 Hey, well, this is a new season or session or series, whatever you would call it, that I'm working on with my Patreon supporters. So what I'll be doing with a few of those on Patreon is free sessions where we will have a coaching session on something that's like business related or life or love, but not too deep. And the purpose of this is to have a real person who is working on something in their life or business, and we have a conversation and other people who are in that same vein can grow from it as well. So not sure how many of these will get because a lot of people, you know, they're very secretive, but we have a few that have a topic that they can discuss and it can be shared with the public. So thank you so much for joining me today and I would love to hear what you are working on right now. Yes, sir. So I am working on building a live coaching business that I would like to see become profitable. So I have live coaching certification through NLP, which is somewhat of focusing on the subconscious mind. And I'm currently going through your Tony Gaskins Academy live coaching certification as well. And so what I'm trying to do is with you today, I'm looking for help on building and growing my life coaching business, specifically identifying the specific areas of coaching I will offer and some tips on building my brand. That's good. Now what draws you to coaching but what was that pool. Just generally I like to to help people and people come to me with with their life issues and as far as my personal experience. I've built myself up from the ground, being a teenage mother and then the death of my child and then moving through sobriety from alcoholism and addiction, as well as losing a substantial amount of weight. And so I feel like my life experience can help people in one or more of those areas. Right, right. So you're pulling from a deep place. You're turning your pain into purpose. You've turned your mistakes into lessons. So that does sound like the ideal coach and I think that sets you up for success as a coach. Now when you think about your client. If you could pick, you know, one person know what would that person look like like who is, is it a man is it a woman is what's their age, like who would you like to help. So, to me that looks like a woman, maybe between the ages of 30 and 50 give or take who has been through some things in her life and has had to just be out here surviving on her own, and who is looking for some tools to enhance her life and to enlighten her, you know, to just lighten the load. Overall, because life can be really tough for first for some of us out here who out here who have been through so many things. Now, when you look at yourself. What would you say are some of your strengths. So, my independence, my work ethic, survival, turning, turning really hard hard things into life lessons and just helping people with a fresh perspective on on life. And now, how are you with organizing things like, or creativity, like how are you in those two areas your organization of your life and your creativity your creative gene, how are those things. So, organization is top notch 100% creativity is something that I'm praying that will be more cultivated inside of me, and that's an area for growth. And the reason I asked that is just just thinking about having your life experience and then working with clients, being able to create unique programs, unique experiences and kind of give some direction to the conversations that you'll be having with your clients, so that is constructive and now if you're organized that's a huge huge strength because that means you're able to do bullet point list, you're able to take great notes. So that's a huge plus in coaching. Now, what would you say about when it comes to marketing, you have the traditional business card or brochures. Flyers. Then you have YouTube, Instagram, Facebook. When you look at marketing online and marketing offline like grassroots marketing, which fits your personality the best. So fits my personality best would be just word of mouth and like my warm network. But I know that the reach is much further online so that's an area that I'm working on tapping further into. Well, you don't necessarily have to. And so it's good to play to your strength. So if word of mouth and just your warm leads, if you have a co-worker or friend or family member who you can work with or that calls you and you say hey, I want to work with you for eight weeks straight. And if those sessions, if we do 30 minutes to one hour a week, if those sessions help you, the only thing I'm asking is that you tell a friend or family member about my coaching practice. Do we have a deal? And then that friend agrees to it. Then when you've helped them, they won't just tell one person, they're probably going to tell three people to five people to 10 people. It's kind of how multi-level marketing works. It's like these people see an opportunity, they sign up for this company, they get to use this great product, and then they also get to provide the opportunity for other people. Now, in essence, you've created your own multi-level marketing company without that pay structure, but just having a viral word, like pyro marketing, like fanning the flame. You light a fire under somebody and then the fire spreads. So that is something that if you feel that's your strength, that's something you can focus on. Now, do you, if you had to think of one person, could you think of somebody that you could offer four to eight free sessions to? Yes. I can think of several. Okay. And those people, I would assume work jobs and have coworkers and things? Yes, sir. So they're not like in a shelter and just kept in this one place, they go out, they live life, they have jobs. So if you help them. And I would say choose one, choose one who has influence, meaning the one who works at a job with the most people. Sometimes we have to be wise with our time like that. And in essence, like I may not be accepting one-on-one calls right now. But if an NBA player reaches out to me, I'll coach him because he has influence, which then will spread my name and my message, and it'll help me reach more people. So I coach him and he has five million Instagram followers and I helped change his life and his mindset. Now the message he puts into the world, now I'm reaching potentially five million people without having to actually do that. So I say that to say when you're building like this organically, you