Jen is a former educator turned certified life coach. She uses her background in curriculum and instruction to train aspiring coaches and support them to launch their own profitable practices with ease.

Jen's links:

Website: https://livingoutgoals.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livingoutgoals/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/livingoutgoalstogether

Quiz: https://livingoutgoals.com/whats-your-innate-coaching-superpower/

Links mentioned:

Life Coach Spotter

My Coach Match

Noomii

Life Coach Hub

Bark

The Life Coach Directory

The International Association of Professional Life Coaches

Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] Lindsay: Jeneffer, thank you so much for being on the Book Your Dream Clients podcast. I'm so excited to have you on. 

[00:00:46] Jeneffer: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. 

[00:00:49] Lindsay: I'm really excited because I feel like you are definitely going to fill in a gap in the podcast feed we've had. We've had hundreds of episodes already, and I think that this has not been talked about not, not specifically.

[00:01:03] And Jeneffer’s going to really dig into how new coaches can find ways in their marketing to get clients, because I think that's a big pain point. I've worked with coaches who are just starting or they have an idea in their head or they have a website. And I think the biggest problem is okay now, what do I do?

[00:01:24] How do I find clients? And I always make a little joke that there's not a website. The internet where you can click the button and say, okay, take me to where all the clients are hanging out, but that is a pain point. So how did you get started with this? Let's go with your how you got started and just work our way up into this, because I think everyone's really excited to hear about.

[00:01:44] Thank 

[00:01:45] Jeneffer: you. Yeah, no, it's so funny because I think so I work with new coaches as well, and they think, well, I have a live website, like as if that should be enough to attract clients to their business, all of a sudden, but no, one's going to find your website just because it's live. There's active promoting that people do to leave.

[00:02:01] Potential clients to their website to book the calls. So today I really hope to drop a lot of gems and value to your community about what they can do to start getting their name out there. So I actually came across this because I used it when I hired my first coach. And that is a search a search directory for coaches.

[00:02:21] And I was able to find a coach that matched me early on. And then I was like, oh, I could probably get on there now that I am a certified coach, now that I'm ready to help clients. And that really made a huge difference in my business. That stress that I had of trying to market effectively when I didn't know how to do that on social media was now gone because.

[00:02:43] I had a system, a process of place where people were actively looking for coaches, right. They were actively looking to hire a coach and my page was there where they could find me now. That's, it's not that simple as I just made it, like putting it on one of those coaching directors, there's more to it, which I definitely helped my clients do effectively.

[00:03:06] If that's the route that they choose to use to market their services. 

[00:03:10] Lindsay: Okay. Tell me a little bit about this magical search directory. 

[00:03:14] Jeneffer: So there's so many and it's so funny, cause I feel like it's, it seems so obvious now, but at the time when I started and for my clients, it's like where, where do people go to find coaches, but you can actually be on a coach directory for your coaching school.

[00:03:31] So if you got certified and trained by a school, they often have their own directory that you can be on. That is one also literally a ten second Google search popped up other ones, and I will share those with you as well as the two that I'm most familiar with. Okay. The international association of professional life coaches, the life life coach spotter, my coach match knew me, which is spelled N O O M I I at bark as well as a life coach directory.

[00:04:04] As well as many others, right? Which are directories where coaches can put up a profile and pretty much say they're open for business and potential clients that are looking for coaches can review their information. There are also very niche ones. When, like you're looking for executive coaching or.

[00:04:23] Health coaching. I even had a client mentioned one when she was into what I call the womb, very spiritual, the metaphysical, all those things where she, she mentioned that and I was like, oh, okay, great. Then get on that one because you want to definitely go where your people will be. Right. And that's the key about finding the right director for you going to the place where potential clients, your ideal potential clients will be.

[00:04:50] No. Do you have any, 

[00:04:52] Lindsay: sorry to interrupt you, do you have, do you have to have any certifications to be a part of these directories? Cause I know a lot of schools will have them, but do you have to have anything, any credentials to be a part of these? 

[00:05:03] Jeneffer: No. Some of them don't require actual licensing or credentials.

