Coaches Who Coach Coaches To Coach Coaches
Source: Reddit
Note: this is gonna be long. Skip to the TL;DR if you want.
For those of you who don't know, I've been having a 'come-to-Jesus' moment (despite being non-religious) for the past year or so.
The reason? The 'coaching' industry. Since Day 1 there were a lot of things that rubbed me the wrong way, didn't make sense, or both - but I ignored them because I wanted to be 'successful' (whatever the fuck that means, these days).
After a good three years in the thick of it, and A LOT of effort and disappointment, I hit a boiling point last summer.
I couldn't get myself to keep doing the things I'd been taught to do - the standard Influencer Guru-Coach Business Method.
You know the drill:
-make an 'ideal client avatar',
- post absolute shit on LinkedIn 75 times a day, 96 days a week,
- always add a 'call to action' offering people a 'free 20-minute call' (where you try to push them into buying your overpriced, unnecessary shit for an inflated price - because You Worked On Your MiNDsETt And Know Your Worth (TM))),
- make big claims you can't prove,
- pretend you're saving lives and it's totally OK to push/manipulate people into buying 'cause they NEED what you're selling' (spoiler: no they don't, unless you're a doctor, plumber, or electrician).
All that nasty jazz. If you've taken any marketing/sales/business 'coaching' over the past 5-6 years or so, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. 'Cause that's the thing - they all sound the same, and teach the same bullshit tactics. Most people I know got duped by different people than I did, and yet we were ALL taught 99% the same stuff.
The good that came out of it:
1. those manipulative bullshit tactics did NOT work for me (and don't work for most people, FYI). So I can at least sleep easy, knowing I didn't dupe anyone into buying something they didn't need and didn't work for them. The few clients I did get, did actually get results and seemed happy with their experience (some even recommended me to others).
Looking back, I half-assed most of the tactics I was taught. I think unconsciously I resisted a lot of them (eg. make big claims that I can't prove, have big, multi-thousand-£££ 'packages' than in absolutely NO fucking way reflected the value the client would get) because they just didn't sit right with me. I guess...yay for #PositiveSelfSabotage?!
2. I eventually snapped out of it. During one of my regular 'I CAN'T ANYMORE FUCK LINKEDIN FUCK THIS INDUSTRY FUCK EVERYTHAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG' meltdowns (those are another common trait among those of us victimized by the Entrepreneurship Industrial Complex 🤣), I took an extended break. Initially it was gonna be for the summer. Then September came around and the absence had finally knocked the coach-colored glasses off my face for good. And I'd realized just HOW deep down the rabbit hole I'd gone. How much bullshit I'd been fed, and occasionally even regurgitated (I'm so sorry).
How manipulated I'd been. By people with - at best - a thundering lack of self-awareness, and no realistic image of what they can and can't offer. At worst, by actively malicious people. Although from my experience, most 'coaches' and other self-appointed small business ‘experts' fall into the first category (delusional, but well-meaning - ie. the 'I can totes help you build a six-figure business! (but behind the scenes I'm always crying about how stressed I am about money' types).
So now, with peak clarity, I wanna vent and warn. And this might be a series of articles, especially if there is demand for MOAR.'
Other aspiring 'entrepreneurs' - take heed: coaches who coach coaches to coach other coaches are NOT LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES.
With very few exceptions.
I repeat: someone whose only successful business to date, is one that sells success to other success-sellers...is almost certainly a POSER.
Do the math: what does it mean, if they only became successful AFTER they started selling success? Yep: it means that, at least for their first X-amount of clients, they were selling something they didn't have yet, and had ZERO FUCKING IDEA if they could deliver on. They just faked it 'till they made it.
And those people are the exception, from my experience. Most don't even make it - they just...fake it until they financially collapse. And then, depending on how mentally resilient and savvy they are, either re-brand as a different kind of 'expert'*, or go back to a J-O-B.
*this is a big red flag: the people who switch gears every 18-24 months. 'Cause, from my experince, this is usually how long it takes for the jig to be up. So every other year they go from 'life coach' to 'business coach' to 'copywriter' to 'public speaking coach' to 'yoga instructor' or the other way around. Just FYI.
So, to reiterate: please don't trust people whose only successful business to date is a success-selling one. That's a pyramid scheme, not a legitimate business. It's just a bunch of people with no actual skills or experience, who couldn't possibly cut it in the real (read: corporate) world (where they'd be held to actual standards), so their last-ditch effort to make money is passing the buck. 'I don't have anything remotely valuable to sell, so instead I'll just sell success: I'll help YOU set up YOUR successful business and realize YOUR potential in selling YOUR stuff ('cause mine is whack)'.
People with real skills and experience...will probably do the thing they're good at. Not 'coach' OTHERS to do the thing.
Why would a prolific personal trainer stop training their clients, in order to help YOU set up your 'health coaching' biz? Exactly: for the same reason a real estate wiz would stop flipping houses in order to coach other people on how to flip houses. It's bullshit, with few exceptions. If The Thing they're 'coaching' on was so lucrative, they'd be doing it instead of 'coaching' others on it.
Exceptions made for those who did it for a long time, and wanted to then retire and pass on some of the secrets of their success to others. But there's a huge difference between a successful-entrepreneur-turned-biz-coach (very uncommon) and a never-has-been-turned-biz-coach (the majority).
Thank you for coming to my TED Rant, and as always: let me know if you have any feedback - either here on the site, or send me an email.
TL;DR: coaches coaching coaches to coach coaches is usually a pyramid scheme. Please don’t fall for it.