“You just need to grow your audience, and the clients will come.”
We’ve all heard it.
So, coaches spend hours crafting the perfect Instagram posts, tweaking their LinkedIn profiles, and churning out endless content—only to hear crickets.
The truth? Audience size does not equal clients.
I’ve seen coaches with 10,000+ followers struggling to book clients and others with a tiny but engaged audience running six-figure businesses.
Because getting clients isn’t about numbers. It’s about trust.
Why Audience Size Doesn’t Matter—But Trust Does
A big audience means nothing if people don’t trust you enough to invest.
Your coaching business thrives on: ✔ Trust – Clients work with people they believe can help them, not just influencers they admire. ✔ Connection – People refer and invest when they feel seen and understood. ✔ Visibility in the right places – Being known in small, high-value circles is often more powerful than being “internet famous.”
Here’s a secret: Your next 3 clients are probably already in your world.
They’re the ones reading your posts quietly, thinking about working with you, but waiting for the right moment. And the fastest way to turn them into paying clients? Deeper connection, not more visibility.
I Don’t Get Clients From Social Media – And That’s Intentional
If you go and look at my social media right now, you won’t see hundreds of likes, shares, or comments on my posts. And that’s fine.
That’s not how I get clients.
For me, social media is a credibility tool, not a lead generation strategy.
Most people who work with me don’t come from a random Instagram post—they meet me in another way first. A referral. A podcast interview. A recommendation from a past client. A conversation.
But when they do hear about me, the first thing they do? They go and check me out online.
And when they do, they see: ✅ A long history of content – I’ve been doing this for years. I’m not a “flash in the pan.” ✅ A clear message – My content is consistent, not chasing trends. ✅ Proof of experience – They see I’ve worked with coaches like them before.
And here’s the kicker: I can’t count the number of times I’ve had someone get on a call with me and say, “I’ve been following you for years.”
Yet they’ve never liked or commented on a single post.
They weren’t engaging publicly, but they were paying attention privately. And when the time was right, they reached out.
I used to joke that I am lucky that I started coaching before social media was a 'thing'. Now I don't think it's a joke. I am so glad to have had the experience and learned the skills that I did before the explosion of social media, and coaching.
I spend a significant amount of time inside The Client Attraction SWITCH Coaching Business Incubator helping coaches to 'unlearn' the narrative they have been fed about growing their business on social media.
Don't get me wrong, social media absolutely has its place in supporting your marketing efforts. But it is not the only way, nor is it the most effective if you are just starting out.
Enter The Referral Rich Reputation method.
Instead of trying to crack the algorithm, focus your attention on feeling Confident in your abilities, gaining Clarity on your Fat Rabbit client, and being of Service to the very best clients.
When you do that, the intersections of those elements reveal a Clear Market Position, seeing where you fit in your industry. You create Authentic Engagement that is based on serving your best clients, and that allows you to make a Compelling Invitation to the right people at the right time.
Instead of trying to “go viral,” focus on building credibility, trust, and connection.
🔥 Deep Relationships → Clients & Referrals
Regularly reach out to past clients, peers, and connections.
Engage in real conversations, not just “likes” and comments.
Follow up—most coaches don’t, and this is where the gold is.
Instead of fighting social media algorithms, get in front of the right audiences.
Speak at events, appear on podcasts, or offer guest workshops for aligned communities.
🔥 Consistent Follow-Up → Conversions
Most people don’t sign up the first time they hear about you.
Following up is everything—yet so many coaches avoid it.
Why Followers Don’t Convert (and what to do instead)
Let’s say you have 5,000 followers on Instagram. If only 1% of them are engaged, that’s 50 people actually paying attention.
Meanwhile, a coach with just 300 people on their email list but a 40% open rate and regular conversations has 120 engaged people actively considering working with them.
📌 The shift: Focus on depth, not width.
💡 Ask yourself:
Do you have a strategy for nurturing the people already in your audience?
When was the last time you personally checked in with a potential client?
Are you making it clear and easy for people to work with you?
What Works Better Than Social Media Growth?
Instead of posting into the void, try this:
✔ Reconnect with past clients & leads 📩 Message 3 people today who have engaged with your work before. Ask how they’re doing—no pitch, just connection.
✔ Ask for referrals 🔁 Happy clients love to share—if you ask! Reach out and say, “I love working with clients like you—do you know anyone who could benefit from this work?”
