a lot of brain fog, a lot of fatigue, to feeling like they have energy again, like they can think clearly, like they have life back in themselves through the process of functional medicine and nutritional therapy. 

Now it starts out broader, as you can start to see here, and then we'll get into the nitty-gritty of it, because that is a very broad thing to say. Right, people want to know well, how does this work? How do I get down there? How do I understand exactly how to help somebody with this? And a big part of this is experience, as counterintuitive as that can sound sometimes, because the reality is, if we've ever done something before, we don't know. We just don't know. We might have evidence of other things, we might have data from other things, we might have ideas about it, but if we haven't done it, we simply do not know for sure whether or not it's going to work. 

So if this is the first time that you're going to be doing something, let it be a beta round, let it be an experiment. Let it be and allow yourself to actually talk about it in this way. This is a beta, this is a test group, this is a test program. This is a beta launch, because what that allows you to do is it takes off the pressure of having to have it be perfect, of having to have it look a certain way or be a certain way. It gives you permission and it gives your client's permission to say, okay, great, this is a test run. I'm open to that. Now I'll get more into details about this whole process in a little bit here. 

But what I wanna talk about first is how do you actually create a program outline. How do you go into taking something that you do, understanding where a client is and where they wanna go, and turning that into a program? So the template for this is again on the blog on the site, so go check that out if you haven't already. And there's a few things that your outline should include. One the name of your program. Not a big deal right now. We'll come back to that, but just know there's a space for that. The second thing is a summary or an overview that clearly explains what the client will experience or achieve. What's the outcome? What are they working towards? Are they helping them go from point A to point B? Pretty straightforward Through the process of what you do. Then we're gonna go into the outline of what it is that you are going to be teaching them and moving them through inside of your program. 

So when you're outlining what your modules are, i think this is where most folks start to feel overwhelmed, cause they look at this and they're saying I don't know how to get them from point A to point B. So I personally like to take a reverse engineered approach to this and look at okay, well, what's the main outcome? Where are they trying to get to? Where are they? what's the end goal? And then work backwards. Okay, well, what needs to happen in order for them to be here? What needs to happen in order for somebody to go from feeling really tired and fatigued to having more energy? What are the pieces that would need to happen for somebody to not have any business whatsoever, to actually have a thriving business online? We can take the bigger picture and we start to break it down into smaller chunks. Now this might look like two steps, five steps, 10 steps it really varies, but what we're looking for here is how we can organize the process and streamline it in a way to where it's simple and easy for folks to understand, and I would invite you to bring it down to as minimal steps as possible and to allow it to be as simple as possible when you're first starting out. 

I think that one of the mistakes that we can make is trying to do too much And in that process, the muchness of it becomes overwhelming and hard to actually follow through on. So how can we simplify it, how can we keep it super lean so that we can move people through that process? And so we say, okay, well, to get from point A to point B, there needs to be this step, this step, this step, this step and that step. Maybe you have five steps. Okay, now what goes into each step? What are the subcategories of that bigger step? Well, they need to do X, y and Z, a, b and Z. One, two, three, and you put those subcategories under the court categories And these become your program modules, right, the library or the content for your program, and are the process that you move folks through. 

Now a more concrete example of this is in our process of supporting folks and building businesses beyond the feed right. Our ideal client for the online business automator, one of my businesses, is working with folks who are tired of using social media, tired of relying on social media to run their business and want to build a business that is social media optional, that they can continue to generate clients without needing to post 24-7 on social media. Well, how do they do that? Three phases, three core phases. One they need to build a system and an automated backend that will allow them to actually enroll clients. Two, they need to have an actual sales pipeline set up. That's ready to go. So, one business backend, automated. Two, sales pipeline. And then three is going to be making sure that you actually have an SEO-based marketing engine, right? So, three simple steps. Now all of that is obviously much more complex and there's a lot more that goes into it, but, that being said, you break it down and it's actually a lot simpler than it looks because we go into. 

Okay, well, what step one? what things do we need to automate in the business backend? Okay, well, we need to make sure that you've got your website set up. You need to have a blog set up. You need to have this xyz piece set up. What needs to happen for your sales pipeline? Well, we need a sales call calendar, we need an enrollment call guide, we need a sales sequence, we need a nurture sequence, right? So we break down those steps. 

When you've broken down all of the steps for your categories, then it's a matter of prioritization What needs to happen first, what needs to happen before anything else can happen? And you can consistently ask yourself that question as you're building out the program content And as you continue to build this out and prioritize and organize how you're gonna move people through this, then it'll be a matter of putting it to the test, right? So be open and be flexible that the idea that you have when you first create this structure may not be the thing that sticks. It may need some adjustments and tweaks and reorganization, and that's okay. That is why we will do a beta launch. 

