Coach Pony

Do you need to be certified to be a life coach?The short answer is no, but with so many different schools and certifications out there, it’s easy to get confused about what certification to choose or if you want to get certified at all.And of course Bobbi and I have thoughts.This season on the Coach Pony Podcast, dating coach Bobbi Palmer, of Date Like a Grownup and I are here to help by answering your burning questions about your coaching business, so you can get more clients and get paid to coach! Get the inside scoop from coaches who have built 6 and 7 figure programs in a variety of niches. We have a LOT to say.  Random aside: we also have a Bridgerton audio theme this season, so enjoy!Today we’re getting into certifications. Why it’s totally possible to be a great and successful life coach without one, why certification might be worth it for you, (and to the coaching profession!), the three key areas you need to build your expertise in, and why not getting certified doesn’t let you off the hook for your education.Listen to the full episode to hear about:How most accredited life coaching programs work to help you build knowledge and experienceHow your educational and professional background may give you a leg up in becoming a coach without going through a programThe three things you need to be an expert in to be a good coachWhy coaching certification is probably worth itFour pieces of homework to help you decide if certification is right for youTo learn more about Bobbi Palmer:Date Like a GrownupTo learn more about Christie Mims:Coach PonyLinkedinBuild A Real BusinessResources: International Coaching FederationTina TessinaCo-Active CoachingJumpstart Your Business Bootcamp: www.coachpony.com/bootcampFree Marketing Quick StartIf you have some chocolate worth reviewing on the show, we are easily bribed! Email us at hello@coachpony.com with your recommendation or if you want to send us something to try!

It’s easy to spend a LOT of money and invest a lot of time and stress into your website.What kind of website do you really need as a new or growing coach? Where do you even start?This season on the Coach Pony Podcast, dating coach Bobbi Palmer, of Date Like a Grownup and I are here to help by answering your burning questions about your coaching business, so you can get more clients and get paid to coach! Get the inside scoop from coaches who have built 6 and 7 figure programs in a variety of niches. We have a LOT to say.  Random aside: we also have a Bridgerton audio theme this season, so enjoy!Today, Bobbi and I are talking about websites. We’ll give you our best advice for thinking about the objectives your website needs to meet, how it supports your business, why it’s okay to use a social media page as a temporary placeholder while you’re getting clear on the website you need and want, and take some of the confusion out of the technical side of your website.We’re also talking real numbers of how many times we’ve updated our sites, how much money we’ve spent over the years updating and maintaining our sites (gulp), and answering common questions about platforms and content.Listen to the full episode to hear about:Where to really start when you’re building a websiteBenefits and limitations of popular website platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and WordpressWhat questions you need to ask yourself before you start putting content on your siteThe thing people should immediately see when they land on your siteTo learn more about Bobbi Palmer:Date Like a GrownupTo learn more about Christie Mims:Coach PonyLinkedinBuild A Real BusinessResources: Jumpstart Your Business Bootcamp: www.coachpony.com/bootcampFree Marketing Quick StartIf you have some chocolate worth reviewing on the show, we are easily bribed! Email us at hello@coachpony.com with your recommendation or if you want to send us something to try!

As a coach, the niche you choose to serve influences so much of your business and it’s a key piece of all of the marketing you’ll do.So what happens after you’ve been telling the world what you do, and then you realize, well, maybe you don’t actually want to do that anymore?This season on the Coach Pony Podcast, dating coach Bobbi Palmer, of Date Like a Grownup and I are here to help by answering your burning questions about your coaching business, so you can get more clients and get paid to coach! Get inside scoop from coaches who have built 6 and 7 figure programs in a variety of niches. We have a LOT to say.  Random aside: we also have a Bridgerton audio theme this season, so enjoy!On today’s episode, Bobbi and I are talking about niching!We’ll give you our best advice on how to choose one, and what to do when your business evolves and that niche doesn’t quite fit you anymore–because it will! It’s totally normal, we promise! Plus we’ll share our stories of evolving our niches, how we handled changes in our own businesses, and what we learned about changing course.Listen to the full episode to hear about:Why you shouldn’t be embarrassed of changing your niche How to communicate your evolution so your existing audience is excited to go along for the ride with youWhy Bobbi has stuck with her niche, but evolved her programsHow Christie’s businesses have evolved as she reprioritized but kept their common purposeTwo pieces of homework for if you’re feeling unsure about your niche and evolution as a coachTo learn more about Bobbi Palmer:Date Like a GrownupTo learn more about Christie Mims:Coach PonyLinkedinBuild A Real BusinessResources: Jumpstart Your Business Bootcamp: www.coachpony.com/bootcampFree Marketing Quick StartIf you have some chocolate worth reviewing on the show, we are easily bribed! Email us at hello@coachpony.com with your recommendation or if you want to send us something to try!

