I Love Coaching Podcast

You finally nailed your messaging. Your offer makes sense. People are signing up. And then you launch your group program, or step on a stage, or start a podcast, and suddenly none of it works anymore. What happened?This is the final episode in our seven part Maslow's Mountain series, and it might be the most important one. Adam and Jess close out the series by naming the exact thing that trips up coaches right after they've had success: they treat what they learned like a checklist. Check the box, move on, forget it ever happened. Then they step into a new space, a new offer, a new stage, and they climb right back to the top of the mountain they just spent six episodes learning to climb down from.Adam calls it language creep. Jess calls it the now what problem. Either way, it's the same pattern. You build a one to one practice using Maslow's hierarchy to meet your avatar where they are. It works. Then you launch a group program, or get invited to speak, or start a podcast, and you go right back to summit language. "I built this incredible framework." "Here's everything I've accomplished." And the audience you're now in front of doesn't speak that language, because they're standing somewhere completely different on the mountain than you are.What You'll Learn:Why "checklist thinking" is the most common reason coaches lose momentum right after a winThe difference between the mountain you climbed and the mountain you're climbing next, and why your messaging has to reset for each oneWhy authority on a stage doesn't come from sounding smart, and why over explaining actually loses your audienceHow to use Maslow's hierarchy as an audit tool for slide decks, ad copy, funnels, and anything else you put in front of your avatarThe real difference between being an educator and being an influencer, and why neither should be your identityA practical way to use AI to prepare for podcast guest appearances, keynotes, or any new platform by feeding it your messaging and asking for an audit, not a generic summaryWhy this entire seven part series comes down to one sentence: it's not about youThe Big Idea:Every time you move to a new "mountain," whether that's launching a group program, stepping on a stage, or starting a podcast, your avatar resets to their own base camp. Your framework, your payoff, even your credibility can stay the same. But your language has to meet them where they are, not where you are. The coaches who keep winning are the ones who keep auditing their messaging against Maslow's hierarchy every single time they show up somewhere new.Notable Quote:"You don't have to look good and be right to gain authority. Your feet being on the stage already give you authority." - Jess WebberResources Mentioned:Story Brand and Hero on a Mission by Donald Miller, referenced as ongoing filters for hero vs. guide positioningGet Paid to Coach free guide at ilovecoachingco.com/get-paid-to-coach$10K+ Coaching Offer Challenge at ilovecoachingco.com/challengeREAL Coach Method Membership at ilovecoachingco.com/discoverInstagram: @ilovecoachingco / @adamrroach / @coachjesswebberYouTube: youtube.com/@ilovecoachingcoJoin the Community:If you're building a coaching business, already running one, or just starting to think about it, ILC has resources for wherever you are. Free guides, live and virtual events, and a community built specifically for coaches who want something that's actually theirs. Find it all at ilovecoachingco.com.

You built something that works. You know it works because clients have told you so. But when it comes time to share that proof, something freezes up. It feels like bragging. It feels like selling. So you say nothing, or you bury the win in data and credentials nobody asked for, and the person on the other side of the table leaves without knowing you could actually help them.That's exactly what Adam and Jess dig into in this episode, the sixth in their seven-part Maslow Mountain series. And the answer is simpler than most coaches expect: one story, told from the right place on the mountain, does more than a hundred polished sales calls ever could.The whole premise of "Proof That Works" is that testimonials and case studies aren't marketing tools. They're relationship tools. When you frame a client win as a story, told from the client's perspective and anchored at the level of the problem they were actually experiencing, the right avatar can see themselves in it. They stop evaluating you and start imagining what's possible for them. That's the shift from a sales call to a discovery call where they end up asking you how to work together.Jess shares a real example from a recent introductory call: one client story, one clearly articulated outcome, and every objection the prospect had was handled before it was ever spoken. No pitch, no close, just proof told as narrative. Adam builds on that with the flywheel framework: one offer, one conversion, one payoff, one testimonial, one story that keeps repeating as you continue to attract the same avatar.The conversation also addresses the coaches who hesitate to share wins because they don't want to come across as self-promotional. Adam and Jess are clear on this distinction: promotion is about you, proof is about your client. When the story centers the avatar as the one who did the work and achieved the outcome, you are not the hero of that story. You're the guide. And that framing changes how people receive it entirely.What you'll take away