[00:05:08] For example, Nomi and bark, the ones that I'm most familiar with, you can add your credentials if you have them, but it's not required to be on the director. 

[00:05:18] Lindsay: Do you have a percentage of your clients that come to you? Do you see a bigger percentage of them coming from these directories or what do you have any data on?

[00:05:28] Jeneffer: Yeah, I can, I can give you some rough estimates in the beginning right now I've transitioned to doing my own marketing because, and I will explain why you may want to do that. If you can eventually there is a percentage of your cut that these people are taking or you pay for it, right. And depending on which one you're using, it varies.

[00:05:48] So for example, know me takes 30% of whatever the client is paying me. Bark operates differently in that you are buying leads so you can buy the information like the email and the phone number and the name of these people that you are interested in pitching your coaching services to. So that's a flat fee that you're paying for.

[00:06:09] Lindsay: Okay. Yeah, definitely something that to think about. If you have a different packages as a coach, I think the, most of the people that follow me like to follow that three package concept of offering to clients. So I would say if I have a $10,000 package and I have to give 30% of it, that doesn't sound very fun for me, but I, I think for more sessions it probably works better.

[00:06:34] Jeneffer: Yeah, I think it depends where you are in your, in your, to answer your previous question. In the beginning, I think like 80% of my clients work coming from the service, which was really nice in the sense of they were feeding people to me because I had such great reviews of the clients that I serve.

[00:06:53] That's a big one. You got to make sure you have your reviews on there. Right. And we had built such a great relationship that I was using it regularly, that they they're making money. I'm making money. We're all happy. So I did have a large percentage of my clients coming from there. Slowly I started doing my own marketing and attracting more of my own.

[00:07:14] Lindsay: Okay. So the other directory that you, like, I think you said it was called embark the email list. What is that like? Are those high qualified leads or is it just, I'm always thinking of quality over quantity. Can you tell us a little 

[00:07:29] Jeneffer: bit about that? Yeah. So here's the thing. People need to realize excitement and the desire to fix the problem right.

[00:07:37] To seek coaching has a shelf life. So a lot of times on these directories, what you're getting is people that are like in the midst of it, right? They're like, I need help. I'm going to find somewhere on Google, that's going to help me. And then they'll, they'll get a directory and then they'll pitch and they'll say, okay, I need a coach for X, Y, Z.

[00:07:55] Your job is to make sure that you're getting their information right. Getting in contact with them as soon as possible. And bark is actually one that will tell you how many people have purchased that lead. Right? You will see whether 1, 2, 3 up to five people can get the client's information. So most people get tired and don't want to be like talking to so many different coaches.

[00:08:17] So you want to be one of the first ones to get to them, right? So you want to be very proactive about how you're using that service. That's why I always encourage people to limit how many they're on so that they really understand how that process works and they can become really effective at using that particular service.

[00:08:36] Lindsay: Can you give us just a typical workflow of from step one to whatever of what that looks like from reaching out to actually working with the current. Yeah. 

[00:08:46] Jeneffer: So if it was, I'll give the new me example, right? The one that I mostly used in the beginning. So it would be you go on the site and you see the different descriptions of what people are looking for.

[00:09:00] That's another key thing you really want to make sure that you position yourself in the sense of your profile, that it matches what the people on there are really looking for so that you have the opportunity to pitch yourself, to. So one of the things with new me, they they're really focused. The people that go there it's worldwide, but they're focused on career coaching.

[00:09:20] A lot of them is what I noticed. So I pitched myself as a career coach in the beginning, which was great for my business was great for my clients because I had the experience of switching jobs very often. And I had the tools necessary to be able to help them create massive change in their careers. And get more money, which was wonderful.

[00:09:38] So I would see the lead and I'm like, oh, I like the way this person is sounding. I like what they're saying. I can help them with. Then I write a message saying how I would help them. The people at new me see my information and they determine whether or not I'd be a good fit for them based on what I said in my message, based on what my profile says, right.

[00:09:58] Based on the experience that they have working with me, they decide whether or not they want to present me to that potential client. And they will give that client maybe three to five colors. And that client then gets to say, oh I'm interested in talking to these people, right. Or, and I will also get their information so I can reach out.

