In the last episode of this season, I'm explaining my podcasting strategy, why I recommend taking a break from marketing platforms, and how to see marketing platforms more as tools and not requirements. If you've been feeling overwhelmed by ALL the marketing channels you need to keep up with, I hope this episode offers you some relief! Because simplifying my marketing hasn't hurt my sales in the slightest. In fact, simplifying my marketing has actually INCREASED my sales. Listen to the episode to learn more.

The TLDR: As a coach re-launching your business, it's VITAL to host sales calls and not just rely on your sales page. It's not because you need to be on a call to push your client into a sale. Sales calls actually SERVE your 1:1 clients better because it gives them an opportunity to ask questions and get really clear on the plan for your 1:1 container. Listen to the episode to learn more! Sales Call Workshop interest form: https://forms.gle/meKB92X7J5tCWVQUA Get on my email list: https://mailchi.mp/nicoleralston/email-list Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleralston_/

As coaches, we know that mindset and emotional agility play a big role in reaching your goals - but it's also VITAL that you simply set appropriate goals in your business! Because yes - you may have the mindset tools and somatic tools to handle a lot, but it's unfair to yourself to set impossible goals. In today's episode of Scale With Heart: 70 Goal Setting and Avoidance Patterns, I teach you a simple technique for setting achievable goals that drive your business forward instead of ones that keep looping you back to the drawing board. I hope this episode helps you set achievable goals that drive you to take action quickly, stumble gracefully, and get back up again and again.

Simplifying your business sounds nice, but your brain might be screaming, "You need to do MORE to sell MORE!!!!" In today's episode, I help you shift those challenging thoughts so that you can create BETTER messaging, an UNPARALLELED coaching container, and sign more thrilled clients as a result. Simplifying your offers will help you scale faster because everything becomes higher QUALITY, not because of quantity, so let me help you talk your brain into getting on board!

I did something recently I never thought I would do - I returned to my old job. And it’s been GREAT. Also, weirdly - I somehow have more free time than BEFORE I started working part-time. After sitting down and wondering why that is, I came up with 5 lessons that I’ve learned since leaving my old job. It’s actually been a wonderful experience to return to my old life - a life in which I felt super burned out - and return with a fresh perspective. This is a bit of a different episode, but I’m so excited to share what I’ve learned and how I’ve grown both personally and professionally since starting my business. I hope this inspires you to take some time to reflect and glean wisdom from your own experiences! Interested in the free course I mentioned? You can still catch The Path to $100k by signing up for my mailing list here.

Yes, I do mean this in the most literal sense! In this episode, we will explore failure and what causes it. From there, I will give you 3 practical and actionable tips that you can implement RIGHT NOW to build a business that can’t fail. If you’ve been feeling like you’re business is never going to take off and you’re stuck in an endless loop of “getting ready to launch,” I hope you find that the tips in this episode help you move forward.

As coaches, our main job is to help our clients achieve their goals. So it makes sense that we experience a lot of SHAME when we're unable to achieve our own goals - especially when it comes to running a coaching business. And we know nothing good happens when we're stuck in a shame spiral. So the proudest work I've done in my business is rebuilding my relationship with achievement and goal-setting into something healthier, and a healthy relationship with goal-setting is a productive one! And I'm sharing everything I've learned with you today. In this episode, I'll explain the 3 mistakes entrepreneurs make when it comes to setting goals for their business and what actions to take instead. I'm excited for this episode to give you both actionable tips and a different perspective on working towards a $100k year. I hope you can integrate these tips into your own goal-setting practice immediately!

I notice that when I'm in sales avoidance, I'm often looking for another coaching course or certification. I've since realized it's because I have this subconscious thought that tells me I'm not selling because I don't have enough experience or expertise, even though I've been coaching for YEARS at this point. If you're avoiding sales or marketing because you're worried about your coaching abilities, this episode is for you. I give you 3 exercises that help you observe your opinions on your ability, your thoughts about what you think coaching SHOULD be, and how to sit with the discomfort that naturally comes up in a coaching relationship. It's a quick but juicy episode with a lot of insight!

If you're committed to launching your business and finally getting it off the ground this year, you're in luck! In this episode, I walk you through 4 prompts to help you build a mindset committed to sales. Why sales? Because building your business REQUIRES more sales. Again - we're never over here trying to sleazily convince your clients to buy! Instead, these questions will help you reflect on your why, your goals for your personal life, and your mindset around time management. My goal in this episode is not only for you to not only sell more packages but to also develop a better sense of work-life balance in the new year.

I realized that a BIG reason my business wasn’t taking off was because I was scared of burning out again. I was scared of working more hours, working harder, and giving away too much of my time because it always led to a bad place - a place where my life came second, and I was left feeling depressed and exhausted. But when I decided to recommit to my business in June, it became clear that I needed to learn a new way to hustle. Now that it’s December, I’m excited to report that I’ve figured out how to hustle in a way that has resulted in more clients than I’ve ever had in my business and still allows me to sleep 8 hours a day, bake cookies, and read stories to my kids. I’m going to explain how I shifted both my mindset around hard work and how my actions have shifted as a result. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this episode and what you plan to shift in your business!

I signed NO new clients through June. I honestly had given up on my business at that point and was really in a funk the first half of 2023. It wasn’t looking pretty in my office come June. I was surrounded by notebooks with a lot of sad writing, and I really believed that maybe I wasn’t meant to have a coaching business. Cut to today, and here I am 6 months later signing a client a week! I have more clients than I can take - but I’ll take this problem over having none, lol. In this episode, I’m going to share what came out of my “come to Jesus moment” in June and how I changed EVERYTHING in my business to get to this point. I’m excited for you to leave this episode with 5 actionable items that will help you get your business in order! On that note, if you’re interested in working with me in the new year, I’m actually cooking up a new offer and not taking any more clients at this time. BUT, if you’re ready to finally get your business in gear and get out of your own rut, I encourage you to sign up for the waitlist now!