✔ Be seen where it matters 🎤 Speak in front of groups, run a free mini-training, or appear on a podcast. One good collaboration can bring in more leads than months of social media posting.
✔ Follow up (more than once!) 📅 Most coaches follow up once, maybe twice. But clients often need 5+ touchpoints before saying yes.
The Coaching Industry’s Favourite Lie: "More Clients = More Success"
Most coaches believe they need more clients to succeed. More discovery calls, more people in the funnel, more posts, more engagement.
But here’s the truth: not all clients are created equal.
Some clients will drain your energy, demand discounts, ignore your coaching, and leave you questioning your worth. Others will fully commit, value your expertise, refer new clients, and stay for years.
I call these dream clients Fat Rabbits.
What Are Fat Rabbits? (And Why Should You Care?)
🐇 Fat Rabbits are your perfect clients. They: ✔ Invest at the right level without hesitation. ✔ Do the work and get outstanding results. ✔ Stay with you longer, reducing client churn. ✔ Sing your praises and send referrals your way.
🎆 Fireworks Clients look great at first, but fizzle out just as quickly. They: ❌ Are attracted by hype and urgency, not true value. ❌ Need constant convincing to stay engaged. ❌ Drain your energy, over-question pricing, or ask for discounts. ❌ Leave quickly, meaning you're stuck back in the cycle of "finding more clients".
When you’re stuck chasing Fireworks instead of Fat Rabbits, your business feels like an exhausting hamster wheel of marketing, convincing, and hustling.
How I Learned This the Hard Way
Early in my coaching business, I thought success was about getting as many clients as possible. I said yes to anyone who showed interest.
That meant working with:
People who didn’t actually want to be coached (they wanted me to “fix” things for them).
Clients who rescheduled endlessly and didn’t take action.
People who saw coaching as an expense, not an investment.
I was exhausted. And I found myself dreading sessions with certain clients.
Then, I started paying attention to who lit me up versus who drained me. That’s when I realised I needed to focus on attracting Fat Rabbits—clients who were a joy to work with and who naturally helped my business grow.
How to Attract More Fat Rabbits (And Stop Settling for Less)
1️⃣ Identify Your Green Lights & Red Flags
Before you can attract more of the right clients, you need to be clear on what makes someone a dream client or a nightmare.
💚 Green Lights (Ideal Clients) ✔ They take personal responsibility for their growth. ✔ They see coaching as an investment, not an expense. ✔ They trust your process and are open to being challenged. ✔ They take action and implement what they learn.
🚩 Red Flags (Clients to Avoid) ❌ They expect you to fix their problems without doing the work. ❌ They bargain on price or try to “trade” services. ❌ They disappear, then come back expecting results without effort. ❌ They drain your energy, leaving you exhausted after every session.
📝 Try this: Write a list of your best and worst clients. What patterns emerge? What do the best ones have in common?
For years, coaches have been telling us that mindset is everything. That if you think positively enough, believe in yourself enough, and visualise success hard enough, everything will fall into place.
But you and I both know that’s not the whole truth.
While mindset is an important part of growth, relying on it alone can leave clients frustrated, stuck, and questioning why they aren’t making progress. The real transformation happens when we go beyond mindset and work with the whole person—body, emotions, and energy.
Why I Believed Intelligence Was the Only Way to Solve Problems
Growing up, intelligence was everything.
In the 70s and 80s, if you were a girl and you weren’t conventionally pretty or popular, you had to find a different currency. Mine was humour and intelligence. If I could be the smartest person in the room, I could hold my own. And I genuinely believed that being clever enough could solve any problem.
That belief followed me into my professional life. Every challenge required thinking harder, finding the right strategy, and understanding the problem on a cognitive level. Even when I first encountered therapy, it was all cognitive-based—CBT, talk therapy, and reframing thoughts.
And it worked. Until it didn’t.
The Anger of Discovering Something Better
When I first encountered embodied coaching techniques, something inside me flared with frustration.
Why had I never been taught this before?
Why were we still acting like the mind is the only access point for change when the body holds just as many answers—if not more?
I was learning gentler, faster, and stickier ways to create change, and I couldn’t understand why they weren’t mainstream. Why were we making people work so hard for something that could be so much simpler?
Even after two decades in this industry, I still see embodiment coaching dismissed as ‘woo-woo’—even though it consistently gets results where mindset alone fails.