[00:10:15] So I will get their, their, their name, their phone number if they gave one and their email for sure. And I reach out to the client, send them a message. I like to call, maybe send a text message follow-up and an email. If I didn't get. And then we book a call and then I have my consultation call with the client.

[00:10:35] And then we get to talk about whether or not they'd like to work with me. Here's the challenge though, that you'll come up with, as someone who's using this service, you are going against other people as well. Again, the service is not just promoting you. They're giving them multiple people to choose from.

[00:10:52] So you have to be really good, right? You gotta be really good on that sales conversation so that you get the least. 

[00:10:59] Lindsay: It sounds like a crash course in discovery calls and pitching yourself and putting it on full speed. 

[00:11:06] Jeneffer: But it's, it's the best way to do it in the sense of like, you're going to get a lot of practice with them.

[00:11:11] And you have the potential of not spinning over creating content all the time, because this is a more direct way of getting clients. 

[00:11:20] Lindsay: Interesting. And so I feel like, you know, we're kind of utilizing the strategy. It's almost like you're spinning a top and letting it spin over there and doing that and probably not obsessing over it.

[00:11:31] And that's spending all of your days working on these platforms and then still working on your own marketing for your own website. So then that hits like level two. Can you talk about that a little bit? 

[00:11:43] Jeneffer: I love that you said that you should never just put all your eggs in that one basket, right? Use the service.

[00:11:49] It's great to have. It's great to be fed leads or to be able to pitch to them. You know, these people are already interested in coaching, but you should be doing your own marketing as well. In the meantime, while you wait for your people to catch up, right. And you've given up value out there in the world where people would be interested enough to reach out in both those consultation calls with you.

[00:12:07] So one of the things that I help my clients with it's really understand what they feel comfortable with. And what they do naturally so that they can use that to market their services. Some people really love speaking, right. And that may look like them hosting chats online or host live events, to share more about what they're doing.

[00:12:27] Some people love writing. And, you know, you'll see people having like blog posts and really utilizing Pinterest to share their thoughts or posting it on social media. Some people really love Instagram, like naturally personally, they enjoy being on the platform. So then I'm like, okay, great. Being on Instagram, share about your business.

[00:12:46] Talk about what you're doing, what happened with a client? Put that out there. It depends on the client. Like I always want them to find the way that feels natural to them and easier for them to access. So that they can then start sharing about their business and promoting their coaching services. 

[00:13:01] Lindsay: I think one of the biggest things for people trying to decide where to be, especially when they're just starting is they think they have to be everywhere and that can feel really overwhelming.

[00:13:12] So how do you, how do you advise somebody who thinks they need to be on Instagram and Pinterest and YouTube and blogging and all the things. Cause they see people who are on level 20 and they think they need to be there right now. How do you get them started with that overwhelm that they're facing?

[00:13:29] Jeneffer: I love that you said that. I, I think it's, it's so true, especially for coaches because we see so many people. Where they've refined their coaching, right? They've refined their coaching model, their process and everything. And they're at a different level than you are. And you're trying to compare and do what they do.

[00:13:45] They have full on teams to help them do these things. You are not there when you're starting out. So it's really important to understand how many clients can you actually even accept into your practice in the beginning when you're doing one-on-one it's you max out at 20 when you're doing it full-time and often.

[00:14:02] You're doing it. Part-time in the beginning. Like I literally could only take on 10 clients when I was working my full-time job. So when I put that in perspective, I only need 10 people to say yes, like I'm fully booked at 10 people right now. Understanding that I have way more than that in one platform, whether that be LinkedIn, whether that be my Facebook profile, my personal page whether that be on Instagram, I have so much more than I need that alone is enough, especially because of what it leads to when you're on all these different platforms is overwhelmed.

[00:14:39] It's overwhelming. Cause you're like, well, I have to show up in this way. And these are the metrics or the the size of the images or Instagram versus if I put it here on LinkedIn or if I do it on YouTube, go with the one that you already liked to show up on. That is enough. You have enough people there most likely go look at your numbers.

