In this solo episode, Sarah dismantles the common misconception that being a skilled coach is enough to build a successful business. She explores the dangerous confusion between Professional Development (becoming a better coach) and Business Development (learning how to acquire clients).

Sarah explains why highly intelligent coaches—especially those with HR or procurement backgrounds—often struggle the most, and why the industry sees an 82% failure rate. She offers a liberating perspective: struggling to find clients isn't a failure of your coaching ability, but simply a lack of a separate, learnable skill set.

Key Takeaways

1. The Misunderstanding of Client Acquisition

Most coaches graduate believing client acquisition is intuitive, assuming that "casting a wide net" is the right strategy

2. Defining the Two Disciplines

• Professional Development: This covers what your qualification taught you: core competencies, listening skills, ethics, and facilitating transformation. It ensures you are qualified to coach

• Business Development: This encompasses market research, pricing psychology, sales processes, and sustainable business modelling. It requires translating what you do into language that potential clients actually understand.

3. The "Content Creation" Trap

Believing that competence attracts clients, coaches often default to writing about "confidence," "resilience," or their specific methodology.

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Competitors or Collaborators? The Truth About the Coaching Industry with Tim Brownson

Sarah welcomes a guest you might not expect: Tim Brownson. While they both teach coaches how to find clients, Tim and Sarah prove that collaboration is far more powerful than competition.

Together, they pull back the curtain on the coaching industry, dismantling the myths sold by training schools and having a candid conversation about the "charlatans" giving the profession a bad name. They also dive deep into the controversial topic of AI, exploring why fear is holding many coaches back from the future.

Key Takeaways

• Competition vs. Collaboration: Sarah and Tim discuss why they don't view each other as rivals, despite working in the same space. They explore why many coaches hold their cards close to their chest out of fear, rather than embracing community.
• The "Field of Dreams" Myth: The duo critiques the pervasive lie told by training organisations: that if you are a good enough coach, clients will simply find you. Tim shares his own experience of having a wall full of certificates that brought him "the grand total of no clients".
• The Reality of AI in Coaching: Far from believing AI will never catch on, Tim predicts it will "wipe out coaches at the bottom end" who compete on price. They agree that while AI shouldn't be used to churn out lazy content ("sludge"), it is an essential tool for productivity and thinking.

Memorable Quotes

"We genuinely believe that our success came purely from having good conversations and quality coaching, but we fail to recognise the structural advantage that we started with." — Sarah Short

"I think AI is going to wipe out coaches at the bottom end... the kind of person that's looking for the cheapest coach is the kind of person that's going to turn to AI first." — Tim Brownson

"Brilliant coaches with no clients and the shit coaches with loads of clients because they understand marketing and that's just how it is." — Tim Brownson

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In this solo episode, Sarah dismantles the dangerous and pervasive belief that a sustainable coaching business can be built solely on referrals. She explores why "doing good work" is rarely enough to generate a consistent client flow, especially for coaches starting without a high-level corporate network.

Sarah introduces the concept of "Monetisable Credibility" and explains why copying the business models of coaches with established networks often leads to failure for those starting from scratch.

Key Takeaways

1. The Stubborn Myth of Referrals

• There is a widespread belief among coaches that you only need to land your first one or two clients, and word of mouth will handle the rest.

• For the majority of coaches, this is not true; while referrals do come eventually, the timeline is typically years, not months

  
  

2. Understanding "Monetizable Credibility"

• "Starting from scratch" refers to coaches who lack existing networks of senior decision-makers who can approve budgets or afford premium rates based on pre-existing trust.

• Coaches without this credibility cannot leverage established relationships; they must build trust entirely through marketing efforts.

• Those with high-level networks often fail to recognise their own privilege, mistaking their structural advantage for the success of the "conversation".

3. The Structural Limitations of Coaching Referrals

• Coaching referrals face unique hurdles compared to other professions like accounting or law.

• Because coaching is often confidential, clients may not want others to know they are receiving support, meaning they will never refer you, regardless of their results.

• Referrals are often shared behind closed doors rather than as open professional recommendations, making the process much slower.

4. The Danger of Improvisation

• Many coaches try to "improvise" their business development without learning the fundamentals of marketing.

• Sarah compares this to "trying to improvise surgery without medical training".

• When these improvised methods fail, coaches often internalise the failure and blame themselves, rather than recognising they simply lack the necessary skills.

5. Moving to Systematic Client Acquisition

• Coaches who succeed are those who accept that building a business requires different skills than delivering coaching.

• Effective marketing requires specificity in targeting and language, rather than the "broad appeal" approach encouraged by the referral myth.

• Referrals should be viewed as a bonus, not a business strategy.

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