So the next question on this, after you've mapped out the process and the modules or the content or the framework that you'll be teaching, is how much time do you estimate you'll need to help clients get through this process, to get from point A to point B? And this is a very nuanced question, right? Typically, people will say, well, you just launch a 90 day, 12 week coaching program and that's great. And I think that this general advice, though, can have some validity to it may not always be the most effective and most helpful, which is why I think it's important to really actually look at what you're doing, who you're working with, what the results is and how you're gonna help them get there, and really take the time to think to yourself okay, well, how much time do they actually really need to start to see real results? right, and for some things, it might be a long thing, right, like for us with our online business automation program. 

Seo marketing is not a short term thing. Nobody's gonna go from zero to 100 in two, three months. It's just not realistic. It's not possible, and it's also one of the reasons why we don't do 90 day things. We offer lifetime access, because building an SEO based business is a process that takes time, and you really start to see results between three to six months in right? So when we look at it through that lens, we say, okay, well, three to six month process. Okay, we wanna make sure we have that as a minimum for the timeframe, and for you, it might be four weeks, it might be eight weeks, it might be six months, it might be five months. There's no wrong answer here. What's important is that you give yourself and the clients that you're going to be working with a proper amount of time and space to really move through the content and really start to see results, because, again, the most important thing about you and your business and your programs are the results that you get your clients. 

Now, once you've outlined what the program timeframe is, the next thing is to look at what are the deliverables. What are the things that you're going to be delivering inside the program? Is it just the course content? Are you offering coaching calls? Is it one-to-one, is it group? Does there a community component connected to it? What are the things that you feel like they really need? 

And when you've outlined what the deliverables are, get clear on the frequency. How long do they have access to the group? How many coaching calls do they get? And per week, per month, for the entirety of it, how long are the calls? What do you happen after the calls? So that way you can have more clarity on what it is that's being delivered throughout the program. And when you do this, then you want to get clear on for yourself. 

Okay, well, how much time am I actually spending on the deliverables, on the coaching calls in the community? what am I allocating for my time involved in these delivery pieces. When you've gotten clarity on that, you should have a total estimated amount of time that you spend over the entirety of the program. So let's say you spend one week, one hour a week, two hours a week on coaching calls and you have a 12-week program. We'll just go with it. It's 24 hours that you're spending on coaching calls, but that's not including the time that you're going to be spending creating the content, which is maybe another two hours a week, right? So 48 hours is what we're looking at now, and then maybe the time that you're spending in the community, so maybe that's like an hour a week. Okay, well, now we're at what is that? 48, 60 hours total for the entirety of the program. So then what we want to look at is okay, well, what am I wanting to have my minimal hourly wage be for delivering this bait around to this program And what's my capacity for this? 

Well, 60 hours, if I want to make at least $30 an hour. Let me grab my calculator here. What would that be? So what I'm doing is I'm multiplying 30 by 60. So I can know if I want to make $30 an hour and I'm working 60 hours, i'll make at least $1800 for the entirety of the course. Now, $1800 12-week program not a bad price point. But depending on who your audience and your niche is, this may or may not be something that's cost-effective or affordable for them or within their range. That's easy to say yes to. Now I'm not going to go too in-depth on pricing There's a whole episode that covers this But what I will say here is that if you're doing something that's a group program or that's a course, something that's highly scalable, you can have more flexibility with your pricing, because that $1800 for those 60 hours is not just for one person but for a group of people. 

So you want to have your minimum and then you want to have, like, what would be the big goal for yourself with the group setup Maybe. Like your minimum is I want to have at least four people on this program. Okay, well, $1800 divided by four, $450, that's super cheap. $450 is insanely affordable. Well, actually, i take that back Some of my western privilege speaking. So $450 for three months is something that's more accessible, let me say it that way. So that would be something that would be more doable, especially for a beta round, because my beta round the first time that I do this. 

I'm not trying to have it all be perfect. I want to get people in. I want more people in because I want more data. I want to have more people go through it and help me get better results. So that's the reason why when I do this beta round, i'm going to be open about it. This is a beta launch. This is going to be priced at this. It likely will never be this again And it could be something higher than that. So if it's $450 that you need for the minimum, but you want to increase that, well, maybe you want it to be something closer to $700 for it. It's $700 for the three months And after this round, the pricing will go up and you can incrementally increase it. So you want to find what's going to feel good for you, that you can actually feel confident asking for And that you know your clients, or your potential clients, won't have a hard time saying yes to. Once you've done all of that, it is time to go into your beta launch. Now, i'm not going to cover that in this episode. Essentially, this is a whole different conversation that we can go into later on. 

But if you've enjoyed this episode, if you've created a free coaching program. I would love to see it. Feel free to send it over to us. We'd love to give you some feedback. If you have questions, just comment underneath the blog for this episode and we can answer those for you. If it's something more personal, you can always reach out directly at our email. Hey, at thesigurdco. And finally, if you are wanting additional support with any of the stuff it's not necessarily something I teach a whole lot anymore, but I'm happy to support folks as they need it. Feel free to reach out and we can definitely look at how we can best support you. Alright, y'all, i hope you enjoy this episode. Be sure to go to the blog to get the template and I will see you on the next episode. 

Transcribed by https://podium.page