“Discovery” or “Connection Calls” puts your clients in an awkward position because there’s a lot of (unintentional) convincing energy there. A lot of coaches feel uncomfortable making sales, so they see a discovery call as an opportunity to explain what coaching is. They hope that if clients just SEE what coaching is, the sales process will be easier and feel less awkward. Sales are going to feel awkward until YOU work through your sales mindset. The only reason you’re not making sales as many sales as you could be is because it still makes YOU feel gross. Sales aren’t inherently gross - they’re neutral. In fact, my clients aren’t phased by our sales conversations or when I discuss my prices. Sales is an expected part of our conversation, it is never shoehorned in awkwardly. And that’s because **I** feel GREAT about my sales process - and so they do, too!! You CAN host a sales call that’s EMPOWERING. One that never makes you feel like you’re putting pressure on your clients to buy, even if you name it a “sales call.” Sales calls don’t have to be sleazy, they don’t require scripts, and they definitely don’t need to address “objections.” If you change YOUR thoughts about sales calls and then finally embrace the sales process, you’ll find that you have no problem booking or hosting sales calls. So, in this Instagram Live replay, I help you finally get rid of Discovery Calls for good and lean into hosting sales calls. You’ll learn why it’s better for you AND your clients. You can listen to the replay here to learn more!

If you're struggling to define what kind of service you offer, today’s is for you! In this Instagram Live replay, I define coaching vs consulting, and then dive into the mindset blocks that cause coaches to question whether or not they should be consultants. I hope this helps you better define and share your services! If you'd like to develop your own 4-figure coaching package, and then learn how to sell it honestly and confidently, I encourage you to book a free marketing consultation at the link below. I look forward to helping you scale your coaching business!

I know many coaches struggle with their relationship to social media and Instagram. They hate feeling like they need to be on Instagram all the time, they don’t like the way “likes” and their follower count makes them feel, and they definitely feel stressed out by sales posts. So in this episode, we’re going to move beyond Instagram hacks and the algorithm (which only serve Instagram, the company) and instead focus on how to make social media that benefits your CLIENTS. When you focus on your clients’ needs, content just flows and social media doesn’t feel so heavy. So I hope this episode takes some of the tools from my sessions to help you reduce your stress levels, shift into client service, and start making content with ease!

If you’re plagued by the thought, “Does my marketing make me look like a REAL coach?” let me give you a quick piece of advice - your marketing doesn't need to look "legit" to make sales. Branding can be a HUGE distraction at the beginning of your business because you don’t need an aesthetic presence to make sales. You simply need content that addresses your clients’ NEEDS. In this episode, I share the basic rules of crafting content that serves AND sells. So if you’re stressing out about making your feed pretty, I hope this episode gives you some relief and encourages you to start helping your clients with what you have RIGHT NOW.

I get how HEAVY every post feels when you start marketing your business. “Is this post ‘right’? Did I say the right things to make a sale (without being skeezy???)? Is it good enough to go ‘viral’? Does it make me look like a REAL coach????” When you’re posting from a place of scarcity (aka: putting SO much pressure on every post to make a sale or to validate your business), you start to take the focus off of your clients. And besides the fact that focusing on your clients feels better, serving your clients through your content is what ACTUALLY drives sales. In this episode, I outline my 3-step process for shifting out of scarcity and back into service - so you can start calling in ideal clients and start making consistent sales.

I constantly hear the phrase, “1:1 coaching doesn’t scale,” throughout the coaching industry. That’s simply not true. At ALL. In this episode, I break down the math (yay, math!) and explain how you can even scale by selling 1:1 coaching ONLY. I also share what your income will look like as you move from $10k to $100k, and why you should ignore most of the scaling advice you find online. I hope this episode gives you more practice advice and helps you shape a more effective sales strategy!

It’s true - selling group coaching and selling courses is a SLOWER way to scale. There’s so much wisdom, experience, and MONEY to be made if you start your business off with 1:1 coaching. In this episode, I’ll explain why 1:1 coaching is not only better for your clients, but it’s better for the longevity of your business, ESPECIALLY if you’re a newer coach. I’m excited to offer you this more holistic picture of scaling, so pop your earbuds in and let’s go!

I know how stressful the thought of even hosting an initial consult (aka: sales call) can be. I used to be terrified of them! Now, they’re easily my favorite part of the coaching process - and my clients LOVE them. They walk away with so much clarity, whether or not they sign on to work with me (although almost 80% of them convert to a sale!). In this episode, I will share my big dos and don’ts for hosting a successful, stress-free sales call. You’ll walk away with actionable tools to take into your initial consults so that your client feels empowered by the process …and you do too!

I used to have so much mind-drama about sharing my price, but my pricing has NEVER been a problem for my clients during their consult (aka: sales call). I’ve sold over a dozen $1k and $2500 offers, and no one has ever had any objections about the price. But I used to be so scared of sales calls for that reason and constantly question if I should be selling lower-ticket offers instead. Once I healed that thought though - “What if my clients can’t afford it????” - I became so much more present and helpful on my initial consult, and my conversion rates (aka: the percentage of people that sign on during that call) SKYROCKETED. I now boast a >75% conversion rate on sales calls when the industry says 15% is high. In this episode, I’ll help you heal your own pricing phobias with some simple strategies that you can implement today. Let your clients feel empowered by your prices! I love that my clients always walk away proud with the investment they’ve made in themselves :)