go to the people who you know they may be in sales. If it's somebody in sales that you know that you can help that is struggling with something that you've struggled with and you can be an accountability partner. That would be number one. So what I would say do is write down that list. And essentially we kind of doing the same thing as multi-level marketers do. Think about it, but now you are the product. You are the business. So when you write down that list of three to five people that you've heard from that has reached out to you that you can help, then the next time they reach out to you. So it's kind of awkward if you reach out to them like a cold call. But the next time somebody reaches out to you, make that offer. And create and now your creativity and your organization, what you'll do here tonight is you'll come up with a program. And this may be, we can start with four steps, a four step program. And each step you give it a title. And so when you think about the steps that you want someone to take, you literally can say, talking about the past, that's step one. Step two is writing a letter of forgiveness. Step three is turning your pain into purpose. And step four is finding a mentee. Now I'll just make those up, but just give you an example. So it's very practical steps. Each step is a coaching session where you're asking great questions and your client is answering those questions, and you're just kind of help helping steer the boat, you're not given so much advice, you're not talking nonstop, but you're just asking great questions. Does that sound doable. Yes, that sounds very doable. And I think that's a great start. And so the key to success is one step at a time. And what a lot of people try to do is they just try to break out of their shell right away and say, Hey, I see Tony Gaston on YouTube, I'm going to do YouTube every day like he does it, but not realizing that this is 10 years in the making. Like, I can do a YouTube video every day but I started YouTube in 2011, and I didn't start doing videos every day until 2021. You see what I mean. Yes, sir. I first started with business cards, just putting business cards and people's hand at the mall, when you were allowed to do that, and then in the parking lot, and then friending people on Facebook, adding people on my space. So just like this organic build. Now, how much time. Could you dedicate realistically without being drained to pro bono sessions. A week right now, probably like an hour and a half. So, what I would recommend. That's three clients at 30 minutes each. Right. And now you have three marketers after you help them. Now, what would you say. Are you comfortable with a coaching style of asking questions and letting the clients answer guide them to their solution. Yes, the only thing is, I get hung up on like, exactly what's what type of question to ask. I've heard you know that you don't ask how or what questions that you want to ask more open ended questions. So I get, I kind of overthink that. Right. And that's the wrong thing to do. Do you don't want to overthink it. You really want to be like a conversation. So, a house question is totally fine because if you say, Tony, how did you get to where you are. That's still an open ended question, because it's not yes or no. So if it's yes or no, then it's very but if you say how did I get here. Now, I'm, I'm about to tell you about my mindset my work ethic, and you're going to learn so much about me. And then, and then in listening, you hear your next question. And so it's really more so like a conversation than it is for giving my phone Barbara more so like a conversation than it is a dissertation. The conversation is not with coaching. It's not clinical. So you don't have a treatment plan really like a conversation but the conversation is to lighten the load is to remove the burden by allowing your client to be able to talk. And that talking is so free. And then you can confirm their answer and affirm your client, or you can pose another question that moves your client closer to his or her answer. And so that way you're kind of like a guide, but not a guru. Does that make sense. Yes, it does. And that's the mistake I made in the beginning is coming in when you get this knowledge, I would talk 55 minutes of the one hour. You study NLP. So it's just that's so much brainiac work, and it's so much you learn that it can almost make you just like a, you know, preacher just preaching and applying the whole time so that's something to think about. And you got to relax, because the beauty of coaching is every coach should be different. So we all have different experiences. So the questions that come to me will be different than the questions that come to you. So your client will have a unique experience with you because of how your mind works based on what you've seen and what you've gone through. Right. And so that's something to think about. What would be the minimum you could charge when you are a paid coach and you are regularly paid. If you find three pro bono clients and for their marketing and them telling other people, you essentially are saying hey if you can tell one person about me who hires me for coaching, your coaching is free. So you kind of keep them on can always have some people as like a gift back. Yeah, but when clients come to hire you what would be the minimum you could charge and still have a smile on your face. Probably like $50 an hour. That's smart. And that's that's a great starting point. That's a great starting point. And it's respectable because are you in your 30s or your 40s or 20s. I'm 41 41 so 41 $50 is a great place if you were 21 did I would say $25 31 I may say $35 you know $40 41 $50 is a great starting place because you're mostly going to be dealing with people who are you know professionals and people who can afford it. And that's respectable and a lot of people may just do one session a month so that's affordable for a lot of working professionals. So that's good. Now, how many sessions. Would you feel is necessary for you to do before you can give yourself a raise to $60 an hour. Probably like 10. That's a good number. And that's kind of where I would be at what I used to do. I would say set 10 write that down, because you are your own boss, and then evaluate yourself at 10 at 10 sessions, or 10 clients. Let's do instead of sessions let's say clients, 10 clients at 50 an hour. And then evaluate yourself to see if your clients are having