Embodied Transformation
Instead of just working on mindset, the SWITCH Coaching Model creates transformation through: ✅ Deep Listening: Hearing the real issue, not just the surface-level problem. ✅ Energy Shifts: Helping clients change their perspective in minutes, not months. ✅ Somatic Awareness: Noticing what their body is telling them, not just their mind.
Mindset vs. Embodiment: A Real-Life Example
Imagine a client who keeps saying, “I just need to believe in myself more.”
A mindset-based approach might focus on affirmations, visualisations, or positive self-talk. An embodied coaching approach, however, would look at:
How their nervous system reacts to risk and visibility.
The stories they’re telling themselves (and where those beliefs originated).
Whether their body language contradicts their words (e.g., saying they feel confident while physically shrinking).
Rather than just pushing them to “think positively,” we guide them to understand and shift what’s really happening inside them.
The Missing Link: The Power of the Body
Many of our biggest breakthroughs happen not in the mind, but in the body. When we feel stuck, it’s often because our nervous system has detected a threat (even if logically, there isn’t one).
A client struggling with self-doubt might not need a pep talk—they might need to breathe differently, stand differently, or process an old emotional experience that is keeping them stuck.
This is why embodied coaching works. It moves transformation from an idea into action.
Bringing This Into Your Own Coaching or Personal Growth
If you’re a coach, consider:
Where do you default to mindset work when a client might need something deeper?
How can you incorporate body-based awareness into your sessions?
What happens when you sit in silence instead of rushing to offer a mindset reframe?
And if you’re someone who has been doing all the mindset work but still feels stuck, ask yourself:
What does my body tell me when I think about my goal?
Where do I feel tension or resistance?
What happens if I breathe into that space instead of trying to change my thoughts?
Quizzes are becoming a powerhouse tool for coaches, not only for engaging clients but also for efficiently generating leads, understanding needs, and measuring progress. Whether you’re running a coaching business that focuses on personal development, executive coaching, or wellness, integrating quizzes into your practice can streamline operations and enhance your client interactions. In this post, we’ll explore various ways you can use quizzes and compare different quiz platforms.
1. Lead Generation
Quizzes can significantly boost lead generation efforts by offering potential clients something fun and interactive in exchange for their contact information. A well-crafted quiz can capture attention while gathering valuable insights into your prospect’s needs, goals, and challenges.
2. Pre-Session Intake
Before a coaching session, use quizzes to get a quick understanding of where your clients are. A pre-session intake quiz could ask about their current challenges, areas of focus, or desired outcomes. This helps coaches like you understand what’s on your client’s mind before the session even starts, allowing you to tailor your approach right from the first conversation.
Course Assessments
For coaches who offer online programs, quizzes can be invaluable in assessing client progress. Integrating quizzes into your courses allows participants to test their knowledge and gives you insights into how well they’re absorbing the material. Use quizzes at the end of each module or lesson to gauge understanding and provide feedback or recommendations.
4. Personal Discovery and Reflection
Quizzes can also be an incredible tool for self-reflection and personal discovery. Offering a quiz like “What’s Your Coaching Style?” or “What Leadership Traits Do You Have?” can prompt deeper conversations during sessions. These assessments can help clients gain new insights into themselves and fuel their desire for growth.
5. Client Progress and Check-Ins
Regular check-in quizzes can monitor client progress over time. You can create a series of quizzes to measure where a client is emotionally, mentally, or skill-wise at different stages of their coaching journey. This provides measurable data to track personal growth, enabling you and your clients to celebrate wins or address areas that need more attention.
Recommendations
Why Interact Is the Best Choice:
Interact is not only user-friendly, but its advanced features make it perfect for coaches looking to maximize the versatility of quizzes. The AI-powered quiz builder allows you to create optimized quizzes tailored to your audience, saving time and increasing engagement. Additionally, with options for assessment, personality, and scored style quizzes, Interact is adaptable to various coaching needs—from personal discovery assessments to course evaluations.
For Funnel Building:Bucket.io is great for coaches focused on funnel creation, thanks to its detailed segmentation and customized quiz logic that helps capture and convert leads effectively.
For WordPress Integration:Thrive Quiz Builder offers full control for WordPress sites, making it a good fit if your website is WordPress-based.