from this episode:Why one well-told client story outperforms a library of testimonials no one readsHow to tell a story that lands at the right level on Maslow's Mountain, so it actually connects with the person you want to attractThe storytelling framework: context, emotion, obstacle, resolution, and how to sequence them so your avatar sees themselves before you ever mention your offerWhy proof and promotion are two completely different things, and how to tell which one you're doingHow pre-handling objections through story means you never have to answer them directly on a callThe specialist vs. generalist distinction and why generalist coaches struggle to build any proof that actually convertsHow to turn a single client result into a flywheel that keeps attracting the right people consistentlyThe big idea: Coaches who struggle to attract clients usually have enough proof. What they don't have is a story. The proof exists in their work. The story is what makes it land with the next person who needs it. When you stop trying to convince and start telling the truth about what happened for someone else, you move from selling to serving. And the close takes care of itself.Notable quote:"I don't ever feel like I'm promoting. I just feel so confident in the outcome that I've gotten people that it makes it easy to connect." -- Jess WebberResources Mentioned:StoryBrand framework (Donald Miller) -- referenced as context for guide vs. hero languageILC community and events: ilovecoachingco.comInstagram: @ilovecoachingco / @adamrroach / @thejesswebberYouTube: youtube.com/@ilovecoachingcoReady to stop guessing and start growing? The ILC community is where coaches build real, aligned businesses grounded in their actual expertise. Join us at ilovecoachingco.com.

You think you know who your avatar is. You're probably wrong.Not because you haven't thought about it. Not because you lack experience or expertise. But because most coaches are describing their avatar from the top of the mountain, in language that makes total sense to them and zero sense to the person at the base.That is the avatar problem. And it is not the avatar's problem. It's yours.In this episode, Adam and Jess are naming the thing that sits underneath every marketing frustration, every slow launch, every "I don't know why this isn't working" moment in a coaching business. If you are not getting enough clients, your avatar clarity is almost certainly part of the reason. It's not the only variable, but it is the one that makes every other variable harder to fix.The avatar problem shows up in a few specific ways. Some coaches have it because they are trying to speak to everyone and therefore speaking to no one. Some coaches have it because they have built their messaging around a job title or industry rather than a lived problem they have actually solved. And some coaches have it because they are so deep in the expertise of their niche that they've lost the ability to speak in the language of someone who hasn't arrived there yet.Adam and Jess have had every version of this problem themselves. The challenge was called the "10K Coaching Offer Challenge" for years. The intensive was the "Quarter Million Coach Intensive." Both were named for an old version of an old avatar, built around aspirational income language that made sense to them and filtered out the exact coach who needed them most. When they ran their own positioning through the Maslow Mountain filter, they renamed both. Not because the content changed. Because the avatar did.IN THIS EPISODE: - Why "if you don't have enough clients, you might have an avatar problem" is the fastest self-diagnostic you can run right now- The Rory Vaden principle that actually defines who you are built to serve (and it has nothing to do with credentials or certifications)- Why the specialist always beats the generalist, and the cardiac surgeon story that makes it click permanently- The two ways coaches speak about their avatar publicly, and why only one of them generates referrals- Adam's 30-year-old tennis evaluation sheet and the moment he realized he should have been coaching serves, not tennis- The relevance pitch framework, what it is and why "internal niche, external relevant" is the rule that ends the verbal vomit problem- What happened to the challenge participant who walked in with a five-minute monologue and walked out with a six-word sentence- Why imposter syndrome, silo-building, and unclear avatar language are the exact same problem wearing three different outfits- How Adam and Jess renamed both their challenge and their intensive after running their own language through the Maslow filterTHE BIG IDEA: Your avatar is not defined by who you want to serve. It is defined by who you are actually built to serve, the person walking the path you have already walked. The coach who gets clear on that stops chasing clients and starts attracting them. But here is the part most coaches skip: your language for that avatar cannot come from the top of the mountain. You have to climb back down, remember what it felt like to stand at the base, and speak from there.MEMORABLE LINES FROM THIS EPISODE: "The avatar problem is not the avatar's problem. You have an avatar problem because you don't know specifically what you solve.""We don't want you to appeal to the masses. Do not appeal to the masses. We want you to appeal to a very small subset of the masses because you are a specialist in this space.""Internal niche, external