success. If they're having success they're doing the work. Based on your style what you can't be too tied up in their success or failure because they have to do the work but influence matters, and if your style is effective it you'll find that it influences and it encourages people to take action. And so if you're having some success even 50% then you can get a raise. So give yourself a raise is if your smile is turning into a frown, if you're getting too drained. And this means you're giving too much, but receiving too little. So it's something about. Okay. Now, you'll do in person marketing. Yes, and word of mouth. When it's time to get online, when you look at all the social media networks, which network speaks your language. I am hung up on Facebook. And why is that what are the pros. What are the things that make you like Facebook. It's just where I have been for the past, however many years. That's where I have my fault. It's not really a following but that's where I have people who know me. And that's just where I have always posted and communicated and talked about things. It's a comfort zone. Yes, it is. Right. And that's good, because you want to find a network that speaks your language. And so the next thing would be creating like a Facebook marketing plan, which is marketing without being marketing or without calling it marketing. So, do you. Do you write quotes or do you write your thoughts or do you read quotes and thoughts and share them. Both. Which one would be so I would like to be able to articulate my thoughts more frequently than I do, because people take to what I say, and it's relatable. Have an issue with needing to be perfect. And so I spend a lot of time on my grammar and my punctuation and my specific words. I see, I see. And that's the thing too is when you go out to the to the market, you want to find your strength. And so one of the things you could do is be a curator of conversation of good information. And so you can share quotes and share written thoughts and that kind of teaches you how to do it you learn grammar punctuation from sharing excerpts from books. And you kind of see and you and you're googling, you know, how to place a comma, you're googling this or that, and, you know, use this word or that word, and now you're learning this as you go, and you're looking at examples. And yet, even though this comes from Socrates, because you shared it, you just enlightened your follower, your supporter, because they had never saw that quote. They're going to give you credit for stretching their mind. And that could be equally as powerful as you writing your own thoughts, and it also could benefit you more because if you write your own thoughts and the grammar is off, or the thought isn't well thought out. Now it hurts you instead of helping you see what I mean. Yes. And so play to your strengths. And then yourself look good, and then learn as you go. So as an example when I started on Facebook, like, like you, every day, I had a motivational quote app, and I would open the app, and I would go in, I would look at the quote. And if I didn't like it, I would just click to I found a quote, and then I would copy, and then open Facebook, I would paste it, and then share it. And the quotes were Albert Einstein, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, Jr. It was none of me. But yet it was inspiring and motivating people and people started writing me wow thank you for posting that quote, Mother Teresa Helen Keller. And then after posting the quotes for so long, maybe a month to three months I can't remember how long I said you know what I can do this, I can write quotes. I can write my quote so take that approach. We'll call it a training wheel approach. And that helps you get your footing. It helps you build a rapport. And it allows you to be consistent, because when you just depending on your mind and your thoughts and your feelings, you're going to just have brain freezes every other day. But when you have something you can just pull from. Now it allows you to create consistency. And then when you start posting your own, you can sprinkle it. When you have a brain freeze, you can now grab someone else's post theirs post their quote, and your audience is already used to. That's brilliant Tony thank you so much. And then what you want to do is think about the next social media, because some social media can be used the same. So if you have Facebook, and you create a posting strategy on Facebook, that same posting strategy can be shared to Instagram, it can be shared to Twitter, and it also could be shared to LinkedIn. And it doesn't take you any time because you're just opening posting, logging out, opening posting, logging out, opening posting, logging out. You're letting the algorithm do what it does because you're giving it content every day given it a quota day. And then because it's consistent you hit the algorithm. Somebody with a following finds you they share it. And next thing you know your page is viral and all you got to do is just keep doing what you've been doing. And then from there you're fielding clients. Yes. Sound good. That sounds wonderful. Thank you so much. Any questions come to mind any just glaring questions. No sir not at this time. This is great I have taken three pages of notes. Wow wow great organizational skills. So I would say, sit down, replay this I'm going to post it on YouTube to help some other coaches, and is always tweaks that could be made, and write out your plan. Go ahead and enact your plan. Don't fear failure there is no such thing, because if you're making progress you're succeeding. Don't look at it as success or failure if you're making progress, or if you're taking action, you're succeeding, and that's how you have to see it. Thank you so much for, you know, giving us this opportunity and allowing me who isn't doing one on one sessions right now to be able to help a lot of people with one session I really appreciate it. Yes, sir, thank you for taking the time to work with me today. I'm going to hold some no problem. And to those of you who, if you're on my Patreon, I believe this young lady she is at the $50 a month. And that's who I made this offer to. So if you're in there, look through the post and you'll see the link where you can schedule a light helpful session that we can post on YouTube and help many others at the same time. So look forward to working with you. Thank you so much. Take care. We'll talk soon.