For Interactive Content Variety:Outgrow is ideal if you’re looking to diversify beyond quizzes to include calculators, surveys, and other interactive formats.
For Simplicity and Cost Efficiency:Google Forms remains the best choice for simple, no-cost quizzes with minimal setup, perfect for coaches starting out or on a budget.
By evaluating your specific needs and coaching goals, you can select the platform that best suits your business. However, for a comprehensive, AI-enhanced, and versatile tool, Interact continues to be my top choice, especially for those seeking to leverage quizzes for lead generation, personal insights, and client engagement.
We live in a world that loves a polished success story 🌟. The image of a finished product, a dream realized, or a goal achieved is the ideal we often chase.
But what if the real magic lies in the “in-between” stages—the times when we’re still figuring things out, still growing, still becoming?
In this post, I invite you to embrace the beauty of being unfinished 🌱.
The Beauty of the In-Between
Let’s talk about what it means to be a work in progress 🛠️.
Whether it’s your career, your relationships, or even your own personal development, there’s always a temptation to wish for the end result—the polished, final version of what you’re working toward.
But life isn’t a series of finished products. It’s a process of continuous evolution, where the moments of uncertainty and imperfection are just as significant as the triumphs 🎨.
Imagine a painter standing in front of a half-completed canvas 🎨. It may not yet be a masterpiece, but that canvas is full of potential. The artist doesn’t rush to fill in the blank spaces, but instead, sees them as opportunities to explore new ideas, try new techniques, and learn through the process.
Why do we struggle to appreciate this stage in our own lives?
We’ve been conditioned to believe that only the final product matters 🏆. But in reality, the unfinished parts of ourselves—our careers, our dreams, even our inner selves—are the fertile ground for creativity, authenticity, and growth 🌻.
From Perfectionism to Progress
The pressure to be perfect is an unrelenting one, especially for women 💪. Society tells us that perfection is the goal: flawless career, flawless appearance, flawless relationships. But striving for perfection can rob us of the joy found in the journey 🌸.
Being “unfinished” isn’t a flaw. It’s where potential and growth live 🌿. When you give yourself permission to be a work in progress, you open up space for possibilities you never considered. The path to success doesn’t have to be linear, and the bumps and detours along the way often lead to richer, more rewarding outcomes 🛤️.A0829BBeing “unfinished” isn’t a flaw. It’s where potential and growth live 🌿. When you give yourself permission to be a work in progress, you open up space for possibilities you never considered. The path to success doesn’t have to be linear, and the bumps and detours along the way often lead to richer, more rewarding outcomes 🛤️.
This mindset shift—from perfectionism to progress—liberates us from the need to have everything figured out. Instead, we can appreciate the fact that life is a constant evolution 🌀.
Mentor Musings: How to Help Clients Embrace Their Unfinished Selves
As a coach, it’s important to help clients understand that the “in progress” stage is where the real work happens ⚙️. Many come to coaching wanting immediate solutions, but transformation is about embracing the process—not just the results 🛤️.
Here’s how you can guide clients through the SWITCH framework to embrace their work-in-progress selves:
Set Aside the Outcome Encourage clients to set aside their fixation on the final result and focus on the present moment 🌿. Ask them, “What does this stage have to teach you?” This step helps them release attachment to perfection and open up to the lessons available in the here and now.
What Is The Objective? Clarify the objective 🎯. Ask your client, “What do you want to gain from embracing the fact that you're a work in progress?” This sets the intention for the session, ensuring that they have a clear goal for how embracing their unfinished self will lead to growth.
Impact of Growth Reflect on the impact of incremental growth 📊. Highlight the progress they’ve already made, acknowledging the value in the journey. This helps shift the focus from just the end goal to the significance of their ongoing development.
Transform Limiting Beliefs Use this opportunity to transform limiting beliefs 🧠. Ask, “What would be possible if you allowed yourself to be unfinished?” Shifting this perspective helps clients release the fear of imperfection and opens up space for creativity and new possibilities 🚀.
Clarify Their Journey Work with the client to clarify where they are on their journey 📍. What have they already achieved? What challenges have they overcome? This reinforces that their current state has value and that progress is being made, even if it feels incomplete.
Harmonise and Embody Progress Finally, help clients harmonize their mindset with the reality that growth is never truly “complete” 🌀. Encourage them to embody the idea that being unfinished is a natural and valuable part of life. What small actions can they take daily to live in alignment with this new perspective?