relevant. That's the key.""I can't tell you the majority of the nurses that were in my son's NICU room, but you bet your bottom dollar I can name first and last name the doctor who did my son's heart surgery.""The worst language that we hear comes from the people who build in a silo the most."YOUR ONE THING THIS WEEK: Run the two-question self-diagnostic. First: do you have enough clients? If the answer is no, your avatar language is worth a hard look. Second: take your current way of describing what you do and read it out loud to someone who has no context for your niche. If they look confused, ask more questions, or go quiet, that is not engagement. That is polite disengagement. Start there. Simpler, cleaner, more specific to the problem. Not to the credential. Not to the methodology. The problem.CONNECT WITH ADAM AND JESS: If this one hit close to home, come find us at ilovecoachingco.com. That is where our upcoming events live, where the community is, and where you can connect with us directly. If you are ready to stop building alone and start getting real feedback on your avatar and your offer, the Sellable Offer Challenge is the place to start. ilovecoachingco.com/challenge If you know a coach who keeps saying their marketing isn't working but can't explain who they help in one clear sentence, send them this one. That is exactly who this episode is for.Follow the show: @ilovecoachingco on Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and FacebookKEY THEMES: - Avatar clarity as a business diagnostic, not a branding exercise- Maslow's Mountain as a positioning filter- Specialist vs. generalist in coaching- Relevance pitch: internal niche, external relevance- Lived experience as the foundation of authority- Silo-building and its relationship to imposter syndrome- Public language vs. enrollment language for coaches- Feedback as a competitive advantage in offer development

You've got the message. You know who you're talking to. So why isn't the marketing working?That's the exact question Adam Roach and Jess Webber dig into in Part 4 of the Maslow Mountain series. This is the episode where the internal work you've done on messaging finally has to go public, and it turns out that's where most coaches hit a wall they didn't see coming.The conversation starts with a distinction that sounds simple but cuts deep: marketing versus performing. If you've been tweaking your message to fit the room, adjusting your language based on who's watching, or changing what you lead with depending on the platform, that's performance. Marketing is something different. It's a clear, consistent message people start to associate with you before you ever show up. It's reputation built in advance. And the gap between those two things is costing coaches real opportunity every single day.Adam and Jess also get into the owned versus borrowed media question, and they're not gentle about it. Borrowed media, your social platforms, your Instagram followers, your TikTok audience, works until it doesn't. You don't own any of it, and one algorithm change or account suspension can erase years of effort overnight. The more durable play is building something you own, getting consistent there first, and then using borrowed platforms to invite people into it, not the other way around.What you'll learn in this episode:Why most coaches are performing instead of marketing, and exactly what the difference looks like in practiceThe "see vs. seek" framework: why you want people actively looking for your solution, not just noticing you existWhy you get tired of your marketing before your market does, and what to do about itThe owned vs. borrowed media strategy ILC uses to control their marketing machineHow Adam and Jess grew ILC's email open rates from under 20% to nearly 67% by fixing message-to-avatar alignmentWhat a lead magnet actually needs to do (and why a simple Google Doc outperformed a professionally designed one)How to build marketing that keeps running even when you're not in the roomThe big idea here is the machine. When your messaging is accurate, when it lands with the right avatar at the right place on the mountain, marketing stops being something you have to push. It starts being something that pulls people toward you while you're doing everything else. That's not a dream state. Adam and Jess are living it right now, and they show the receipts."You want people to seek you versus just see you. And that's a big difference." — Adam RoachResources Mentioned:ILC Community + New Lead Magnet: ilovecoachingco.comUpcoming Sellable Offers Challenge: ilovecoachingco.com/challengeInstagram: @ilovecoachingco / @adamrroach / @thejesswebberYouTube: youtube.com/@ilovecoachingcoTimestamps:[00:00] Intro + Series Recap (Parts 1–3)[03:11] Marketing vs. Performing: What's the Difference?[05:39] See vs. Seek: The Framework[07:06] Why Coaches Quit Marketing Too Soon[09:02] Owned vs. Borrowed Media[13:18] The Dangers of Building Only on Social (Real Story)[15:34] ILC's Email Data: Open Rates from Sub-20% to 67%[18:54] How to Build a Lead Magnet from What You Already Do[23:39] The Machine: Marketing That Runs Without You[27:03] ILC's New Lead Magnet + Sellable Offers Challenge Teaser[28:04] Sneak Peek: Episode 5 — The Avatar ProblemReady to stop guessing and start growing? The ILC community is where coaches build businesses they're actually proud of. Head to ilovecoachingco.com to check out the new lead magnet and the upcoming Sellable Offers Challenge.