Does it seem like all of the successful coaches you follow or look up to have big group coaching programs?You might feel like you should start a group coaching program too, but...you just don’t know. Is group coaching better than private coaching? Is doing group coaching the only way to make the kind of money you want to make?This season on the Coach Pony Podcast, dating coach Bobbi Palmer, of Date Like a Grownup and I are here to help by answering your burning questions about your coaching business, so you can get more clients and get paid to coach! Get inside scoop from coaches who have built 6 and 7 figure programs in a variety of niches. We have a LOT to say.  Random aside: we have a Bridgerton audio theme this season, so enjoy!Today we’re diving into the never ending debate about group versus private coaching. We’ll do some money math and dig into the why and the how of making the choice between sticking to one on one or making the move to group coaching.And, we’ll talk about some unexpected things you may not have thought about before about both group and private - and share a few inside stories of some of our programs. Good and bad! Listen to the full episode to hear about:The real math behind income and net profit in private versus group coachingBreaking down the infrastructure required of each business modelBehind the scenes of what it takes to launch a group programWhy you need to consider how you want to connect with clients and the kind of lifestyle you want to leadTo learn more about Bobbi Palmer:Date Like a GrownupTo learn more about Christie Mims:Coach PonyLinkedinBuild A Real BusinessResources: Jumpstart Your Business Bootcamp: www.coachpony.com/bootcampFree Marketing Quick StartIf you have some chocolate worth reviewing on the show, we are easily bribed! Email us at hello@coachpony.com with your recommendation or if you want to send us something to try!

Should you run ads when you’re a new coach?Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Google, or any other platform, there are a lot of opinions, thoughts, strategies, and advice floating around out there about whether or not you need to run paid ads for your business to succeed.To dig into that question, I’m joined by a very special member of Team Pony, our Director of Growth Marketing (and my husband), Suhaib Abdali.Over the course of his career, Suhaib has run millions and millions of dollars worth of ads on different platforms. Here at Coach Pony, he specializes in Google ads, and we’ve run close to a million dollars worth of ads ourselves. So, we’re not exactly spring chickens when it comes to the advertising game. We’ll each give our takes on what you need to know before you start spending money, and whether you need to advertise at all to grow your coaching business.Listen to the full episode to hear about:Why your offer and your sales process need to be rock solid before you even think about paying for adsWhat you need to have set up on your website before you run adsWhy a broader audience isn’t always better (no matter what the platforms try to tell you)Why copy and creative will almost always take more time and effort than you thinkWhy ads are never set it and forget itTo learn more about Christie Mims:Coach PonyInstagram @christiecoachponyBuild A Real BusinessJumpstart Your Business BootcampResources: FREE Marketing MasterclassRita Barry & Co.If you have some chocolate worth reviewing on the show, we are easily bribed! Email us at hello@coachpony.com with your recommendation or if you want to send us something to try! 

When you’re trying to demonstrate your credibility, what’s better than having the glowing testimonials of happy clients talking about how awesome you are?Even better if they’re spontaneously given to you with permission to share on your website and in your marketing materials, right? But that’s not usually how it works.So how do you get comfortable asking clients for testimonials? And more than that, how do you get GREAT ones that will land you more clients?This season on the Coach Pony Podcast, dating coach Bobbi Palmer, of Date Like a Grownup and I are here to help by answering your burning questions about your coaching business, so you can get more clients and get paid to coach! Also, we have a Bridgerton audio theme this season, so enjoy!Today, we’re digging into testimonials. Why humans love them, how to ask for them without feeling like a sleaze, and why it really, really isn’t too much to ask of your clients. We promise.Listen to the full episode to hear about:Why you should not only ask for testimonials, but you should follow up on the requestHow asking the right questions helps you get the most useful testimonialsTips for getting testimonials when you’re just starting out and are brand newWhy it’s important to be explicit about what client information you will and won’t include when you use a testimonialAn unusual way to get amazing testimonials (that also help your current clients)Three pieces of homework to generate testimonialsTo learn more about Bobbi Palmer:Date Like a GrownupTo learn more about Christie Mims:Coach PonyInstagram @christiecoachponyBuild A Real BusinessIf you have some chocolate worth reviewing on the show, we are easily bribed! Email us at hello@coachpony.com with your recommendation or if you want to send us something to try!