[00:14:58] I promise you, you have enough people to fill up your practice in the beginning, just all in club. 

[00:15:05] Lindsay: I think it's so important to just look at it in a different light. Like Jeneffer said, I get to work with 10 people a month, or instead of saying, I only have this, or how am I going to get to this number?

[00:15:19] It's all in the perspective and the mindset, you can easily switch something into something positive. I always tell myself and probably I'm just deliriously positive about everything. I can always see the silver lining and how we can look at this in a better way. And if we're not doing that right away in our business, then.

[00:15:39] Thing is going to feel like such a chore and even thinking about, you know, somebody who is on level 20, they, they might have a big team. They might not, or they might be just really good at balancing their time and their productivity. And that might be something that you can look at too. There's always a skill to build, but looking at the things that you enjoy the most.

[00:16:00] Instagram, for example I'm going to create for Instagram primarily, that's at the top of my, that, of my pillar and that is everything underneath it. LinkedIn, Facebook, all of the other places we've got to show up, those are going to fall underneath and I could just repurpose out to them. And I think one of the things that we, one of the biggest myths people believe when they're first starting is they got to create new content for each platform and they forget that they have.

[00:16:28] Probably just recycle and reuse what they're posting on their favorite platform and just recycle it on all the others. And I always think that. Everyone should know this, but they don't. And then when you bring it up there, that big light bulb shows up in their head like, oh my gosh, I can just repurpose my Instagram post to my Facebook group that would make my life so much easier.

[00:16:51] And they, they feel like they need to just make new things for everything. And it brings, it brought me. Anxiety when you're just saying, you know, the Pinterest sizes, the Instagram sizes. Cause there are so many rules everywhere we play, but just think how could I make this easier and go with that, especially when you're just starting, you're faced with all of these places.

[00:17:10] Do you like the idea of repurposing and recycling your content or do you do brand new things for every platform? 

[00:17:17] Jeneffer: Hi Brandon, thanks for every platform and the truth people, even on that platform where you originally posted it, everybody didn't even see it. The. So it's perfectly fine to repurpose that same one piece of content on that platform.

[00:17:31] For example I'll write a post and I'll have like an image of myself, like on Instagram or something. I will take a boat from that and rephrase it and make it. Right. And put that out there as well because other people still need that same message. Not everybody saw it the first time and people need repetition.

[00:17:48] So don't be afraid to repeat yourself. Right. Switch things up, take a different angle on it, but for sure, definitely post the same thing with multiple platforms. Not everybody's seeing it. It's good. Share it. People need to hear what you're saying. It's good content, but it out there we're more eyes can get to it.

[00:18:08] Lindsay: yes, no, no, no. Look at your insights on your, on Instagram, for example, how many followers followers do you have? How many people actually saw that post it's such a small percentage. So don't be afraid to recycle and reuse your work. I think I've mentioned this before on a previous episode. Where you can go and export all of your Instagram captions and your posts and put it in a spreadsheet.

[00:18:33] So if you're feeling like you're tapping a dry well for content, and you're just hitting that writer's block go and export all of your posts and grab and make a spreadsheet of all of your copy and just grab things that look good. And you, and you remember, oh yeah, I remember this post worked really well.

[00:18:48] How can I use this and just kind of give it a fresh new feel to it. You can still use your words, they're your words. And don't be afraid to reuse them. I think that's, that can help alleviate a lot of the pain points of marketing, especially when you're just working in the organic marketing and doing it for free.

[00:19:05] And that's totally fine. What are you finding that's working for you really well right now with getting. 

[00:19:12] Jeneffer: So I may use the hate Instagram because I thought it was all people posting selfies and posting their food. And I'm like, man, I don't care to be on this Instagram, but I'm having a lot more fun on there.

[00:19:27] I'm big on Facebook too. I used to have my Facebook group, but now I keep it more. So for challenges, I'm doing one next month, so that's going to be fun. But yeah, so what I love doing stories because I'm traveling at the moment. So people would love to see my stories and I repurposed things that I put in a story and make like a little video and put it as opposed to.