You've worked on your messaging. You've used AI to help clean it up. You've rewritten your bio three times. And still, the right people aren't responding.Here's the problem Adam and Jess zero in on in this episode: most coaches are writing from where they are, not from where their people are. That gap is costing you conversations, clients, and trust.This is Part 3 of the Maslow Mountain series, and it's probably the one you've been waiting for. Parts 1 and 2 built the foundation of understanding your avatar and nailing your payoff. This episode is where it all lands, because if your messaging doesn't meet your person on the level of the mountain they're actually standing on, none of the rest of it matters.The conversation gets specific fast. Jess flags the "I help blank do blank" formula as the single most common messaging mistake coaches make, not because the structure is wrong but because the language is always too generic, too aspirational, and too far from where the person actually is right now. Adam pulls in the psychographic lens: what does your avatar think, feel, and need at this exact moment? Those are the three questions that need to drive every piece of messaging you put into the world.They also get honest about AI. It's a great thought partner. It's a lousy content creator unless you've done the foundational human work first. And in a world where people can now feel the difference between a real person's message and a generated one, leaning on AI without that foundation isn't just ineffective. It actively erodes trust.What you'll take away from this episode:Why "I help [avatar] achieve [outcome]" is killing your conversions and what to replace it withThe specific question you need to answer before writing a single word of messaging: where is your avatar on the mountain right now?Why aspirational language repels the very people you're trying to attractHow to remove ego from your messaging without removing yourself from itThe difference between specificity and complexity (and why your audience wants one, not both)What Taki Moore gets right that most coaches get completely wrong about authentic messagingWhy storytelling outperforms information dumping every single time, on social, on stage, and everywhere elseThe big idea:Your messaging has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with them. The coaches who land clients consistently aren't the most credentialed or the most polished. They're the ones whose words make their ideal client think, "How did they know that's exactly where I am right now?" That feeling is trust. And trust is what closes.Notable quote:"Stop the peacocking and just really start being you. Even if you're a manatee." — Jess WebberResources Mentioned:Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller (referenced: guide vs. hero positioning)Taki Moore — go watch his recent reels for a masterclass in authentic, avatar-first messagingILC Community: ilovecoachingco.comInstagram: @ilovecoachingco / @adamrroach / @thejesswebberYouTube: youtube.com/@ilovecoachingcoTimestamps:[00:00] Opening: Episode 3 of Maslow Mountain and the messaging problem[00:29] Why AI is a copilot, not a content creator[02:37] What happens when you rely solely on AI for messaging[04:10] The "I help blank do blank" trap[05:30] Think and feel: the two messaging filters that build trust[06:36] Why specificity is the trust builder (and it doesn't mean fancy language)[08:26] Push pause: your one action item from this episode[09:01] Active cringe face and why aspirational language misses the mark[11:00] Social media is not about you, full stop[12:53] The hero vs. guide shift (Donald Miller reference)[14:00] Jess's keynote story: what happened when she removed the info dump[15:50] Taki Moore as a case study in authentic positional messaging[18:28] Authenticity vs. ego: the distinction that changes everything[20:57] The peacocking problem and the permission to stop[22:43] Preview: Part 4 is coming, and it's about letting your message work without youJoin the Community:Ready to build a coaching business where the right people actually find you? The ILC community is where coaches stop guessing at their messaging and start building something that works. Head over to ilovecoachingco.com.