At some point in your coaching business, someone is going to ask you for a refund.This season on the Coach Pony Podcast, dating coach Bobbi Palmer, of Date Like a Grownup and I are here to help by answering your burning questions about your coaching business, so you can get more clients and get paid to coach! Also, we have a Bridgerton audio theme this season, so enjoy!Refunds can be a tricky and uncomfortable situation. But today, Bobbi and I are giving you our best advice for how to handle these requests with integrity, so you can best serve your clients and your business.Listen to the full episode to hear about:Why there is no right answer for refund requestsWhy having a solid intake process and clear contracts can help you avoid refund requests to begin withHow Bobbi handled two very different refund requestsTwo pieces of homework to make handling refunds easierTo learn more about Bobbi Palmer:Date Like a GrownupTo learn more about Christie Mims:Coach PonyInstagram @christiecoachponyBuild A Real BusinessIf you have some chocolate worth reviewing on the show, we are easily bribed! Email us at hello@coachpony.com with your recommendation or if you want to send us something to try!

Sometimes to move forward as a coach, you just need your questions answered.This season on the Coach Pony Podcast, dating coach Bobbi Palmer, of Date Like a Grownup and I are here to help by answering your burning questions about your coaching business, so you can get more clients and get paid to coach!Today, we’re talking about how to stay motivated in your business and how to get back on track when you feel like you’ve fallen behind.Listen to the full episode to hear about:How to lean on the support of routine and structure when your motivation is flaggingWhy the only reason to look backwards is to see where you got off track–no beating yourself up!How engaging with a community helps keep you accountable until you get your groove backWhy you need to set up boundaries, expectations, and time for rest before you burn out and lose motivationTo learn more about Bobbi Palmer:Date Like a GrownupTo learn more about Christie Mims:Coach PonyInstagram @christiecoachponyBuild A Real BusinessResources: Coach Pony S04E11: How I Built a Premium Membership Site on a Shoestring Budget with Natalie SissonIf you have some chocolate worth reviewing on the show, we are easily bribed! Email us at hello@coachpony.com with your recommendation or if you want to send us something to try!

Are you a new coach who wants to use words to sell things? AWESOME!My guest today is a genius at using words to sell things. And she’s used herself as a guinea pig. She started a newsletter that produced six figures of income, which grew into an empire full of written programs, and landed her a huge book deal with Penguin Books.All in, she’s made over $5 million just from her words.Obviously we need to know, Ash Ambirge how did you build that?Ash Ambirge is the founder of The Middle Finger Project, where she writes every week about how to earn $250,000/year as a high-income digital nomad from anywhere in the world. Listen to the full episode to hear about:How Ash successfully used her blog to sell thousands of copies of her first bookWhy Ash writes books and guides instead of selling courses or mastermindsWhy her email list is the nucleus for every other projectWhat surprised her when she went from self-publishing to working with PenguinAsh’s top three tips for gaining visibility from your writingTo learn more about Ash Ambirge:The Middle Finger ProjectMeat and HairTwitter: @AshAmbirgeTo learn more about Christie Mims: Coach PonyInstagram @christiecoachponyBuild A Real BusinessIf you have some chocolate worth reviewing on the show, we are easily bribed! Email us at hello@coachpony.com with your recommendation or if you want to send us something to try!

If you love working intimately with a small group of clients, and you love the community building that happens in group coaching, you might be thinking about starting a membership program.But getting it off the ground can be daunting.Today’s guest wanted to create engagement and support for a small group of people and she built out a premium membership program called the 10K Club on a minimal budget, all while the world was in lockdown. So we want to know, Natalie Sisson, how did you build that?Natalie Sisson is a New Zealand entrepreneur, bestselling author, speaker, host of the ‘Untapped’ podcast, and lover of handstands and dogs. Her mission is to help women entrepreneurs leverage their unique set of skills, knowledge, and experience to get paid to be them, make the income and impact they desire, simply by being exactly who they are.Listen to the full episode to hear about:Why Natalie chose the membership model and narrowed her offering to cater to a select group of womenHow Natalie used one-on-one sales calls and a Google doc to enroll membersHow she structured the program to offer an intimate, hands-on coaching experienceHow she kept her initial expenses to a minimumNatalie’s top three tips for starting a premium membershipTo learn more about Natalie Sisson:NatalieSisson.comUntapped PodcastInstagram: @NatalieSissonFacebook: @NatalieSissonTo learn more about Christie Mims: Coach PonyInstagram @christiecoachponyBuild A Real BusinessIf you have some chocolate worth reviewing on the show, we are easily bribed! Email us at hello@coachpony.com with your recommendation or if you want to send us something to try!