Embracing your unfinished self is an act of courage and self-compassion. It means recognizing that the journey is just as important as the destination. As you move through your week, remember that each step—no matter how small—is contributing to the masterpiece of your life.
Remember, being a work in progress means you’re constantly evolving. Keep showing up for the journey—you never know what beautiful things will emerge from those unfinished places.
I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on the pace of life and the art of rest. If you’ve been following along, you know this month has been a whirlwind for me—filled with weekends away with friends, birthdays, making celebration cakes, and even a bit of comedy! 🎉🍰 Between my work with the Coaching SWITCH Programs, private clients, and the endless flow of networking and business-building activities, it’s easy to feel like life is a never-ending to-do list.
Sound familiar? 🤯
But here’s the truth: rest is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. 🛌 And even more, it’s a power move. We often fall into the trap of believing that constant busyness equates to success, but what if the most revolutionary thing you could do for your personal and professional growth was…nothing? 🌱✨
Why Rest is a Radical Act
We live in a culture that glorifies hustle and grind to the point where rest is often seen as laziness. 🏃♀️💼 But the reality is, doing nothing isn’t wasted time—it’s an investment in your future productivity and well-being. Resting is not just about recharging your body; it’s about creating space for creativity, innovation, and personal growth. 💡
For me, allowing myself to relax and spend time daydreaming or diving into a good book (not for work!) 📚 helps me unwind, spark new ideas, and get clear on my next steps. It's in these quiet moments that the magic happens. ✨ But this wasn’t always my mindset. I used to feel guilty about taking time away from “productive” activities until I realised that these seemingly unproductive moments were fueling everything else I do.
Perspective Shift: Rest as an Investment, Not an Indulgence
One of the core components of the SWITCH Coaching System® is the idea of Transforming our perspectives to reveal new possibilities. 🔄 So, let’s apply this to rest. Instead of seeing rest as a break from productivity, what if we saw it as an integral part of our success strategy? 📈
Picture this: rest as the hidden powerhouse behind every brilliant idea, strategic move, and creative breakthrough. 🧠💥 It’s not downtime; it’s preparation time. When we rest, we allow our brains to process, integrate, and connect ideas in ways that are impossible when we’re constantly in “go” mode. 🚦
The Science Behind Rest and Creativity
Science backs this up. 🔬 Studies have shown that activities like daydreaming, napping, and engaging in non-work-related hobbies activate the brain’s default mode network (DMN), which is linked to creativity, problem-solving, and emotional processing. 🧘♀️
When you think you’re doing nothing, your brain is actually doing some of its best work. Dr. Jonathan Smallwood discusses how mind-wandering supports creative thinking in his Q&A in Knowable Magazine.
Additionally, Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang’s study, "Rest Is Not Idleness", highlights how mental rest helps the brain synthesise information and supports deeper learning and self-awareness. 🧠📚
Mentor Musings
How to Help Clients Break Their Unconscious Rules
Now, let’s explore how you can guide your clients through a similar process using the SWITCH Coaching Model:
S – Set Aside Begin by setting aside any judgments or expectations. Encourage your client to reflect on what internalized rules or beliefs they may be operating from. Hold space for them to be vulnerable as they explore these.
W – What? Ask powerful questions to uncover their rules. What beliefs are you operating from? What assumptions are you making about your business, life, or relationships? What invisible scripts are playing in the background?
I – Impact Help your client examine the impact of these rules. How do they feel in their body when they think about these beliefs? What is the emotional toll? Is this rule keeping them stuck in some way?
T – Transform Use tools to help your client shift their energy around these rules. What if this rule wasn’t true? How would that open up new possibilities? Help them see how letting go of these rules could lead to more aligned opportunities.
C – Clarify Once your client has transformed their energy, clarify what new steps they can take from this freer perspective. What actions can they take that align with their true desires, rather than arbitrary rules?
H – Harmonise Support your client in integrating these new beliefs. How can they stay aligned with their newfound freedom? Are there any challenges or conflicts that may arise, and how will they navigate them?
You don’t need to wait for a milestone to pursue the work you’re passionate about. I encourage you to take some time to reflect on the invisible rules influencing your decisions—and challenge them. This is your chance to live in alignment with your true strengths and passions.
What rules are you ready to release? And how can you support your coachees in doing the same?