[00:19:47] Yes, I am definitely re-purposing things and people still like it. It's great. The same images repair and using them in that way. So that's super fun. But yeah, I'm getting a lot more people from Instagram and Facebook now. 

[00:20:01] Lindsay: And those are free. And like she mentioned, she's repurposing. I like how you're repurposing your stories and making them into a post.

[00:20:07] I think a lot of people who watch your stories might not even see or post. So it's like you're giving fresh content to this group of people and fresh content to that group of people. What do you love about working with clients right now compared to when you first start. 

[00:20:25] Jeneffer: Well now I, because I work with new coaches, it's so fulfilling.

[00:20:29] When I first started, it was more career coaching and I found that clients were coming to me, really stressed out and worried about the timeframe that they were going to get the new job in. So now that I get to just work with coaches, I get to see. Like a reflection of me, of where I was and I get to give them exactly what I wished someone gave me.

[00:20:47] When I began as a coach, truly the step-by-step play of how to get from zero or like I just finished certification and I still don't feel comfortable saying I'm a coach. I now say that I'm a coach, but I still don't know how to have a sales conversation. Okay. Now I'm having this conversation that I'm still feeling uncomfortable when it comes time to ask for the money.

[00:21:09] Right. Like helping them through those initial steps to go from the theory of coaching, to actually being a paid life coaches. So rewarding because I know once we take it from theory into practice and they actually make money from it, they have the opportunity to change everything about their life.

[00:21:26] Right? Like I'm coaching, full-time, I'm traveling. I get to pick who I work with. I get to pick what I focus on with those clients. Right. Like I get to pick my niche. Like how rewarding is that? And then the beautiful messages that you get with from clients when they, like we get to celebrate when they signed clients, like how much I literally used to pop champagne with my clients.

[00:21:47] It's so fun. And it's just so such a rewarding work. I can't imagine doing anything 

[00:21:50] Lindsay: else. I felt the same way. I think it's more exciting when your clients get clients, then when you get clients, 

[00:21:58] Jeneffer: it's way more fun.

[00:22:02] Lindsay: It really is it's, it's such a great feeling. And I think it does feel like every time you book a client or you see someone else book a client, it's, it's as exciting as it was the very first time. And I think that's one of the biggest joys of doing this work is I don't even, it's not really work, but it just, that ripple effect keeps on going.

[00:22:22] And that's so amazing to see. And I, I, like you said, I couldn't imagine doing anything. Jen, why don't you share with us how we can follow you on social media so you can go see your travel stories and your website and all those good things. 

[00:22:36] Jeneffer: Take me out on Instagram. My name is at living out goals.

[00:22:40] That's also the website living alcohols.com and on Facebook it's you can check me out on my personal profile, which is the Facebook URL. Jenn Jo, and plus Genjo coaches. So, 

[00:22:54] Lindsay: yes. I think that everyone probably has been rattling off those names of those directories that you talked about at the beginning and they're writing them down.

[00:23:04] We'll put those in the show notes because that's definitely something no one has ever mentioned on the podcast before, and I've never heard of these. So we'll put those in the show notes so everyone can go and click on those. Do you have any other special directory links? You'd like to shout out. 

[00:23:18] Jeneffer: I do have a quiz and I will definitely give you the the link to that, because that's super fun when people can take the bus and like find their own coaching personality and persona.

[00:23:28] Yes. And I give them like this wonderful guy that helps them understand, like, why it's amazing, but also like the things to watch out for so that they can make sure that they're being strong coaches out there in the world. 

[00:23:39] Lindsay: Yes, definitely. Everyone always loves a good quick. 

[00:23:43] Jeneffer: It's one minute. It's still fun to get insight.

[00:23:47] Lindsay: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for spending time with us, Jeneffer. This was a great conversation and I'm excited for all the coaches to go check those places out. Go look at your social media and follow you and get in that quiz. Thank you for spending time with us. We're super grateful for everything you shared, and I hope that you all, who are listening.

[00:24:05] Go share your love for Jen and her Instagram and go say hi. And thank you, Jen, for being with us. Thank you 

[00:24:13] Jeneffer: so much for having me. I hope everyone got some serious value .